Celebrity User Just Off Discovery Yesterday (First Princess Cruise)

[grannyp]

Love you Ombud!  Will miss you on our Jan. Cruise.  Taking our adult grand this time!

[Ombud]

On 9/15/2023 at 2:28 PM, TheMichael said:

On 9/15/2023 at 12:58 PM, deltahog said:

I don't know that's what I am trying to learn.  Can I walk into the Salty Dog Grill, as a basic passenger, and get something?

 

Salty Dog Grill = stand-up service = yes

Salty Dog Gastropub = sit-down service = no

Standard cruiser here and I love Salty Dog Gastropub.  Although I can't just walk in I've never waited to be seated at a table. That's probably why it's being phased out .... expensive real estate

[Ombud]

Hi Sherri (aka @grannyp). January break from what's supposed to be a VERY wet / snowy winter sounds so good! Have fun

[Mike45LC]

I don't know what Gandolf the White expected.  I think that over 100 replies is pretty good.  I guess not enough people genuflected for him.

[abbydancer2003]

5 hours ago, Guindalf said:

I guess no-one was interested in my review, so I won't bother to finish it.

 

I came to the conclusion that this cruise line was ok, but not great, and I guess the apathy proves it.

Sometimes people get busy, but still want to read.  I finish mine later, and sometimes do several in a row between replies.  Doesn't mean we don't appreciate it.

[rj59]

I'm Elite on Princess and have been on 5 Celebrity the last year, including following Discovery in Alaska with Solstice in Alaska a month later, and on my Mexico Solstice ones I sailed out next to Discovery. Here are my impressions, for someone who loves food and the sea, not suites or spas. 

1. Embarkation is port-specific. My worst ever was on Discovery out of Alaska, simply because of 1500 more pax than Solstice and they made everyone take their own luggage for screening. And both early and late production shows had no empty seats at 10 minutes before showtime. In FLL, Apex embarkation was also smooth and easy. On Solstice in January, I didn't see a single other passenger in the terminal at 12:30, probably because there were only 800 on board.

2. As Gary B. from "Tips for Travelers" on youtube has said, Princess ships are basically all the same design, whereas Edge-class ships are innovative and beautiful. He says Princess has become dull and predictable for him, but says the new Celebrity ships are 'running rings' around the competition. 

3. Older Celebrity ships have a forward Sky-lounge and two forward outside viewing areas for whale-wildlife watching, which I loved in Alaska and Mexico. All Celebrity ships have a covered Solarium, with pool and its own cafe. 

4. Celebrity has more interesting entertainment, with aerialists, strongmen, and cutting-edge screens on Edge-class. On Apex they had original shows every night in 3 different venues, with two separate production casts. 

5. Celebrity are very aggressive upsellers. Crew roam the ship the first day, pushing beverage packages and specialty dining, and if you have the classic, they will push you to upgrade, even in the MDR and cafe. Drinks prices are high, with even many beers priced at $11, in order to cause you as much pain and confusion as possible and be encouraged to get or upgrade a package. You have to sign a slip with a request for additional gratuity, and I've felt attitude from bartenders for not adding more. Basic wifi is severely throttled and very expensive, also encouraging you to upgrade. Of course, now tips aren't included in all-inclusive.  Waitstaff also heavily lobby for good reviews, which makes me uncomfortable. 

6. Celebrity also have a very thorough class system, based on cabin but also various levels of added service and exclusivity of restaurants and space. On Edge-class they cut off a significant part of the front of the ship for Retreat guests, which I hate as much as on NCL ships. 

7. Casino smoke is getting bad on Princess with full ships and being close to the piazza. I also hate that on Princess ships with outside promenades, they put smoking areas where people trying to walk laps have to pass by smokers. Celebrity encourages gambling with free drinks, not letting people smoke. 

8. As a solo passenger, Princess frequently will drop the doubled rate for singles. Lately, on some cruises, Celebrity has increased the solo rate to 800% of the double rate, so a Mexico cruise in November was $460 for two people, but $1400 for one. Their pricing and codes and deals are confusing and opaque, so going into their future sales office is like an auto dealer office. 

9. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

I think ppl are interested in your critique, me too, as I think about trying Celebrity or Virgin. MSC is not my cup of tea

 

But I'm personally unable to relate to a lot of it as I don't use Grub hub, have TSA not Clear (do use whyline sometimes which is the free version of Clear), DIY in ports, will never have a suite (booked min-suite once & that was a waste of $$s for solo me), and LOVE promenades. I haven't commented because as long as waiters are entertaining, musicians are good, performances entertaining (like 5 Skies, Rock Opera, Secret Silk .... did you make any of those? Your comparison to Celebrity??), it's all good

 

I think what I'm clumsily trying to say is I'd like a comparison between the 2. IE:

Princess - roving classical, jazz, blues, rock musicians

Celebrity -?

 

Princess - 3 performance shows with 21stC music

Celebrity -

 

Princess - walking / running track (Deck 5 MDR closed for private games 9am - 1pm with free continental breakfast, full rotating vegan menus, etc category suggestions)

Celebrity - ????

 

Who is it who posts "A bad day at sea is better than a good day at home?" 

My Celebrity Live From threads in my below expanded signature may not answer some of your questions, but they might give you a pretty good feel (from my viewpoint) for the entertainment on each of the different Celebrity class ships since cruising started back up. If you're interested, I would suggest just looking at the pictures on my Apex (or Edge) thread for feel of the new E-class ships, the Eclipse (or Reflection) for the S-class ships, and the Summit (or Constellation) for the M-class ships.

[Ombud]

25 minutes ago, rj59 said:

Celebrity also have a very thorough class system, based on cabin but also various levels of added service and exclusivity of restaurants and space. On Edge-class they cut off a significant part of the front of the ship for Retreat guests, which I hate as much as on NCL ships. 

Yuk. Hope others don't follow suit

[Guindalf]

7 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I don't know what Gandolf the White expected.  I think that over 100 replies is pretty good.  I guess not enough people genuflected for him.

 

Apart from the wrong name, this post is just plain rude and ignorant!

 

11 hours ago, phabric said:

Please finish your review

 

If you (and others) insist.

10 hours ago, Ombud said:

I think ppl are interested in your critique, me too, as I think about trying Celebrity or Virgin. MSC is not my cup of tea

 

But I'm personally unable to relate to a lot of it as I don't use Grub hub, have TSA not Clear (do use whyline sometimes which is the free version of Clear), DIY in ports, will never have a suite (booked min-suite once & that was a waste of $$s for solo me), and LOVE promenades. I haven't commented because as long as waiters are entertaining, musicians are good, performances entertaining (like 5 Skies, Rock Opera, Secret Silk .... did you make any of those? Your comparison to Celebrity??), it's all good

 

I think what I'm clumsily trying to say is I'd like a comparison between the 2. IE:

Princess - roving classical, jazz, blues, rock musicians

Celebrity -?

There are plenty of musicians around the ship in the various bars and, of course, in the Atrium.

 

10 hours ago, Ombud said:

 

Princess - 3 performance shows with 21stC music

Celebrity -

Yep, some good shows. The Edge class ships have huge screens that enhance the production performances. 

10 hours ago, Ombud said:

 

Princess - walking / running track (Deck 5 MDR closed for private games 9am - 1pm with free continental breakfast, full rotating vegan menus, etc category suggestions)

Celebrity - ????

 

I have yet to be on a ship without a track. I didn't experience any closed MDRs, but that doesnt mean it didn't happen.

 

10 hours ago, Ombud said:

 

Who is it who posts "A bad day at sea is better than a good day at home?" 

 

Agree 100%. MY critique is just that, my opinion. We didn't have a bad time, just not quite as good as expected.

10 hours ago, Ombud said:

 

 

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

I'm Elite on Princess and have been on 5 Celebrity the last year, including following Discovery in Alaska with Solstice in Alaska a month later, and on my Mexico Solstice ones I sailed out next to Discovery. Here are my impressions, for someone who loves food and the sea, not suites or spas. 

