Getting an itch to try Celebrity

[BonnieVA]

I'm hoping you can help me determine whether Celebrity would be a good match for dh & I. I'm hoping to not offend anyone based on what I say ... I've just started cruising in the past year & have only been on 2 different lines. But I do have IMPRESSIONS as to the "typical" clientelle of various cruise lines. I might be way off-base - just not sure.

 

Ok, we are both 41 & have 4 boys, ages 16 down to 5. In our hearts we still consider ourselves a young family ... even though we've hit that "40" decade. We are casual & like to have fun (eg, maybe hang out in a disco & listen to some loud, current music) but are not at all into drinking & "partying". We enjoyed Carnival for their youthfulness (I liked hearing upbeat music in many places & it seemed very "alive") & we appreciated the large size of their cabins. We really like NCL for their freestyle concept ... we LOVE not having a set dining time & we like dining where we want & having a different table for each meal. I think Celebrity is now using some sort of eat-when-you-want feature as well? We also thought NCL had very good customer service - very friendly, helpful & capable staff.

 

So my impressions of Celebrity are this: An older clientelle than we've experienced - probably on average about 20-30 yrs older than us, excellent service, great food, great evening entertainment, not much by way of "young" music throughout the ship, cabin size somewhere between NCL's & Carnival's, formal evenings, an overall more refined vacation than the other 2 lines we've been on.

 

Right now I'm looking WAY down the road to an 11-night cruise on the Equinox in Feb '11 for just me & dh. It sounds like a great line for a couple's vacation - elegant, relaxing. I do realize that there'd be few families & so an "older" crowd in Feb no matter what line we went on.

 

But I'm also contemplating a family cruise in Aug '10 on the Solstice. There'd be more families &, from what I've read, I think X does a pretty good job in their kids' areas & my kids would have a great time.

 

So, hoping that I didn't get anyone mad (it seems to be so easy to do that on some of these boards), do you think Celebrity would make us happy, especially on a Feb cruise for just the 2 of us? Or might it be too mellow? I hope all this made sense.

 

Thanks so much!

[Ma Bell]

I think you'd be happy with Equinox. The newer Solstice Class ships seem to attract a younger more lively crowd while still maintaining a nice atmosphere.

[kitty9]

I think you have a misconception of the average age on Celebrity. With you being in your 40's, and thinking that the average age is 30 years older, well, that's just not the case. Yes, X does tend towards attracting an older group than Carnival, but it's not that much older. I would say that if you cruise when school is in session, the average age would be 50 to 55. There will be a lot who are younger and older, but I would not say the average age is retirement home.

 

You say you like casual, and that's not Celebrity. The vast majority of Celebrity's passengers love the more formal aspect of the cruise line. Yes, you will find a few who don't like dressing up in the evening, but most do follow the dress code.

 

As for entertainment, yes, the evening entertainment can be a little sedate IMHO. You're not going to find a rocking disco nor the number of entertainment venues that Carnival has, especially on the M Class ships. But things are a little different on the larger Solstice Class, so you will probably find the entertainment more towards that of Carnival.

 

You mention NCL. Now, this is just my opinion, but I would put that line at the bottom of my list as far as providing a more luxurious and elegant cruise experience. I've found NCL's food and service to be a few notches below lines like Princess and Celebrity. Yes, they are all casual all the time and have freestyle dining, but they really don't match other lines in terms of the quality of food and their service is lacking.

 

Celebrity will just now be rolling out their "freestyle" dining. From what we've learned, it won't be throughout the ship, and only in one part of the dining room. We don't quite know if it will be like RCI's freestyle, where it's just in one small portion of one of their dining rooms or if it will be one entire level. But they will still have the dress code in the freestyle dining area.

[Andy]

Hi Bonnie !

 

Those are all great questions.

