How do Royal and Celebrity compare to RCI for a young couple?

[WillWorkForCruise121]

Title was supposed to say how to princess and celebrity compare to RCI.

 

My wife and I have cruised both Carnival and Royal caribbean International. We enjoyed them both very much (RCI even more!). We are younger, I am 29 and my wife 24. I have had some people tell me we would be incredibly bored on a princess cruise. That it will be a cruise full of retirees and everything being shut down by 9:00pm. We really aren't big partiers to be honest. We are usually worn out and ready for bed before midnight but would like some night life to enjoy.

 

We were also looking at some attractive celebrity itineraries, but were told by friends that this would be even worse for anyone young.

 

We really loved our last cruise on Royal Caribbean and the ship (Liberty of the seas) was just amazing! But to go for 7 nights or more on Royal it is for the most part it is more expensive than Celebrity and Princess. Not to mention the itineraries do not seem as exciting.

 

Also, if there was one gripe I have about both Carnival and Royal caribbean (more Carnival) it is the mannerless fellow passengers. So many would get right up in the middle of shows with no regard for anyone around them. They don't even try for formal night (my wife and I enjoy dressing up). Forget about manners with Deck chairs and seat reserving in the shows!

 

I feel that we would enjoy a more formal and sophisticated crowd. Would we get this on lines like princess and Celebrity? I felt that it was a big difference coming to RCI from carnival. I am not trying to start a debate on formal dress or general manners and behavior. I am just stating what we prefer to do, which is conduct ourselves in a dignified manner and it's nice when others around you feel the same way.

 

I have posted a similar question in the princess forum. We are trying to choose between a princess southern caribbean, Oasis eastern caribbean, and a southern itinerary on celebrity equinox. (both celebrity and princess have 10 night options that sound appealing to us)

 

My wife and I have cruised in January the past two years and will likely do the same time next year. However we are considering going on a second cruise this year in September. would that time of year be different? Both are when kids should be back in school.

 

Any help or insight is greatly appreciated!

[skandls]

The Oasis and Allure are more expensive - but for a young couple there is a lot to do. The 'formal' nights of yesterdays cruise are almost gone due to luggage restrictions when flying. You need to look at your cruise dollars and decide what is most important. Ports, dining, entertainment, enrichment programs etc. The age of the passengers on cruises has a lot to do with the time of year and length of the cruise. The longer the cruise the older the passengers. The Oasis and Allure are the 'trip' - the ports are secondary as they are the most common Caribbean ports. I would suggest you try one of the megaships and decide if you like that style of cruise.

 

Many people your age have limited travel budgets - so the short weekend cruises have younger cruisers. Try different ships and destinations - you will find your own cruise profile. Inside or balcony only - many sea days or ports - new ship or older ship -

 

Just make sure to put an Alaska cruisetour on you 'list'. Sometime in the future as it is a great thing to experience Denali.

[Paulxyz2004]

I´ve never cruised on Carnival, but on RCI, PCL and X, as well as a few other lines.

 

I´ve started cruising at your age, even though I´m in my lower 40´s now.

 

I don´t think the crowd on RCI is that much younger than on Princess and/or Celebrity. Having said this I have to admit though that I´ve never done a cruise less than 7 days and the majority of my cruises has been 10+ nights and I don´t do the Caribbean. So there might have been a different demographic on my cruises.

 

I mostly agree with what skandls said except that formal nights are a thing of the past due to airline luggage restrictions. I don´t want to start a fight either, but I think the luggage restriction argument is mostly from people who don´t want to go formal and looking for an excuse. My experience is people still mostly dress up and the destinations I sail to and depart from are quite frequently areas where likely 90% flew into and it´s unlikely many people drove to.

 

Neither Celebrity nor Princess ships are dead past 9:00pm. I can´t say much about after midnight entertainment, as that´s a time I´m back in my cabin, but up to midnight there´s definitely entertainment, like shows, game shows, music in the lounges. I´ve cruised on RCI quite a bit but I also do like Princess equally. Both have pros and cons.

[Travel luv]

I'd say give Celebrity a try. It was more of an older crowd than Royal when my husband and I went, however it wasn't a dead ship so to speak. We are in our mid to late 30's, and like yourself enjoy entertainment but often find that we are ready to slow down not too much after dinner.

 

We were traveling on a mediterranean itinirary which was port intensive, so this worked fine for us.

 

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[Cruzinnana47]

We are older (60's), but not "completely decrepit" yet...;) and enjoy having a good time on our cruises. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Princess to a young couple, such as yourselves. You will not get the "Wow Factor", as many call it, as you do on Royal Caribbean--no ice rinks, rock climbing walls, ziplines or wave ridders, etc., but they have lovely, somewhat more elegant ships. Many have the MUTS (Movies Under the Stars)--an outside theater, that features movies, concerts, and games (e.g., football), and you should always be able to find something to do.

 

Haven't sailed with Celebrity yet ourselves, but have heard a lot of good things, especially about the food. Hope to do so sometime soon.

[The_Big_M]

I'd say Celebrity is ideal for your description - though it does depend on the cruise. Holiday ones will have a wider spread of ages than a long cruise where you might skew to older age groups.

