RC vs Celebrity vs Carnival

Hello,

I'm picking first cruise and have hard time choosing between RC (Oasis), Celebrity(Equinox) and Carnival(Magic). I plan to go on last week of June. All of them 7 days and spend about same amount of time in ports. We will have our teen child with us. On negative: RC sims to be overcrowded, Carnival cost about 1k less and looks like Home2 branch, and Celebrity attracts older people. On positive: RC has a lot to do, Carnival chip, Celebrity has 2:1 passenger/crew ratio and I like their food option (at least on paper ) I'm leaning forward Celebrity, but I afraid to be too out of place there. I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

Last week of June you will find a good number of children.

We took our children on Celebrity cruises when they were teens and in late June they had no trouble finding other children their age. It doesn't take a lot of children to keep them happy.

For us Celebrity worked and was good for both my wife and myself and our children.

Keith

Your child won't run out of things to do on Oasis.

Your child won't run out of things to do on Oasis.

Agreed

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Thanks everyone!

The only thing my daughter asked for on ship is a library :), so more active staff will be lost on her. Is cruise ships have board games to borrow or we should bring our own?

How crowded pools in RC and Celebrity? I think I'll drop Carnival idea.

Thanks everyone!

 

The only thing my daughter asked for on ship is a library :), so more active staff will be lost on her. Is cruise ships have board games to borrow or we should bring our own?

How crowded pools in RC and Celebrity? I think I'll drop Carnival idea.

I've seen games being played in the library on Oasis, but I don't know if they allow the games to be borrowed.

The board game choices are minimal - we are a game playing family and bring our own. Then hunt down the perfect corner to enjoy being together.

Pick one, try it. If you like it, repeat, if not, try another.

Too many variables, and too many individual choices/preferences.

And bottom line, ANY cruise is better than work. :D

Hello,

I'm picking first cruise and have hard time choosing between RC (Oasis), Celebrity(Equinox) and Carnival(Magic). I plan to go on last week of June. All of them 7 days and spend about same amount of time in ports. We will have our teen child with us. On negative: RC sims to be overcrowded, Carnival cost about 1k less and looks like Home2 branch, and Celebrity attracts older people. On positive: RC has a lot to do, Carnival chip, Celebrity has 2:1 passenger/crew ratio and I like their food option (at least on paper :) ) I'm leaning forward Celebrity, but I afraid to be too out of place there. I would appreciate any advice.

 

Thanks

I've cruised all 3 lines.

The passenger to space ratio on Oasis is 1:41 (41sf per passenger). On Magic, it's 1:35. That means Magic is more crowded than Oasis. Celebrity Equinox is only slightly better than Oasis at 1:42. Here's a site where you can look them all up:

https://www.cruisewatch.com/top-10/ships-space-ratio/

If it was just the 2 of you, I'd recommend Equinox. But with a teen, I recommend Oasis over the other 2. Oasis is an amazing experience with some of the best entertainment at sea.

I've cruised all 3 lines.

 

The passenger to space ratio on Oasis is 1:41 (41sf per passenger). On Magic, it's 1:35. That means Magic is more crowded than Oasis. Celebrity Equinox is only slightly better than Oasis at 1:42. Here's a site where you can look them all up:

 

https://www.cruisewatch.com/top-10/ships-space-ratio/

 

If it was just the 2 of you, I'd recommend Equinox. But with a teen, I recommend Oasis over the other 2. Oasis is an amazing experience with some of the best entertainment at sea.

Agree. More people on oasis but more space for those people

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RCI has the best loyalty program. You won't run out of things to do or your kids either. First cruise go withthe best. With that said if you go someplace educational then pick Cele X for obvious reasons more adults and more adult things going on AK or Panama C. Carnival is cheaper and I do like carnival. With them it depends on who we are going with you need a party crowd for carnival. 3 or 4 days cruises are hard hitting partiers anything 7 days or longer more adult bunch.

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Hello,

I'm picking first cruise and have hard time choosing between RC (Oasis), Celebrity(Equinox) and Carnival(Magic). I plan to go on last week of June. All of them 7 days and spend about same amount of time in ports. We will have our teen child with us. On negative: RC sims to be overcrowded, Carnival cost about 1k less and looks like Home2 branch, and Celebrity attracts older people. On positive: RC has a lot to do, Carnival chip, Celebrity has 2:1 passenger/crew ratio and I like their food option (at least on paper ) I'm leaning forward Celebrity, but I afraid to be too out of place there. I would appreciate any advice.

 

Thanks

Sailed them all and with teens. Equinox is one of my favorite ships. Excellent service and food. My teenagers much preferred it to other ships as there was still tons to do, but they were treated like adults instead of little kids.

Oasis is great too if you want the ship to be the destination. Lots of fun but not that much of a relaxing vacation.

Not a fan of Carnival. The price is good but that's where it stops for me.

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Pick one, try it. If you like it, repeat, if not, try another.

