Rccl and celebrity are more like distant cousins...

[kittyluvrnurse]

Now, mind u we just disembarked our first rccl on brilliance of the seas (we are celebrity elite), but it seems everything we love about x isn't on rccl. So so many missing small touches like smiles, promptness... I'm certainly not going into a full review, but this ship felt like u were served mediocre food and loophole beverage packages by drones in an overcrowded and slightly dirty vessel. Taught me so much about the things I love about x. We tried this thinking we'd find the solution to cruising w our 6 yr old, who oddly refused to go to the kids club most of the time. Maybe it's just this ship?

 

 

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[helen haywood]

RCI may be the parent company of Celebrity but that doesn't mean you will have the same experiences on all ships on both lines. Carnival owns Cunard, HAL, Princess, Seabourn and Costa (among others) and I wouldn't say they all would give you the same experience. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the cruise.

[mcrcruiser]

We have sailed RCCL ships but mostly Celebrity . We are heading to Boston in Sept & boarding Serenade of the Seas for a 7 night Maine & Canada cruise . Although we have sailed on Serenade of the Seas in the far past ,we certainly don't expect it to be a Celebrity copy . ;)However ,we are realists & we always enjoy all cruises .This one it's all about the 4 ports we will visit:)

[chessbriar]

The OP is also comparing a ship and crew that does 4/5 night cruises with a ships that are newer and doing 7+ nights

 

Question to Kittylunrnurse, can we expect to see your comments after you do the Azamara cruise? I'd love your comparison there as they are seen as a step above X

 

We do both X and RCCL, we know what to expect and have great cruises on both. There are things from X we miss on RCCL and things on RCCL we miss on X.

[Mango Mike]

Might have just been been your particular cruise for some reason.

 

We've sailed RCCL a couple times and have always been met with friendly smiles/greetings. Promptness has never been an issue either. Ships were always clean and well maintained (except for normal wear and tear you'll see on nearly any ship). The last drydock for the Brilliance was 2013, so it's been a few years.

 

That being said, the missus and I just returned from our first Celebrity cruise aboard the Equinox. Given the experience, we are now Celebrity faithfuls. I will admit, the food was better than what we have had on RCCL and the beverages on Celebrity far surpasses RCCL (IMO). But what we like most on Celebrity was the laid back ambiance and upscale atmosphere.

 

One thing that you obviously need to take into consideration is the youngster. I would think RCCL should have a better "kids club" than Celebrity just because of the demographics (there were only 4 children [under 12] on our cruise). I haven't looked into it, but it seems to me that there would be more for the young ones to do on Royal, (although my wife says I act like a child sometimes).

[dkjretired]

Since RCCL took over Celebrity in the 90s, they have always stressed they would treat each line as separate entities so there shouldn't be any surprise.

[jules815]

I've sailed on Brilliance of the Seas, and just completed our first cruise with X on Connie. I would consider these ships to be about same size. Oh my gosh did I enjoy Connie! And, I'm not saying I haven't enjoyed my cruises with RC, we have always had a great time, but I'm really sold on Celebrity now. I booked two more cruises for 2017 while we were on board.

 

Having said that, looking very forward to our next cruise, which will be the transatlantic crossing on Harmony of the Seas in October. We'll continue to cruise both lines, but I was very impressed with Celebrity. Seems like a perfect fit for us.

[kittyluvrnurse]

So... I realize I sound like a whiner. However, I am shocked at some of the service aspects that i would expect of any cruise. Some experienced rccl cruisers I met thought their experience was off this go round. I expect service w a smile. I expect bars to have menus. The dining room to not have 100% same food as the buffet. Am I now spoiled, sure? But I think I had realistic expectations--child friendly similar service not so elegant and obviously not new in this case. For example, found it difficult to use beverage pkg. only beverage pkg easily utilized is the ultimate alcoholic. Others I felt it was annoyingly difficult to find provided premium waters, and any non alcoholic beverage. "Where can you make this non alcohol drink, on your menu, bar tender?" "No, I don't make that!" "Oh, then where?" "I don't know"... Or how about this--cheap brand water not available at about half the bars!

