Our arms being twisted to try Celebrity

[ASIWISH]

I too am taking a celeb cruise after years with Holland America because the price was 3300 cheaper for the same trip to Antarctica. That and the schedule will save me another $2500 on trips.. I cant ignore that its in total almost $6000 cheaper.

 

I do know from my checking that ther reason for the lower price is the ship is filled with extra charges, want a pannini? Holland its free, Celb..$5 PLEASE. Take in a movie in the theater; Holland free, Celeb. no theater and its pay-TV for the movie. and like 3 or 4 speciality restauraints charging $40 pp. No laundry package all by the piece

Little things, but dozens of them.\ I wil see how it goes, but think this is a one time foray.

 

Just keep you wits about you beause you wallet is a target, I am aware so they are not going to get to me. But if you casualy want what Holland provided Celeb will bill you for.

 

Dan, I agree... we were surprised. And felt we need to eat in Specialty restaurants because of food quality... our opinion.

[Orlandocruiser]

 

I do know from my checking that ther reason for the lower price is the ship is filled with extra charges, want a pannini? Holland its free, Celb..$5 PLEASE. Take in a movie in the theater; Holland free, Celeb. no theater and its pay-TV for the movie. .

 

You CAN get a panini at the sandwich bar in the buffet on Celebrity. The "$5" panini you refer to is actually a meal in the Bistro on Five which gives you soup/ salad, a crepe or panini and wonderful dessert crepes. The flat panel tv systems in the stateroom have a very good selection of FREE pretty recent on demand movies ( yes there are ppv movies but we have never felt the need to watch them as the free selections were quite good). I wiil agree that the specialty restsurants are pricey but they do offer package deals for them. There is a small theater on the Celebrity ships which is used for lecture series with movies or slides and other events during the day.

 

As for nickel and diming the free coffee lounge that used to be outside the theater on HAL ships dissapeared a long time ago when they introduced the cafes on their ships. I guess people don't notice the nickel and diming they have become accustomed to and fear the ones on other lines.

[iancal]

Nonsense. Our last two Celebrity cruises, the lastest this past October, had a movie theatre. There was no admission charge.

 

We had a panini in the sandwich bar at the back of the buffet area-near the aft deck for lunch on several occasions. No charge.

 

We did pay, as was noted $5. per person at Bistro. This was a cover charge. We could have as many made to order crepes-entree and desert crepes, as we wished. Great value and a nice change.

 

Perhaps the OP does not know the difference between a crepe or a panini, or maybe was never on a Celebrity ship in the past few years.

 

It is unproductive to provde what is clearly incorrect or purposely misleading information to folks on this board. Both are great cruise lines-they just have some slight differences.

[RMLincoln]

Celebrity afternoon tea was either $20 or $25pp, free on HAL.

 

Celebrity Thalassotherapy pool area was FREE and huge. Prices on HAL are $30/da and hard to pin down for a full-cruise rate depending on when you purchase.

 

Very good food can be had in the MDR of both lines.

 

It's just different on different lines so go with each lines strengths for you, and enjoy! m--

[LAFFNVEGAS]

 

Celebrity Thalassotherapy pool area was FREE and huge. Prices on HAL are $30/da and hard to pin down for a full-cruise rate depending on when you purchase.

Unfortunately this statement does not apply to all Celebrity ships or or HAL ships, First off the Solstice Class ships DO NOT have a Thalassotherapy Pool but they do have a Thermal Suite like HAL's and they will NOT sell a Day Pass, unless you are in a Aqua Class category then you must pay for it for the whole week which right off I do not remember that price but it was much higher than what HAL charges and no pool :( Then on the S and R Class ships of HAL there is really only a very large Hot /Jacuzzi not really what I call a Therapy pool of any kind but the charge to use this is just $20.00 per day. There have actually been times I have seen it when it was not busy and they offered for just $10 per day.

[Hawaiidan]

I was only working off information I was given on this board by past Celeb Cruisers. The told me that the Lido was a very small limited menu and at night even more so. The Bistro, advertising for the Paninni I figured based on other charges, that could only be had for $

Too, corrrect me if I am worng, but arn't some of the alternative restaurants reserverd only for top class cabins and you still have to pay even at that? On Holland all alternative ones are open to any passneger and rather than costing $40 pp are $15 to 25.

The infinity has its movie theater removed, and I read the list of first run movies like I say on Holland for free, were $ 4 to$ 6 @. I cant comment on the celeb mega ships. I have only been looking at their smallest ships because that is the largest I will sail on.

Laundry, no package, etc.

 

I got the overall impression, from reading here that cleb. had a more agressive schedule for on board charging, when compared to other lines.

[fleckle]

Celebrity afternoon tea was either $20 or $25pp, free on HAL.

Celebrity afternoon tea is also free.

It is held each day in a section of the buffet area.

 

Elena (a Cruise Critic member) posted two sets of photos on the Celebrity forum from afternoon tea on the Millennium. So if anyone is interested in seeing the types of goodies offered there, just have a look:

 

Afternoon Tea on the Millennium

 

And more...

 

It is possible that the previous poster may have confused the afternoon tea with a special elegant tea that Celebrity offers once per cruise in a specialty restaurant. There is an extra charge for the elegant tea in the specialty restaurant.

[sammiedawg]

The newest Soltice ships are supposed to be wonderful but our experience on Celebrity was that the maintenance on older ships is below par. There were similiar complaints to mine about the maintenance upkeep the year I sailed.

Celebrity has concierge and non concierge level cabins and non concierge cruisers paid extra for more things. Concierge does not mean you are in a suite, it was a higher class of cruising. I personally was turned off by X for several reasons, one cruise taken and I have not cared to choose them again. But if a price difference was thousands I would consider it.

[GeriatricNurse]

Celebrity afternoon tea was either $20 or $25pp, free on HAL.

 

Celebrity Thalassotherapy pool area was FREE and huge. Prices on HAL are $30/da and hard to pin down for a full-cruise rate depending on when you purchase.

 

Very good food can be had in the MDR of both lines.

 

It's just different on different lines so go with each lines strengths for you, and enjoy! m--

 

Unfortunately this statement does not apply to all Celebrity ships or or HAL ships, First off the Solstice Class ships DO NOT have a Thalassotherapy Pool but they do have a Thermal Suite like HAL's and they will NOT sell a Day Pass, unless you are in a Aqua Class category then you must pay for it for the whole week which right off I do not remember that price but it was much higher than what HAL charges and no pool :( Then on the S and R Class ships of HAL there is really only a very large Hot /Jacuzzi not really what I call a Therapy pool of any kind but the charge to use this is just $20.00 per day. There have actually been times I have seen it when it was not busy and they offered for just $10 per day.

 

I believe that the Thalassotherapy Pools are only on the M-Class Ships! ;) I "experienced" these onboard both the X Millenium ("Millie") & X Constellation ("Connie")! There were, (at one time), a wonderful, quiet, relaxing venue, that was open to adults only! Now, I understand, this quiet oasis has now been open to children too! :eek: Too bad! :( Somethings change for the worse! :mad: