Compare Royal Caribbean with Celebrity...

[CruiseOrLoseMe]

Question...we have been loyal RCI cruisers (Diamond) and are considering giving Celebrity a shot. I'm pretty sure our Diamond status will transfer to the equivalent status on Celebrity. What the basic difference in the cruise experience. Any ships you strongly recommend or should avoid? Any opinions are welcome? We are in our Mid forties, have never done a ship excursion (ie. we usually roll our own), like the sun, food, drinks, and gambling if that has any bearing on your take.

 

Thanks in advance.

[CruiseOrLoseMe]

Any thoughs?

[Ella2]

I'll bite! :)

 

I'm Diamond as well, and YES, your status is equivalent on "X" (that's what Celebrity fans call their favorite line). Overall, I'd say the differences boil down to:

 

1) A bit more of a sedate atmosphere on X, if you are doing a 7-night or longer cruise. A little older crowd than RCCL (not much). Shorter cruises may attract the younger crowd.

 

2) More emphasis on formality...the folks do dress up on those formal nights on X. And on the non-formal nights too.

 

3) A little more "upscale" feeling on X, very proper with the service from the crew, not as much nightlife (at least not on the cruises that I have done)...it's just a more laid-back cruise experience.

 

Those are just my thoughts, I'm sure others will chime in. Personally...I prefer RCCL, BUT, I always encourage folks to try other lines! Every ship has it's own "personality" and you won't know if you love something or not unless you try it. I would recommend you stick to the Millennium or Solstice class to get the newer and nicer ships.

 

Hope that helps a little. :)

[dosherpack]

We are in our mid 50's and are loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers. We sailed on Jan 8th from San Juan traveling to St. Croix, St. Kitts, Domineca and Tobago. My observations are based on 8 RCI cruises and only one Celebrity. We love both lines and would not hesitate to use either based on itenerary and price.

 

The ships: We found that both offer beautiful ships that are elegantly decorated. I have also sailed with Carnival and found their ships to be decorated in a manner that is not my taste (I call it disco gaudy). Clean and well thought out in flow and function is prevalent on both RCI and Celebrity. Summit is older than most of the RCI ships we have sailed and does show signs of wear. It will not really affect your cruise unless you are ultra picky about wear and tear. We were in a Family Oceanview cabin. The balcony was huge!!! Bathroom had a shower with a shower curtain instead of the recycled phone booth shower that RCI uses. They also use bar soap and small bottles of shampoo, not the wall mounted dispenser. I can't compare the regular room since we were so lucky to have landed this gem, but I believe you will notice very little difference in function. If you sail in Concierge Class, you will get an upgraded room service breakfast menu and a choice of pillows. Celebrity also still places chocolates on the pillow at turndown.

 

Food: Here is the slippery slope of individual taste, but I am going there anyway. It is my opinion and I cruise with three other "foodies" who will eat anything and I am the picky one who doesn't like certain things. We found the food in the MDR to be somewhat better than that on RCI. It may be because it was a different menu and we have had the RCI food so many times before. The buffet (Waterfall Cafe) was better than RCI offerings and the flow seemed to be better. I loved having hand dipped ice cream available every day. Several choices that changed daily. I also found the chocolate desserts to be better tasting than on RCI. We did not care for the pace of service in the specialty resturant on Celebrity. Way too slow!!! Food there was not as good as MDR in my opinion. Lobster and steak overcooked both nights we dined there. Sushi was served each evening in the Waterfall Cafe and was excellent. If you like shashimi, just ask and they will accommodate you.

 

Crew and Service: This is where we saw the biggest difference. We have always been please with RCI service, but I believe that Celebrity takes it up a notch. My example is this: every time our cabin steward saw us walking to the room, he stopped what he was doing and went to open our door for us. Every crew member we met would speak and smile. We found the Officers to be very friendly and willing to talk and answer questions. I found a very nice touch to be that upon return to the ship after our time in port, we were greeted with cold towels and a nice drink of water and punch. And to take it up a notch, on formal night we were greeted on the dock by the Cruise Director and the Hotel Director with a glass of champaine.

