Celebrity v Oceania for a special cruise

[Presto2]

We are researching a number of cruises for a 'special' birthday and possibly retirement cruise.

We normally sail with P&O or Celebrity (last cruise spoiled us on EDGE in August 2019)

Just wondering how Celebrity compares with Oceania as we have seen some great itineraries that we would love to do.

[ToxM]

As someone from the UK who has cruised on P&O and Celebrity, but has now migrated to O, I can give you some good insight here. 

 

Celebrity and P&O have bigger ships and have formal nights, there is more nickel and diming on those lines. Dependant on which type of cabin you go for and what class of ship you go for on O the cabins may be smaller (especially bathrooms in R class ships in some circumstances). Cabins are of a much higher quality then P&O or Celebrity however. 

 

Entertainment is less full on on O. 

 

Food is at an altogether higher level on O compared to Celebrity and P&O - there is simply no contest - also bear in mind that the Specialities are free. Afternoon tea is the best at sea, even the pool grill is a step above everything you will have experienced before. 

 

Barista coffee (Illy) and all soft drinks are included in the price as is internet. 

 

The ships are elegant, think of a nice boutique hotel. Mostly a US centric passenger profile. 

 

Personally it is just a much nicer cruising experience, the ships are smaller the food and service is excellent. 

 

Do your due diligence with cabin and ship, this board can be snippy, but they know their stuff. 

 

You won’t look back. 

[pete_coach]

We love Celebrity and have taken only one Oceania cruise before and it was terrific. So, after the pandemic, our first ocean cruise is on Oceania.

We like the idea of a much smaller ship. We love the concierge cabins and lounges. Free laundry is also a bonus so we don't have to pack as much.

Celebrity certainly has everything but we want to relax and enjoy the less crowded experience and have excellent meals (without paying an extra 60 or 75 dollars each)

We realize there is far less entertainment but will be very happy with the piano bar atmosphere.

Lastly, the itinerary fits us perfectly.

[Presto2]

Thanks both, what you describe as Oceania seems perfect for us.

Off to do more research 🙂

[Flatbush Flyer]

56 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Thanks both, what you describe as Oceania seems perfect for us.

Off to do more research 🙂

As for which line- there’s just no contest. O has many regulars who formerly cruises on Celebrity.

[zalusky]

We have cruised RCI, NCL, Princess, and Celebrity.  Coming up Oceania and Viking.

 

We did a Celebrity cruise to Australia and New Zealand.  I agree with the above comments and I have also seen a lot of changes on Celebrity over the last 15 years comparable to the industry.

 

Our first Celebrity cruises in 2004 and 2005 had a more upscale vibe to them.  People wore tuxes on formal night.  The specialty restaurant had pancake sized Foie Gras on top of my steak.  They revealed everybody's plate simultaneously.  Midnight buffets galore.

 

Now its more about nickel and dimes with upsell options be it the food or even the excursions.  There is the regular excursion or the small van version of the same excursion.

 

Oceania is really good at unusual itineraries.  Celebrity goes with conventional itineraries similar to the mass market lines. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

If you loved Edge, you may find Oceania boring.  Edge pushed us away from Celebrity for good.  We love Oceania, but the things we love (other than the really good food, which any age can enjoy) are the ways it is 180 degrees different from today's Celebrity and specifically the Edge-class ships.

[njhorseman]

2 hours ago, zalusky said:

 Celebrity goes with conventional itineraries similar to the mass market lines. 

Celebrity is a mass market line...at the upper end of mass market, but mass market none the less.

Their Galapagos expedition ships aside, the smallest Celebrity ships, the 20 year old and up Millennium class are 91,000 GT  with a capacity of over 2,000 passengers. The newer ships range in size from 121,000+ GT to 140,000+ GT with a capacity of over 3,200 passengers. Those are mass market size ships, not upscale super premium size ships.

Celebrity was our cruise line of choice before Royal Caribbean bought it and degraded it into a fancier version of mass market. Our last cruises on Celebrity were when the Millennium class ships were still fairly new. They aren't bad ships, but they were no longer the Celebrity ships we had grown attached to.

