Celebrity vs Royal Caribbean

[Kathie44]

Sunny-we sail those two lines only. I know I may get flamed for this, but I haven't found any significant differences between the two. X is a bit more upscale because they "require" the official night's dress code to be worn in all public areas of the ship all evening. I say "require" because it is not always enforced. A lot of people don't like to stay in formalwear all evening. On RCCL we always change after dinner.

In general, I would say the food is a little better on X, but I think the RCCL ships we've sailed are more beautiful inside and out (they are also newer) . I agree with you about Jewel and Explorer. If fact, our Jewel cruise last June was the best of all our cruises. The Jewel is THE most beautiful ship I've ever seen and I never thought anything would top Explorer, our first love.

I think you should try Celebrity, just for the experience and to see for yourself. You CAN"T go wrong.

As you can see from the list below we will have 4 and 4 after our next cruise. However, I am waiting for my TA to let me know as soon as the Galaxy starts booking for the June '09 E. Med, probably in about 2 months. I am hoping I can talk DH into doing Galaxy to the Carib. for Jan. '09 so it won't be so long between cruises. So you can see that even though I love both lines, X has the cruises I want for the near future and probably for S. Amer. in 2010.

 

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.

1/03 Explorer W. Carib.

8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib.

2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal

6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London

1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera

1/08 Mercury Aust/NZ + extra days in Sydney and Aukland

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I am waiting for my TA to let me know as soon as the Galaxy starts booking for the June '09 E. Med, probably in about 2 months.

 

Please tell me more about the Galaxy to the Med! We are planning to host a CC group cruise to the Med in June of '09. I saw the Summit was doing it and that it had a higher rating than Galaxy, so that is the one I zero'd in on. However, since it begins the cruise in Venice and ends in Barcelona the airfare is double the 12 night RT Barcelona on the Brilliance of the Seas. We already have several couples interested in the group, most of whom we met on a CC Group Cruise on the Jewel. We are just starting to research which would be our best option.

[Kathie44]

Sunny, I didn't know that Summit was going to be doing the Med. instead of Alaska. We sailed her to Alaska in Aug. '03 and loved our first X cruise and land tour.

2 years ago we planned with another couple to do the Galaxy Med. cruise/tour for this year, but the friends have had to postpone for various reasons. Recently we talked to them and they said they would be ready to do it in June of '09, assuming Galaxy hasn't changed its itin. We would be doing an 11-night to the E. Med round trip from Civitavecchia (Rome). I like the round trip aspect.

We would start with a 5-Night land tour:

We would fly into Venice (rest of the day on our own), spend the night and have a half-day guided tour and rest of day on our own, spend another night.

After breakfast take the train to Florence (afternoon/evening on our own).

Overnight in Florence, 1/2 day guided walking tour, rest of day/eve on our own.

After breakfast take train to Rome. After lunch, 1/2 day walking tour of ancient Rome. Dinner and eve on our own.

Overnight in Rome. After breakfast is a guided tour of the Vatican, then board motorcoach to pier and board ship.

Breakfasts are included.

The ship itin is:

 

Day1-- Civitavecchia 6 PM

2--At Sea

3--Mykonos, Greece 2 PM 11 PM

4--Rhodes, 9 AM 5 PM

5--Santorini, 8 AM 4 PM

6--Istanbul, 1 PM

7--Istanbul 2 PM

8--Ephesus (Kusadasi), 9:30AM 6 PM

9--Athens (Pireaus) 7 AM 5 PM

10--At Sea

11--Naples/Capri 7 AM 6 PM

12--Civitavecchia 7 AM

 

We sailed Galaxy to the Panama Canal in Feb. '05 and our friends sailed her to the Ultimate Carib. last Feb. We all loved her. I don't think there is much difference between the ships except size. It's still the same Celebrity experience. These same friends went with us on Summit to Alaska, too. It was the first X cruise for all of us. It just depends on which itin. you like best

This is the E. Med which has more stops in Greece and Turkey, which is why we want to do the tour of Italy. It will be more $$ than when Galaxy first started the Med, but booking ASAP will help.

We are so hooked on longer cruises and will probably never do a 7-night again. :D

PS, I had all the ARR and DEP times neatly lined up, but they are not coming out that way

The ship stays overnight in Istanbul.

[vortigern]

We started cruising on Royal Caribbean (Majesty) and were quickly hooked, progressing steadily from Outside Oceanview to a JS, first on Jewel and then on Navigator - both great ships. Our first experience of X was Infinity on the westbound Panama Canal , chosen for the itinerary and the date rather than the ship. The difference between the two lines was not as great as we expected - we were in CC on Infinity and the room was a bit on the small side, particularly for two weeks. Since then we've been on Jewel (again), Century and Galaxy, in each case the trip chosen for the itinerary rather than the ship. Each ship does certain things well, that's what gives them character and whilst we all have favourites, every cruise is different for a whole range of reasons. We've tried Owner's Suites, Royal Suites and Sky Suites which will inevitably influence the memories. X's butler service is good, but then again we don't mind doing things for ourselves!

 

We did the 11 night Eastern Med trip on Galaxy this May exactly as described. It was a great trip, the weather was good throughout and with the huge balcony on a deck 12 Sky Suite we were able to make the most of it. We did, however, find that only two days at sea made for a pretty hectic time, but I appreciate that travellers from across 'the pond' would rather see as much of Europe as possible rather than just the sea!

 

Vortigern