 

I think you will find that Celebrity does a great job with families, especially on the Solstice Class. From my experience on Solstice, Celebrity seems to be attracting a younger crowd. I'm willing to bet that your children will have a great time onboard. I'm not in the belief the average age will be 20-30 years older than you. I believe that figure is high. On Solstice, we saw passengers of all ages, and many families, though that will vary from sailing to sailing.

 

On Solstice, they have a nightclub/disco (Quasar) that was hoping every night, though it's not for children. It was definitely one of the hot spots on the ship !

 

Despite recent posts claiming otherwise, Celebrity is NOT offering an anytime Dining option in the Main Dining Room yet. I believe it's coming, but it may be several months away. They will likely have it, by the time you are planning to sail. At this time, there is an option of having Dinner at the Buffet area. It is waiter service, with a nominal tip anticipated. If you feel you cannot make it to Dinner in the Main Dining Room, it is a very nice alternative.

 

The bottom line is, if you are looking for a relaxed Cruise experience, with outstanding service, and wonderful cuisine, I think you will make an excellent choice with Celebrity. If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask. Enjoy your Cruise !

[teemsum]

As long as you pick a Solstice-class ship, you'll be fine.

 

Keep in mind, on Celebrity; they do like to dress up for the evenings.

 

 

Cruisingly Yours

[pumpkin 11]

As long as you pick a Solstice-class ship, you'll be fine. WHAT! :D

 

Keep in mind, on Celebrity; they do like to dress up for the evenings.

 

 

Cruisingly Yours

 

you will be fine with any celebrity ship.:):D

[excitedofharpenden]

I think you have a misconception of the average age on Celebrity. With you being in your 40's, and thinking that the average age is 30 years older, well, that's just not the case. Yes, X does tend towards attracting an older group than Carnival, but it's not that much older. I would say that if you cruise when school is in session, the average age would be 50 to 55. There will be a lot who are younger and older, but I would not say the average age is retirement home.

 

You say you like casual, and that's not Celebrity. The vast majority of Celebrity's passengers love the more formal aspect of the cruise line. Yes, you will find a few who don't like dressing up in the evening, but most do follow the dress code.

 

As for entertainment, yes, the evening entertainment can be a little sedate IMHO. You're not going to find a rocking disco nor the number of entertainment venues that Carnival has, especially on the M Class ships. But things are a little different on the larger Solstice Class, so you will probably find the entertainment more towards that of Carnival.

 

Celebrity will just now be rolling out their "freestyle" dining. From what we've learned, it won't be throughout the ship, and only in one part of the dining room. We don't quite know if it will be like RCI's freestyle, where it's just in one small portion of one of their dining rooms or if it will be one entire level. But they will still have the dress code in the freestyle dining area.

Perfect sum-up.

 

Phil

[TomCruises]

Bonnie,

Celebrity is awesome! At your age, you'll fit right in.Definitely not geared toward children!

[Denny01]

My wife and I started cruising in our 40's. Took our kids some and they love it too. We are now early 60's (at least I am!) and still enjoy good music and dancing late. Celebrity is our starting point for cruising because we do enjoy the lower-key but touch of formal approach. Enjoy the Traditional set dining time because we get to know our table mates beyond the 'how many cruises, and what did you do today' type questions. Just depends.

 

I'd give it a go. We had fun on Carnival when we cruised with a big party group and enjoyed the other lines, but Celebrity just has that special mix of casual-dressy, outstanding service and great lounges. I love their ships because although they are large, I don't feel there are that many with us, and we still get a good deal costwise.

 

Very subjective - all we can do is tell you why we like it. Although you sound hesitant because of the more formal aspects of Celebrity, you sound like you have the right attitude to enjoy new experiences. After your initial cruise, you'll either fall for Celebrity as we have, or find another niche, but I bet you'll love the experience either way.

 

Hope we run into each other on some deck cruising some exotic sea!

 

Denny

[Lois R]

Hi Denny:)are you really in your 60s??? From reading your

posts my mind had always thought you might be 50 or so.....:D

Tells you how much the net does for one's typing, thoughts,

etc.....

