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Should I try celebrity and would I like it?


Paul whufc

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Hi everyone,

after loads of cruises with royal I am now looking at transatlantic with celebrity to Southampton this year.

the question I am asking is will I like celebrity after all the cruises with royal? I know celebrity is a bit more formal than royal but I was thinking sometimes a change is good.

 

so please any comments please let me know the good & the bad points.

thanks for your help

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I'm not sure "more formal" is a proper definition for Celebrity.  

Maybe "not poorly dressed like Royal can be" is a somewhat better label.  You are less likely to see muscle shirts in the dining room at dinner on Celebrity but that is a distinct possibility on Royal. 

Celebrity tends to be more mature or refined.  People dress smart not because they are following a code but because they do so in general terms.  Celebrity does not require suits and ties or full gowns for ladies so it is not "formal" like Cunard or HAL can be.  

Royal provides a great multi-generational cruise experience.  Something on board for every age group.  Water slides, zip lines, rock climbing walls, etc.  

None of that is found on Celebrity.  They aren't trying to be cater to every age group or multi-generational families, they cater to working professionals who prefer an upscale experience and are willing to pay for it.  It's an upscale environment despite claims to be luxury cruising.  It isn't luxury compared to true luxury lines but it is a step up from Royal.   For example you don't have to swipe your card to get a pool towel on Celebrity, they are there for anyone to take one.  The typical Celebrity guests isn't going to steal a pool towel.  A typical Royal guest?  Apparently so.  

While some people do bring children with them on Celebrity and they are welcome, there are typically fewer children on Celebrity.

If you and your travel party enjoy thrills like zip lines and bumper cars you will probably miss that on Celebrity.  If you never use that stuff when sailing Royal it won't be missed on Celebrity.  

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Celebrity is  lower energy level than Royal.   Older demographic and fewer children.  As mentioned, there are no toys, and ships (depending on class - only 3)  max out at about 3500 passengers.   No broadway shows, entertainment includes home grown theater performances and top line performers.   Depending upon class of ship, differing culinary experiences are available and some high end shopping that may or may not be interesting to you.      They have a higher rate structure, but you can bundle "perks" (internet, drinks, gratuities, OBC)  to reduce the a la carte cruise planning.    The smallest class RCL ship has more onboard activity attractions than the largest Celebrity ship. Shop ships on the web, read comments, but you won't know without personal experience.

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We're getting Married on the Wonder, but doing our honeymoon on the Beyond. I'm excited to compare the two newest ships. I know what to expect for each, having the large party atmosphere of the Wonder for a large group vs the intimacy and slight upscale environment of the Beyond.

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I really like Celebrity - slower pace yes, and more adult friendly - they have fun wine tasting classes and unique dinners.
and restaurants that I really like.  I took Solstice to Alaska last year and loved the staff and the Sky Suite I had.  And your
Royal benefits transfer too.    The ships are different but I like the change of pace, the all-included packages I can add
and the fun shows.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/24/2023 at 2:02 AM, Paul whufc said:

Hi everyone,

after loads of cruises with royal I am now looking at transatlantic with celebrity to Southampton this year.

the question I am asking is will I like celebrity after all the cruises with royal? I know celebrity is a bit more formal than royal but I was thinking sometimes a change is good.

 

so please any comments please let me know the good & the bad points.

thanks for your help

I think Celebrity is perfect for a Transatlantic, it's more laid back- and not as busy as Royal. Which is nice for a cruise that long. The food and service is outstanding, and I think you will see many similarities as well as differences. 

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22 hours ago, mac66 said:

The ambiance and music on X is more suited to baby boomers. It is more intimate and mature.  You can find that on some of the smaller RC ships but X does it better.  Just got off a 7 nighter on the RC Serenade, older crowd and it reminded me a lot of X.

Gen X is getting up there in age, many of us are retiring now.  Once our kids outgrew the toys on Royal, we hopped to Celebrity and don't plan on going back. 

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On 2/20/2023 at 11:33 AM, rjweber3 said:

Well, except when travelling with the kids and grands. Then back to RCL. 

 

My kids grew up cruising, and as adults now would rather go to other destinations when traveling as a family.  I'm sure if grandkids ever happen we'll consider Royal again. 

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I'm thinking of trying Celebrity as well.

I'm on Symphony right now and Royal has gone all in on family cruising.  I've never seen so many children especially on the suite deck.

I love Royal but it has been hard to relax on this cruise with all these children running around the suite deck.  I have a few more cruises booked on Royal a few weekend cruises but the major cruises are Wonder B2B in October and Symphony again in January of 2024.  I was going to book Icon for either the summer of fall of 2024 but I've held off thus far because it just seems to busy . And do I really want to cruise on the ultimate family cruise ship in 2024 and all the children that come along with the words ultimate and family (that is a lot of children) is the question I keep asking myself.

On the other hand I think Royal has paid attention to all the complaining about the food especially at speciality restaurants.  On our longer cruises we always book the ultimate dinning package on weekend cruises we don't bother we just go to the main dinning room, and thus far Symphony has not disappointed even at Chops the food has been great. Its just the children and the amount of children on this cruise hasn't gone unnoticed at least by me.

