A Royal view of a Celebrity cruise. Somewhat live from Silhouette

[Big_G]

Thanks for the great review Matt.

[fletch1027]

Fletch, I think you accidentally posted this on Matt's review instead of your Allure review. If it is too late to modify it you could ask the mods to delete it.

 

Crap - I am an idiot - that's what I get when I'm reading a thead in one tab and posting in another one. My bad... :(

[MattInFLL]

No worries Goodycruising. I always enjoy the additional view points. And no worries Fletch. I'm just glad it wasn't me being tipsy or sleep tapping.

 

Ive met some very nice folks on this cruise. Shout outs to Wayneair and Joey1. So glad we all got to finish our cruise at Qsine.

 

I've got a lot of Qsine pics to post but will do it tomorrow from home. The internet speed in the Sky lounge is not as fast. Again, since we are on a short weekend cruise the "nightclub" is hopping. Oh to be young and able to go on a few hours sleep again. I have to call it a night in a few.

 

We did love Qsine and the experience is definitely way cool. But other than the small plates and interesting juxtaposed flavors, to me it is way different than Wonderland. If I were coming back or had another day I would also go to Tuscan Grill.

[The Big Booper]

We were on Silly in December for the usual 7 night cruise instead of the abbreviated 3 nighter you had. Our 2nd time on the ship.

 

The ship has Love and Marriage one night @ 10:30.

 

There are several full bore production shows in the theater, somewhat avaunt garde, which should be looked at. Well done.

 

The sushi place on deck 5 used to be a crepes restaurant for a $5 charge. I believe it is now an ala carte dining spot.

 

As previously noted, on RCI the happy hour runs from 5:30 to 8:30 AND you don't have to be in the designated lounge as you do on =X=. 3 free drinks nightly are preloaded on your SeaPass card which can be used at most bars on the ship. But the SkyLounge on S ships offers great views that the enclosed lounges on RCI don't offer.

 

RCI gives balcony discounts for D and D+, I don't know if =X= offers them.

[A&L_Ont]

Crap - I am an idiot - that's what I get when I'm reading a thead in one tab and posting in another one. My bad... :(

 

I've had a few of those moments on my live reviews before, it can happen. It was a great post though. I'm enjoying your and Matt's review.:)

[Roofire]

Thank you for this review, it's given us a great insight into Celebrity :)

Edited January 22, 2017 by Roofire

[MattInFLL]

Disembarkation was fairly easy - despite being at pier 25. I'm still not sure why they can't figure out a way to get to customs without that crappy having to get down to deck 2 and do a long walk outside.

 

I found my luggage easily and while there was a sizeable line to get to the agents, once you got into the main area, if you have Mobile Passport you get your own line. There was no one it. That saved at least 10-15 minutes. For truly speedy entry, I suggest getting Global Entry. They have no lines at all.

 

I left my cabin at 8:05, and was in a cab by 8:30 and home by 8:45. Not as fast as my ambulance ride last time, but certainly quick. And I don't have to spend a week in the hospital lol.

 

I'm going to nap and will post more pics and final thoughts later today.

[Jeremiah1212]

Glad you enjoyed your trip! We're on Reflection in a few weeks after sailing mostly Royal in the past. I'm still envisioning the average passenger being 30+ years older than us but I may be wrong :eek:

[BadgerFBfan]

Thanks for the review. Wife and I are Diamond on RCL and have been thinking of crossing over to X, now that our son is in college. You've given some great and comparable insights that will help us decide.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[cyntil8ing]

RCI gives balcony discounts for D and D+, I don't know if =X= offers them.

 

 

Celebrity Captains Club members get a free one category upgrade within the same category when booking. In other words, if you book an A1 cabin, you pay the A2 price.

 

This is only at the time of booking and you must have a Captains Club number. So, get that set that up beforehand.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Wayneair]

No worries Goodycruising. I always enjoy the additional view points. And no worries Fletch. I'm just glad it wasn't me being tipsy or sleep tapping.

 

Ive met some very nice folks on this cruise. Shout outs to Wayneair and Joey1. So glad we all got to finish our cruise at Qsine.

 

I've got a lot of Qsine pics to post but will do it tomorrow from home. The internet speed in the Sky lounge is not as fast. Again, since we are on a short weekend cruise the "nightclub" is hopping. Oh to be young and able to go on a few hours sleep again. I have to call it a night in a few.

 

We did love Qsine and the experience is definitely way cool. But other than the small plates and interesting juxtaposed flavors, to me it is way different than Wonderland. If I were coming back or had another day I would also go to Tuscan Grill.

