New To Celebrity. Comparisons? Tips? Advice?

[Cruiser 4 Life 66]

Hello,

Just booked a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise leaving from San Juan on December 3 on the Celebrity Summit. This will be my first time on a Celebrity ship. How does Celebrity compare to the other cruise lines I've used in the past? See my signature for other cruise lines I've used.

[High Seas Texan]

I just got off my first, and last, Celebrity Cruise. Have sailed Holland and they are far above on service over Celebrity. Was so dis appointed in the lack of service, attention, care on Celebrity. The butler program is so over rated. Never have I been so glad to get off a ship. Was in a penthouse suite, and so many things wrong there, lack of service, cabin not clean, etc. Good luck to you. If you can cancel, I would.

[ghstudio]

I have to stronly disagree with the previous poster. Celebrity is head and shoulders better than NCL, carnival, and Royal Caribbean....about equal with Princess and I can't comment on Holland American because I don't have first hand experience.

 

Ships are large and all staff members are not the same on any ship...so you can get a bad cabin steward or bad waiter...but our experience is that Celebrity has the most cheerful crew (and staff) who always greet you with a hello and smile.....our experience with wait staff and room staff (we are usually concierge class on celebrity) has been excellent. Celebrity seems to handle the newer larger ships better than the others as well...with few if any lines (you don't have to get to the show 1/2 hour early to get a seat as you do on Royal Caribbean). And the food is generally better on Celebrity with the specialty restaurants being very very good.

 

Don't cancel...I think you'll find that you want to sail on Celebrity again after your first cruise.

[jt1120]

^^^I agree. Not sure what problems "Texan" had, but there is no way that Carnival or NCL is better than Celebrity. Lack of service and attention? Cabin not clean, let alone a Penthouse? Not a chance. That's not Celebrity at all. Must be something that we don't know.

 

Celebrity is our first choice when thinking about booking a cruise. They just seem to do everything better. And, judging by your list of cruises so far, FAR better than NCL, to be sure. Everything is relative and everyone will have their own reasons for picking one line over another, but I always tell people who seem to only cruise on one or two favorite lines, give =X= a try and you'll see. For my cruise dollar, they give me the best Xperience.

 

It really all depends on what you are looking for in a cruise experience I guess. Great food, professional service, incredible ships and they avoid the incessant announcements like other lines run. We'll be on the same cruise that you are going on, except a couple of weeks earlier. I know you'll enjoy your cruise.

Edited May 24, 2011 by jt1120

[smtcan]

We have never sailed in a suite, or had a butler, so I can't comment on those, but we have found Celebrity and HAL to be very close in terms of service. We have never had a problem on either that wasn't solved quickly and to our satisfaction. Our line of choice is Celebrity, because we prefer the S class ships, but would happily sail HAL if the itinerary was right. For us, both these lines are well ahead of RCI and the other mainstream lines, although if we were traveling with children we might make a different choice.

Sheila

[kitkat9438]

Hello,

Just booked a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise leaving from San Juan on December 3 on the Celebrity Summit. This will be my first time on a Celebrity ship. How does Celebrity compare to the other cruise lines I've used in the past? See my signature for other cruise lines I've used.

Welcome to Celebrity!!! We had only been on Princess (our first) and RCL, but once we sailed on the Summit in 2009 we fell in love with Celebrity and the Summit. We found that the service and food were all excellent and better than the other lines. Celebrity doesn't try to hard sell you into buying pictures or other things and there are very little annoying announcements. When you return from port, there's crew members standing outside with a cold cloth and a drink for you, a very nice touch. The layout of the ship is excellent and it never felt crowded like it did on the Caribbean Princess. There are elevators at the front, middle and back of the ship, making easy access to get around. Celebrity's muster drill is quick and painless, sending you to an assigned area and you don't even have to take your life jacket.

 

You will love the Summit. I was so amazed how friendly everyone was (crew members and our waiter). They would always stop what they were doing when we walked down the hallway and say hello and ask how we were. Our waiter was the best ever. He really bent over backwards to accommodate our large group of friends and make sure everything was exactly as we wanted.

 

Make sure you check out the T-pool. It is an adult’s only section behind the pools. It's covered and free. This is where the Aqua Spa Cafe is. You can get healthy meals for breakfast and lunch, fresh cooked to order fish and salads. The T-pool is heated and has tubes on the side that you lay on for massaging. Very relaxing. There are also hot tubs in here. You will also find tables where you can play games if you want.

 

Free to drink is coffee, tea, water, lemonade and fruit punch. In the morning you can get orange juice out of the dispenser. These drinks are self serve in the Waterfall café (where the buffet is served).

Your formal nights will be Sunday and Thursday. We booked Normandie for Monday night so we wouldn't miss formal night. Usually the food is a little better on formal nights in the MDR. You really don't want to miss the last formal night because that is when the waiters dress up in their white gloves and jackets and do the parade through the dining room with the baked Alaska. You get to cheer on your waiter, very entertaining.

