HelenfromMelbourne

Hi there:)

I don't post very often as we don't cruise that much, but I hope I can give you some useful feedback, as we have cruised on Costa and Celebrity.

I have to preface by saying that we haven't cruised with Costa for 6 years, as we live in Australia and they don't have a presence here.

In 2011 we cruised with Costa from Venice to the Greek islands. The ship was Costa Victoria, and we had read the horror stories, just as you have, about the food, the passengers, the service, the poor ship features, etc. etc. We decided to go and just take things as they were.

We had an absolutely fantastic time. The food ranged from average to very good, certainly we had not-so-great meals a few times, but really, so what. Most of the time the food was good, the pasta dishes in particular were excellent, as was the seafood. Service was outstanding, our butler was the best we have ever had and suite perks were great. Some of the passengers were a bit over the top at times, but again, no big deal.

In comparison, cruising on Celebrity was also excellent. Our first Celebrity cruise (2012) was to Bermuda on Summit. A beautiful, elegantly understated ship (more so than the "glitz" of Costa), excellent food and service. Suite perks were pretty good. In 2015 we sailed Solstice out of Sydney to the Pacific islands. Again, the ship was beautiful, however food quality and service levels were not what we had experienced previously. We were disappointed with the average quality meals served, considering the premium paid. The cabin attendant and butler were just run off their feet and always looked flustered and rushed-I felt bad asking for anything. We usually waited 15-20 minutes for drinks on the "all-inclusive" package-bars were very understaffed.

Next year we will be visiting Europe and looked at Costa and Celebrity again. We have a Costa Deliziosa cruise booked, in a suite. It was just under 5K aud. By comparision, a balcony on Celebrity is 7.9K

For us, it is absolutely no contest. Taking into account price vs value, and previous experiences, Costa wins hands down in this instance.

Happy to answer any questions you may have about our experience.

Cheers.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with you.

My experience has been hit and miss-certainly I have found much more accurate info on this site than I have received on the phone with Celebrity. Even some things you would consider basic, such as what restaurants are on board which ship, were wrong, and I found myself politely correcting the agent.

I'm not surprised that your more complex issue was a bit of a stuff up.

Still looking forward to our cruise though-hope you enjoy yours too

We love Celebrity but also find we have to look elsewhere due to pricing sometimes.

Case in point: For our 2018, 14 night South East Asia cruise on Millennium, we have AQ booked for AUD $7890 including one perk.

We were interested in a Baltics cruise for July 2017-and it's out of the question with Celebrity-12 nights on Silhouette with one perk is AUD $12000 in AQ :(

Really interesting to read all the different perspectives. We have just booked a 14 night South East Asia cruise in Aqua and I am sure we will have a great time.

I do agree that Celebrity has "slipped" a little since we first cruised the Med in 2010. In 2015 our Solstice Sky Suite experience (S1 aft) was average at best. Our impression could have been affected by the fact we had paid so much more than previously for a suite, so our expectations were very high. Mind you, we still had a wonderful time and the cabin itself was lovely.

We are looking forward to being back on M class-Solstice was a great ship, but for some reason left us cold, whereas we just loved Summit to Bermuda in 2012.

Overall, I think Celebrity is still a great experience, but we won't book suites now as we don't see enough value for the prices currently being charged.

Passengers apparently being transferred to Noumea and Brisbane for treatment of significant injuries. Locals also among the badly injured. Thoughts and prayers with all those involved.

Story in the Australian press yesterday about a man booted from his P and O cruise for throwing his cigarette overboard:

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/daughter-says-sick-dad-was-kicked-off-po-cruise-abandoned-after-ciggie-flick-20160617-gpljz2.html

We had a great day in Noumea on a privately organised tour, run by a friendly guy named Albert. I don't think I'm allowed to post tour company names here but you can find it on Tripadvisor if you google it-lots of reviews for it.

We were picked up at the cruise terminal and then went by ferry to Escapade Island, which was beautiful.

After a few hours and a trip back to Noumea, we had a quick bus tour around the city before being dropped back at the cruise terminal.

