Biggest difference between Celebrity and Royal Caribbean

[Kathie44]

Cruisetrail, I have no desire to try other lines. I've known and talked to too many people who've tried other lines and have been disappointed. If I were really desperate for an itinerary and couldn't get it anywhere else, I always thought I would consider Princess. Friends of mine, confirmed X fans,and their DS and DIL sailed Princess to the Med last spring because their son's work schedule didn't coincide with X's timing. They were not impressed with the food, service and a few other things, so now I don't know about my 3rd choice, lol.

Celebrity is my 1st. choice, with RCCL 2nd. I do like the perks of the loyalty clubs and usually book a cruise on a cruise. I loved Galaxy and Mercury and were sad to see them go. I would not cruise on a ship smaller than Century or the Radiance class. I don't think I would want to cruise on a ship bigger than Voyager-class. Loved the 2 Explorer (our first ones that got us hooked) and the Adventure cruises.

I know it's a bit nit-picky, but Jewel is a Radiance-class ship, not Jewel-class. Loved the Jewel cruise (6/06 Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords) and still think the ship is the most beautiful and the food was the best of my 14 cruises, even though I now stick to X for the over-all experience .

Bottom line, to each his or her own. We are all 1st class cruisers, no matter where we go.

[momofmeg]

Not a personal attack, Mom, but your writing tone is a little patronizing!:D

 

Sherri:)

 

Isn't that is the pot calling the kettle black? As I found your posts patronizing which is one reason why I replied. Sorry my tone was off-I never meant it to be patronizing to you or anyone else. I was just trying to be helpful to those ( such as the OP) who want to know the difference in the 2 lines. They can make their own decisions and somehow I do not think what your or my posts say really matters when it comes down to it. An inquiring mind will look at what the majority says about things like food,etc. between the 2 lines.

[sjb317]

Isn't that is the pot calling the kettle black? As I found your posts patronizing which is one reason why I replied. Sorry my tone was off-I never meant it to be patronizing to you or anyone else. I was just trying to be helpful to those ( such as the OP) who want to know the difference in the 2 lines. They can make their own decisions and somehow I do not think what your or my posts say really matters when it comes down to it. An inquiring mind will look at what the majority says about things like food,etc. between the 2 lines.

 

Thanks for a great laugh!:D

 

Sherri:)

[momofmeg]

Thanks for a great laugh!:D

 

Sherri:)

 

One of my late mom's favorite sayings-LOL! But it has a good lesson there. You know I do think if you heard me say what I said instead of reading it perhaps you would not have read it that way and that would go vice versa for me reading yours.

[MAGNUM PI]

Everybody has their opinion.

 

I have been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity cruise ships.

 

There ARE major differences between these cruise lines, IMO.

 

Royal Caribbean is my favorite, for an overall well balanced experience.

 

My next cruise will be on Celebrity Eclipse. The ONLY reason I am taking Celebrity

is because of the awesome itinerary. Celebrity is: too formal, crew stands at attention,

music geared to the Big Band sounds of the '40's! I am 62 yrs old, but I am still alive.

 

Reminds me of the movie-One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Next. Music was played to

soothe the mental patients, and keep them in a coma-like state!

 

Atmosphere on Celebrity reminds me of a sedate, retirement living village. The only cruise line that surpasses it is HAL.

[cruisetrail]

Atmosphere on Celebrity reminds me of a sedate, retirement living village. The only cruise line that surpasses it is HAL.

 

"Retirement living village" - well said!

However, this is due to the ship design, not because of the age demographic (secondary to the ship design).

 

But HAL Signature Class ships are way different due to different design.

They are more liveable, inspiring..

Beautiful wrap-around promenade for strolling/running, aft pool, spa with hydropool, spacious sun deck...

[momofmeg]

Everybody has their opinion.

 

I have been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity cruise ships.

 

There ARE major differences between these cruise lines, IMO.