Not that 60 is old, its NOT:)

Trying to give you a compliment is all:)

[Denny01]

Bonnie,

Celebrity is awesome! At your age, you'll fit right in.Definitely not geared toward children!

 

I agree you could fit right in.

 

Disagree on not geared to kids. Celebrity has great kid/youth programs. Very active and well run. Celebrity isn't 'known' for their kid programs such as a Disney cruise but they have outstanding staff who run them. Smaller groups of kids, but they seem to love it. Ours did, and so did friends who took their elementary kids last year.

 

Denny

[hcat]

other than S class, you & the fmily might prefer Royal C...more active & a bit less dressy...we enjoy both but X is more elegant!

[Denny01]

Hi Denny:)are you really in your 60s??? From reading your

posts my mind had always thought you might be 50 or so.....:D

Tells you how much the net does for one's typing, thoughts,

etc.....

Not that 60 is old, its NOT:)

Trying to give you a compliment is all:)

 

I take that as a major compliment. The hair is going, and I'm afraid the hearing took a major beating flying aircraft off carriers, but aside from that, I can hold my own. I agree on 60's not being that old. I can't believe it myself!

 

But Karen and I work at being active and young - brainwise also! I gave my kids a list of things that if I start talking like one of those angry old men, they are to take me out to the backyard, stake me out and let me slowly starve!

 

OP - don't want to hijack your interesting thread, but must thank anyone who thinks I'm young!!

 

Denny

[BonnieVA]

I didn't mean to get into "what's old/what's not old"! It's all relative I've come to realize as time flies.

 

Honestly, I've gotten goose bumps after reading everyone's posts. I think I'm even more intrested in trying Celebrity. Only thing is that I'm afraid I won't want to go back to the "cheaper" lines! I am actually pretty frugal so I'm surprised, myself, that I want to try X. There's just something that keeps bringing me back to Celebrity's web site to look for cruises. I've read a few posts here on the X boards & what I read really interests me. I guess I'm kind of in the mood for a pampering, adult cruise vacation.

 

PS: kitty9: In no way would I consider 70 to be "retirement home", lol! My mom's 69 & I have too many friends who are that age up to 79 who are in no way ready for a retirement home, lol.

[Lois R]

I didn't mean to get into "what's old/what's not old"! It's all relative I've come to realize as time flies.

 

Honestly, I've gotten goose bumps after reading everyone's posts. I think I'm even more intrested in trying Celebrity. Only thing is that I'm afraid I won't want to go back to the "cheaper" lines! I am actually pretty frugal so I'm surprised, myself, that I want to try X. There's just something that keeps bringing me back to Celebrity's web site to look for cruises. I've read a few posts here on the X boards & what I read really interests me. I guess I'm kind of in the mood for a pampering, adult cruise vacation.

 

PS: kitty9: In no way would I consider 70 to be "retirement home", lol! My mom's 69 & I have too many friends who are that age up to 79 who are in no way ready for a retirement home, lol.

 

Hi Bonnie, guess I am middle aged? 51:);):eek:

I love Celebrity and you mentioned pampering? I feel pampered

everytime I cruise with them.:D I have plans for the same

feeling again this September.

[Lois R]

I take that as a major compliment. The hair is going, and I'm afraid the hearing took a major beating flying aircraft off carriers, but aside from that, I can hold my own. I agree on 60's not being that old. I can't believe it myself!

 

But Karen and I work at being active and young - brainwise also! I gave my kids a list of things that if I start talking like one of those angry old men, they are to take me out to the backyard, stake me out and let me slowly starve!

 

OP - don't want to hijack your interesting thread, but must thank anyone who thinks I'm young!!

 

Denny

 

My pleasure:D;)....Maybe one day I will have the pleasure

of meeting you and Karen on a cruise.:)

[kitty9]

I didn't mean to get into "what's old/what's not old"! It's all relative I've come to realize as time flies.

