Celebrity vs the rest

[TeaBag]

Welcome charlie-le-chat to cruise critic.  Is "lift and shift" not available in the UK?  That's RCL's way of helping those whose cruises have been cancelled.  You can lift it to the same sailing next year for the same price.

[cangelmd]

3 hours ago, Jayneykul said:

Oh that is great to hear cangelmd!!! We are booked on the Edge in November (fingers crossed) Celebrity is not the worst for entertainment by any means, that award definitely goes to Cunard with MSC a close second.

I hope that overall the Edge experience remains the same... the acrobatic show in The Club was a highlight for us, and I know it will change, the performers were as close as their safety would allow.

[Pinboy]

1 hour ago, ABoatNerd said:

OP - carefully note the cruise items that are fundamental to you and what items that you do not wish to have on a cruise.

 

Research the cruise lines (CC is excellent for that) - do not make a purchasing decision based on price only.

 

Determine which cruise line offers the best bundle of attributes that meets your fundamental requirements.

 

As for Celebrity - I am one of the many who fled Celebrity to the premium lines.

Celebrity trades on their past reputation of great food, premium service etc, which was true up to about 2015. It does not deliver that for the majority of passengers, while charging higher per diems than their peers - hence why people have fled Celebrity. 

 

Be aware, Celebrity has morphed into a distinct class system cruise line that is more class conscious than Cunard. 

 

For the non suite class, it is a regular cruise line with nothing special versus offerings on Princess, HA etc - all those lines, and Celebrity, are about the same give or take on various cruise line attributes.

 

 

Toronto, eh ??

[ABoatNerd]

Pinboy, indeed Toronto.

 

But leaving shortly and moving out of the GTA. Not worth living there anymore.

 

Sailed Celebrity since 2001 on Zenith after Hurricane Andrew - Celebrity has been "Royalized" so moving on.

 

Actually, not doing main lines anymore, more specialized lines, expedition.

 

Celebrity is trading on its former reputation, but with their fixation on suite class, everyone else is garbage.

 

That is why consumers need to do their research and stop being loyal to anyone period.

 

Do what is best for you the consumer, enough of corporate loyalty.

 

 

[vermonter16]

5 hours ago, cangelmd said:

I hope that overall the Edge experience remains the same... the acrobatic show in The Club was a highlight for us, and I know it will change, the performers were as close as their safety would allow.

Love it too!!!!!

[Pinboy]

4 minutes ago, ABoatNerd said:

Celebrity is trading on its former reputation, but with their fixation on suite class, everyone else is garbage

( I love the Centre St Deli when we are in TO ) --- Been there ????

Yes,of course there is a different level of service expected and deserved when paying for a Suite or Aqua Class. 

No different on land if you are staying at the Motel 6 ( 25% off if you stay the entire night ) or the Four Seasons .

However ,we do not take a Suite and have never felt that we were being treated as " garbage ".

Always had excellent service because we treat all Staff members the way they deserve to be treated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spif Barwunkel]

Celebrity presents an adult oriented environment with - as Georgia Peaches states -  classy but not stuffy surroundings. To us, the itinerary is key and all things being equal, we will spend more money to sail Celebrity rather than another carrier.

 

The Norwegian Fjords are absolutely breathtaking, as are the quaint towns scattered throughout. You have opportunity on either the Silhouette or the Reflection in May of 2021. If you could swing a back-to-back to include Iceland, even better. We did that out of Dublin, two awesome bucket list items taken care of with one flight across the pond.

 

Your Celebrity experience would be very enjoyable. If it is a matter of cost, splurge a bit and be privy to what Celebrity has to offer.  

[miched]

Don’t know if X is any better than the rest and it isn’t my job to promote them.  

 

i have sailed on many cruise line including Carnival many times and loved them all.  They all offer about the same things, food, drinks and entertainment, and etc.   service is about the same on all of them.   It all depends on my mood and price offered.

 

Like the ad for a  candy bar,  sometimes I feel for a nut and sometimes I don’t 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅 

[deliver42]

As you can see by my signature, I've sailed on most of the major cruise lines. I love Celebrity because of the service and the ambiance. I'm booked on the Apex for next March, and hope the sailing will go on.

[laslomas]

14 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Welcome charlie-le-chat to cruise critic.  Is "lift and shift" not available in the UK?  That's RCL's way of helping those whose cruises have been cancelled.  You can lift it to the same sailing next year for the same price.

 

Lift and Shift is available in the UK, I have done it myself. I was going to mention that too. But the opening poster stated they had FCC, so not sure if they can go down that route now  ??? Can they back track?

