Celebrity cruiser who tried RCCL

[judy&steve]

Time for my 2 cents...

 

We got a fantastic deal for a Mercury sailing January 2003. It was such a great price we were able to book a small suite. The food was just okay and the dining room service was fine. The meals did not live up to the hype. The shows were actually so bad, they were embarrassing. The cruise itself was alright. We decided we were so unimpressed with Celebrity that we wouldn't sail it again. We were a little bored -- and hungry. We did appreciate the lovely service on the Mercury, but again, it was just as good on our other cruises (2 on Paradise, 3 NCL -- back in the 80s when NCL was really good -- and one on an older Royal Ship in the early 90s. We found the food on the Paradise (in 2002 and 2000) to be much better than what we found on the MErcury. You see, it is all so subjective. I am clearly in the minority here concerning Celebrity.

We were on the Grandeur for a Transatlantic crossing. It was superior to the Mercury, but still not great. The service was good and they did manage to keep us busy for the 10 days.

We are getting ready for our Adventure of the Seas on Sunday. I don't expect anything great for this cruise. I know how the food will be and I am assuming the service will live up to our expectations.

 

-- Judy

[sgttami]

I've only been on one Celebrity cruise...Century in '96. All others have been RCL...Personally, I hated it but won't get into bashings because there were some good points...did want to give Celebrity another try and do Bermuda but the ships that go to Bermuda have no balconies...

 

I think doing a mega ship as a first RCI after Celebrity was probably a mistake for the original poster. I found Adventure of the Seas overwhelming, crowded, food was so-so, too much noise etc... but the ports and company we shared were great.

 

Try the Radiance class....after doing that twice (going on 3rd), I don't think I'd do the big ones again. I'll never say NEVER but I prefer the smaller ships.

[gfleischha]

Ever go to your favorite resturant with friends and brag about how great the place is? The food is out of this world the service is the best. However that evening something different happened the food wasn't the best and the service was lackluster. Your friends go away thinking GAWD what a horrible place.

 

Well the same can happen with a staff member on the cruise. We don't let anything get us down. We made it a point to talk to our cabin steward, wait staff and bar tenders and make them feel comfortable with us. Our neighbors next store were complaining about the lack of attention, while we thought they were great. Remember their name and call them by it, be interested in them and they will take care of your every need.

 

Our attitudes as vacationers can have a huge impact on the staff. Remember they are working long hours and a smile on our faces helps them do to a better job.

 

Try it you will be amazed at the response you will get. We have been on 5 cruises both carnival and RCCL and it has worked on both cruise lines.

[mortypro]

gfleischha

 

excellent point of it depends on your attitude

i was talking to one of the social staff and she said the same thing

the week before the passengers were "the cruise from hell"

she said the whole staff couldn't wait for the cruise to end

they were rude didn't participate she said downright nasty

she said no matter what the crew tried to do it didn't change things

she said our week the people were much friendlier

i asked her if it made a difference and she said aboslutely

she said even the entertainers noticed the difference in the week

[mandltullis]

Hi, I don't mean to be rude by asking this, but what is your age? Would like to try celebrity but at 23, i don't know how the night life would be.... Again no offence by me asking your age, just wondering.

 

Absolutely no offense taken. We are 37 and 38. We took our first X cruise when we were 30. I would say that the only difference in the nightlife is the absence of a "Dungeon" style club on X. I can certainly see how someone at your age might prefer RCCL. The dungeon was packed every night. We stayed and danced until about 3am but many younger people that we met were there until 5am. The one thing that we didn't like about the dungeon was the crowds. We were packed in like sardines. If you do decide to sail on X don't panic, we were up dancing on those ships until 3am as well, it was just a different atmosphere then the late night club on RCCL.

