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Lack of daily activities


Ktuluorion
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Hello all!  While we love the service, food, and pretty much everything else about Celebrity, I find the daily planners to be EXTREMELY snoozy on this line.   It seems like your choices in general are trivia,  music geared toward older folks, and "classes" where you pay for booze even though most of us have a beverage package.   Does anyone think this will ever change?  Do others see the lack of real "entertainment"?  I'd really love to see more mini shows or active activities like dance lessons.

 

I *will* say that i come at this from the perspective of someone in their 30s, and I know the demographic of celebrity tends to be older.  However, this just really seems stale to me in the modern day of cruising. 

 

If the ships could get just a little more hopping,  celebrity would be the ultimate to me!

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We greatly  enjoyed the "Beyond the Podium" presentations on Reflection in Feb. There was a marine biologist and a retired NASA engineer on board who made several presentations during the 11 day cruise. We have enjoyed other "Beyond the Podium" series on other ships, but these were the best so far. I do find that many times the trivia sessions are run by a person for whom English is not a first language, making it very difficult to understand the questions. So, don't do trivia much. 

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I think if it got too “hoppy”, Celebrity would not be the first choice for a lot of passengers.

 

They do have some excellent lecturers and speakers and very often there is a choir, dance lessons etc. To be honest we have trouble fitting in everything we want to do!

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A year or so (probably longer) ago, celebrity downsized the activity staff on all ships.....and replaced many activities with ship store/franchise run events.  If you look at the daily schedule, 1/4-1/3 of the events are "chocolate diamond unveiling", "fabrege grand opening", Art preview and then there are things like "open table tennis" all day (essentially telling you that there is a table tennis table you can use) or open bridge in some room or other".  And of course the spa runs many free (sales) courses...footbeds, accupuncture, teeth whitening.   I am often surprised that they don't list "walk to the buffet for lunch" as an activity.

 

Interspersed, there are some real activities...the lecturers (beyond the podium) come to mind...they are usually very good although you find the same lecturers giving the same talks on different cruises (Jim Kennedy maybe great...the first time, but not so much the fifth).

 

We tend to read a lot, I play in some casino tournaments...yes, I wander through some of the sales, but the only real sales are the $10 ones....most everything else is cheaper on Amazon or elsewhere, even on sale.  Overall, we probably do 3 or 4 events a day...cooking demos, etc. 

 

If one prefers the "hairy chest contests" and similar, Celebrity is the wrong cruise line....but then again Princess and Holland American are the same.  RCL offers a bit more in the way of activities and then for those that need something happening at all times, Carnival and NCL come to mind.

Edited by ghstudio
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There have been dance lessons on port days on almost every cruise we have been on, also contests like putting, officers vs guests volleyball,  officers vs guests bocce,  bean bag toss.  The guests speakers are normally very good and the Captain and Sr Officer talks on ship building, navigation, etc are interesting and often quite funny.

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2 hours ago, Ktuluorion said:

Hello all!  While we love the service, food, and pretty much everything else about Celebrity, I find the daily planners to be EXTREMELY snoozy on this line.   It seems like your choices in general are trivia,  music geared toward older folks, and "classes" where you pay for booze even though most of us have a beverage package.   Does anyone think this will ever change?  Do others see the lack of real "entertainment"?  I'd really love to see more mini shows or active activities like dance lessons.

 

I *will* say that i come at this from the perspective of someone in their 30s, and I know the demographic of celebrity tends to be older.  However, this just really seems stale to me in the modern day of cruising. 

 

If the ships could get just a little more hopping,  celebrity would be the ultimate to me!

 

generally. I'm in agreement with you (though "ultimate" would not be the result for us).  Too many choices are extra cost or shilling products and/or services.  And we've incurred language issues with staff doing trivia a lot.

 

music geared to old folks?  can't agree with you on that.  we're old folks and WISH Celebrity would get away from too-loud and rock music, especially from the DJ's. (Actually, we wish they would use less DJ music and go back to live performers.)  No piano bar.  Very little karaoke and slow dancing.  It's actually one of the things that makes HAL an appealing choice (until I compare the prices with the X perks).  

 

Each line, even each ship, is different.  We enjoy them all (except RCCL and Carnival.)

