How do You Rank Celebrity

[kirtihk]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We wanted to try a Viking Ocean cruise, but their policy of final payment due 12 months out was a big no for us. No way I can justify giving any cruise line $15k or more to hold for a year.  Maybe if we found a last-minute Viking Ocean cruise, we would try them.

Not only hold but also losing a payment if cancelled right after paying the initial deposit!

[terrydtx]

3 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Not only hold but also losing a payment if cancelled right after paying the initial deposit!

Viking is currently running a $25 deposit promo and I looked at a cruise, the catch was the final payment was due in less than 45 days for a cruise 12 months from now. Their business model is to pay for future ship builds with full payments for cruises 12 months or more out. Must work because they sell out on a regular basis.

[Cruise a holic]

We rank celebrity S and E class highly.  Next up, Royal Oasis class.  Then we like the Celebrity M class.  Looking foward to the Royal Icon Class.  We have another year to evaluate that ship. 

Of course the dates and itinerary have to work for us.

[kirtihk]

9 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Viking is currently running a $25 deposit promo and I looked at a cruise, the catch was the final payment was due in less than 45 days for a cruise 12 months from now. Their business model is to pay for future ship builds with full payments for cruises 12 months or more out. Must work because they sell out on a regular basis.

Again, in general paying in full even a year ahead is sort of ok (unless one invests during that time with a high % return), but as I wrote there is a high risk of losing everything if cancelling any time for such a long time!

 

The $25 deposit expired on March 1.  We are looking for an Asia cruise on Viking for November 2025, but currently they only sell up to October 2025; so, we were not able to take advantage of this promotion.

[Bobsgonecoastal]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I was looking at what an Aqua cabin currently costs on our September Apex cruise and today it is $5395pp which is only $600pp less than our Sky Suite when we booked in 2021.  When we booked this cruise back in 2021 the Aqua cabins where just a little over $4000pp. That is a huge increase in cost in less than 2 years. Before we booked in Sky Suites, we also booked Aqua Class.

Yes, Aqua has really gone up and based on a recent cruise we did in an Aqua cabin, I didn’t feel it was a good value.  The first time we cruised on the Reflection right after it was put in service, we had what was called an Aqua Suite on deck 12.  The benefits of Aqua class and what is now a Sky Suite.  It was a great combination, but sadly X thought it was to good and did away with that the next year.

we have canceled our two remaining Aqua cabin bookings, but still have one ABC islands in a regular balcony cabin which allows us to use our CC Elite plus perks.

That is one way to deal with the crazy price hikes.  We’re cruising with Princess more and more.

[Cruise a holic]

8 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Have you considered Princess or HAL? Only asking as the entertainment you posted suggests Royal and NCL. Princess is more similar to X than different - unless you sail in suites (we don’t, so there are good and not so good features on both lines). 

I would highly recommend the Sandy Lane Hotel.  It is a true luxury resort.  Also the Fairmont Royal Pavilion.  Both wonderful hotels.  Both in Barbados.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Cruise a holic

[kirtihk]

8 minutes ago, Bobsgonecoastal said:

Yes, Aqua has really gone up and based on a recent cruise we did in an Aqua cabin, I didn’t feel it was a good value.  The first time we cruised on the Reflection right after it was put in service, we had what was called an Aqua Suite on deck 12.  The benefits of Aqua class and what is now a Sky Suite.  It was a great combination, but sadly X thought it was to good and did away with that the next year.

we have canceled our two remaining Aqua cabin bookings, but still have one ABC islands in a regular balcony cabin which allows us to use our CC Elite plus perks.

That is one way to deal with the crazy price hikes.  We’re cruising with Princess more and more.

It all depends: I saw Aqua price on Ascent for April 2025 actually went down a lot (vs the original price for the same month/year) a few months ago, and our agent gave us even much better price which is even less than the current least expensive balcony price (he applied his special group booking; he said sometimes his group booking is considerably less than other times even for the same cruise line), so we booked it for a great price.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Rick, simply put, the amenities and cabin size of an Oceania Penthouse comes the closest when comparing to a Sky Suite.

 

Suites & Staterooms | Riviera Ship | Oceania Cruises

 

BTW I have been on 10 Oceania cruises, 5 on the Riviera, 3 on the Nautica, and 2 on the Sirena.