[mandltullis]

There is no cruiseline that is a perfect fit for everyone which is one reason that there are so many different lines offering so many different cruise experiences. Your opinions and comparison of your experiences on RCI and Celebrity are certainly valid for you, though others might not agree. The only comment you made that had me a bit confused was about not knowing what was going on or where events were taking place on your RCI cruise in contrast to your experience on Celebrity. Did the daily Cruise Compass not provide that information? Didn't they make some PA announcements about particular activities and their venues. One of the more frequent complaints I have read about RCI has been the number of such announcements on their cruises (although in my experience, there has been a significant reduction in, what to some are irritating announcements). Conversely, Celebrity fans usually note that it does not make such announcements and that their daily activities paper provides them with the information they need. I guess I could understand confusion on the part of someone sailing for the first time on Celebrity who might not carry that information sheet with them and because of the lack of announcements, missed some activities or forgot when and where they were taking place, but I don't understand why people on your RCI cruise couldn't determine this information. Could you explain?

As far as the dining room extracurricular activities are concerned, in recent years the parades and singing waiters have been limited to perhaps two nights even on a 10 or 11 night cruise. To those of us who have cruised many times, these parades etc. may get old pretty quickly, but I think that we should try to remember back when we were first time cruisers and these things were what made the dining experience different (and perhaps better) than what we would find in a land-based restaurant. Not everyone on a cruise is looking for a quiet staid environment. Those for whom this is an overriding concern should seek out a cruise line that offers such an experience. RCI is a mass-market, not an upscale, cruiseline, while Celebrity is supposed to offer a more conservative and upscale experience. Each caters to a particular clientele and enthusiasts of one might not enjoy the other. That doesn't make either of them better than the other, just better suited to particular cruisers.[/QUOT

 

I couldn't agree more that you need to find a cruise line that fits your tastes. That is exactly why I made my OP. I wanted to share my opinions with other people that loved cruising on Celebrity but might be thinking of making a switch. With 3,500 people cruising on NOS with us, clearly RCCL has many adoring fans. I was only trying to reach people that are in the same nitch that we are. We are huge X fans but thought we might be missing something on RCCL. Yes, we did get a daily compass. It was not put together well at all. It would have a picture of a performer and their name, but no description. Is it a comic, is it a singer, is it a magician? Nobody knew. One night they said they were having a show called Rocking through the ages. There was no description of what the show was. We later saw it on the tv and it was a dance party. We would have loved to go. Next day many people were complaining that they had no way of knowing what it was and they too missed out. This might explain why there were only a handful of people there. I am not giving my opinion to offend any loyal RCCL cruisers out there. But I do feel that there are people out there that can benefit from my information. Clearly there is a big difference on X and RCCL with the ratio of crew members to passengers. With one extra crew member for each passenger on X you are going to get more personal service and attention. With 1800 passengers on X as opposed to 3500 passengers on RCCL it is going to be easier to find and take part in the activities. I'm not sure why you say that I am looking for a quiet and staid environment. Did I say that in my post? Sorry my post put you on the defensive, just sharing my opinions. I should also point out that I am not confused and I do know to carry my daily compass with me. Funny how you point out things about X yet you have never sailed with them. There is a reason that heresay is not allowable in a court of law. I however have sailed on both cruiselines and am making valid comparisons.

[mandltullis]

negc and taz, just about said it all! RCCL and Celebrity are one company but seperate types of cruise lines.

If you were so unhappy with your experience, don't wait until you come home and "trash" a cruise line, bring it to the pursers or cruise staff's attention and you can rest assured they will make every attempt to make you happy. In all fairness to RCCL, it sounds as if you were bound and determined to have a bad experience with RCCL. All cruise lines want your business so, they will bend over backwards for you no matter the cruise line. If anyone decides to cruise with another cruise line remember this, "Keep an open Mind"!

The comparison remark was way out of line and sounded snobbish.

