Royal Caribbean cruiser with some Celebrity questions

[toxicfairy]

Hi all we will be doing our 5th cruise with Royal in August ,which will make us Emerald in the crown and anchor. I am curious to try another line but not interested in straying to far so I thought Celebrity would be a good choice. If any one has tried both Lines could you tell me the main differences? Since the are both owned by the same (?) Company I thought maybe they wouldn't be too different. Is celebrity any dressier?

Thanks for any help :-)

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Celebrity is a bit more dressy. The ships have a sophisticated look versus the amusement park vibe of some of the larger Royal ships.

 

The service I think it good on both lines but the crew dress a bit more formally than on Royal.

 

The cabins are about the same size as on Royal.

 

The specialty restaurants are better on Celebrity IMO. I think the buffets are good on both lines.

 

The pools on Celebrity are more adult- there is no H2O zone or rock climbing or wave rider.

 

It's an adult ship, with a good youth program for kids.

 

There is no mall like on the larger Royal ships or ice rink or outdoor movie theater.

 

The vibe of Celebrity is relaxing and there are low key activities. You have bingo, trivia, games, dance classes, cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, lectures, etc.

Edited March 8, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[scanditaly]

Celebrity is a bit more dressy. The ships have a sophisticated look versus the amusement park vibe of some of the larger Royal ships.

 

The service I think it good on both lines but the crew dress a bit more formally than on Royal.

 

The cabins are about the same size as on Royal.

 

The specialty restaurants are better on Celebrity IMO. I think the buffets are good on both lines.

 

The pools on Celebrity are more adult- there is no H2O zone or rock climbing or wave rider.

 

It's an adult ship, with a good youth program for kids.

 

There is no mall like on the larger Royal ships or ice rink or outdoor movie theater.

 

The vibe of Celebrity is relaxing and there are low key activities. You have bingo, trivia, games, dance classes, cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, lectures, etc.

 

yep

[FrancescaH]

We had ten cruises with Royal Caribbean (diamond) before we tried our first Celebrity cruise on the Silhouette a few weeks ago.

 

First, the ship just has a different feel if you are used to the Voyager or Freedom classes, but not in a bad way. The decor has a different vibe being elegant yet modern. We liked it. The storage in the cabins seemed a bit lighter but it was at least manageable. There are not constant announcements or activities like you would be used to. The daily wasn't nearly as packed leaving us feeling like we could participate without feeling run to ground. If you need the outside activity, you can play bocce or croquet. The food may be a touch better on Celebrity in the MDR but far better elsewhere. With buffet vs buffet, Celebrity easily won. If you are the type that needs to be constantly busy, I don't think Celebrity is for you. If you want your cruise to give you a chance to unwind between ports, give it a try. We liked the differences enough that our next cruise is on Celebrity.

[NorthCarolinaBelle]

Ditto to what the others said, but the main reason we switched to Celebrity after cruising many times on Royal is the stricter smoking policy. Royal ships smell like an ashtray, even in the areas that are non smoking. Once we stepped onto our first clean-smelling Celebrity ship, they won us over.

[The_Big_M]

The main difference is probably the lack of sporting activities on Celebrity, and on the Solstice class ships, their modern, hotel style appearance.

 

There are other differences, but I'd say they're the main ones.

[bsbcgirl]

I am Emerald on Royal and just did my first cruise 3 weeks ago on Celebrity Constellation. All of the above posts have made a good comparison between the two cruise lines. The entertainment on Royal is a little better. Personally, I did not think the food was better on Celebrity. The buffet on Royal is better, the MDR food/selection is equal, the poolside burgers on Celebrity were great and I cannot compare specialty restaurants. What attracted me to try Celebrity was the free drink package. It was a great, even for someone like me who does not consume a lot of alcohol. I'm glad I tried Celebrity, because now I have two great cruise line choices for the future.

