Celebrity or Royal Caribbean

[shelmo]

I could do with some advice please. I am planning a cruise in the Med for next summer and have narrowed it down to two ships Celebrity Eclipse or Independence of the Seas but am still open to any advice. There will be 7 of us from the ages of 14 to 81, my mother who is 81 likes the old style cruising and of course the teenagers like things to do and my 18 years old son hates dressing for dinner but will if pressed.

 

I have read on the Eclipse reviews that the average age of the passengers is 55 and the pool area is not so good which wont impress the teenagers and then we took my mother on the Freedom of the seas last Christmas and she was forever comparing it to the ships she had been on 15 years ago ie the Black Watch. If anyone has been on these ships with this this sort of age groups can you let me know how you fared and which ships you would prefer.

[Bakincakes]

Who do you have to please more?

 

Mom would love X...the crowd is a bit more refined than on RCI...on X most dress for the MDR..on RCI you will see alot of dressing down.

 

Kids go for RCI..more to do..hence there can be more problems on RCI with kids running all over the place..hogging hot tubs..etc. Many of the crew are reluctant to handle such problems as they don't want to tick the "parents" of the kids off.

 

I like the food much better on X...if you go on RCI try out the specialty restaurants for much better meals..if the kids are happy with anything let them eat where they like and let the grownups have a upscale dining experience.

 

You can't bring any alcohol on RCI..if you buy on shore they will take it and give it back to you the last night. That can be a deal breaker for many.

 

RCI..NCL..and Carnival are very close in product. X is a step above but much more sedate...you just have to choose who needs to be more satisfied with your choice of ship.:)

[joandian]

I've been on both Eclipse and Freedom. Eclipse is much more laid back, relaxing, elegant and perhaps what your mother is looking for. Your son however, will not find as much to do. There is only a small pool on Eclipse and no poolside entertainment beyound the bands/singing groups. Not many organised activities like you find on Freedom.

 

I feel there is more variety of food on RCCL. The menu on Eclipse was a little boring and I was eating more off the 'always available menu' then the daily menu. The buffet of RCCL is much better in the evening but Eclipse has a great lunchtime buffet.

 

Hopefully whatever cruise you decide on, you will have a great time. Even on my worst cruise, which by the way was last year with X, we had a great time.... after all, you are on vacation :)

[negc]

In my experience, while there may be more kids on RCI than on Celebrity ships, the Adventure Ocean program and the multitude of active features available to them limits your exposure to them most of the time and we have never had a problem of overactive or unruly kids when we have sailed. Food, IMHO, is such a subjective thing, that claiming that one line is a cut above really depends on the tastes of the individuals doing the comparisons. We have been very pleased with the food and service we receive on RCI and have had mixed results on our Celebrity cruises. Some food was excellent, some mediocre, and for my part I thought that the food and service in Constellation's specialty dining room was overly pretentious and not really worth the premium cost. Food in Chops was, again IMO, better suited to my tastes. Service on both ships depends much more on the individual staff members you come into contact with, than which line employs them. There is no guarantee that the service you receive on one ship will automatically be better than the service you receive on the other.

Your mother, if her standard for comparison is Black Watch, will probably not be that impressed with Celebrity, though she might find it quieter and more to her liking than RCI. Your kids, however, will likely find RCI offers them much more. Ultimately you need to concern yourself with which cruise experience will please YOU the most. You have already concluded that some members of your group will be happier with one ship over the other and you may not be able to completely satisfy everyone, so perhaps you need to concentrate on your needs and desires.

[sbtagent]

Eclipse has a very modern design, might not be how you think a cruiseship should look like. More like a 'botique hotel' style. Like the older millennium class better, and would prefer RCCL Independence. Would not use RCCL for a short med cruise, as it attracts a lot of special groups of spanish people, but since Independence do longer cruises, i think this would be fine.

[yogimax]

What's the price difference, if any?