RCI vs. Celebrity - need advice

[h20skibum]

I guess you can have good or bad experiences, no matter what line you sail.  We have sailed Royal, X, Princess, NCL, and Carnival. 

 

Granted, Princess is much more laid back than Royal, but activities are more along the line of X.  We always found their staff great. In fact, out of our 20+ cruises, our Princess Panama Canal cruise was the only one where ships officers would address us by name when they saw us out and about. 

 

Everyone’s experiences are different, so just be willing to try something different. 

[Danish]

I have done more Royal cruises than Celebrity cruises - I have never been on one of those really big Royal Ships (Oasis Class) - but I have been on 1-day visits on Celebrity Silouhette two times.  

I would say, that Royal has more activities - and is the best choice if you are travelling as a family with more generations together. Celebrity is great for couples age 35+ travelling without kids. Better food, better service, more relaxed - no ice skating, no climbing wall - but still plenty of activities and very beautiful ships.

Cruising in the Med is - as others have already mentioned - very port incentive, so iyou would be very busy ashore and not spend so much time at the ship.  

So you have to decide what is much important for you: the activities onboard, the food, the service, the ship interior, the itinerary  or the price? 

Both Royal and Celebrity are good choices - so go with the one you feel fit you best.

[Rogueperson]

At one point in time, i would say Celebrity's food was a huge step above.  But two years ago, I did a Panama Canal Crossing on the Infinity. 

 

I found the MDR food to have lost a bit of its flair, and is only an edge better than Royal, but not the huge step it once was.  Specialty restaurant were good, but a bit pricey for what you get.  Qsine was a disappointment for me both times.  It was novel and ingenious in their presentation, but flavorwise, it was mediocre. (Wonderland is way better).  

 

Entertainment is more...mature, if that is a better word for it.  My wife loved it because there was a wine tasting event pretty much every day (its a lot for 15 nights).  The shows leaned more towards cultural enrichment than entertaining so to speak.  More music, recitals, dances, vs. production shows or comedy.

 

Service was amazing.  Also in addition to your main and assistant waitstaff, tables got sommeliers as well.  Not a bar service personnel peddling drinks, no, a guy who's job is to recommend wines that went with the night's dinner.  Again, wife loved that too.

 

Of course, the pace is a little more slow and relaxing but personally, at 15 nights, i started seeing a pattern and thought "omg, I'm in a nursing home at sea!!!!" because I started seeing the same "breakfast" "morning seminar", "lunch time" "afternoon presentation" "nap time" (when there is a lack of activity between like 2:30 - 4:30 oddly). "early lounge pre-dinner entertainment", "dinner time" "showtime" "after hour entertainment" close...next morning..repeat.

Would i do Celebrity again.  In a heartbeat.  Though I would not go for more than 12 nights as it was about then I was starting to yearn for.  Celebrity has the ability to totally detach you from life.  However, after a certain point, you feel adrift.

As someone else mentioned Princess.  I went on one princess (2nd one in 2nd one will be in 2 months).  That Princess cruise had the best service on all my cruises easily.  Not sure if it was a fluke, but it is what it is.  I found the food to be better than Royal, but not quite Celebrity standard, but i was using old celebrity because this was before my panama canal cruise.  Now, I feel that Celebrity and Princess will probably be even.  I will find that out in 2 months.

[Calbeeman]

Done two 12 night med cruises on RCCL out of Barcelona on Vision and loved them both. The itineraries were fantastic (Greek Isles and Venice) but very exhausting port days. Wasn’t impressed with entertainment on either but food was good and service outstanding.

[Florida_cruisers]

On 3/6/2019 at 12:38 PM, lola2013 said:

Please know that our first choice for the trip would have been Celebrity, but they moved quite a few of their ships out of the Med this season which is why we switched to RCCL.   The new EDGE is doing an itinerary similar to what we will be doing on JOTS, but it's more than double the price!

With over 10 cruise on RCL, 1 in Carnival (first time cruiser - never again) always wanted to sail in Celebrity but I could never justify their prices. I often find them twice as much for the same itinerary as RCL. But I am still curious so I recently booked the Equinox for 2 nights out of Ft. Lauderdale. The price was too good to pass up for a quick getaway trial. 

 

[lola2013]

3 minutes ago, Florida_cruisers said:

With over 10 cruise on RCL, 1 in Carnival (first time cruiser - never again) always wanted to sail in Celebrity but I could never justify their prices. I often find them twice as much for the same itinerary as RCL. But I am still curious so I recently booked the Equinox for 2 nights out of Ft. Lauderdale. The price was too good to pass up for a quick getaway trial. 

 

You will love Equinox!  Will you be doing that short cruise before I see you on JOTS in May?  I will want to hear your thoughts!

