OMG! Kind of freaking out...

[MIAMIMEDIA]

I booked my family of 5 on the Solstice for a Summer Cruise (2 connecting balcony rooms). I have read just about everything on these threads and now I am kind of freaking out.

I wanted a "better" cruise experience for my family which enjoys spending time together, good food and the ocean. I thought Celebrity would be that step up. After reading soooo many negative things; "lack of activities", so-so shows, non kid friendly comments, food reviews that say "great" or "unsatisfactory" with not much in between. I am wondering if Celebrity was a good choice. I could have booked the Carnival Dream (new ship) for the same $$

Please reply and tell me what makes you choose Celebrity.

Families with preteens please respond, too! There is very limited info from families cruising with Celebrity.

 

All comments will be appreciated.

[A Sixth?]

Have you cruised before?

[NHCRUISIN]

Hi,

I'm sure most everyone will agree that the food and service on Celebrity will be much better than Carnival. My wife and I (mid 40's) have always found plenty to do on board and when we brought our children they always enjoyed the kids club and activities on the ship.

All sepends on what you are looking for, if your looking for "hairiest back" or "bellyflop" contests and a more party atmosphere, maybe Carnival would be a better fit.

[MIAMIMEDIA]

Hi,

I'm sure most everyone will agree that the food and service on Celebrity will be much better on Celebrity. My wife and I (mid 40's) have always found plenty to do on board and when we brought our children they always enjoyed the kids club and activities on the ship.

All sepends on what you are looking for, if your looking for "hairiest back" or "bellyflop" contests and a more party atmosphere, maybe Carnival would be a better fit.

 

This will be our 10th cruise. No party atmosphere needed for our family. Maybe some guided family entertainment. I guess I am getting nervous. I just read the latest Western Caribbean reviews and they seemed to stress "boring".

 

Thanks for your response.

[Zindy Lou]

We never felt bored hanging over the balcony looking at the Flying Fish.

[bubbie617]

We have always found that there were plenty of activities if we wanted to participate. Between what is listed on the daily newsletter and the activities of the kids' club, there is always something to do. We find that part of our trip is always spent just relaxing on the balcony or at the pool. I don't need anything except sunscreen and a good book for that.

[A Sixth?]

This will be our 10th cruise. No party atmosphere needed for our family. Maybe some guided family entertainment. I guess I am getting nervous. I just read the latest Western Caribbean reviews and they seemed to stress "boring".

 

Thanks for your response.

 

 

You obviously love cruising, don't worry, you and your family will have a great time on Celebrity. Each line is a little different but in general they all are a blast IMHO. Cruises are a superior vacation choice.

 

Celebrity won us over lately because of their clean air policy and I would guess families with kids would like a smoke free environment.

 

have a great cruise.

[TIMETOGOAGAIN]

I guess it all depends on if you are the kind of people who need to be entertained or can entertain yourselves. IMO Celebrity Solstice cannot compare to any of the Carnival cruises I've been on. The class of people, the food, service, and the atomosphere were amazing on Solstice. I thought the glass show was cool. With our nephews we played cards, people watched, and as stated previously watched the flying fish when we weren't off exploring the islands! They were 18 & 20. I have not traveled with young children so can't comment on that. It will be what you make it.

[Ma Bell]

Don't worry, you'll have a great time and so will the kids.:)

[Scrapchick]

Read my Equinox review over Easter! We had a fantastic time and are going on the Eclipse in July with our DD, who will turn 9 on board. It will be her 5th cruise on X. Where are all these negative comments you talk about?? Have you read any of the reviews on the CC home page, and seen the amount of 5 STAR ratings over and over again? Celebrity consistently delivers a classy product. Anyone can nit pick a ship! I can find flaws with any cruise if I choose to!

 

A cruise is what you make it. There was plenty of entertainment as far as I was concerned, and never enough time to do everything I wanted. Even in the cabin there are about 50 decent free movies to watch on the TV, in addition to all the other activities going on.

 

DD loved the Fun Factory. I agree there is little info about it on this board, but there have been a couple of threads recently andif you search the Family board too you'll find comments over there, mine included.