[nngardener]

Hi all we will be doing our 5th cruise with Royal in August ,which will make us Emerald in the crown and anchor. I am curious to try another line but not interested in straying to far so I thought Celebrity would be a good choice. If any one has tried both Lines could you tell me the main differences? Since the are both owned by the same (?) Company I thought maybe they wouldn't be too different. Is celebrity any dressier?

Thanks for any help :-)

I too am Emerald on Royal Caribbean having sailed several times mostly on the Voyager class of ships and just love the Explorer of the Seas. However, we've now done 2 sailings on the Eclipse and can only echo what the others have said. The Solstice ships are beautiful and IMO the food is better. It's a definitely different vibe but I'd still sail Royal Caribbean so you can't lose with either one. It just depends on what you prefer.

[kevinyork]

Everything is subjective. Weve been on Royal and did our first X cruise last year. We did Royal last April followed by X in July so had a good comparison.

 

If someone has never cruised on RCI then it has to be experienced. The ships zing and have great standout features. However the Celebrity S class ship is beautiful. It has lovely public areas and lovely decor. To me its like a 5 star Mayfair hotel. The furnishings are great (so many lovely original chairs). If you need activity filled days X isnt for you. Its more relaxed. We felt less stressed and enjoyed the extra space (given the better passenger to space ratio).

 

We enjoyed the food on X better. Both in the buffet and the MDR. On our RCI cruise last April we were dissappointed and sent back some dishes. The menu sounded great but the excecution or ingredients were sometimes lacking. On X we never sent anything back. They have better Vegetarian options (a seperate menu) too.

 

To sum it up on an RCI ship you go WOW, on a Celebrity ship you go Mmmmm. Our two cruises this year are on X.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[toxicfairy]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like what I am looking for. How is the children ratio on Celebrity? I love kids , I work with kids but I'm tired of being over run with kids on vacation ( I don't mind the well behaved ones but you don't really see too many of them any more). I can't afford the cruise lines that don't allow kids and I'm not " old and rickety" yet so I don't think those lines would be a good fit for me right now.;)

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Celebrity gets it's fair share of kids on school breaks but about 1/2 as many as on Royal Caribbean. They tend to congregate in the youth and teen programs and are not a nuisance. In the summer cruises on Summit to Bermuda. There will be lots of children. This means that there are just more passengers in general and that means fewer available chairs by the pool. The kids that were on board were not an issue other than you have 4 to a cabin= 20% more passengers than on off season cruises.

[neverbeenhere]

Most Celebrity cruises don't have more than 20 kids. (See the word, "most"). The Celebrity kids program is great. Generally you will never see the little kids, except in the buffet around 2ish. In warm weather climates, the little ones will have a parade one day, usually with a pirate theme. Other than that, unless one is at your table, you never see them. The larger clunks are a little more hit and miss, some are teenagers of the 'best?#%##" type and some are humans. Celebrity attempts to keep them out of lounges, but roll the dice on that one.

[bsbcgirl]

Went on Constellation during this year's Feb school break in the Northeast. Hardly any kids.

[wallie5446]

Hi all we will be doing our 5th cruise with Royal in August ,which will make us Emerald in the crown and anchor. I am curious to try another line but not interested in straying to far so I thought Celebrity would be a good choice. If any one has tried both Lines could you tell me the main differences? Since the are both owned by the same (?) Company I thought maybe they wouldn't be too different. Is celebrity any dressier?

Thanks for any help :-)

 

The dress will be compairable, the main differences will be the plaza vs atrium. Our 1st RCCL in 1987, last Freedom 2011. 1st Celbrity in 1994.

Reflection formal, Freedom formal, plaza, atrium.

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

We've sailed several times on Royal and loved every minute of it. Then we sailed a few times on Celebrity and it was for us total relaxation, and personally I love not hearing all the loud announcements like you hear on Royal. We sailed on the Oasis in Jan and had a really good trip, loved the shows, different restaurants, boardwalk, central park and it never seemed overly crowed anyplace, but with all that being said we still are going back to Celebrity, I feel that they spoil you and you really do relax more. I felt like we didn't have enough time to do it all on the Oasis, and it was pretty tiring trying to see and do it all. Great ship but not very relaxing and the kids on our cruise were rude and everywhere. I too love kids, but if they are not well mannered and respectful of others, that spoils it for me personally.