It was very reasonably priced compared to ship tours, and a really great day. As an alternative, the ship tour to Amadee Island seemed to be well regarded by the people we spoke to.

Your cruise itinerary sounds great, would love to do something similar:)

We had a brilliant experience in our sky suite in January. We had 1403 and loved the space, the service and the perks. We did feel more movement in this location than on previous cruises, so be aware of that if you are prone to motion sickness. We just loved sitting out on the huge balcony enjoying the view of the wake.

We didn't book any restaurants in advance-yours is quite a long cruise (lucky you:D) so you will have lots of time to decide when you want to try out the specialty restaurants. We tried all the options-Murano, Tuscan Grill, Silk Harvest and Bistro on 5, and felt they were all very good to excellent. The main dining room was also very good.

Our butler was lovely, but did seem very, very busy. We are low maintenance passengers so didn't really call on him very often. The cabin attendants were amazing and kept our cabin spotless.

You will have a fantastic time-enjoy your cruise!

Caribbean 2017 $354, Asia next month $252, Baltic cruise 2016 $528 All sky suite prices! Which ones are you looking at? This is also in CND $'s as well.

Oh my goodness-you North Americans get some great prices. The above prices would be lucky to get you an INTERIOR cabin on the Australian website:(

We love Celebrity but I do agree with Kevnzworld's view that suite prices have skyrocketed. Recent prices, even with the upcoming new perks, have made us start looking at Oceania and others.

Nonetheless, can't wait for our next Celebrity cruise in January.

Hi,

 

We were on the 11/30/14 on the Silhouette....one of the lines from a song played at a really loud volume contained the line " I would like to f... you" repeatedly.Although there were not a lot of children on the ship there were some.

Our cruise is in 29 days and we are travelling with our teenagers. I will be disgusted if this kind of music is played on our cruise. I'm glad to see the back of Mr Bailey at Celebrity, to be quite honest. I haven't been impressed with some of the changes under his leadership.

I had the same problem yesterday-unable to log in to My Celebrity, with various error messaged displayed. Last night (Melbourne time) it seemed to resolve, and is still ok this morning.

Hopefully the issue is fixed for everyone. We cruise in 30 days-can't wait:)

Prices do seem higher to us, too. We have only been on Celebrity twice, and started cruising in 2010. We are a family of 4 and tend to splurge on suites for our cruise holidays (which is why we don't cruise very often:o)

Before this year, we could manage a celebrity suite on particular sailings for about $250 per person per day. Current prices are almost double that. I know that suite benefits have been enhanced, but suites are now out of reach for us.

We have started looking at Oceania, etc, where a standard verandah cabin will provide a great experience at less than a suite on Celebrity...which is a shame because we love the line. Also, being Australian, TAs generally can't offer any perks, OBCs or other benefits and prices are higher than for North American customers.

All that being said, we are really looking forward to our January cruise on Solstice.

Throw away any romantic images of the place - it's basically a tourist trap full of drunk Australians, although the Balinese are wonderful people.

Totally agree. And if you are, at all, an animal lover, you will be horrified by the stray dogs literally starving to death on the streets. Also, make no mistake, corruption is rife in Indonesia, regardless of whatever the laws may be.

Of course, when you have been really looking forward to visiting a place, you will nonetheless be very disappointed by an itinerary change.

Hope it works out to the satisfaction of all onboard.

This is really useful for us-we love Celebrity and have another cruise in 6 months, but are considering Azamara for an Asia cruise because their smaller ships dock closer to the major attractions. Look forward to reading your review.

I live in Melbourne and the myki system is appallingly bad. Nothing like the efficiency and value of Singapore, HK or London-and we have used mass transit in all of those places. I absolutely agree with ellieanne-myki is a disgrace. However, for a one day visit, it's the cheapest way to go.

As stated, the card will cost you $6 pp, plus about $3.50 for a one way trip into the CBD from the port.

Once you get into the CBD the City Circle tram is free-it's an old style heritage tram that's a bit of a novelty and does a circuit of the area.

