Comparing RCI to X - LIVE from the Decks of the Grandeur! 11/25 to 12/8/07

[rebeccalouise]

Gail- I think that you would like NCL. I have sailed them 4 times with friends and family and we had a great time- just not as good as Celebrity.

 

There are some similarities between RCL and Celebrity but not enough to make me go back again. I tried RCL line twice now and both times I wasn't blown away.

 

So far I have tried all the lines except Holland America (last time I sailed them was in the 1980s- so I don't think that counts). I am eager to see how Holland America's Zuiderdam stacks against Celebrity.

[tuggers]

rebeccalouise, well... maybe if they will give me one someday I'll give it a try!:D

I'm a big believer in the fact that you make your own good time and the fact that you were able to travel with family and friends was a big plus I'm sure. I just got back from a wonderful trip and it was wonderful because of who I was with, not the ship I was on! So now I guess I have to talk my friends into NCL...

[Pumbaamd]

Gail, your reports were excellent. You bring back a lotta memories. We did the Grandeur repo last year with Howard. Howard and us were part of a Mardi Gras Krewe. Were they any Mardi Gras festivities on your cruise? So happy you had a fun time on Grandeur!

Rick and Deirdra

[tuggers]

I honestly don't remember any Mardi Gras doings on this cruise. Except for the CC roll call people - we all wore them so we could identify each other!:)

I asked Howard about doing the October repo but he already has something booked. X I think. He's a great guy and I would like to cruise with him someday.

[angelpug]

Gail, your reports were excellent. You bring back a lotta memories. We did the Grandeur repo last year with Howard. Howard and us were part of a Mardi Gras Krewe. Were they any Mardi Gras festivities on your cruise? So happy you had a fun time on Grandeur!

Rick and Deirdra

 

 

"Mardi Gras" night, complete with masks and beads was poolside the night we left St. Maarten. I didn't attend, but it was the first of two pool parties on this cruise.

 

The second poolside night was "Tropical Night" when we left Aruba.

 

(We were under the pool deck and heard and felt all the activities though!):eek:

 

Take care,

Jaime

[sunpsyche]

Welcome back, Gail. Thanks for the thorough review. I enjoyed your balanced approached to what each line does differently. It seems like RCL has some things going for it. No such thing as a bad cruise!

 

I'll bet those pups are jumping with joy to have you home again:)

[tuggers]

Jaime, you are so right. I totally forgot about it. Guess you were not in a position to do that, huh?:) :)

Hey sunpsyche! Yeah they were glad to see me and as the bill was $1250, I was glad to get them home!:D Ahhh! The joys of pet ownership!

[Germancruiser]

Hi Gail,

great report I read very carfeully because as I said before you were on the Grandeur, the ship were my addiction to crusing started out and she will always be special to me.

I can not agree more what you said about X.

Just curious how often do you cruise???? No chance that you wanna adopt me?? LOL!

Greetings

Michael

[tuggers]

I guess about 6 to 10 a year. I was doing 10 to 12 but have cut out cruising in the summers entirely. Now I do my last cruise in May and don't start again until September or October. I like to cruise children-free whenever possible!:)

About the adopting. Help me find a rich sugar daddy to pay for my addiction and I will consider it! :D :D :D

I like Grandeur. It's a beautiful ship. Just not crazy about the food and I miss the X 'extras'. Especially those cold towels when I come back from a hot port visit.

[crusm2sm]

Gail,

 

Enjoyed your posts.

 

Al and I were on this cruise and we enjoyed it. Had no dislikes.

 

RCI is our favorite cruise line. We did a Celebrity cruise in 2002 and found no difference between the 2 cruise lines. We don't recall the cold towels.

 

I found some pictures of you and your group that we took, I will email them to you.

[ccletzgo]

Gail, thank you for reminding me of those "Little" things I have missed.

 

Its been a while sense we have cruised Celebrity and when you mentioned the cold towels and the sorbet being served on a hot, hot day around the pool, I got all warm and fuzzy...:D

 

Cant wait to be experiencing X again. I have missed the champagne greeting, but now I realize there are a few more things I miss..

 

 

After doing some reading, I see I am going to miss the cyber cabin hook up that I had on the last Royal Cruise.....:eek:

Wont be able to surf in my Jammy's;)

[Sky Sweet]

The Grandeur is an older ship that lacks the amenities found on Royal Caribbean's newer ships. Consequently, this ship has very low pricing and attracts a different demographic that one will typically find in Royal Caribbean's newer and more elegant ships.