 

Yes, that makes total sense. I was bound and determined to have a bad time and I spent $3,000 to do it. On the contrary my husband and I were so excited about this cruise that we couldn't sleep at night. Our expectations were incredibly high, we thought that the ship and the cruise was going to be a total blast. If we didn't have open minds why would we have tried a different cruise line? Trash the cruise line? When did I do this? Aren't these message boards for people to share their experiences and opinions? Perhaps you should "Keep an open mind" and not get upset when people have opinions that are different from your own.

[mandltullis]

I've only been on one Celebrity cruise...Century in '96. All others have been RCL...Personally, I hated it but won't get into bashings because there were some good points...did want to give Celebrity another try and do Bermuda but the ships that go to Bermuda have no balconies...

 

I think doing a mega ship as a first RCI after Celebrity was probably a mistake for the original poster. I found Adventure of the Seas overwhelming, crowded, food was so-so, too much noise etc... but the ports and company we shared were great.

 

Try the Radiance class....after doing that twice (going on 3rd), I don't think I'd do the big ones again. I'll never say NEVER but I prefer the smaller ships.

 

Thanks for the advice. I guess the reason we booked with RCCL was due to the whole "mega ship" thing. We really thought that we would love all the different activities available on the ship. But you are right, we were overwhelmed and actually did far less on this big ship than we usually do on the smaller ones. I appreciate you sharing your experience, if we ever do RCCL again I will definately try the radiance class.

[MAGNUM PI]

Our very first cruise, was two years ago, on Celebrity's Constellation. It was truly an awesome experience, and surpassed our expectations, in every way! I don't believe that the service, of all staff members, could be beat. The only area which we feel could have been improved, was the entertainment.

 

We loved the southern caribbean itinerary, and discovered that RCCL'S Serenade has almost the same itinerary, as the previous Constellation cruise. So, we are on a Serenade cruise, in about three weeks. With our twin 16 year old daughters with us, we decided that an RCCL ship might have more appropriate activities/entertainment?

 

My first priority, when selecting a cruise is the itinerary. Then ascertaining the best ship, that has it. Having only one prior cruise, I am interested in comparing my Celebrity experience, with RCCL. Having read fabulous reviews about the Serenade, I am confidant that we will have made a good choice.

[mandltullis]

Ever go to your favorite resturant with friends and brag about how great the place is? The food is out of this world the service is the best. However that evening something different happened the food wasn't the best and the service was lackluster. Your friends go away thinking GAWD what a horrible place.

 

Well the same can happen with a staff member on the cruise. We don't let anything get us down. We made it a point to talk to our cabin steward, wait staff and bar tenders and make them feel comfortable with us. Our neighbors next store were complaining about the lack of attention, while we thought they were great. Remember their name and call them by it, be interested in them and they will take care of your every need.

 

Our attitudes as vacationers can have a huge impact on the staff. Remember they are working long hours and a smile on our faces helps them do to a better job.

 

Try it you will be amazed at the response you will get. We have been on 5 cruises both carnival and RCCL and it has worked on both cruise lines.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. Since we are no strangers to cruising we do exactly the same things that you do. We even tip the cabin steward extra on the first day and extra tips to the bartenders at the bars we know that we will frequent. I will say that all of the bartenders we had were very nice and very attentive. We greet everyone with their names and kind hellos. We are from the south where there are no strangers and everyone is treated like family. I know where you are coming from though, we did see passengers that were incredibly rude and bossy to the help on the ship. Trust me when I say that we are not "those" people. My hubby and I tip 20% to a waiter that brings us fish when we order chicken. But I just can not overlook the fact that we never even had our water glasses refilled in the main dining room. The waiter presented the bread basket to my husband and told him that he could only have one piece. I have heard stories of people ordering multiple entrees and all my husband wanted was two rolls. I do not go on vacation to have to look for my cabin steward or to have to go the guest relations to ask to have my room cleaned. We were traveling with another couple who stayed on a different floor and had exactly the same experience with their cabin steward. This couple gave their room steward a $20 bill on the first day and

still had horrible service. Thank goodness we are like you and don't let anything get us down. We made lemonade out of lemons and had enjoyed the sunshine and the new friends that we made. We will never know wether or not sailing a different week or on a different RCCL ship would have been a different experience. I'm sure that there were many people on the ship with us that walked away with the perfect expericnce. I wish that we could have been one of them. We did come home and book another cruise with Celebrity and we are looking forward to cruising again!

