Royal Caribbean compared to Celebrity

[LMaxwell]

I know they are affiliated companies and Celebrity touts itself as "Modern Luxury", but when I read the Celebrity boards it is like the apocalypse. You would think they were the worst cruise line in the world. The complaints are endless with lots of downward changes; reduction of public venues, increase in costs to venues that were free, reduction in activities and staff.

 

I thought Celebrity was supposed to be a half step above RCI? There are certainly some attractive offers on the horizon for Florida sailings. I don't want to ask on the Celebrity board about the pages of complaints because I feel like I will get 20 "We love it, never had an issue." type responses.

 

Does anyone here who has a good frame of reference to RCI have opinions on Celebrity if they have sailed in 2014? Better, worse, what was different, what is Celebrity cutting out on, what do they excel at?

 

Finally - is there a concise printed list on the perks provided to RCI Diamond members?

[mattwright]

 

Finally - is there a concise printed list on the perks provided to RCI Diamond members?

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/captainsclub/membershipBenefits.do?tab=captains_club_tier_elite%2Fcaptainsclub%2FmembershipTierDetails.do%3Fpagename%3Dcaptains_club_tier_elite#captains_club_tier_elite/captainsclub/membershipTierDetails.do%3Fpagename=captains_club_tier_elite

 

As Diamond or Diamond Plus with Royal Caribbean, you would receive the listed benefits of Elite status with Celebrity.

 

As for the rest of your questions, I'm curious to hear the responses from others too. We haven't yet cruised with Celebrity but have been increasingly tempted to do so. Maybe all the complaints on the Celebrity forums are comparable to the similar "the sky is falling!" posts here on the Royal Caribbean board.

[LMaxwell]

http://www.celebritycruises.com/captainsclub/membershipBenefits.do?tab=captains_club_tier_elite%2Fcaptainsclub%2FmembershipTierDetails.do%3Fpagename%3Dcaptains_club_tier_elite#captains_club_tier_elite/captainsclub/membershipTierDetails.do%3Fpagename=captains_club_tier_elite

 

As Diamond or Diamond Plus with Royal Caribbean, you would receive the listed benefits of Elite status with Celebrity.

 

As for the rest of your questions, I'm curious to hear the responses from others too. We haven't yet cruised with Celebrity but have been increasingly tempted to do so. Maybe all the complaints on the Celebrity forums are comparable to the similar "the sky is falling!" posts here on the Royal Caribbean board.

 

 

Thanks for the link. As to your second point, I kind of suspect that is what is going on, but I'm just not sure. I mean that forum is nothing but cutbacks and changes and decrease in service. But a lot of brand defenders. So hard to make heads or tails.

[galavant3]

As a Diamond Member, you'll be Elite on Celebrity. Here are the benefits...

 

Elite Member Benefits*

 

(300-749 earned Club Points**)

Many of the benefits of Select membership plus:

• • Access to the Captain's Club Lounge for daily coffee house style breakfast
  
• • Evening Cocktail hour (excludes embarkation and evening of Senior Officers' Party)
  
• • Complimentary 90-minute Internet package
  
• • Complimentary access to Persian Garden (on one port day of your choice while ship is in port)
  
• • Complimentary dry cleaning of one garment item
  
• • One complimentary bag of laundry (wash, dry, fold) on every sailing***
  
• • A private shipboard departure lounge, serving continental breakfast
  
• • Priority Tender Service in Tender Ports of Call
  
• • Priority wait list in Main Dining Room
  
• • Elegant tea invitation*
  
• • Diamond Level enrollment in Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society‡
  

Personally, I find the Diamond lounge to be nicer than the evening cocktail hour on Celebrity but others might feel differently.

 

 

We avoid the buffet entirely but based on what we saw, it seems similar.

 

 

To me, the best thing about Celebrity is Aqua Class and dining in Blu. It is a smaller, intimate dining room with great views. You get to know the staff and other diners over the course of the week. The food (in my opinion) is a notch above the MDR. Breakfast in Blu is relaxing much more quiet than the MDR.

 

 

 

To me, the cabins and ship are on par with Royal but I have limited experience with Celebrity.

 

 

 

Blu doesn't serve complimentary cocktails but a couple mornings we went to Blu for breakfast then stopped by the Elite breakfast for a bloody Mary.

 

 

Overall I prefer Celebrity as long as I can book Aqua Class. If we are taking our (young adults) kid, we prefer Royal.

 

Celebrity does seem to be a bit more "adult" - whether or not that is a good thing will vary from person to person.

