Celebrity vs. The Ultraluxury Lines

[Lois R]

Randy...she may be rich..but hasn't offered anything to me ..so, not sure what good it would do you to be related...we are all girls...no brothers here..you could apply for the job .

I am very happy with Celebrity as well

 

Next up...HORIZON Sept 18th to Bermuda!

 

See My Century and Mercury Pictures at:

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[Giorgi-one]

A number of posts mentioned complimentary wine with dinner on upscale lines. Not really a big deal. At $30 a bottle that only amounts to $210 for a 7 day cruise on Celebrity.

 

Also, somenone mentioned that cooked to order meals on one upscale line were not appreciably better than Celebrity meals. Probably because Celebrity is "almost cooked to order". On our last Celebrity cruise, we had dinner with the Hotel Manager, who essentially is responsible for everything on the ship except steering it. He explained that every course at dinner is scheduled so that the food "comes out of the oven" just when it is needed. Based on experience, they know how many of each item to prepare (with a few extras).

[msiowa]

This thread is very interesting to me because I'm in the process of deciding between RSSC Mariner and Celebrity Summit for Alaska in 2005. The prices aren't yet out (are they??) but judging by 2004 prices, it's fairly close for the accommodations we're considering - a Category H (the lowest) suite on Mariner vs. an Aft 1B or C on Summit.

 

One of the things that I'm tempted by on RSSC is that the ship only holds 700 people. I think that would be an advantage in Alaska - smaller crowds on shore and a ship that can go places larger ships can't.

 

I'm hoping the itineraries and price lists come out soon so I can decide what to do (and get one of those Aft cabins if we decide on Summit). We did Constellation in the Baltic last summer and loved it.

 

Decisions, decisions. Any advice??

 

Joanie

 

Grand Princess (E. Caribbean) 1998

Dawn Princess (S. Caribbean) 2001

Celebrity Constellation (Baltic) 2003

Caribbean Princess (E. Caribbean) 2004

Alaska - ship to be named later - 2005

[wsiegel]

I have had the chance to sail in a Royal Suite on and a Concierge class stateroom on Celebrity, and a standard balcony stateroom on Radisson. I enjoyed both cruiselines and felt that each had its strengths and weaknesses. On all of the cruises, I had my wife and two children with me, and surprisingly, the Radisson program was the most interesting one for my son.

 

I loved the flexibility of dining when and with whom we wanted that Radisson offered, but felt that the food itself was, if anything, less appealing to us than on Celebrity. And, we found that we preferred having the same waiter on Celebrity -- we felt we "bonded" with him more than we were able to do with the staff on Radisson. We had no complaints with the Radisson service in the dining room, but it was simply more distant.

 

We are not drinkers, so the availability of wine with dinner was not a factor. We did enjoy being able to get soft drinks anywhere on the ship without having to pay, but that was a minor factor.

 

It was nice to be on Radisson's Mariner with only about 500 guests; nothing was ever crowded. There have been a few times on Celebrity when the lines were a little bothersome.

 

All in all, they were different experiences, and I would cruise with either line again. I think a lot depends on the various trade-offs.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[sailorbill]

MSIOWA -

 

There are only four ports that cruise ships visit in Alaska other than the embarking/disembarking ports. These are Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Sitka. (Victoria doesn't count because it's in Canada.) To visit other smaller ports and places you have to go to tiny ships like those run by Cruise West - www.cruisewest.com - and others. All the regular cruise ships, small, medium, large and jumbo visit these same ports. Even if you are on a small cruise ship with only 700 passengers, you are likely to end up in port with three to five other ships with 1400 to 2600 passengers each. May and September are less crowded, but expect lots of company from Memorial Day through Labor Day. I'm pretty sure that each port has a website with a calendar showing which ships are visiting each day. The 2005 calendars may not be ready until after the 2004 season is over, October at the earliest. When the calendars are available you could do some research on any cruise you might be interested in to see which other ships would be in port on the same day and then choose the cruise with the least congestion.