[CGTNORMANDIE]

We just returned from a nice repo cruise on RCI JEWEL OF THE SEAS. We have also liked Celebrity for many years. I would say that the experience is a bit different on RCI. I would also say that the RADIANCE CLASS is the way to go on RCI.

 

We enjoyed JEWELL very much. The food was not as good and some of the service was not as good but the ship was FABULOUS. THE JEWELL OF THE SEAS is probably one most beautiful ships sailing today. We were also able to enjoy the Concierge Lounge and this is not offered on Celebrity (Celebrity should take a lesson here).

 

The dining experience was nice if you had a good table (we had ours moved after the first night) but I found myself ordering 2 different dinners before I found something that I liked (which was no problem with our waiters...who were very good). The high energy atmosphere, music in the Atrium, the Atrium, the entertainment, the specialty restaurants, the Concierge and the beautiful decor all made up for the other short comings that were not that noticable to the average cruiser.

 

We enjoyed the RCI/RADIANCE CLASS experience and would not hesitate to do it again. (We are planning our next cruise with Celebrity...but that is just an itinerary and timing thing.) If you are a Diamond Member or equivalent...you will enjoy RCI/RADIANCE CLASS.

 

ROSS

[mandltullis]

gfleischha

 

excellent point of it depends on your attitude

i was talking to one of the social staff and she said the same thing

the week before the passengers were "the cruise from hell"

she said the whole staff couldn't wait for the cruise to end

they were rude didn't participate she said downright nasty

she said no matter what the crew tried to do it didn't change things

she said our week the people were much friendlier

i asked her if it made a difference and she said aboslutely

she said even the entertainers noticed the difference in the week

 

I couldn't agree with you more. We had the staff from hell and no matter how nice we were or what we did nothing changed their attitude. We spoke to 2 of the entertainers that were brought onboard for a couple of days to perform and they were quite disappointed as well. They travel all over the country and are on different ships all the time. They gave their experience a thumbs down. Too bad we couldn't get the great passengers that we had on our ship together with the great staff that you had. Now that would be a winning combination!

[gfleischha]

I couldn't agree with you more. We had the staff from hell and no matter how nice we were or what we did nothing changed their attitude. We spoke to 2 of the entertainers that were brought onboard for a couple of days to perform and they were quite disappointed as well. They travel all over the country and are on different ships all the time. They gave their experience a thumbs down. Too bad we couldn't get the great passengers that we had on our ship together with the great staff that you had. Now that would be a winning combination!

 

 

Just hope we never have to face what you went through. My wife and I are cruising on the radiance next month with my daughter and her fiancee. We have already decided that we will be trying celebrity for our next cruise. We have been on 3 different cruise lines so far and can't wait to try celebrity.

 

Maybe the cruise line should think about piping aroma therapy mist through the air ducts to chill everyone out.

[gfleischha]

I couldn't agree with you more. We had the staff from hell and no matter how nice we were or what we did nothing changed their attitude. We spoke to 2 of the entertainers that were brought onboard for a couple of days to perform and they were quite disappointed as well. They travel all over the country and are on different ships all the time. They gave their experience a thumbs down. Too bad we couldn't get the great passengers that we had on our ship together with the great staff that you had. Now that would be a winning combination!

 

 

Just hope we never have to face what you went through. My wife and I are cruising on the radiance next month with my daughter and her fiancee. We have already decided that we will be trying celebrity for our next cruise. We have been on 3 different cruise lines so far and can't wait to try celebrity.

 

Maybe the cruise line should think about piping aroma therapy mist through the air ducts to chill everyone out.

