RCCL vs. Celebrity

[goouchjac]

We just returned from our first royal cruise on Jewell of the Seas. We have only sailed Celebrity so we couldn't help but compare....

There are small touches that we really missed on Royal. Real teaspoons at the buffet. A waiter to take your tray and find you a seat. The missing carafe of water ( although it is still tap water on Celebrity, it was nice to have it filled and waiting). We had NO bottle of water for sale on Royal, but we did have it on the Summit. We have never touched it, but it was on Celebrity not Royal.

 

I didn't find the announcements much different. In fact, we had trouble hearing the captain's noon talk on the Royal. The crew was just as friendly as celebrity, but on formal night they dressed the same as always. On Celebrity, they would be "tuxed" and white gloved! Also the dinner itself was much more formal on those nights ( sorbet between courses, etc)

 

There were more children on Royal but maybe we lucked out, since they were the best behaved bunch. We had early seating and sat right near a family with four small children and they were excellent.

 

There was a much more relaxed atmosphere on Royal. After dinner, many went and changed to casual attire for the rest of the night. Some didn't, but they didn't seem to mind if the rest of the ship did. There weren't as many tuxes on formal night and they sprung an extra one on us the night we were supposed to celebrate halloween. That was a dinner with MANY different dress codes. We had casual, formal and costumes!. But as I said it was relaxed and everyone had a wonderful time.

 

I know I still love Celebrity, but I will definately sail Royal again. I might even dare to branch out to even more lines;) I don't know any children that have sailed Celebrity, but the ones I saw in the children's program seemed to be having a ball. Royal seems to cater more to the kids, esp. teens.

 

I'm sure you would love A Celebrity cruise. and if you are going to multiple ports, it probably won't matter about no rock climbing wall,or ice skating rinks. Have a good time. Mary

Hi Mary,,so glad I read your take on RC,,we are trying our first RC cruise in Jan. on the Radiance,,,being only X cruisers we really thought about switching...Honestly the last cruise on the Millie was not "meeting all our expectations", being cc elite members, no big deal, at least on RC they give you discounts on cabing, conceirge room, just makes it a little special...Think most of us on this board are "celebrity snobs" as Danno was did a post on that topic...Nice to try something else;) ..

[katiel53]

We have sailed both lines and we love X. The food, the atmosphere, the people are all great. We are older, so our outlook is different from those with young children.

 

If I were traveling with children, I think RCI would be the line I would travel. They have excellent programs for kids. I know X has them, but I haven't read rave reviews like I have for RCI.

 

The food is better on X and the service is probably a bit better than on RCI. I guess it depends on what you are looking for. Is it to be a great vacation for your children or for you? I don't mean you can't have a great family vacation on either line, but each has it's own focus.

 

Katie

[Schplinky]

We have sailed RCL and anticipate our first cruise on X in January. We have talked to many folks who have travelled both and the emerging consensus on atmosphere is that RCL's atmosphere is fun and activity driven while X is relaxing. One acquaintance told us that RCL was friendly (which we knew) but that X had more of a "kiss your a$$" attitude (his words).

 

I am eager to try X in January as they motivating factor for booking this cruise was their reputation for food and service. X was a more expensive cruise over what we could have booked on Princess and RCL so I will have higher expectations. Inevitably, any review will result in a comparison between them and our RCL experience. Time will tell.

[holomuku]

Okay- I may get flamed for this- but I think it's very hard to generalize between cruise lines.

 

I travel 3 to 4 days a week on business (on airplanes...ugh). People often ask me "what's the best airline?" And my answer is- "depends on the day, the crew, the weather, etc." I think in the world of travel it's virtually impossible to have a 100% consistent product- there are just too many variables. (hey- even the upscale cruise line had pirates trying to attack them last week- who would have guessed that?)

 

With that said- I do think certain lines market themselves and focus on certain types of travelers. We've been on RCCL twice, X four times, # 5 coming up a in a few weeks, we've also sailed on Costa, Windstar and Princess and many years ago some ship I can't remember (nor do I want to-- smallest cabin in history!) I'm looking forward to our next X cruise-- for us, they seem to be the best fit most of the time. I had a few issues with RCCL and how they did things-- nothing major but if given the choice we'll do CCL versus RCCL. And there were things (such as the wine package and Jr. Suites) on RCCL that we preferred over CCL- but when all is said and done, we're more comfortable with a CCL trip. That doesn't mean we won't cruise with RCCL again because we might- it just means the CCL is our preference.

 

If you have children, particularly young ones, than I think RCCL is a better choice. They seem to have more for them to do, more passengers with children so they have playmates, etc. Although X has a children's program, I can remember going through the Panama Canal on X and a rip-roaring three children were enrolled in the program! (of course time of year has something to do with that as well). But it didn't appear fun for the children or the staff trying to entertain them-- just my observation. And perhaps it depends on the children- some would not be at all interested in things like rocks walls or ice skating rinks-- only their family would know that.

 

And so many things beyond control can effect a crews attitude. On one of our RCCL cruises a crew member had a bad accident and was (very unfortunately) killed. It certainly put a damper on the whole cruise for us but far more for the crew-- and I think it showed. I couldn't blame them or complain about it because I can understand as I too have lost co-workers in the line of duty.

 

I just don't think you can compare travel products like you can two typical products-- they just have two many variables. Go with the one you think will be the best fit-- be determined to have a great time and deal with whatever unforseen events happen (we were on an X ship on 9/11/01- that's another whole story) and enjoy yourself.

 

as the saying goes- any day on a cruise ship is better than a day at work!

[cechase]

While we have never been on a RCCL vessel, I tend to agree with holomuko's comments in general - including a cruise is better than not cruising at all! :D

 

We have been on four cruises on Celebrity in less than two years, and all of those cruises have been on Century class ships. Prior to October, we cruised on Mercury and twice on Century. In Oct. we cruised for 10 nights on Galaxy. We were somewhat taken aback when we compared our Galaxy cruise with the other two vessels. The food on Mercury and especially on Century was much better than Galaxy. The attitude of the staff and crew on Mercury and again especially on Century was perceptibaly much better than on Galaxy. We felt that things on Mercury and on Century were more relaxed than that on Galaxy. When we embarked on Galaxy in the port for Rome at just after noon, we moved to the elevators to drop off our carry-ons in our Royal Suite. We were stopped by two staff members who told us that we could not do that, and one staff member actually got in the elevator with us to make sure that we went to deck 11 [buffet deck] and not get off on deck 10! That never happened on Mercury and Century.

 

We enjoyed all of our cruises including Galaxy. So if you are going to compare cruises, I think you really have to compare ships, including ships operated by the same cruise line. Our favorite is the now and then maligned Century which has the best staff "hands down".