Jim The Lizard

15 hours ago, Married90 said:

In a similar situation.   We are in our mid 50's and Sapphire level on NCL.  Had a 10 night Alaska balcony booked on the Spirit for  September including air. Need to make final payment next month.  Found a balcony deal on Celebrity Eclipse doing 2,  7 day back to backs with slightly different itinerates for about $1400 less over the same time period by the time you factor in discounted air, on board credit, etc.  For that much difference in price and 4 extra nights I couldn't pass up the offer .   Have wanted to try Celebrity .   We are going to miss the specialty meal package and Latitudes dinners but for  the price...    Looking forward to see what celebrity is like.    I have noticed on Celebrity you can't get upper deck balconies without paying into their "class" system.  

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts after you sail.   Thx for your response!  

On 4/18/2022 at 8:09 AM, terrydtx said:

OP, you didn't say what category of cabin you booked, but if you have booked the Haven on NCL you will be blown away by the entry level Sky Suite on any Celebrity ship. We did the Haven one and done with NCL in 2018 and now almost exclusively sail with Celebrity in the Retreat Suites. We also have done several HAL cruises and their suite product doesn't come close to Celebrity either. The only thing NCL may have over Celebrity is number and variety of specialty restaurants but the food and service quality is not close to Celebrity.

 

Enjoy your first Celebrity cruise and do all of us a favor come back here after the cruise and let us know what you think of the product VS NCL.

I will!  Great feedback and response to my question!  Thx!

15 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I can’t see where you say  what class of rooms you have booked to cruise on NCL. We have only been on the NCL Pearl in the Haven In 2015 for a music cruise. There was no suite lounge with included drinks. There was no separate suite restaurant. I don’t know if NCL has upgraded this situation, but if it hasn’t it is unacceptable. Two years later, we were on another music cruise — this time on the Celebrity Eclipse in a Celebrity suite. All these perks (and more) were included. Even after cruising Regent and Silversea on non-music cruises, we were impressed with X! So we booked an Alaska Cruise in a Royal suite for the next year and we’re really  impressed!  Even in parts of the X ships not reserved for suite guests, there was a much more upscale vibe on X compared to NCL. And with all the inclusions X now has for non-suite guests, we wonder if we even need to book a suite in the Retreat to have an enjoyable cruise. The only thing that I can see that would be missing is the separate dining room.  So your decision to book on X instead of NCL would seem to be a good one. I have seen cruise ratings that classify X as a premium line, and NCL as a budget line. We think that about sums it up.

 

(By the way, the music cruises where of the type were the average age of guests was over 60. So they were not rowdy music cruises.)

Ok, we book balcony cabins on NCL.  We always do Vibe and specialty dining only.  So we enjoy the exclusivity this provides us as we truly are in the room to shower and sleep.  As Platinum on NCL, we always have wine in the cabin and small plates as treats.   We truly cruise to catch up and reconnect as we are both busy professionals who travel for work and work crazy hours!  So low key is our pace.  

15 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I can’t see where you say  what class of rooms you have booked to cruise on NCL. We have only been on the NCL Pearl in the Haven In 2015 for a music cruise. There was no suite lounge with included drinks. There was no separate suite restaurant. I don’t know if NCL has upgraded this situation, but if it hasn’t it is unacceptable. Two years later, we were on another music cruise — this time on the Celebrity Eclipse in a Celebrity suite. All these perks (and more) were included. Even after cruising Regent and Silversea on non-music cruises, we were impressed with X! So we booked an Alaska Cruise in a Royal suite for the next year and we’re really  impressed!  Even in parts of the X ships not reserved for suite guests, there was a much more upscale vibe on X compared to NCL. And with all the inclusions X now has for non-suite guests, we wonder if we even need to book a suite in the Retreat to have an enjoyable cruise. The only thing that I can see that would be missing is the separate dining room.  So your decision to book on X instead of NCL would seem to be a good one. I have seen cruise ratings that classify X as a premium line, and NCL as a budget line. We think that about sums it up.