 

My experiences with Princess are as described - nice enough, but they do attract an older clientele - and even the cruise director made jokes about how few people went to the night club. I think at its peak there were only 10 people in there, and that was probably around 10 p.m.! It's less of an issue on a shorter, port intensive cruise though, and the service and food and fellow cruisers are lovely.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

My best friend & I cruised Celebrity a few years back. We did get an upgrade to a suite upon boarding! And I found the food to be good! But, the crowd WAS much older. Maybe it was the time of year or just luck of the draw. I am in my late 40's & she is in her early 50's. It became a joke & we had fun with it! After 10pm the ship was ours;)! The hot-tubs closed at 9pm! But don't get me wrong... we had a blast!:D A cruise is what you make it! But if you're looking for a crowd your own age, go RCCl. The age range seems to be wider. If you haven't tried Allure/Oasis I highly recommend it for your age! LOTS of fun & night life! People did a great job of dressing on both!:D

[shrimp0]

We cruised Celebrity as a young couple ( in our early to mid 20's) a "few" years back. We had a wonderful time.. and enjoyed the adult atmosphere. We found at that time ( when there really were no alternative dining places) that the dress for the evening carried through the entire evening.

We have since cruised on royal caribbean because we started cruising as a family.. we find royal to more than meet our needs as a family.

 

If the itineraries are more appealing and the cost is reasonable, I would for sure give celebrity a chance!!!! You will still be cruising, you will still be going to places you want to go and you might just find some very interesting people to share your time with!!! ( we did!!!!)

[TEXASMUNK]

We have sailed RCI, Celebrity, HAL, Carnival and Princess (plus a bunch that are no longer in existance).

Sticking to your description....you might like Celebrity. formal nights are more formal (they even request you remain informal attire after dinner).

The din on deck is lower, but the entertainment is good, the shows are good, the food is a step above RCI and Princess and way above Carnival.

[WillWorkForCruise121]

Thanks so much for all the replies. LOL this still makes the decision difficult, but I am thinking we are going to shop mostly by intinerary and prices. As I think we will have a good time on any of these three lines.

 

I saw someone mention the Hot tubs on celebrity close at 9? That would be a bit of a disappointment. We definitely liked going to the hot tubs late at night and practically having them to ourselves on our other cruises.

[iamsunnysarah]

We've only cruised RCCL, so I can't speak for other lines. I think a lot of the passenger demographics have to do with a) time of year and b)itinerary. Our last cruise was late May, enough time after colleges let out but before K-12 schools were out. We did not find many young children on board. We also cruised on Serenade of the Seas, out of SJ on a port-intensive cruise, it was pricier but I am not sure it would have the same allure as a mega-ship cruise for families with young children. I should also add that we are married, 24 & 26.

 

My advice: decide what's most important! We find cruising to be the best way to see multiple islands, for the best value. We're willing to put more time between cruises, to save up for the airfare/itinerary we really want.

 

Good luck!

[yarlenna]

It depends what that couple wants.

If they want peace and quiet, good service, good food, and a taste of the way cruising used to be, Celebrity.

If you want noise, OK service, OK food (really good if you go to some of the extra $$) rock climging, etc, the RCI cannot be beat.

I am in my late 60s and I perfer RCI to Celebrity, though I wish I could use a balcony cabin without fear of smoke. So, I do cabins without outside air.

[namzug]

My wife and I have been on 7 cruises. We are now ages 35 and 31. We started on RC on our honeymoon at ages 24 and 20. We have tried only HAL once the rest was with RC. But in that one time I did notice a lot of difference. The ships food, service and passengers were better. But the pool side was kind of laid back. No sexy legs contest, belly flop or other pool entertainment. The formal nights were more classy, which we enjoy. And after dinner most people stayed in their formal wear. At night after 11:00 it is a ghost town. But saying that we did enjoy this trip. It was just a different kind of thing. We did travel on the Liberty of the Seas and this was the best cruise so far. We met some people on this cruise and were up every night until 3:00a.m. The ship at midnight was very active, which you may already know. Now we still do get up early day around 7:30-8:00 and dont sleep in. I dont want to waste my time sleeping. I get less rest on a cruise than I do on a working week.

 

Now that being said we have gone on some RC cruises and it be dead after 11:00. I think the time of the cruise effects the crowds age and the ship. The bigger the ship usually the younger the crowd. My in-laws go with us sometimes and do not like the bigger ships. I think this is usually the case with older people (not everyone so older people please dont get mad). The older crowd just like to relax and have little patience. I will say as I get older I am falling in this category. We do have a cruise in October on the Freedom but after that I think the next cruise will be Celebrity so I can get my member points as we are Platinum members.

[Bakincakes]

Another vote for Celebrity.

 

If you are looking for formal and sophisticated..RCI isn't it. Used to be but now we have found that anything goes, these days, unfortunately.

 

X is a good match for you, if you are looking for something more formal and sophisticated. There doesn't seem to be as many "issues" with pax on X, as there are on other lines, like RCI and Carnival.