Dedicated RC cruiser tries Celebrity

[bigque]

Thanks for the review of Summit! I was booked on Summit for Oct 2014 in the Southern Caribbean and after weighing everthing about Summit in comparrison with Jewel (Southern Also) , I decided to cancel the Summit Cruise and go with Jewel. After your review though not a bad review of Summit I am glad I went with Jewel.

[mil76]

We tried Celebrity last month after being 100% RCCL for years. We did Celebrity because Equinox hit both Santorini and Mykonos on the same cruise, while nothing on RCCL did this, and they were both on our bucket list.

 

Here are my observations:

 

Ships: The Equinox was very elegant, and spotless throughout. Looks very upscale and modern. RCCL ships are special in their own way. We saw the Serenade in Athens and I just loved the look of the aquamarine color from the glass.

 

Family friendly: RCCL wins hands down. Kids are definitely an afterthought on Celebrity. We have 11 and 14 year old boys, and they spent very little time in the Kid's/Teen club on Celebrity, where on RCCL they are always there, and beg us to stay in late night when we just want to go to bed. Our cruise was early June so not all schools were out, so there were not many kids on the boat. I'm sure this is advantage Celebrity for many, but not for us.

 

Daytime Activities: For things to do during the day, think of lay by the pool as your primary activity on Equinox. I say lay by the pool because the Equinox' pool is so small and crowded that you can't even get in on sea days. If we wanted to use the pool we had to come back early on port days. The lawn club was a nice touch...for the first day. Lawn bowling was one of the few activities available for the family to do, and we had a blast doing it the first day or so. After the second day, people figured out that lawn bowling was one of the few family-friendly activities, and since they only had three sets of balls available, you couldn't do lawn bowling unless you were prepared to wait for an hour or more for whoever was doing it to get bored. Then the issue got worse because the pool got so crowded on sea days that people started to do their sunbathing on the lawn, so the staff put some of the lawn bowling sets away so no sunbathers would get hit by a wayward ball. The sports court is only half-court, so we didn't bother. I knew I would miss not having a Flowrider, but the lack of anything else to do onboard just made it painful, and seeing the Liberty in Barcelona the day after we got back just made it worse.

 

Towels: The towel policy was great on Celebrity. I can't figure out how the same company can be so great on one side and clueless on the other. There were big and little towels by the pool, and you didn't have to check anything out. I saw the crew coming through to collect unattended towels all the time, so that solved the chair hog problem. On port days, they had someone attending the towel stations and basically asked if we wanted towels to take ashore, and when we said we did, they told us we already had a set of the large towels in our room. When we got back from the beach they took our towels as we got to the ship.

 

Entertainment: For variety, RCCL wins again. The Equinox' signature show was excellent, and they had a magician and comedian who were great, but the rest of the cruise was singers who ended up being glorified karaoke and other musicians. I'm a person who goes to the show every night on RCCL, but on Celebrity we skipped over half of the shows. There were none of the 70's parties, Quest, etc., but then again there wasn't a promenade so you didn't have the large gathering/party spot like on the bigger RCCL boats.

 

Food: This was probably a draw, but they both have their strengths. The Celebrity MDR menu was much more exotic (things like lamb, venison and duck the same night) and the food quality was slightly better, but for my family we do more traditional, so the choices were not there for us. On RCCL our waiter would always come at the end of the meal and let us know what the menu was the next day, and if it was not to our liking, we'd book a specialty restaurant. But on Celebrity, I think our waiter only cared about getting us out so he could get set up for late seating, so we didn't get that personal touch we love so much about RCCL. The specialties are pretty comparable, although the French restaurant on Celebrity was incredible. We loved Bistro on Five as an alternative to the crowds in the buffet. Speaking of buffet, I couldn't tell the difference between the two lines, so the buffet issue is solved on the Solstice class ships.

 

Beverage Package: Celebrity's beverage packages are great. I got the soda package and my wife got the water package. For soda, they give you unopened cans, which worked great as I could stock up, and they had a soda stand to grab sodas on the way off the boat. The water package was Evian or Pellegrino, and Pellegrino was a choice of big or small bottles. The only issue was they ran out of Pellegrino the day before the end of the cruise, but we definitely got our money's worth. They were just installing the Freestyle machines on our Allure cruise last fall, but not having to carry around a cup all the time was incredibly convenient.