 

 

Very nice sailing with you Matt. It was a good trip and nice to meet you and Joey1. Very nice dinner last night at Qsine. Hope to see you again on board a future Celebrity sailing. Glad your trip home was quick and short.

[Baseball fan]

 

Oh. And almost forgot. My friends doing Anytime go down and request a table and they give you a beeper. So you can enjoy a drink at any bar and then get notified when your table is ready. Hello. Why doesn't Royal do that ?

 

 

 

I was on the Jewel TA in Nov and they had pagers while waiting for dinner. It was nice, so we could go to a lounge and wait for our table.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Gradelady]

Glad you enjoyed your trip! We're on Reflection in a few weeks after sailing mostly Royal in the past. I'm still envisioning the average passenger being 30+ years older than us but I may be wrong :eek:

 

The Reflection is a great ship with a very sophisticated vibe. We loved it!

[sparkins_mob]

I spend the majority of my time in the Celebrity boards and there have been quite a few negative posts lately about cost cutting measures over there too. It's refreshing to see another perspective and see that Celebrity is still doing something right! I've been looking at doing a Royal cruise but with so many things to do on the ship, I don't know when I would have time to go into port!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[MattInFLL]

Glad everyone enjoyed this review. I know I promised my last set of pics and a wrap up yesterday but a work emergency intervened. And I'm pooped tonight :) so bear with me! It's coming.

[sandebeach]

Matt, thanks so much for this review, you have given great information. My hubby is interested in trying Celebrity, I have been a little leery because I was not sure if I would like Celebrity in comparison to Royal. Your review and wonderful pictures have inspired me to consider booking a short cruise next year to try it out and see!

[vacationlover_mn]

So excited to try Celebrity someday!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[MattInFLL]

So here is the Qsine experience. If you have had the pleasure of trying Wonderland on Anthem or Harmony, some might tell you that Qsine is similar. Personally, I don't think so. Wonderland is more like "molecular" food like the liquid olives, vanishing noodles and the incredible "entrees". It's a true taste journey but a bit on the wild side.

 

Qsine is wonderful too, but just in a very different way. To me, it's very imaginative tapas. But I would do it over Murano any day.

 

And one word of advice - you will be full! We had 8 courses for the 5 of us and we were all stuffed by about the 6th. They look small but you totally fill up.

 

First - your menu is an iPad. One person will be the Captain of the table and actually select the table's selections.

 

 

You can "drill down" in each of the categories such as here in the retro cocktails section

 

 

 

This is the main food selection menu

 

 

Each one opens up to a page like this and some pages have a very humorous kitschy video option.

 

 

Getting to food selections - the Disco Shrimp. Very tasty

 

[MattInFLL]

Remember that it is a sharing menu. So our table got 3 of the disco shrimp. It was plenty!

 

 

These are the spring rolls. Two veggie and two pork. There is also a selection of sauces. 4 per plate - we got two plates.

 

 

The lobster and escargot Bourgignon

 

 

The sliders

 

 

I did not get pics of every course. We also had the crunchy munchies.

 

The filet - we each got to choose our preferred temp. Again. By the time this came we were so full !

 

 

So you can order as many of the 20 selections as you like. Good luck getting through more than 8. I don't remember our other 2 selections.

 

And then dessert. The menu is a very clever Rubics cube type thing.

 

 

[MattInFLL]

And here are 3 of the desserts.

 

The chocolate one:

 

 

The build your own cupcakes

 

 

And my favorite - the selection of beignets, Italian style donut and apple fritter with a selection of appropriate sauces.

 

[MattInFLL]

And finally a couple of pics I forgot to include before

 

The back of the Elite benefits letter:

 

 

The explanation about the in cabin beach and pool towels:

 

 

The Xcelerate internet pricing. The $79 was for 3 days. Remember that as an Elite I got 30% off but that was unadvertised. The level below got 25%.

 

 

A sampling of activities on a sea day :

 

 

[MattInFLL]

So I hope this helps some people wondering about trying Celebrity. I truly enjoyed my cruise and was happy to have the little touches that are no longer on Royal.

 

But I'm still very happy with Royal and there are certainly pluses there, such as a more "active" crowd and the option for more activities.

 

Thanks for following along!

[frank808]

Thanks for your review. Have been docked next to equinox and the ship looked very nice. Will have to give it a go when we are not traveling with the young one. Your review helped us make a decision.

 

Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk