Royal Caribbean vs Celebrity...

[TheD1gitalMe]

Hi Everyone,

 

I was just looking for your opinions on Royal Caribbean vs Celebrity cruises.

 

We have only ever cruised with Royal Caribbean as we really enjoy everything about them, but have recently been looking around at different cruises in terms of pricing and destinations and Celebrity keeps coming up.

 

I am 30 and my wife is nearly there too ;) so we just wanted to know what others thoughts were. The pro's and con's of each cruise line.

 

I will be posting this in the Celebrity forum as well.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! :)

[xeonpro]

I haven't been yet, but my wife and I (both 26) will probably be booking our next cruise on a solstice class ship. I've always been intrigued by their product!

 

To answer your question, from my research it seems the age has come down for celebrity, more of the young professional type. Hope this helps.

[wants2cruise2]

I've done both, the plus is you may be able to move into a higher level in their Captains Club, there is no real downside.

 

I found Celebrity to be very much like Royal, but one level higher, stuffier. More international guests, menu more varried,

 

But overall, while it was nice, I find Royal more confortable.

I find royal is "kick off your shoes and curl up on your girlfriends sofa to watch tv together" Celebrity is more "sitting in the living room to talk"

IMHO that's what I feel.

 

If the price and ports were good, I would do it again.

[fast ed]

From what you say I think your going to be happier on royal than X. If you want I would go for NCL or Carnival for a more similar atmosphere to Royal.

[bajathree]

Celebrity Solstice class is beautiful. You will find the age group a bit more mature overall on Celebrity. If you are in your 20's...early 30's you will find you will be much more on the younger side of the passenger make-up. The atmosphere is much more laid back relaxing feeling....you wouldn't find all the fast packed activities like rock climbing...ice skating...flowrider...they don't exist on X. What you will find is a quieter atmosphere...daytime activities are more related to things like classes...ie.wine tasting verse things on Royal like belly flop and sexy man contests. If you like a quieter vacation atmosphere you would like X....if you like the more active fast paced vacation atmosphere....stick with Royal. I found when I was on Solstice that the ship was basically asleep by 10-11pm every night.

[OTownNick]

What Bajathree said was dead on. But if you want to get to the next C&A levels faster, then I would recommend staying with RCL and do Celebrity later on. We didn't try Celebrity til we were Diamond (just the way it worked out) and it worked out great because being Diamond automatically puts you in the Celebrity Elite level, which is their top tier.

 

My point is, although Celebrity was an awesome, RELAXING and more of a romantic type of cruise, having access to the top tier amenities (like the concierge lounge and special spa stuff) really made the trip extra incredible for us.

 

Now I think about if we had taken RCL that one cruise instead of Celebrity, I would already be D+ cause you don't get points toward C&A, but it was worth it.

Edited August 18, 2012 by OTownNick

[TEXASMUNK]

1. less announcements....more relaxed atmosphere on Celebrity

2. Formal nights..you will see more formal attire, you will not see undershirts (with an imprint) and baseball caps.

3.Celebrity requests you maintain formal attire for the evening, not jsut the meal.

4. Nightlife.a bit quieter, but we have NEVER failed to find the rowdy folks that close the bars way, way, way past 1am..heck sometimes 3am.

[Realtor at Sea]

My husband and I are "mature" cruisers. That said, we enjoyed Celebrity, but missed RCCL 's "fun" atmosphere.

[Erik101]

We decided to go with Celebrity for the next 2 cruises because we were/are intrigued with the restaurant Blu, specifically reserved for Aqua Class suite guests. I like the idea that Blu is the MDR for Aqua suite guests, the food is cooked to order and most of all, we are not required to wear formal attire.

 

Still, we do like RCCL's Oasis class ships and we absolutely fell in love with the Allure. We're planning on trying the Oasis sometime in the future.

[cirman52]

1. less announcements....more relaxed atmosphere on Celebrity

2. Formal nights..you will see more formal attire, you will not see undershirts (with an imprint) and baseball caps.

3.Celebrity requests you maintain formal attire for the evening, not jsut the meal.

 

#1- just the morning announcement

#2- we never do formal, but on X they do like to dress, even though, must say, more suits for men than tuxes. It all depends on the location of the cruise.

#3-they may say they maintain formal for the evening, but like i said, we never dress ( 2 men ). Wait, never dress formal. We have been all over the ship on formal nights, wearing tees & shorts on the 4 cruises with X, and never was made to feel uncomfortable by staff.

[klingoncruiser]

Give X a try. It is a bit more upscale than RCI, but and the food is better(JMHO) It is good to try other lines. In the end, they really are very similar to each other. You will NOT regret taking a cruise on Celebrity.

[sleeky]

We have been on both and prefer RC.

