For Royal Caribbean cruisers thinking of Celebrity...

[micmacmissy]

We sailed on Independence of the Seas last February, and Celebrity Silhouette this February. There is a full photo review of the Silhouette on the Celebrity forum, but thought I'd offer some comparisons for you Royal cruisers considering Celebrity!

 

Staterooms: We had an aft balcony (1200) on Independence that was HUGE, with an enormous balcony. We loved it! On Celebrity, the rooms with extra large balconies cost more...they have their cabin revenue all figured out. So you can find a bargain on Royal, but no so much on Celebrity. There is no way we could have brought our kids on Celebrity without two staterooms.

Winner: Royal

 

Service: Around both lines, all employees are friendly and provide great service.

Winner: tie

 

Buffet Food: There is a clear winner in this category. Celebrity has a much better selection overall, and things seemed fresher and hotter overall. Royal had awesome croissants in the morning. So did Celebrity, but they offered 3 different kinds!

Winner: Celebrity

 

Ice Cream: Okay, this may seem trivial, but it was important to my son. He LOVED the self serve ice cream on the pool deck. However, Celebrity has self serve ice cream (Mast Grill area) but they also have homemade hard scoop ice cream in the buffet. In six different flavors. With toppings! Sprinkles, M&Ms, peanut M&Ms, gummy bears, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce...

Winner: Celebrity, hands down!

 

Pizza: Granted, I'm from NY where we take pizza seriously. I found the pizza on Royal to be inedible. I mean, that stuff at Sorrentos was worse than frozen pizza. Somehow, on Celebrity, they've figured out how to make really good pizza! Not "good for a cruise ship", but actually good!

Winner: Celebrity

 

Entertainment: I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of cruise ship entertainment. I find it all a little hokey and amateur. I did enjoy the ice show, however, and Celebrity has nothing to compare to that!

Winner: Royal

 

Main Dining Room Experience: We had My Time Dining on Royal and the equivalent (Select dining) on Celebrity. We loved My Time Dining...show up whenever you want, and yet somehow seated without a wait in the same section with the same great waiter every night. Awesome! On Celebrity: not so awesome. We had to wait 1/2 hr to be seated, then they couldn't find our table, then we were finally seated at a private table that was so close to our neighbors it was like eating altogether. Celebrity, come on, you should be able to do better...after all, aren't you guys the same company?

Winner by a mile: Royal

 

Specialty Restaurants: We ate in Chops and found it to be good. Not great, not overwhelmingly wonderful, but good. Celebrity has a lot more variety (Qsine, Murano, Lawn Club) and we really enjoyed them. The service was amazing and the food was outstanding.

Winner: Celebrity

 

Lounges/Live Music: We enjoy trying out different lounges and listening to live music in the evenings before dinner. Hard to find live music on Royal before 930pm. On Celebrity, they had singers, jazz musician, etc.

Winner: Celebrity

 

Pool Band: It wasn't until day 5 of our cruise that I realized I hadn't yet heard any Bob Marley music. What?! Yup, Celebrity's poolside band plays top 40. Boo...bring on the island guys in their tropical shirts!

Winner: Royal

 

Chair Hogs: Sigh. They're everywhere.

Winner: Tie, marked with a towel, flip flop, and old paperback novel.

 

Promenade deck: Celebrity has blocked this awesome deck with lifeboats. And where's the shuffleboard?

Winner: Royal

 

Variety of bars: On Royal, we had our kids, so other than some beers in the pub, we didn't do much bar hopping. But Celebrity does this right: martini bar, molecular bar, Michael's Club for beer and Cellar Masters for wine. So many gorgeous, cozy nooks to settle in for a drink!

Winner: Celebrity

 

Overall ambiance: This is a tough one, since Silhouette is a much newer ship. It was absolutely beautiful and very reflective of a modern yet classic style.

Winner: Celebrity

 

Best for Kids: Well, our kids didn't use the Flowrider, Kids Club, or H2O zone. But they did enjoy ping pong and mini golf, and we climbed the rock wall once. Royal definitely has more bells and whistles for the kids, especially if they're under 12.

Winner: Royal

 

Casino: Non smoking on Celebrity. Yes! I would much rather lose money at the blackjack table while NOT inhaling a ton of smoke. Free drinks help.

