Should we try Celebrity?

[jp2746]

I am researching a cruise for next summer. We are a family of 8 with kids from 11-16 and five adults. We have always gone on Royal Caribbean and loved the offerings for the kids, but last year we went on the Carnival Dream and were not impressed. It seemed like all the shows started late and there wasn't much for families to do together on sea days. I get that all the lines have kids clubs, but we are away from family enough during the year and want to spend time doing things with the kids on the cruise. It seemed that RC had things all day from movies to ice skating so we were always busy with things that the kids liked and the adults also enjoyed.

 

We also have boys... so there is a lot of eating. It is very common for them to order two or three appetizers and a couple of entrees (and eat it all!) Eating is really the highlight of the trip for us, which is why Carnival was also a disappointment. We love getting dressed up and eating in the dining room every night. On Carnival, the food was not good and there were people in the dining room in jean shorts and t-shirts, even on formal night! I am all for enjoying your vacation but go to the buffet if you don't want to put on a pair of khakis and a shirt. It really made the evening seem different.

 

My question is, is there a lot of stuff for families to do with their kids on the boat? (specifically the Equinox) Is it too fancy to order more than one meal and not look like a freak? I want the boys to be able to eat as much as they want without feeling like they are bothering the wait staff. The Carnival wait staff was okay, but our head waiter was not nice at all. He gave the kids a hard time when they ordered more than one appetizer or meal. He rolled his eyes when we told him he brought the wrong meal and tried to argue with us that what we had was what we ordered. He never offered us tea or any drinks, we always just had water and we felt like we were a bother if we asked for coffee with dessert. We had him all week which was not fun. So Carnival is off the list in the future.

 

Any information and insight would be greatly appreciated.

[cd-tk]

stay with rccl. Celebrity has fewer kids and less for kids to do then rccl.

[bEwAbG]

Celebrity does not have the daily activity level that you describe. It's a pretty subdued atmosphere, especially during the day. If the kids are not interested in going to the kids club, then I think RCCL is the better fit.

[39august]

Ditto. There are children on Celebrity, of course, but Royal Caribbean is going to be better for family activities and active, hungry boys.

[AmberCascades]

I think it would depend on where you are cruising to...how port intensive is it? Celebrity doesn't have wave pools and slides and stuff. They have a couple of regular pools and hot tubs. There is a ping pong table. There used to be a basketball court on the top deck but I don't know if that's still there with all the renovations.

 

People seem to dress fairly nicely for dinner most nights, with a bit of extra effort for evening chic. It is no problem to order as much of anything as you want. Sometimes DH and I just go in order a bunch of appetizers and salad for dinner. If it's a problem for anyone the crew will certainly never show it.

 

We also enjoy the entertainment. The shows are at 7:00 and 9:00 so not too late. There are a couple of Broadway style shows during the week, sometimes a magician or comedian or a solo singer.

 

I think your kids would be okay with the dinners and evening entertainment. If there are only a few sea days they could probably amuse themselves by the pool or with some of the other activities around the ship. If you choose an itinerary with a lot of sea days then you might want to go to a ship that has rock climbing walls and such.

[sykimball1498]

stay with rccl. Celebrity has fewer kids and less for kids to do then rccl.

 

I agree. In fact, we have friends who are RC cruisers but got a great deal on Celebrity. They have a 14 year old son who was bored and stayed with them the whole cruise. on RC he is almost never with them as he is with his friends or at the teen club.

 

Celebrity is our favorite line because they have less children usually so keep in mind they might be bored.

[jp2746]

Thank you for the information! The food was pushing me to Celebrity, but I think we should just stay with RC. We really enjoy hanging out with the kids for a week. Since the teenage years, they never see us. So, having them trapped on a boat for a week with no internet is a dream for us. They are forced to hang out with us and their phones are useless. :)

[Cruise Raider]

From what you've stated, Celebrity may not be the cruiseline for you. They really don't have nonstop activities throughout the day and the ones they have are certainly geared towards adults, IMO. They do have some lawn games set up on the S Class ships (Equinox being in that class) but we were, oftentimes, the only ones participating. And, in all of my cruises on Celebrity, there were really only a handful of teenagers onboard. On one of these sailings, there were teenagers that complained about being bored, their exact words were 'this is intolerable!'.

 

The food is much better on Celebrity, again, IMO ... better than both Carnival and RCCL.

However, the dress code no longer includes any formal nights. They have switched to a couple of 'elegant chic' nights and yes, jeans are allowed in the MDR on these nights. You will still see people dress up, but if jeans in the dining room bother you, then you will most definitely be bothered on Celebrity.

 

There is plenty of food options available and you can order as much as you wish to eat, but like all cruiselines, they have seen people order a lot of food and finish barely any of it. I don't think they will limit your hungry boys, but they may bring out the next dish after the first one is finished. If you go to the same table with the same waiters, when they see the boys actually finish their plates, they may loosen up on this rule.