 

Just another thought on different cruise lines. I was checking out Marella and discovered that they have Celebrity Century, Celebrity Galaxy, Legend of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas in their fleet. Renamed of course. I love the fact that they are still sailing the seas 😍

[charlie-le-chat]

15 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Welcome charlie-le-chat to cruise critic.  Is "lift and shift" not available in the UK?  That's RCL's way of helping those whose cruises have been cancelled.  You can lift it to the same sailing next year for the same price.

 

11 minutes ago, laslomas said:

 

Lift and Shift is available in the UK, I have done it myself. I was going to mention that too. But the opening poster stated they had FCC, so not sure if they can go down that route now  ??? Can they back track?

 

Just another thought on different cruise lines. I was checking out Marella and discovered that they have Celebrity Century, Celebrity Galaxy, Legend of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas in their fleet. Renamed of course. I love the fact that they are still sailing the seas 😍

 

I looked at Lift & Shift but found information on the Celebrity site confusing with no indication on how to request it. Anyway I already asked for the refund.

 

We were on 'Marella Discovery 2', formerly 'Legend Of The Seas' last year. A bit long in the tooth but still a pleasant experience. Comparable with P&O Oceana we thought.

 

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

[mike30542]

25 minutes ago, charlie-le-chat said:

I looked at Lift & Shift but found information on the Celebrity site confusing with no indication on how to request it.

Agree Website is no help. I don't think it can be done online. I did L&S by phoning Celebrity. It was then easy to do& only took a few minutes.

[hawkesbaynz]

Sailed the Adriatic on Marella Celebration in 2018. Enjoyed the size of the ship & the destination rich itinerary but felt decidly Butlins/Social Club. Wine was undrinkable unless you went Premium. Enjoyed the holiday but never again. Would do again but am told that I would be going alone.

 

My first cruise was a P&O Oceana long weekend. Pleasant but not Celebrity standard. Would try again as I live in Southampton and the prices are decent with pub prices in the bars etc.

 

I have cruised Celebrity a few times and had three booked this year...... Never done the Premium lines but this feels right for us. I find the entertainment good. Not into Disney type stuff. Perhaps there could be better bands.

 

I would only reduce the size of the casinos and fancy shopping on the S Class ships

[hcat]

20 hours ago, cangelmd said:

I hope that overall the Edge experience remains the same... the acrobatic show in The Club was a highlight for us, and I know it will change, the performers were as close as their safety would allow.

It was one of the best shows we have seen in many yrs of cruising...The Eden show paled in comparison...that was not our style.

[Moby Jones]

3 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

Sailed the Adriatic on Marella Celebration in 2018. Enjoyed the size of the ship & the destination rich itinerary but felt decidly Butlins/Social Club. Wine was undrinkable unless you went Premium. Enjoyed the holiday but never again. Would do again but am told that I would be going alone.

 

My first cruise was a P&O Oceana long weekend. Pleasant but not Celebrity standard. Would try again as I live in Southampton and the prices are decent with pub prices in the bars etc.

 

I have cruised Celebrity a few times and had three booked this year...... Never done the Premium lines but this feels right for us. I find the entertainment good. Not into Disney type stuff. Perhaps there could be better bands.

 

I would only reduce the size of the casinos and fancy shopping on the S Class ships

 

Celebrity inflate drinks packages considerably in order to sell the beverage packages. Although I've not sailed on P&O I have seen their pricing and menus as family members sail with them at least a couple of times a year and they do look very reasonable compared to X! 

[Moby Jones]

21 hours ago, hcat said:

EDGE blows other X ships out of the water for music, shows,  performances

 

I think it's fair to say that you could replace the word EDGE with a number of other cruise lines too in this respect. 

[Jayneykul]

I think Celebration has gone out of commission Hawksbayne. I know what you mean by Butlins my comment on the Squid & anchor was “haven afloat” So we didn’t go in there again but there are other really nice venues especially on Explorer 2 which was Celebrity Century (we sailed on her to Alaska when she was Century). Anyhow if the prices are comparable we would go Celebrity every time!

[TeaBag]

15 hours ago, Spif Barwunkel said:

The Norwegian Fjords are absolutely breathtaking, as are the quaint towns scattered throughout. You have opportunity on either the Silhouette or the Reflection in May of 2021. If you could swing a back-to-back to include Iceland, even better. We did that out of Dublin, two awesome bucket list items taken care of with one flight across the pond.

Thank you for the heads up!  We have just booked both of these cruises on Silhouette, our favorite ship.

[Spif Barwunkel]

22 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

Thank you for the heads up!  We have just booked both of these cruises on Silhouette, our favorite ship.

You are going to be in absolute awe. I truly hope that you can experience the beauty and the unique characteristics of both countries without distraction. In other words, as close to normal as possible. 

[TeaBag]

Thanks.  I hope so too.  We don't want a repeat of the "Cruise to Nowhere" on Eclipse although we were treated royally on the ship.