1. Embarkation is port-specific. My worst ever was on Discovery out of Alaska, simply because of 1500 more pax than Solstice and they made everyone take their own luggage for screening. And both early and late production shows had no empty seats at 10 minutes before showtime. In FLL, Apex embarkation was also smooth and easy. On Solstice in January, I didn't see a single other passenger in the terminal at 12:30, probably because there were only 800 on board.

 

Agreed. Discovery in Seattle was chaotic at best! As for space in the shows, we had a pretty full ship but didn't experience any problems finding room for the shows. They did get busy though.

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

2. As Gary B. from "Tips for Travelers" on youtube has said, Princess ships are basically all the same design, whereas Edge-class ships are innovative and beautiful. He says Princess has become dull and predictable for him, but says the new Celebrity ships are 'running rings' around the competition. 

 

I would have to agree. We were on Apex last year and it was the first ship we sailed on 'for the ship, not the itinerary', and we loved it.

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

3. Older Celebrity ships have a forward Sky-lounge and two forward outside viewing areas for whale-wildlife watching, which I loved in Alaska and Mexico. All Celebrity ships have a covered Solarium, with pool and its own cafe. 

4. Celebrity has more interesting entertainment, with aerialists, strongmen, and cutting-edge screens on Edge-class. On Apex they had original shows every night in 3 different venues, with two separate production casts. 

 

I Would have to give the edge (pun intended) to Celebrity here, especially in the Edge class ships. We enjoyed most of the entertainment on Princess, though, even if the magician was a little cheesy! The production shows, especially Rock Opera, which was basically a series of rock/pop songs, was well done.

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

5. Celebrity are very aggressive upsellers. Crew roam the ship the first day, pushing beverage packages and specialty dining, and if you have the classic, they will push you to upgrade, even in the MDR and cafe. Drinks prices are high, with even many beers priced at $11, (On Apex last year, they were $6.50/7.00)

in order to cause you as much pain and confusion as possible and be encouraged to get or upgrade a package. You have to sign a slip with a request for additional gratuity, and I've felt attitude from bartenders for not adding more (not our experience at all - never saw any paper ever)!. Basic wifi is severely throttled and very expensive, also encouraging you to upgrade. Of course, now tips aren't included in all-inclusive (not true until after October 4th, hen the OBC is reduced and gratuities are no longer included. However, on Princess, you have to pay an extra $60 or $80/day for drinks, wifi and gratuities).  Waitstaff also heavily lobby for good reviews, which makes me uncomfortable. 

 

We experienced this on both lines equally.

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

6. Celebrity also have a very thorough class system, based on cabin but also various levels of added service and exclusivity of restaurants and space. On Edge-class they cut off a significant part of the front of the ship for Retreat guests, which I hate as much as on NCL ships. 

 

The Retreat is there for suite guests as stated. There are still plenty of viewing areas for non-suite guests. You get the option of paying more for business/first class at the airport which gives you use of a lounge. Should this be banned too?

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

7. Casino smoke is getting bad on Princess with full ships and being close to the piazza. I also hate that on Princess ships with outside promenades, they put smoking areas where people trying to walk laps have to pass by smokers. Celebrity encourages gambling with free drinks, not letting people smoke. 

 

Very true and one of the reasons we switched to Celebrity when I quit smoking in 2015! However, I must admit that we passed through the casino many times on Discovery and rarely even smelled smoke, let alone were bothered by it! I put that down to a very efficient cleaning and air purification program!

 

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

8. As a solo passenger, Princess frequently will drop the doubled rate for singles. Lately, on some cruises, Celebrity has increased the solo rate to 800% of the double rate, so a Mexico cruise in November was $460 for two people, but $1400 for one. Their pricing and codes and deals are confusing and opaque, so going into their future sales office is like an auto dealer office. 

9. 

 

Celebrity's rates have been up and down lately. Many people on the boards have been complaining. I can only think (hope) that they are making them high so they can make offers down the way, but not making excuses.

 

Well, apart from on ignorant reply from someone who obviously  was starved of attention as a kid, thanks, all, for the positive replies. I will finish my review soon.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I’ve kept a tab open with your review to follow along and hope you finish. 😀

[PH2]

We did our first Celebrity cruise on Solstice last week to Alaska. We were in a Sky Suite and had a fabulous time. That said, looking at the prices for a SS 12 months out will price us out of the Retreat for the foreseeable future.

