Are you new to Celebrity? If so what did you think?

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

The scuttlebutt is that Celebrity is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, and that the customer survey cards from the guest who are new to Celebrity are extremely positive.  This is despite all the changes that us old timers have been complaining about.   If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands? 

[Liao]

13 minutes ago, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

The scuttlebutt is that Celebrity is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, and that the customer survey cards from the guest who are new to Celebrity are extremely positive.  This is despite all the changes that us old timers have been complaining about.   If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands? 

I'm relatively new to Celebrity, first cruise was in 2022, but I'm not younger than 50.  Happy to give my thoughts, but don't want to skew your demographic information request.  

[buncosquad]

My experience is in Iconics and Edge Villas, so Edge Class only.

 

You can get staterooms similar to the expanse of these on small luxuries, but we like all the restaurant options and the balconies with hot tub for these two room types. We only book these room types, know what we get going in, and it has been superb each time.

 

Now have four more itineraries booked, three in Iconics, one in an Edge Villa.

 

Totally worth it.

[JeffT237]

We will be new Celebrity cruisers, Alaska in August on the Summit. We are really excited for this upcoming cruise.  We are in our mid 50's and have cruised, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess, mostly Royal and mostly on the Oasis class lately.  We also do land based travel, our last trip was Hawaii this past August.  We always go for balconies and above, we'll be Aqua Class for this cruise, enjoy speciality dining including Chef's tables and have cruised with a drink package and without as we know how much we drink and what makes sense to us.

 

We've enjoyed all of or cruises and have found that most of the experiences and offerings have been more similar than different.  Of course demographics and amenities change due to the itinerary and class of ship and we've pretty much known what to expect even before boarding.  I'm pretty confident we'll have a great Celebrity experience.

 

There's no doubt the cruising experience has changed, however we're OK with the current format. To us the "nickel and diming" that goes on keeps the base fares low and lets us chose where and how to spend our travel dollars.  Now being new to Celebrity we are not as impacted by the loss of services, we don't really know what we're missing other than what we've read.  I am research heavy like most cruisers and I find it helpful but take it with a grain of salt.  Most of what I see on CC or You Tube can be helpful but also I've found a lot of it embellished, or because of frustration over stated to put it mildly.

Looking forward to completing our first Celebrity cruise, Happy Cruising all!

 

 

[Barsnikel]

We have about 45 cruises now (Holland, NCL, Carnival) ... the past 4 have been on Celebrity.  So we are not BRAND new, nor are we under 50.  We have found the quality of food to be a little better (not significantly, but better), the ships about the same (some old, some new, some big, some small).  The entertainment was slightly better, but much less subdued.  If Celebrity is wanting a much younger crowd, they do need to step it up some.  A piano bar would work well.  We will continue to book Celebrity, as well as the others.

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

6 hours ago, Liao said:

I'm relatively new to Celebrity, first cruise was in 2022, but I'm not younger than 50.  Happy to give my thoughts, but don't want to skew your demographic information request.  

Would love to hear your input.  I am wondering if it is just those of us who have been cruising Celebrity for 20 years plus that are doing all the complaining.   Not that we don't have a point, but if Celebrity is getting positive survey scores, us oldies with our nit picking may not mean much. 

[Liao]

41 minutes ago, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

Would love to hear your input.  I am wondering if it is just those of us who have been cruising Celebrity for 20 years plus that are doing all the complaining.   Not that we don't have a point, but if Celebrity is getting positive survey scores, us oldies with our nit picking may not mean much. 

Well I'm not a Celebrity veteran, and I'm not 50, I am 64.  I have been on two Celebrity cruises, Oct. 2022 an Edge transatlantic and in Dec. 2023 Summit, B2B, Mexico and Bahamas.  For comparison I have also been on NCL and Oceania, would not either of them again.  I loved both of my cruises and both ships were very nice, I did like the Edge better because of the Retreat, and now I will only sail on the e-class going forward.  They had in common great food, AMAZING service, my room steward and butler on Summit set a high bar.  Edge entertainment throughout the ship was hands down better and more diverse and I think a higher caliber.  The retreat on Summit would have been nicer IF I had never been on Edge.  I only sail once/year and am next going on a transatlantic on Apex.