 

(By the way, the music cruises where of the type were the average age of guests was over 60. So they were not rowdy music cruises.)

Ok, we book balcony cabins on NCL.  We always do Vibe and specialty dining only.  So we enjoy the exclusivity this provides us as we truly are in the room to shower and sleep.  As Platinum on NCL, we always have wine in the cabin and small plates as treats.   We truly cruise to catch up and reconnect as we are both busy professionals who travel for work and work crazy hours!  So low key is our pace.  

14 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I can’t see where you say  what class of rooms you have booked to cruise on NCL. We have only been on the NCL Pearl in the Haven In 2015 for a music cruise. There was no suite lounge with included drinks. There was no separate suite restaurant. I don’t know if NCL has upgraded this situation, but if it hasn’t it is unacceptable. Two years later, we were on another music cruise — this time on the Celebrity Eclipse in a Celebrity suite. All these perks (and more) were included. Even after cruising Regent and Silversea on non-music cruises, we were impressed with X! So we booked an Alaska Cruise in a Royal suite for the next year and we’re really  impressed!  Even in parts of the X ships not reserved for suite guests, there was a much more upscale vibe on X compared to NCL. And with all the inclusions X now has for non-suite guests, we wonder if we even need to book a suite in the Retreat to have an enjoyable cruise. The only thing that I can see that would be missing is the separate dining room.  So your decision to book on X instead of NCL would seem to be a good one. I have seen cruise ratings that classify X as a premium line, and NCL as a budget line. We think that about sums it up.

 

(By the way, the music cruises where of the type were the average age of guests was over 60. So they were not rowdy music cruises.)

Ok, we book balcony cabins on NCL.  We always do Vibe and specialty dining only.  So we enjoy the exclusivity this provides us as we truly are in the room to shower and sleep.  As Platinum on NCL, we always have wine in the cabin and small plates as treats.   We truly cruise to catch up and reconnect as we are both busy professionals who travel for work and work crazy hours!  So low key is our pace.  

On 4/3/2022 at 12:54 PM, CHEZMARYLOU said:

We've done 2 New Year cruises and are booked again this year.  We've also sailed in December before the holiday cruises.  Didn't find the gingerbread houses to be tacky. 

We are booked on Silhoutte for our first Celebrity cruise this New Years.   I think the gingerbread houses are nice!  

Just now, 4774Papa said:

Celebrity is our favorite line, but we also do Royal and NCL.

 

Celebrity excels in ship design, dining, service and atmosphere.   Royal and NCL do best in entertainment. Also, NCL does have some interesting activities that involve passenger participation that are nice.  However, Celebrity had good briefing on cruise locations, trivia and wine tastings.

 

Celebrity has jacked up its prices by requiring everyone to take drink packages (great if you drink 10 alcoholic drinks a day), but not for moderate drinkers like us.   However, sometimes they still allow booking without mandatory perks like drink packages.  NCL will still be a bit cheaper.  You won't find water slides and climbing much on Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is best for long cruises where there are fewer kids.

We can drink ten drinks a day!  Wine at dinner, drinks throughout the day, Mojito or nightcap at night.  We don't do trivia or participation events; we love live music.  We are pool or beach bums all day.   Thx for your comments!  

15 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Make sure you don't miss the Lawn Club Grill.  You can usually get 30% off first night.

I will look into that. 

2 hours ago, Londoncruising1971 said:

You've chosen the right ship!!

We tried NCL Getaway in a Haven suite just prior to Covid. We enjoyed the ship, but the service was a million miles behind Celebrity.

World Class Bar and Martini Bar are both fantastic. Murano restaurant is also superb.

For reference, my wife and I are a similar age to you, and we are foodies who enjoy a drink or 2.

We always upgrade to the Premium drinks package, but the Classic package is great too

 

Enjoy 🙂 

Awesome!  Great comments, I appreciate your response!  

