Celebrity Cruises

[jbroons]

What are the major differences between Carnival & Celebrity?? As far as the whole experience goes?

[Casino Player]

What are the major differences between Carnival & Celebrity?? As far as the whole experience goes?

 

I really like both lines. There are differences. Staterooms- Carnvial has larger staterooms for each category.

Food- Carnival offers more food and at more resturants than does Celebrity. Celebrity does not have a buffett for dinner. Celebrity doesn't have 24-hour soft serve ice cream. Carnival has complimentary cappiccino served in the dining room. No other cruise line short of a luxury cruise has that.

Activities- Celebrity does not offer poolside games as does Carnival. No Cornhole games, hairy chest contests, or cannonball diving contests. However, Celebrity is quieter if you wish to read a book, magazine, or just sit quietly and enjoy the passing scenery or catch up on some rest.

Casino- Carnival has a slightly better Casino than does Celebrity. Carnival's Craps table is open longer, but, you could play for larger odds on Celebrity.

Overall experience- Celebrity Cruise line will have an older crowd. They don't make announcements for most things that occur on the cruise. I have enjoyed myself on both lines.

[jbroons]

I really like both lines. There are differences. Staterooms- Carnvial has larger staterooms for each category.

 

Food- Carnival offers more food and at more resturants than does Celebrity. Celebrity does not have a buffett for dinner. Celebrity doesn't have 24-hour soft serve ice cream. Carnival has complimentary cappiccino served in the dining room. No other cruise line short of a luxury cruise has that.

 

Activities- Celebrity does not offer poolside games as does Carnival. No Cornhole games, hairy chest contests, or cannonball diving contests. However, Celebrity is quieter if you wish to read a book, magazine, or just sit quietly and enjoy the passing scenery or catch up on some rest.

 

Casino- Carnival has a slightly better Casino than does Celebrity. Carnival's Craps table is open longer, but, you could play for larger odds on Celebrity.

 

Overall experience- Celebrity Cruise line will have an older crowd. They don't make announcements for most things that occur on the cruise. I have enjoyed myself on both lines.

 

Thank you...great information!!!

[floridacruzin]

No funship Freddy on Celebrity...I think that could kill your experience

[Perfect Stranger]

If I was going on my FIRST cruise in two days I'd be concentrating on that one. ;)

[trock]

What are the major differences between Carnival & Celebrity?? As far as the whole experience goes?

 

 

There are differences... I dont agree with those who say Celebrity has an older crowd as I think it depends on the itinerary..

 

Have been on 5 Celebrity cruises and each one was fantastic.. People of all ages.. Food fantastic, service unbelievable... Ships immaculate!

 

Would I say they "BETTER" than Carnival? No.. different.. They have a different perspective of the cruise experience.. I think Carnival lets you be, very casual laid back, Celebrity is very service oriented... but not in your face.. The dinning room is more of a formal dinning room..

 

There is just as much activity on Celebrity as Carnival.. We always had a blast... But depending on the season and the ports either cruiseline can be pricey or not.. Have to do your research.... and decide what suits your personality better..

:)

[motherchic]

we are going to be cruising on our first Carnival cruise come this August. We are taking our 3 teenage daughters. And looking forward to it very much. Prior ti this I have always sailed Celebrity. I knew it would be a tad too quiet for our girls.

I love the Mellinnium ships.

No announcements but a very complete daily news letter.

No games by the pool BUT ALWAYS room in the pool, hot tubs etc.... There is an enclosed thallo pool. Heated with jets. Very nice. Adults only. They also have "spa" food offered until 8pm there. Very good, more healthy- salmon, curried chicken etc.... tarts.

The buffet is not open for dinner but they do offer pasta station, pizza. Also their is an alternative dining for every evening. No cost- more casual then the didning room.

The dining room offers very nice food. All served in courses. In the evening they have waiters walking around the casino and atriums with trays of little hot appetizers and pastry, very nice. But since I go to the late dining, I am never interested in eating more.

The croissants, pastries, rolls, tarts are all home made on the Celebrity. and they are excellent. On sea days they offer a really nice tea with a selection of about five different finger sandwiches etc... and tons of pastries. This starts about 2pm right after lunch. At the coffee cafe, where you pay for the specialty coffees, they offer free pastries every day. and in the a.m. also. Try the chocolate croissants!