 

We will definitely not hesitate to cruise on Celebrity again, but it will only be where it makes financial sense. Since we're new to cruising, what makes the most sense is to book future cruises by itinerary and price on various lines and decide which lines we like the most for the price and narrow it down from there. We are considering a Princess cruise next (probably not until early 2025 though).

[Guindalf]

OK, time to finish up...

 

Day Six - Victoria, B.C. (continued).

 

I realized I got sidetracked and didn't say anything about this charming stop, used to include a foreign port to the itinerary to meet legal requirements. However, if you think of this as a throwaway and stay on the ship, you'll miss out!

 

Following leaving Skagway late, due to a medical emergency, we arrived a little late in Victoria. We took a bus tour that didn't require us to meet until 8:50pm, so we were unaffected. We had a charming hour and 15 minutes touring the city and stopping along the way for photo ops and Tim Horton's (Canada's version of Starbuck's, but with drinkable coffee, IMHO). for a drink and some 'Tim Bits' - donut holes to us from south of the border. Fun.

 

Day Seven - Disembarkation, etc.

 

Unlike our embarkation experience, leaving the ship was comparatively easy. We chose to use a service called Port Valet (https://www.portseattle.org/page/port-valet-enjoy-seattle-luggage-free), which meant that our luggage was picked up on the final night and we didn't see it until we arrived in Atlanta. This meant we we unencumbered and able to comfortably do something in the time between getting off the ship and our flight at 4:10pm. I don't think I'll ever understand the posts that ask 'can I make a 9:00am flight' or whatever. Why stress after a week of de-stressing? Anyway, I digress. Back to leaving the ship.

 

We had breakfast and, without luggage to worry about, we could leave when we were ready. I had pre-booked tickets for MoPop (Museum of Popular Culture) for when it opened at 10:00am, so we set off to get an Uber. The area for ride share pickups couldn't be further from the ship if it tried, so off we set. I wasn't too bad because I had the scooter, but my DW had to walk it. I'm only thankful we didn't have two large suitcases to lug all that way too!

 

The museum was great. We arrived a little early and had enough time to see what we wanted to see. Then we Ubered to the airport in plenty of time. We had access to the Alaska Air lounge, which was a comfortable place to wait, as we still had a couple of hours before our flight. The lounge provided us with food, drink (alcoholic and otherwise) and a relaxing place to watch some football while we waited.

 

We were airborne 50 minutes after our scheduled takeoff time, but we landed about 50 minutes earlier then planned. This put us in Atlanta at 11:0pm instead of midnight. Due to the building work in the airport causing us to have to leave the train one stop earlier, and being led to the wrong terminal to find the right carousel, the frustration level was through the roof! A lost email and an extra $45 later we left our parking garage at around 2:15am and headed home, minus my $400 headphones, which got left on the shuttle bus! We flopped into bed at close to 4:00am, glad we had both planned to take off the next day.

 

I have to give kudos and a huge shout-out to Peachy Parking in Atlanta. We both emailed their customer care and, within two days, the overnighted the found headphones back to us and even issued a credit for the full amount of the parking ($180), not just the extra $45 we had to pay so, recommended, and will most definitely use again!

 

I will separate my conclusions as this is a very long post. Final part to come.

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks for completing!  I sail both lines so am interesting in your conclusions.

[Gracie115]

On 9/21/2023 at 2:11 PM, Ombud said:

I think ppl are interested in your critique, me too, as I think about trying Celebrity or Virgin. MSC is not my cup of tea

 

 

 

I think what I'm clumsily trying to say is I'd like a comparison between the 2. IE:

Princess - roving classical, jazz, blues, rock musicians

Celebrity -?

 

Princess - 3 performance shows with 21stC music

Celebrity -

 

Princess - walking / running track (Deck 5 MDR closed for private games 9am - 1pm with free continental breakfast, full rotating vegan menus, etc category suggestions)

Celebrity - ????

 

Who is it who posts "A bad day at sea is better than a good day at home?" 