[zoncom]

  Agree with Horseman. We finally abandoned Celebrity after 30 yrs for Oceania including 24 World Cruise. Food is very important to us and Celebrity has gone way down in quality. Enjoy O. You will have better luck booking O directly with line since ships are so small. Get on theirmaing list and book ASAP after cruise opens. 

[Presto2]

20 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

If you loved Edge, you may find Oceania boring.  Edge pushed us away from Celebrity for good.  We love Oceania, but the things we love (other than the really good food, which any age can enjoy) are the ways it is 180 degrees different from today's Celebrity and specifically the Edge-class ships.

We are pretty easy going to be honest. We like P&O and enjoy the more traditional cruising as well. We weren't keen on RCI when we did a mini cruise on IOS about 8 years ago. We feel like the things we loved about P&O are disappearing and that means we may need to move on. We did love Edge, though avoided some of the wacky stuff we didn't like (like Eden) and the Infinite Veranda cabins as we had a regular aft cabin. That cruise cost us a fortune (for us) when we added a 3 night stay in Rome and flights, so it will be interesting to keep a check on Oceania prices.

[YoPhilly]

On 10/3/2022 at 2:52 PM, Presto2 said:

We are researching a number of cruises for a 'special' birthday and possibly retirement cruise.

We normally sail with P&O or Celebrity (last cruise spoiled us on EDGE in August 2019)

Just wondering how Celebrity compares with Oceania as we have seen some great itineraries that we would love to do.

Presto, we are frequent Celebrity cruisers and have migrated to O for the most part.  O ships are much smaller than X's ships so you won't have as many entertainment options.  The food on O is much better than X.  We especially like that the buffet restaurant on O doesn't allow passengers to scoop out their own food; staff scoop the food onto passengers' plates, which eliminates the gross factor.  Specialty restaurants on O are free - no added charges.  And no charges for specialty coffees.  With all that said, I will say that your comment about loving EDGE should be cautionary: if you like such a huge ship, I'm doubtful that O's ships would satisfy you.

[pete_coach]

On 10/3/2022 at 4:58 PM, Flatbush Flyer said:

As for which line- there’s just no contest. O has many regulars who formerly cruises on Celebrity.

To be fair, there are many O  cruisers that still cruise with Celebrity too 🙂 

To us, it is not a contest.

Personally, on a longer cruise, a larger ship or line like Celebrity has more entertainment and things to do onboard. 🙂

[Presto2]

Thanks for your replies, everyone. It has given us a lot to think about. Personally, I think we would be happy on both lines and now it seems to be down to cost and itinerary. I can see that Oceania is more expensive, but when you look at it closely, there many things added in the price that we pay extra for on Celebrity.

 

On a completely different note - does anyone know where you would fly in to or out of if you go to Haifa. We are looking at a Holy Land Cruise if possible as they look amazing. 

[goletans]

TLV – this is the closest international airport to Haifa 

[Presto2]

38 minutes ago, goletans said:

TLV – this is the closest international airport to Haifa 

Are all flights included and do Oceania offer hotel stays for a few days before or after the cruise as Celebrity does? Have to say, the more we are looking, the more interested we are getting 🙂

[LHT28]

20 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Are all flights included and do Oceania offer hotel stays for a few days before or after the cruise as Celebrity does? Have to say, the more we are looking, the more interested we are getting 🙂

Yes for  a fee of course

check on the website under the cruise you are looking at  it should say under the tab " Hotels & Land""

You can do the math & see if  doing it yourself would work out cheaper  or not

[hawkesbaynz]

We sail Celebrity but have cruised with Marella, RCI and even P&O Oceana. Really enjoy Celebrity and have three cruises booked with them coming up. Trying out Princess too on a cruise to Turkey as the price and itinerary were good squeezed in a busy 2023 diary.

 

However we found Oceania because of the amazing itineraries. I love food too although been happy with Celebrity’s. Glad am not a foodie. Like the idea of the smaller ships although I would likely be happy on 5000 berther or a 20 person dive cruise. As long as I have personal space. I am happy to wear a tuxedo to dinner or shorts and T-shirt! 
 

