Can anyone compare X with RCCL and/or DCL?

[Frankiesmom]

Hi to all! I just ordered a couple of brochures from X and am seriously thinking this line might be a nice change;not that I haven't been pleased with either line-just thinking something different would be great! So can anyone compare these lines-cabins,food,nitetime activities. And any info would be greatly appreciated! My next cruise next month on the Mariner is in a JS-do these cabins compare to the conceirge class? Thanks to all in advance! Angel:)

[Enchanted]

Hi to all! I just ordered a couple of brochures from X and am seriously thinking this line might be a nice change;not that I haven't been pleased with either line-just thinking something different would be great! So can anyone compare these lines-cabins,food,nitetime activities. And any info would be greatly appreciated! My next cruise next month on the Mariner is in a JS-do these cabins compare to the conceirge class? Thanks to all in advance! Angel:)

 

Hi,

I can't answer your question as my first X cruise isn't scheculed until November, however I've read a few comparisons in regards to X vs RCI and X vs HAL in recent weeks on this board.

You might have better luck doing a search.

[petel]

Hi Angel. A few months ago i asked for a comparison between RCI and X and here is what I got:

 

Petel Asked - Wolf Answers: X Vs Rccl

 

There is another link inside that thread with some additional comments.

 

Enjoy :)

[templed]

I've sailed on RCL Voyager of the seas (cabin 1392... Cat. A rear balcony) and Celebrity Constellation twice (Concierge Class Cabins)...

 

Now... A Millenium Class ship is significantly smaller than a Voyager Class ship for one... but in my oppinion, you don't see a tremendous amount of "real" difference... EXCEPT the Promenade on the Voyager class ships... that's something that's hard to compare to... the general appearance on X is much more of an "old world" class... vs. a more vibrant sense on RCCL.

 

Cabins... Concierge Class ... will blow your socks off compared to a junior suite. The JS might have a little more room... but the services that are included with CC on Celebrity are way beyond what you'll find on RCCL, IMO.... Things like fresh flowers, Canape's in your room every night before dinner, welcome champagne (crappy champagne... but... I drank it...lol), upgraded linens, choice of pillows, complimentary binoculars, fluffy robes.... etc. As far of the size of the room... the JS might be more comparible to a Sky Suite on X. Service was FAR better on X than RCCL, IMO.

 

Food... is far better on X, IMO. Bottom line. The specialty restaurants... Food quality is about the same... Constellation's Oceanliners was FAR better in service compared to Portofino's on VoS. Our waiter on VoS was very good... as was our waiters on X.

 

Nightlife... RCCL wins, hands down.

 

Activities... RCCL is much more active... X is more relaxed... if you want to find something to do... you can find it on X... RCCL is more "in your face"... so it depends on your personality.

 

 

 

Those are just a few observations from my point of view.

[bpolan]

i've sailed on many RCCL ships including the soverign, the vision, the legend, the voyager and the navigator. I've also sailed on celebrity's century last summer--when it was newly refurbished. Both are great cruise lines. in my opinion if you are going with kids or young adult children you want one of the larger rccl ships. they have an enormous amount of wonderful activities for all ages. and the promenade is incredible. If you want to totally relax and enjoy really incredibly good food, i'd choose celebrity. the food is definately a big notch above rccl's food. Hope this helps. I've already booked another celebrity cruise on their newest ship being built now, the solstice, just for me and my hubby.

hope this helps.

bp

[Muushka]

I wrote this right after we got back from a 5 day Century cruise last Dec, porthole. Prior to that we did Magic, balcony and Wonder, porthole. It is long, I am sorry, not sure what to get rid of!

 

DCL Vs Celebrity (X) (An adults w/o children’s perspective)

 

Entertainment

 

I think DCL has the upper hand on this one. But as an adult, some of the shows on DCL were a little too young for even us! X was just all right. But we are not huge entertainment people, so not a big deal.

