RCI/Celebrity comparison

[spearmint]

We have booked on four cruises with Celbrity and are thinking of joining friends who have booked a first cruise on Royal Caribbean International...we have been reluctant to leave Celebrity. Has anyone any advice of comments for us?

[The Big Booper]

If your past X trips have been on the M-class, then the Radiance class would be the closest fit, since they are all built on the same hull (90,500 tons) and are similar in age of ship.

 

The standard cabins are roughly the same size, we have never used the big suites so can't compare. IMHO the balcony cabins on the RCI ships are laid out better. The X cabins are a little more plush, esp the Concierge class if that is important to you.

 

The RCI ships are the most dramatic and best looking at sea, with the Solarium pools under the retractable domes, the 10 deck atriums, the gigantic exterior walls of glass, etc. The X ships are more conservative in interior styling. If you go when schools are in session, neither type will be over-run with kids tho RCI will have a few more since they pitch to families and younger people.

 

There are far more activities for days at sea on RCI than X and at nights RCI has big activities such as the Quest, etc. that X doesn't do. X tends to have more shows.

 

X is more formal and has better food in the dining room and slightly upscale service in the dining room and the buffet. X uses cafeteria service in the buffet areas, RCI uses multiple food islands, a far more efficient concept ( no waiting behing the salad mavens who spend 10 minutes constructing their masterpieces.):)

 

Shows are about the same, the usual singers and dancers. Can't generalize with a total of 4 ships in each line and 20 or so production shows in the fleet. 2 of the X ships have a taste of Cirque, a 30 minute highlight.

 

Actually, since you have 4 X cruises done, you already know the X basics. This lets you adjust to the RCI standard.

 

X has nothing to compare with the LARGER Voyager ships which have the ice rinks, 4 deck high interior promenade, the parades, etc. RCI tends to promote these to families so will also have more kids, but once again not that many during school time. And RCI is good at keeping the kids away from the rest of the ship, esp. on the Voyagers which have large kiddie areas isolated. Voyagers have inline skating, full basketball courts, golf, etc. All RCI ships have rock climbing walls. Voyager standard cabins are slightly smaller than Radiance cabins.

 

If you are comparing X Century class to RCI Vision Class, lots of variables there as the ships are older. Vision class standard rooms are smaller than Century class ships, since these ships were built before RCI took over X.

Same overall differences between the 2 lines.

 

We have done 21 cruises including 8 - RCI and 2 - X

 

Hopes this helps.

[The Big Booper]

I forgot to mention , towel critters !!!!! . Only on RCI

[spearmint]

Thanks very much for the great information. It helps a lot.