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   So I finally get to dream of a new cruise.  My baby is going to college next year and my husband, my daughter and I will all have different spring breaks.  I have roped my sister in law into going on a cruise with me... First one for me  since our 2019 Europe cruise on vision.  Since our last 2 cruises were on small ships, I'm ready for a bigger one.  Looks like March out of Florida (decided not to look at liberty out of Galveston for the moment) my best bets are symphony or odyssey.  I've never been on a quantum ship and since it's only a 6 day cruise I'm leaving towards symphony.  Then the other twist is that I could try celebrity for the first time... Either either on reflection (the last solstice ship), Edge or Apex (the newest ship).  I'm leaning against edge... Just so expensive.   Also I'm still only emerald class so wouldn't get any good transfer perks and symphony would add 7 more nights to my C and A.   I know cruise choice is all subjective but I'm curious on people's comparisons celebrity vs Royal, and quantum vs Oasis class.  Jane

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Welcome back! ?

There’s a bit of a discussion going on the Celebrity forum about they’re starting to price themselves out of their market with the Apex class ships. Even their other ships are starting to get too pricey. @twangster found that the pricing for the upcoming Beyond is so high that he could get a Star Class sailing on Royal for what Beyond will cost in a premium (but non-suite) cabin. So I’d stick with Royal for now.

The double points promotion is still active with Royal, too. So a 7-night sailing in March of next year would qualify to get you 14 points (28 if you go with a suite). Nice quick way to get up to Diamond when you’re already Emerald.

How many port days / sea days on this 6-night sailing? If it’s mostly sea days, it would be a good opportunity to try out Quantum class and what it has to offer. The only thing I’ll note from my times on Anthem doing 5-night sailings is that the Two70 Lounge and Music Hall area seemed a bit under-utilized for live bands or other events compared to blogs I’ve read from longer sailings.

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3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Welcome back! ?

There’s a bit of a discussion going on the Celebrity forum about they’re starting to price themselves out of their market with the Apex class ships. Even their other ships are starting to get too pricey. @twangster found that the pricing for the upcoming Beyond is so high that he could get a Star Class sailing on Royal for what Beyond will cost in a premium (but non-suite) cabin. So I’d stick with Royal for now.

The double points promotion is still active with Royal, too. So a 7-night sailing in March of next year would qualify to get you 14 points (28 if you go with a suite). Nice quick way to get up to Diamond when you’re already Emerald.

How many port days / sea days on this 6-night sailing? If it’s mostly sea days, it would be a good opportunity to try out Quantum class and what it has to offer. The only thing I’ll note from my times on Anthem doing 5-night sailings is that the Two70 Lounge and Music Hall area seemed a bit under-utilized for live bands or other events compared to blogs I’ve read from longer sailings.

Thanks Joe.  I didn't realize that the double points was still happening.  Since I will never be able to afford a suite, this is a great way to speed up my points.  In terms of Odyssey's days--its 2 sea days.  Overall it's 200 less than Symphony, and 100 less than Harmony (just found that one for some reason, but the itinerary is not the best--nassau, jamaica , labadee and cococay.  That's a lot of beach and nothing else really).  So I think I will wait on quantum class and if I do Royal, it will be Symphony or Harmony.  I will check out more stuff on the celebrity forum :)  Jane

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Celebrity has introduced "Always Included" so pricing now includes basic wifi and a classic beverage package (basic beer/wine/liquor but not top shelf beer/wine/liquor).  That accounts for some of the higher pricing you may be seeing now.  

Celebrity is an upscale cruise line so expect similar food maybe just a wee bit better than Royal but more importantly expect an upscale customer base.  While not kidless, expect fewer families with kids.  

It's a little more of a refined product if that makes sense.  

Odyssey being the newest ship is subject to new ship pricing.  Symphony and Harmony both still feel new.  Different production shows but if you haven't been on either ship all are good on both ships.  Other than that there are minor differences between the two sister ships.  You can't go wrong with any of these ships.  