 

Elite perks: Celebrity's Elite perks blew RCCL Diamond away in our book. The coupon book had a coupon for 30 items washed for free, so with four coupon books (kids get the same books as adults on Celebrity) we were doing laundry all the time and could have packed half as much stuff. We also got 90 minutes each of wifi, which came in handy on a 12 day cruise. The priority tendering was also great at Santorini. We don't use most of the Diamond perks offered on RCCL, so Celebrities perks were exactly the types of things we wanted.

 

Culture: This all depends on luck of the draw. I definitely could see that Celebrity is an older crowd, but on our cruise there were lots of twenty-somethings at the pool talking about how drunk they got the previous night and dropping f-bombs every couple of seconds around my kids. But even for the older crowd, my in-laws who are in their 70's were with us, and even they said they like the variety that RCCL provides better.

 

Bottom Line: I think both lines serve a distinct market and both do it very well, but for us, it's probably going to be only RCCL from now on. This was evident on our day in Athens. We went to the Acropolis and got mixed up with a tour from the Serenade. My kids asked if we could just stay with the Serenade tour and get back on the ship with them. :D

[abridalmaven]

Great review, MM!

 

We loved Celebrity when we sailed them a long time ago, now. I have become a flowrider lover, so I pretty locked into RCI and the big ships. That said we are doing a river cruise in the fall of 2014. That may be a challenge!

 

jc

 

You are as addicted as Phil is. I am hesitant to even tell him that I don't think the quantum will have one.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Cruising89143]

You are as addicted as Phil is. I am hesitant to even tell him that I don't think the quantum will have one.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Quantum will have a Flowrider. It is shown and stated as such on the video.

[stevea36]

Carol,

 

We're doing the same thing next May. We're "lowly" platinum cruisers who are doing the 7 day Bermuda trip on Summit, also in Aqua class.

 

Are you going to post a Bermuda review? Please let me know when (and if) you do so as I really enjoyed this review and would love to read your review of the port.

 

Thanks Again !

 

Steve

[Cruising89143]

We tried Celebrity last month after being 100% RCCL for years. We did Celebrity because Equinox hit both Santorini and Mykonos on the same cruise, while nothing on RCCL did this, and they were both on our bucket list.

 

Here are my observations:

 

Ships: The Equinox was very elegant, and spotless throughout. Looks very upscale and modern. RCCL ships are special in their own way. We saw the Serenade in Athens and I just loved the look of the aquamarine color from the glass.

 

Family friendly: RCCL wins hands down. Kids are definitely an afterthought on Celebrity. We have 11 and 14 year old boys, and they spent very little time in the Kid's/Teen club on Celebrity, where on RCCL they are always there, and beg us to stay in late night when we just want to go to bed. Our cruise was early June so not all schools were out, so there were not many kids on the boat. I'm sure this is advantage Celebrity for many, but not for us.

 

Daytime Activities: For things to do during the day, think of lay by the pool as your primary activity on Equinox. I say lay by the pool because the Equinox' pool is so small and crowded that you can't even get in on sea days. If we wanted to use the pool we had to come back early on port days. The lawn club was a nice touch...for the first day. Lawn bowling was one of the few activities available for the family to do, and we had a blast doing it the first day or so. After the second day, people figured out that lawn bowling was one of the few family-friendly activities, and since they only had three sets of balls available, you couldn't do lawn bowling unless you were prepared to wait for an hour or more for whoever was doing it to get bored. Then the issue got worse because the pool got so crowded on sea days that people started to do their sunbathing on the lawn, so the staff put some of the lawn bowling sets away so no sunbathers would get hit by a wayward ball. The sports court is only half-court, so we didn't bother. I knew I would miss not having a Flowrider, but the lack of anything else to do onboard just made it painful, and seeing the Liberty in Barcelona the day after we got back just made it worse.