4 hours ago, Prada Cowboy said:

Ex NCL Haven cruiser here, just see Celebrity as more adult oriented with some better food and more inclusive. 

Thanks!  Seems to be the common theme.  

51 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

Try searching Jamie Logical reviews she "came over" from NCL

Awesome!  Thx for the response. 

Got married on a RCCL ship, then sailed Carnival, have sailed NCL since then.  Always wanted to try Celebrity (great reputation, lots of positive feedback here and on Facebook), so we're sailing Celebrity Silhouette in December.  Give me your thoughts on differences I can expect or "must do's" on Silhouette.   My wife is in her mid 40s, I'm early 50s.   We enjoy the sun, good food, live music, and the alcohol packages when we sail!  

Super happy to see a Bird Travels review!   Comprehensive and informative always!  Thanks Bird Travels!!!

On 3/22/2022 at 11:11 PM, ceilidh1 said:

If you go into your summary and expand the onboard packages, gifts, etc tab you can add to your cart from there. That worked for me when adding it from the main page didn;t!

You were correct!  Thx.  That worked!  

On 3/22/2022 at 5:10 PM, bkrickles1 said:

I'm almost positive that it's just 1 more. 

It’s two.  Confirmed.  It’s a good deal so I understand why one would be assumed.  
 

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

@ceilidh1 is correct!

 

You can buy the Specialty Dining Plus offer from the VACATION SUMMARY page, not from the Explore & Plan page.

 

This is new, so if you don't see that in your vacation summary then your cruise wasn't a new booking. One cruise that we booked 2 years ago for this coming July doesn't have this option.

 

Our recent Joy cruise (we got off her yesterday) that we booked last month, had this offer.

 

 

Correct!  That’s how I bought it.  Another person posted it here also.  Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.  It is for two Specialty Dining nights.  

19 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

If you go into your summary and expand the onboard packages, gifts, etc tab you can add to your cart from there. That worked for me when adding it from the main page didn;t!

The dreaded “circle of death”!  

19 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

If you go into your summary and expand the onboard packages, gifts, etc tab you can add to your cart from there. That worked for me when adding it from the main page didn;t!

Yep.  Not working for me.  Weird. 

19 hours ago, NEW 2 CRUISIN said:

Whether it is a “good deal” is debatable, but it is a nice option!  🤷🏻‍♂️

With “Free at Sea” we got two specialty meals when we booked.

We are Platinum and get 2 more specialty meals when we board.

We took advantage of this offer for my folks who are traveling with us and not yet Platinum, so they could enjoy another 2 specialty meals with us!   😃

I am Platinum also.  Thought we only get one extra specialty dining meal?  

32 minutes ago, Bowmanvilletravel said:

@Jim The LizardWe figured out in our roll call that recently NCL dropped the number of free dinners that you got on the cruise. As an example, we got 3 for a 15 day cruise, I think you used to get 5. It appears that if you were one of the people that got less dinners got offered this deal 

I am in a balcony with two meals as part of my Free at Sea.  Good thought process though.  That would make sense. 

25 minutes ago, Lex1 said:

It does look like 2:

I think it's two.  But I can't purchase or get confirmation!  

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

We've already cancelled and rebooked on Breakaway.  We are very particular about our cabins in the Haven and there was only one other cruise with an acceptable cabin.  It was priced $2600 more than the one we had booked on Prima.  No big deal.  We had already booked the same cabin on Prima in 2024.

I'm glad you were able to switch.  I called Atlantis Travel today and confirmed with a rep that they are finalizing the Prima charter for 3/5. So I expect to get bumped.  Emailed my TA   I'll figure it out!  

27 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

BTW, when is your March Prima cruise?

Are  you aware that Atlantis is planning to charter the 5 march cruise?

Yep.  Same week.  If they charter for full ship we'll move on to another date. 

12 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

It looks like the upgrade option where you get additional meals at a discount if you have the free at sea dining package.

 

It was discussed on here recently.

Thx Keith!  I did a quick search but didn't see the post.  I'll look some more.