celebrity vs royal

[Squirtreena]

I will be doing celebrity (Summit) to hawaii for my next cruise, and i will have two kids with me...i loved Royal (Explorer of the seas) i am just wondering if anyone out there who has kids has been on both and which line did you prefer?? and why??TIA

Also is an inside cabin big enough?? for four of us?? i cant afford a huge cabin with the 4 of us...what is the next step up for cabin size after the inside cabin??? thanks.

[Ericknow32]

I recently got back from this trip and had a great time but I have a few questions. What time of year are you going? How old are your children? What did you like most about the RCI ship?

[Squirtreena]

Honestly my trip is not until next xmas...i couldnt save for it in time for this xmas...my kids will be 12 and 11 so we will be on the two week cruise out of Los Angeles.

I loved everything about the EXPLORER OF THE SEAS the food was fabulous, the staff were friendly, there were lots of activities, good shows and the boat is fabulous. the age of the passengers was good for us, between 30-50 average..I also sailed on Princess and found the ages to be mostly over 50 percent of the passengers over 65 so i opted for Royal and preferred it...but there is no Royal ship that goes to Hawaii at xmas so my only aternative is Celebrity...

[Ericknow32]

The cruise before mine was the Christmas cruise and I was told that there were about 500 kids on-board that trip. So if your cruise is anything like that one your kids should be in good company. The trip I went on was older than I am used to but things might be different though because you are on a holiday sailing. Celebrity does not have all of the activities that RCI has like the rock wall, ice skating, etc... The service on the Summit was great and the food was outstanding. I don't know about the youth program but I am guessing that your kids will have a great time.

 

Hawaii was great. The ship is great. Have a great time.

[superjerryw]

I have not been on the Summit, but I have been on the other 3 "M" class ships that are exactly the same. I have also been on Explorer twice. To be honest, you may be disappointed with Summit based on the things you enjoyed on the Explorer. There will be far less activities on Summit and there certainly won't be rock climbing, mini-golf, ice skating, an ice show, etc. You will also find that Celebrity ships are more formal in the sense that more of the passengers like to dress up and adhere to the dress code, particularly on formal nights. The overall atmosphere is not as relaxed as on Royal Caribbean. Without checking the schedule I am assuming your are doing a round trip Hawaii cruise of 2 weeks. You will find that the longer the cruise, the older the passengers. If your trip is 2 weeks you will find a much higher percentage of older passenegers than you experienced on Royal Caribbean. Overall, Royal Caribbean is a more family opriented cruise line and Celebrity is a more adult oriented cruise liine. That being said, if you enjoyed the experience on Explorer and this is a round trip Hawaii cruise with lots of sea days you and your kids may get pretty bored.

[Squirtreena]

Thank you both for your comments..i will keep all of that in mind......