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18 hours ago, JasonOasis said:

I'm thinking of trying Celebrity as well.

I'm on Symphony right now and Royal has gone all in on family cruising.  I've never seen so many children especially on the suite deck.

I love Royal but it has been hard to relax on this cruise with all these children running around the suite deck.  

What do you love about Royal the most?    I ask as depending on the answer it could really be an easy slide over to Celebrity but it also could totally be the wrong fit.   For me I have done both Royal and Celebrity and with the family Royal is a great choice and for just my wife and I it is Celebrity as the preferred.  I am a doer and there is usually enough to keep me occupied on Celebrity and my wife is a relaxer so really she fits in anywhere but less kids around is nice.      I am not in to rock walls and flow riders and stuff like that so I don't miss those Royal features.

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On 2/23/2023 at 12:19 PM, Woody14 said:

What do you love about Royal the most?    I ask as depending on the answer it could really be an easy slide over to Celebrity but it also could totally be the wrong fit.   For me I have done both Royal and Celebrity and with the family Royal is a great choice and for just my wife and I it is Celebrity as the preferred.  I am a doer and there is usually enough to keep me occupied on Celebrity and my wife is a relaxer so really she fits in anywhere but less kids around is nice.      I am not in to rock walls and flow riders and stuff like that so I don't miss those Royal features.

What drew me to Royal was they have something for everyone and that is what I fell in love with. There have always been kids/teenagers on Royal Caribbean ships but my husband and I always our long cruises when most of them should be in school. 

What I love about Royal are the people, we’ve been cruising with them since 2009 and if feels great to get on a ship and the crew regonize you like hey wheren’t you on Harmony last year. The friendliness of the staff on Royal ships keeps me coming back.  I’ve been on some cruise lines where the staff was just mean, nasty and rude to guest. The entertainment on Royal especially on Voyager Class ships and higher is some of the best out there when compared to Carnival, NCL, even MSC.  The one area in entertainment where MSC has Royal beat hands down is their Cirque Du Soleil show on Meraviglia. But take Quantum Class ships with Music Hall, I absolutely love doing 12 night cruises on Anthem out of Cape Liberty the bands they book to play in Music Hall I know I’m going to have a rock’s good time every night. 

I’ve done the zip line, the water slides the rock climbing wall, iFly they were great experiences but at 43 years old I’m at the point where if I do partake in these things on a cruise its great but if I don’t its no big deal. Now one thing I never miss out on on Quantum Class ships is bummer cars I’m sorry but I love me some bummer cars. 

Royal seems to have gotten their act together with the food, at least on this cruise I have no complaints about the food at all.  That wasn’t the case for multiple cruises I took with Royal in 2021 and in 2022 where the food was simply terrible.  So it is good to see quality food return.  

What continues to give me pause with booking a Celebrity cruise is I don’t know if it is to slow of an environment for me at this time. I know at some point in time I’m going to have to leave Royal for Celebrity or some other more upscale cruise line but at 43 years old is Celebrity the right cruise line for me at this time?  That is the question that I don’t know the answer too just yet.   But in all honesty if Royal were to release the schedule for Utopia I certainly would purchase a crown loft or owners suite in a heartbeat on Utopia.  Although I’m not in any rush to get on Icon I certainly would book Utopia without thinking twice about it.

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On 2/22/2023 at 5:20 PM, JasonOasis said:

I'm thinking of trying Celebrity as well.

I'm on Symphony right now and Royal has gone all in on family cruising.  I've never seen so many children especially on the suite deck.

I love Royal but it has been hard to relax on this cruise with all these children running around the suite deck.  I have a few more cruises booked on Royal a few weekend cruises but the major cruises are Wonder B2B in October and Symphony again in January of 2024.  I was going to book Icon for either the summer of fall of 2024 but I've held off thus far because it just seems to busy . And do I really want to cruise on the ultimate family cruise ship in 2024 and all the children that come along with the words ultimate and family (that is a lot of children) is the question I keep asking myself.

On the other hand I think Royal has paid attention to all the complaining about the food especially at speciality restaurants.  On our longer cruises we always book the ultimate dinning package on weekend cruises we don't bother we just go to the main dinning room, and thus far Symphony has not disappointed even at Chops the food has been great. Its just the children and the amount of children on this cruise hasn't gone unnoticed at least by me.

If you're able to book away from holiday seasons and school breaks, you can mitigate being on-board with and overwhelming number of young ones.  But even that strategy isn't holding well with the newer ships in the fleet.    When we sailed Celebrity Apex in November, we saw more kids than we ever saw in the Retreat area.  Most were really well behaved - a few "not so".    Just a lot of demand and backlog folks are making up for lost time.

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On 2/24/2023 at 4:06 PM, JasonOasis said:

What continues to give me pause with booking a Celebrity cruise is I don’t know if it is to slow of an environment for me at this time. I know at some point in time I’m going to have to leave Royal for Celebrity or some other more upscale cruise line but at 43 years old is Celebrity the right cruise line for me at this time?  That is the question that I don’t know the answer too just yet.   But in all honesty if Royal were to release the schedule for Utopia I certainly would purchase a crown loft or owners suite in a heartbeat on Utopia.  Although I’m not in any rush to get on Icon I certainly would book Utopia without thinking twice about it.