Just to follow up, a Concierge balcony cabin is the same as a regular veranda. The only difference is you get a bottle of bubbly, 3 free bags of laundry (up to 20 pieces each), and you get to prebook your free allotment of specialty restaurants a few days before the regular balcony folks. Oh, and you get access to a Concierge Lounge if you like that sort of thing.

[C4HCG]

39 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

I would highly recommend the Sandy Lane Hotel.  It is a true luxury resort.  Also the Fairmont Royal Pavilion.  Both wonderful hotels.  Both in Barbados.

Thank you

[Z0nker]

We sailed the Celebrity Solstice to Alaska the summer before the pandemic. Everything was top notch. If Celebrity did more on the West Coast we would eagerly sail with them again. 
 

Most of our post-COVID cruises have been Princess because they homeport in SF so we can just drive to the Embarcadero, park, and be out to sea.  Princess is nice enough and a good value. Also took one cruise out of SF on the carnival Miracle after giving carnival a ten year timeout. They’ve improved and we had a fine time, but we definitely prefer Princess overall. 

[MISTER 67]

11 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Have you considered Princess or HAL? Only asking as the entertainment you posted suggests Royal and NCL. Princess is more similar to X than different - unless you sail in suites (we don’t, so there are good and not so good features on both lines). 

Princess yes, HAL no. HAL at one time was our favorite line but they have cut down on the food and entertainment budgets, even the service was not as good as in the past, we cruised on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December and it was pretty bad, we are done with HAL for the foreseeable future unless we hear that things have changed for the better. We are sailing on the Reflection next month, the Equinox in August and the Sky Princess in December.

Edited March 7, 2023 by MISTER 67

[zitsky]

We did Viking river and ocean.  One NCL cruise and one Celebrity cruise because of Covid with two this year.

 

My partner says people on Viking are too old (really).

 

I’m not sure about Celebrity anymore because those meanies want to clean my room just once a day. 😭😭😭

[Z0nker]

We sailed the Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in 2019. Everything was top notch. I highly recommend giving them a try. Best of the four cruise lines we’ve sailed by far. 
 

If Celebrity did more on the West Coast, we’d be on it. 

[George C]

42 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

We sailed the Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in 2019. Everything was top notch. I highly recommend giving them a try. Best of the four cruise lines we’ve sailed by far. 
 

If Celebrity did more on the West Coast, we’d be on it. 

I wish they sailed from Texas 

[talljules1]

Celebrity was our number one choice, but their current pricing for suites has us looking elsewhere.

[lv2cruisgrl]

17 minutes ago, talljules1 said:

Celebrity was our number one choice, but their current pricing for suites has us looking elsewhere.

We agree!  It's just not worth the $$!

[terrydtx]

8 hours ago, Z0nker said:

We sailed the Celebrity Solstice to Alaska in 2019. Everything was top notch. I highly recommend giving them a try. Best of the four cruise lines we’ve sailed by far. 
 

If Celebrity did more on the West Coast, we’d be on it. 

We sailed the Edge in 2019 and it was a great cruise except for the horrible IV cabin, now on E Class we only will sail in a Sky Suite for the traditional balcony. After 3 post covid cruises, Celebrity is not what it was pre covid IMO.

[Shep_Proudfoot]

I typically rank Celebrity at the top when I am first searching for a cruise, but often eliminate them over pedestrian, boring itineraries and IVs.

[Germancruiser]

Would a topic such as this one would have come up, say eight  or so years ago X would have been my number one choice! With all their changes I sail them rather seldom. Alas I have booked a cruise on Reflection in December. The Elite Plus benefits are nice, but their ( X´s ) ships just got to loud. Still X is still delivering an excellent produkt with a wonderful crew.

 

Now it is as followed:

 

1. Cunard (with them first  QM2- QE and QV )

2. MSC Yacht Club- only on board Seaside Class

3. Celebrity ( Millenium- Class first , Solstice Class second, Edge Class - but that must be an  expetionell good offer to book Edge Class again )

Thats it!