The Port Melbourne area where you will be docked has some good eateries for dinner if you don't want to go back into the city. The Pier Hotel is a bit of an icon with good food and atmosphere-it's walking distance from the dock.

Hope you have a great time.

I agree-'gastro' and 'cruise' don't really go together...

Jokes aside, here's a recently posted menu-looks quite interesting:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2051239

I think we're on the same cruise as you, busy mum:)

We have sailed on Celebrity before, but on Summit, not Solstice. We loved the Summit, and relatives that have sailed on Holland, Princess and RCI tell us that Solstice is their favourite ship-they describe it as beautiful and very stylish.

On our Celebrity Summit cruise, we did not book any shore excursions through the ship-they were very pricey compared to organising it yourself. We are taking the same approach this time around-we figure that small islands shouldn't be too hard to navigate on our own.

I would also suggest that you wait before making bookings for specialty restaurants-quite often, significant discounts are offered once on board. We had dinner at one specialty restaurant on Summit, and were immediately offered 30% off if we booked at the other one.

I love these photos of Solstice from Terry, a charming poster on these boards: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1803477

Looking forward to a great cruise!

It's great to read your excellent review, especially in light of the less than good reports lately. We are really looking forward to our next Celebrity cruise in January. Thanks for posting.

A helicopter ride from Cairns might be the way to go, but will be pricey. A friend took a helicopter back from the outer reef because she was so seasick on the way out, she couldn't face coming back on the boat. I think she paid about $400 Australian dollars. Good luck with your planning:)

I'm in Australia and last month called Celebrity about our Jan 2015 cruise. After a wait of 58 min, I hung up. Tried at a different time of day-early morning-and hung up after 37 min as I had to get ready for work. Tried again earlier this month and got through after a 49 min wait. Unfortunately, the rep was just plain rude and couldn't wait to get me off the phone. I tried again a few days later-after a 23 min wait I spoke to an absolutely lovely rep who was both helpful and polite. At last-problem quickly solved! I contrast this with our 2012 cruise experience-I never waited more than 10 min to speak to a rep who was invariably cheerful and helpful. The reduction in staff is very obvious.

If you check the US website for Celebrity, you will see there is a 'best price guarantee' policy for US and Canadian residents. So those residents can always access discounts, specials, etc. and never miss out, no matter when they book. No such policy exists for Australians. While I will never use a TA again, it seems as though they are being truthful when they say it is 'Celebrity policy'.

Ditch the agents and book it direct,then you can cancel, rebook , whatever .

.as long as its before the cut off dates....no problem.

Great advice

I feel your pain! We booked on the 14th of November for Jan 2015, and missed the 123Go deal by about a day. Not happy, but understand that's the way it goes sometimes. Then I get the Celebrity email informing me of the Annual Sale-with discounted prices for our Sky suite and connecting CC cabin now available. To my dismay, my travel agent tells me we aren't eligible for this "early bird" deal, and we cannot cancel and rebook. Guess who we won't be sailing with for our planned cruise to Iceland in 2016??:(

Also, I have realised there is absolutely no benefit in using an Australian based travel agent if you are Australian-you are better off booking directly with Celebrity. We did this for our Bermuda cruise in 2012, and it was much less hassle. Lesson learned.

We are considering a similar scenario at the moment. Last year we sailed Summit to Bermuda in a Celebrity Suite. It was fabulous and our kids, then aged 15 and 13, slept on a sofa bed and trundle. We have our next cruise booked on Solstice for Jan 2015, but currently have an S1 with connecting C1 booked. As much as we loved the 'full suite' experience, our kids will need proper beds next time around. Still, the RS is available and looks amazing...very tempting indeed. Considering the age of your sons, I would stay with the RS:)

We are in the same situation-booked in November for Jan 2015 and have missed the 123 promo and the Solstice 5th birthday special. TA says there is nothing to be done. Different rules for Australia as opposed to the US simply down to competition-Celebrity charges us here in Oz higher prices and provides fewer benefits because it can, and still make a profit. Other bigger markets require it to be much more competitive. That being said, we LOVED our Celebrity cruise to Bermuda last year, and can't wait for our next one.