 

My expectations of my upcoming azamara cruise are to meet or exceed celebrity experience. Pretty realistic.

 

 

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[cococruiser]

Ede

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[cococruiser]

Sorry! That was a mistake. Please ignore!

 

 

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[Cuizer2]

Now, mind u we just disembarked our first rccl on brilliance of the seas (we are celebrity elite), but it seems everything we love about x isn't on rccl. So so many missing small touches like smiles, promptness... I'm certainly not going into a full review, but this ship felt like u were served mediocre food and loophole beverage packages by drones in an overcrowded and slightly dirty vessel. Taught me so much about the things I love about x. We tried this thinking we'd find the solution to cruising w our 6 yr old, who oddly refused to go to the kids club most of the time. Maybe it's just this ship?

 

 

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Royal Caribbean is one of the mass market lines. Celebrity is one of the premium lines. So of course you should expect more from Celebrity. Why don't you give Azamara a try. Azamara is also owned by Royal Caribbean.

[DrivesLikeMario]

kittyluvrnurse - Your observations are exactly why we left RCI over a decade ago. We got tired of the buffet food trays being left all over the ship, drinks sitting by the pool for over 24 hrs., bandaids in the pool, and the lack of service overall. Generally speaking, the food was just okay.

 

I like RCI's ships but they couldn't tear us away from Princess who is really, really good when it comes to keeping their ships clean and on the whole, providing great service. Their itineraries don't go where Celebrity's does, so now we switch off between the two cruise lines and ignore RCI.

[cheeseheads4ever]

I find it so hard to believe service can be that bad and vary so much from ship to ship. We just got off Connie in February and before getting on after booking the cruise was reading the reviews from prior cruisers and I'm thinking OMG we just booked a freaking cruise on a tuna barge.

Drinks took a half hour to get, in MDR couldn't get cocktails there and no wine sommielier, pool no drinks and no one comes around to takes orders, crew members not friendly, no smiles, guest services 100 deep, totally rude and evil.no sign of captain or crew- not visible. Music bad, shows bad.

Well my fellow cruisers... I must voice my opinion on what I seen on a 9 night cruise on Celebrity Constellation..I never had a problem with getting a drink anywhere and this includes the MDR. Max wait 5 minutes if that. Friendly smiles all over the ship maybe 1 or 2 crew members were in the middle of something and didn't look up. Who cares? Food was excellent everywhere. If you couldn't find something good .you are damn fussy.....

Crew was the best ever, smiles and waited on us had and foot. Solved any issues we had.guest services was a bunch of jovial respectful lady's. Always was there to assist and very respectful. As far as captain and crew being visible? I seen them so much I was wondering who was steering the ship half the time. Disembarkation and embarkation went very smooth.. I have been on RCCL and just think X is a level above.. But remembering those cruises they were awesome too..we are not aqua , we don't get suites, some times just get an ocean view. This is America if you take a RCCL cruise and is not what you want or not up to your personal standards.. Move on and up the ladder...but one thing is for sure..keep cruising...it's awesome..

[kittyluvrnurse]

One more observation--very difficult to sit. In the windjammer, any pool (incl solarium), most bars. Wth!!

 

 

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[davekathy]

I'm glad Celebrity and RCCL are different in some things. Varity is the spice of life. Our experiences on both lines have always been excellent.

Edited March 22, 2016 by davekathy

[cheeseheads4ever]

I do agree with the lounge chair HOGS! Hey if you get down early get a chair in a location you prefer and put a towel on it, great ..then your butt needs to be on top of the towel now if you want to go grab breakfast and back in 20 minutes to a half hour ok with that. If these chair HOGs that leave a towel and book on a lounge chair and come back 5 hours later is what I have problems with.

this is all from no enforcement by celebrity...they really need to work on this.