[rodndonna]

Well now that some of the "older than 40 crowd" are chiming in, I'll throw in my 2 cents.

 

We have had sailed one Celebrity cruise,  a few HAL and one NCL cruise since Covid.  (Our pre-covid were all Marella/Thomson, Carnival and NCL)

 

Right now we would place Celebrity as our "preferred" among those lines right now with regards to overall ship experience, and have 2 more Celebrity booked.  We also have a couple of HAL and one Princess booked.

 

I'm not expecting to be wow-ed by Princess and expect to keep leaning to Celebrity when looking for on-board experience and HAL for pricing and itineraries, but will also continue to  sprinkle in other cruise lines for regular check-ins. 

 

[Winemaker_1]

Mid 50s.   Had our first Celebrity cruise last month on Silhouette.  We had a great time as I reviewed in another post.  We sailed as retreat guests and thought they did a great job with food in Luminae and Murano.  Wine list was atrocious.  We concluded Celebrity would not be a line for us unless sailing in the retreat, but the value prop is not there.  Regent and Silversea are next for us.  Also looking at Oceania, Seabourn and Explora for the future.  I don't respond to surveys unless someone is paying my consulting rate.

Edited February 11 by Winemaker_1

[FloridaGram]

2 hours ago, Barsnikel said:

We have about 45 cruises now (Holland, NCL, Carnival) ... the past 4 have been on Celebrity.  So we are not BRAND new, nor are we under 50.  We have found the quality of food to be a little better (not significantly, but better), the ships about the same (some old, some new, some big, some small).  The entertainment was slightly better, but much less subdued.  If Celebrity is wanting a much younger crowd, they do need to step it up some.  A piano bar would work well.  We will continue to book Celebrity, as well as the others.

I have found I like things about each line so I keep jumping around. I love the piano bar and the Schooner on RCCL, but it is to hard to get a seat most times.  We did Celebrity for the first time last year and have 2 booked for this year. 

We have  booked for this year on Celebrity but they are going to have to change things up for younger people, I think.  Younger people with kids are going to choose Royal with all their activities. I don't feel like Celebrity is trying to get younger people, especially with the new ships. They are just classier but all they have is the kids club. We are going on the Ascent next week but I expect it to be very similar to the Beyond.

[ISABELLA]

10 hours ago, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

The scuttlebutt is that Celebrity is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, and that the customer survey cards from the guest who are new to Celebrity are extremely positive.  This is despite all the changes that us old timers have been complaining about.   If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands? 

It's fair to compare apples and apples. If someone sailed in regular balcony on  X E class and in Haven on NCL or vice versa, old ship vs new ship, it will be different experience.  Food and entertainment are subjective. After sailing on X for past 15 years exclusively, we tried NCL Haven. I will repeat that experience in the heart beat, but I would not sail on NCL any other way. After our last trip on Equinox past December, we decided not to come back to X this year.  Will be trying Princess and MSC YC. It is all comes down to if you enjoy the cruise, that is all that matters. 

[Carried_Away]

I'm not exactly new to Celebrity, but I'm in the age bracket you asked for (early 40s). I've taken eight cruises, all on Celebrity, since 2017, and I have three more booked.

 

I always enjoy my cruise experience. I've sailed on M-, S-, and E-class ships and liked them all. I like the ambiance on Celebrity, fairly quiet and upscale. In many ways, I feel like the product is a good fit for me. I really like the crew on Celebrity, who provide great hospitality. These are the reasons I keep coming back to Celebrity.

 

I think Celebrity's shoreside operations are awful and very frustrating to deal with. Several times I've vowed to at least try another cruise line, if not swear off Celebrity entirely, after some experience with shoreside customer service. I'm also annoyed at changes Celebrity has made in the last few years. For example, requiring everyone in a cabin to have the same beverage package, removing tips from the "always included"/"all included," and raising a lot of drink prices above the premium package limit reduce the value for me and make Celebrity less of a good fit for me. The nickel-and-diming is increasing and is unappealing.

 

Although I've gotten good deals on cruises with Celebrity, other times I've found prices to be quite high. I'd love to try a suite, especially since Celebrity is emphasizing the suite experience so much with the E-class ships, but I find that even the lowest-priced suites are so much more expensive than Concierge/Aqua that I can't justify the suite. 

 

I cruise with a friend, who also generally likes the Celebrity experience but thinks the activities and entertainment are targeted toward an older demographic than us. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I'll let you know in April. We will still be under 50 on our first X cruise. I will be comparing our sailing to Princess and RCI... We love both Princess and RCI, but for different reasons. At the moment RCI prices are pretty high, and Princess doesn't have any ships we are interested in sailing at the times we can sail.

 

P.S. I will be comparing the lowest, steerage class experiences without any packages or perks.

Edited February 12 by Itchy&Scratchy

[elaine5]

We have found that All the mainstream cruise lines  have made cost-cutting changes: Less included, rising drink and speciality dining pricing, lower quality food, cutbacks in entertainment, etc. but we still prefer a cruise vacation over other options and usually find excellent “value” for OV or balcony. We cruise 2-3x/year, (diy) land in europe, no all-inclusives. 

We sailed Celebrity over 15 years ago and went on C again to ABCs last spring. Great cruise, loved it. We are food/wine people, but are fine in MDR, but noticed a change from what we’d get 10 years ago. Celebrity is now our fav cruise line for just DH/me. As a couple we also like princess, but C just seemed a bit cooler and hipper than P and more upscale than Rccl. We tend to still pick P over C due to pricing. For ex, 13 day Balcony AU to NZ was much less than 12 day OV for similar dates:ports. I also do not like C’s higher fare for refundable deposits, P is usually the same. 
For the last 15 years, We sailed Rccl and Disney with our kids-now young’s 20s. We’ll sail Rccl this summer with them-it has the “stuff” they like and are not foodies. If celebrity is trying to attract families, I’d say they need more fun/active stuff, slides, escape rooms, more sports.  The new Sun princess would be on our radar if our kids were teens. 

Edited February 12 by elaine5

[Sailingsoph26]

My husband and I are early-mid 30s and went on our first Celebrity cruise (first cruise ever actually!) last year on the Reflection and are headed on another Caribbean cruise in the spring on Equinox. I imagine we’re probably fairly close to the new demographic that Celebrity seem to be targeting based on their ads, DINKs in their 30s. We were definitely some of the youngest on board, so I’m not sure how well that marketing is working, but that didn’t bother us in the slightest. My mom and sister travelled with us last year, and they have both since done other Celebrity cruises, so we were all hooked!
 

Overall we had a great time. We wanted a vacation that offered complete relaxation and we found that the cruise was perfect for that, with the added bonus of being able to visit several different places in one vacation. We’re not so into organized fun so a lot of the activities didn’t appeal but we did enjoy some trivia and loved watching a movie under the stars with a cocktail. I also had a fun few hours with one of the slot machines! 
 

The service, both on board and whenever I’ve called customer service, has been excellent.

 

I found the MDR food to be fairly average, I think the menu could do with a complete overhaul actually, it feels very old fashioned. I’m not usually a buffet person, but we loved getting breakfast at Oceanview and enjoyed some specialty dining. 

 

I do appreciate that we didn’t sail before all the cutbacks, so we don’t really know what we’re missing but I’ve managed to get a couple of great deals, which has meant that we felt it was a vacation that offered excellent value for money. I would compare it to an all-inclusive vacation and having now done a cruise, I think it will be our preferred option to get away from the winter.

 

[Germancruiser]

My first X- cruise was back in 2001 ( 32 years old back then)  when the Millenium debuted. Coming from RCI I found the experience a huge step up from RCI.

Since then- obviously many moons have come and gone. 20 cruises with them- and I am still booking X from time to time. So yes- I like them still. My prefered Line now is Cunard, though.