Summit’s specialty restaurant is the Normandie. They have the best chocolate souffle ever. You cannot get this in the MDR. One thing I didn't like about the MDR is that they don't serve regular lobster tail, which I love, but you can get it in Normandie. They do have a lobster medley on the second formal night.

 

Normandie also has a goat cheese souffle which is really popular. I had never tried it, and to be honest it sounded pretty strange, but a friend highly recommended it so I tried it and liked it. I got filet and lobster tail and the steak was much better than the main dining room. So tender that you could cut it with a fork. The dinner menu for the MDR will be outside the MDR each morning so you can check and see if you like what the evening menu has and then make your reservation with Normandie. The MDR has a lot of options for the everyday choices on the left side of the menu. You can get steak, chicken or fish, ceasar's salad, shrimp cocktail, any time you want it. I love their creme brulee and would have that every night. Since we travelled with some friends in a large group we ordered a lot of extra things on the menu for everyone to share and our waiter began bringing things out for us to try without having to ask for them. Awesome!! As I mentioned, don't miss the chocolate souffle in Normandie. I know food is pretty subjective but we eat out a lot so we feel we are pretty good judges when it comes to food.

 

The first night the sushi bar will not be open. You will be able to get it the rest of the week from 5:00 to 6:00. My husband loves sushi and really enjoyed the selection. Celebrity has an afternoon "tea" where you can get little sandwiches, cheeses, cookies and desserts, as well as the normal pasta station. This is from 4:00 to 5:00. We would usually hit this area when we got back from port. There's an ice cream station (free). Don't miss the waffles which are at the end of the buffet section for breakfast. These are a big hit and come with several kinds of toppings. There's also a cova cafe where you can get free warm pastries in the morning that are very good. You can also purchase specialty coffees here.

 

Here are the hours of the eating places:

Breakfast buffet 6:30 - 10:00 am

Sushi and stir fry. 5:00 - 9:00 pm

Casual dining. 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Pizza/pasta. Noon - 1:00 am

Salad bar. Noon - 11:00 pm

Hamburgers 11:30 - 6:30 pm

Lunch buffet noon - 2.30 pm

Sandwiches Noon - 3:00 pm

You can get stir fry, pasta and salad, and of course pizza and the pool grill has hamburgers and hot dogs and nachos.

There's also the Celebrity theatre which has live entertainment and it's really good. They have early shows for the late diners and late shows for early diners. You will also have a midnight chocolate buffet, I think it was Thursday night, and there's also another late night buffet another night with the ice carvings. And of course there's the clubs with dancing and the martini bars.

One of the many great things about this class of ship is that with Concierge Class, you get a larger cabin and balcony than the regular verdandah cabins. Concierge has many extra amenities such as an extra cruise credit, better balcony furniture, bedding, towels, sparkling wine, pillow menu, canapes, fresh flowers, fruit, etc. Many people love the aft C1 cabins because these cabins have really huge balconies. I was in 7192 which is a C3.

The “Great” Rooms with larger balconies: People love the aft-facing staterooms (8170, 8172, 8176, & 8185) for the views of the wake and super-large balconies. 8045 & 8046 with larger “triangle shaped” balconies are also popular. Book these if you can! But what if they are already gone…..?

 

Best standard (non-adjoining) CC Cabins: 8072, 8074, 8076, 8078, 8080, 8082, 8084, & 8086, 8112 (starboard side): Good mid-ship location and non-adjoining (no interior door to the neighboring room which some complain can be the source of noise/light from the next cabin). So, why are they good? Because the inside cabins that appear directly across the hall on the deck plan are NOT really there. Well, of course they’re there, but you would never know it! Their doors all open to the opposite (port side) hall (note they all have odd cabin numbers). So there is nothing (no cabins or service areas) opposite these CC Cabins across the hall …nothing but a hallway wall.

 

Also good (on the port side) are 8075, 8079, 8083, 8087, 8091, 8095 & 8099: These have the same good mid-ship location & are non-adjoining, you just have a neighbor across the hall. Very good rooms to book.

 

Need an adjoining room? Look to book 8114, 8116, 8118, 8120, 8122, 8124, 8126, 8128, 8130, 8132 (Starboard side): Good mid-ship adjoining rooms. Also, there also are no entrances to the “crew only” area (the large white blank space on the deck plan) across the hall anywhere in this block of cabins!

