Another Long Time Celebrity Cruiser Jumping Ship

[chamima]

A river cruise is definitely on my bucket list! Lois, I look forward to your review.

 

I will always love ocean cruises but I now book by itinerary and value, not loyalty. I do love Azamara! (We are platinum on Princess for one more cruise and elite+ on X.). Recently, we thought the food and activities on the Holland America Rotterdam in August were just okay but the itinerary, excursions, and our aft balcony Vista suite were all terrific! Royal Princess Transatlantic was on par with our last few on Celebrity - not much going on for non-trivia folks on sea days. We really enjoyed the Breakaway to Bermuda last year. Entertainment was the best we've ever experienced and the specialty restaurants were both excellent and affordable.

 

We are doing three cruises on three cruise lines this Jan/Feb and will post our comparison when we return. We booked Norwegian Escape with grandkids because we think they (and their parents) will enjoy it the most. (We did Disney last year and the kids, who are 6 and 8, had no desire to do it again and neither do I.) Escape is a new ship and was way less expensive than Oasis/Allure, and including free unlimited beverage or dining package. We had previously booked the Eclipse and stayed with it for the itinerary. Added Regal Princess last month because of fantastic sale!

 

For many, I think loyalty has become a thing of the past. As a travel agent, I see this is true for airlines and hotels as well. People have limited time to travel and they are looking for the best all-around experience as well as value.

 

Linda

We're on the Eclipse with you in February and afterwards are sailing on the Royal Princess (wanted more than 7 days).

It'll be interesting to compare notes.

[zoncom]

As I understand, River cruises are much more pricey than X. To me they look like crushed container ships. Used to see them on rivers in France. But, I hear food is much better. I know the little towns are more interesting than Xs same old, same old. I have been on maybe 30 Celebrity cruises. I am finding menus and itins repetitive.I did 71ns on Oceania recently. Food did not get boring. Of course more expensive as I hear River cruises are. Probably my best cruise. Change is good. Wish X would get that message! Celebrity may be turning into HAL, my most boring cruise experience of all.

Edited December 14, 2015 by zoncom

[Cruise a holic]

A river cruise is definitely on my bucket list! Lois, I look forward to your review.

 

I will always love ocean cruises but I now book by itinerary and value, not loyalty. I do love Azamara! (We are platinum on Princess for one more cruise and elite+ on X.). Recently, we thought the food and activities on the Holland America Rotterdam in August were just okay but the itinerary, excursions, and our aft balcony Vista suite were all terrific! Royal Princess Transatlantic was on par with our last few on Celebrity - not much going on for non-trivia folks on sea days. We really enjoyed the Breakaway to Bermuda last year. Entertainment was the best we've ever experienced and the specialty restaurants were both excellent and affordable.

 

We are doing three cruises on three cruise lines this Jan/Feb and will post our comparison when we return. We booked Norwegian Escape with grandkids because we think they (and their parents) will enjoy it the most. (We did Disney last year and the kids, who are 6 and 8, had no desire to do it again and neither do I.) Escape is a new ship and was way less expensive than Oasis/Allure, and including free unlimited beverage or dining package. We had previously booked the Eclipse and stayed with it for the itinerary. Added Regal Princess last month because of fantastic sale!

 

For many, I think loyalty has become a thing of the past. As a travel agent, I see this is true for airlines and hotels as well. People have limited time to travel and they are looking for the best all-around experience as well as value.

We sailed on the breakaway this past August Loved the haven the shows and specialty restaurants This was a change from our August Summit cruise. However the crowds were horrible! Worst then the Quantum Hope to also sail in the Haven on the escape someday. For now, we will continue to sail on celebrity S class ships, Silly and Reflection our favorites and the Oasis class ships with family. Maybe someday we will try a river cruise but for now will "stay on this side of the pond" when cruising and enjoy land vacations also.

[iuscottdd]

I have been on two river cruises and enjoyed both of them. The first was a 5 day trip down the Nile. The second was a Vantage cruise between Cologne, Germany and Budapest, Hungary.

[Host Jazzbeau]

As I understand, River cruises are much more pricey than X.

 

This may be true, but it depends on how you count. If you believe that Celebrity has dumbed down the MDR food below your standards, then you have to compare the cost of an AQ or Suite. Shore excursions are included on river cruises, as is wine and beer at lunch and dinner (and bubbly at breakfast for those Mimosas) -- and some river cruise lines include all alcohol and gratuities. When you add it all up with the beverages, excursions and gratuities, the river cruise price may not be all that high in comparison.

[MicCanberra]

I ish you a great cruise Lois but I would hardly call it 'jumping ship' as it is really just taking a break from X as they do not do the river cruises and trying another company that does. :D

[ECCruise]

I ish you a great cruise Lois but I would hardly call it 'jumping ship' as it is really just taking a break from X as they do not do the river cruises and trying another company that does. :D

 

Maybe I am wrong, but in none of her posts does Lois say she is "only taking a break from =X= as they do not do river cruises."