We went on our first Celebrity sailing just after we turned 50, and were more than ready.  Our kids were both in college at the time, and we had no need for "family" type activities.  Now they are both in their early-mid 20s, out of college with full-time jobs.  We prefer not having lots of kids running around when we are on our vacation to relax.  We don't need zip-lines, rock walls, ice skating or bumper cars. We've done it all, no need to again.  I still enjoy the silent discos, dancing in the club at night, parties on deck, and wonderful entertainment.  Celebrity gives me exactly what I am looking for.  Plus, the casinos are non-smoking so I can actually go in them!

The only thing I miss is the piano bar - live music is everywhere around the Celebrity ships throughout the day, but no one to sing along with.  That being said, I've sailed with many horrible musicians in the Schooner Bar.  One 10-night Serenade sailing we went once and never went back.  So I remind myself of that and I then forget I'm missing it.  I can't have Billy Pando on every sailing.  LOL  

Shorter sailings will be more active with a younger crowd, longer sailings will be more older, retirees who are available to go on 9+ nights, and the 7 nights will be a mixed crowd.  We did a 6 night repo and that crowd was super fun.  We kept the silent disco in the club going late one night, so they extended the food service in the buffet an hour as we were all coming out at 2am looking for pizza. 

My point is: you are ready for Celebrity when you find yourself without kids in tow, you've stopped playing mini golf & climbing the rock wall, and it's more about the food, the entertainment, and the sea.  Each Celebrity sailing we have been on has been a different experience. 

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7 hours ago, KathyC said:

We went on our first Celebrity sailing just after we turned 50, and were more than ready.  Our kids were both in college at the time, and we had no need for "family" type activities.  Now they are both in their early-mid 20s, out of college with full-time jobs.  We prefer not having lots of kids running around when we are on our vacation to relax.  We don't need zip-lines, rock walls, ice skating or bumper cars. We've done it all, no need to again.  I still enjoy the silent discos, dancing in the club at night, parties on deck, and wonderful entertainment.  Celebrity gives me exactly what I am looking for.  Plus, the casinos are non-smoking so I can actually go in them!

The only thing I miss is the piano bar - live music is everywhere around the Celebrity ships throughout the day, but no one to sing along with.  That being said, I've sailed with many horrible musicians in the Schooner Bar.  One 10-night Serenade sailing we went once and never went back.  So I remind myself of that and I then forget I'm missing it.  I can't have Billy Pando on every sailing.  LOL  

Shorter sailings will be more active with a younger crowd, longer sailings will be more older, retirees who are available to go on 9+ nights, and the 7 nights will be a mixed crowd.  We did a 6 night repo and that crowd was super fun.  We kept the silent disco in the club going late one night, so they extended the food service in the buffet an hour as we were all coming out at 2am looking for pizza. 

My point is: you are ready for Celebrity when you find yourself without kids in tow, you've stopped playing mini golf & climbing the rock wall, and it's more about the food, the entertainment, and the sea.  Each Celebrity sailing we have been on has been a different experience. 

Thank you so much for your response, it really does mean a lot to me because I am getting to the point where I know I'm going to have to leave Royal. I just feel like Royal is going all in on family (children) vacation, and the traditional off season where children are in school is nearly no more.  My husband and I tried MSC a few years ago before the pandemic.  We did 3 cruises on MSC and ended up coming back to Royal because MSC wasn't a good fit for us.  I think I'll give Celebrity a try in 2025, I already have a couple cruises booked in 2024 and I'm trying to leave the remainder of 2024 open for Utopia but I'm going to look at Celebrity for our cruise in February of 2025.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I just got back from a cruise on Harmony OTS.  The crew was definitely nice and friendly, but one of the things I noticed (after sailing Celebrity last December), was that every single employee I passed on Celebrity Apex smiled, and most greeted me with "good morning", "good afternoon", etc.  Not so much on Harmony.  Most didn't even make eye contact in passing.   Not that I need greeting, or smiles from the crew.  It's just a big difference that I noticed.

It's the little things like this that makes Celebrity stand out for us.  Yes, most on Royal are friendly if waiting on you, or encountering you more than once.  Our Harmony room steward was in our top 3 room stewards ever.  But Celebrity has little touches that Royal doesn't.   We sail Celebrity when we want great food, adult company, personal touches and a fantastic martini bar.  We sail RCI for the energy, the shows and a variety of things to do.  Both fit a niche for us. 

We also sail Celebrity whenever the suite prices are down, and also for some of the itineraries that are more unique than the same-old same-old Royal seems to be doing.  

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On 5/3/2023 at 6:23 PM, Cory said:

Does your RC Points work with Celebrity? If you are an Emerald do you get Emerald status on Celebrity and do you earn points for RC if you cruise on Celebrity?

They match tier benefits up to and including Diamond.  But you only receive new points on the line you're actually sailing.  So look at the Captains club match for C&A to define the benefits

 

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