 

DCL has a nicer movie theatre, but we found it cramped on DCL (the actual seats). While X’s movie theatre was really just a large room with a pull down screen, which was small, the seating was much more comfortable. Just not quite the movie experience as DCL though. DCL showed much newer movies. And Disney fans that we are, lots of those at the theatre and in the cabin.

 

 

Ships

 

All 3 ships were beautiful. But there are some comparisons to be made.

 

Artwork on DCL was the most beautiful. X had some pretty strange artwork.

 

I thought the main dining room on X was the most beautiful. Very elegant, beautiful windows, I loved it. My husband on the other hand preferred the dining rooms on DCL. He enjoyed rotating and preferred the style of Animators Palate to any of them.

 

The pool areas were about the same. X had no Adult Only areas, but they did not need them. There were not many children at all. I enjoyed X’s coffee area more than DCL because on X they had a 4 string quartet performing regularly. Just beautiful.

 

The buffet area on the top deck was nicer on X. Bustling but not irritating.

Topsider (DCL) was way too busy and noisy.

 

X had a library, which was pretty nice to visit and also a wonderful club area at the top of the ship at the bow. Big windows to look out at the sea with many comfy chairs all over the place and quiet. Like heaven.

 

We thought the promenade deck on DCL was a little nicer. Definitely liked the automatic doors better on DCL.

 

Cabins

 

DCL HANDS DOWN. We stayed in the average size cabin for X ships, 172 square feet. DCL is 216. We had a window on X, an 11” porthole that I had to stand on the bed to look out of. On DCL we had the giant porthole that you could just walk up to and look out of. Imagine that? (We also got a balcony on DCL that was great). DCL we had a comfy sofa. X we had a very tacky chair that had some sort of vinyl over it and it was orange. Nuff said. Bathroom on X was not quite as nice as the split on DCL, but I liked the shower more on X. It was pretty large. DCL had a tub/shower combo. Beds and storage were about the same. TV selection on DCL is much better. A big weak point for X. But the flat screen on X was pretty nice (had something worth watching been on it would have been great!)

 

Food

 

We do not agree here. I enjoyed the food in the main dining room on X much more than I did on DCL, husband disagrees. I enjoyed 3 out of 5 nights on X. On DCL for a total of 11 nights, I enjoyed about 4 out of 11.

I am a little picky and really enjoy great tasting food. Husband is not as picky as I. As far as fast food, I think X may have the edge. Fresh waffles in the AM, sushi in the PM, about 8 different, unusual ice cream flavors available throughout the day, the BEST French fries, great pizza (as opposed to DCL pizza, yuck). DCL had better hot dogs and hamburgers and chicken strips (X did not do the strips).

 

We did not do the alternative dining on X ($30pp extra, a minus in my book, Disney is only $10) but have heard that it is wonderful. But Palo, what can we say? WE LOVE PALO. And you can’t beat the $10pp surcharge.

 

Shopping on ships

 

DCL was much more fun to shop at. We love Disney!

 

Staff

 

I have to say we had the best waiters on DCL on our first cruise. They were so good that it is hard for anyone else to compare to them. But I will try. Next DCL cruise the waiters were good, not great. X, waiter was good, just kind of strange. I think he enjoyed a table with people under the age of 70 (there were many older passengers on this cruise) and he just let loose. The assistant waiter was just bad. The LAST day of the cruise he remembered what to get me to drink. And I was the only person at the table that had a ‘free beverage’. Everyone else had alcohol or soda that someone else brought. Go figure. And no personality. Oh well.

 

 

Cost

 

X Hands down. This 5 night cruise was almost 1/3 the cost of a 4 night on DCL. My husband hated to have to buy the soda card on X for $25 for the cruise, but it was a small trade off for the price. Soda is free on DCL.