FYI, I think it's just EDGE that is priced outrageously.  The other itineraries we've done (twice on Equinox; one Reflection; one Solstice) seem right in line pricewise with other lines.

Enjoy...she's a beauty!

[The Fun Researcher]

6 minutes ago, Florida_cruisers said:

With over 10 cruise on RCL, 1 in Carnival (first time cruiser - never again) always wanted to sail in Celebrity but I could never justify their prices. I often find them twice as much for the same itinerary as RCL. But I am still curious so I recently booked the Equinox for 2 nights out of Ft. Lauderdale. The price was too good to pass up for a quick getaway trial. 

 

 

I think you'll like what you see.  I know I did.  

Dan

[WeatherFx]

We have been considering Celebrity. My wife loves to dance and looks forward to that almost every evening on Royal. Do they have regular club like dancing like they have in the lounges or Centrum on Royal? We do not do ballroom style dancing.

[Rogueperson]

Just now, WeatherFx said:

We have been considering Celebrity. My wife loves to dance and looks forward to that almost every evening on Royal. Do they have regular club like dancing like they have in the lounges or Centrum on Royal? We do not do ballroom style dancing.

Yes they do.  However, it does depend on the passenger base.  On Royal Caribbean, the music is more...modern, whereas my panama canal crossing had more of a classic theme to it.  I felt this was cool because they do try to cater to the passenger base and this worked well.

 

That being said, there was a core group on my Celebrity cruise that pretty much outpartied us easily...They were in the 70s.  I kind of felt humbled there.

[Florida_cruisers]

49 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

You will love Equinox!  Will you be doing that short cruise before I see you on JOTS in May?  I will want to hear your thoughts!

FYI, I think it's just EDGE that is priced outrageously.  The other itineraries we've done (twice on Equinox; one Reflection; one Solstice) seem right in line pricewise with other lines.

Enjoy...she's a beauty!

Don’t fall off your chair laughing but this cruise I booked it for Jan 2021 🤣. I have other trips scheduled before then and it was the only time I could do it. 

We are set to get to Thailand next week, two months before the Greek cruise. 

[lola2013]

3 minutes ago, Florida_cruisers said:

Don’t fall off your chair laughing but this cruise I booked it for Jan 2021 🤣. I have other trips scheduled before then and it was the only time I could do it. 

We are set to get to Thailand next week, two months before the Greek cruise. 

Absolutely not laughing; I love a plan!  My friend Linda (she'll be on JOTS) and I are looking for a TA on the new Princess ship in November, 2021.  

Is Bangkok one of your stops in Thailand?  I loved it there...the humidity not so much, but still a fascinating city.

[Iamcruzin]

We have not sailed in Europe yet. Our favorite lines are Celebrity and Princess. My approach to a European cruise is itinerary and price over the choice of cruise line. The destination and the least expensive why to see it would be my priority. I would much rather book better excursions than pay more for the on board experience.  I would even be willing to book HAL, NCL or Carnival which I wouldn't never consider for a Caribbean itinerary where the ship is more of the destination.

[Florida_cruisers]

14 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

Absolutely not laughing; I love a plan!  My friend Linda (she'll be on JOTS) and I are looking for a TA on the new Princess ship in November, 2021.  

Is Bangkok one of your stops in Thailand?  I loved it there...the humidity not so much, but still a fascinating city.

You know I am a planner. I have the next 2 years’ trips planned. 

We are stopping in Dubai for a day, Bangkok for 2.5 days and Phuket for 3.5 days. 

Mid the humidity worse than Florida?

[lola2013]

5 minutes ago, Florida_cruisers said:

You know I am a planner. I have the next 2 years’ trips planned. 

We are stopping in Dubai for a day, Bangkok for 2.5 days and Phuket for 3.5 days. 

Mid the humidity worse than Florida?

 

I typically visit south Florida in the spring or for Thanksgiving so humidity not terrible.  This past September, we flew to Tampa to board Majesty of the Seas for our Cuba cruise.  As soon as we got off the plane, the humidity was oppressive...and that was 11pm.  I was a puddle!

My trip to Bangkok was the beginning of June.  I think that was my first experience with extreme humidity.  We complain about it in Chicago during the summer, but Bangkok was much worse.

Maybe it won't affect you so much since you're used to it.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by lola2013

[bonsai3s]

On Wednesday, March 06, 2019 at 10:03 AM, Sun Lover said:

Do you think that Reflection would be worth double the price of Brilliance for a similar itinerary?

 

We are the same in ages...old but still active.  Somewhat strange but when we were younger, we actually cruised with X first then switched to RCCL for more activities. We still love X and will sail with her on itineraries not available on RCCL.

We've been on both the Brilliance and Reflection. We echo the same sentiments as others...Reflection is beautiful, with noticeably better service and food.  That said, in our humble opinion, it is not worth double the price.