 

One of the problems of comparing a ship within a fleet to another cruiseline is its entirety is that the ship itself is often more important than the cruise line.

[Tinkerbellcgy]

The Grandeur is an older ship that lacks the amenities found on Royal Caribbean's newer ships. Consequently, this ship has very low pricing and attracts a different demographic that one will typically find in Royal Caribbean's newer and more elegant ships.

 

One of the problems of comparing a ship within a fleet to another cruiseline is its entirety is that the ship itself is often more important than the cruise line.

 

 

I happened to be on this sailing that Tuggers is writing about and quite frankly, Sky Sweet, I find your remarks to be extremely offensive.

 

I decided to embark on this sailing for various reasons such as it had a great itinerary, it's a smaller ship therefore a more intimate ship and so on. For you to suggest that those of us who sailed her are a different demographic than those of the "more elegant ships" is just plain ignorant. I personally do not classify myself a second class or lower class passenger because I chose to sail the Grandeur. I feel blessed to have met some very wonderful people on that ship and sailing who, in my books, are top notch individuals.

[Sky Sweet]

This thread is about comparing Royal Caribbean to Celebrity, based on a poster's cruise on Grandeur of the Seas.

 

Since Grandeur is an older ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet with less amenities and much smaller cabins than its newer ships, the posts which imply that Royal Caribbean provides an inferior cruise experience to Celebrity can be misleading.

 

I was merely trying to point out the problem of comparing one ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet to Celebrity cruise line in its entirety because the ship itself is often more important than the cruise line.

[Sky Sweet]

Duplicate post.

[angelpug]

The Grandeur is an older ship that lacks the amenities found on Royal Caribbean's newer ships. Consequently, this ship has very low pricing and attracts a different demographic that one will typically find in Royal Caribbean's newer and more elegant ships.

 

One of the problems of comparing a ship within a fleet to another cruiseline is its entirety is that the ship itself is often more important than the cruise line.

 

It was because of the DISTINCT differences between RCCL & Celebrity that we are returning to Celebrity! There are things ONLY Celebrity can offer that I will NOT find on ANT RCCL ship...no matter which ship I happen to be sailing on! (Oh, and just for comparison's sake....I have cruised on the Century 3 times....my favorite....and she is the same age as the Grandeur...and for comparisons sake, I would say they are almost EXACT!!! Put the servers, waiters, room attendents, chefs, along with those little extras Celebrity can only offer, on the Grandeur, and you now have a NEW Celebrity ship!! For the comparisons, the ship had NOTHING to do with it for me, because it is ALL about the service as far as ANYONE that has ever been on Celebrity can attest to.)

 

I hope I can be considered the "Celebrity Demographic" now that I have sailed on RCCL 3 times, and most of my other cruises were on Celebrity! Thank goodness I have been on enough Celebrity cruises to know that in reality, just about anyone can be in that demographic:) ! I personally would NEVER pass judgement on people just because I'm sitting at a computer, and think I can say whatever I please:rolleyes: !

 

Anyway...the main reason why I was ever on RCCL to begin with.....CONVENIENCE!!! It has been wonderful sailing from home. I wake up, get dressed, pack my bags, and in less than 90 minutes I'm onboard beginning my vacation. I actually lowered my expectations for these cruises, and got more than I hoped for. If Celebrity or even Princess would bring another ship to Baltimore, then RCCL would probably never see me again. Since there's nothing of interest, and no itineraries coming to Baltimore next year, then I will be flying to my destination, and choosing my cruise line of choice....Celebrity.

 

And MY reason for going on this particular cruise over ANY Celebrity Cruise....and for Sky Sweet tell me if THIS wouldn't grab at you.....the Itinerary.....AWESOME....Baltimore to Bermuda for 2 days, a day at sea, St. Maarten, at sea, Curacao, Aruba, at sea, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, at sea....13 days of fantastic stops, and plenty of sea days spread out to completely rest and be on vacation. The next big thing...when I booked almost 18 months out, you could pick up a Junior Suite for right at $1000.00, and my husband and I booked a Grand Suite for 1500.00 (LOW pricing was because of the TYPE of cruise it was...a REPOSITIONING...RCCL cruises are actually the same price as Celebrity..my last two cruises were actually more expensive (per day price) then my cruise on the Galaxy....and I was in the Royal Suite on that one!!!) In the 18 months that I was waiting for this cruise to hurry up and just get here, I spent my time getting to know some GREAT people that I now consider to be friends here on Cruise Critic. They made this cruise vacation even better.