 

Bill

[sueclark]

We, so far, have chosen to book Royal Suites on Celebrity for the space and special service. We could sail on a luxury line for the same money but would be in a regular size cabin (maybe with a balcony).

 

All the lines offer the best service and amenities to their top cabins. We enjoy the Butler service and special attention that goes with being in a top suite.

 

Although we do drink, the inclusion of alcoholic beverages in the price really doesn't make any difference - when you've paid $10,000 for a cruise, a $300 bar bill isn't much.

 

One day we probably will try a luxury line, but for the near future we'll stick with our top suites on the premium lines.

 

Sue

 

Grand Princess - Western Caribbean - April 25, 2004

 

Constellation Transatlantic 9/7/04

 

Infinity Panama Canal 4/17/05

[CajunLiner]

It appears that Radisson is the line of choice to those who have considered crossing over to a luxury ship from Celebrity. Why is that? From bits and pieces I have read, I thought that Crystal was most similar to Celebrity...."there is no comparison" notwithstanding.

 

Justin

 

Until Galaxy Panama Canal Cruise

 

[catmand]

Guess we are with Lois on this one, except neither AkaWanda nor I imbibe in the grape

 

We are oceanview and a sometimes balcony people so for us there is no comparison to the premier lines. We are very very happy with Celebrity and Princess and would much rather go on two cruises a year with these lines then one every other year with Crystal.

 

Crystal sails out of our home port, San Francisco but the price of a 10 day cruise on Crystal sailing an inside cabin is $1900.00 more than our Princess balcony cabin. That's a lotta Latte's!! (this is our October cruise)

 

1929: Congrats on your baby....gotta ask, you wrote you went with Celebrity on this cruise because Seaborn does not allow kids under one and Celebrity had the kids program and babysitting? I don't think they take kids under 3 into the program.

 

Star Princess 9/03 Alaska

Celebrity Mercury 3/04 Mexico

Next: Sapphire Princess 10/2/04

Mercury Cruise Pic's 3/13/04

http://community.webshots.com/user/catmand100

[joramrose]

Hey, for what it is worth

I have been on a numberof cruise ships -- large and small.

And for me, it is not the cabin that makes a difference. I go to my cabin only to crash or to change clothes anyway.

 

I have had a great deal on Princess (OK, through my son's work) and several on Cunard's QE2 (through careful shopping) and I love both ships.

 

But I am looking forward to my first cruise on Constellatoin in June because I have heard so much about it. (Even before aIfound these messageboards.)

 

The most fun cruise? It was years ago, on an old Greek shiup in the MZed, tht held only about 350 passengers. It was so overbooked they were about to offload some of us. Finally offered me a buhnk with the crew and I had come this far (I was in Athens at the time) so I grabed it.

Turned out the crew for me was the social director, a taLl classy French girl. She was alittle putout when she found a passenger sharing her cabin, but we both made the best of it and before the cruise was over we were fastfriends. And did I ever have fun!!! My own private gyuide on island excursions -- she had a beauin egery port, too.

 

It was not the cabin -- way down in he hold somewhere, that made that cruise.

 

Then there ws the houseboat in which we bummed around the San Juan Islands. My "cabin" was a bunk in the wall, with a cur tainfor privacy and my closet my bag at the foot. And we had to go ashore each night to shower. No room service, but we got to sit alongside the captaion and helped steer if we wished. It was a great trip.

 

Now who said the worst cruise is still better than the best vacation a land tour can offer? If you are addicted, just the sound of the waves lapping the shore is enough to set you off---

 

 

love

joan

[l929]

catmand,

Thank you! You are 100% correct we cant use the kids program, but what I meant was that Celebrity at least has a children's program v. Seabourne who has nothing. Celebrity has in room babysitting for infants 6 months and up for $8 hour. Crystal also has this, but they were so much more expensive than Celebrity. After reading this thread, I think I got a really good deal on Seabourne last year. Oh well.