 

Royal Caribbean is my favorite, for an overall well balanced experience.

 

My next cruise will be on Celebrity Eclipse. The ONLY reason I am taking Celebrity

is because of the awesome itinerary. Celebrity is: too formal, crew stands at attention,

music geared to the Big Band sounds of the '40's! I am 62 yrs old, but I am still alive.

 

Reminds me of the movie-One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Next. Music was played to

soothe the mental patients, and keep them in a coma-like state!

 

Atmosphere on Celebrity reminds me of a sedate, retirement living village. The only cruise line that surpasses it is HAL.

 

LOL! - that is what I want- I am not interested in miniature golf, wave riding, wall climbing, zip lining,etc. I did enjoy seeing the ice skating show-but then again the ice rink is nothing like seeing an ice show at Philip's Arena in Atlanta.

 

I have no young children or grandchildren so there is really no reason for me to do the RCI mega ships. I did love the Jewel of the Seas and would cruise her again in a heartbeat.

 

I would like HAL too-except she seems to attract too many heavy duty smokers. HAL's ships have great promenade decks for enjoying ocean views while you take a stroll (unlike Celebrity)-it is just too smoky to enjoy strolling-which is why I prefer Celebrity.

[CruisinCat31]

We've only sailed on RCI, and I think they are a great cruise line. Rhapsody and Radiance I loved, Voyager I didn't. I found Voyager to be too much like a shopping mall, too busy, too many people, and my experience with staff and the level of service provided was poor in comparison. To me, Voyager lacked the grandeur of Radiance and Rhapsody. My favourite parts of Voyager were the shower screens (rather than the curtains on Rhapsody and Radiance), and the the more private and slightly larger balconies.

 

We are considering Solstice next year Honolulu to Sydney, I have done a nearly identical itinerary on Radiance and loved it, but thought I might like to try Solstice as she looks like a beautiful ship, and I really want a lovely experience after experiencing an 'okay' cruise on Voyager. At the moment we are considering Rhapsody (which we have cruised on twice, but not since her refurb) or Solstice. Rhapsody is 16 nights via South Pacific Islands, Solstice is 19 nights via Tahiti and NZ.

 

We don't need a nightclub, however we quite like the 'piano man' atmosphere in RCI's Schooner Bar or English Pub, although we also enjoy a quiet place and violin duo etc.

 

We don't eat in the MDR every night, about 40% of the time we'd eat in a speciality dining restaurant or try the more relaxed atmosphere of the buffet. On RCI we love the Tutti salad bar or Park Cafe for lunch. We don't care about rock climbing or ice skating or bingo, although we don't mind the odd game of table tennis and the self levelling pool tables on Radiance were great. We also swim, but only in the adults only pool, we liked the solarium on Radiance and Rhapsody, but not so much the uncovered version of it on Voyager.

 

We don't really care that much about the shows, if there was something that interested us we'd go, if not we'd head to the casino or a bar for a quiet drink.

 

We definitely don't want a 'retirement home' atmosphere, but prefer not to have masses of children and families on board.

 

We like elegance, but also don't want an atmosphere where the majority of people actually think they are 'upper class', and are patronising to others (I know you get some on every ship, and I am only mentioning this because of some of the posts I've seen in this thread!).

 

Hopefully this has given you a rough indication of the things we do and don't like. I know preferences are really an individual thing, but I would value your opinion.

 

Do you think we sound like X'ers, or should we stick with RCI?

[isdoo]

Sounds like Celebrity would be fine for you.

 

Having sailed on CCL we see no reason to return to RCL.

[sjb317]

CruisinCat, I think you would like Celebrity, we certainly enjoyed our cruise on Century and will definitely book another one if the itinerary is what we want. The ship seemed very elegant but the passengers for the most part did not seem any different than those on Royal. We met a few "stuffy" people but you meet that type on Royal ships also.:D Our cruise definitely had an older demographic ( I'm betting the average age was at least 65, husband thinks higher) so in some ways it was a "quiet" cruise. The club area was very quiet at night but the piano bar in Michael's club was packed.