Every where you go the staff is extremely friendly and very polite. I get a ton of "good day madame"'s.

On sea days the waiters pass out homemade sherbet by the pool.No 24 hour soft serve but every day they go offer ice cream for several hours and all the scoop ice cream and sherbets are homemade ( NOT BAD )

When you arrive at the ship you are welcomed with a glass of juice or champagne and a steward will escort to your cabin.

When you are coming back from one of the ports, right outside the ship are cruise personell with juice, cold water and cold, wash clothes to wipe your brow and hands. ( VERY NICE )

We have always had a great roll call and have always had allot of fun at the martini bar etc..... BUT its not a party ship, no games at the pool In my opinion Celebrity does really well with pampering, but it could use more activities.

I am looking forward to trying Carnival. ALways fun to explore a new ship etc...

Just my personal opinion... I have 4 children. I love kids. But when I am on vacation I really enjoy adult companionship. If the children are there and well behaved. Excellent !!

but I dont enjoy running around, yelling etc..... celebrity probably has the least amount of children in respects to Carnival, Princess, and RCCL.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Enjoy your cruise.

Nadine

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We have sailed on Celebrity 3 times, and have a couple more booked.

 

Overall we prefer the food on Carnival. I have found the regular dining room service superior on Carnival as well, despite the reputation of Celebrity.

 

As far as ice cream... yes, Carnival does have the soft serve 24/7... but they don't have fresh "Homemade" ice cream like Celebrity does!!!

 

 

 

Also, the Butler service (in suites) on Celebrity is very nice. Nothing like having a full breakfast delivered and set up on your balcony!!!

 

 

 

 

Tom

[Perfect Stranger]

Carnival has gelato in their cafe that is yummy.

[nfcu]

VERY limited smoking areas on Celebrity.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

VERY limited smoking areas on Celebrity.

 

True - the smoke FREE Casino was GREAT!!!!!

 

Tom

[ausofte]

Honestly, I've loved every cruise line I've cruised for different reasons. I was 18 and 24 when I cruised with Celebrity and found great people near my age on both cruises (although there were fewer on my first, we mostly hung out in the club with the 21-25 year olds.) I don't think it's that much of an older crowd.

 

As an 18 year old, Celebrity was awesome because I got to drink alcohol (and my 17 year old cousin was allowed to with my grandmother's permission.)

 

We did have an easier time finding deck chairs, but never right by the pool, so Celebrity isn't that much better than Carnival on finding chairs.

 

Anyway, I guess my opinion is why not try a variety of cruise lines? They all have different atmospheres and it's fun to experience them. I was very happy with both Celebrity and Carnival (and RCCL for that matter.)

[trock]

we are going to be cruising on our first Carnival cruise come this August. We are taking our 3 teenage daughters. And looking forward to it very much. Prior ti this I have always sailed Celebrity. I knew it would be a tad too quiet for our girls.

I love the Mellinnium ships.

No announcements but a very complete daily news letter.

No games by the pool BUT ALWAYS room in the pool, hot tubs etc.... There is an enclosed thallo pool. Heated with jets. Very nice. Adults only. They also have "spa" food offered until 8pm there. Very good, more healthy- salmon, curried chicken etc.... tarts.

The buffet is not open for dinner but they do offer pasta station, pizza. Also their is an alternative dining for every evening. No cost- more casual then the didning room.

The dining room offers very nice food. All served in courses. In the evening they have waiters walking around the casino and atriums with trays of little hot appetizers and pastry, very nice. But since I go to the late dining, I am never interested in eating more.

The croissants, pastries, rolls, tarts are all home made on the Celebrity. and they are excellent. On sea days they offer a really nice tea with a selection of about five different finger sandwiches etc... and tons of pastries. This starts about 2pm right after lunch. At the coffee cafe, where you pay for the specialty coffees, they offer free pastries every day. and in the a.m. also. Try the chocolate croissants!

Every where you go the staff is extremely friendly and very polite. I get a ton of "good day madame"'s.

