Alternatives to Celebrity

[Dr. Cocktail]

1 hour ago, Texed said:

 

I guess I am a three time loser.  Not working, not wealthy, not in the age group.  😎

Strangely enough, I don't feel the need to light a sympathy candle!

[Dolebludger]

I scanned this thread, and didn’t see our favorite line, Regent. (Celebrity suites has been #2). And we have been on a bunch of lines! Regent’s largest ships carry about 750 guests max. Guest to staff ratio is about 1 to 1. Dress code — casual is always accepted. All inclusive drinks, suite mini fridge, gratuities, WiFi, LAUNDRY, and shore excursions. Air is also included in the advertised fare from and back to “gateway cities” (basically large airline hubs). Unfortunately, it is economy for flights within North America and the Caribbean, but it is business class for intercontinental flights. So we always take a fare credit and book our own all legs business class. All rooms are suites. Only one of the older ships has a few suites without balconies. And there are no inside suites. We took a Regent cruise in Alaska this summer, and we’re eager to see if the service, food, or anything else had suffered post-pandemic deterioration. There was none. In fact, these things were even better than remembered from pre-pandemic days! 
 

Silverseas has been mentioned above. It is a similar and equal product to Regent. Silverseas still has formal nights where dark suit and tie or tux are needed.  For those who like to dress like that, Silverseas should get serious consideration. Its ships are also small with all the inclusions onboard. It offers a door to door option where the guests are picked up at their house, taken to the airport, and flown to the cruise. Same on return. We’ve never used that,— don’t have details.

 

Fir those X regulars who have never cruised on smaller ships, try it,— you’ll like it!

[Ken the cruiser]

50 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

I think you've hit on somehting important here, Ken. Cruisers would be wise, going forward, to compare what is, not what was.

 

The question for purposes of this forum, then, is: why wouldn't Celebrity want to make sure what is is better for their target market than what their competitors are offering, and why wouldn't Celebrity want to make sure what is is consistent from booking time to sailing time? Unless, of course, they are seeking an endless series of one and done customers rather than repeat ones. 

In the case of NCL, they have recently introduced FAS Plus for $49 pp/day. That decision not only resolved most of our “negative” opinions we had that I mentioned above, but it actually elated us because of all the extras that were included with that new optional package which we immediately added to the 5 bookings we have with them. Princess introduced their $60 pp/day Princess Plus package which includes many of the perks we would normally pay for like unlimited Internet package, a beverage package which includes 15 drinks per day valued up to $15, and gratuities. HAL also offers a Have It All package that is quite impressive as well.

 

However, with Celebrity they seem to have become the new nickel and dime cruise line. Why do I say that. Since cruising started back up, they had added a new 20% “penalty” for booking with a refundable deposit. They implemented their new All Included package, which is mandatory for all Aqua cabins, for around $82 pp/day which includes their Classic Beverage package, Basic Internet package, and Gratuities. However, if I want a beverage package where I can get a glass of a quality German Riesling wine or a shot of Baileys (without having to pay extra), I have to upgrade to the Premium Beverage package. If I want to post to a Live From thread, I have to upgrade to their premium internet package. Adding those two upgrades now puts the AI package closer to $120 pp/day. This wasn’t the case prior to the “pando”, and it is not the case on any of the other above mentioned lines we cruise with.

 

The food and entertainment is fine.
 

However, since we are now fully retired booking longer more unique itineraries is also very important to us. But Celebrity really doesn’t offer that many unique 3-5 week itinerary combinations, except for maybe hooking an interesting itinerary with one of their transoceanic cruises, which we have been known to do once or twice before. But the days of us booking 7-14 day cruises to the Caribbean, or anywhere for that matter, is pretty much in our rearview mirror, and I guess Celebrity is too unless they start to address some of the above “post pando” issues I’ve mentioned.

[Dolebludger]

I agree that people comparing cruise options need to consider what is now offered on each cruise option — not what was offered. But when a cruise line engages in an apparent program of a series of cuts — without recognizing what was offered to those already booked and paid — the question arises of whether that cruise line can be trusted in the future. What certainty is there that what is now offered will be offered when the cruise sails?As has been pointed out, all lines have language in their T&Cs allowing them to make changes without liability. That language is there to allow the Captain to use judgement as to routes, ports, and the like to avoid bad weather, political unrest, and such. The language was never intended to allow a cruise line to advertise on board inclusions, take my money, and then reduce the inclusions. Thus, I’m afraid that in comparing cruise offerings, we all have to consider the cruise line’s past track record of providing what was advertised  and known at time of booking on the actual cruise.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Dolebludger

[Jeremiah1212]

I think a lot of people who enjoy Celebrity, particularly people who are E Class fans, would like Virgin Voyages. Those people make not be represented in significant numbers here, but VV is definitely building a strong fanbase. Now if they would just release 24/25 itineraries... 