 

Honestly, I've gotten goose bumps after reading everyone's posts. I think I'm even more intrested in trying Celebrity. Only thing is that I'm afraid I won't want to go back to the "cheaper" lines! I am actually pretty frugal so I'm surprised, myself, that I want to try X. There's just something that keeps bringing me back to Celebrity's web site to look for cruises. I've read a few posts here on the X boards & what I read really interests me. I guess I'm kind of in the mood for a pampering, adult cruise vacation.

 

PS: kitty9: In no way would I consider 70 to be "retirement home", lol! My mom's 69 & I have too many friends who are that age up to 79 who are in no way ready for a retirement home, lol.

 

Bonnie, I meant to imply that Celebrity cruises are NOT overrun with retirement home types. My mom was in her 80's and still cruising and had more energy than a lot of 50 year olds I've seen.

[scotandtamcruzn4fun]

Thanks to everyone that posted to this thread. DH and I booked our first X cruise today. We are both in our early 40's and feel much more confident in our choice. We are really looking forward to trying X. Thanks

[mlmagic]

X is awesome! My hubby and I are also your age and we love it for it's relaxed sophistication, fabulous food, service and atmosphere. Celebrity just has that classy edge that is still fun, yet modern and inviting...can't go wrong, pick a ship and go!! Good luck...:)

[Toothfairy754]

We just returned Monday from our first X cruise. My DS is 32 DD is 27 and I will not say how old I am. <G> We found on our cruise that we all enjoyed it. The food was wonderful and the lack of overhead paging(bingo, hairy chest contest) etc, was a nice change. Everyone was friendly and remembered our names and always had a hello.

I have also sailed Carnival and NCL and this was WAY above them. My family and I did not care for NCL at all.

The crowd was older (6 children onboard) but there were still quite a few in their 40's. Also longer cruises do tend to have older crowds,and this was a 15 night.

My DS and DD danced in the Constellation and had a great time.

I do not see how you could not enjoy a cruise on X..

[2sunny]

I'm hoping you can help me determine whether Celebrity would be a good match for dh & I. I'm hoping to not offend anyone based on what I say ... I've just started cruising in the past year & have only been on 2 different lines. But I do have IMPRESSIONS as to the "typical" clientèle of various cruise lines. I might be way off-base - just not sure.

 

OK, we are both 41 & have 4 boys, ages 16 down to 5. In our hearts we still consider ourselves a young family ... even though we've hit that "40" decade. We are casual & like to have fun (eg, maybe hang out in a disco & listen to some loud, current music) but are not at all into drinking & "partying". We enjoyed Carnival for their youthfulness (I liked hearing upbeat music in many places & it seemed very "alive") & we appreciated the large size of their cabins. We really like NCL for their freestyle concept ... we LOVE not having a set dining time & we like dining where we want & having a different table for each meal. I think Celebrity is now using some sort of eat-when-you-want feature as well? We also thought NCL had very good customer service - very friendly, helpful & capable staff.

 

So my impressions of Celebrity are this: An older clientèle than we've experienced - probably on average about 20-30 yrs older than us, excellent service, great food, great evening entertainment, not much by way of "young" music throughout the ship, cabin size somewhere between NCL's & Carnival's, formal evenings, an overall more refined vacation than the other 2 lines we've been on.

 

Right now I'm looking WAY down the road to an 11-night cruise on the Equinox in Feb '11 for just me & dh. It sounds like a great line for a couple's vacation - elegant, relaxing. I do realize that there'd be few families & so an "older" crowd in Feb no matter what line we went on.

 

But I'm also contemplating a family cruise in Aug '10 on the Solstice. There'd be more families &, from what I've read, I think X does a pretty good job in their kids' areas & my kids would have a great time.