I anticipate taking many more O cruises but will be enjoying other cruise lines, river cruises and land trips. May even try P&O again! Admit could not afford just Oceana with the the number of vacations we enjoy. 

[ToxM]

4 hours ago, hawkesbaynz said:

We sail Celebrity but have cruised with Marella, RCI and even P&O Oceana. Really enjoy Celebrity and have three cruises booked with them coming up. Trying out Princess too on a cruise to Turkey as the price and itinerary were good squeezed in a busy 2023 diary.

 

However we found Oceania because of the amazing itineraries. I love food too although been happy with Celebrity’s. Glad am not a foodie. Like the idea of the smaller ships although I would likely be happy on 5000 berther or a 20 person dive cruise. As long as I have personal space. I am happy to wear a tuxedo to dinner or shorts and T-shirt! 
 

I anticipate taking many more O cruises but will be enjoying other cruise lines, river cruises and land trips. May even try P&O again! Admit could not afford just Oceana with the the number of vacations we enjoy. 

 

If I need a quick getaway from Southampton to enjoy a weeks break then P&O would be my choice over Cunard, it’s just better value and its fun within managed expectations. If I am planning a nice nice cruise, then it’s O. I’ll happily travel in an inside on P&O for a week for just a relax. For anything else, it’s O 🙂

[hawkesbaynz]

We have only enjoyed a weekend cruise on P&O after a dozen years lay-off from cruising after an Airtours Caribbean cruise. Got us back into the habit. I like the drink prices and the ship had a good vibe. Prices are very decent and a 20 minute taxi ride is hard to beat. Will likely be fine for last minute trips but I like to plan my cruises far in advance and book interesting small group tours before they are all taken. Hopefully O will suit. A better mix of nationalities too. I would try an inside but DW would not.

[DENIE]

We thought we had settled in with Celebrity cruises after several in a row, but then when Covid cancelled 2 cruises, we decided to try O based on information from friends. We completed our first O cruise (Oceania Riviera) in June and really loved it.  So many little touches - staff knowing you by name, specialty dining all included, no photographers, no art sales, etc.  On a port-intensive cruise, it is great.  On long cruises with sea days, you may notice there aren't as many entertainment options.  That was not an issue for us as we always found something, especially the pianist in Martinis.

[Presto2]

16 hours ago, DENIE said:

We thought we had settled in with Celebrity cruises after several in a row, but then when Covid cancelled 2 cruises, we decided to try O based on information from friends. We completed our first O cruise (Oceania Riviera) in June and really loved it.  So many little touches - staff knowing you by name, specialty dining all included, no photographers, no art sales, etc.  On a port-intensive cruise, it is great.  On long cruises with sea days, you may notice there aren't as many entertainment options.  That was not an issue for us as we always found something, especially the pianist in Martinis.

To be honest we don't do the entertainment much --- our sea day heaven is spent on our aft balcony relaxing and watching the wake go by. We don't do shows etc etc so a lovely evening is a great meal, and a quiet bar with a tinkling piano or a sunset bar just the two of us .... sounds boring to some, but for us perfect. To be honest one of our favourite cruises was on P&O Oceana (an older ship) where we often just retreated to our balcony with cocktails in hand and relaxed on the balcony after our evening meal with glass in hand looking out over the sea ....................... just heaven

[ToxM]

13 hours ago, Presto2 said:

To be honest we don't do the entertainment much --- our sea day heaven is spent on our aft balcony relaxing and watching the wake go by. We don't do shows etc etc so a lovely evening is a great meal, and a quiet bar with a tinkling piano or a sunset bar just the two of us .... sounds boring to some, but for us perfect. To be honest one of our favourite cruises was on P&O Oceana (an older ship) where we often just retreated to our balcony with cocktails in hand and relaxed on the balcony after our evening meal with glass in hand looking out over the sea ....................... just heaven

 

You really are going to enjoy O.