Edited May 22, 2014 by galavant3

[galavant3]

Another thought. There seems to be an issue with providing suite guests with their own dining venue. My guess is that more and more suite guests want to take advantage of dining in Blu which has created a bit of an overcrowding issue. Blu is for Aqua class passengers and "space available" for suite passengers.

 

This change will involve taking a previously public venue and making it exclusive for suites.

 

Since we book Aqua class, it really isn't an issue for us. In fact, it will help keep Blu from being overly busy at peak times.

[mspink98]

To me, the best thing about Celebrity is Aqua Class and dining in Blu. It is a smaller, intimate dining room with great views. You get to know the staff and other diners over the course of the week. The food (in my opinion) is a notch above the MDR. Breakfast in Blu is relaxing much more quiet than the MDR.

 

Agree 100%. We got a good deal on Aqua Class several years ago, and now all other cruises are measured against that, particularly the Blu aspect. We've stuck with RC since then because prices have been far better, but we'd go back to Aqua in a heartbeat for the right price.

[CRUZBUDS]

Things are a little rough over on the Celebrity boards right now.

 

We did 14 days on the Eclipse last month and were blown away -- It was our first Solstice Class ship. Everything was great, but like everywhere there were cut-backs.

 

I know a lot of people don't care, but the trivia type games were probably 75% less than you use to have. That was a disappointment. Since we had the free drink package, we just went to a bar and had a drink or two instead :)

[cruisegirl1]

We are frequent RCCL cruisers with several recent Celebrity cruises. In my opinion, we do find Celebrity to be “small step up” from Royal Carib.

 

Celebrity sets the tone with a glass of sparkling wine when embarking. There is an abundance of daily activities, many the same as RCCL.

 

The dining room menu is a bit more creative. They have a varied menu with (in my opinion) delicious food.

 

They offer frozen towels when returning from port and at the pools. At times, they come around the pool with sorbet. The pool areas has activates such as line dancing and an officer water volley ball game , but no belly flop type contests.

 

The Celebrity dress code is not as casual as RCCL and is often enforced with mandatory jackets ( for men) in the dining room on formal nights.

 

Entertainment is about the same, with a few RCCL venues a bit more to our taste

 

We have taken all our cruises on the S class of ship – sort of like a bigger Radiance class ship. Most of our Celebrity cruises have been 14 nights so there is a difference in 7 night Caribbean crowd and as 14 nights Med crowd. We notice fewer children on Celebrity. Our most recent Celebrity was a 14 night NYE cruise so I will be happy to answer any specific questions.

 

As noted, Diamond and up receive the Celebrity Elite benefits. A few benefits are different from RCCL, but both lines offer nice perks. I can also answer some Elite Benefit questions.

 

Staff seem a bit more empowered and can readily solve more concerns.

 

Enjoy

M

Edited May 22, 2014 by cruisegirl1

[galavant3]

 

Celebrity sets the tone with a glass of sparkling wine when embarking. There is an abundance of daily activities, many the sane as RCCL.

 

They offer frozen towels when returning from port and at the pools. At times, they come around the pool with sorbet.

 

 

Good points! Both are relatively small touches but to me, make a difference.

[Canadian Tyler]

I've read a lot about aqua class. What is it?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Clarea]

I've read a lot about aqua class. What is it?

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/plancruise/media.do?pagename=staterooms

[Guest maddycat]

We find Celebrity a bit more formal, reserved. Officers on Celebrity ships are always walking around and interacting with passengers. Celebrity's casino is smoke free. The passengers tend to be older on Celebrity cruises.

Edited May 22, 2014 by maddycat

[NorbertsNiece]

Have recently booked my first X cruise (2016) having been loyal to Royal for the past 6 years and 3 cruises in the pipeline. My first impression is the website..... way easier to navigate imo. And one call to their Captain's Club with no hold and with a UK response left me with a very much easier experience than recently with RCI. First impressions go such a long way.....

[OCruisers]

Just a comment: Celebrity is much more laid back than RCCL. If night life is important to you, you won't find much of it on Celebrity.

LuLu

[CruisinNole]

We cruise Royal and Celebrity, usually 25 to 75 ratio. We just got off the Freedom a couple of weeks ago and loved it. I couldn't find a thing to complain about. It was a perfect cruise.

 

We're Diamond Plus and enjoyed the CL and the DL. Celebrity, unless you're Zenith, doesn't have a dedicated lounge for their Elite and Elite Plus cruisers. We're Elite Plus and we're going to miss the CL on the next Celebrity cruise we take.