On sea days the waiters pass out homemade sherbet by the pool.No 24 hour soft serve but every day they go offer ice cream for several hours and all the scoop ice cream and sherbets are homemade ( NOT BAD )

When you arrive at the ship you are welcomed with a glass of juice or champagne and a steward will escort to your cabin.

When you are coming back from one of the ports, right outside the ship are cruise personell with juice, cold water and cold, wash clothes to wipe your brow and hands. ( VERY NICE )

We have always had a great roll call and have always had allot of fun at the martini bar etc..... BUT its not a party ship, no games at the pool In my opinion Celebrity does really well with pampering, but it could use more activities.

I am looking forward to trying Carnival. ALways fun to explore a new ship etc...

Just my personal opinion... I have 4 children. I love kids. But when I am on vacation I really enjoy adult companionship. If the children are there and well behaved. Excellent !!

but I dont enjoy running around, yelling etc..... celebrity probably has the least amount of children in respects to Carnival, Princess, and RCCL.

Hope this helps a little bit.

Enjoy your cruise.

Nadine

 

5 x cruises and always played games by the pool... strange!

[Riverfrontrobin]

We've been on Celebrity, Carnival, Holland, and Regent in the past and I would definitely say that Celebrity is our favorite. We enjoyed the food and service on Celebrity and the overall look and cleanliness of the ship. They always had something going on around the pool on our Celebrity cruise, but that was four years ago- maybe they stopped.

The nice thing about Carnival is that there is always something to do and people are there to have fun (unlike the HAL ship we were just on). Carnival is very kid friendly and that is why we just booked the Glory in November. There won't be much relaxing, but I know the kids will have a great time.

[cruzmax]

We are in our early 50's and have cruised Royal, Celebrity, then tried Carnival.

We love the Carnival Liberty and Valor, it is a more fun atmosphere, but not over the top.

Tha main thing I miss from Celebrity is the homemade sherbet/sorbet - it is just my favorite thing. I'm not an ice cream fan, but I love their sherbet.

 

The biggest difference I see between Carnival and Celebrity is the dinner presentation (Celebrity is more formal), and the amount of silverware on the table. Celebrity has more staff per guest, but Carnival has enough to make us happy. Royal is in between the two.

 

Carnival's food is very good, and we like the different food stations much better than the other two cruiselines. Give it a try.

[kyrisong1]

Celebrity has: Better buffet by far, excellent breakfast buffet especially.

Longer itineraries (we love that because we figure we

have to fly to any port anyway, might as well take the

time and really enjoy)

Love the Cova Cafe in the morning, fresh baked warm,

melt in your mouth croissants, these are free.

More ambiance, excellent service and things done

with more flair, so to speak.

No waiter dancing in the dining room, except for parade

of baked Alaska.

Excellent pasta bar (great alternative to dining room if you

don't want to get dressed up for dinner. Also as mentioned

alternative dining in buffet area which is casual

Concierge class has great perks including hot breakfast

with white linen on your balcony.

Fruit or cheese plates in your room in the afternoon

Express embarkation.

Thalassotherapy pool!!!! (but the splendor and dream have

these now too and on X this area CAN be crowded)

Large variety of hand dipped ice cream in buffet area in daytime

 

Carnival has:

Really great deals

Nice big rooms

Free cappuccino in the dining room at meals

Much better deserts

More goofy entertainment (which is fun sometimes)

Great kids program

Very good food ( Celebrity does fish most excellent though)

Less stringent dress code for dining room (very few casual

nights, they have formal, and then I forget the wording but

it's def jacket than only a few casuals)

High tea is come as you are, on X it's black tie

Excellent mojitas and awesome Martini bar

 

I think there are pros and cons to both, I like the fact that I can cruise a little more on Carnival because the prices aren't as high, however I love a longer itinerary sometimes too.

The staff seems more consistently good on Celebrity and I know they give good perks to staff that get their names mentioned by guests, because the staff do tend to go over the top in service but really do remind you to write their name down if you liked them.

I think the beef was better on Celebrity (this has been 2 years and 3 years ago) I think they used better grades in the dining room, the specialty restaurant was really better food (foi gras, expensive cheese selection) than Carnival, BUT Carnival supper club is excellent too, and really good enough for us.