[vickie1ok]

I have not sailed on Celebrity, but I hope to. I have sailed on the Grandeur with RCCL. I work for a travel company and when I used to book travel, I had a few customers who sailed on Celebrity and have at least 8 co-workers who have. So between my experience and the experiences related to me, let me say these are what I can believe:

 

--Food is better on Celebrity. I not only believe it, but I hope so. Though desserts on RCCL were excellent, I don't do desserts much these days.

--Ship decor. Okay, but I'm sure it depends on the ship. From what I've heard, the Radiance class ships are exceptional. And as someone else pointed out, the original poster was seriously lacking in details.

--Service. Only because I have heard that X ships are excellent. However... see below.

 

What I don't believe:

 

--You didn't see your cabin steward but once during the cruise. We saw our steward 3 times a day, at least. Morning, noon and night. I simply don't believe that unless you were cloistered in the crew quarters. I can't believe there would be that kind of disparity between ships. Some, yes. Not that. Service was the one thing I rated as excellent on the Grandeur from all staff.

--You didn't know when activities were scheduled? Can you read or were you expecting Cruise Compass in Braille? As others have pointed out, I was more irritated with the constant PA announcements of activities that were clearly defined in the Compass. This was the most unbelievable claim of all.

--Constant hoopla in the dining room. Truth: twice during a 7-night cruise and it wasn't even that long on our ship. No, it didn't interest me either, but that's another gross exaggeration.

 

I agree Celebrity is more upscale than RCCL, and I would love to sail them. (but do they have a frequent traveler program like RCCL?) I would also love to sail the QM 2 and Crystal (because of Crystal's great agent rates). Upscale isn't a dirty word to me at all!. I just don't believe exaggerations.

[TERRY223]

Really?? Could have fooled me!

[xpcdoojk]

Here is another thread sharing the wonderful service on X...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=123627

 

Actually, seems they thought the service on the Summit was awful... hmmm...

 

jc

[rrmanlht]

Well... my DW and I loved our cruise on Rapsody..... WE sailed Galaxy on Nov. 1st and enjoyed our cruise ... the ship was very nice but had problems with organization of onboard events. It was a pretty ship but cold in some ways .... not open and airy like Rapsody. The Food was a little bit better than Rapsody but Rapsody was still very good. The main foyer was not at all impressive ....... Rapsody is the most impressive Centrum we have seen.....makes Galaxy look cheap. And now the most obvious difference ...is the size of the room for the price .... Rapsody gives you a much bigger room for the money and she is not the biggest room in the fleet ...other RCCL ships have even bigger rooms. For our money RCCL is the way to go.... we look for value and open air feeling. WE love RCCL and will stay with the obvious choise to us. To many OLD PEOPLE ON GALAXY ....lol...... :)

[mandltullis]

I must admit that I am very confused by something. Could someone please explain to me why my personal integrity has been attacked just because I shared my cruise experience on this site? I wish people would reread my original post. I clearly stated my experience on this particular sailing. Suddenly I am being called a liar and people are getting incredibly defensive. I can't for the life of me understand this. The whole point of these message boards is for people to share information. I have been called a liar, unfriendly, close minded and it has been said that I am boring and looking for a staid environment and that I can not read. Wow, how did people who have never met me get this information from one post? I wrote one little paragraph addressing only one issue....switching to RCCL after sailing on Celebrity. I think people are forgetting that these lines are owned by the same company. There is no "bashing" going on. I was stating my experience and my preference. One poster is upset because I didn't give enough details. I felt that if I went into too much detail it would be overkill. No point in kicking a dead horse. I could have gone on to state that we drank both bottles of water in our mini bar the 1st night and finally 3 days later it was replaced with one bottle. I didn't give example after example because I didn't want to have a gripe fest. Everyone comes to this sight to gain knowledge into cruising and I felt that I had pertinent information to share. I believe that the tone of my op was informative and not at all nasty. I can't believe that posting on a website has led to an all out character assasination. By all means disagree with me, but please don't attack me personally.