 

Towels: The towel policy was great on Celebrity. I can't figure out how the same company can be so great on one side and clueless on the other. There were big and little towels by the pool, and you didn't have to check anything out. I saw the crew coming through to collect unattended towels all the time, so that solved the chair hog problem. On port days, they had someone attending the towel stations and basically asked if we wanted towels to take ashore, and when we said we did, they told us we already had a set of the large towels in our room. When we got back from the beach they took our towels as we got to the ship.

 

Entertainment: For variety, RCCL wins again. The Equinox' signature show was excellent, and they had a magician and comedian who were great, but the rest of the cruise was singers who ended up being glorified karaoke and other musicians. I'm a person who goes to the show every night on RCCL, but on Celebrity we skipped over half of the shows. There were none of the 70's parties, Quest, etc., but then again there wasn't a promenade so you didn't have the large gathering/party spot like on the bigger RCCL boats.

 

Food: This was probably a draw, but they both have their strengths. The Celebrity MDR menu was much more exotic (things like lamb, venison and duck the same night) and the food quality was slightly better, but for my family we do more traditional, so the choices were not there for us. On RCCL our waiter would always come at the end of the meal and let us know what the menu was the next day, and if it was not to our liking, we'd book a specialty restaurant. But on Celebrity, I think our waiter only cared about getting us out so he could get set up for late seating, so we didn't get that personal touch we love so much about RCCL. The specialties are pretty comparable, although the French restaurant on Celebrity was incredible. We loved Bistro on Five as an alternative to the crowds in the buffet. Speaking of buffet, I couldn't tell the difference between the two lines, so the buffet issue is solved on the Solstice class ships.

 

Beverage Package: Celebrity's beverage packages are great. I got the soda package and my wife got the water package. For soda, they give you unopened cans, which worked great as I could stock up, and they had a soda stand to grab sodas on the way off the boat. The water package was Evian or Pellegrino, and Pellegrino was a choice of big or small bottles. The only issue was they ran out of Pellegrino the day before the end of the cruise, but we definitely got our money's worth. They were just installing the Freestyle machines on our Allure cruise last fall, but not having to carry around a cup all the time was incredibly convenient.

 

Elite perks: Celebrity's Elite perks blew RCCL Diamond away in our book. The coupon book had a coupon for 30 items washed for free, so with four coupon books (kids get the same books as adults on Celebrity) we were doing laundry all the time and could have packed half as much stuff. We also got 90 minutes each of wifi, which came in handy on a 12 day cruise. The priority tendering was also great at Santorini. We don't use most of the Diamond perks offered on RCCL, so Celebrities perks were exactly the types of things we wanted.

 

Culture: This all depends on luck of the draw. I definitely could see that Celebrity is an older crowd, but on our cruise there were lots of twenty-somethings at the pool talking about how drunk they got the previous night and dropping f-bombs every couple of seconds around my kids. But even for the older crowd, my in-laws who are in their 70's were with us, and even they said they like the variety that RCCL provides better.

 

Bottom Line: I think both lines serve a distinct market and both do it very well, but for us, it's probably going to be only RCCL from now on. This was evident on our day in Athens. We went to the Acropolis and got mixed up with a tour from the Serenade. My kids asked if we could just stay with the Serenade tour and get back on the ship with them. :D

 

I thought the entertainment on the Reflection equaled that of the Freedom class but could not match the Oasis but then what ship can other than the Allure.

 

As far as X not being kid friendly, I like that. I have stated that for me Celebrity is RCI for adults. We don't need pool games and constant activities and the non stop announcements that go with it. It's much more laid back. They are two separate lines and for families traveling with kids I suggest sticking to RCI.

[critterchick]

Nice comparative review, Carol, thanks for posting it. I was interested that the porters in Bayonne have priority now - when we disembarked Brilliance in September we waited in line with everybody else. That was the only reason we had gotten a porter, since we don't pack tons of luggage, but he was a nice enough guy so it was all good. He said that they had been asking for a dedicated line for awhile, so it's nice to see that they finally got one.

[Merion_Mom]

Some general thoughts before I reply to specific posts.

 

I left out some details that may explain a few things.

 

First of all, I am always interested in a cruise from Bayonne or Baltimore, since I live just about exactly the same driving distance from them.