 

Food - probably a bit better on Celebrity. love the hot pancakes for breakfast. Enjoy RC food but think X is a bit better

 

Entertainment - Love RC, Good production shows, Ice shows et. Celebrity Summit in the Med was frankly boring, the Violinist and Acapella headline shows were just not our cup of tea. The music around the ship in general

was a bit "stuffy" We are both in our 50s and not party animals but found X too "highbrow". The Equinox entertainment on our cruise to Panama was better but still not v exciting.

 

Ships - love RC but can't fault X either, prefer RC for the promenade, Ice

Shows, Flowrider, Johnny Rockets etc.

 

Cabins - v similar, no preference

 

In short I will probably cruise with X again if the price is right and I fancy the itinerary but would choose RC first.

[Carolyn R]

I think you might like Princess. I found the food on Royal to be sub par. Celebrity was stuffier but the food was pretty good. Princess turned out to be a good fit for me.

[macruisefan]

I like both, but that's because I can't get a combination of all the things I like in one or the other.

 

Strengths of Celebrity:

No "swipe your card for pool towels", just take them.

Premium Alcoholic Beverage Package.

Allow bottles to be ordered for the room.

Honor bar stocked with beer, wine and liquor.

Better poolside service (drinks, etc...)

Food quality in non fee venues (MDR and Buffet) a notch above RCI

Decor of the ships and staterooms feels nicer.

Fewer kids (although still good for kids), and not as geared towards them (i.e. not characters, etc..)

 

 

Strengths of RCI:

More unique ships, bigger ships- love Freedom and Oasis Class.

More premium dining options.

More ships = more itinieraries, and more flexibility with options.

 

Truth be told, if Celebrity had a Freedom class vessel, with a few more premium dining options, I would probably exclusively sail them.

[shayelle]

The majority of our cruises have been RCCL. We did a Mediterenean cruise last summer on Celebrity Equinox. It was amazing. I would cruise Celebrity again for sure.

 

We are a "little" older then you guys but we really enjoyed it. You will, for the most part, find fewer kids. We will always sail RCCL with the kids. The trip last summer we didn't bring them : )

 

Have fun whatever you decide!

[janetz]

Give X a try. It is a bit more upscale than RCI, but and the food is better(JMHO) It is good to try other lines. In the end, they really are very similar to each other. You will NOT regret taking a cruise on Celebrity.

 

 

I agree. They are so much alike. I do give RCthe edge on entertainment. I would not call Celebrity stuffy, I would say it is more sedate. :) Celebrity is a great line.

[wwcruisers]

In addition to the features pointed out by the other posters here, there are two factors that may (or may not) be important to the OP:

-- X allows 2 bottles of wine per stateroom, at embarkation;

-- X does not permit smoking on the balconies, or anywhere indoors.

Those are two of the reasons that we've pretty much switched from RC to X -- along with better food -- and NO Shrek! :rolleyes:

[cathleen]

I thought Celebrity had better food. Service was more polished.

 

RCCL had better entertainment/nightlife.

 

The best time we ever had on a cruise ship was on the Rhapsody of the Seas.

[sbowen]

Hi Everyone,

 

I was just looking for your opinions on Royal Caribbean vs Celebrity cruises.

 

We have only ever cruised with Royal Caribbean as we really enjoy everything about them, but have recently been looking around at different cruises in terms of pricing and destinations and Celebrity keeps coming up.

 

I am 30 and my wife is nearly there too ;) so we just wanted to know what others thoughts were. The pro's and con's of each cruise line.

 

I will be posting this in the Celebrity forum as well.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! :)

 

Paul_1712, we have been considering the same thing. We are also 30 and we are concerned about what we have heard about the ship basically shutting down at 10 or 11 pm. We love the nightlife on RCI.

 

I am also intrigued with the additional ports that X offers. They have some fantastic itineraries.

 

Thank you for posting this because it has given me more insight into X. I do think we will try X when we run across an itinerary that fits into our schedule.

 

Again, thank you for posting.

[Kellie Poodle]

Best thing about X is the non-smoking policy. I enjoy donating a few dollars to the casino and the non-smoking casino on X allows me to do this.

 

Worst thing on X is the buffet. Royal's is much better.

 

For MDR, X has better variety and some dishes are better, while some dishes on Royal are favs, too. Neither line does desserts well.

 

Breakfast pastries on X are horrible. They need to rework their corporate recipe. I love the fruit bread slices on Royal. X has nothing as good. X's much-touted and rarely seen sticky buns are dry as dust under the gooey coating.

 

Whenever I sail X, I miss the Tutti salad bar on sea days that Royal has. I have never had a satisfactory lunch on X, with the exception of their hot dogs at the poolside grill. Love those hot dogs, but am I on a cruise to eat

hot dogs?

 

Service is pretty much the same. The corporate culture being the driving force.

 

Cabin amenities are nice on X, but I bring my own shampoo and body wash. If I ask my cabin attendant on Royal for hand lotion, I usually get it.