 

Too many variables, and too many individual choices/preferences.

 

And bottom line, ANY cruise is better than work. :D

Agree! A very wise advise.

In our younger days, we didn't know any better (wished we had Cruise Critic back then), and our vacation time was limited...we also didn't have much money. So yes, we simply tried all the cruise lines. We loved all of them but with age and experience (and lots of mistakes), we now know exactly what we want.:) Happy Sailing.

Hello,

I'm picking first cruise and have hard time choosing between RC (Oasis), Celebrity(Equinox) and Carnival(Magic). I plan to go on last week of June. All of them 7 days and spend about same amount of time in ports. We will have our teen child with us. On negative: RC sims to be overcrowded, Carnival cost about 1k less and looks like Home2 branch, and Celebrity attracts older people. On positive: RC has a lot to do, Carnival chip, Celebrity has 2:1 passenger/crew ratio and I like their food option (at least on paper ) I'm leaning forward Celebrity, but I afraid to be too out of place there. I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

Don't be afraid to book Celebrity! Our teen grandchildren prefer Celebrity to RCCL!

We were on the Celebrity Summit in July. Along with us were our adult children and three grandchildren, 3,6 and 8. We all had a great time. Food and service were very good. Crew went out of their way for the little ones. Not as much to do as on RCCL but if you like the pool and relaxing it is great!

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Thank you everyone!

Just booked Celebrity. I hope we will like it.

Ps: sorry for my English , it is not my first or even second language:).

Thank you everyone!

Just booked Celebrity. I hope we will like it.

Ps: sorry for my English , it is not my first or even second language:).

Congrats! I'm sure you'll love it. My teenage boys love Celebrity.

Your English is better than a lot of people who have it as their first language 😉 No need to apologize lol

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Congrats on booking Celebrity, been with them twice and they are great ! We are trying RCL in May of 2018 out of Galveston so hopefully we will have a great time with them as well. We also had fun on Carnival. I am leaning toward the "try them all" advice!

Happy Sailing

Celebrity Equinox would be my recommendation, a teen that especially wants a library will have plenty to do & enjoy. The library had a jigsaw puzzle sitting out for passengers to do, my dh worked on it several times. We sailed on the Equinox for the first time in March and will definitely cruise on her again. Food was great! Glass blowing awesome to watch.

Oh I just read your post that you booked the Equinox! Excellent choice.

Equinox was my first Celebrity ship, but not first cruise. I loved the ship. Have a wonderful time! Come back and share your opinions after.

I know it’s not on the list but harmony is far better than oasis in my opinion. Either way I chose rccl the big ships are awesome the only problem is you’ll be hooked the other ships will seem small and crowded. Been on oasis and harmony and neither felt crowded at all. They felt more empty than anything. Also carnival had much more live music and bands less activities more of a party all the time which is good sometimes I guess I’m getting old. [emoji848]

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It seems that you are looking at two mainstream cruise lines and one premium (Celebrity). IMO, there is no comparison. If you can afford Celebrity I would go for it.

Thank you everyone!

Just booked Celebrity. I hope we will like it.

Ps: sorry for my English , it is not my first or even second language:).

Celebrity has two classes of ships, the Equinox is of the newer slightly larger class. We haven't sailed her but have been on sister ships Eclipse and Silhouette. Very nice!

There are rumors that this may change, but one attraction of these ships is the Hot Glass Show. Deck 14, near the Lawn Club. Artisanal glass blowers from the Glass Museum in Corning NY are onboard to put on demonstrations. I suspect your daughter will be fascinated! At the end of each show they give away many of the items they have produced, the highest quality pieces are held aside for an auction late in the cruise with funds going to a scholarship fund.

Enjoy!

Celebrity has two classes of ships, the Equinox is of the newer slightly larger class. We haven't sailed her but have been on sister ships Eclipse and Silhouette. Very nice!

There are rumors that this may change, but one attraction of these ships is the Hot Glass Show. Deck 14, near the Lawn Club. Artisanal glass blowers from the Glass Museum in Corning NY are onboard to put on demonstrations. I suspect your daughter will be fascinated! At the end of each show they give away many of the items they have produced, the highest quality pieces are held aside for an auction late in the cruise with funds going to a scholarship fund.

 

Enjoy!

Thank you!

Funny thing is that we live 30 min from Corning. We usually visit museum few times a year, it got very interesting section on fiberglass and glass in space exploring, and in museum they let public to take part in blowing a glass.

Thank you!

Funny thing is that we live 30 min from Corning. We usually visit museum few times a year, it got very interesting section on fiberglass and glass in space exploring, and in museum they let public to take part in blowing a glass.

30 minutes? Hmmm... My father's family was in Odessa (up the hill from Montour Falls), my mother's family from Mecklenburg (on towards Trumansburg), I went to school in Ithaca, my surviving aunt lives in Penn Yan... I visit the area once or twice a year. A wonderful region, especially this time of year.

Stan