 

I had booked a Celebrity cruise while on board the IOS a couple of years ago, and kept moving it forward. Due to a mistake on my part, while Celebrity was very accommodating about the shuffling of the reservation, they finally said: book and take a Celebrity cruise now, or lose your deposit. Fair enough, I thought.

 

So I called up my girlfriend and said, "A week in Bermuda this summer, or two weeks in New England/Canada in the fall?"

 

She said, July 14 to Bermuda, so we went. :) (She claims that I tricked her; I aver that it's just good salesmanship. ;))

 

So, that explains why Summit and not Explorer. I LOVE the Explorer - she was my family's first cruise (and second!), so she'll always be special to us. (and that is when she was based in Florida).

 

Now, the buffet. We ate dinner EVERY night in Blu, so I never saw or experienced Oceanview Café at dinner time. I don't eat breakfast, so didn't really scope it out, while my friend was eating her breakfast. Everyone looked happy, though!

 

The only times that I went there were later at night or in the afternoon. One day, for example, in mid-afternoon, when RC would still have the whole lunch buffet out, the Celebrity Today newsletter said that OC would have "pasta, pizza, & salad bar". Ok, I thought, I'll have salad - it's probably what I would have gotten anyway. Got up there. No salad bar. No pizza (not that I wanted any). There were lots of bowls of toppings for pasta, so I ate some tomatoes and broccoli and mushrooms in a bowl.

 

Entertainment comparison: The "illusionist", "comedian" and opening night variety show were all pretty standard - neither better nor worse than the same kind of performers on RC. But the production shows REALLY were much better - not amateurish or "karaoke" (someone's comment here) quality AT ALL. These singers and dancers were EXCELLENT. I may not live in NY, but we Philadelphians get top-level touring companies, and we even sometimes jump on the train and go to Broadway. ;) Almost every single one of these performers would not have been out of his/her league at a Broadway audition. Most were British, and many HAD worked on the West End. (that's another difference; there was one lone American, one lone Irish, and "special aerialists" who were French and Russian. All the rest were English. The company that produces shows for Celebrity is in London - RC's is in Florida)

 

The Elite Happy Hour was very friendly and held in the beautiful Revelations Lounge on Deck 11, sort of Summit's answer to the Viking Crown Lounge. Great views. (except that it is all the way forward and so we stared at NCL Breakaway's butt the whole time. I SWEAR that it looks like a box of Tinker Toys exploded on the top deck.)

 

However, the drink offerings were quite limited. The Revelations has a full service bar, but if it wasn't on "the list", you couldn't have it. Jim Beam was on the list, and they would NOT serve me Jack Daniels. (about the same price as Jim Beam, at least in Pennsylvania) It was all good - Olena made excellent Cosmos. She even pulled out an extra-large "martini" glass for me, to save her the effort of refills. :D

[Merion_Mom]

:cool:Thanks for the review Merion. I am getting ready to try my first Celeb cruise in three weeks. Leaving PHL for Amsterdam for a 12 night Baltic. I have loved RCCL (still do), but I want to see if there is something better out there. I really do not like to see folks wearing shorts in MDR for formal night. Takes something away. If you have rules---enforce them, or eliminate them. Hoping food may be better, even thought RCCL cruise in May of this year was very good and improved. Will let everyone know:cool:JACK IS SAILING AGAIN

 

Yes, my experience is that people were dressed very nicely throughout the cruise. Many dressed up WAY more than I did during the day. But that's an older person thing, I think. My mom was that way. NEVER EVER wore "slacks", much less jeans. Always a dress. (sheesh, I miss my Mom). :(

 

HOWEVER...........one night in Blu, I saw a young man wearing..........................................................JEANS! I was really surprised that our Blu maitre d' Mazy hadn't said anything to him. And then I went back to eating my dinner.

[powelweb]

Thanks for your review, Carol.

 

I've sailed the summit twice, most recenty in Nov 2011 right before her refurb, and that was with my DH and DD who was 8 at the time.

 

I also love the smoking policy on X as well as the lack of announcements throughout the day.

 

One of my favorite little touches that you didn't mention was the sitting area on the dock with the beverage station and little cold washclothes to help cool down on a hot caribbean (or Bermudian ?) day. On the repositioning TA in 2008, it was chilly in early April, so they had hot chocolate waiting as you reboarded the ship.

