Royal Caribbean cruiser with some Celebrity questions

[CruisingChick]

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

 

Really? We just did our very first Royal Caribbean Cruise on Explorer in March and thought the buffet for lunch was terrible compared to Celebrity. Also thought MDR food and service while good it was not (overall) as good as Celebrity. We had been on 17 straight Celebrity cruises before trying Royal.

 

Would we sail Royal again, of course, especially since we are Diamond Members because of our Elite+ status on Celebrity.

[stones902]

Frequent RCI cruiser here (D+ approx. 35 sailings). We are sailing Celebrity for the first time in 14 years this November prior to their merge with RCI when we were on the Century.

 

I recall at that time that Celebrity was known to be superior for their dining. Unfortunately, other than our waiter preparing a nice pasta dish at the table we didn't find the food to be any better or worse than RCI. Service wise (and I blame our waiter for this) our service overall to be substandard.

 

I recall an incident that is humorous now but I was pretty angry at the time. It was lobster night on board and I was prepped and ready to enjoy a couple of nice lobster tables for dinner. We were seated in a section of the dining room where our table seemed to be the last one served by the waiter in our section. The table next to us (in our section) had 4 couples (4 big guys) who ordered 3 lobster tails each with their ladies ordering 2 each for a total of 20 tails being served to a table of 8. When our waiter came to our table I ordered my customary 2 lobster tails only to be told they were out!

 

Now that I think about it the situation was so absurd it was pretty funny but I certainly wasn't happy at the time. I have to mention also that after complaining to our Head Waiter he managed to track down a couple of lobster tails for me the next evening.

[villauk]

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 :-)

 

 

You're finally making the Oasis cruise this year then :). I remember you from our roll call last year - you'll love Oasis, we had a brilliant time on her. Even though I thought I'd never say it, we'll definitely be looking to sailing that class again :).

 

We sailed Silhouette last month, followed by Indy. The service and food was definitely better on Silhouette - we couldn't fault the cruise. Don't get me wrong, we had a blast on Indy, it was just lacking with some of the nice extras: the cold towels, the welcome drink, nothing was too much trouble for the staff. Indy actually felt much more crowded, even more so than Oasis (and how many pax are on her :eek:).

 

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.

 

Solstice's itinerary is fabulous, especially departing from Sydney. Have to say I've never been anywhere more like the UK than NZ, every place reminded me of somewhere back home :D. There are a couple of good reviews on here for that itinerary: check out Terry from Ohio's Solstice review and I posted one awhile back ;).

 

We like both lines, but as you say, itinerary is the first thing we also take into consideration :).

[NorbertsNiece]

You're finally making the Oasis cruise this year then :). I remember you from our roll call last year - you'll love Oasis, we had a brilliant time on her. Even though I thought I'd never say it, we'll definitely be looking to sailing that class again :).

 

We sailed Silhouette last month, followed by Indy. The service and food was definitely better on Silhouette - we couldn't fault the cruise. Don't get me wrong, we had a blast on Indy, it was just lacking with some of the nice extras: the cold towels, the welcome drink, nothing was too much trouble for the staff. Indy actually felt much more crowded, even more so than Oasis (and how many pax are on her :eek:).

 

 

 

Solstice's itinerary is fabulous, especially departing from Sydney. Have to say I've never been anywhere more like the UK than NZ, every place reminded me of somewhere back home :D. There are a couple of good reviews on here for that itinerary: check out Terry from Ohio's Solstice review and I posted one awhile back ;).

 

We like both lines, but as you say, itinerary is the first thing we also take into consideration :).

 

The itinerary I'm looking at is awesome...... 43 nights including flights & hotels in Auckland and Sydney...... circumnavigates Australia.... it's a dream.....

[rdaniel]

My wife & I have cruised primary on Royal. We will hit Diamond on Royal after our next cruise. So were thinking of trying X after we reach Diamond. One think that has bothered me on Royal is the distractions in the MDR. I go to the dining room to enjoy a great meal not to hear the singing and dancing of waiters. Should we expect the same distractions in the X MDR?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Really? We just did our very first Royal Caribbean Cruise on Explorer in March and thought the buffet for lunch was terrible compared to Celebrity. Also thought MDR food and service while good it was not (overall) as good as Celebrity. We had been on 17 straight Celebrity cruises before trying Royal.

 

We haven't been on Celebrity yet, but the buffet look really good. One of the only things I was disappointed on RCL was the MDR food, and it wasn't bad by any means, just a drop in quality from even Carnival. The soups were especially disappointing, and other than the beef/duck/lamb soups, I've had better at Denney's.

 

We like RCL very much, no one cruise line can be top notch at everything or the price would be higher. That's why we're going to contiue to switch it up, and enjoy prices, activities, and itineraries of different lines.

[The_Big_M]

One think that has bothered me on Royal is the distractions in the MDR. I go to the dining room to enjoy a great meal not to hear the singing and dancing of waiters. Should we expect the same distractions in the X MDR?

 

They also have the thank you to the waiters with napkin waving if that's what you're referring to.

 

I haven't seen waiters dancing on either line so guess that's what you're referring to.