 

Like us, with over 300 days on Celebrity (and 60 days booked but not locked), there are dozens of posters on this thread and another similar one that indicate that it is a little more than that...

Edited December 14, 2015 by ECCruise

[cruisemom42]

We will be joining you unless Celebrity comes up with some new Itineraries. The new Spain/Portugal cruise is nice but what about the Eastern Med? If I have to go to Naples one more time.....

 

The Eastern Med is a little volatile at the moment, and Celebrity seems more conservative than some other lines in terms of ports they are willing to visit.

 

And with regard to itineraries, it's well to keep in mind that with the size of the newer Celebrity ships, there are a limited number of ports to choose from in the Mediterranean. (One reason I prefer smaller ships...)

 

P.S. Personally, there is no such thing as going to Naples too often. :D

[ISABELLA]

We just finished out TA on Silhouette and that was a second cruise this year I have not booked anything with X for 2016 or 2017. Traveling Solo, X pricing are just way too high for the quality they deliver. Yes, we had fantastic trip in AQ on Silly and food and service in Blue was superb, but we had heard a lot of complaints about MDR experience. Will try some other cruise lines for 2016 and will see if X will change their " price tune", so maybe we will return in 2017.

Lois,

Wishing you a great River cruise - Enjoy!.

[OuiOnboard]

Due to time constraints, we had to move our 10+11 day Equinox b2b for Dec. 2015 to Dec. 2016. WOW!!!!! The price increase was mind blowing!!!!!. We then cancelled the first cruise of our Jan-Feb. 2016 Eclipse b2b and moved the second cruise to Feb 2017. Again, a massive price increase for the same accommodations.

X has had a lock on us the past few years, but we'll be seriously looking at our options re. these Caribbean cruises.

[AtleeH]

Naples must have changed a lot in 4 decades. When I was there in 1971, it was where should the world have needed an enema that's where it would have gone.

 

Of course, I had a grand tour of the Mediterranean that year. It lasted 6 months, with stops in Palma, Majorica and Barcelona Spain, Naples, Italy (with an excursion to Rome) and Trieste, Italy with an excursion to Venice, 2 visits to Athens via Piraeus the port town, plus the Greek Islands of Corfu and Rhodes, and Malta. All this at the expense of the U.S. Navy. :eek:

 

Can't say either of my cruise ships, USS Albany CG10 or USS Franklin D Roosevelt CV42, approached the luxury of any X fleet ship, and especially the Silhouette. :D

 

 

P.S. Personally, there is no such thing as going to Naples too often. :D

Edited December 14, 2015 by AtleeH

[MicCanberra]

Maybe I am wrong, but in none of her posts does Lois say she is "only taking a break from =X= as they do not do river cruises."

 

Like us, with over 300 days on Celebrity (and 60 days booked but not locked), there are dozens of posters on this thread and another similar one that indicate that it is a little more than that...

 

From the opening post -

'Not sure what I am going to do next fall......Maybe Celebrity, maybe

not.'

Sounds like a break to me.

[cruisemom42]

Naples must have changed a lot in 4 decades. When I was there in 1971, it was where should the world have needed an enema that's where it would have gone.

 

 

Naples is the gateway to:

 

Pompeii

Amalfi Coast

Capri

Sorrento

Herculaneum

and a host of other less well-known sites (Oplontis, Baia, Cumae, Pozzuoli, Caserta)

 

...and in/around Naples itself are a world-class museum, many historic churches, and some of the best pizza and Italian pastries ever!

[Gracie115]

From the opening post -

'Not sure what I am going to do next fall......Maybe Celebrity, maybe

not.'

Sounds like a break to me.

 

Well...maybe.....but Lois has always been a huge X fan and she stated she is unsure if she'll be back at all.... THAT alone indicates a deterioration in at least HER view of the product..... I would imagine the increasing cost of sailing X has at least something to do with it....

 

But then we too will be taking a "break" after our Reflection cruise in April.....how long a "break" it will be will depend pretty much on what happens with X's pricing in the future.....

[Coral]

Lois - I hope you love your AMA Waterways river cruise!

 

I think you will be really pleased with your decision and will probably have more river cruises in your future. It is definitely a nice change and you get to ports that large ships can't get to.

 

I hope you write a review when you return. I think many of your fellow cruisers would benefit from it!

[chamima]

Lois - I hope you love your AMA Waterways river cruise!

 

I think you will be really pleased with your decision and will probably have more river cruises in your future. It is definitely a nice change and you get to ports that large ships can't get to.

 

I hope you write a review when you return. I think many of your fellow cruisers would benefit from it!

 

Yes, please do write a review.

Just provide a link to it over here on these boards so we know where and when to look for it. :D

[MicCanberra]

Well...maybe.....but Lois has always been a huge X fan and she stated she is unsure if she'll be back at all.... THAT alone indicates a deterioration in at least HER view of the product..... I would imagine the increasing cost of sailing X has at least something to do with it....

