Celebrity vs ???

[Lightngsvt]

We recently returned from the 3/24 sailing of the Celebrity Silhouette to the Western Carribean. Despite the poor weather we loved the cruise, the ship and the crew and cant wait to go on another cruise again, maybe this fall / winter. I think our next will again be Carribean, followed by something in Europe.

 

We love Celebrity and would love to sail again but the Carribean itineraries are a bit light. So what lines would be comparable for service, dining, decor, entertainment, etc?

[Essiesmom]

Please define what you mean by the itinerary being light? The Caribbean is about Fun in the Sun. If you are looking for something more intellectually stimulating...Hmmm...Not the Caribbean. Alaska, maybe. And Europe. EM

[kitty9]

I also don't understand what you mean by the itineraries being "light". If you mean boring, or all the same, every ship will give you basically the same experience in the Caribbean. If by light you mean no enrichment, again on the mainstream lines, you're not going to find much in enrichment activities other than the occasional lecture.

 

So please explain what you mean by "light".

[marco]

We also like Celebrity, but we like HAL and Princess, too. We pretty much stick to these 3 and decide based on itinerary, date, price.

[Lightngsvt]

BY "light" I meant there is basically only 2 itineraries offered, not much variety on the ports. Other lines like Carnival seems to have some more interesting itineraries. Celebrity doesnt seem to hit some of the islands that are more off the beaten path. We did their Western Carribean, the Eastern is only San Juan, St Thomas and St Maarten. Not that those arent great ports but there are other islands, Bahamas, etc too.

 

Eurpoe and Alaska are on our to-do list now too in the next couple of years.

 

So HAL or Princess would be comparables? I dont see us going on Carnival, not because of the recent issues, but because I think Celebrity hit a sweet spot where we were comfortable with class, decor, service, quantity of children onboard, amenities, price, etc.

[Scrapnana]

Celebrity does some wonderful European cruises in the Med and the Baltic. I have done the Baltic and highly recommend it.

[KirkNC]

We also like Celebrity, but we like HAL and Princess, too. We pretty much stick to these 3 and decide based on itinerary, date, price.

 

That is what we do even though our recent Princess cruise has us a bit leary to go back.

[momofmeg]

That is what we do even though our recent Princess cruise has us a bit leary to go back.

 

I do not like all the heavy smokers that HAL attracts-otherwise I like HAL but now I am leary of picking HAL.

[kelmac]

We recently returned from the 3/24 sailing of the Celebrity Silhouette to the Western Carribean. Despite the poor weather we loved the cruise, the ship and the crew and cant wait to go on another cruise again, maybe this fall / winter. I think our next will again be Carribean, followed by something in Europe.

 

We love Celebrity and would love to sail again but the Carribean itineraries are a bit light. So what lines would be comparable for service, dining, decor, entertainment, etc?

 

ln,

 

It's hard to beat Celebrity (think quality for price) ! In most cases you are going to have to pay more to equal, or improve on, Celebrity's product. After 46 cruises, I would look at Cunard (very formal), Oceania (twice the price), Azamara (owned by Celebrity) -- just below Celebrity's product, look at Holland America (old school) and Princess (crowded ships).

The Oasis class of ships of Royal Caribbean are unique and worth a look.

 

We have 21 cruises with Celebrity, so you can see it's our favorite "bang for the buck". Other lines have better itineraries and nice wrap around promenade decks, but dollar for dollar Celebrity rules.

 

Good Luck!

Kel:)

[EGG]

We cruise for itinerary an then throw in time and price so we have gone on many cruise lines and been happy with the different experiences. Celebrity has been our favorite cruise line with Carnival being our least favorite. Princess was probably the closest .

 

Also consider the Celebrity Summit out of NJ for a long NE/Canada cruise or a cruise to the Eastern Caribean or see if there is a Panama Canal Cruise. Often these only a few times a year.

 

The problem with booking the same Cruise line and especially the same ship is that you can have the same shows year after year.

[momofmeg]

We cruise for itinerary an then throw in time and price so we have gone on many cruise lines and been happy with the different experiences. Celebrity has been our favorite cruise line with Carnival being our least favorite. Princess was probably the closest .

 

Also consider the Celebrity Summit out of NJ for a long NE/Canada cruise or a cruise to the Eastern Caribean or see if there is a Panama Canal Cruise. Often these only a few times a year.

 

The problem with booking the same Cruise line and especially the same ship is that you can have the same shows year after year.