 

We find that their coupons are maybe a little better but they're not loaded to your Seapass card.

 

I think the quality of food in the MDR is probably very similar but I agree with a previous poster that the selections seem better and more creative.

 

I'd give Royal the advantage with regards to entertainment although we enjoy the Cirque du Soleil type shows on the "S" class ships.

 

If interaction with the Captain and Senior Officers is important to you, you'll enjoy Celebrity. On many of our Celebrity cruises, the Captain and Sr. officers come to the Elite Happy Hour and it is kind of fun to talk to them.

 

If I were cruising with children I think I'd be inclined to stick with Royal although I've heard good things about Celebrity's children's programs. However, we've been on Celebrity cruises that had only 10 or 15 kids so if it's an adult atmosphere you're looking for, you'll like Celebrity.

 

If I were cruising Celebrity for the first time, I'd choose an "S" class ship. We really like the Equinox. The "S" class ships are "classy".

 

As far as the negative comments on the Celebrity forum, I think that some posters are fanning the flames by arguing with the OPs. We were on a back-to-back (4th and 5th time) on Celebrity Century in February. It's one of the ships that has come under fire lately and frankly, I felt that the service and condition of the ship was not stellar and not what we've come to expect with Celebrity. I commented on it on the Roll Call when we returned and was immediately bashed by the cheerleader/zenith/frequent cruiser contingent. It's kind of obvious that many on the board do not want to read anything critical of a ship, cruise or cruise line.

 

I'd take the comments both pro and con with a grain of salt. Read the reviews under Member Reviews. I think you'll get a better picture as to whether Celebrity is a good fit for you and which ship you might want to sail on.

 

And in regards to cutbacks and changes -- well, that's part of life and business. We were not happy when the Diamonds were kicked out of the CL and when Royal converted to cruise nights vs. cruises which increased the number of cruises we needed to get to Diamond Plus. And I remember lots of complaining and "the sky is falling" comments on the Royal chat room at the time.

Edited May 22, 2014 by CruisinNole

[Cruising89143]

Right now there are about ten posters on the X board with their knickers in a knot who post over and over. Celebrity is changing. They are making some changes that some of the old guard were not happy with. The recent Captain's Club program change was a big one and really gave some a wedgie. Personally I feel that it was fair and I like the new system. You spend more, you get more. Simple.

 

Celebrity is also trying to attract a little younger demographic plus they are trying to stay competitive in the market. Some things have to go to do this. We have experienced the same thing on RCI. Gone are the string quartets and A Cappella groups. It was announced that the activities staff has been reduced. Too early to tell how this will impact activities such as trivia. They have now placed a DJ in the Martini bar late in the evening. People were enjoying themselves in place of turning in for the night at dusk.;)

 

We have now cruised twice with X after many cruises on RCI. I look at Celebrity as RCI for grown ups.

 

IMHO even though subjective better food across the board on X. Small things like a welcome aboard champagne or Mimosa upon boarding and tents set up shoreside with cool beverages and cold towels when returning from port. Officers are out and about the ship stopping to speak with guests.

 

Only one announcement per day which is the Captain's daily update. No smoking anywhere inside the ship. No annoying MUTS. No charge for room service. Dress code is followed much more closely by guests.

 

Celebrity has better suite perks including a butler. Now they gave added the following new perks. Some such as Michael's are being added now and all will be in effect by April 2015.

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/14037410_CEL_Suites_FAQs.pdf

 

The atmosphere onboard is a little more subdued. You don't have to worry about kids running everywhere as there are very few on board. Entertainment matches that of the Freedom class production shows. Of course no ice show and nothing that can match the Oasis class ships when it comes to any of the shows on board.

 

I suggest trying it for yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised. We now have three cruises with Celebrity booked. I like both cruise lines but will book each depending on what we're looking for in a cruise vacation.

Edited May 22, 2014 by cruisingator2

[anandaindonesia]

... ...

IMHO even though subjective better food acrossthe board on X... ...

 

Only one announcement per day which is the Captain's daily update. No smoking anywhere inside the ship. No annoying MUTS. No charge for room service. Dress code is followed much more closely by guests. .. ....

 

I only have one X (Soltice) and one RCI (Allure) experience, but I echo what cruisingator2 said. Especially like the fact that only one announcement per day...

Celebrity treats us as adults, RCI pampers the children in our hearts (in a good way).