 

Celebrity gives us more cruise options which is definitely a plus. I also like the fact that we get to be Elite on Celebrity as the perks were nice!

 

Sherri:)

[maggie.1008]

The only way I would go on RCL rather than X is if I was cruising with children.

[Kellie Poodle]

We've only sailed on RCI, and I think they are a great cruise line. Rhapsody and Radiance I loved, Voyager I didn't. I found Voyager to be too much like a shopping mall, too busy, too many people, and my experience with staff and the level of service provided was poor in comparison. To me, Voyager lacked the grandeur of Radiance and Rhapsody. My favourite parts of Voyager were the shower screens (rather than the curtains on Rhapsody and Radiance), and the the more private and slightly larger balconies.

 

We are considering Solstice next year Honolulu to Sydney, I have done a nearly identical itinerary on Radiance and loved it, but thought I might like to try Solstice as she looks like a beautiful ship, and I really want a lovely experience after experiencing an 'okay' cruise on Voyager. At the moment we are considering Rhapsody (which we have cruised on twice, but not since her refurb) or Solstice. Rhapsody is 16 nights via South Pacific Islands, Solstice is 19 nights via Tahiti and NZ.

 

We don't need a nightclub, however we quite like the 'piano man' atmosphere in RCI's Schooner Bar or English Pub, although we also enjoy a quiet place and violin duo etc.

 

We don't eat in the MDR every night, about 40% of the time we'd eat in a speciality dining restaurant or try the more relaxed atmosphere of the buffet. On RCI we love the Tutti salad bar or Park Cafe for lunch. We don't care about rock climbing or ice skating or bingo, although we don't mind the odd game of table tennis and the self levelling pool tables on Radiance were great. We also swim, but only in the adults only pool, we liked the solarium on Radiance and Rhapsody, but not so much the uncovered version of it on Voyager.

 

We don't really care that much about the shows, if there was something that interested us we'd go, if not we'd head to the casino or a bar for a quiet drink.

 

We definitely don't want a 'retirement home' atmosphere, but prefer not to have masses of children and families on board.

 

We like elegance, but also don't want an atmosphere where the majority of people actually think they are 'upper class', and are patronising to others (I know you get some on every ship, and I am only mentioning this because of some of the posts I've seen in this thread!).

 

Hopefully this has given you a rough indication of the things we do and don't like. I know preferences are really an individual thing, but I would value your opinion.

 

Do you think we sound like X'ers, or should we stick with RCI?

 

 

We sail both lines. I have never sailed in a Solstice class ship, preferring smaller ships as you do. The Millenium class on Celebrity is more like the Radiance Class on RCI. Century is closer in size to the Vision class like Rhapsody. I do like Voyager class ships, but I've done 6 sailings on them and feel that I can find my way around them by now. There is no way I'd do anything larger.

 

I miss the Tutti salad bar on sea days when I sail Celebrity.

 

If all things are the same, I think you might be happier on the RCI smaller ship than on an S class ship. There is a certain intimacy on smaller ships that is missed on larger ones.

 

We have never been bored on any cruise ship. We did the Hawaii sailing on Century in April and we had a wonderful "Hawaiian Ambassador" aboard who taught us several Hula dances, a Tahitian dance and how to make kakui nut and ribbon leis. We had a fabulous time. There were also other lecturers aboard who were very interesting. On a Cape Horn sailing in January, we had a naturalist and other speakers who gave us lots of info about the region where we were sailing. If we couldn't make the lectures, they were shown on the TV throughout the day and night. You might take that into consideration when making your choice if the lectures appeal to you.

 

The only lecturers I can recall on RCI ships were on transatlantics and were not regionally specific.

 

As for the people, frankly the snottiest passengers I've encountered were some Diamond+ on RCI Voyager class ships. I've never encountered that "better than you are" attitude on a Celebrity ship or on a smaller RCI ship.

 

Of course everything I have to say is subjective. :)

[momofmeg]

We've only sailed on RCI, and I think they are a great cruise line. Rhapsody and Radiance I loved, Voyager I didn't. I found Voyager to be too much like a shopping mall, too busy, too many people, and my experience with staff and the level of service provided was poor in comparison. To me, Voyager lacked the grandeur of Radiance and Rhapsody. My favourite parts of Voyager were the shower screens (rather than the curtains on Rhapsody and Radiance), and the the more private and slightly larger balconies.

 

We are considering Solstice next year Honolulu to Sydney, I have done a nearly identical itinerary on Radiance and loved it, but thought I might like to try Solstice as she looks like a beautiful ship, and I really want a lovely experience after experiencing an 'okay' cruise on Voyager. At the moment we are considering Rhapsody (which we have cruised on twice, but not since her refurb) or Solstice. Rhapsody is 16 nights via South Pacific Islands, Solstice is 19 nights via Tahiti and NZ.

 

We don't need a nightclub, however we quite like the 'piano man' atmosphere in RCI's Schooner Bar or English Pub, although we also enjoy a quiet place and violin duo etc.

 

We don't eat in the MDR every night, about 40% of the time we'd eat in a speciality dining restaurant or try the more relaxed atmosphere of the buffet. On RCI we love the Tutti salad bar or Park Cafe for lunch. We don't care about rock climbing or ice skating or bingo, although we don't mind the odd game of table tennis and the self levelling pool tables on Radiance were great. We also swim, but only in the adults only pool, we liked the solarium on Radiance and Rhapsody, but not so much the uncovered version of it on Voyager.

 

We don't really care that much about the shows, if there was something that interested us we'd go, if not we'd head to the casino or a bar for a quiet drink.

 

We definitely don't want a 'retirement home' atmosphere, but prefer not to have masses of children and families on board.

 

We like elegance, but also don't want an atmosphere where the majority of people actually think they are 'upper class', and are patronising to others (I know you get some on every ship, and I am only mentioning this because of some of the posts I've seen in this thread!).

 

Hopefully this has given you a rough indication of the things we do and don't like. I know preferences are really an individual thing, but I would value your opinion.

 

Do you think we sound like X'ers, or should we stick with RCI?

 

 

 

Well I loved Jewel of the Seas and Celebrity Constellation both and found those two ships had a similar feel with their glass elevators facing the ocean. I disliked Mariner of the Seas very much and so have never tried a Freedom class or Oasis class.

 

We did the Solstice this summer and I liked her fairly well although we found when she tendered it was a pain with so many people even though we had priority embarkation. (skysuite-we could take the elevator down instead of standing in line on the stairs with our skysuite passes) it was still crowded waiting from that point and took too much time-priority boarding did not mean jumping to the front of the line-it only meant you entered the line from the elevator which shortened the wait-but not enough.

 

As far as music offered in the evenings-piano bars-yes Celebrity has them.

 

I think I just do not like ships that hold close to 3000 PAX or more-I like them at around 2000 or less. It seems to me-the more PAX there are- that tender ports are a pain-the food quality suffers-the more PAX the more the food tastes like hotel banquet food- and laundry service is not as quick.

 

I would still pick a Solstice class ship over a voyager, freedom or oasis class ship though-as it is still much less in PAX.

 

We are doing a short Connie in January. I have read she does not look so nice now that she is a bit run down now that she is 10 years old-I hope that is not true. The Jewel of the Seas looked great last year and did not show her age.

[CruisinCat31]

Thanks very much for your input everyone! I still haven't decided, but you have helped.:)

[ladyflatlander]

We agree on one thing the Jewel class of RCI is the best RCI has to offer-but not the food-this is still just so-so-so maybe we do not agree-LOL!

