Another One Jumps Ship- My Post Pandemic Switch to Celebrity From Royal Caribbean

[Familygoboston]

Our Frist Cruise On Celebrity

Like most of us, I was deleting travel dates off the calendar, hanging on hold with airlines and providing micro loans to travel companies there for a while. As the primary travel planner in the family I carefully planned and subsequently scuttled- a Freedom of the Seas cruise to the ABC islands, a fjords cruise in Norway, a land trip to New Zealand, a safari to trek with gorillas in Rwanda, a cruise on the Amazon and trek to Machu Picchu in Peru and a river cruise on the Danube to see Christmas Markets. We had pushed off a few trips that were non refundable and added some US travel, but overall, I was weary to plan anything more. So Mr FamilyGoBoston decided to pick up the mantle and plan a trip for November 2022 for my birthday.  

 

He planned a week at a resort in the DR. A  resort that was not yet open. (The price was good) He booked the month they expected to open. There was a hurricane the month before the "Grand Opening". Those of you who travel frequently in the Caribbean can probably already see this ship wreck about to happen!  I really didn't want to micromanage, but...

On the Monday before our Friday trip, I casually ask "Did they send any documents about the included airport transfer? Any vouchers?" "Nope"...He makes a quick call to the resort and after a while he reaches a reservationist (still taking bookings!) who confirms "We aren't open yet" Poor Mr FGB- he doesn't really know the sting of making all the plans, booking the flights and selecting the excursions just to have it all dashed at the last minute.  I'm not mocking him, but I think he finally realized what my life was like when our planned travel crumbled in a rolling wave of cancellations. 

 

Fortunately, my terrific TA came through. Hubby was able to cancel and use flight credits to get flights to Florida at the end of the week. I called my guy and he found a last minute deal aboard Celebrity Infinity 6 night Western Caribbean. We usually cruise Royal Caribbean when we book Caribbean cruises, but the price was good. Even better was the fact that last minute, ( I mean I printed my set sail pass the day we booked!) we could upgrade to Aquaclass all inclusive with internet, Blu dining and drinks package for essentially the same price as Concierge class. I know the dealer often gives a little taste for free ...I just never expected to get hooked so easily!😂

Edited March 27, 2023 by Familygoboston

[mahdnc]

38 minutes ago, Familygoboston said:

Our Frist Cruise On Celebrity

Like most of us, I was deleting travel dates off the calendar, hanging on hold with airlines and providing micro loans to travel companies there for a while. As the primary travel planner in the family I carefully planned and subsequently scuttled- a Freedom of the Seas cruise to the ABC islands, a fjords cruise in Norway, a land trip to New Zealand, a safari to trek with gorillas in Rwanda, a cruise on the Amazon and trek to Machu Picchu in Peru and a river cruise on the Danube to see Christmas Markets. We had pushed off a few trips that were non refundable and added some US travel, but overall, I was weary to plan anything more. So Mr FamilyGoBoston decided to pick up the mantle and plan a trip for November 2022 for my birthday.  

 

He planned a week at a resort in the DR. A  resort that was not yet open. (The price was good) He booked the month they expected to open. There was a hurricane the month before the "Grand Opening". Those of you who travel frequently in the Caribbean can probably already see this ship wreck about to happen!  I really didn't want to micromanage, but...

On the Monday before our Friday trip, I casually ask "Did they send any documents about the included airport transfer? Any vouchers?" "Nope"...He makes a quick call to the resort and after a while he reaches a reservationist (still taking bookings!) who confirms "We aren't open yet" Poor Mr FGB- he doesn't really know the sting of making all the plans, booking the flights and selecting the excursions just to have it all dashed at the last minute.  I'm not mocking him, but I think he finally realized what my life was like when our planned travel crumbled in a rolling wave of cancellations. 

 

Fortunately, my terrific TA came through. Hubby was able to cancel and use flight credits to get flights to Florida at the end of the week. I called my guy and he found a last minute deal aboard Celebrity Infinity 6 night Western Caribbean. We usually cruise Royal Caribbean when we book Caribbean cruises, but the price was good. Even better was the fact that last minute, ( I mean I printed my set sail pass the day we booked!) we could upgrade to Aquaclass all inclusive with internet, Blu dining and drinks package for essentially the same price as Concierge class. I know the dealer often gives a little taste for free ...I just never expected to get hooked so easily!😂

 

I hope you enjoy your first cruise with Celebrity.