 

Location of Crew-Only Service Doors: I like to avoid cabins across from doors to crew-only areas (ie food prep facilities, freight elevators, mechanical equipment etc). They can be the source of noise and/or additional activity. If that matters to you, note that doors to the crew-only areas (shown as white blank space on the deck plans) are located approximately opposite the following CC cabins:

 

Starboard side: 8052, 8060, 8066 8090 8138, 8150 & 8176 (aft cabin)

Port Side: 8047, 8065, 8069, 8107, 8109, 8115, 8141, & 8145

 

Rooms to Avoid:

8094, 8096, 8111, & 8115 – Partially obstructed by the dreaded window washing equipment. NOTE: Cabins affected by the window washing equipment vary by ship. These are the rooms on Constellation ONLY. For other M-Class ships check the deck plan listed “obstructed view” rooms to avoid.

 

8102 & 8108 – listed as “obstructed view”, small balcony, & windows of suite next door look onto balcony.

 

8047 & 8048 – less private balcony which is visable from the angled balcony of the neighboring room.

 

"This list is posted frequently in this forum, so this seems a good place to lock it down."

 

Each of the following cabins on the Millennium Class ships (Millennium, Infinity, Constellation, Summit) has some particular benefit over its peers of the same class -- most often an oversized veranda, sometimes larger cabin or nicer decor. Not all of these differences are accurately reflected in any known deck plans.

 

S1-6131,6132,6145,6146

 

C1-9201,9164,9162,9160,,8185,8176,8172,8170,7203,7212, 7208,7206,6135,6136,6143,6144

C2-9043,9038,8045,8046

 

 

2A-7049,7080,7163,7166,7171,7173,7175,7177,7174,7176, 7178,7180

2B-8161,8146,9173,9138

2C-6016,6018,6020,6021,6022,6023,6024,6025,6026,6027, 6029,6030,6031,6033,6035,6053,6048

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2011 by kitkat9438

[bradpole]

Hello,

Just booked a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise leaving from San Juan on December 3 on the Celebrity Summit. This will be my first time on a Celebrity ship. How does Celebrity compare to the other cruise lines I've used in the past? See my signature for other cruise lines I've used.

 

Celebrity offers an excellent product! I've only done one Celebrity Cruise and it was enough for me to know I'll be back! It all depends on what you are looking to get from a cruise.

 

If I was looking for non stop high energey entertainment I'd book Carnival without hesitation. But if I am looking for excellent food and service I'd no doubt go with Celebrity or HAL.

 

How will you enjoy Celebrity? You won't know until you give them a try!

[High Seas Texan]

JT1120, please see my list of problems on the thread Just off Infinity. My problems were real, and there was a big lack of service, and attention to my complaints.

[cruzeluver]

Celebrity is currently my preferred line, having also sailed on NCL, Carnival and Royal Caribbean. I prefer the more refined service, higher quality food and better passenger/space ratios their ships offer. However, I have not had a bad cruise with any line.

 

However, the best way to guarantee a miserable time is to spend it comparing it to your past cruises. "Well this would never happen on Holland!" or "The shrimp is far superior on Royal" etc. Ugh.

[digital_curator]

Up until January, we had only sailed RCI and were really happy with their product; however, we wanted to try something new and saw a great price on a S. Caribbean sailing on the Millenium. Since our platinum status would transfer and we would still get shareholder OBC, we booked it.

 

I really liked Celebrity. More than RCI? No but they did do some things better.

 

The food quality was excellent, a noticible step up from Royal. However, we didn't think the variety was as good on RCI in either the buffet or the MDR. That said, there were things I loved in the buffet that RCI doesn't have- fresh waffles and a poached egg/benedict station in the morning, ice cream bar with toppings, made-to-order sandwiches, and a much better afternoon tea and sushi selection. And I loved the pool grill!

 

The adults-only pool area was a lot like the solarium but had the great thalossotherapy pool. I also liked the free spa treatment "samples" that they did on some afternoons in this area.

 

There weren't as many lounges as the bigger ships but they were huge and there was no problem ever getting a seat. The aft bar is lovely! If you are not a smoker, you will appreciate the restrictions- no bar ever felt smoky to us.

 

 

The decor reminded me a lot of RCI ships, which I have always liked. There was less art onboard but some great pieces by important artists (I am an Art History student, so I notice but I know that other people could care less). Our room was more spacious than on RCI but it was a CC room which doesn't have an equivalent on Royal. I liked the toiletries provided.

 

The entertainment was lacking. The live music around the ship was excellent both in quality and variety but the theatre acts were the worst I have ever seen at sea. Luckilly, we were on a port-intensive cruise so it didn't bother us much but this is one area that RCI really outdoes its sister-line.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to cruise with Celebrity again and would like to try a Solstice-class or "Solsticized" ship next time.

 

Hope this helps!

[mellapl]

What was the cabin number of your penthouse suite?

[PS90]

No offense to any particular poster in this thread, but when I read online-reviews about anything, including reviews of a cruiseship or cruiseline, I will ALWAYS ignore both the "super-glowing" reviews, as well as the "this ship was absolutely horrible" reviews. That way, IMO, you will dismiss the reviews made by people with either underlying agendas, or who are extremely picky. That's simply my humble advice - take it or leave it.

