Celebrity or Carnival in the Caribbean?

[suzies29]

Hi Everyone! I am a newer cruiser and need help! My husband and I are looking at January 2009 for a cruise. We are looking at going out of San Juan on a 7 night cruise. Is there any reason not to go in January in the Caribbean?

Also, we think we have it narrowed down to Celebrity Summit or Carnival Victory. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I have been on A cruise before, but my husband has not. I went on Celebrity Century and enjoyed it, but was a little bored on the days at sea. I did love the service on the ship, but found people (some other cruisers) to be a little bit stuffy. Anyone know where we can go, have a good time, and make some new friends???? We are even up for different recommendations...we just don't want to go to Mexico since we have vacationed there before a couple of times. ANY ADVICE IS APPRECIATED! Thank you!!!!!!!

[ddunn]

Hello there,

One of my all time favorite cruises, was the Eastern Caribbean, sailing out of Port Canaveral on the Carnival Glory...

It goes to Nassau, St Thomas, VI, and to St. Martten.

I loved these ports, they are breath taking....just beautiful.

 

I have never cruised Celebrity, but have heard from others they were a little "stuffy".

I have cruised Carnival and Royal Caribbean.....and i am a Carnival Girl !!!!!

 

I have been on the Glory twice...it is a great ship, and love the Eastern.

Just my two cents!

I have been Western several times, and am sailing again on the carnival legend in Sept.

Carnival miracle was a great ship too, have been on her twice.

I never got bored on sea days, there is always something going on ..

Have a great time, whatever you choose!

Denise

[suzies29]

Thank you! I never even looked into leaving from Port Canaveral...I just looked up air for us and it is dirt cheap in Jan...well as dirt cheap as we can find for anything! I will have to do some looking into the Glory!

[pkrchkr]

we have cruised Carnival and RCCL.DM has done just about every cruise line imaginable.Celebrity is is" stuffy" as another poster put it.

My view on it is..It depends on what type of people you are and what you want out of your cruise.Do you want to worry about keeping up with the Jones's or relax and not worry about knowing any one or seeing any of the people ever again.

Cruising is what ever you make it to be.and it can be as fun as you make it.I personally would suggest staying with CCL or RCCL.

Just my opinion

[GwenyP]

We've been on the Glory twice and enjoyed it both times. This november we'll be on the Miracle which goes to St. Maarten, St. Kitts and St. Lucia, plus four sea days. It leaves from fort lauderdale. Three great ports and most people seem to love the Miracle.

[Jenbo57]

I think it's unfair to categorize Celebrity as "stuffy"; however, if you go over to the Celebrity boards you'll see that they say much worse things about Carnival! ;) My husband and I took our first cruise on Celebrity, then did two on Carnival, and are back on Celebrity next summer. We are two of the least stuffy people you'd ever meet!

 

I think the folks who are loyal to Celebrity have certain expectations as far as service and ambience go, and it's probably true that their demographic is a little bit older and their income levels are a little bit higher than most Carnival cruisers. It certainly doesn't make them better, and I don't think it necessarily makes them "stuffy".

 

As for us, we're itinerary cruisers! We find the itinerary we want, on the dates we want, and we book! I'm sure by the time we're done with cruising we will have sailed on most of the lines and will have had a great time on all of them!

[ladycaveat]

I feel strange posting this on the Carnival board but . . . my favorite Caribbean Cruise was on Celebrity's Galaxy out of Baltimore. It was an eleven day cruise and aside from my cruise to Alaska on Princess . . . it was my favorite.

[Rev. Joe]

It all depends on you. If you want to party til 3 a.m. choose Carnival. It is more of an up-beat cuise. If you want to party til midnight and have better food and service, hop on Celebrity. But if you ask me, a cruise is a cruise.

[DancerOT]

I feel strange posting this on the Carnival board but . . . my favorite Caribbean Cruise was on Celebrity's Galaxy out of Baltimore. It was an eleven day cruise and aside from my cruise to Alaska on Princess . . . it was my favorite.

One of my faves was the 10 day out of Baltimore on Galaxy! I think to categorize all X cruises as stuffy is unfair, as I am as far from stuffy as one gets.

 

I wish more ships would come back to Baltimore. I loved driving to the port in the time it took me to drive to the airport. We were also willing to spend a bit more on the cruise since we werent paying for airfare. Those were the days....

[suzies29]

Sorry, I didn't mean to make all of Celebrity seem stuffy. I have only been on one cruise, so I am definately not a spokesperson! We did enjoy Celebrity, but while we were on the ship, I felt more comfortable around the servers and staff than I did fellow cruisers. I think one of the other posters said it is a Country Club atmosphere, and that is exactly how you can put it. My friends and I are definately not stuffy that went on the cruise and we still enjoyed ourselves.....the only thing we dreaded were the dinners in the main restaurant at night. I think we were just seated with some true monsters! The first night we were there, they seated us with some very nice people from Mexico, unfortuneatly, there was a huge language barrier and we asked to be moved because it wasn't very enjoyable to not be able to communicate. The rest of the cruise we spent with a couple that were very policital....and got upset when that we were on a cruise during the primaries. And some teachers...one nice and one not so nice. The not so nice was just that no matter what she was brought complained.....ALOT. So, it truely isn't Celebrity's fault for those things.....it is some of the fellow passengers. I think we were just put into the wrong crowd on the ship. We are NOT white trash, but definately felt like it. We did have the waiters comment that they really enjoyed us and that they appreciated having us there. They said when we smiled and talked to them we really meant it....we weren't just treating them like servants. That made me very sad for them....just an FYI for cruisers.....they don't make much and are away from their families for a VERY long time....try to make them feel like family....if only for a week! Sorry, got off on a totally different tangent. Just wanted to explain where my opinion came from better.