[D. B.]

5 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I scanned this thread, and didn’t see our favorite line, Regent. (Celebrity suites has been #2). And we have been on a bunch of lines! Regent’s largest ships carry about 750 guests max. Guest to staff ratio is about 1 to 1. Dress code — casual is always accepted. All inclusive drinks, suite mini fridge, gratuities, WiFi, LAUNDRY, and shore excursions. Air is also included in the advertised fare from and back to “gateway cities” (basically large airline hubs). Unfortunately, it is economy for flights within North America and the Caribbean, but it is business class for intercontinental flights. So we always take a fare credit and book our own all legs business class. All rooms are suites. Only one of the older ships has a few suites without balconies. And there are no inside suites. We took a Regent cruise in Alaska this summer, and we’re eager to see if the service, food, or anything else had suffered post-pandemic deterioration. There was none. In fact, these things were even better than remembered from pre-pandemic days! 
 

Silverseas has been mentioned above. It is a similar and equal product to Regent. Silverseas still has formal nights where dark suit and tie or tux are needed.  For those who like to dress like that, Silverseas should get serious consideration. Its ships are also small with all the inclusions onboard. It offers a door to door option where the guests are picked up at their house, taken to the airport, and flown to the cruise. Same on return. We’ve never used that,— don’t have details.

 

Fir those X regulars who have never cruised on smaller ships, try it,— you’ll like it!

We tried the smaller ships.

Did NOT like it and will never do any ship less than 60k tons.

[markeb]

2 hours ago, D. B. said:

We tried the smaller ships.

Did NOT like it and will never do any ship less than 60k tons.

 

Curious why not? We have friends who recently did Windstar and absolutely loved it. Partially because it was small.

[Dolebludger]

Well, the Regent and Silverseas ships I recommend are well over that size. They carry under 1K guests because they provide more space per guest. You will have to look hard to find a line or crowd on any of them. And with a 1 to 1 guest to staff ratio, there will be no service problems either. 

[Dolebludger]

Well, actually I was mistaken. Regent ships are only 56K tons. But have you ever cruised on a Regent ship?  

[wineoclock]

I worry about seasickness on smaller ships. I’m ok on the bigger ships but do remember feeling slightly unwell many moons ago on Galaxy. 

[TowandaUK]

9 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I agree that people comparing cruise options need to consider what is now offered on each cruise option — not what was offered. But when a cruise line engages in an apparent program of a series of cuts — without recognizing what was offered to those already booked and paid — the question arises of whether that cruise line can be trusted in the future. What certainty is there that what is now offered will be offered when the cruise sails?As has been pointed out, all lines have language in their T&Cs allowing them to make changes without liability. That language is there to allow the Captain to use judgement as to routes, ports, and the like to avoid bad weather, political unrest, and such. The language was never intended to allow a cruise line to advertise on board inclusions, take my money, and then reduce the inclusions. Thus, I’m afraid that in comparing cruise offerings, we all have to consider the cruise line’s past track record of providing what was advertised  and known at time of booking on the actual cruise.

This is one of the main reasons we have decided to rest X and cruise with Cunard next year. It is so hard to trust a line that is continually making cuts and experiments to what they offer. It seems even X management have no clue as to the direction they are headed. We shall wait until things settle down before considering X again. A decision we made with sadness having enjoyed cruises with X in the past and despite being disappointed with our recent cruise with them. 

[D. B.]

9 hours ago, markeb said:

 

Curious why not? We have friends who recently did Windstar and absolutely loved it. Partially because it was small.

To much ocean motion.

not enough activities.

small cabin.

