Southbound Alaska Torn between Celebrity and Royal Caribbean

[lovetotraveltx]

I am holding a reservation on Celebrity Millennium for southbound Alaska, starting with a 5 night cruisetour. We are just me and my husband for our 30th anniversary. We are in a Concierge/Balcony.

 

We are kind of foodies, though we realize cruise food is cruise food, (we've cruised several times), we hear Celebrity gets the edge over RCCL. Of course, before booking I looked at Royal and the Radiance of the sea is doing the identical trip.

 

The pros of Royal is the ship seems to have more to do and a much larger array of specialty dining. Their specialty dining is also cheaper than on Celebrity. We also have been wanting to try Royal and can sail them out of Texas. So would be nice to be prior guest and start building points.

 

The cons on RCCL: The cruise itself is a little over $200 more and no on-board credit. So $350 more than Celebrity.

 

This more expensive cruise would be in a smaller cabin with a smaller balcony and would not have any perks.

 

I could match the price in a larger balcony if we flip to northbound, but still no perks and no $150 on-board credit.

 

Any thoughts???

 

Thank you very much in advance!

[Aquahound]

I absolutely loved my southbound cruise on Millennium. It was one of my favorite cruises. However, if there was one thing that could have made it better, it would have been to do it on the Radiance. The Millennium was just a dead ship at night with very few evening activities. I found myself bored in the evenings.

 

I would do that cruise again in a heartbeat but like I said, if I did it again, I would opt for Radiance. Especially since they now have banned balcony smoking like Celebrity.

 

Here is a photo review I did of my southbound Millennium cruise. Enjoy!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1868304

Edited March 17, 2014 by Aquahound

[emo]

My husband and I did the Alaska southbound cruise on Radiance last year, and had a fantastic trip. In fact, I stumbled on this post because I'm in the process of convincing my parents to do the same cruise on either Millennium or Radiance for their upcoming 35th anniversary :)

 

The Radiance was our first experience on Royal, and we became Elite with Celebrity just a few months prior. With that said, we were unpleasantly surprised with the lack of nightlife and activities on Radiance. It seems that regardless of the cruise line, on board entertainment is just not the focus of this itinerary. Luckily it's a port intensive cruise, so we were occupied most of the time.

 

Regarding specialty dining... we love Celebrity specialty dining, and have eaten at every specialty venue on each cruise that we've been on. Qsine is particularly awesome! On Radiance, after checking out the menus for the specialty restaurants, we chose to just stick with the MDR. Even though the surcharge is lower, you order al a carte in several of the RC restaurants, so the cost is about the same.

 

I'm not trying to bash the Radiance or RC, like I said it was a great cruise and I would do it over again in a heartbeat. Honestly, specialty dining and lack of activities would be my only real complaints.

In your case, with the Millennium being less expensive, I'd jump on it!

[olemissreb]

I went through this same dilemma 2 years ago. DH and I had sailed both lines prior so it really was almost a toss up. The things that put Millie on top were: Celebrity's smoking policy, the more relaxing atmosphere and the lack of announcements. Knowing we were doing a week inland prior to the cruise and knowing which excursions we were doing, we really wanted a more relaxed atmosphere. We also were able to get $600 in onboard credit through Celebrity and nothing with Royal. Our 2 teenage boys would have probably preferred Radiance though. We took our cruise last June and had a wonderful time.

[greydog]

Hi - assuming Millie and Radiance both do the scenic inside passage E of Vancouver Island ( a wonderful route ), then consider the one with longer day in Skagway so you can, for about $100 total, rent a car (well in advance) and drive 60 miles to Emerald Lake,see "world's smallest desert", Carcross, etc. on your own schedule for photostops. Great economical family-together self-drive trip.

 

I've done both trips, both ships and they are close matches but we prefer relaxation down-time giving edge to Celebrity for us. Good Luck

[jerrymanos]

I have been on 3 Royal Caribbean cruises and about 8 Celebrity cruises. DW and I are 62 and we would rather sail on Celebrity over RC regardless of the itinerary. It's just more our style. Either way, I'm sure that you will enjoy the cruise. Jerry of Jerry and Lady Kathryn

[fleckle]

We also have taken Alaska cruises on both lines and enjoy both.

 

In general we prefer Celebrity to RCI for the reasons already mentioned.

But we have booked RCI cruises when we got a junior suite for the price of a regular balcony cabin with Celebrity for an equivalent itinerary, or when the timing worked out better for us.

 

Also when we combined an Alaska cruise with a coastal repositioning cruise and needed to switch ships to avoid PVSA restrictions.

 

 

In the OP's situation, I would choose the Millennium without hesitation for all the reasons mentioned, but specialty restaurants are not that important to me. I can take them or leave them, so that would not be a deciding factor for me in picking a cruise.

 

Edited March 19, 2014 by fleckle

[Aunt Tina]

I took the 5 day pre-cruise tour and the southbound Millennium tour in August 2012 and loved it. At that time there was a husband, wife and daughter team who were our land tour travel guides - they were outstanding. We really enjoyed having the tour before our cruise - we got to meet so many people on the bus, train and at the hotels. We took a TA on the Brilliance of the Seas in August 2013 and the food and service could not begin to compare with the food and service on the Millennium, or on the Summit which we just took two weeks ago.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Well, I haven't sailed with RCI, so I don't know if my opinion counts with you, but for what it's worth--I would never spend more for a smaller cabin and a smaller balcony.

[lovetotraveltx]

Well, I haven't sailed with RCI, so I don't know if my opinion counts with you, but for what it's worth--I would never spend more for a smaller cabin and a smaller balcony.

 

 

Thanks! Glad I went with Celebrity. Now I struggling with cabin location, lol! I overthink everything!