Winner: Celebrity

 

Of course, so much is subjective, but just thought I'd throw my two cents out there! We loved the Celebrity cruise, especially the food and adult areas and would love to go again. That said, we were docked with Allure and I'm just dying to take the kids on that!

 

Happy travels everyone!

[headinsouth!]

Thanks for taking the time for the comparison. :)

[kimmiecruises]

Thank you, that was very helpful! We are considering Celebrity for our future Alaska cruise, by that time we will have 3 Royal cruises under our belt, so this will help us deicde. :)

[oneputt18]

Thanks, we are doing our first two cruises on X this year.

[niksmom630]

Interesting comparison! thanks for posting! We've contemplated trying a Celebrity Cruise, so I think I'll jump over the Celebrity forum and read your review.

 

We LOVED Allure by the way :D I would definitely recommend putting that cruise on your bucket list!

[hipster1]

Thank you so much for this wonderful comparison. We have been sailing on only Royal and have wanted to try Celebrity.

 

How does the Captains club program compare to Crown and Anchor?

 

Ali

[IMNiles]

Great List! Not sure if you noticed this one, but one thing we LOVE about X over Royal is the dramatically reduced announcements. Only the noon announcement on X, no "bingo bingo bingo!" or similar. (but we still love Royal too)

Edited February 19, 2014 by IMNiles

[Bobal]

I have to say I agree with all your assessments and mainly for the reasons you gave (although I duck out of the Pizza/Ice cream ratings as don't eat either :o)

 

One thing I would say about Select Dining though, I'm reading your Silhouette review (which is excellent and very witty) but I think you had a bad experience with Select which isn't normal and shows poor management on Celebrity's part.

 

However I would add that I find the Main Dining Room food better on Celebrity but hate hate hate the way that the tables for two have so little space between them that you may as well be eating on a table for 8. Really poor in my opinion and not our experience with MTD on Royal.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Bobal

[Cruising89143]

I have to say I agree with all your assessments and mainly for the reasons you gave (although I duck out of the Pizza/Ice cream ratings as don't eat either :o)

 

One thing I would say about Select Dining though, I'm reading your Silhouette review (which is excellent and very witty) but I think you had a bad experience with Select which isn't normal and shows poor management on Celebrity's part.

 

However I would add that I find the Main Dining Room food better on Celebrity but hate hate hate the way that the tables for two have so little space between them that you may as well be eating on a table for 8. Really poor in my opinion and not our experience with MTD on Royal.

 

 

We had MTD on the Freedom. It was a two top table and the table next to us was no more than five inches from touching our table. Too close for comfort and one could not carry on a personal conversation. We actually got up and left half way through dinner. One of the most uncomfortable situations ever. It was more than just that which caused us to leave dinner but it added to the issues.

 

OP, nice comparison. We tried X last year first time on the Reflection. Needless to say that our next two are booked back on X. Both are great cruise lines and offer really great cruise vacations but we now prefer the laid back atmosphere of X. Have to say that X was not a floating nursing home as some would want to think. Our ship was going until late into the evening.

 

Love the Sunset bar and the aft outdoor open casual dining. The Martini and Molecular bars were by far our favorite places to enjoy drinks.:)

Edited February 19, 2014 by cruisingator2

[panoramaofthepast]

Thank you so much for this wonderful comparison. We have been sailing on only Royal and have wanted to try Celebrity.

 

How does the Captains club program compare to Crown and Anchor?

 

Ali

The programs are reciprocal, so our Diamond status on RCI translated to Elite on Celebrity. We had 90 minutes of free internet [each!], a bag of free laundry [each!] plus expedited embarking and debarking.

[micmacmissy]

Thank you so much for this wonderful comparison. We have been sailing on only Royal and have wanted to try Celebrity.

 

How does the Captains club program compare to Crown and Anchor?

 

Ali

 

Well, with only 4 total cruises under our belts, we are pretty low on the totem pole, so the programs don't matter much to us!