 

In conclusion

 

Lest anyone think that I am biased, I really love both cruise lines. In fact, we have 2 cruises coming up. X in Dec and DCL next Sept!:)

[cavkc]

We were fortunate to sail with both X and RCI within 6 weeks of one another last year. Following our cruises I wrote the following comparisson, hope it helps

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=392725

[C 2 C]

We were fortunate to sail with both X and RCI within 6 weeks of one another last year. Following our cruises I wrote the following comparisson, hope it helps

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=392725

 

I enjoyed reading the comparison. Our son and grandchildren wish to cruise next year and we will have to abandon X for RCI. It's nice to know what to expect.

[Host Kewlguy]

 

Cabins... Concierge Class ... will blow your socks off compared to a junior suite. The JS might have a little more room... but the services that are included with CC on Celebrity are way beyond what you'll find on RCCL, IMO.... Things like fresh flowers, Canape's in your room every night before dinner, welcome champagne (crappy champagne... but... I drank it...lol), upgraded linens, choice of pillows, complimentary binoculars, fluffy robes.... etc. As far of the size of the room... the JS might be more comparible to a Sky Suite on X. Service was FAR better on X than RCCL, IMO.

 

A little more room? A standard junior suite on a Voyager Class ship is 299 sq. ft. verses 191 sq. ft. which is the standard size CC stateroom on a Millennium Class ship. That's a huge difference. Even Millennium Class's Sky Suite is nearly 50 sq. ft. smaller than the Voyager Class junior suite. They can keep their fresh flowers, fruit and champagne. I'll always pick the 108 sq. ft. larger room. Overall X gets a small edge but we don't find that much of a difference between the two cruise lines. For us, price and itinerary will always be the deciding factors when choosing a cruise. In Royal's favor is a loyalty program which blows away anything X can offer.

[templed]

... size of the room doesn't really make or break a cruise for me...

 

I prefer the added amenities.

 

But... you are spot on with the loyalty programs. Even the crew on celebrity says they wish they could share RCCL's program.

[bpolan]

in terms of the loyalty program, cruises on rccl and X both count for each other. We cruised X two summers ago and immediately got credit for all of our rccl cruises. all you have to do is tell both lines the dates of your cruises on both lines.

[momofmeg]

I have only been on one Celebrity cruise so far-(that changes Sept. 15) you will find Celebrity more subdued then Royal, more adult then Disney and much, much better food then either of those lines, although the food in Palos and Chops was very good.

 

I still found Celebrity's dinningroom food to be as good as Chops and almost as good as Palos. Now I have only been on the zenith and she did not have a specialty restuarant but as good as the dinningroom food was- that has to be GREAT. The zenith's shows were superb and also her paino bar. We absolutely loved the coffee bar on the Zenith. There was a great quartet that played there in the afternoons and in the evening.

[momofmeg]

A little more room? A standard junior suite on a Voyager Class ship is 299 sq. ft. verses 191 sq. ft. which is the standard size CC stateroom on a Millennium Class ship. That's a huge difference. Even Millennium Class's Sky Suite is nearly 50 sq. ft. smaller than the Voyager Class junior suite. They can keep their fresh flowers, fruit and champagne. I'll always pick the 108 sq. ft. larger room. Overall X gets a small edge but we don't find that much of a difference between the two cruise lines. For us, price and itinerary will always be the deciding factors when choosing a cruise. In Royal's favor is a loyalty program which blows away anything X can offer.

 

well Disney's verandas have 280 square feet-so a suite would have to be luxurious on Disney. That is one thing about Disney people forget when they complain about the cost, she has very nic e staterooms which on other lines would be considered a suite.

 

But still, for when it is just my husband and I cruising without our daughter, I feel celebrity suits us best. When she comes, we have to consider what is good for her also.

[jackdiamond]

We have cruised Princess, Hal, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. As far as we are concerned the Celebrity "M" class ships (CC) are in first place, The Royal Caribbean Radiance class (large balcony) are in second place and the others are in the back ofthe pack.