 

However, food is subjective, and I find the food in Allure is better than the Solstice....

[tonyt]

We have done several Celebrity cruises. The last one was on the Reflection ( S Class ). The inside cabins and bathrooms are larger than the equivalent RCL cabins ( 180 sq ft ). The public rest rooms are also much nicer. The buffet layout and food selections were also superior.

[mapleleafvoyage]

I'm fresh off my first Celebrity cruise (May 11-18 to Bermuda)

This is only my second cruise- first one was on Explorer in December.

 

I was expecting a step up from what we had on Royal, and both DH and I didn't see or feel it. We were actually surprised at some of the missed.

 

The food is comparable- about the same as far as taste.

Summit is doing some pre-dished portion basket/container things on the buffet- didn't like that- most days food was cold.

Summit had buffet "hours" and they waited until the second to open, meanwhile food sitting there getting cold. Masses would gather at meal times and then dive in once opened. We felt it was a disaster. If you missed the meal times- your choice was pizza or pasta. Pizza was good

To us, Explorer had way more options, and no little baskets with servings of food sitting and waiting.

Many problems with the ice and juice stations on Summit, many days many were empty. Condiments were scattered all over- they had home made ice cream, they scooped.

It was good, but didn't like waiting in line, we enjoyed the self serve soft cones on Explorer

Service in MDR was very slow on Celebrity, water cups would go empty for far too long, felt like waiters were too busy to actually "chat" or mingle. The simply brought food off and came back when empty plates were there, food on both ships were very good. But food is quite subjective.

 

Cabins were both clean and well kept. No complaints there, however we really like the shower door on Royal over that curtain on Summit.

 

Different activities on Celebrity, for example- a "selfie" competition and also a boat building competition.(made with objects found only on ship) we didn't get involved in either.

 

We liked the steel drums playing on Royal- nice Caribbean vibe. Celebrity had DJ's in a lot of venues, sometimes it seemed loud- but we may be just getting old- lol

 

The entertainment seemed comparable. Both good! Dancers, and costumes- excellent on both.

Celebrity had a sin city show, with an adult comedian. She was quite "vulgar" but we really enjoyed it... However, the opening act was a stripper- well, they called her a burlesque performer... It felt odd sitting in the theater with all these adult men and women and watched a hot blonde roll around on a table in her skimpy bra and panties-- twice! It was very odd! At least to us - I'm sure there were some who enjoyed that part?

Royal had bigger production numbers with emphasis on backdrops and just bigger.

There was some maintenance issue on Celebrity that we noticed, many burnt out light bulbs in theater, broken locks on public washroom doors, and broken shampoo dispenser in the poor washroom that I noticed.

We don't recall such issues on Royal.

 

We did enjoy our cruise, it sure didn't ruin our wonderful trip to Bermuda!! In fact, we put a deposit down for another trip to Bermuda in 2016, once the schedules come out.

 

The Summit captain and his officers were very visible and very sociable! Actually saw them more than I saw the cruise director- never saw her unless she was on the stage. On Royal, Erky and Leigh (cruise directors)were everywhere!!!!

 

At the end of the day, for now- for us- Royal wins

 

I must say though, that our cruise critic group was awesome!!! We really had some great times! We did a cabin crawl, a slot pull, a sail away party, martini tasting, and a farewell party. Not to mention many hours of good times just socializing... So for that, thank you cruise critic :)

 

If anyone had any questions, I can yet and answer, I'm a very new cruiser though, so not a lot of cruise experience.

[ehfl]

We have sailed mostly on RCL, but did one Celbrity (Reflection). Enjoyed it a lot. The food was as good as or better than RCL. Entertainment was mixed, but mostly better on RCL. Service is good on both.

 

Best thing about Celebrity was the Persian Garden....it was wonderful. I would go on Celebrity just for the Persian Garden.

[CU64]

why? because the most important thing for me on a cruise is a balcony,

nice gym, really like the thermal suites (Persian Garden on Celebrity), a decent

gaming area because I like to play black jack......won't play if smoking ...

I have plenty to do if I were ever to get bored but that is not why I/we cruise.

 

Therefore, the bells and whistles on the large RCCL ships do not provide the environment which I prefer...could care less about a promenade and central park on a ship. Actually, Brilliance of the Seas which is a 4.5 star was an enjoyable cruise/ nice storage in balcony, et al. NE/Canada

 

I echo some of the previous posters...someone said Celebrity is cruise for grownups.....Celebrity has done a nice marketing with the BLU restaurant in Aqua Class.....much more money but people think it is great because it appears more like a Specialty Restaurant. Personally, I think it is over hyped

but it worked as a good marketing tool.