[micmacmissy]

Great List! Not sure if you noticed this one, but one thing we LOVE about X over Royal is the dramatically reduced announcements. Only the noon announcement on X, no "bingo bingo bingo!" or similar. (but we still love Royal too)

 

Omg, SO true! I forgot to add this. Celebrity definitely wins in that category. No announcements. And no belly flop contests. Definitely a little more refined in those areas, which we preferred! :)

[micmacmissy]

OP, nice comparison. We tried X last year first time on the Reflection. Needless to say that our next two are booked back on X. Both are great cruise lines and offer really great cruise vacations but we now prefer the laid back atmosphere of X. Have to say that X was not a floating nursing home as some would want to think. Our ship was going until late into the evening.

 

Love the Sunset bar and the aft outdoor open casual dining. The Martini and Molecular bars were by far our favorite places to enjoy drinks.:)

 

Well, we're 40(ish) and there were lots of senior citizens on our cruise. As we headed back to the cabin around 11:30 at night (I'm an old lady at heart, no loud music or late nights for me!) the ship was still hopping!

 

And you're right, the aft outdoor eating area is a definite plus...love that and we did miss that on Royal.

[katydyd]

DS and I did the Summit to Bermuda two summers ago, otherwise, the bulk of our cruising has been done on Royal.

 

I agree with a lot of the assessments, but, overall, we enjoy Royal more.

 

One thing that we definitely preferred about X was Blu. We ended up in an Aqua Class cabin (for ridiculously cheap money), and had the opportunity to eat there for b'fast and dinner. We're not MDR people (neither one of us care for the size or volume level). This was a great alternative for us. Specialty dining atmosphere at the included price.

 

We also LOVED QSine, if Royal put something like this on-board, I would be all over it!!

 

We had some serious service issues with drink service in the lounges, but that doesn't seem to be a common theme on X, so I think it was just a one-off problem.

[alaskawdw12]

We had the same experience with the too-close-2-tops in the MDR on the Radiance. It was so uncomfortable...I was happy we speak a foreign language no one understands (and even that was only to say to husband "this is so uncomfortable!"...lol) otherwise I wouldn't have opened my mouth at all. We couldn't wait for dinner to be over.

 

As for Celebrity, how does it compare to RCCL in terms of onboard activities? We really like participating in everything onboard and like that royal has a lot going on all the time. How does X compare?

[LetsGetWet!]

We sailed on Independence of the Seas last February, and Celebrity Silhouette this February. There is a full photo review of the Silhouette on the Celebrity forum, but thought I'd offer some comparisons for you Royal cruisers considering Celebrity!

Thanks for taking the time do provide that detailed comparison! Appreciate it! :)

 

We've considered Celebrity, have heard some good things about it - but a couple things have stopped us. We're in our 50s, but far from "old folks", and still enjoy dancing/partying in the evening, and sometimes extending that evening even into the early wee hours while on vacation! We've heard characterizations of Celebrity as "quiet and subdued" as far as evening activities go, compared to Royal. Would you agree, or not?

 

Also, we really enjoy going for a late evening moonlit swim sometimes, weather permitting. The pool is SO much quieter then, and the atmosphere can be quite romantic! (No, we don't do anything in there we shouldn't do in public!) :) The pools on Royal are almost always open, but from what I can see/read ALL the pools are shut down on Celebrity by 9PM or earlier. True?

 

Thanks...

[katydyd]

We didn't find as much going on on X as we do on RCCL. But, I'm hesitant to make a broad statement about it since we were on a very small ship that spent several days docked in Bermuda.

 

My one big complaint (and again, I don't know if this is specific to the Summit, or a general pattern) was evening entertainment. I don't care for production shows, but generally pick a bar that I enjoy, and spend the evenings there listening to live music. On the Summit I found that the entertainers would only do one set in a lounge at a time.

 

Most nights it would take me at least half an hour (sometimes 45 minutes) to get a drink, and by that time the entertainment would be over and DS and I would be wandering around trying to find something else.

 

We ended up spending our evenings in the Martini Bar, which was AWESOME, but we missed the live entertainment component.

[LetsGetWet!]

Have to say that X was not a floating nursing home as some would want to think. Our ship was going until late into the evening.

 

Well, we're 40(ish) and there were lots of senior citizens on our cruise. As we headed back to the cabin around 11:30 at night (I'm an old lady at heart, no loud music or late nights for me!) the ship was still hopping!