Edited March 27, 2023 by mahdnc

[Familygoboston]

Celebrity Infinity Western Caribbean 6 Night Room 1136

Our Itinerary looked pretty appealing!  Bimini Belize Cozumel.  Bimini was new to us, but because we booked literally 5 days before sailing, we had a pretty good idea we wouldn't be headed to Belize, because hurricane Lisa was headed there just ahead of us and we didn't expect her to leave much for us to see after she left.  Sadly, Lisa did do damage and the people of Belize were focused on clean up and as we boarded we were handed a notice regarding an itinerary change, Costa Maya was swapped in for Belize.  We were pretty flexible, obviously we hadn't invested a lot of time into planning and two previous attempts to get to Costa Maya, hubby had been thwarted by windy conditions.  I had been there twice on cruises with friends and relatives on other RC cruises, so I knew he's enjoy a ships excursion I had enjoyed there. 

 

Boarding at FLL  (we always fly in the night before and stayed at the Fairfield near the airport) was easy peasy, largely because we learned later that the ship was only 60% full (which explains the last minute deal) We have transferable "status" between Celebrity and RC loyalty programs, so we had a special lane for Elite Captains Club (= Diamond Crown and Anchor), but we hardly needed it. 

Our cabin was located on Deck 11, the very last cabin in the line on the starboard side.  Generally, we love a sunset verandah, (aft cabin) on cruises, but this was not looking straight out the back.  I'm glad it wasn't because the Sunset Bar is directly under the aft cabins in this class of cabins which means they don't have quite the privacy on this class of ship as other aft cabins on other ships we've sailed. 

The location of this cabin was ideal for us because there is public ships ladder at the end of the hall which directly accesses the lawn and movie screen above and is an easy walk across the upper pool deck to Constellation Lounge forward. Going down the ladder led directly to the Sunset Cafe and Bar, where we ate primarily when we weren't having dinner at Blu.

The cabin was quiet except when a movie was playing above, and then we heard the music and dialog, but it was not bothersome and we didn't hear anything inside the cabin. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by Familygoboston

[In Toronto]

Really enjoying this report.  Please continue.

[Familygoboston]

The Reasons We Loved Celebrity

Generally, we love to travel and find the wonderful things about wherever we go...avoid making comparisons especially between countries and cultures, because it's been our experience that there are things to celebrate and things that could be improved for all places (or in this case cruise companies)  And I can't say we'll never cruise RC again (we have a transpacific planned with a group of cruising friends soon, and I will likely be posting "live" reviews from Quantum of the Seas) but, boy of boy, did we find a lot to like on Celebrity!

 

Captain And Crew: My TA warned me this was one of Celebrity's oldest ships, and yet, we still found a lot to love (and it was in excellent condition) The Captain and crew was terrific!  Maybe the light passenger load lightened the mood, but I think a lot of it is the leadership, and the captain of this ship was engaged with passengers (often turning up to perform in the shows!) and the crew was relaxed and attentive and just made things fun!

 

There Was Plenty to Do: We've cruised Azamara a couple of times on very port intensive cruises.  And thank goodness they were busy days, because there was literally one thing going on each evening and when it was over at 8:30 PM there was nothing to do but sit a bar and drink.   I worried about this because on RC, we love the shows and multiple venues with live entertainment and dancing. We were so pleased to discover there was more than enough to do on even the older Celebrity ships at night.  Activities with the cruise staff, live acts in the lounges, theme parties and lots and lots of places to dance!

 

No Need to Lease a Pool Towel:

We loved the idea that we were treated like grownups, grown ups who wouldn't steal pool towels. Grown ups who maybe already had better towels in our own homes.  On other cruises the idea of checking out pool towels and having to keep a careful eye on them so other people don't steal your (they've just added value to pool towels literally no one cares about!) I loved that my cabin attendant kindly left a pair on the bed the night before port days  

 

Cruising Without OPK: 

We love kids, we had them and loved traveling with ours! Weve rejected 55+ housing because we enjoy living with a mix of people, But it's really nice to be on a ship with mainly adults.  Celebrity is obviously not an adult only cruise, but while the kids are in school, we noticed that our cruise didn't include more than a handful of children. And of course, there aren't as many of the fun diversions, likes water slides that the kids love to attract them. 