 

Elite on X has better perks than Diamond on Royal.

 

We will sail on either line depending on itinerary. There are pluses and minuses with each.

 

If you are going for the "cruise experience", the boat being a destination, you will probably be happier with Royal. If you are like us, using the ship as a hotel while visiting interesting ports, then you'll probably enjoy X.

[Larry5440]

Just to chime in here, we prefer RC over Celebrity.

 

Kelliepoodle summed it up well, as many others have. I would characterize X as both sedate and stuffy. We sailed the Constellation 41 consectutive days and can speak to the underlying theme of X "thinks" they are better than RC, and , they are not, they are just different. RC, we have never encountered the reverse attitude of RC thinking they are better than X. In fact, Loyalty Ambassadors encourage you to try the sister line. X does not, in fact you will be lucky to find a RC brochere. We boarded with high expectations and were sadly disappointed. We will always choose RC over X , the ships are more fun, friendly, and staff in comparison are far more helpful and happy than on X.

 

 

A couple of things not mentioned so far, are the bedding and the cabin layouts are better on RC. The conceirge class cabin is not worth the extra dollars on X. Also, on X we were shocked to see our cabin being prepared for the next day guests. New robes were placed in the closet, our bathroom ammenities gathered up together and new ones placed out for the next guest, our fruit and flowers were taken out of the room, and we were basically made to feel - get out. Time is up!! We had not even packed yet.

 

We were so sorry that our expectations were so high and felt let down. We had heard so many great things about Celebrity.Oh, and the dress code is not enforced on the X ships like many have stated.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Larry5440

[roe2ship]

I have one Celebrity cruise and I feel the major difference between the two is the lack of entertainment and whatever they did have was kind of boring. The bars/lounges were practically empty at 10:00pm and bar service was VERY slow. I would cruise on their Solstice class ships without a doubt....but I would think long and hard before I return to one of their smaller older ships.

 

A couple of things not mentioned so far, are the bedding and the cabin layouts are better on RC. The conceirge class cabin is not worth the extra dollars on X. Also, on X we were shocked to see our cabin being prepared for the next day guests. New robes were placed in the closet, our bathroom ammenities gathered up together and new ones placed out for the next guest, our fruit and flowers were taken out of the room, and we were basically made to feel - get out. Time is up!! We had not even packed yet.

 

Same thing happened to us......our cabin steward locked the refrigerator door the night before....I was so surprised....so much for excellent service.

[eric1e]

I've cruised with both and have enjoyed both. I can clearly say that they have distinct differences and would say it just depends on how you feel at that moment you are booking.

 

I would sum it up as such, What is more of a priority to you?

 

Better service/food or better entertainment/activities.

Edited August 18, 2012 by ericle37

[FLJudi]

Will always pick Celebrity over RCI because of the strict no smoking policy on Celebrity. I want a smoke free room and balcony and smoke free interior spaces. Makes my decision a no brainier.

[macruisefan]

We sailed the Constellation 41 consectutive days and can speak to the underlying theme of X "thinks" they are better than RC, and , they are not, they are just different.

 

Was this really exuded by "Celebrity" (i.e. the staff)? Or was it more so exuded by the guests? If so, I suspect it being a 41 day itinerary might play a factor. In all fairness, comparing a 41 day itinerary to your typical 7 nighter is really comparing apples to oranges.

 

RC, we have never encountered the reverse attitude of RC thinking they are better than X. In fact, Loyalty Ambassadors encourage you to try the sister line. X does not, in fact you will be lucky to find a RC brochere.

 

I was on Solstice in April, and they had brochures aplenty for Celebrity, RCI and Azamura- on the first day. By midweek, the pickings were slim across the board. Then again, you were on a 41 day journey. I'm not sure how much cross pollenation (yourself excluded of course) there is between that cruise, and a typical RCI trip anyhow.

 

Also, on X we were shocked to see our cabin being prepared for the next day guests. New robes were placed in the closet, our bathroom ammenities gathered up together and new ones placed out for the next guest, our fruit and flowers were taken out of the room, and we were basically made to feel - get out. Time is up!! We had not even packed yet.

 

In two Celebrity Cruises, I've never experienced this. I almost wish I had on Solstice, as we got a little "carried away" with the mini bar the last night LOL!

 

However, I sailed a transatlantic on QM2 in a Queens Grill Suite, and we encountered the same thing. I also had it happen to me on Liberty of The Seas. I don't think this is a company policy, but rather particular stateroom attendants trying to get ahead.

 

We were so sorry that our expectations were so high and felt let down. We had heard so many great things about Celebrity.Oh, and the dress code is not enforced on the X ships like many have stated.

 

Nothing is ever 100%. However, I again reiterate that on Solstice in April, the dress code was very much enforced, as I saw people being turned away from the MDR. Again left wondering if there is a little more flexibility with someone who shelled out the $$ for a 41 day journey.