What has changed- A LOT! Food- still very good, but not up to the experience of 23 years ago.

The ship got louder by the year. They - quite understandable- want to attract a younger clientel.

They have to be carefull though not to drift more and more into the direction of Carnival, RCI or Costa.

I don´t need the Captain dancing on top of the Martini - Bar- also I find the Senior officers in the Pool not so very amusing. They have entertaintment staff for that purpose.

The concept of the Edge Class- well they have their great parts and their downright catastrophic part. Apex´s Maiden voyage was an unforgetable experience, also because it was right after the Covid crisis. The Martini Bar in the middle - well that´s more like a showroom- nothing cozy - nothing intimate about it anymore. To loud, to noisy- the problem also is that all decks above are affected of the noise and therefore of not much use to us. So we stick to M- Class ( as long as they are still around) and S- Class.

[kmsnyg]

Im on the Eclipse now in a sunset veranda. I’ve sailed mostly with Royal and NCL previously in balcony cabins. I’m mid-40’s.

 

I like Celebrity, but outside of the age range of guests skewing much older on Celebrity (which I like), there isn’t much different from Royal. I find the food comparable in the main dining room, and actually worse in Eclipse’s Oceanview compared to Anthem’s Windjammer.

 

I would sail Celebrity again if I wanted the itinerary. But I’m not wowed by it above RCCL or NCL.

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

Interesting, I have a friend that is on the Constellation New Orleans Mardi Gras cruise right now and he said that it is mostly older folks.  He's early 40's and has a 4 year old, said that he and his wife are on the younger side and son is one of 2 or 3 in the kids club.   We cruise again in April on the Beyond back to back, and we do like that ship.  Will be interesting to see the crowd on board. 

 

[Tyler414]

I'm in my mid-40's and have been a total of six cruises starting in 2019 with NCL.  It was an older ship, but had a great time and booked future cruise on board.  The future cruise was on NCL's newest at the time Encore.  As fast as I fell in love with NCL, I just quickly fell out of love.  I guess I chalk it up to being oblivious, and happy to be on vacation.  The Encore cruise for me was the end for NCL.  Nickle and dime for everything, poorly trained staff on the new ship, bad dinning experiences....

I then booked a cruise for a brand new ship Celebrity Apex, covid delayed that cruise until March 2022.  I absolutely fell in love with Celebrity Apex, Then onto Beyond last January, as many you are aware Celebrity's brilliant cut-backs started.  The OVC was decimated on that cruise, over half the stations were not serving it was bad.  The specialties were still great however, my main complain (not Celebrity's fault) was the other passengers.  It was a floating home, and they were grumpy.  Note to self, never go on a January cruise again.  

Next up was Virgin Voyages, all I have to say is the other lines better step it up, and the no kids was very noticeable.  Kids don't normally bother me, so didn't think much of it, until it hits you. There are ZERO kids on this cruise, it was great.  

This March 2024 I have a 10 day on Beyond, I understand there maybe more old folks on these longer cruise, but hopefully it will be fun.  I have 3 more cruises booked with Celebrity, I'm hoping I'm cancelling them on this March cruise.  Fingers crossed, but it is vacation and I WILL enjoy myself. 

[minniemouse427]

Interesting comments. 

Our first cruise ever was on the Century back in 2000, pre-kids. It set a very high bar and I know that there are no longer members of the wait staff eager to carry my tray from the buffet to my table for me! 

Subsequently we have cruised on Carnival (4), Disney (1), and RCCL (3) ...in pretty much that order. All but the last two on RCCL were pre-COVID. We (both mid-50's with 22yo and 18yo) are scheduled to sail on the Eclipse the week of July 4th.

As of right now, my ranking is Disney, Celebrity, RCCL, and Carnival. Loved our Disney experience but the cost is prohibitive. We definitely enjoyed our RCCL cruises. The first on a smaller ship (Majesty) with our then teens and the last two on the Anthem, post-COVID and left the kids at home. 🙃

We are eager to cruise Celebrity again and are looking forward to the cruise. Will definitely report back after we return in July!