 

Food I Wanted to Eat:

With our last few RC cruises, we simply passed on the Main Dining room entirely, the quality of the food wasn't worth the time it took to dine or the calories.  Instead we fueled up at Wind Jammer Cafe and didn't have high expectations  We were so happy that the food on Celebrity was very good.  We particularly liked healthier and smaller portions in Blu which was included with Aquaclass and even when we ate in the main dining room or Seaview Cafe we found the food consistently good, with good flavors and well prepared.  My hubby has a running gag about RC desserts- he describes them as "gelatinous" and we mostly gave them a pass because they weren't worth the calories.  So when hubby had his first cake on Infinity he declared " There are CRUMBS!" and for the desserts alone, I may not get him to cruise anywhere else!

 

My TA was teasing me when we returned that it would be hard to not choose Celebrity again, and I did in fact book another last minute cruise 5 day cruise aboard Summit with a friend in Feb 2023 and Hubby and I are already planning next  years BD cruise aboard Celebrity Silhouette!  

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by Familygoboston

[Jim_Iain]

Love following along.   Really enjoying.

[Familygoboston]

Ports of Call Bimini Costa Maya and Cozumel

Bimini: Bimini was a new port for us, part of the Bahamas, I'd read you could take the Jewelry Store free shuttle out to the beach and that's what we did! 

 

Costa Maya: Having traveled to CM twice and not being able to dock because of weather this last minute add was ok with us (Hey, we were a last minute add!) Many passengers were disappointed as they'd selected this itinerary  especially to go to Belize. But of course everyone's first concern was for the people of Belize and their homes! In CM we selected a ships excursion I'd done with a friend once.  Biking to a cenote, having a swim in it, biking back out and then traveling to a beach where we could lounge in chairs and paddle board.  The cenote was excellent but the paddle board area was far to shallow and there were not enough loungers in the beach area the concessionaire set aside for us. My earlier experience of this excursion was better than this one.  

 

Cozumel: As frequent cruisers, we've been to Cozumel a time or two, enough to write a book on the various options for tours and beach clubs here. We'd done a ships excursion in the past we'd enjoyed with mini speed boats and a stop for snorkeling and some time at a beach club afterwards. We booked that and discovered the morning of our tour that it had been canceled due to high winds.  A quick pivot again, left us with few options, and we ended up with an all inclusive at Playa Mia, one of the few beach clubs we hadn't visited before. We'd prefer a beach with a quieter vibe, but it was comfortable,  Unfortunately, the included lunch buffet was some of the blandest food I'd ever had in Mexico. 

 

While both of our tours left a little to be desired, we still enjoyed them, but with more time to plan, we might have chosen other options 

[mac_tlc]

Enjoying your review. Welcome to the Celebrity board! We have almost 30 Royal cruises so far, but if it's just the two of us, it's Celebrity.

 

mac_tlc

[Familygoboston]

23 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Enjoying your review. Welcome to the Celebrity board! We have almost 30 Royal cruises so far, but if it's just the two of us, it's Celebrity.

 

mac_tlc

Thank you!~ Yes, we definitely still enjoy other types of cruises, but we really found we enjoyed this cruise on another level.  The Feb 23 cruise was full to capacity and some of what made this one special was how few folks were on board, but even at capacity, this class of ship had plenty of space to get around. On this cruise, the pool and solariums weren't full on sea days, and that made things more enjoyable. 

[Familygoboston]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Love following along.   Really enjoying.

 

1 hour ago, In Toronto said:

Really enjoying this report.  Please continue.

 

1 hour ago, In Toronto said:

Really enjoying this report.  Please continue.

 

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I hope you enjoy your first cruise with Celebrity.

Thank You! Its a bit of a "mini review" for me! Usually I do day by day, but given the "wing it" nature of the cruise, my review is also like that! Hubby didn't even bring his "big" camera!  But I wanted to share our experience, and we are looking forward to the next one!

[NutsAboutGolf]

Fellow M@$$Hole here, really enjoyed your review and am glad you enjoyed your cruise

[Familygoboston]

8 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Fellow M@$$Hole here, really enjoyed your review and am glad you enjoyed your cruise

🤣🤣 and proud of it! My screenname is a play on words both a “family” on the “go”, traveling Boston based (NE based now!) but also “go Boston”, as in our sports teams! Go Bs and Cs! 🏒🏀

[prmssk]

Thanks for sharing all your comments!  If you were on the Infinity sailing that left about November 5, I was on the Constellation sailing at that same time.  If so, we docked with you in both Cozumel and Costa Maya.  Costa Maya was a replacement for Belize for us also.  I got some great time lapses of the Infinity docking and leaving Cozumel plus videos and photos of the sisters together.  We ourselves had a great trip on the Constellation.