[Tom47]

We have cruised on Azamara 4 times, RCI 3 times, and Celebrity 8 times.  Azamara does have very small showers,  but outstanding service.  We have never cruised on HAL, RSSC , Oceania or Princess.  We would consider all of them for itinerary.   We have also cruised on Pearl Seas cruise line(only 1 ship-220 pax).   Outstanding service and decent showers/bathrooms.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Tom47
typo

[poeticlicensed]

I booked our first HAL cruise a couple of months ago. Hoping its a good fit for us.  Our most recent cruise on X was good, but since we mostly cruise on X, I did notice the cutbacks. Fewer choices in the MDR. And sadly my beloved martini bar just wasn't good. We are convinced they are using cheaper booze and mixes. And since our itinerary was a bit port heavy, I found that I didn't care as much about ship activities, even on sea days. And I realized that I'm just not into bingo and I thought the trivia and silent disco is not for me.  And I hate those game show activities where they use pax to provide entertainment. I was underwhelmed by the shows. There were only 3 nights of 7 that they had a real stage show. Otherwise it was magicians and comedians. Honestly I'd rather listen to a lecture or some music. So yeah, some of the things that I see more and more on X are not the things I'm interested in. I realized during this cruise its about the itinerary, the food and the service for us. We definitely noticed the cutbacks in the MDR. 

 

I would love to try Oceania or Viking Ocean, but its gonna be a hard sell for hubby. He thinks smaller ships will be boring and full of snobby people. Its going to take a lot of convincing. 

[Dolebludger]

55 minutes ago, poeticlicensed said:

I booked our first HAL cruise a couple of months ago. Hoping its a good fit for us.  Our most recent cruise on X was good, but since we mostly cruise on X, I did notice the cutbacks. Fewer choices in the MDR. And sadly my beloved martini bar just wasn't good. We are convinced they are using cheaper booze and mixes. And since our itinerary was a bit port heavy, I found that I didn't care as much about ship activities, even on sea days. And I realized that I'm just not into bingo and I thought the trivia and silent disco is not for me.  And I hate those game show activities where they use pax to provide entertainment. I was underwhelmed by the shows. There were only 3 nights of 7 that they had a real stage show. Otherwise it was magicians and comedians. Honestly I'd rather listen to a lecture or some music. So yeah, some of the things that I see more and more on X are not the things I'm interested in. I realized during this cruise its about the itinerary, the food and the service for us. We definitely noticed the cutbacks in the MDR. 

 

I would love to try Oceania or Viking Ocean, but its gonna be a hard sell for hubby. He thinks smaller ships will be boring and full of snobby people. Its going to take a lot of convincing. 

Your husband is wrong on the sort of guests on lines that are upscale.  They want an uncrowded, peaceful cruise. They may be affluent, but as such, they have nothing to prove to anybody. Most hate formal nights, and most upscale lines have discarded them (except for Silversea). Most allow casual at all times. I hope this helps.

[terrydtx]

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non-air prices include the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $1600 shore excursion credit.  At these prices similar on other cruises, we will no longer be booking with Celebrity with their continued diminishing amenities and higher costs.

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by terrydtx

[Boatharbour]

We’ve just booked a HAL cruise to Alaska after only ever sailing Celebrity. The price difference was so large that we couldn’t ignore it just because of loyalty.

 

Celebrity Aqua sky suite was over AU $20,000 AI - for a 7 day cruise! With HAL we booked a Neptune suite AI for just under AU$12 000. 

We have one more cruise with Celebrity coming up in 2024 (booked at 2022) pricing and will then look elsewhere. 

 

 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Boatharbour said:

We’ve just booked a HAL cruise to Alaska after only ever sailing Celebrity. The price difference was so large that we couldn’t ignore it just because of loyalty.

 

Celebrity Aqua sky suite was over AU $20,000 AI - for a 7 day cruise! With HAL we booked a Neptune suite AI for just under AU$12 000. 

We have one more cruise with Celebrity coming up in 2024 (booked at 2022) pricing and will then look elsewhere. 

 

 

Which ship on HAL? You will like HAL and the Suite comes with Club Orange. We have sailed with both Hal and X but we had gravitated more to X but with all the changes in Sky Suites we are going back to only cruising with HAL and Oceania.

Edited August 30, 2023 by terrydtx

[Boatharbour]

1 minute ago, terrydtx said:

Which ship on HAL? You will like HAL and the Suite comes with Club Orange. We have sailed with both Hal and X but we had gravitated more to X but with all the changes in Sky Suites we are going back to only cruising with HAL and Oceania.

It’s the Nieuw Amsterdam. I’m astounded at the price difference it was a no brainer.
 

We’re in an aft Neptune suite with wrap around verandah. Plus HAL goes to Glacier Bay unlike Celebrity. 

[terrydtx]

19 minutes ago, Boatharbour said:

It’s the Nieuw Amsterdam. I’m astounded at the price difference it was a no brainer.
 