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EDGE might be a good choice for those looking for a few diff activities..Lots of  non sales pitch offerings were  listed on our cruise  

 

Although we  prefer a more laid back day, I think you can check out the App for samples....

 

Our perfect sea days  usually include an early breakfast,  swim at the Solarium or outdoor pool...visit to the gym and afternoon coffee at Cafe Baccio...or just checking out EDEN ( on EDGE)...and spa appts mixed in... 

 

We are on the go on port days so enjoying tge ship does not require too much scheduled activity..

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I noticed the listing on a posted Daily for the "card room" for bridge and poker. I think my husband and I will bring in some Exploding Kittens cards and see if anyone joins in, lol.

 

Does anyone know if they send drink servers to the card room, or is it that they just throw open the doors and you're on your own with no servers or staff?

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6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

@Ktuluorion Curious as to what type of activity you would like to see.   I've never sailed any line except Celebrity so don't have any point of reference.

Hi Jim - we have sailed with NCL about 14 times,  and the one area where they really destroy Celebrity is things to do.  The shows are flat out better,  and there are always way more lively things to do throughout the day (comedians,  dancing,  pub crawl, etc).  On an NCL, I can't get to everything I want to do - on Celebrity I find myself bored and only want to read a book.   Just glancing at a random  NCL flyer, i see things like a family circus workshop, poolside party,  hibachi cooking demo, celebrity heads game show.. and this is all during the day, among many other things.   I feel like Celebrity's day offerings are "spend 35/pp to get some drinks", "buy something," or "here's some lame game to play like shuffleboard," rather than well thought out entertainment.  

 

Personally, I don't care about all the bumper cars and rope course type of stuff that other lines have. 

 

I do find night time is at least decent, in that there is a show.. however,  later night would be nice to have karaoke or something like that. 

 

Not trying to totally beat up Celebrity, because I think it is wonderful in a lot of ways.  I just don't understand why they don't have a little more quantity and imaginative stuff to do (especially during the day).  Seems like *most* people here prefer being left to yourself a bit to relax, so I might be on the wrong track. 

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10 minutes ago, Ktuluorion said:

Hi Jim - we have sailed with NCL about 14 times,  and the one area where they really destroy Celebrity is things to do.  The shows are flat out better,  and there are always way more lively things to do throughout the day (comedians,  dancing,  pub crawl, etc).  On an NCL, I can't get to everything I want to do - on Celebrity I find myself bored and only want to read a book.   Just glancing at a random  NCL flyer, i see things like a family circus workshop, poolside party,  hibachi cooking demo, celebrity heads game show.. and this is all during the day, among many other things.   I feel like Celebrity's day offerings are "spend 35/pp to get some drinks", "buy something," or "here's some lame game to play like shuffleboard," rather than well thought out entertainment.  

 

Personally, I don't care about all the bumper cars and rope course type of stuff that other lines have. 

 

I do find night time is at least decent, in that there is a show.. however,  later night would be nice to have karaoke or something like that. 

 

Not trying to totally beat up Celebrity, because I think it is wonderful in a lot of ways.  I just don't understand why they don't have a little more quantity and imaginative stuff to do (especially during the day).  Seems like *most* people here prefer being left to yourself a bit to relax, so I might be on the wrong track. 

It definitely sounds like X isn't for you and that's cool. We're in our mid 60s and have a blast when we're on a X cruise. For us on sea days we go to 2-3 trivia games, 2 lectures, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and walk 1 1/2 miles. Then in the evening we eat early and then go to one of their great production or guest speaker shows in the main theater and then to the interactive game show at 8 pm. After that we head back to our balcony cabin, check out the stars, watch a movie on tv and then head to bed. I'm not sure we have anytime to do anything else on sea days. But, that's just us. Oh, I forgot to add breakfast, lunch and dinner in there.

 

But I will say NCL has a lot of fun things to do too, especially for the younger crowd. 

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2 hours ago, Ktuluorion said:

Hi Jim - we have sailed with NCL about 14 times,  and the one area where they really destroy Celebrity is things to do.  The shows are flat out better,  and there are always way more lively things to do throughout the day (comedians,  dancing,  pub crawl, etc).  On an NCL, I can't get to everything I want to do - on Celebrity I find myself bored and only want to read a book.   Just glancing at a random  NCL flyer, i see things like a family circus workshop, poolside party,  hibachi cooking demo, celebrity heads game show.. and this is all during the day, among many other things.   I feel like Celebrity's day offerings are "spend 35/pp to get some drinks", "buy something," or "here's some lame game to play like shuffleboard," rather than well thought out entertainment.  