 

Other: You will see little difference in the casino. Still using coins to cash out. Some like that sound, but it can be a pain if you want to change machines or if you hit a nice payout and have to wait for the maching to be refilled with quarters. I had better luck in the casino, and saw others winning more than on my last cruise. Can't say that is related to the line, who knows?

 

You will also hear far fewer announcements. Generally limited to the end one per day unless there is something to say. No announcements for bingo everytime there is a game. I found that most guest were a little better dressed, fewer t-shirts and jeans during the day. Most guests retained their dinner attire for evening activities. Most guests were in the mid 40's to 60's range. We went in January, so we saw few children of any age.

 

Overall, you can't go wrong with either line in my opinion. If you want rockclimbing and pool games, you will prefer RCI. Most activities on Celebrity are more subdued such as line dancing lessons, trivia games and scrapbooking.

 

Hope this helps and I will be glad to answer any questions.

[didicruiser]

The elite cocktail hour is 4-6pm. Breakfast is in the Michael's Club in the morning;not sure of the times. Continental breakfast with lox/bagels, but the best is the specialty coffees ie latte,cappuccino etc and smoothies.

 

The crowd tends to be older but I am 50 and don't feel like a "baby". There are less children but I usually cruise on non-school holidays. The atmosphere is more....refined but not snobbish. I have always met great people.

[merees17]

Thanks for all the post. Was a "loyal royal" who will now look elsewhere. Celebrity looks like a good fit for us.

[compman9]

Just back from Celebrity's and RCI's best ships, and I can say that in my opinion the biggest difference is Celebrity provided an upscale, relaxed cruise with better quality everything. From sun loungers covered, to hotel style bathroom amenities and better food everywhere - they even have jelly baby and M&M dispensers.

 

The Allure was a money making machine which was like a shopping mall. I know the employees and Loyalists will flame me, but to be honest as soon as I make Diamond on RCI I will be switching to Celebrity.

 

I found the casual nights to be more casual on RCI and the formal nights to be more formal on RCI. Both have excellent paid for dining options, but Q-Sine, for us, is the best dining experience at sea - not for the food necessarily, that is way too subjective, but for the experience.

[bajathree]

Just returned a couple weeks ago from my first X sailing on Solstice. The ship itself is very nice interior wise...I know this may sound weird but balcony wise I didn't care for it as much as say Freedom class or Oasis class...even though I was on the rear of the hump with a large over-sized balcony...I hated the fact that when you stared down you had a full view of the lifeboats and then up at a very large overhang. We had 3 CC cabins in a row....the bottle of champagne per cabin is nice!

Food/wine....this is where X really shines....food blows away the MDR and Windjammer on Royal. The MDR on X was like eating in a specialty every night on RCCL and much more relaxed and tables spaced out more. Wine service is excellent as they have tons of sommelier's and the wine list is excellent. Specialty restaurants for the most part were excellent but oddly I would rate the appi's higher than the main dishes in them....kind of odd:confused:

Pool area....I felt much more crowded around the pool on Solstice than I ever did on Freedom class or Oasis...it's way to small and good luck finding a lounger in the afternoon. Solarium is beautiful but to large IMO...should have added some of the space to the main pool area.

Lawn Club....nice but way to big....I did however enjoy laying on the grass and just sitting in the area during the afternoon and early evening...the bar in the back is very nice and relaxing....the lawn area is changing on future S ships BTW and no wonder as it's a revenue nightmare for any of the suits...to much wasted space. It's nice to watch the glas show once but then:rolleyes:...no wonder thats going away also on future S class ships...I bet it will eventually be eliminated on all S ships as they go into dry-dock.

Entertainment....this is where things are anemic....some may like that laid back do nothing atmosphere but it's not my cup of tea....people around the pool looked to be dying for some excitement...it just doesn't happen....this ship is asleep by 11pm for the most part.

Kids....we had 375 and they considered that a lot...I told them we have over 1200 of Freedom class and over 1600 on Oasis during school breaks.....they almost fell over. Some people on this ship were even complaing that there were to many kids:rolleyes:I have 2 kids ages 12 and 16 and they found this ship a bit boring....lets just say it has become a household joke to tell them we are considering going on X again:D

Service.....very good...but I don't know that I would say it's "WAY" above RCCL....but in the food area it is...room service was very good.....RCCL's has got poor in the RS dept.