 

Those of you who like the many more activities, shows, crowds, might prefer

the big RCCL ships.

[Oville]

Right now there are about ten posters on the X board with their knickers in a knot who post over and over. Celebrity is changing. They are making some changes that some of the old guard were not happy with. The recent Captain's Club program change was a big one and really gave some a wedgie. Personally I feel that it was fair and I like the new system. You spend more, you get more. Simple.

 

Celebrity is also trying to attract a little younger demographic plus they are trying to stay competitive in the market. Some things have to go to do this. We have experienced the same thing on RCI. Gone are the string quartets and A Cappella groups. It was announced that the activities staff has been reduced. Too early to tell how this will impact activities such as trivia. They have now placed a DJ in the Martini bar late in the evening. People were enjoying themselves in place of turning in for the night at dusk.;)

 

We have now cruised twice with X after many cruises on RCI. I look at Celebrity as RCI for grown ups.

 

IMHO even though subjective better food across the board on X. Small things like a welcome aboard champagne or Mimosa upon boarding and tents set up shoreside with cool beverages and cold towels when returning from port. Officers are out and about the ship stopping to speak with guests.

 

Only one announcement per day which is the Captain's daily update. No smoking anywhere inside the ship. No annoying MUTS. No charge for room service. Dress code is followed much more closely by guests.

 

Celebrity has better suite perks including a butler. Now they gave added the following new perks. Some such as Michael's are being added now and all will be in effect by April 2015.

http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/14037410_CEL_Suites_FAQs.pdf

 

The atmosphere onboard is a little more subdued. You don't have to worry about kids running everywhere as there are very few on board. Entertainment matches that of the Freedom class production shows. Of course no ice show and nothing that can match the Oasis class ships when it comes to any of the shows on board.

 

I suggest trying it for yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised. We now have three cruises with Celebrity booked. I like both cruise lines but will book each depending on what we're looking for in a cruise vacation.

 

Yes, the Celebrity board has become tiresome and the same people whining endlessly. Some of that has to do with the change to their loyalty program, stay in an inside cabin or an OV and you get very few points per night vs other categories. Also, some people just see the glass half.........

 

We are D+ on Royal, switched to Celebrity long before the Captain Club's perks kicked in so that wasn't the driving motive for us. It just became a much better fit. (Having said that, we love the Oasis).

 

You've done a great job on the plusses of Celebrity. One other thing I can add if you are beyond traveling with little ones, things aren't geared to Dreamworks.;)

Edited May 23, 2014 by Oville

[Mama24]

We sailed on Celebrity Silhouette a couple months ago, and have been on a couple Royal cruises. Not much experience I know, but Royal seems to be a better fit for us.

 

Celebrity offers a much quieter experience, at times too quiet, for me anyway. I did miss all the bells and whistles on Freedom of the Seas.

 

There are things about the design of the Silhouette that I did not care for. Not much of an outdoor promenade deck to speak of, something I spent a lot of time on on Freedom. And I got lost a lot on the Silhouette, always taking the wrong elevator.

 

Since I have two RCI cruises booked, I now tend to stick to this board. Can't say I miss the Celebrity board much at all.

[goodycruising]

You have to take into account what some of them are griping about, both on Celebrity board and also here. Every now and then you come across something that is an issue that can be related to, but overall I am totally at ease with having booked our first Celebrity cruise for later this year. We have talked to real live people on ships, and I value their face to face opinion more than some of the stirrers that frequent the boards. If people look closely often the poster is a first timer or very new and they are just throwing grenades. "Do not feed the trolls" signs need to go up on more threads!

 

Yes, some people are just expressing their opinion on changes, perceived changes, and sometimes rumoured changes, but generally take it all with a grain of salt. :)

[UKWLDCruise]

After 25 RCI cruises with a Princess and an NCL thrown in as well I booked a cruise on the Eclipse 2012. I know that the lines are sisters but the organisation was awful. Many more than one call in a day at the panic of turning up at a port and finding no berth that could take the ship, a note from the captain explaining about another docking problem, slow service, running out of items, very poor at getting people off the ship at the end of the cruise and as others have said poor ship layout.

 

Yes the food was slightly better and yes it would be my choice to have a smoke free casino but not with Celebrity the way I found them. 2013 trans Pacific with RCI, 2014 B2B on Freedom.