[Germancruiser]

Thank for this wonderful review- we did the same itinerary in October last year. We loved it also.

The Millenium Class of ships are the oldest in the fleet- and also by far my- our favorites.

I came from RCCL also before moving to X in 2001. I switched back and forh a bit. Then they did towel- checking in thing.

That was it for me- i never turned back. RCCI has and always had stunning- Wouw - ships- but X provided a much better product.

I now switch between Cunard and X- as one get´s older ones tastes seem to age along- LOL.

 

[Familygoboston]

1 hour ago, prmssk said:

Thanks for sharing all your comments!  If you were on the Infinity sailing that left about November 5, I was on the Constellation sailing at that same time.  If so, we docked with you in both Cozumel and Costa Maya.  Costa Maya was a replacement for Belize for us also.  I got some great time lapses of the Infinity docking and leaving Cozumel plus videos and photos of the sisters together.  We ourselves had a great trip on the Constellation.

It was the Nov 5 departure! And we remember seeing constellation out there! 
When I fire the computer back up, I’ll post the photos we got of the ships together in port!

[Familygoboston]

55 minutes ago, Germancruiser said:

Thank for this wonderful review- we did the same itinerary in October last year. We loved it also.

The Millenium Class of ships are the oldest in the fleet- and also by far my- our favorites.

I came from RCCL also before moving to X in 2001. I switched back and forh a bit. Then they did towel- checking in thing.

That was it for me- i never turned back. RCCI has and always had stunning- Wouw - ships- but X provided a much better product.

I now switch between Cunard and X- as one get´s older ones tastes seem to age along- LOL.

 

Thank you! Yes, we found ourselves not wanting to book RC because if we couldn’t get the perfect circumstances or cabin, (we like the act cabins but then they required 3 in a cabin to book those) it didn’t feel enjoyable, so we’d just book a resort instead. Generally, we book much smaller ships for destinations intensive cruises, but we do enjoy the bigger ships for the Caribbean and a sun and fun vacation. We were pleasantly surprised by Celebrity. I thought because it was the same corporation it would just be the same stuff - like leasing towels and gelatinous desserts 🤣 But we did see better service, food and they way were treated as guests! 

[Missusdubbya]

Lovely review, thank you!

[MISTER 67]

Glad you liked the Infinity, we sailed on her last October and it quickly became our favorite Celebrity ship.

We had very good food along with excellent entertainment and service. The Infinity is just the right size and we love that it has the old style promenade deck with deck chairs where you can read a good book as you have the sights and sounds of the ocean without any loud music.

[Cruise a holic]

We enjoyed the infinity.  She is in need of a major redo- but still a beautiful ship.  We go back and forth and sail on Royal, Oasis class, and Celebrity S, M and now E class.  Love them all for different reasons.  

 

Thanks for sharing.

[cachouonacruise]

Thank-you for your review and for sharing your experience! 

[Big_G]

Nice review. We made our bones on Royal but have been splitting between Royal and Celebrity for a few years now. While I'm a fan of Playmakers, the pub, and Schooner Bar, Celebrity is a nice change of pace, better service, and better food. We also think the Retreat is a better value than Royal's Suite Class.

[Familygoboston]

2 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

We enjoyed the infinity.  She is in need of a major redo- but still a beautiful ship.  We go back and forth and sail on Royal, Oasis class, and Celebrity S, M and now E class.  Love them all for different reasons.  

 

Thanks for sharing.

I did sail on Millennium in Feb  and I noticed they had refreshed all the linens and furnishings and it did look very nice. 

[hucifer]

Great review! 
 

I just went on my first Celebrity cruise in February after decades of Royal. I still love Royal, but now that I'm in my low 50s, I find Celebrity is more my style these days.

[Julma]

16 hours ago, Familygoboston said:

🤣🤣 and proud of it! My screenname is a play on words both a “family” on the “go”, traveling Boston based (NE based now!) but also “go Boston”, as in our sports teams! Go Bs and Cs! 🏒🏀

You must join us on the Summit repo from Boston in October.  Did it last year and it was one of the best cruises we've ever done.

[Familygoboston]

2 hours ago, Julma said:

You must join us on the Summit repo from Boston in October.  Did it last year and it was one of the best cruises we've ever done.

Sounds tempting! Usually we are up in Maine in Oct.  But someday it would be fun to do one of those cruises that goes right by my deck!