 

BTW- I am just adding my bit-not specifically to you but to how I disagree with your post. Many people read these posts and they need to get a well rounded view- of more than just one person on the points (food) you bought up-this does not make me right or you right but it does give a person an idea whether he/she will like a specific line. I am sorry if you felt it was a personal attack. But I still do not agree with you about the food on the 2 lines.

 

I'll just add my 2 cents....all its worth.. Depends on itinerary but we prefer RCI for dancing and mix of music; especially Latin. Celebrity dance Venues are dull...last Infinity cruise only about four couples danced regularly. Will see how Feb Antarctic cruise goes. Love X for dining and aqua class.

 

Of course Azamara gives us the best of both; however overall favorite ship is RCI Jewel of the Seas.

Ladyflstlsnder

[Kathie44]

I've cruised and like both, lines but stick with X now. My cruises on X-- 2 Galaxy, 2 Mercury, 4 Summit, 1 Connie and 1 Millie, have never been "sedate". Dance parties are always crowded and sometimes I have to drag myself and my roommate back to the cabin at midnight due to AM excursions. I love the trivia and other games. The shows are really good. I have never been bored on either line.

momofmeg--All M-class ships have undergone an extensive reno in the last 2 years. I think you will find the Connie is great shape. I've been on all but Infinity. The others, after the renos, were very nice. The strict smoking policies are a godsend to me. My asthma is well controlled, but flares up in the presence of smoke. To those who predicted casino failure with a smoking ban--Hah! The casinos are as crowded as ever AND you can still breathe! :D

[momofmeg]

I've cruised and like both, lines but stick with X now. My cruises on X-- 2 Galaxy, 2 Mercury, 4 Summit, 1 Connie and 1 Millie, have never been "sedate". Dance parties are always crowded and sometimes I have to drag myself and my roommate back to the cabin at midnight due to AM excursions. I love the trivia and other games. The shows are really good. I have never been bored on either line.

momofmeg--All M-class ships have undergone an extensive reno in the last 2 years. I think you will find the Connie is great shape. I've been on all but Infinity. The others, after the renos, were very nice. The strict smoking policies are a godsend to me. My asthma is well controlled, but flares up in the presence of smoke. To those who predicted casino failure with a smoking ban--Hah! The casinos are as crowded as ever AND you can still breathe! :D

 

Since my last cruise was on the Solstice in the Med and a very port intensive cruise with 12 hour ports-I would not know if Celebrity is sedate now-but my previous 2 Celebrity cruises, a transatlantic (2007) and a Caribbean on the Zenith (2006) were not-LOL! Although I do not dance myself, my hubby and I enjoy music and so spend time in dancing lounges. I saw plenty of others dancing. In fact there were men in the lounges who would dance with women who had no man with them or if hubby disliked dancing. I was told by one he was there for that as it was his "job"-Celebrity gave him the cruise in exchange for frequenting these lounges and dancing with female passengers who needed partners.

[choch50]

Just returned from a 9 day to the Caribbean on the EOS. Yes, I know she is a little older. However just coming out of drydock for a facelift she was quite elegant. However, having 5 cruises under my belt:) and this being my 1st and probably my last :(on any RCI ship I will provide my opinion between X and RCI.

My first 4 cruises on X were absolutely great in every way and for every reason :) Better menus and food choices, food available around the clock, centralized eating choices, complimentary robe in staterooms, complimentary shampoo, conditioner and lotion, cool wet towels upon return to ship after a hot day on shore, complimentary totebag for shopping or swimwear. X's Mercury was my favorite and I was so disappointed that they sent her away. Millie and Connie have replaced Mercury for us.

RCI had way too many photography areas that were IMHO inappropriately situated. Always had to duck your head so as not to hit the lighting apparatus. Kids running wild and climbing all over without any adult supervision. Confusing signage as to when eateries were available or unavailable. Having to swipe your seapass for a towel :confused:. Menu selection very boring and food was never hot when served, just merely tepid. Three formal nights on a 9 day cruise seemed a bit much and unnecessary.I am not a smoker, however, one person in our party of 4 does and I did find it a bit ridiculous to ban smoking in the Casino on formal nights. The Casino was virtually empty on these banned nights.