 

I cannot say enough good things about our experience on Celebrity... It's classy, elegant but comfortable and a really civilised way to cruise. You will never get me to go on another Carnival cruise as long as I live. Their style is fine, if that's what you like, but I don't see why a family cannot have a good time on the Celebrity ships. They have plenty of top notch facilities and entertainment options.

 

Any ship that sails out of school time is going to have an older clientele on board and it will be a "quieter" atmosphere, regardless of the line. You should see some of the comments about HAL and Princess passengers when the kids are back in school! This is not unique to Celebrity. If you're going on a summer cruise there will be plenty of kids, plenty of activities and plenty of action.

 

I highly recommend Celebrity and make a point of stressing the kids aspect of it when I can on these boards precisely because there are people out there who feel Celebrity is not for them and their families. You could not be more wrong!! I hope you will post a review when you come back and tell us how brilliant it was, and what a great time your kids had. Believe me, there is life after rock walls and ice rinks...

[texkan]

Think that you will read more positive than negative. Celebrity is a great cruise line. Enjoy your cruise.

[Scrapchick]

Forgot to add... You would do well to post this on the Family board and get some feedback over there, although they do tend to lean heavily towards Carnival and RCCL. Trust me, you're not going to want to get off the ship!!

[justsunnydays]

I, too, was getting a bit worried! I've booked connecting cabins for my DH & 2 DSs (age 6&8). I specifically didn't want the whole belly flop/hairy chest contest thing - but after reading some of these posts I was second guessing my choice. I was ready to cancel and go back to an all inclusive type resort. Then I realized that we're sailing in July (school's out) and I'm sure the kids will have fun and we'll get a bit of a vacation - if we can dance a few nights and maybe play blackjack we'll be fine! I think I'm going to check out the family posts and stay away from posts that dwell on small negatives....;)

[lawgeek]

I, too, was getting a bit worried! I've booked connecting cabins for my DH & 2 DSs (age 6&8). I specifically didn't want the whole belly flop/hairy chest contest thing - but after reading some of these posts I was second guessing my choice. I was ready to cancel and go back to an all inclusive type resort. Then I realized that we're sailing in July (school's out) and I'm sure the kids will have fun and we'll get a bit of a vacation - if we can dance a few nights and maybe play blackjack we'll be fine! I think I'm going to check out the family posts and stay away from posts that dwell on small negatives....;)

 

I think that you and the OP need to take the reviews a little les seriously. I know one of the reviews both of you must be referring to was posted earlier today and started off listing a few nit picky items and the reviewer also commented on the lack of organized activities. That same reviewer pointed out that they loved the ship and the cruise in the second half of the review. Unfortunately, by starting off with complaints (even when you admit they are minor issues) people get the inpression that these issues dominated your experience. In that post the reviewer clearly pointed out this was not the case.

 

Wiht that said, my DW an I went on a HAL cruise a few years back. Really the first larger ship we had ever gone on having previously sailed only Windstar a few times and the Star Clipper. Before the cruise, I viseted the HAL board religiously and nearly cancelled the cruise because of the vibe I was getting that HAL crises were boring and only catered to old people, etc. This really turned me off since I cruise with the principal that I will be the last to bed and the first to rise.

 

The actual experience on the cruise was nothing like the opinion I had formulated from the reviews and other posts. It was a fantastic cruise even though I was not always the last to bed! Every cruise is only what you make of it. Some people are negative about many things in life nd they carry that with them everywhere, including on vacation. Others simply love the experience and are thankful for al they are entitled to do in life and never expect to constantly be entertained.

 

With that said, my take from these boards is that families seem to have a wonderful time on Celebrity and the kids are well catered to in the offered amenities. Bottom line is don't be discouraged and enjoy your cruise, make it your best family vacation ever! I know that is what I will be doing next month!

[mynextcruise]

Our 9 yr old daughter says her favorite cruises are on Celebrity---or the "X" ship as she called it when she was 4....and that's comparing to Disney, Princess & Carnival. We're doing a B2B in June on Solstice...very excited!