 

Regarding the oceanview cafe, did you have a chance to try the waffles? DD raved about them, and I thought the breakfast buffet was pretty reasonable and comparable to WJ, myself.

 

I loved the shows talent-wise, but if I remember correctly, some of the costumes may have been a little more risque (i may be confusing a princess cruise in here by accident, so please, no flaming).

 

In our experience, family friendliness was just fine on the Summit- DD had fun in the kids club and we had plenty to do as a family between wii activities with the cruise staff, and playing ping pong or shuffleboard or swimming. I will note that we sailed during thanksgiving week, and there were hundreds of kids onboard that week- they specifically had to bring on extra counselors for the youth staff given the holiday- and we saw plenty of kids getting into mischief ( we couldn't play ping pong later in the week as all the balls had been thrown overboard and the paddles were destroyed so the cruise staff refused to keep replacing them), but I suspect this is no different on any major mass market line during a holiday week.

 

Glad you enjoyed Blu!

[Merion_Mom]

I feel the same way.

We love RCCL and really enjoyed our Celebrity cruises. I thought the MDR food was better on Celebrity. The whole experience was bit more polished.

 

If the Summit could get into Hamilton, I would take that cruise once a year. We cruised to Bermuda in 2011 on Summit and noticed HAL had a ship in Hamilton. I thought both ships were of similar size.

 

Kings Wharf has improved over the years and it looks like they are investing in the area to improve it. They did a lot of work to accommodate the NCK Breakaway.

 

I just really miss getting off the ship in Hamilton.

 

The Bermudans fixed up the Royal Dockyard LONG before the Breakaway appeared. RC has been sending Explorer there for a while - at least 6 years.

 

Good Morning and thank you Carol for this comparison. 33 more days til my cruise on Summit to Bermuda my first time to that island but only second cruise on Celebrity.

 

Was wondering if you found the island and dockyard area crowded since

larger NCL Breakaway is there in port with Summit for all 3 days?

 

Chose this itinerary because of the 3 full days in Bermuda.

 

Intererestingly enough, not at all, Emmy. People really do spread out. No crowds ANYWHERE. I think that the locals would have been happy with more visitors. :)

 

There is a large store there, the Dockyard Pharmacy, that had a huge banner draped on its exterior: Welcome Breakaway Cruisers.

 

So we didn't go in. ;)

 

Highlights of the Dockyard for me:

 

Frog & Onion Pub: good tourist drinks, good pub food, free wifi!

 

Glass makers: I could watch them all day. Overheard one Breakaway passenger to another: "Boy, you would think that they would aircondition this place!" If you have ever been there, you would know that it is an ENORMOUS warehouse with, oh, 30 (?), 50 (?) foot ceilings!

 

There was one plate in particular that I just LOVED - but I have just moved from large family house to condo apartment, and I am GETTING RID of tsotchkes, not adding to the clutter!

 

Pottery workshop and store: The man (potter) that I met there six years ago was not working on the day that I dropped in - big disappointment - but the pottery was nice to look at.

 

Craft market: I like talking to the actual artisans.

 

I should have gone to the Maritime Museum, but it was hot and I was tired. :)

 

I have stopped being a "shopper" on cruises. I just don't want any more "stuff". If I happen to see anything that I know a son or daughter would want, I would get it, but I don't go looking. The ClockTower Court Mall is nice to get out of the heat (enclosed and airconditioned), but the shops don't interest me.

 

That's about it for the Dockyard.

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for the review Carol. I agree with everything you wrote. Thanks for mentioning the roaming a cappella group. I noticed they were not on my recent Millennium cruise and someone on the Celebrity boards told me they did away with them. I guess they were wrong.

 

Long time Celebrity cruisers told me that they were told that the Crewners would not be renewed at the end of this contract. Cut backs. :(

 

Carol, thanks for the review. Sounds like you really enjoyed the X experience. I know that for us it was really a nice experience and a nice change from RCI.

 

The one thing that we noticed on Celebrity was how much nicer the fellow guests were. No kids running around, no pushing and shoving to get on an elevator. Just a nicer group of people. Our age group on board the Reflection ran much younger than I thought would be on board. Maybe it was due to being a March cruise but we had very few kids on board that sailing.