[drarill]

Ditto to what the others said, but the main reason we switched to Celebrity after cruising many times on Royal is the stricter smoking policy. Royal ships smell like an ashtray, even in the areas that are non smoking. Once we stepped onto our first clean-smelling Celebrity ship, they won us over.

 

I agree with you. We also moved from RCCL to Celebrity looking for a better smoking policy. We really like Celebrity's food, longer european itineraries, service and overall experience. We are going back to Royal in December to celebrate NYE, hoping for a better experience after the change in smoking policy. ;)

[izzy19]

We have done both as well...2 RCCL and will be going on our 2nd X in December... we both like the relaxation and less kids part of X...as well as the no smoking policy on balconies... food is a bit better imho... everybody seems to have hit the main points that make the 2 lines different.

[laura2060]

Did you know that, depending on your level, you can link your status with RCCL to Celebrity? You are not exchanging, but both lines are owned by the same parent company and will honor the other's frequent cruiser status. You will need your Crown and Anchor Society membership number to accomplish this. Do it ASAP if you can so you get all the boarding benefits.

[toxicfairy]

Thanks again every one. I'm going to try Celebrity next year!!

[SPacificbound]

Even though we have not yet been on Celebrity I want to make a comment that I haven't seen posted yet. :)

 

We booked our b2b2b Feb/March 2015 on Celebrity because of the itineraries. Royal just did not have what we were looking for. For Fall 2015 I will be booking Med this month, and so far I do not see Eastern Med cruises on Royal that compare to what Celebrity offered for 2014. When Celebrity's schedule for 2015 comes out on the 17th I'll compare again, but I'm guessing I will still like Celebrity's itinerary better.

 

In the future I'm sure we will still book with Royal, but for next year Celebrity has us. ;)

[izzy19]

Thanks laura2060...we only had a balcony and inside on RCCL but I'll send Celebrity an note asking them if we qualify for anything.

[luv2cruise523]

To sum it up on an RCI ship you go WOW, on a Celebrity ship you go Mmmmm.

 

Yes!

[NorbertsNiece]

Thanks for starting this thread OP.

 

I'm Diamond on Royal and looking at the Oz / NZ itineraries for 2015/16. Solstice has an awesome itinerary which outclasses Royal so am really interested in moving over. Solo traveller and my budget is tight hence getting a great itinerary is paramount. Grateful for any tips, advice etc.

[not2old]

I too am Emerald on Royal Caribbean having sailed several times mostly on the Voyager class of ships and just love the Explorer of the Seas. However, we've now done 2 sailings on the Eclipse and can only echo what the others have said. The Solstice ships are beautiful and IMO the food is better. It's a definitely different vibe but I'd still sail Royal Caribbean so you can't lose with either one. It just depends on what you prefer.

We are in full agreement with the comments, however, the one thing that stood out to us was cabin size. We sail Royal Caribbean a lot and enjoy our Junior suites. We booked a Concierge cabin on Celebrity Eclipse and it didn't compare at all to the JS! no tub/shower, no walk in closet and much smaller in square footage. After we got over our "shock" and found plenty of storage space and a nice sized balcony (still not as large as RCL) we were ok. It seems that you need to upgrade to much more expensive suites to get comparable space on Celebrity. We were on a 14nt cruise and we loved it. When you return you feel like you have really been on a vacation, relaxed and satisfied! We decided to book 3 more Celebrity cruises on different class ships-M class and another on the Eclipse as the relaxation factor is key for us! We will still sail RCL as it is special to us, but we are so glad we made the "jump" to Celebrity also, Try the line and see what you think, Happy Cruising!

[Stateroom_Sailor]

This threat has me scared as to whether I should switch back to RCL this summer. Is there the belly flop and hairy chest contest? I usually win both, and am itching to show off my mad skills! ~~~\:eek:/~~~