 

 

 

[Redtravel]

Elite plus with about 1200 points.  For many years, I chose Celebrity.  As time past, things changed.  What was once an open ship for all became segregated by class.  As suite , aqua, and concierge classes got special privileges and parts of the ship were closed to ordinary cruisers, the ship had less to offer.  I used to love it when dining room was open for all meals regardless of whether ships were in a port or at sea.  Now, lunch in MDR is only served at sea.  I am not happy with the crowded buffets.  Adding more cabins meant parts of the ship were cut off from cruisers.  No library?  That space is now cabins.  Each time that I sailed on X, there were more changes.  Most were cutbacks. I often asked myself is this MODERN luxury?  The main reason that I wouldn’t put Celebrity high on my list is the boredom. Been looking at the same menus for many years.   Cruise directors repeat the same old jokes.  It is time for a NEW Celebrity.  Freshen up the menus, add new activities, open the MDR for lunch, improve the food, etc.  

[Germancruiser]

Even though I agree Redtravel- in everything you wrote, X is definatley " watered down"-many here on these board agree but  compared to the others lines ( wo have gone the same way) X still offers an excellent product.

Anyway when I walked through the MSC Seaside, Seaview- the only ships I sailed with MSC - outside of the Yacht Club- I was really really schocked- no that might to harsh a word- but still- BIG BIG difference to the area´s of X- ships where all cruisers are welcome.

The ships are nicley furnished and sparkels, of course- as every new ship, but toaly overcrowded, overly stressed service staff in both the MDR and the Buffets.

Never in a thousand years would I cruise MSC outside YC.

[terrydtx]

7 hours ago, Redtravel said:

I often asked myself is this MODERN luxury?  The main reason that I wouldn’t put Celebrity high on my list is the boredom. Been looking at the same menus for many years.   Cruise directors repeat the same old jokes.  It is time for a NEW Celebrity.  Freshen up the menus, add new activities, open the MDR for lunch, improve the food, etc.

We have been cruising in Suites on Celebrity since 2019 and I agree with you about boredom with menus. Other than a few minor changes Luminae has the same menu as 2019, including the not so good Chef Boulud Moroccan chicken dish. Even the Specialty restaurants have the same menus since I can remember. Boredom and future cruise pricing has driven us to look elsewhere too.

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We have been cruising in Suites on Celebrity since 2019 and I agree with you about boredom with menus. Other than a few minor changes Luminae has the same menu as 2019, including the not so good Chef Boulud Moroccan chicken dish. Even the Specialty restaurants have the same menus since I can remember. Boredom and future cruise pricing has driven us to look elsewhere too.

Where are you going?

 

I’m not a frequent cruiser.  Thanks to Covid I did a Celebrity cruise in 2019 then not again til 2023.  So to me it all seems new again.  But I could see how it gets monotonous to regular cruisers.

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Where are you going?

 

I’m not a frequent cruiser.  Thanks to Covid I did a Celebrity cruise in 2019 then not again til 2023.  So to me it all seems new again.  But I could see how it gets monotonous to regular cruisers.

The last 3 cruises we have booked are on HAL and Oceania in 2024 and 2025. Celebrity's pricing of Sky Suites for future cruises has made Oceania very competitive with them. For example, our Oceania cruise of South America for 18 days is $200pp less in cost then a similar 14 day Equinox cruise in a Sky Suite. Getting 4 more days and 3 more ports on O was a no brainer for us. The other 4 future cruises we have booked are on Celebrity, but when we booked them back in late 2021, they were 20-40% less in cost for a Sky Suite than the current pricing.

[Quo Vadis?]

On 3/6/2023 at 12:57 PM, terrydtx said:

If we were only booking standard verandah cabins we would not be considering Celebrity at all. In their newest E Class ships these don't exist and in other ships the pricing is unreasonable. We would in this case consider HAL first as their 3 newest ships have no IV cabins and still have traditional ones at competitive prices with MDR's that have IMO better choices and overall food quality. HAL still has free room service and a complete dinner buffet and better priced drink and specialty dining packages. 

Totally agree.

 

Balcony: HAL +, Celebrity: has a cabin with a window that opens -

MDR, HAL a bit better

Specialty restaurants:  HAL cheaper, Celebrity better but at a cost

Drink Pricing: HAL +

Live Entertainment HAL +

Stage  entertainers Celebrity + HAL very weak

Forward observation lounge HAL++ 

Pax demographics,  very similar.

HAL inside cabins: claustrophobic --, ships more crowded

Crew: fantastic on both lines.

 

My retirement budget does not support the suite life.