[alibaba1]

On 6/2/2020 at 5:23 AM, charlie-le-chat said:

We've previously cruised with P&O three times, Royal Caribbean once and Marella once and apart from slight niggles have been happy with all. To be honest Marella was perhaps a little 'down market' but still good value. We now have FCC certificates for a cancelled Norwegian Fjords cruise but are considering swapping for a refund as the aforementioned are quite a bit cheaper. I'd be interested to hear views on what puts Celebrity above others.

Celebrity is just mediocre compared to Oceania lines.
Take a peek at their Oceania Riviera sailing for March 10, 2021 to the Western Caribbean.
Spoil yourself and come sail with us, the price has dropped significantly, and we'll request an adjustment through VTG.
Barbara  🙂

 

[terrydtx]

On 6/2/2020 at 6:45 AM, Georgia_Peaches said:

Some things we love about Celebrity:

• classy feel when on board, but not too stuffy
• great crew
• wonderful food
• quite liberal drinks package
• the solarium (climate controlled, adults only pool area)
• the martini and World Class bar (S class)
• embarkation glass of bubbly when you board
• comparable loyalty perks
• theater shows (most of them)
• Murano

After 10 years of cruising with HAL we are coming back to Celebrity for the same above reasons. But the big thing that is brining us back is the exclusive fleetwide dinning room, Blu for AQ Class , something HAL does not have. HAL is starting something called Club Orange for Suite guest dinning but it is not fleetwide yet and will be just a roped off part of the MDR in most older ships. On HAL we usually booked Signature suite cabins that compare in price with Aqua Class but with very few amenities other than a larger cabin size. A Signature Suite is a suite in name only and has few extras and does not include free access to Club Orange dining unless you want to pay an extra $50pp per day fee. HAL rarely offers any perks when booking like the drinks package, pre paid gratuities, 150 OBC and free internet we got for our two 2021 X cruises.

[Georgia_Peaches]

32 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

After 10 years of cruising with HAL we are coming back to Celebrity for the same above reasons. But the big thing that is brining us back is the exclusive fleetwide dinning room, Blu for AQ Class , something HAL does not have. HAL is starting something called Club Orange for Suite guest dinning but it is not fleetwide yet and will be just a roped off part of the MDR in most older ships. On HAL we usually booked Signature suite cabins that compare in price with Aqua Class but with very few amenities other than a larger cabin size. A Signature Suite is a suite in name only and has few extras and does not include free access to Club Orange dining unless you want to pay an extra $50pp per day fee. HAL rarely offers any perks when booking like the drinks package, pre paid gratuities, 150 OBC and free internet we got for our two 2021 X cruises.

You are so right to point out Blu!  This is such a great perk for those who book Aqua class rooms.  I have shopped HA a few times but have always been turned off by the lack of amenities associated with their suites as well as the lack of perks offered at time of booking.  I remember the days when we didn't sail with a drink package and I would cringe at the bill they would slide under our door on the last night.  Now a-days, I wouldn't even consider sailing without a drink package much less booking with a line that didn't offer it as a perk.  I know you can buy them in the cruise planner, but somehow, it's just not the same!

[terrydtx]

25 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

You are so right to point out Blu!  This is such a great perk for those who book Aqua class rooms.  I have shopped HA a few times but have always been turned off by the lack of amenities associated with their suites as well as the lack of perks offered at time of booking.  I remember the days when we didn't sail with a drink package and I would cringe at the bill they would slide under our door on the last night.  Now a-days, I wouldn't even consider sailing without a drink package much less booking with a line that didn't offer it as a perk.  I know you can buy them in the cruise planner, but somehow, it's just not the same!

Yes I remember those days too and on our first and only X cruise in 2008 (pre Aqua Class) that was the case and we saw no difference between HAL and X. Now with the 4 perks we got for both of our 2021 cruises, we have free drinks, prepaid gratuities,  free internet and OBC and all we will have to pay out of pocket are our shore excursions.  One other X advantage is with the classic drink package you can pay the difference for any drinks over $9 or upgrade to the Premium package for $12 more pp per day, neither of these, you can do on HAL.  We already plan on upgrading to the Premium drink package for the better wine by the glass selections, which will eliminate us needing to buy bottles for dinner. With all the X perks and OBC there will be no nickel and dimming charges like we got on HAL . We are very excited to be back on X next year.

Edited June 4, 2020 by terrydtx

[Decpl]

We have over 20 cruises under our belts and enjoy Celebrity and Princess, I think entertainment wise Celebrity  is the lowest according to our tastes now. Seems they have cut enteratnment bugets drastictly over last few years. Food is 

good and always good service. I know we are in the senor age group, but the enteranment seems to suit older

patrons then us.