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43 minutes ago, twangster said:

Celebrity has introduced "Always Included" so pricing now includes basic wifi and a classic beverage package (basic beer/wine/liquor but not top shelf beer/wine/liquor).  That accounts for some of the higher pricing you may be seeing now.  

Celebrity is an upscale cruise line so expect similar food maybe just a wee bit better than Royal but more importantly expect an upscale customer base.  While not kidless, expect fewer families with kids.  

It's a little more of a refined product if that makes sense.  

Odyssey being the newest ship is subject to new ship pricing.  Symphony and Harmony both still feel new.  Different production shows but if you haven't been on either ship all are good on both ships.  Other than that there are minor differences between the two sister ships.  You can't go wrong with any of these ships.  

I had saw the all included, but couldn't figure out if it was just aqua class and what the differences were.  I think i have finally figured out that when I add up the drink pkg, wifi and any excursions to symphony or harmony, it really makes them about equivalent to Edge.  But like Joe pointed out, I only get my points if i do royal not celebrity.  Ahhh.....fwp!   I have only been on allure, so either symphony or harmony would be awesome!  Odyssey wasn't bad, but was one night less, so that is less appealling.  Jane

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I LOVE the Celebrity Edge, and I'm sure I will love Apex as well since they are so similar. It's just a unique ship, one you don't really understand until you experience it. All staterooms include WiFi, gratuities, and a beverage package, so the price can be reasonable when you compare it to Royal Caribbean. Celebrity is a little more elevated.

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I certainly am not as experienced a cruiser as most of you here, but all my cruise vacations have been on Royal Caribbean except one on Celebrity.  I have to say that the Celebrity cruise was really spectacular.  The staff was so wonderful, they couldn't do enough to make our cruise special.  We always tend to be friendly people anyway, so do not think our 'behavior' made a difference. The food was better, in our opinion and the choices of onboard activities, such as talks and presentations, seemed to be geared more to our liking...less sports and more educational talks for example.  The all included pricing was not in effect at that time, however I recall that the prices were higher that we could have found on Royal.

That said, we always had a wonderful time on our RC cruises and I have a mother\daughter cruise on Royal booked for November that I  am really excited about,

I bet whichever line you choose, you will have a wonderful time. 

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On 5/1/2021 at 6:57 PM, mom2mybugs said:

   So I finally get to dream of a new cruise.  My baby is going to college next year and my husband, my daughter and I will all have different spring breaks.  I have roped my sister in law into going on a cruise with me... First one for me  since our 2019 Europe cruise on vision.  Since our last 2 cruises were on small ships, I'm ready for a bigger one.  Looks like March out of Florida (decided not to look at liberty out of Galveston for the moment) my best bets are symphony or odyssey.  I've never been on a quantum ship and since it's only a 6 day cruise I'm leaving towards symphony.  Then the other twist is that I could try celebrity for the first time... Either either on reflection (the last solstice ship), Edge or Apex (the newest ship).  I'm leaning against edge... Just so expensive.   Also I'm still only emerald class so wouldn't get any good transfer perks and symphony would add 7 more nights to my C and A.   I know cruise choice is all subjective but I'm curious on people's comparisons celebrity vs Royal, and quantum vs Oasis class.  Jane

I did a comparison post for our first Celebrity sailing: 

 

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On 5/2/2021 at 5:16 PM, Sharla said:

I LOVE the Celebrity Edge, and I'm sure I will love Apex as well since they are so similar. It's just a unique ship, one you don't really understand until you experience it. All staterooms include WiFi, gratuities, and a beverage package, so the price can be reasonable when you compare it to Royal Caribbean. Celebrity is a little more elevated.

From what I've seen of the Apex videos, it looks like they've improved some of the internal nuisances that were in Edge 1.0.  Beyond did far more to enhance the ship.   Just hope they replaced those uncomfortable Martini bar chairs. 

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