The comparison between the X and RCI is simply that with X they realize the meaning of small things and RCI is a floating mall and free for all playground for the kids.

I am also disappointed that X no longer sails from Baltimore, that's a real bummer. RCI's itenrary to the Caribbean needs to be reconsidered. Just about every cruise to the Eastern Caribbean includes PR which I think is excess and does not offer variety. The itinerary we had was PR, St. Croix, Dom Rep and Labadee. St. Croix is a wonderful place but RCI offers no excursions, they should. Labadee is an absolutely beautiful place with a buffet beach chairs, cabanas being complimentary. PR is basically for touring and Dom Rep is not a place I would care to debark to see, again.

If any one has any other questions, please feel free to ask. Just want to offer my opinion in hopes of helping those who are newbies or wouldbe cruisers.

All in all Cruising is the only way to go and I will find a way to get back to my favorite CL, X is the best!

Edited February 5, 2013 by choch50

[lovemylab]

I've cruised with both and prefer Celebrity. Better food, not as many kids and overall we found the ships to be more to our liking. We love the no smoking policy onboard Celebrity as well.

 

This may sound petty, but one of our biggest complaints from our last Royal cruise was how aggressive the photographers have become. Previously a polite "no thank you" was sufficient, however that didn't work on the Serenade in 2011 on our B2B. Instead, we had to be rude with the photographers for them to go away. It didn't matter whether you had a mouthful of food or were in the middle of applying sunscreen, they felt that was a great time to interrupt and demand that you pose for a picture. In St. Martin we were also approached by a photographer from the Explorer demanding that we stop and pose for a picture. He only left us alone when we told him we weren't on that ship. Some people love the photographers - we don't.

 

I realize that Celebrity and Royal are owned by the same company but for us, Celebrity is a better fit.

[farmecologist]

Gee people...from reading some of the comments here I'm afraid to take our kids! We have a cruise booked on the Connie. Our kids will be with us. We won't get snooty comments from people, will we?! This concerns me a bit.

 

Btw our kids are well behaved. :-)

[ladylemondrop]

Gee people...from reading some of the comments here I'm afraid to take our kids! We have a cruise booked on the Connie. Our kids will be with us. We won't get snooty comments from people, will we?! This concerns me a bit.

 

Btw our kids are well behaved. :-)

 

You will be fine, we always cruise celebrity with our children, and they love it, and most people they have met love them too. Too much child hating on these boards but its not really like that on board!!:)

[The_Big_M]

Yeah, kids are excellent on board. Probably the people you see posting snarky comments here keep their opinions to themselves on board. :p

 

BTW, we still rate the Celebrity kids club better than RCL. Though, just as with the line itself for others, different preferences will bring a different result.

Edited February 5, 2013 by The_Big_M

[wendyatpml]

We are Diamond on RCCL and we will now being going on Celebrity Exclusively. RCCL has cut out about everything they could. All you get is generic shampoo/soap in the shower. No more little bottles of Shampoo and Conditioner. No chocolates on the pillow. No copies of newspapers unless you are lucky enough to be able to get into the Diamond Lounge (which we can). I have heard that there was a menu change but last October when we did a Med cruise the choices were very few in the MDR and also in the Windjammer there didn't seem to be changes in the breakfast and lunch buffets.

 

Also there is no doubt that RCCL has many more kids. We were unlucky enough to go to the Canary Islands from Southampton in2011 during an English school holiday. It's not that the kids were bad, it's just that there were 1000 kids on top of the normal number of cruises as the kids stayed in the cabins with their parents.

 

We are going back to the Med this Sept. and are going on Celebrity. We had been on the Solstice and it was wonderful. Now we're going on the Equinox and can't imagine it won't be anything but wonderful.