[mjwcruising]

I say go for it.

 

Our first cruise was on Celebrity's Zenith in 1997. Our kids; both boys were 13 & 14. They went into the appropriate kids club. They loved it. The things they did was geared for their age group. We only saw them at dinner the days we were on the ship. They were with us when we were in port.

 

DH and I did a Celebrity cruise with just adult friends in 2003 for our 25th anniversary, but while on board we booked a cruise for the following year with the boys.

 

We called them as soon as we got back to the US and they jumped at the chance when we told them we wanted to take them on another cruise the following year. Jump to 2004; they were in college (age 20 & 21). Again a Celebrity ship. They did their own thing on the ship, and took some excursions toegther without us. We also spent some time with them on our balcony and always had dinner together.

We had a great time as a family. It was a vacation that will always be special because we spent quality time with our children who were now entering adulthood.

 

Since then DH and I have been on several more Celebrity Cruises.

 

Friends went with us to Alaska in 2008on the Celebrity Millennium. They always cruise Royal Caribbean and didn't care for Celebrity. They thought there wan't enough activities and didn't think there was enough going on at 2 & 3 am. They also wanted to be able to get food at that hour.

 

We accompanied these same friends a few weeks ago on Royal Caribbean with their extended family.

We are now aware of the differences they talk about. There are definitely more activities on RCI. The quest and a lot more competitions. (sports oriented ones in particular). The bars and lounges are active until 3 to 4 am in the morning (and I think our friends closed one every night) and the promenade cafe has finger sandwich and desserts 24 hours a day (which they thouroghly enjoyed after they closed the lounges).

 

There were also preteens and teenagers running the ship in small groups all the time. Their entertainment of choice seemed to be riding the glass elevators and pushing all the buttons so the elevator stops at all the floors and they waved to each other as the elevators pass each other. Sometimes it was fun to watch, but sometimes it was irritating to us.

 

DH and I wouldn't say we don't like Royal caribbean, but we do prefer Celebrity. Celebrity has plenty of asctivites during the day to keep us entertained. In the eveving we enjoy delicious dinners, great shows and maybe an hour or two in a lounge and then we call it a night. We feel there is plenty of food available to keep us satisfied.

 

We have come to the conclusion that Royal Caribbean spends a significant amount of their budget on roung the clock entertainment where as Celebrity spends a significant amount of their budget on pampering their guests.

We love, love, love the pampering. Things like cold washcloths and water or lemonade when you come back from an excursion on a hot day. There is a lot more but I can't think of them right now.

 

Each cruise line is different, not neccesarily "good" or "bad"; it all depends on what type of experience you are looking for.

 

I do not think your children will be disappointed with Celebrity.

They do deliver a great experience.

[GITC]

I booked my family of 5 on the Solstice for a Summer Cruise (2 connecting balcony rooms). I have read just about everything on these threads and now I am kind of freaking out.

I wanted a "better" cruise experience for my family which enjoys spending time together, good food and the ocean. I thought Celebrity would be that step up. After reading soooo many negative things; "lack of activities", so-so shows, non kid friendly comments, food reviews that say "great" or "unsatisfactory" with not much in between. I am wondering if Celebrity was a good choice. I could have booked the Carnival Dream (new ship) for the same $$

Please reply and tell me what makes you choose Celebrity.

Families with preteens please respond, too! There is very limited info from families cruising with Celebrity.

 

All comments will be appreciated.

 

I don't think the negative reviews come anywhere close to outnumbering the positive ones so why is it that people tend to put more weight into the negative than they do the positive? Maybe it's just human nature.

 

There is also a tendency, IMO, for people who have positive experiences to not necessarily talk about them as much as those on the other side of things. IOW, people with a chip on their shoulder about something want the whole world to hear about it. Some are just funny that way; just aren't happy unless they're complaining about something.