 

Personally, I don't care about all the bumper cars and rope course type of stuff that other lines have. 

 

I do find night time is at least decent, in that there is a show.. however,  later night would be nice to have karaoke or something like that. 

 

Not trying to totally beat up Celebrity, because I think it is wonderful in a lot of ways.  I just don't understand why they don't have a little more quantity and imaginative stuff to do (especially during the day).  Seems like *most* people here prefer being left to yourself a bit to relax, so I might be on the wrong track. 

 

I have to agree, particularly your comparisons to NCL.  But we still stay with X.  Why? 

 

  • Because X offers the alcohol package and gratuities (or my TA pays them) - which is WAY cheaper than other cruise lines for us.  We book OV GTY cabins - I recognize that suites and up may have a different result, as well as those who don't want those perks. 
  • Because the food in the MDR on NCL was pretty bland.  And that's the most positive thing I can say about it.  However, we did really like the specialty restaurants - maybe more than X.  But that bumps up the cost quite a bit, and annoys the crap out of me.

 

Isn't it nice that we have so many choices? 

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I do think i'm in the same boat.. too many other things are better on X, and NCL just keeps getting more expensive as things get worse.  I did take a look at an Edge itinerary,  and it actually looked a little better.   Perhaps i'll have to give the Edge a try after my Eclipse cruise in April!!

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2 hours ago, Ktuluorion said:

Hi Jim - we have sailed with NCL about 14 times,  and the one area where they really destroy Celebrity is things to do.  The shows are flat out better,  and there are always way more lively things to do throughout the day (comedians,  dancing,  pub crawl, etc).  On an NCL, I can't get to everything I want to do - on Celebrity I find myself bored and only want to read a book.   Just glancing at a random  NCL flyer, i see things like a family circus workshop, poolside party,  hibachi cooking demo, celebrity heads game show.. and this is all during the day, among many other things.   I feel like Celebrity's day offerings are "spend 35/pp to get some drinks", "buy something," or "here's some lame game to play like shuffleboard," rather than well thought out entertainment.  

 

Personally, I don't care about all the bumper cars and rope course type of stuff that other lines have. 

 

I do find night time is at least decent, in that there is a show.. however,  later night would be nice to have karaoke or something like that. 

 

Not trying to totally beat up Celebrity, because I think it is wonderful in a lot of ways.  I just don't understand why they don't have a little more quantity and imaginative stuff to do (especially during the day).  Seems like *most* people here prefer being left to yourself a bit to relax, so I might be on the wrong track. 

Thanks for your inputs.   I was just curious as I have never gotten bored.  Maybe being in my 60's I have different needs and expectations.   Even on TA's which are our favorites I usually find more things to do than I have time for.   I do have a tenancy to work out in some fashion 3-4 hours a day which does take a chunk out of my day.  

 

I have to agree with you 100% about the shows and entertainment and rarely attend.  

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I love Celebrity, therefore I have two more cruises booked with the line. This said, it also seems to me that the line could do, just a bit more to entertain during day time, without increasing the cost to the bottom line too much: Examples that comes to mind: Animated morning walks around the jogging track (RCCL used to do this) a few more line dancing lessons, putting, ping-pong, or other mini sport activities. 

 

But we really enjoy cruising on X... so many things are done so well! 

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9 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

their great production 

 

Not a phrase I’d associate with X - nothing against the artists, but their production shows have definitely declined since they started producing them in-house.

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2 hours ago, wendychloecruiser said:

 

Us too.   We’re not interested in adult day care though we like the trivia and some of the speakers.  

 

Laughed at this one!

 

During a typical cruise we may go to an odd trivia, an odd lecture, an occasional show or activity but if we wanted more entertainment we would cruise on Royal Caribbean.

 

The highlights for us of cruising are....

 

Some nice relaxing lying by the pool in the sun,

Some nice relaxing star gazing late at night,

Some nice relaxing quality meals,

Some nice relaxing quality family time,

Some nice relaxing time reading, doing crosswords or sudoku....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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