[swigso]

We've only sailed on RCI, and I think they are a great cruise line. Rhapsody and Radiance I loved, Voyager I didn't. I found Voyager to be too much like a shopping mall, too busy, too many people, and my experience with staff and the level of service provided was poor in comparison. To me, Voyager lacked the grandeur of Radiance and Rhapsody. My favourite parts of Voyager were the shower screens (rather than the curtains on Rhapsody and Radiance), and the the more private and slightly larger balconies.

 

We are considering Solstice next year Honolulu to Sydney, I have done a nearly identical itinerary on Radiance and loved it, but thought I might like to try Solstice as she looks like a beautiful ship, and I really want a lovely experience after experiencing an 'okay' cruise on Voyager. At the moment we are considering Rhapsody (which we have cruised on twice, but not since her refurb) or Solstice. Rhapsody is 16 nights via South Pacific Islands, Solstice is 19 nights via Tahiti and NZ.

 

We don't need a nightclub, however we quite like the 'piano man' atmosphere in RCI's Schooner Bar or English Pub, although we also enjoy a quiet place and violin duo etc.

 

We don't eat in the MDR every night, about 40% of the time we'd eat in a speciality dining restaurant or try the more relaxed atmosphere of the buffet. On RCI we love the Tutti salad bar or Park Cafe for lunch. We don't care about rock climbing or ice skating or bingo, although we don't mind the odd game of table tennis and the self levelling pool tables on Radiance were great. We also swim, but only in the adults only pool, we liked the solarium on Radiance and Rhapsody, but not so much the uncovered version of it on Voyager.

 

We don't really care that much about the shows, if there was something that interested us we'd go, if not we'd head to the casino or a bar for a quiet drink.

 

We definitely don't want a 'retirement home' atmosphere, but prefer not to have masses of children and families on board.

 

We like elegance, but also don't want an atmosphere where the majority of people actually think they are 'upper class', and are patronising to others (I know you get some on every ship, and I am only mentioning this because of some of the posts I've seen in this thread!).

 

Hopefully this has given you a rough indication of the things we do and don't like. I know preferences are really an individual thing, but I would value your opinion.

 

Do you think we sound like X'ers, or should we stick with RCI?

 

Hi we too love the Radiance Class and have sailed on the Jewell and the Brilliance, we have also sailed on the M Class ships which are very similar

To the Radiance class in terms of Hull Design.

However we sailed on our first Solstice Class ship last year and

Thought it was our best cruise experience ever.

If you can, try and grab an Aqua class cabin - as you dine in Blu

Every night. It is like dining in a specialty restaurant, superb.

Although we like RCCL there is just something about Celebrity

that's makes us keep going back.

If you do decide on Celebrity don't forget o transfer your C&A status

to Captains Club.

I would do it now in case they change the reprocical arrangements.

[Shami]

My DH and I prefer Celebrity to RCL. We are both in our early fifties. We were on the Solstice for 28 nights and are going back for 35 nights next year. The Solstice is the only S class ship we have cruised and love the cabins and ship design compared to the Century and M class ships. I wanted to point out a few things to the OP, and others considering which line to take, that have not been mentioned in the thread. The Lawn club is an interesting venue to many and is only found on the S class ships. For those not completely satisfied with the food selection in the buffet for lunch-don´t forget that you can have lunch in the MDR or the Aqua Spa cafe, both complimentary venues. The Aqua Spa cafe is open to all, and has smaller healthier options. Something not always well known is that you can request grilled salmon, chicken or a pork chop from the attendant behind the counter. There is also an Aqua Spa cafe on the M class ships.

 

Also, the Martini bar is a popular pre-dinner spot. The bartenders here on the Solstice entertain with their Tom Cruise in Cocktail- type antics. It is also a great place to listen to the live music in the main atrium below and watch the people on the dance floor in front of the singers.