 

Myself, I love Celebrity, and will always sail Celebrity unless there is a good reason to sail on a different cruiseline - such as a big discount or much better itinerary, etc. The food, service, "flow" of the ships, etc. are all much better than Princess and RCI (the only others that I have sailed). That's not to say that it's always been absolutely perfect, but there has never been a problem that I couldn't live with, or wasn't fixed properly, or that would make me abandon Celebrity.

Edited May 24, 2011 by PS90

[High Seas Texan]

mellapi, I was in suite 6148.

[Vol fan]

Hello,

Just booked a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise leaving from San Juan on December 3 on the Celebrity Summit. This will be my first time on a Celebrity ship. How does Celebrity compare to the other cruise lines I've used in the past? See my signature for other cruise lines I've used.

 

 

We have sailed on NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean as well as Celebrity.

Celebrity is now my new favorite for several reasons, but I love the others as well. Here are the reasons why I like Celebrity over the others:

1. The smoking policy is much more restrictive. No smoking in the casino! I am not a smoker, but I am not against other people smoking. I just don't want to smell it or enhale the smoke, so it is great that the casino is smoke free. The lounges are also, for the most part, smoke free, as is the pool area. Only specific areas of the ship allow smoking and that is great. No smoking is allowed in the cabins or on the balconies either. If you notice someone smoking on a balcony near you and report it, they will be visited shortly by ship officials and be warned not to smoke on their balcony again.

2. The food is much better IMO. This is subjective and you will get varying opinions. I have never sailed with HAL so I can't compare with their food.

3. There is only one announcement made per day, not many glaring announcements for bingo, art auctions, sales, special drinks, etc. all day long. One announcement. Period.

4. No pressure to buy stuff. They leave brochures or pamphlets in your cabin with notices of special sales, etc., but there is no pressure to buy, buy, buy like there is on other cruise lines. I find this refreshing and it makes the cruise less stressful and more relaxing.

5. IMO, again, the service is top notch. We have had the most amazing stewards on our cruises on Celebrity. And the service in the dining room on our last cruise on the Eclipse was outstanding. We did the Select Dining but asked for the same table every night, so we had the same wait staff. They were wonderful. Knew what we wanted to drink and guessed what we wanted for dessert, etc. before we even told them. Couldn't have asked for better service.

6. The cabin was roomier than on other cruise lines and the shower with the glass door is so much better than a shower curtain.

7. The balcony was roomier and had two lounge chairs with footstools and a round wooden table instead of just two plain chairs as on other lines.

8. The walls are soundproof. Couldn't hear one thing from either side or from the corridor. We might have just had quiet neighbors, but they would have had to have been mouse quiet.

 

Negatives about the last cruise were:

1.The pool was awfully crowded on sea days and I had trouble finding a seat. The first sea day, the officer in charge of the pool saw me looking around and asked one of the attendants to help me find a seat. He went around and asked people sitting by lounges with towels on them how long the towels had been there with no one on them and was just getting ready to take some towels off of a lounge chair for me when someone got up to leave and gave me their place. Now that is service.

2. Also, we had issues with people talking in the theatre during the shows. This is one of my pet peeves. What is it with people that they can't keep their mouths shut while the show is going on? If you have to keep up a running conversation, stand up in the back, for Pete's sake!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Carole

[celereflect]

Are there any heated pool on the ship?

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[FLJudi]

You resurrected a three year old post. Lots of changes since then.

[Lois R]

Are there any heated pool on the ship?

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

 

Only the hot tubs are heated. You must have done a search to bring

back a 3 year old thread.:eek:

[Cruising89143]

Just noticed that this is a very old post.

[celereflect]

I am a new cruiser, I just want to find out if there is any heated pool. Has this question been on a 3 year old thread?

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[celereflect]

Oh dear, I know why I am on a 3 year old thread now. Thanks for answering my question anyway.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[C Cruise Dude]

Hello,

Just booked a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise leaving from San Juan on December 3 on the Celebrity Summit. This will be my first time on a Celebrity ship. How does Celebrity compare to the other cruise lines I've used in the past? See my signature for other cruise lines I've used.

 

 

A bit confused by your question, you list Celebrity in your signature.:confused:

Celebrity Summit - Southern Caribbean - December 2011

[Lois R]

A bit confused by your question, you list Celebrity in your signature.:confused:

 

Celebrity Summit - Southern Caribbean - December 2011

 

Hi...look at the date of the first post.......it is in 2011.....they probably

sailed 3 years ago.....now that it is 2014;)

[C Cruise Dude]

Hi...look at the date of the first post.......it is in 2011.....they probably

sailed 3 years ago.....now that it is 2014;)

 

I understand that but the cruise line should not have changed that much in 3 years. Jack