I've read about cruiselines starting to charge extra for a second entree and even though we haven't seen that mentioned about Celebrity as of yet, usually one line follows suit with what the other lines are doing if they see it turns a profit. It doesn't bother us any, we couldn't even think about ordering dessert, much less a second entree, but it certainly has been discussed on these boards with a very vocal and disappointed, if not angry, passenger base.

 

The activities that are set up run along the lines of wine tasting, shopping events, casino to raffles and tournaments, cooking demonstrations, martini juggling, high tea, etc. None of these sound like they would be attractive for teenagers.

Other events that might interest them are lectures (? not sure if they are into that type of thing ?), lawn games (as mentioned), live music at the pool, silent disco (but this might start rather late for the younger ones). There are really no pool games and as a matter of fact, the covered pool only has an hour a day right before dinner time for families. The remainder of the day, this area is limited to adults only.

 

I love Celebrity and don't mean to make it sound like you wouldn't have fun, it's just that I've never observed it being an environment that would attract / entice a lot of kids.

[cruise47]

RCC, I feel offer more children activities and more family plan activities than Celebrity Cruise Line. Examples: rock climbing, water slides, mini golf, bumper cars, basketball and the list goes on.

[hcat]

Thank you for the information! The food was pushing me to Celebrity, but I think we should just stay with RC. We really enjoy hanging out with the kids for a week. Since the teenage years, they never see us. So, having them trapped on a boat for a week with no internet is a dream for us. They are forced to hang out with us and their phones are useless. :)

 

There is internet on board..you could get a package to share if they need to check e mail. There is also some type of game console in the room...we never used it???? Also a room with video type games...plus a sports court,

 

.Kids would find things to do but so much more is available on Royal C..If they are under 16, they can only use the Solarium pool during special family swim hours if the ship posts them..

 

while the food may be very good, it might not be that appealing to teens who like a few meals at a time, Veggies are doled out a few at a time and food prep is fancy rather than bulk..Buffet does have alot of choices and nice ice cream...

 

It's a Personal choice for your family but I think Royal is a much better choice

[Lady Arwen]

Thank you for the information! The food was pushing me to Celebrity, but I think we should just stay with RC. We really enjoy hanging out with the kids for a week. Since the teenage years, they never see us. So, having them trapped on a boat for a week with no internet is a dream for us. They are forced to hang out with us and their phones are useless. :)

I think that the adults would love any Celebrity ship, but the kids, not so much. If I were you, I'd stick with RCI when bringing the family and perhaps try Celebrity when you want to cruise without kids.

[bighairtexan]

Currently I mostly cruise Celebrity but also a few RCI cruises out of Galveston for a quick getaway. So while I like both lines very much, I prefer Celebrity. ANd I feel your pain on my most recent Carnival Cruise (this past January but never again).

My kids are now adults and NOW prefer Celebrity, however they much preferred Royal Caribbean or even Carnival. More than the kid programs, my kids liked meeting and socializing w/ other kids their age and there just weren't as many children/teens on Celebrity by a long shot.

 

Now if your children are very "self contained" and happy to hang out with each other, that's a different ball of wax.

 

PS I remember telling my kids (11 and 13 at the time) that we were going to Italy on vacation and they immediately said "But there won't be other kids there." I said yes there ARE kids in Italy and they said "BUT THEY SPEAK ITALIAN!" We didn't go but went on a cruise or an AI instead. They say happy wife happy life. Well unhappy kids? Fugedaboudit.

[mmsJack]

Disney cruise line is amazing! Pricy? Absolutely - but you get what you pay for & they do it right in so many ways (with plenty of food and fantastic activities...)

 

My kids are older now and we've moved on to different things so now we all love Celebrity, but Disney is an amazing line for families.

 

(BTW - my girls... They eat like lumber jacks, baby. Impressive massively hungry manwich eating lumber jacks, all 100# of them, so you boys... just back the truck up :* !)

[Travelcat2]

We are trying Celebrity for the first time this coming Sunday. From what I've read, it is not as good for children as mainstream cruise lies. While we are normally luxury cruisers, we had the opportunity to sail on the christening cruise of Norwegian's Bliss and were blown away by the wonderful things that they have onboard for children. So, while we have yet to sail on Celebrity, I would recommend the Norwegian Bliss without hesitation.

[OCruisers]

For what it means to any .... Our grandchildren liked Celebrity and Princess best as younger children -- teen years.

Not at all happy with RCCL or NCL. They never cruised on Carnival.

[Ashland]

Long time RCI cruiser..just tried our first Celebrity cruise on Eclipse. We sail often with extended family that includes our grandchildren.....We were bored and I know our adult kids and grandkids would have been more so.

 

Glad we tried X...loved the itinerary Ireland, Iceland & Scotland but glad the kids weren't with us this cruise.

 

Stick with RCI !

[Smallfamily]

We cruise Celebrity often but when we take our kids, in the past and now, in their 20’s we only go on Royal Carribean. They would be so bored on Celebrity.

 

 

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