 

The bottom line is that you need to take what you read here with a grain of salt. If you can't do that and if reading reviews is freaking you out, stop reading them. ;)

[Denny01]

I don't think the negative reviews come anywhere close to outnumbering the positive ones so why is it that people tend to put more weight into the negative than they do the positive? Maybe it's just human nature......If you can't do that and if reading reviews is freaking you out, stop reading them. ;)

Yup, human nature. The average evaluation for Solstice is 4.5 - 5.0 Stars and we focus on the 'I hated everything the put in front of me!'. I really don't spend a lot of time reading reviews to make decisions on should or shouldn't I.... I use reviews to see if what I think is important is provided or not and I exclude the very subjective which means most discussions on dining and so on.

 

I know this is lunatic to say on my favorite forum, but the last Carnival cruise I took had good dining. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the cruise. I wouldn't pick that Line as my target and I go on other lines to join friends or try an itinerary 'X' doesn't provide (going Hawaii on the lovely Princess Line), so I'm probably the wrong guy to be giving advice on cruises, but maybe I Am the right guy.....

 

Quit worrying...you may sometime in the future find a Line or a cruise which outdoes what you are about to experience, but for most of us, the 'best cruise I ever took' is one of two: the one I just got off, or the one I'm about to take.

 

Live cruising, enjoy!

 

Denny

[justsunnydays]

Thanks for all the good (sensible) advice!! :)

[TRadle]

One of the things to consider, and I did read it in a review somewhere, is that because Celebrity does not have as many children the kids have a better experience in the kids club. On Royal Caribbean in July there will be hundreds of kids. I'm not sure I would have left my kids in such a crowded place.:D

[jackdiamond]

Susan,

Thank you for posting.

Jack

[atljoo]

We just returned from the Apr 4 sailing of Solstice. We have two teens 14 & 12. My wife threatened to do me bodily harm if I told anyone of our friends about Celebrity. She wants to keep it a secret. Celebrity Solstice was without a doubt the best experience I've had in 46 cruises. From the food, drinks, and plain relaxation no other cruise line compares. I can find something good and bad to say about any cruise, just like everyone else. The only bad thing I can say about the Solstice is I wish the ports were smaller and more like those found on a southern Caribbean itinerary.

 

Most people who feel negatively will post negative things since CC gives a great forum for us to share our thoughts and experiences. Those who have positive experiences may not post them.

 

The grass areas on top were awesome. The food was excellent in the MDR. The buffet was great. Lots to choose from. My favorite thing? No announcements except for 1 at 12:00 noon....the Captain's daily update. I would be a happy man if I never heard a Bingo announcement again on a cruise ship.

 

Go Celebrity. Enjoy the spoils of a great cruise.

[Lois R]

We just returned from the Apr 4 sailing of Solstice. We have two teens 14 & 12. My wife threatened to do me bodily harm if I told anyone of our friends about Celebrity. She wants to keep it a secret. Celebrity Solstice was without a doubt the best experience I've had in 46 cruises. From the food, drinks, and plain relaxation no other cruise line compares. I can find something good and bad to say about any cruise, just like everyone else. The only bad thing I can say about the Solstice is I wish the ports were smaller and more like those found on a southern Caribbean itinerary.

 

Most people who feel negatively will post negative things since CC gives a great forum for us to share our thoughts and experiences. Those who have positive experiences may not post them.

 

The grass areas on top were awesome. The food was excellent in the MDR. The buffet was great. Lots to choose from. My favorite thing? No announcements except for 1 at 12:00 noon....the Captain's daily update. I would be a happy man if I never heard a Bingo announcement again on a cruise ship.

 

Go Celebrity. Enjoy the spoils of a great cruise.

 

Glad you had such a wonderful time:)

[Born to Cruise]

You are going to have the time of your life and so will everyone else in your family. Please don't give it another thought. I read the reviews you spoke of in your original post. I think the theatre breaking down was really the biggest negative that specific week. There are 20 people to 1 that said all of the food was delicious. Go shopping, start thinking about your packing list and count the days till you experience the best vacation ever.

 

Cheers,

JoAnne

[MIAMIMEDIA]

Thanks.

I enjoyed reading all the advice.

I feel a bit more secure about my decision to book Celebrity.

I will make sure to write a review when I get back.

Thanks again.