[JeffHatfield]

I feel strange posting this on the Carnival board but . . . my favorite Caribbean Cruise was on Celebrity's Galaxy out of Baltimore. It was an eleven day cruise and aside from my cruise to Alaska on Princess . . . it was my favorite.

 

:DLet me ditto that. That was one great cruise. Wish they would bring something like that back.:D

 

As far as the choice between Celebrity and Carnival, Celebrity wins every time, but we have to cruise during the summer since my wife's a teacher and she doesn't like to fly so no X for us.

[tls630]

:) Carnival all the way. We were loyal Celebrity cruisers and when RCCL bought them ou it has been down hill... They do not tkae care of thier ships. They are dirty and run down... The food quality is not as good aaass carnival.. I hate bone in chicken... The service is probably a little better, but not much! The shows are a little better, but give me CARNIVAL ANYDAY.........:)

[ladycaveat]

One of my faves was the 10 day out of Baltimore on Galaxy! I think to categorize all X cruises as stuffy is unfair, as I am as far from stuffy as one gets.

 

I wish more ships would come back to Baltimore. I loved driving to the port in the time it took me to drive to the airport. We were also willing to spend a bit more on the cruise since we werent paying for airfare. Those were the days....

 

I really wish Celebrity would come back to Baltimore . . . I am still friends with so many people I met on that cruise . . . mainly because so many were from Northern Virginia. I've been to weddings, baby showers, Christmas parties and a week at one couple's beach house at Rahobath Beach. But . . . starting in October 2009, Carnival will start cruising out of Baltimore and I'm really looking forward that.

[ladycaveat]

Sorry, I didn't mean to make all of Celebrity seem stuffy. I have only been on one cruise, so I am definately not a spokesperson! We did enjoy Celebrity, but while we were on the ship, I felt more comfortable around the servers and staff than I did fellow cruisers. I think one of the other posters said it is a Country Club atmosphere, and that is exactly how you can put it. My friends and I are definately not stuffy that went on the cruise and we still enjoyed ourselves.....the only thing we dreaded were the dinners in the main restaurant at night. I think we were just seated with some true monsters! The first night we were there, they seated us with some very nice people from Mexico, unfortuneatly, there was a huge language barrier and we asked to be moved because it wasn't very enjoyable to not be able to communicate. The rest of the cruise we spent with a couple that were very policital....and got upset when that we were on a cruise during the primaries. And some teachers...one nice and one not so nice. The not so nice was just that no matter what she was brought complained.....ALOT. So, it truely isn't Celebrity's fault for those things.....it is some of the fellow passengers. I think we were just put into the wrong crowd on the ship. We are NOT white trash, but definately felt like it. We did have the waiters comment that they really enjoyed us and that they appreciated having us there. They said when we smiled and talked to them we really meant it....we weren't just treating them like servants. That made me very sad for them....just an FYI for cruisers.....they don't make much and are away from their families for a VERY long time....try to make them feel like family....if only for a week! Sorry, got off on a totally different tangent. Just wanted to explain where my opinion came from better.

 

I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience on your Celibrity cruise. There are snobs no matter where you go and it's sad that you had to encounter them on your cruise.

[maureenk]

We have sailed 4 times on Celebrity, 1 on Carnival, 1 on RCCL, and 1 on HAL. My favorite is Celebrity. I really prefer the food on Celebrity, and that's kind of an all around statement, not just in the dining room but also in the lunch buffet. There's a certain style and quality to the food and presentation that, while it isn't as perfect as it use to be, is still there and still remarkable to me. More of an edge over the others....not a huge deal but definitely noticeable and preferrable to me. My hub and I aren't at all stuffy and quite opposed to that sort of thing, but we also aren't big partiers either. If anything lends a aura of stuffiness to Celebrity it's the staff, not the patrons. All of staff seem very serious - Very very serious. Our next cruise is on Carnival. Traveling as a family of four, I try to balance ports, cruise line, and cost, particularly since we have high airfare from where we live. That's how we went on HAL last year, and we had a great time on that cruise - great price and great ports. The staff are very very friendly. We enjoyed our previous Carnival cruise a lot. Our only negative that time was that the ship feels a lot more crowded than on Celebrity and HAL, esp on sea days. So, this time we booked a balcony cabin that has an extra large balcony to have more space for ourselves. I think a cruise is a wonderful vacation and I think that the cruises are all very similar, but just with different flavors and slightly different strength's and weaknesses. Just like a land vacation, if you were to stay in two different hotels or resorts. Similar, yet each their own. I hope you have a great time!

[maureenk]

I forget another feature of Celebrity that I really like. That is the decor and the use of wood and subdued colors. I find the atmosphere very nice and appealing........

[tha sista]

I have sailed the itinerary out of san juan of which you inquire. It is an awesome itinerary and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Airfare these days to san juan may be pricey, but if its the ports you are looking for this one is a winner. The victory is a nice ship as well...

[swscruiser]

We've done most of the major large scale lines, and we like Celebrity the best. However, to us, they seemed to price themselves out of the market. Service and food seem to be much better on Celebrity, however we have done the upscale dining rooms on all the lines except Costa and Carnival has the best hands down. Go figure!:) We have also been on the Glory out of Port Canaveral and it is a very nice ship, and had a great time.

 

Our favorite lines in order.

Celebrity

Carnival

Holland America

Royal Caribbean

Princess

Costa

 

Keith