Celebrity's Galaxy vs. Oceania's Nautica

[Louisana cruiser]

We are trying to choose between 2 cruises for June, 2007:

- Celebrity's Galaxy 11-night cruise, round trip Rome, visiting:

- Mykonos

- Rhodes

- Santorini

- Overnight in Istanbul

- Ephesus

- Athens

- Naples/Capri

or - - - -

- Oceania's Nautica 12-night cruise, beginning in Istanbul (with an overnight) and ending in Athens (with an overnight), visiting:

- Mykonos

- Rhodes

- Santorini

- Delos

- Ephesus

- Katakolon

- Corfu

- Dubrovnik

 

The Celebrity cruise, including air, is $800-$1,000 per person cheaper than Oceania.

We are trying to decide if the extra Greek islands, Dubrovnik, and the overnights in Istanbul and Athens, plus the cruise line itself warrant the extra cost.

 

Any advice from past cruisers of either cruise, or preferably both, would be appreciated.

 

Also, any tour information: independent, with cruise line, or just wandering on your own would be appreciated also.

 

There is a group of about 12 of us who want to make a decision on this cruise soon. We don't have anything booked yet, and are already excited.

 

Thanks,

[Pecoraro]

Comparing these two ships would be like comparing an apple to a watermelon - not even close!!!! We have been on Oceania's Regatta which is a sister to Nautica and are going to be on Nautica itself on June 8th Rome to Istanbul. We were just on Galaxy in November 2005.

 

 

Galaxy is a tired old ship in dire need of repair/upkeep. See Celebrity boards for many people who are not satisfied with the condition of Galaxy and its sister Mercury. Beds are the most uncomfortable at sea on all Celebrity ships and Galaxy is especially bad. On the otherhand Oceania's beds are equally as comfortable as the finest mattress you can buy for your bed at home.

 

If you have read Oceania reviews you will note that everybody raves about the food. Passengers also say the same for Celebrities food, however, we found all of the meals on Celebrity to be very bland and in dire need of spicing up. The food at the buffets was perhaps the worst we have ever experienced - not even on par with a Denny's. We did not care for it at all and my wife actually lost weight for the first time ever on a cruise (maybe I should consider a couple more Celebrity cruises). We had been on Celebrity two years earlier on Constellation and noticed a remarkable downturn in service and quality with this most recent cruise on Galaxy. We will never sail with Celebrity again.

 

Check out posts with regard to Celebrity customer service in the past few months. They do not seem to care about their passengers whatsoever. Complaints are met with a deaf ear!!!

 

I am just one opinion, however, if you care about quality, and enjoy the better things in life Oceania is for you. If you want ordinary by all means go with Celebrity.

[Crusier98]

We're checking out Oceania for next year and like the idea of a smaller ship getting into some of the smaller ports in the Mediterranean

[nparmelee]

We're trying out Oceania in a few weeks as well, same cruise as Pecoraro. In your comparison, remember that you also have an extra night on Oceania, personally I like to compare the per day price per person as well as the overall price to make sure I'm really comparing apples to apples. You are looking at two port intensive cruises, so it does come down to the ports and pre and post cruise stays if they are a factor, we're spending 4 nights in Rome pre-cruise and 2 nights in Istanbul post-cruise, both are places we want to spend extra time in. Since you are dealing with a larger group, you may just put all the details for comparison and let everybody vote.

[Louisana cruiser]

Did you get your visas for Turkey through the cruise line or on your own?

If on your own, who did you go through.

Oceania charges $49.

I found one website to get it on our own, but it is $55 + service fee and shipping.

[nparmelee]

If you are flying in to Istanbul, I would just get it at the airport for the $20 or whatever it is now. Since we cruise to Istanbul and we know we'll want to get going when we get there, the $49 to Oceania was worth it to us.

[Riverroad]

We flew into Instanbul about 6 years ago and the visa at the airport was $40 or $45 per person then. I doubt very much it's down to $20 now. It sounds like Oceania's charging just what the Turkish government does. Unless they've changed the rules, there's no need to use a service-we just paid for it at the airport. Sort of like an "entrance fee".

[nparmelee]

As a follow-up on the visa, our final documents arrived today the visas were in the package. Nice to have one less thing to think about. The visa stickers do say $20 US on them for the price.

[florida_cruiser]

Comparing these two ships would be like comparing an apple to a watermelon - not even close!!!!

 

Not bad. I think of Nautica as perhaps a fine suculent strawberry and Galaxy as a dried up old prune.

[first celebrity cruiser]

Galaxy as a dried up old prune

Too funny!! Galaxy seems to be really getting slammed on the Celebrity Boards as well. Can't figure out why Celebrity is not even trying to fix her up. No drydock in the foreseeable future.