We’re in an aft Neptune suite with wrap around verandah. Plus HAL goes to Glacier Bay unlike Celebrity. 

HAL does IMO the best job of any Cruise Line in Alaska.  We have been on that ship and she is a very nice ship. It has our favorite specialty restaurant of any cruise line, Tamarind, and IMO the food in MDR is head above X after all the cuts in X MDR. We are doing the California Coastal Cruise in November in one of the newer HAL ships, Koingsdam.

[terrydtx]

8 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non-air prices include the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $1600 shore excursion credit.  At these prices similar on other cruises, we will no longer be booking with Celebrity with their continued diminishing amenities and higher costs.

 

One thing I forgot about Oceania, the prices quoted INCLUDE all taxes, fees and port charges, which makes them even more competitive.

[terrydtx]

10 hours ago, poeticlicensed said:

I would love to try Oceania or Viking Ocean, but its gonna be a hard sell for hubby. He thinks smaller ships will be boring and full of snobby people. Its going to take a lot of convincing. 

We thought the same thing about booking in Celebrity Retreat but after 4 of them we have not seen any of those attitudes and in fact we have made many friends while in the Retreat. When we booked our 2025 Oceania Marina cruise we started monitoring the Oceania CC forum and I have not seen any of those attitudes in the people who post there. In fact, I was surprised how many are ex Celebrity cruises are there now. Some of them refer to Oceania as the Celebrity refugee line. 

[OysterD]

9 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Today in the mail we got our 2024-25 Oceania Grand Voyages catalog and found some interesting cruises at remarkable costs per night. One we are going to look at is the 23 day Amsterdam to London June 2024 cruise on the Marina. We can book a Penthouse Suite from $600pp per night or a Veranda from $452pp per night. This why so many Celebrity customers are jumping ship after all the recent changes to the product. We never book the air with Oceania as it is mostly a rip off but the non-air prices include the beer and wine beverage package, free Wi-Fi, all specialty restaurants and a $1600 shore excursion credit.  At these prices similar on other cruises, we will no longer be booking with Celebrity with their continued diminishing amenities and higher costs.

 

I do agree that prices for Retreat/suite cabins on X have gotten pretty high recently, but if they're selling at those prices then hard to blame Celebrity for charging what they are.

 

However, looking at the 23 night Oceania cruise you highlighted, (I wish I could take that much time off work in one go, but sadly I cant), if you price a standard cabin and compare that to X then X is much more favourable. The cheapest balcony cabin on that Oceania sailing is £407 (flights not included in that) per person per night. If you compare that to the Silhouette 13 night Scandinavian cruise next May then AQ works out at £309pppn with AI still included at this point for that price. A standard balcony cabin is £161pppn and with AI it's £229pppn. 

 

So for a standard veranda cabin with drinks included Oceania is £407 while X is £229pppn. That's a big difference. 

[Moby Jones]

On 8/28/2023 at 7:05 AM, wineoclock said:

I worry about seasickness on smaller ships. I’m ok on the bigger ships but do remember feeling slightly unwell many moons ago on Galaxy. 

We recently sailed on Atlas Ocean Voyages. Their ships are under 10,000 tonnes. You certainly felt the sea! 

[OysterD]

7 minutes ago, OysterD said:

I do agree that prices for Retreat/suite cabins on X have gotten pretty high recently, but if they're selling at those prices then hard to blame Celebrity for charging what they are.

 

However, looking at the 23 night Oceania cruise you highlighted, (I wish I could take that much time off work in one go, but sadly I cant), if you price a standard cabin and compare that to X then X is much more favourable. The cheapest balcony cabin on that Oceania sailing is £407 (flights not included in that) per person per night. If you compare that to the Silhouette 13 night Scandinavian cruise next May then AQ works out at £309pppn with AI still included at this point for that price. A standard balcony cabin is £161pppn and with AI it's £229pppn. 

 

So for a standard veranda cabin with drinks included Oceania is £407 while X is £229pppn. That's a big difference. 

 

Looking at that 13 night Silhouette cruise, whether its just a glitch with their website (it's Celebrity, so a good chance!), if you try and book a suite the only one available is a Horizon suite which works out at £660pppn. It's about 50% larger than the Oceania PH suite which comes in at £530pppn, which I agree if it was down to those two suites for those prices then maybe the Oceania would tip the balance maybe. But who knows what sky suites were selling for when they were available, might have been more comparable. But then I'm not sure I'd like such a smaller ship. Good to have choices though!