From here on out if I go to the pool area and wander around for a half hour and see the same pair of chairs empty I'm on them when owner comes back you don't have them all day..ridiculous...

[jmdlv1]

I do agree with the lounge chair HOGS! Hey if you get down early get a chair in a location you prefer and put a towel on it, great ..then your butt needs to be on top of the towel now if you want to go grab breakfast and back in 20 minutes to a half hour ok with that. If these chair HOGs that leave a towel and book on a lounge chair and come back 5 hours later is what I have problems with.

this is all from no enforcement by celebrity...they really need to work on this.

From here on out if I go to the pool area and wander around for a half hour and see the same pair of chairs empty I'm on them when owner comes back you don't have them all day..ridiculous...

 

On the Silhouette last week and did observe some enforcement against chair hogs.

I noticed on sea days there was one crew member leaving notes with times stating the items on the chairs would be removed in 30 minutes.

I did see him remove towels from 4 chairs

[Keith1010]

Yes, distant cousins is a good description.

 

They are separate brands.

 

Keith

[KKB]

I have found no definitive difference between those lines & ships.

 

Each line/ship has things we like better/worse than other lines/ships.

 

But truly, cruises are far more alike than different.

 

And I think Celebrity gave up "premium" line some time ago--mass market for them as well.

[EatonDoolittle]

I have found no definitive difference between those lines & ships.

 

Each line/ship has things we like better/worse than other lines/ships.

 

But truly, cruises are far more alike than different.

 

And I think Celebrity gave up "premium" line some time ago--mass market for them as well.

 

Agree completely.

Also mildly curious how / why the OP thought they would be the same.

 

I recently retired from a large hotel conglomerate, and I can sure tell you, a Wyndham Grand Resort is a whole lot different from a Days Inn, even tho they are "owned" by the same parent company.

[ECCruise]

I have found no definitive difference between those lines & ships.

 

Each line/ship has things we like better/worse than other lines/ships.

 

But truly, cruises are far more alike than different.

 

And I think Celebrity gave up "premium" line some time ago--mass market for them as well.

 

That is our thinking after 25+ Celebrity cruises and 10+ RCCL cruises.

Really don't see the enormous differences that some seem to find on the 2 lines. Variances, of course, but completely different experiences? Never seen it.

[Cuizer2]

Agree completely.

Also mildly curious how / why the OP thought they would be the same.

 

I recently retired from a large hotel conglomerate, and I can sure tell you, a Wyndham Grand Resort is a whole lot different from a Days Inn, even tho they are "owned" by the same parent company.

 

That is our thinking after 25+ Celebrity cruises and 10+ RCCL cruises.

Really don't see the enormous differences that some seem to find on the 2 lines. Variances, of course, but completely different experiences? Never seen it.

 

Well, I'm glad we got that issue cleared up. :rolleyes:

[kittyluvrnurse]

Let me qualify.. Short cruise, not a big port, small ship, spring break. Could this be the entire fault?!

 

 

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[rjrpar]

Royal Caribbean is one of the mass market lines. Celebrity is one of the premium lines. So of course you should expect more from Celebrity. Why don't you give Azamara a try. Azamara is also owned by Royal Caribbean.

 

 

You're kidding, right? Both are mass market cruise lines. We just got off the Eclipse and, while the service was good, the food in the MDR and the Tuscan Grill was terrible, worst we have had on 15 cruises. Didn't feel like a premium to us

[Cuizer2]

You're kidding, right? Both are mass market cruise lines. We just got off the Eclipse and, while the service was good, the food in the MDR and the Tuscan Grill was terrible, worst we have had on 15 cruises. Didn't feel like a premium to us

 

You may not have enjoyed your cruise, but Royal Caribbean is considered a mass market line and Celebrity is considered a premium line.