 

 

Celebrity does not have much "roving classical, jazz, blues, rock musicians"  especially on the E class ships, a LOT of canned music.

 

Celebrity does have good to great shows in the theatre, 2 shows per night, most are very enjoyable.

 

All Celebrity ships have a running track of some sort.  On longer cruises (TA's for example) they do allow the use of either a MDR or Spec. Rest for game playing but have never seen a continental breakfast served, just a coffee & water station.  

 

Celebrity is charging crazy rates at this point so we have moved onto Oceania and also have a Princess TA booked. 

[Ombud]

13 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

Celebrity does not have much "roving classical, jazz, blues, rock musicians"  especially on the E class ships, a LOT of canned music.

Thanks. But yeah ..... that makes them a NO-GO. 

[Guindalf]

17 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

Celebrity does not have much "roving classical, jazz, blues, rock musicians"  especially on the E class ships, a LOT of canned music.

 

~

 

17 hours ago, Ombud said:

Thanks. But yeah ..... that makes them a NO-GO. 

 

If it were true, I may agree with you! I've NEVER heard canned music on a Celebrity ship that I can recall. If it's been used, it's very subtle and at 7:00AM on the pool deck or something.

[deliver42]

Been on the equinox and the beyond, and both had live music throughout the ships. They have som ambiance music on the pool deck that's canned, but otherwise just live bands or singers.

[Gracie115]

3 hours ago, Guindalf said:

 

 

If it were true, I may agree with you! I've NEVER heard canned music on a Celebrity ship that I can recall. If it's been used, it's very subtle and at 7:00AM on the pool deck or something.

I don't know if you've been on the E class or not but I have done 2 TA's on the Apex and there was canned music every day in the martini bar area and not in the least bit subtle.  It's loud enough that if you are in Le Petit Chef right next to it the charm of Le Petit is lost since the canned music from the martini bar area invades the restaurant.   So it absolutely IS true.  

 

Yes there is live music in Eden.

 

There is also live music in the martini bat area, but when it's not there it's all canned music.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Gracie115

[Fortunate 2 travel]

On 9/12/2023 at 11:56 AM, Guindalf said:

Just to add to the fun of the flights, I forgot to add that we had a free trial of Clear, so e were expecting an easier time going through security. All was fine until the machine asked for a payment of $260 to continue! For a free trial? I don't think so! We had to get in the regular line and, until I was pulled out to a shorter queue due to my scooter. It all added to the frustration, but thankfully we were in plenty of time. This was when I found out that Alaska Air doesn't have a lounge in ATL!

 

Day Two: Anyway, Day two was a sea day. I always seek out the Trivia and the first was at 10:00am (same time every day) and there were several throughout the say. Some were general knowledge and others were themed, like Friends, Harry Potter, Disney. etc., all with generic names (House of Mouse, for example) for copyright reasons. We won a few, lost a few and came close with others. We gave our prizes away when we won - anything from bottles of champagne to wine stoppers, water bottles and notebooks and we actually came dead last in the How I Met Your Mother quiz (we've never watched and were only there because it followed a different quiz). We scored zero and even then, we got losers prizes!

 

 

Why would you think Alaska would have a lounge in ATL?  Not a big market for that airline

[cheezenip]

On 9/24/2023 at 11:28 AM, Ombud said:

Thanks. But yeah ..... that makes them a NO-GO. 

Haven’t seen the new shows yet on Discovery but Princess has been using background tracks on some of their shows/ships for at least 10 years with their bands playing over top of it for a fuller sound on the cruises I’ve been on.

[Guindalf]

56 minutes ago, Fortunate 2 travel said:

Why would you think Alaska would have a lounge in ATL?  Not a big market for that airline

 

Never having used a lounge before, I didn't know if there were any reciprocal arrangements.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Guindalf

[Guindalf]

5 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

I don't know if you've been on the E class or not but I have done 2 TA's on the Apex and there was canned music every day in the martini bar area and not in the least bit subtle.  It's loud enough that if you are in Le Petit Chef right next to it the charm of Le Petit is lost since the canned music from the martini bar area invades the restaurant.   So it absolutely IS true.  

 

Yes there is live music in Eden.