That sounds heartening. I've not heard "floating nursing home" before, but have heard more than one review say the atmosphere was "too quiet and subdued" as far as evening entertainment/dancing/having fun. We may be a strange mix, love formal nights and would really like a little more "elegant" atmosphere than one can get on Royal these says, but enjoy "partying" late into the night while on vacation sometimes too! :)

[smoosh21]

Well, we're 40(ish) and there were lots of senior citizens on our cruise. As we headed back to the cabin around 11:30 at night (I'm an old lady at heart, no loud music or late nights for me!) the ship was still hopping!

 

And you're right, the aft outdoor eating area is a definite plus...love that and we did miss that on Royal.

 

 

The Radiance Class ships have a very nice outdoor eating area

[smoosh21]

Thanks for taking the time do provide that detailed comparison! Appreciate it! :)

 

We've considered Celebrity, have heard some good things about it - but a couple things have stopped us. We're in our 50s, but far from "old folks", and still enjoy dancing/partying in the evening, and sometimes extending that evening even into the early wee hours while on vacation! We've heard characterizations of Celebrity as "quiet and subdued" as far as evening activities go, compared to Royal. Would you agree, or not?

 

Also, we really enjoy going for a late evening moonlit swim sometimes, weather permitting. The pool is SO much quieter then, and the atmosphere can be quite romantic! (No, we don't do anything in there we shouldn't do in public!) :) The pools on Royal are almost always open, but from what I can see/read ALL the pools are shut down on Celebrity by 9PM or earlier. True?

 

Thanks...

 

I think it really depends on the crowd. I have been on quiet Royal sailings. I think that the S Class ships are louder and move lively than the M class, because of layout. The Martini bar is always lively and the Dance Club seems to spill out sometimes. At least it did when I sailed

[kruzerci]

I'm dying to try a Solstice class ship. I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do it next spring. Thanks for the comparison.

[Ocean Boy]

I never understood why RCI doesn't have a martini bar like X does. I have never been able to get martinis on RCI that taste quite like they do on X and I not sure why.:confused:

 

The one thing that I don't appreciate about X is since we don't use the MDR any longer we don't take formal clothing with us. And on X the entire ship is designated for formal wear for the whole evening where on RCI it is more the dining room. Are they still doing that on X? It has been awhile since we sailed with them.

[micmacmissy]

 

The one thing that I don't appreciate about X is since we don't use the MDR any longer we don't take formal clothing with us. And on X the entire ship is designated for formal wear for the whole evening where on RCI it is more the dining room. Are they still doing that on X? It has been awhile since we sailed with them.

 

On X the dress code is MUCH more strictly followed, that we noticed for sure. On formal night, we were in Michael's club along with a couple dressed in shorts/tshirts. They asked us if we minded if they stayed (our two groups were the only folks in there) given their lack of formal attire. Our reply was, "hey, we're here for beer tasting, not a fashion show!" but it was very polite and thoughtful of them to ask.

 

So I would say, you don't need formal wear, you'd do fine on formal night with slacks/khakis and a collared shirt after 7pm. If you're walking around in tshirts and shorts, though, you'll definitely stand out.

 

On Royal there was a guy at the MDR table next us (formal night) wearing jeans and a tshirt with a tuxedo printed on the front. I wasn't loving that. He wouldn't have made it into the MDR on Celebrity, I don't think.

Edited February 19, 2014 by micmacmissy

[Gilpet]

We're thinking of trying out Celebrity this year so the timing of your comparison was perfect - thank you.

 

Gill

[Cruising89143]

I never understood why RCI doesn't have a martini bar like X does. I have never been able to get martinis on RCI that taste quite like they do on X and I not sure why.:confused:

 

The one thing that I don't appreciate about X is since we don't use the MDR any longer we don't take formal clothing with us. And on X the entire ship is designated for formal wear for the whole evening where on RCI it is more the dining room. Are they still doing that on X? It has been awhile since we sailed with them.

 

The only place designated as formal on formal nights is the MDR for Celebrity. Specialty dining venues are classified as Smart Casual every night which is the same as RCI. I did find that the fellow passengers followed the dress code more than that of RCI but I also saw people in shorts on formal night around the ship but they were a small number.

Edited February 19, 2014 by cruisingator2