 

Holiday 8/89

Festival 8/90

Fantasy 1/91

Tropicale 8/91

Costa ??? 8/92

American Hawaii ??? 8/94

Imagination 8/96

Radiance 3/02

Summit 4/04

 

[scotch_scotch]

My wife and I sail Celebrity and we also do private yachts. Sounds pretty fancy and snobby, eh?; acutally, it is and its not, respectively.

 

Instead of shelling out the extra dough for Crystal, Raddison or Seabourne, look on the web for private yacht charters in the Carribean and Mediterannean. If you can find 6 other couples to go in with you (or more), you can get a really beautiful private yacht with lots of help, wave-runners, scuba diving, true gourmet meals, movies, and the list goes on and on and on. For the best yachts, you are going to need 4-6 other couples and it will run from $400-600 per person per night, but it is SOOOOO incredibly worth it.

 

Also, for a little less, look into the 52'-85' catamaran and tri-marans, which are incredibly smooth and run about $200-400 per person per night.

 

These rates compare very very very well to the luxury liners and the food, wine, service and amenities blow the luxury-liners away. In case you are worried, they are very stable ships. The staterooms may be a bit smaller then what you are used to, but you also have a huge open living room, library, deck areas and you can drive the Ship (and tell them where and when to go and stay).

 

Check it out.

 

Time To Cruise !!! :

[greygypsy]

This is a great thread for us at this time, and it is good to see so many cruise critic friends on this thread with comments, opinions and stories from actual experiences. Last year while booking our annual winter cruise we debated between the Summit and the RSSC Navigator and decided on the Summit in a SS. We had a great time, and decided to rebook on board for next winter with the opposite itinerary (west versus east) in order to get the additional $200 credit. As stockholders of Royal Carib we also get an additional $200 credit, and our TA knocked $200 off the price quoted on the ship (per person).

-

Then we got our tab for other expenses on the last night and -WOW -. I should have known it would be high when a couple drinks each night in the Martini Bar was $21! We even brought much of our own wine on board, and therefore only had corkage fees for 8 of the nights. We are moderate drinkers - we certainly saw plenty of folks imbibing more than us - and very moderate eaters - we enjoy quality, but it's a rare evening when we eat, nonetheless finish, 5 courses. After factoring in that we pulled cash out of the casino for tips, and that we had a $300 cabin credit, our bill was HUGE. We also had pulled out some additional money for a private excursion and our bill was $1500. No gambling, either. This doesn't include the on shore price of the wine, or personal costs on some of the islands.

-

So for us, a comparison to the Radisson Navigator is a reasonable one to make, since the deal we would probably get includes a free shore excursion, up to $500 in cabin credits, wine and cocktails at dinner, liquor in our room, less expensive cocktails in the lounges and NO TIPS. Tips are not cheap in a SS - butler, cabin attendant, head housekeeper, waiter, assistant waiter, asst. maitre-d...and for really good service we tip extra (which we did on the last cruise for our butler and waiter). Plus the rooms are actually larger by 50sf with about the same size balcony on Radisson.

-

For whatever reason, Radisson gets a lot less activity on their board, but overall, they seem a happy bunch, and a few minor glitches from a few years back seem to have been solved.

-

After doing all the math, Radisson is still a tad higher but it is a lot closer than you might think. Now, if you don't drink and don't usually get a suite and don't take excursions, then Celebrity from a price standpoint wins hands down - and you still get great value in terms of service and food compared to the other mainstream carriers.

-

My guess is we will reserve a cabin on RSSC shortly and by November decide which cruise we want to take and cancel the other (it's a no lose situation since we get whichever deposit we don't take back 100%). For some reason, Radisson's deposit is a bit less, also.

-

I'll keep everyone posted on our overall decision making process to assist others in similar situations.