 

So, hoping that I didn't get anyone mad (it seems to be so easy to do that on some of these boards), do you think Celebrity would make us happy, especially on a Feb cruise for just the 2 of us? Or might it be too mellow? I hope all this made sense.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Well, I can tell you that you have not offended me. Yes, my DH is 56 and I am 61, so we are older than you but we like to do the same things that you do in the evenings. Our daughter (37) and her DH (39) and their DD, 11 and DS, 9 are faithful Celebrity Cruisers. Again, I do not want to offended anyone BUT they cruised RCCL, when the children were 7 and 5, and they did not care for the ship or the fact that the clientèle did NOT follow the dress code. They have worked very hard to teach their children to behave properly in public and to follow rules. Even their children did not care for the behavior of many of the other children in the "children's play group's" and the children did not understand why people (adults and children) did not follow the dress codes. They then switched to Celebrity and have been much happier!!!

 

So I suppose the answer is there will be adults of all ages on a Celebrity Cruise, we have met people of all ages on all of our Celebrity cruises and on every Celebrity Cruise we have gone on we have had an EXCELLENT time. We love the food, the service, the beautiful ships and staterooms, the elegance, the majority of the clientèle, the fact that there seems to be something to do for everyone. Most of their evening entertainment is quite good.

 

Whatever you choose I wish you a GREAT cruise!

[DocJohnB]

I gave my kids a list of things that if I start talking like one of those angry old men, they are to take me out to the backyard, stake me out and let me slowly starve!

Denny

 

Geez, Denny. Glutton for punishment?

 

I have informed my kids, given the old man scenario, to take me out in the woods and shoot me. Nice, quick and clean. :D

 

To the OP. I agree almost totally with what has already been posted. The only exception is (possibly) on an 11 night cruise the average age would slip up a bit. But I don't think the enjoyment factor would slip a bit. Celebrity is not NCL, is not RCI and it is not HAL. It is its' own brand (if you will).

 

I am (obviously) a big fan of Celebrity. I say go for it. Take the 11 nighter with just the DH. Then if you like the product . . . book that summer cruise with the boys . . . . . they will love it.

[BonnieVA]

Thanks to everyone that posted to this thread. DH and I booked our first X cruise today. We are both in our early 40's and feel much more confident in our choice. We are really looking forward to trying X. Thanks

 

Interesting. I wonder how many other 40-somethings there are out there having the same thoughts, questions & doubts as we have had.

 

I have to say, the X boards seem to be far less cut-throat & antagonistic than some of the other boards at CC. You don't even know how intimidated I was before clicking on the "submit" button when I made the original post for this thread. I have read so many needless attacks that it makes you not even want to bother asking a question sometimes. Really, I am not looking to tick anyone off ... I just want to understand things & there's no other way than to tell people what your thoughts are & ask for them to correct you if you're wrong. You just have to hope they respond tactfully. Some CCers lack that tact factor.

 

Ok, I think I'm sold on X ... just have to convince dh!

[aquatot11]

Tammy and Scott,

 

You picked a great itinerary and great ship to start your Celebrity adventures. Maybe we will meet aboard sometime

 

Charlie

[101Jus]

Interesting. I wonder how many other 40-somethings there are out there having the same thoughts, questions & doubts as we have had.

 

I have to say, the X boards seem to be far less cut-throat & antagonistic than some of the other boards at CC. You don't even know how intimidated I was before clicking on the "submit" button when I made the original post for this thread. I have read so many needless attacks that it makes you not even want to bother asking a question sometimes. Really, I am not looking to tick anyone off ... I just want to understand things & there's no other way than to tell people what your thoughts are & ask for them to correct you if you're wrong. You just have to hope they respond tactfully. Some CCers lack that tact factor.

 

Ok, I think I'm sold on X ... just have to convince dh!

We, too, have just booked our first X cruise and we are also both in our early 40's with 2 kids age (at the time of our next sailing) 11 and 5. I think the Solstice class will be a good fit for all of us, big enough to provide things for the kids to do and friends to play with while still providing an elegant atmosphere for us adults.

 

Btw we sailed RCI last year and loved it apart from the tacky holiday camp poolside games and constant tannoy announcements. Incidently the cruise we chose was also cheaper than the equivalent RCI cruise so for us it was a no-brainer!