[mtchg]

..when you use such overarching terms of how EVERYTHING is bad on the same ship that others found at least SOME things very good, you can expect a torching, as people take it personally, like they were idiots because they enjoyed the same experience you found horrible. I am not saying they're comments are totally justified, but giving you an explanation.

Never have done X, but I will someday. Averaging all reviews over my many years of cruising it is obvious to me that, with an occasional exception..Celebrity has service and food quality a level above other lines, such as RCI..along with beautiful, if a bit conservatively designed ships.

However, the main reason I have not yet tried it was encapsuled in the words

of a friend of mine (age 42) who won his first cruise at work..he's single so he took a male buddy for a 7 niter on X. He enjoyed the general cruise experience, but he commented how "dull" the ship was after 10pm..basically closed up. This is the real criticism of Celebrity...or its a plus if you prefer quiet ships and early bedtimes.

 

 

Mitch

[lovetocruiserccl]

What makes you think RCCL is an upscale cruise line.:confused:

 

I love RCCL but I wouldn´t consider it as upscale.

 

 

It's not the bottom of the barrel either.

[Chef Sandy]

I have sailed both RCCL and Celebrity- three times on each. I enjoy them both and have never had a bad experience on either. The differences I notice are:

The atmosphere- X tries to be more "refined' . Celebrity doesn't make any overhead announcements. The wait staff and bartenders wear more formal looking outfits, RCCL is more colorful and tropical theme. They don't push the drinks out by the pool on X, RCCL tends to be more of a pool party atmosphere( i don't mean that in a bad way, just a difference) The food is good on both, I would give Celebrity a slight edge. As far as service in the dining room and from the cabin stewards, I think it depends a lot on the individuals- some are just better than others on either line. I think both lines are good at what they do. Remember they are the same company. I've only sailed one other line- Norwegian and didn't think that measured up to either RCCL or X.

[mandltullis]

..when you use such overarching terms of how EVERYTHING is bad on the same ship that others found at least SOME things very good, you can expect a torching, as people take it personally, like they were idiots because they enjoyed the same experience you found horrible. I am not saying they're comments are totally justified, but giving you an explanation.

Never have done X, but I will someday. Averaging all reviews over my many years of cruising it is obvious to me that, with an occasional exception..Celebrity has service and food quality a level above other lines, such as RCI..along with beautiful, if a bit conservatively designed ships.

However, the main reason I have not yet tried it was encapsuled in the words

of a friend of mine (age 42) who won his first cruise at work..he's single so he took a male buddy for a 7 niter on X. He enjoyed the general cruise experience, but he commented how "dull" the ship was after 10pm..basically closed up. This is the real criticism of Celebrity...or its a plus if you prefer quiet ships and early bedtimes.

 

 

 

 

Mitch

 

Please quote me and show me where I said everything was bad on the ship. I stated that my husband and I personally did not prefer anything on NOS compared to our sailings on X. I also never and I mean never called anyone an idiot. I did make it clear on another post that I was quite sure that many people had a wonderful experience on the same ship that I was talking about. Please do not put words in my mouth, especially unpleasant ones. I am not going to get into a free for all over which cruise line is better. Again, and I don't know how to make this any clearer.....I stated MY opinion.

[sammthe66]

Just returned from Explorer(sailed w/o 1/9), we also have sailed Celebrity. After reading come of the reviews on Cruise Critic, thought maybe we had booked the wrong ship but much to our surprise we were very happy with EOS

Everyone was very nice, as far as the food we were very surprised, thought it was great. Room service was great, there everyday to clean the room and every night we had some kind of animal laying on our bed from the towels. We were not crazy about Portofino's, thought dining room food was much better. Our waiter and assistant waiter was terrific. We loved Celebrity but also loved Royal, guess we just love cruising.

[mortypro]

sammthe66

we were on the same cruise as you were and totally agree with your post

we had been on celebrity before just like you had and love them both