-

Have a great weekend everyone!! Jeff

 

susan and/or jeff

[Jimsgirl]

CajunLiner

 

If you will E Mail me at - rafex1@earthlink.net I will give you my views, have been on Crystal, Seabourn Sun( now with HAL) RCC and of course Celebrity.(also Carnival and Norwegian)

 

My comparisons of these lines would be based on inside cabins or regular "seaview" but no verandahs, suites or butlers.

 

My choice last year Celebriety, and this year I will be doing 3 Celebrity cruises (Jan, next one is May and then the last in October)

 

------

[Chicot]

I have been on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Silversea. We have been in Ocean view, balcony and all sizes of suites (Royal on RCCL, which equals Penthouse on Cel, Royal and Sky, etc.)

 

I don't even think that the greatest deal of the century could get us back on Silversea. It was a bore. We are not really "partiers" but do like festivity.......and there was none. The service was poor (no tips, so why break your neck?), the food no better than Celebrity and some days worse, You could plotz before someone would offer you a drink by the pool. (We had to get them ourselves, it was included, so why push them?)

 

Celebrity is a LOT more bang for our buck in a large suite. Royal Caribbean is our new choice for taking the kids. We were bumped off of the Millennium and ended up on the Voyager. I dreaded it and ended up LOVING it (with the kids). They liked it much better than Celebrity, so from now on, with kids, it's the large RCCL ships.

 

For our next adult only cruise (we really are just doing this with the kids right now, though because we are preferring more land based trips for us), we'll either do another Royal Suite or Penthouse suite on Celebrity or go to Radisson, which I've heard nothing but great things about. My cruise agent says that she is sure that we would really love it.

 

So, bottom line, I believe that Radisson could really be worth it. I assure you that Silversea is NOT!

 

Regards to all,

Chicot

[twinkletoes915]

I didn't see any of the other ships message boards on this website. Where are they?

[catmand]

toes....scroll up to the top of all these posts to the first one on the page, just above that you will see "cruise critic message boards" click on that and you will see all of the topics on cc.......the ship lines have 2 listings.....A-O and P-Z...OR click on the link below to go to the main page.

[url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=cfrm&s=927093444"]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=cfrm&s=927093444[/url]

Star Princess 9/03 Alaska
Celebrity Mercury 3/04 Mexico
Next: Sapphire Princess 10/2/04
Mercury Cruise Pic's 3/13/04
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[Lois R]

Chicot..I am glad you ended up enjoying the Voyager[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Quote:
"You could plotz before someone would offer you a drink by the pool. (We had to get them ourselves, it was included, so why push them?)"

Chicot...that sounds like something my Mom would have said LOL...

Next up...HORIZON Sept 18th to Bermuda!

See My Century and Mercury Pictures at:
[url="http://community.webshots.com/user/lovescruising"]http://community.webshots.com/user/lovescruising[/url]

[kate7047]

I am certainly held back from Radisson, Crystal etc by the age issue and I think Chicot has hit it on the head. While we're not big partiers I, too, like a ship where everyone's not in bed by 11. We've been on some pretty geriatric HAL cruises and wouldn't go back. (I felt like the youngest person on board and I'm 43!) Loved Millenium and will probably book Summit for next summer. But for multi-generational fun, I think RCCL megaships offer the most for kids thru grandparents IF you can tolerate repeatedly cruising the Caribbean. I would like to find out more about the age demographics on the ultraluxury lines before booking, especially with my teen coming along.

Voyager of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Disney Magic, Grand Princess, Volendam, Amsterdam, Zuiderdam, Millenium, Navigator of the Seas

[Guest]

no offense, but I am 34 and sail Silversea for the low key atmosphere and fine food and need to not rush for a deck chair wait in lines at a buffet and overall sail with only hundreds not thousands of people. I think its apples and oranges to compare the Silversea and Sebournes of the world with the Holland Americas and Celebrities. I enjoy both but they offer completely different products, suite or not. Also its not a matter of adding up how many drinks you are having an that should be the difference in fare. Would you do the same for the price difference between a four seasons and a hilton?

[NHcruisers]

Concerning age demographics on luxury lines...

We can't speak first hand for lines other than Crystal and RSSC...

Crystal's average age on most cruises is probably 62 to 64 (older on many cruises) and is very sedate. Age is, as on Celebrity, dependent on length of cruise. It is not a partying crowd.

On RSSC, average age is younger, maybe 52-54, and at night is more lively than Crystal. On our last cruise, there was a large group of us that closed the bar at 2-3:00 AM every morning. But again, it depends on the specific cruise. (We are in our early 50's).

If you are considering a luxury cruise experience for the first time specifically with RSSC, I would recommend staying away from RSSC's Diamond UNLESS you are certain you want a much smaller ship (350 passengers max) and more subdued night life. If you want something closer to Celebrity, than one would be advised to look at Mariner or Voyager (maximum 700 passengers). Having said this, a 2000 passenger ship will almost always have a more active night life than a 700 passenger ship, particularly if single.

Bill

[lorimay]

My parents sail Silversea several times a year. They love everything about it except he entertainment - they like the big, glitzy shows on the mainstream cruiselines better than the small groups and solo entertainers on Silversea.

Last summer they went with us on the Summit. My father wanted to go on a cruise with my family, but obviously with two young boys Silversea was out (they don't prohibit kids but there is nothing for them to do). Crystal was making a push for families and we could have sailed on them, but the cruise was too long (left from San Francisco) plus I was worried there wouldn't be any other kids on board. We ended up on the Summit because his travel agent, who books almost exclusively Silversea, told him it was almost as good and he would like it.

We were in two Celebrity suites. They did not like the bathroom in the bedroom set-up at all, and were pretty unimpressed with the butler (but then our butler Ricky was not the greatest). They liked the food in the Normandy (both said it was better than Silversea) and liked the Waterfall lunch buffets, but felt the dining room food was only so-so. In general they thought the service was excellent - up to par with Silvesea.

Even though it's much more expensive, my dad just loves the fact that alcohol is included in the price of the cruise. They are big martini drinkers and he doesn't want to have to worry about a bar tab. They also feel that they are taken care of on Silversea - there is always one special free excursion and they cater to older travelers. They like open seating much better than fixed seating, and after going on several Silversea cruises they know the staff and many of the repeat passengers.

My sister has gone on two Silversea cruises with them and while she and her husband, in their late 40s, were by far the youngest people on the ship, they really enjoyed the intimate atmosphere. There really isn't much to do, but apparently you get into a routine of dining, relaxing, and playing trivia. Silversea does major discounting - my sister booked a Silversea cruise around New Zealand at 12 days for $4000. She likes the wines - they do regular wine tastings of expensive wines - and really enjoys the true gourmet cuisine. She was even able to have some friends come aboard at one of the ports and have a special multi-course lunch with wine and champagne.

The final conclusion for them is that for the money, Silversea is far superior to the mass market cruise lines and they don't mind spending that money. However, they still do mass market cruises with friends (did a 4-day RCCL cruise in January) and just like to cruise. They did not feel that the Celebrity "premium" was worth it - if they go mass-market they are happy with RCCL or Princess.

lmay

[thesums]

I know this has been said, but I have to say you really can't compare the two. I've found that speciality cruises on both lines tend to be great experiences. I have to say that I'm not really a fan of Celebrity, even though I cruise on it (generally cheaper and has a few ports haven't been to). I do like RCI and Radisson. Both cruises lines satsify me in different ways. Within RCI a Caribbean cruise is different then a baltic cruise. On Radisson, the PG is different than the regular cruises. Those are factors that need to be taken into consideration. If you want a really nice cruise and want something special just once I would recommend PG. (beautiful ship and wonderful atmosphere)