We now won't sail on Celebrity till my husband stops smoking because they are extremely restrictive on smoking now. But the good news is cigs will go up another couple bucks in taxes here so maybe he'll quit!!!! :D

All in all Carnival is more laid back, Celebrity is a little more elegant.

I loved many of the activities on X, the napkin folding, wine tasting and educational seminars were really nice.

The piano bar on Constellation was always SRO, and although there were alot of older people on the ones I've been on, I would expect that because they were 12 nights. My husband gets LOTS of vacation from his job and I am a nurse with flex hours so we can do these, but most working people can't.

I do tend to shake my pom poms for Carnival and sometimes I make mean comments about X , mostly cause I was mad that they changed the smoking policy to exclude balconies making it impossible for me to cruise with them till hubby stops smoking :mad:.

But I totally think Celebrity has a great deal to offer too, depending on what you want out of a cruise.

I think the "wear whatever you want to the dining room" crowd would hate X, others will see pros and cons, snobs will think we Carnival folks "undesirables" lol:p;)

I like em both.

Cheers, Carole

[nicole9s]

aww Tom, you just made me so sad! It's almost a year ago that we were on our honeymoon in RS 1041 on the Century with Richard as our butler! Your pic brought back great memories.

 

Celebrity has awesome waffles in the morning at the buffet, a sushi bar every evening, and the Cova pastries are great, esp the almond croissants! The evening activities aren't as lively on Celebrity as they are on Carnival, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you are looking for. It did seem that we ran into very little smoke on our Celebrity cruise, in fact IIRC, they had smoke free evenings, or hours, on the Century in the casino.

 

Having said all that, I would sail on both lines again in a heartbeat.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

aww Tom, you just made me so sad! It's almost a year ago that we were on our honeymoon in RS 1041 on the Century with Richard as our butler! Your pic brought back great memories.

 

Celebrity has awesome waffles in the morning at the buffet, a sushi bar every evening, and the Cova pastries are great, esp the almond croissants! The evening activities aren't as lively on Celebrity as they are on Carnival, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what you are looking for. It did seem that we ran into very little smoke on our Celebrity cruise, in fact IIRC, they had smoke free evenings, or hours, on the Century in the casino.

 

Having said all that, I would sail on both lines again in a heartbeat.

 

Yep - that was Richard!! He was SUPER - bringing Cheryl shrimp cocktail every afternoon... :D

 

Tom

[KingofSomewhereHot]

I really like both lines. There are differences. Staterooms- Carnvial has larger staterooms for each category.

 

Food- Carnival offers more food and at more resturants than does Celebrity. Celebrity does not have a buffett for dinner. Celebrity doesn't have 24-hour soft serve ice cream. Carnival has complimentary cappiccino served in the dining room. No other cruise line short of a luxury cruise has that.

 

Activities- Celebrity does not offer poolside games as does Carnival. No Cornhole games, hairy chest contests, or cannonball diving contests. However, Celebrity is quieter if you wish to read a book, magazine, or just sit quietly and enjoy the passing scenery or catch up on some rest.

 

Casino- Carnival has a slightly better Casino than does Celebrity. Carnival's Craps table is open longer, but, you could play for larger odds on Celebrity.

 

Overall experience- Celebrity Cruise line will have an older crowd. They don't make announcements for most things that occur on the cruise. I have enjoyed myself on both lines.

 

 

I hope Carnival doesn't do THIS by the pool on MY cruise!:eek:

[motherchic]

I hope Carnival doesn't do THIS by the pool on MY cruise!:eek:

 

The game of cornhole is very popular here in Cincinnati. We were going to have a big 4th of July party so my husband was going to make the boards and I wanted to look up the rules. Soooo I googled "cornhole" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kyrisong1]

The game of cornhole is very popular here in Cincinnati. We were going to have a big 4th of July party so my husband was going to make the boards and I wanted to look up the rules. Soooo I googled "cornhole" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROFLMAO yeah google is often "educational" like that:p

[Casino Player]

I hope Carnival doesn't do THIS by the pool on MY cruise!:eek:

 

 

No they won't. Cornhole is usually played in the lobby. The bean bags might easily go over the side of the ship so they don't play it on an open deck.