 

I liked Carnvial when I first started cruising, but after about 5 years I realized I was just too old for all that party-party atomsophere. It has been 9 years now and it would have to be something really special to get me on Carnival again.

 

That said my last Celebrity cruise was a 4 day and whoah! I thought I was on Carnival by my fellow PAX- a lot of swinging singles-30 somethings-and they even had some silly pool games- the loud decor was the only thing missing-so I now know to stay away from the shorter Celebrity cruises also. I can't expect those to be the same PAX mix as the better cruises we have taken on Celebrity.

 

I did enjoy my Jewel of the Seas 5 day we took in late 2011. That cruiseline attracts more families, I like the atmosphere of families better than singles.( even if I do prefer an old fogie PAX mix like my hubby and I-lol!) Plus RCI had a kid's curfew also-11 pm under 18 unless are with parents-I would do a short RCI cruise again.

[Tiggertastic]

If you want something like celebrity, don't do carnival or ncl - they are a lot more relaxed

 

We love both celebrity and ncl but also try rccl

[momofmeg]

If you want something like celebrity, don't do carnival or ncl - they are a lot more relaxed

 

We love both celebrity and ncl but also try rccl

 

I am fine with NCL-it is more family oriented than "party-hardy" oriented. That said though, it is not like Celebrity at all. It is a budget line and emphasis is NOT on service but on the budget price. ,NCL And Celebrity both have a lot of pay extra restaurants where you find their better food-however on Celebrity you still get a fairly nice meal in the main dining room-whereas NCL is more like a cross between hotel banquest and cafeteria food. Now I like places like Piccadilly okay so I do not mind that too much, but those used to Celebrity's dining room may be disappointed. Also, as much as I dislike Carnival's atmsosphere, I have to admit they serve much better main dining room food than NCL, and even RCI. NCL does have great shows though, they are on par with the other lines on that.

[Lightngsvt]

Sounds like it all really comes down to preference really. We are 40 with no kids so not really into the party atmosphere of Carnival or the family atmosphere mentioned on NCL. So maybe RCCL, HAL or Princess would be comparables for us. Though maybe Celebrity is worth a few more cruises before we branch out?

[mafig]

The ships can only go so fast. Also, some of the islands cannot accommodate a large cruise ship. If you look at 10 day or longer cruises you will find more interesting itineraries.

 

We are currently booked on Crown Princess, mainly because the itinerary has Aruba and Curacao on it....a little different than the usual.

[lgsshedden]

there are less cruises to the Caribbean in the Fall primarily because its peak hurricane season (it is off season for land vacations in the Caribbean also): other venues have increased offerings to compensate.

[luv2cruise450]

As Mafig mentioned...some ships are just too big for some of the Caribbean islands...in which case...if you are looking for some 'smaller' ships than HAL fits the bill better than some of the other mainstream lines since HAL's biggest ships are often smaller than some of the other lines 'smaller' ships...We have over 150 days of sailing with HAL and Celebrity would be second at around 85 days...we feel that the 2 lines are more similar than dissimilar in general...Give HAL a try if you find an itinerary and pricing that appeals to you...

We have cruised 3 times with Oceania and do love the experience but as someone else mentioned...they are quite pricey compared with Celebrity and HAL for similar itineraries...so now we try to get in an Oceania sailing once every 2 years or so...

 

Happy sailing!

[Crusincat]

I have sailed on Celebrity, Carnival and now Norwegian and I truly love Norwegian and recommend it highly for a caribbean cruise. We did the Norwegian Sun for an 11 day cruise from Feb 27-March 10 2013 and would love to do it again. I highly recommend it to you

[momofmeg]

Sounds like it all really comes down to preference really. We are 40 with no kids so not really into the party atmosphere of Carnival or the family atmosphere mentioned on NCL. So maybe RCCL, HAL or Princess would be comparables for us. Though maybe Celebrity is worth a few more cruises before we branch out?

 

RCI Is a family atmosphere also.

[momofmeg]

I have sailed on Celebrity, Carnival and now Norwegian and I truly love Norwegian and recommend it highly for a caribbean cruise. We did the Norwegian Sun for an 11 day cruise from Feb 27-March 10 2013 and would love to do it again. I highly recommend it to you

 

I disliked the layout of the NCL Sun and Sky both. Their buffet restaurants are horrible for traffic flow.

 

I do like that ittnerary the Sun is now doing though.