 

One note about the Oceanview Cafe. On the Reflection we felt that it blew the Windjammer away in both quality and selection. Especially in the evening. Maybe the S class has more variety due to the size of ship.

 

Thanks for taking the time to give a comparison of both lines. :)

 

Did have ONE elevator incident.

 

Doors opened. About five people on the elevator. Mutters of, "it's full". I got on. Elevator stops at the next floor. About four people waiting. One on the elevator calls out, "No more room!" I said, "there's plenty of room" and moved back. They all easily got on. Other passengers exchanged eye rolls.

 

VERY AMUSING to me!

[Merion_Mom]

Nice & honest review, Carol...I'm glad you at least tried another cruise line..why people don't even try another cruise line is still a mystery to me...DW & I have cruised on RCI ( 12X), Carnival ( 6x), NCL ( 5X), Celebrity, Princess, HAL, & Disney once each ( w/ Disney Dream 2nd time on DCL in Nov..)...it's so cool going to experience other cruise lines...I would have been very upset about the cabin A/C.. I like it cold when I sleep...it's funny- when I ask people if they ONLY go to one hotel chain ALWAYS, they say, "of course not"..when I ask if they ONLY go to one restaurant chain, they say, "Of course not"..when I ask if they ONLY go to one city/ location for a vacation, you hear, "of course not, we like to go to different places and see the world"......funny then, why do soooo many people tell you they haven't/ won't/ not interested in trying another cruise line?? Obviously being Diamond on RCI, we love Royal...BUT I can assure you, having experienced Disney's service & shows & Castaway Cay private island ( BEST IMO, next is Half Moon Cay from HAL) WAS TERRIFIC...the 2 toilets in your cabin are real nice, too...the escargots in Le Bistro on NCL & the Fruit Fondue dessert ( a bowl of pineapple is carved out and filled with fruits, then dipped in chocolate fondue..YUM!!) are to die for!! Or the crepes that HAL grills outside their Explorer's Lounge just before dinner..that was nice..yes, HAL & Celebrity ( maybe Princess as well) have a more "mature" clientel..Disney, Carnival & NCL are younger and RCI I feel is kinda in the middle..I love the Freedom & Oasis class ships- so much to do, but I'll be the first to say the MDR food for me has always been fair or just "OK". We love Chops, and 150 Central Park was fabulous, but so was Palo on Disney, Le Bistro, Teppanyaki ( Japanese steakhouse), & Cagney's on NCL...VARIETY is the spice of life..next up, Disney Dream in Nov., then Oasis next Oct .'14, then maybe either NCL Getaway ( RCI Diamond friend just got off new Breakaway & loved it!!) new Princess Regal or RCI Anthem Of Seas in 2015...Happy cruising!!

 

I DID try Princess. The ship had a big accident. Sort of put me off Princess. ;)

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=381758

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for posting your comparison.

 

We will have to consider another cruise line soon to get a different itinerary if we want to cruise more out of Sydney.

 

My main hesitance with celebrity has been the age demographic.

 

We are in our 40's.

 

It wouldn't have occurred to me except on our last cruise on Voyager to NZ, the combination of longer cruise (14 days), destination & time of year combined to in that instance have a demographic being mostly 60+.

 

I recall one morning in the Windjammer looking around & we were the only people I could see without white hair! I felt like I was visiting a retirement home.

 

Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of older people whose company we enjoy, we just prefer to cruise with a mixed crowd & get away from too many mobility scooters & walking frames, as my 81 year old mum lives with us & we see enough of the aged related stuff every day.

 

We will have to deal with all that soon enough, but until then....

 

So, do you think Celebrity would be for us or we would find the general demographic just too old?

 

"It depends". We met many younger couples, and they were having a great time.

[Merion_Mom]

Having done this exact run two years ago, for ... reasons... I have to support the culture and buffet differences pretty much 100%. I wasn't in Blu, but rather traditional seating MDR. That food was always excellently rendered and enjoyable, but somehow felt less interesting or varied than dining room on RCI ships. Like... The vegetarian option was always there, but it was pretty much going to be a pasta dish. It was never going to be cauliflower biryani, or twice-roasted potato with a stirfry spinach medley, and maybe once you might see a mushroom risotto instead. I'm not even a vegetarian and it made me feel disappointed.