 

But then we too will be taking a "break" after our Reflection cruise in April.....how long a "break" it will be will depend pretty much on what happens with X's pricing in the future.....

 

Yes, and I suppose the itineraries may be getting boring for her.:D

[Martinjjd]

Nothing wrong with a change for a bit of variety.We have found Celebrity Solstice to be fantastic & have loved cruising but still like a mix of travel.They say 'a change is as good as a holiday' so a change of holiday must be good too !!! Enjoy.

[bostonfred]

have been on well over 20 cruises with six cruise lines....had a great time on all each line is different and that variety of experiences is great...even carnival last winter...certain lines can give you a different itinerary which is number one in our book...the perks you accumulate are fine,but they are really no big deal especially with drink packages now thrown in...you make your own time, any day on a cruise ship is a great day !!!:cool::cool::cool:

[MVPinBoynton]

It is also nice to have a change so that you can appreciate what X does have. When you have been on so many X cruises that you know what is good and bad on each day's MDR menu; as well as being too familiar with each production show, it is nice to try something else for a change.

 

After trying different lines and types of vacations, it is like coming home when doing the next X cruise.

[nojoke]

It is also nice to have a change so that you can appreciate what X does have. When you have been on so many X cruises that you know what is good and bad on each day's MDR menu; as well as being too familiar with each production show, it is nice to try something else for a change.

 

After trying different lines and types of vacations, it is like coming home when doing the next X cruise.

 

I’ve got to agree with this. We cruised another line a few times, then came on board an S class X ship--and when we entered the ship, I took a deep breath, and said, “this feels like home.” It felt so good to see the nice clean white decor...so a break is an excellent way to appreciate what we’re getting too used to!

[sunshine nana]

Our first Celebrity cruise was an S1 on Equinox on 2012 and it was great. We had a very attentive butler, wonderful meals in Blu and loved Tuscan and Marano.

Next we had an S1 on Silly with a totally worthless butler who was only attentive on the last day to get an extra tip on top of the required butler tip. He didn't get one. We had wonderful meals with traditional dining in the MDR, but Tuscan and Murano were only so so.

 

Our last cruise was in a Celebrity Suite on Constellation. We only saw the butler once and that was because I called her when the steward did not leave ANY toilet paper after cleaning. The butler told me to look in the cupboard which of course I had already. She did then come up with the tp. We were not escorted to our cabin, or to the theatre on formal night. She never checked up on us. The Michael's Club concierge was so busy with a 50 person wedding (only a few were in a suite) that he could not book us into a specialty the night the wedding reception totally booked Tuscan. Because Luminae was being built, all suite passengers were supposed to eat in specialties. We ended up in Blu which was way overcrowded and not good.

 

We canceled our March cruise in a Celebrity suite and decided to go back to Princess in a mini which is almost as big as an S1. We don't need a butler. We also appreciate that Princess has the MRD open to all on embarkation day for lunch and any sea day. It seems that even though Celebrity promised to have lunch in Luminae every day, that is not always true.We also like the Princess laundromats on every deck.

We might book a last minute Celebrity cruise, but it will not be in a suite unless the price is much lower than what is showing now.

[El Crucero]

Interesting thread! We are Elite on Celebrity and we have always booked Concierge and Aqua class. Our last cruise on Celebrity was last April, a B2B Caribbean/TA. We thought some things had been eliminated on Celebrity but not enough to ruin our otherwise excellent cruise. We have two cruises booked in Aqua class for 2016 (and both of those cruises are sold out!).

 

We looked at booking a Mississippi river cruise in 2016 for variety but the $500/pp per day pricing for a standard stateroom just did not work for us. We just don't see the value there.

 

We just got back from our first ever Princess cruise. We wanted to try Princess because we live in Southern California and their Los Angeles back to Los Angeles itineraries make it easy for us. In our opinion, Princess doesn't even come close to Celebrity for a cruise experience (see my review elsewhere on this Forum). We did book three future cruises on Princess but we will have reduced expectations compared to Celebrity. I keep watching Azamara but just haven't found an itinerary and pricing that would be a good fit for us. I am also watching Oceania and Crystal.

 

In our final analysis, Celebrity is still our preferred line.

[MicCanberra]

I’ve got to agree with this. We cruised another line a few times, then came on board an S class X ship--and when we entered the ship, I took a deep breath, and said, “this feels like home.” It felt so good to see the nice clean white decor...so a break is an excellent way to appreciate what we’re getting too used to!

 

Agreed. We cruise for the itinerary but prefer to do it on X, this is not always possible. We also do land tours and yet we always find ourselves looking for that next X fix.:D

[ShakeDaddy]

It's good to try something different. Just back from a AmaWaterways Rhine European river cruise.

 

Can now speak from experience, and yes, it will be a very long time before I go on another river cruise. Feel now like a river cruise is a bit like the minor leagues. Enjoy the choices, options and venues. Like the Ocean and the big boats. "Hello NCL Escape".