Atmosphere....much more laid back...towels are free to take, no check out....thats nice...however in some ways I found it almost to laid back.

Overall.....it's got a more upscale feeling...even with it's clientèle...however at times that got a bit stuffy for me. I like upscale...don't get me wrong but I also like fun. Being D on Royal I was considered Elite on X.....they had a nightly even at Michael's club....kind of similar to the D lounge on Royal....can we say snooze fest...no music...no TV and people were a much older crowd....wife and I are in out late 40's and we were the youngest in the lounge...I will take RCC's D lounge any day....SO MUCH more of a fun crowd. We had a good time and enjoyed the cruise but kept having that wanting feeling....just was looking for that spark that never happened. Would I go on X again....for a European sailing that was port intensive.... defiantly...for Caribbean.....well just look down;)

[silentbob007]

I would agree with a lot of what people are saying about Celebrity. I took my first cruise with them in December and transferred in at Elite. The perks were great ... free laundry, pressing, drinks at Michael's, etc. The food was equal to better ... though the buffet was more of a serving line than stations (at least on the Millennium), the crew handed out most of the food and there were a lot more "cook to order" areas. The line really tried to be more formal (posted dress codes for the theater in the evening, for example) but that was not always the case/enforced. There lots of enrichment acticities including trivia, lectures, etc, and this was on a cruise 10 night cruise with only 2 sea days.

[riredsox]

We just did our first Royal cruise on the Enchantment in Dec. We are elite on Celebrity so we were diamond on rc. We were pleasantly surprised at how good the food was and I stayed up much later than my previous cruises. We had a fantastic cruise and have booked the same one for next year.

On formal nights on RC it seemed everyone was dressed up. The only reason I will not book lots more cruises with them is the smoking policy. I never went to Bolero's because it just smelled bad in there. Same with the casino (that might be a good thing!).

The crew was great but I usually sail on the Mercury which has the best crew on the high seas!

[Lizcourt]

As a caveat, my experience is based on six RCCL cruises and only one Celebrity cruises, but based on that limited exposure to Celebrity, I would say that the prior posters have hit the nail on the head. Without being stuffy or really staid (think Holland America), Celebrity is just a touch more upscale, a touch more formal, and a touch more traditional. If you are considering a suite, we absolutely loved some little touches that still exist on Celebrity that have long since gone by the boards on RCCL, like the canapes every afternoon delivered to your cabin. And there is no mistaking it -- the food on Celebrity in virtually every venue was far superior to that we've had on our RCCL cruises (after all, even before it was part of the RCCL family, that's how Celebrity decided to make its name -- the quality of its food).

 

The only comment that I've seen above that I would disagree with here is the poster who said the entertainment on RCCL was better. It's obviously a matter of opinion, but we still remember our Celebrity cruise as the very best shows we've ever seen at sea (and the Voyager as the very worst, though we thoroughly loved other aspects of that ship). But I'm not sure that's a "cruise line" distinction -- its more of a ship-by-ship issue, since it depends on the particular show, the particular performers, etc. Also, as another caveat, we're among those folks the other poster listed who would be in our cabin asleep by 11, so to the extent that the comment about entertainment aboard the ship was aimed at the variety or type of late night activities, I can't really speak to that.

 

Really, if it weren't for the fact that so many Celebrity ships have itineraries longer than 7 days (which our work-a-day lives won't really accomodate) and that so few leave from New York/New Jersey, we would like to sail Celebrity more often.

 

Even while making this comparison, however, I want to make it clear that we absolutely love our cruises on RCCL; to say that Celebrity exceeds it in some areas just means that Celebrity must be a phenomenal cruise line, because RCCL is a superb one.

[Rick-n-Lisa]

Here is the link to a review I did with my comparison to Royal Caribbean after our Solstice cruise last April. The thread is only one page including my review and other posters questions and comments. I hope it helps!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1237663&highlight=