 

The other culture difference that I didn't see mentioned is that after the shows and late seating dinner was done, there was maybe an hour or so before things started closing up. By 11:30 or minight, your choice was pretty much one night club or bed, and the nightclub option was pretty much a "make your own fun" because there would typically be three bartenders, a willing DJ, and about six customers, which is well below critical night club energies. Other bars, mostly closed because they didn't even have six customers.

 

Edit to add:

 

This is not a denigration at all. Other things being equal, I'd probably pick Celebrity for a long re-positioning cruise without many stops, because, wow, was it relaxing and well executed as a cruise. It's just not what I'd pick for my current profile of "I can afford 7, maybe 10 nights at a time, and I want to cram as much time with my friends in as I can, and they can afford even less time off so we probably have to squeeze it into 5 nights. They better be *long* ones."

 

I actually agree. I am usually a night owl. But on this cruise, my roomie wasn't, so I accommodated her. We were usually back in the cabin by 10:30.

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for this review Merion_Mom! I've been wanting to try Celebrity for a while, and knowing it is related to RCL I know I will enjoy it but I also know there will be a different vibe to the cruise, which now looking forward to. Sounds like I need to book an AquaClass stateroom so I can eat in Blu? Thanks again!

 

Yes, which surprised me. You can't "buy" your way into Blu, even in a suite. IF there is space and IF a Blu passenger wants to take suite passengers to dinner, they will let your guests in for a $5 charge. (at least that's what I was told; our suite friends ended up being REALLY early diners who didn't want to eat any later than 5:30! :eek:)

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks, Merion_Mom!

 

Did you miss some of the more "cheezy" activities from RCL while on Celebrity? I nearly tried Celebrity for my upcoming cruise. I ended up sticking to RCL for two reasons. (1) I had a lot of credit card points which made the RCL cruise considerably less expensive for me. (2) I REALLY like the Quest, the 70s party, the sexy legs competition and the belly flop contest and I think I'd miss them.

 

Your thoughts?

 

I like some of those activities, but don't go to them on every RC cruise, so it was like one of those cruises where I decided to skip Quest. ;)

 

I think that you can miss something and still be happy without it. If you have been thinking about trying Celebrity, find a ship and an itinerary that appeal to you, and give it a try.

[Merion_Mom]

Great review! So thorough. Other than the MDR, Blu and the buffet, was there any other place to eat that was not an extra fee? Other than room service, of course.

 

Room service is complimentary 24 hours a day. (point to Celebrity!)

 

There is an Aqua Spa Café which I *think* is open to all.

 

But there is a charge for Qsine ($45), Normandie ($45), Bistro on 5 ($5), Il Bacio & Gelateria (priced by item). However, you can get the snacks at Il Bacio for free without buying coffee. (I was told) They had black and white cookies, which usually disappeared fast.

 

The ice cream stand in Oceanview Café is open until 11 P.M., and the ice cream has no fee there. That is the only place that I was even aware of the presence of kids. They LOVE their ice cream, and some will ponder their choices deeply. ;)

[Cruising89143]

Room service is complimentary 24 hours a day. (point to Celebrity!)

 

There is an Aqua Spa Café which I *think* is open to all.

 

But there is a charge for Qsine ($45), Normandie ($45), Bistro on 5 ($5), Il Bacio & Gelateria (priced by item). However, you can get the snacks at Il Bacio for free without buying coffee. (I was told) They had black and white cookies, which usually disappeared fast.

 

The ice cream stand in Oceanview Café is open until 11 P.M., and the ice cream has no fee there. That is the only place that I was even aware of the presence of kids. They LOVE their ice cream, and some will ponder their choices deeply. ;)

 

I love Qsine. Quirky, fun and good food.

[Merion_Mom]

Merion Mom, thanks for the balanced and well written review.