[Tapi]

We sailed on Celebrity for the first time about a year ago aboard Celebrity Solstice. Mid-late 40's with two kids.

 

We absolutely LOVED it. I must say that I wasn't wowed from the get go though. It took me a few days to warm up to this brand (not because there was anything wrong with it), but once I did, I enjoyed every minute of it. 

 

The ship was beautiful (although it was showing a bit of wear in some spots pre-drydock, but nothing major), service was great, food was better than what we've experienced on other cruise lines, and the overall experience was very enjoyable. 

 

I'd place Celebrity somewhere above Royal Caribbean and below Holland America. At par with Princess. 

Edited February 12 by Tapi

[tfred]

some of this depends on what ship someone sailed on. Edge class has more food options and entertainment. 

 

I saw remarks from RCCL management that they are less interested in poaching other cruise line pax and more interested getting land based resort people on board. They also want to narrow the gap between land and sail revenue - sailing is still a bargain (although that wouldn't be the opinion of long time cruisers.). 

 

The under 50 crowd may be first time cruisers - that is the opinion that would the one of importance. 

[Tapi]

1 minute ago, tfred said:

sailing is still a bargain (although that wouldn't be the opinion of long time cruisers.)....

I agree. We have a land vacation (a quick 4 night trip to Cancun) in a few days, and we're paying 2X what we will pay for a 4 night cruise that we have planned for June, and we're not even staying at an All-inclusive resort. I was floored at the cost of all-inclusive resorts. They have sky-rocketed since the last time we did an all-inclusive vacation 3-4 years ago. Even for a less luxurious resort, the cost would be 3-4X more than our upcoming cruise. 

[CruisinShips]

Just got off our second Celebrity cruise last weekend.  First was on the Eclipse in October '23, this one on the Apex.  Both in the Retreat.  

 

We are in our early 60s; Diamond on Royal, and have cruised on Virgin, HA, NCL and Carnival (years ago).

 

While we had previously been in love with the Oasis class Crown Loft suites and the whole suite Lounge/Coastal Kitchen setup, since cruising Celebrity, it's become hands down our favorite way to cruise.  We enjoyed our CS on the Eclipse, but the Apex is a whole new level and we will have a tough time going back to anything else.  I get that those of you who have been cruising X for many years are more impacted by the cutbacks, but frankly we have seen nothing to cause us to feel disappointed in our experiences.  It's mostly due to the staff IMO...they are amazing. The food is very good for mass produced, large ship dining...not necessarily equivalent to a 5 star NYC restaurant by any means, but very good based on expectations.

 

I had better note here that I acknowledge others have had less than perfect experiences (noisy cabins seem to be thing) and I begrudge no one for being disappointed for those things.  I also acknowledge that the Retreat usually makes a huge difference when making comparisons.  But our two Celebrity experiences have exceeded expectations in every way.

Edited February 12 by CruisinShips

[minniemouse427]

1 hour ago, minniemouse427 said:

Interesting comments. 

Our first cruise ever was on the Century back in 2000, pre-kids. It set a very high bar and I know that there are no longer members of the wait staff eager to carry my tray from the buffet to my table for me! 

Subsequently we have cruised on Carnival (4), Disney (1), and RCCL (3) ...in pretty much that order. All but the last two on RCCL were pre-COVID. We (both mid-50's with 22yo and 18yo) are scheduled to sail on the Eclipse the week of July 4th.

As of right now, my ranking is Disney, Celebrity, RCCL, and Carnival. Loved our Disney experience but the cost is prohibitive. We definitely enjoyed our RCCL cruises. The first on a smaller ship (Majesty) with our then teens and the last two on the Anthem, post-COVID and left the kids at home. 🙃

We are eager to cruise Celebrity again and are looking forward to the cruise. Will definitely report back after we return in July!

Will add that we sailed in a Junior Suite on the Century (a wedding splurge) and balcony cabins on the remainder of the cruises. Our upcoming sailing will be in a Concierge Balcony.