JulieVee

We have been cruising with my now 14yo DS since he was 15 months old. We had been longtime RCCL cruisers before he was born (our honeymoon was on RCCL Song of America!) but for his first cruise we went with Disney, which is excellent especially for young kids. We did his first RCCL cruise when he was 4 and stuck with them until about 3 years ago when we made the switch to Celebrity. For us personally we enjoyed the level of service and ambience better on Celebrity and our son has enjoyed all his cruises.

A lot of it depends on when you cruise, we usually do a Thanksgiving cruise and there has always been a good amount of kids on Celebrity but not overwhelming like it could get on RCCL. We also sail in April and that's been hit or miss on the # of kids, last year we did the Hawaii Repo and there were some kids but we knew not to expect a lot but he did manage to hook up with a few for the cruise, fortunately for our son he likes to hang with smaller groups so he's usually been able to find a few kids to connect with. This last cruise we were on, 4/22 repo from San Juan to NJ there were only about 10 teens total and he hung with a few kids but it wasn't his best cruise from an xclub perspective (he still had a great time though), they did say the cruise before ours there was about 100 kids on board so it's all timing.

This summer we will be on the Equinox in July and I think there should be a good amount of kids on board. I find for him on Celebrity it's a trade off of lots of planned activities and things to do on a RCCL ship vs the freedom and more casual/laid back environment on Celebrity.

Enjoy, whichever cruise you pick will be fun!

Julie

I was also on this cruise. Service was excellent. Food and service in Luminae great. Captain Kate was a hoot and widely available around the ship. Her talk on the bridge was the most interesting one I've heard, and I've been on many bridge tours. No propulsion issues. She said they replaced the entire pod in the drydock. She also said that Celebrity is not selling any M class ships, contrary to other posts on these boards.

We were on this cruise as well and I agree the food and service in Luminae was very good. Capt. Kate was very informative, entertaining and approachable. The bridge tour was the best we've had.

The food we had in Oveanview was usually good, my 14 yo son had his dinner there each night so he could hit the xclub and skip Luminae and the food I sampled was good and warm, but now and then a certain dish would be a miss but I find that's to be expected sometimes and you just get something else. The sandwich bar and grilled to order fish/chicken/kabobs/etc at the back of the cafe were very good and usually not too crowded. We ordered breakfast room service every day (left the order form out the night before) so did not experience Oceanview for breakfast. The hamburger grill on the pool deck was a hit with DH and son. If you are in a suite the afternoon tea in Michaels was excellent.

Julie

We were on the Summit last week (repo), and Maya was the bet concierge we ever by far!

In talking with her she told us that she was headed home this summer for 2 months and was planning to be back on the Summit in the fall.

Julie

On the Summit we were told they would pool the tips so we handed an envelope to the 'Luminae staff' to our waiter on the last night.

It would have been tough to choose just one person to tip as it really was a team effort. From the Host/Maitre'D to the assistant waiters. They all trained together as a team a week before the opening and it really showed. There was great communication amongst all the staff and they all shared many duties during the service of the meal. We had the same staff for breakfast/brunch and dinner so they really got to know you and it was a very personalized experience.

Julie

We just got back from the Summit (San Juan to NJ) and we loved Luminaes. We like to book a suite for the extra cabin space as we travel with our pre-teen son. For us Luminae was an added bonus as we went in with no expectations because it was so new.

On our cruise they served breakfast on port days and brunch on sea days. On our first 2 sea days brunch was served until 2, on our last sea day it was either 1 or 1:30.

We felt this was our best dining experience ever on a cruise (we've been cruising since 1987). The staff was outstanding, the food was excellent - the portions were small enough that I never felt overstuffed. We actually regretted going to Normandie's on our second to last night, while the food was wonderful there we missed the staff and little touches we got at Luminae.

We felt with the tea service they offer in the afternoon for the Suites that we had more than enough food and dining options on the cruise.

Julie

It is fairly easy to use the Bermuda public transportation but you definitely have to give yourself a lot of time to get from one place to the next.

We were just in Bermuda last week - we avoided the morning Ferry rush and waited until after lunch and took the 1:30 ferry to Hamilton, then transferred to a bus to Crystal Caves/Swizzle Inn...the bus station is about 3 blocks away from the ferry. The buses run about every 15 mins.

Many had trouble getting back on the ferry, when they are full they leave. We bussed it back, it was a long ride...again, you have to transfer at the main station and take a different bus to Kings Wharf but as long as you have time it works.

If I needed to be somewhere at a certain time I'd take an expensive cab ride.

Julie