 

There is also live music in the martini bat area, but when it's not there it's all canned music.

 

 

 

So in your opinion, every area should have live music 24/7 - or just silence when the band is asleep?

[Guindalf]

Conclusions and final thoughts:

 

I'm not going to rate each item out of 10 or anything as it's the overall experience that counts. This was our 22nd cruise and first on Princess. It was our fourth in a suite on any line (one being on the NCL Dawn, one each on Celebrity Apex and Solstice). I have to say, and others told us before we sailed, that the suite experience on Princess is a LONG way behind that of Celebrity (our first, on the Dawn, was in 2015, and was not an equal comparison). The Retreat lounge is a real benefit, especially on the Edge class ship. Michael's Club is similar to the Concierge Lounge, but slightly better. On Solstice, we even had an exclusive close-up magic show in the Club one afternoon.

 

We didn't NOT enjoy our time on Discovery, but we didn't rave about it either. To use my theme statement, it was...

 

Good, but not great.

 

Our next cruise is to the Caribbean in February. We are booked on the Norwegian Breakaway in a Courtyard Haven Suite. We'll drive down to New Orleans, so avoiding any airport frustrations. After that, it's likely that we'll return to Celebrity as our line of choice. We're also just become Elite on that line.

 

DW turned 65 on the Saturday before we sailed and I reach that landmark next month. I had retired until a couple years ago and going back into the workplace allowed us to have a small amount of spare cash, hence the suites, but I suspect that before long, we'll return to balcony cruising. In the meantime we'll enjoy the suite life!

 

Would we sail Princess again? Yes, if the itinerary suited us. Would it be our first choice? No, not even our second or third. Would it be in a suite? Absolutely not. What we paid for what we got just wasn't worth it.

[Gracie115]

1 hour ago, Guindalf said:

 

So in your opinion, every area should have live music 24/7 - or just silence when the band is asleep?

 Not AT ALL what I said.     I'm done here.  

Edited September 25, 2023 by Gracie115

[Ken the cruiser]

39 minutes ago, Guindalf said:

Conclusions and final thoughts:

 

I'm not going to rate each item out of 10 or anything as it's the overall experience that counts. This was our 22nd cruise and first on Princess. It was our fourth in a suite on any line (one being on the NCL Dawn, one each on Celebrity Apex and Solstice). I have to say, and others told us before we sailed, that the suite experience on Princess is a LONG way behind that of Celebrity (our first, on the Dawn, was in 2015, and was not an equal comparison). The Retreat lounge is a real benefit, especially on the Edge class ship. Michael's Club is similar to the Concierge Lounge, but slightly better. On Solstice, we even had an exclusive close-up magic show in the Club one afternoon.

 

We didn't NOT enjoy our time on Discovery, but we didn't rave about it either. To use my theme statement, it was...

 

Good, but not great.

 

Our next cruise is to the Caribbean in February. We are booked on the Norwegian Breakaway in a Courtyard Haven Suite. We'll drive down to New Orleans, so avoiding any airport frustrations. After that, it's likely that we'll return to Celebrity as our line of choice. We're also just become Elite on that line.

 

DW turned 65 on the Saturday before we sailed and I reach that landmark next month. I had retired until a couple years ago and going back into the workplace allowed us to have a small amount of spare cash, hence the suites, but I suspect that before long, we'll return to balcony cruising. In the meantime we'll enjoy the suite life!

 

Would we sail Princess again? Yes, if the itinerary suited us. Would it be our first choice? No, not even our second or third. Would it be in a suite? Absolutely not. What we paid for what we got just wasn't worth it.

Celebrity is definitely a fine cruise line, which we have cruised with many times since it started back up, especially on their 14-day or less itineraries. We also enjoy NCL, especially when the itinerary is an awesome one, but prefer their aft-facing Club Balcony cabins as well as dining in their specialty restaurants which we now get 6 "for free" on each leg (2 for being platinum, 2 for FAS, and 2 for FAS Plus). We have found with Princess, their longer 3-5 week itineraries attract us the most, along with their hilarious game shows. 

 

But the main thing is you're not stuck on one cruise line, as some folks tend to be, and at least gave PCL a try.