 

My complaints on this particular cruise all have to do with service and food....BOTH which can be remedied just by returning to Celebrity....but NOTHING on this cruise would make me say I'd never go back to RCCL....especially if I ever found another cruise and deal like this last one!:D

 

And as far as the Demographics go....at my table we had a pilot and hospital administrator, a travel agent and her sportscaster hubby, married business owners, and my husband a computer network director and myself...all under 50, and QUITE the Celebrity Demographic....all having sailed on Celebrity, but LOVING this itinerary!

 

 

And crusm2sm, You have just GOT to try a Celebrity cruise again:) and look for the following things that are NOT on a RCCL ship.....Being taken to your room on embarkation day by a white gloved attendent...them carrying your bags while you're sipping on a glass of champagne, getting your lunch at the buffet ON A TRAY and having a white gloved attendent carry that tray and take you to an available seat, having BOTH soup and salad offered at dinner along with an appetizer entree and dessert to make the meal a TRUE 5 course meal, having the table cleaned off after the main course with the little metal tools to remove crumbs and dessert being an event with each dessert being presented, having those wonderful cool towels offered to you at each port as you're getting back on the ship after a long hot day, actually having your table attendents know you by name the second night, and anything you requested the first night already at the table as you sit down, being able to ask a room attendent for something missing in your room, and it being pleasently taken care of without ARGUEMENT! It's a lot of little things, but ALL of those "Little Things" make up a totally different experience as far as service and pampering on a cruise vacation goes, and RCCL just doesn't do this.

 

Sorry to go off on a tangent here, but unless you really know the entire big picture of both cruise lines, and you were part of this cruise, you really can't make any comments/remarks in such a broad way as to passing judgement on the type of people on either cruise.

 

HI LIZ!!!! Miss YOU!!!

 

Take Care,

Jaime

[crusm2sm]

This thread is about comparing Royal Caribbean to Celebrity, based on a poster's cruise on Grandeur of the Seas.

 

Since Grandeur is an older ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet with less amenities and much smaller cabins than its newer ships, the posts which imply that Royal Caribbean provides an inferior cruise experience to Celebrity can be misleading.

 

I was merely trying to point out the problem of comparing one ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet to Celebrity cruise line in its entirety because the ship itself is often more important than the cruise line.

 

So what did demographics have to do with it. You didn't clarify that statement.

[Tinkerbellcgy]

HI LIZ!!!! Miss YOU!!!

 

Thanks, Jaime. You and Jim were among the many wonderful people I met on the Grandeur cruise.

 

Maybe one day our paths will cross again on another cruise - either Celebrity or RCI - it matters not to me. I'm an "equal opportunity" cruiser!

 

Liz

[Sky Sweet]

So what did demographics have to do with it. You didn't clarify that statement.

 

To answer your question...The person who compared the two cruise lines made a number of comments about several rude people she met during this cruise and implied that Celebrity is a more upscale cruise line. Since I don't agree with that point of view, I made that statement about demographics. I personally think the demographics on both cruise lines are very diverse.

[signman]

Gail & Jaime, Thanks for the kind words. I know I'd enjoy sharing deck space with you one day. I am booked for a repo next October, but it's on Connie leaving from Port Liberty same day as Grandeur.

 

I will be on Century early Feb, a 5 nighter, and while on a longer cruise I will wear my tux, I have to advise you all, that for this shortie cruise, I won't even be taking a jacket, will just wear a nice black on black outfit on formal night.

 

Happy Holidays everyone.

[signman]

As far as the Mardi Gras party on Grandeur, I think the CD saw how much fun the Krewe of Grandeur, led by Charles and June, had in leading 2 impromtu parades thru the public area, complete with throwing beads, that they incorporated it into their regular routine. I'm just wondering when these parties started. Was it on the first New Orlean sailing last year, or somewhat later.

 

Ooops, and also led by our King & Queen, Rick and Dierdra.