 

We've never been on RCI, having deliberately avoided it because of the comments about rowdy kids running around, both from friends who have been there and forum reviews here and elsewhere. My wife wanted to go on one to try it, but after speaking to a few people who'd been, she changed her mind. As we are late 50's early 60's we try to avoid loads of kids. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, now ours are adults. We're not old duffers yet, we just appreciate a bit more peace and quiet. :D

 

Been with Celebrity and yes the entertainment is first class. The only other ship we've known to be of a similar standard was the Costa Victoria in 2007 where they did absolutely superb renditions of shows such as "Phantom of the Opera". You are like us, we go to all the shows, even the repeats. On our last cruise we even went to the early and late show on one night (Beatles tribute band), because it was just SO good and we saw plenty of others coming back for a second helping.

 

We also had superb food on Celebrity and never really found anything to complain about. Our table waiter in the main restaurant was superb as was the Maitre D.

 

Glad you enjoyed it. We're not loyal to any particular line. They all have their good points and all have their not so good points, some more than others, so we like to give them all a try unless we hear some stuff that doesn't sound to our liking. We prefer the medium sized (~2000 passenger) ships as our experience has shown that the service is much better than on the larger 3500+ ones, as is the embarkation/disembarkation process at every port!

 

We are the same age as you (I'm 57 and my cabinmate on this cruise is 65) and have also sailed RC together. We like both. I find the children tolerable, but we all have different levels of tolerance. Please try Royal Caribbean - the ships are amazing and the amenities are great. HAPPY cruises. EXCITING cruises. LIVELY cruises.

 

:)

[Merion_Mom]

Great review of the Summit and comparison to RCI. We are booked for the repositioning cruise on the Summit in October. We booked during the 123 Go Promotion so we selected the Drink package which beats a balcony discount by a mile!

We are looking forward to the cruise and now I am even more excited about going on the Summit!

Many thanks!

 

Oh, that reminds me. LOTS of our fellow passengers had the package.

 

There was a lot of drinking going on - the servers in the theatre practically needed roller skates to keep up with the demand. And they were all happy and cheerful - no reluctance to serve people on the package.

 

I do not mean that ANYONE exhibited signs of inebriation. Just that they were ordering LOTS of drinks! ;)

[avalon007]

"It depends". We met many younger couples, and they were having a great time.

 

 

Thanks, I'm sure we would have a good time regardless, but maybe not the same good time you get from a mixed crowd.

 

But what I'm trying to ascertain is wether it would be really noticeable that we (in our 40's) are a 'younger' couple compared to the average age demographic.

 

Are there enough scooters parked in halls & people with walkers that you can't but notice them?

 

Is it likely I could look around at any given time & feel I'm the only lady who doesn't have her hair cut short & gone naturally grey because it's practical?:)

[Merion_Mom]

It must depend on the ship. The Windjammer equivalent on Eclipse was very good! For example, for breakfast they offered about a half dozen varieties of eggs benedict (mexican, italian, etc) and a large home-made ice cream station for lunch. Very nice.

 

Hey, Barb - we ran into some fellow Hornblowers on the cruise: Judy & George!

[Merion_Mom]

Thanks for the review. We sail both RCI and Celebrity. What we like most about Celebrity is their very restricted smoking policy. No smoking on balconies or in the casino. We also like the lack of announcements on Celebrity. We dislike those art auction and bingo announcements on RCI. We prefer the less reserved atmosphere on RCI, much friendlier crew. We also agree that the Windjammer is much better that the buffet on Celebrity........and that's comparing the buffet on the Explorer to the buffets on the Summit and the Silhouette. We also miss having a live band playing at the pool when sailing on Celebrity.

 

This needs to be emphasized, and I'm sorry that I missed it in my initial review.

 

There is no smoking in the casino at all times!!!!

[Cruising89143]

Yes, which surprised me. You can't "buy" your way into Blu, even in a suite. IF there is space and IF a Blu passenger wants to take suite passengers to dinner, they will let your guests in for a $5 charge. (at least that's what I was told; our suite friends ended up being REALLY early diners who didn't want to eat any later than 5:30! :eek:)

 

Actually a suite guest can dine in Blu is there is space available. They do suggest a $5.00 gratuity for the wait staff since a suite guest is assigned the MDR for their standard dining room and their standard gratuity goes there.