Early 40s first time X – our perspective

Celebrity Silhouette 1/3 – 1/10 2016. Myself 41, DH 44. Normally sail on Carnival and have enjoyed every one. This won’t be a detailed review, more of a comparison between the 2 lines with little review thrown in. The below statements are my opinion, and could be different for everyone, so please consider that before bashing me. I’m sharing my opinion for anyone else who might be questioning the difference between the 2 lines like I was.

Overall, we have decided we won’t cruise Celebrity again, just not our kind of cruise. We are laid back & like to have fun, Celebrity seemed just a little too stuffy for us, but to each his own. I’m definitely not bashing Celebrity, we had a great vacation, met some really great people and I would never complain over a cruise.

Embarkation / Debarkation

Toss up.

Embarkation was a breeze on Celebrity, got to the terminal at 11, immediately checked in & on the ship at 11:20, fastest ever!! On Carnival we’ve sat in the holding room in the terminal for at least an hour every time. This could be a terminal thing, our first time out of Pt Everglades.

Debarkation is better on Carnival, at least self-assist is. On Celebrity we waited for them to call self assist & get to the atrium where there were tons of people with way too much luggage that they couldn’t handle on their own. Then once off the ship we had to walk down a VERY LONG walkway to get in a massive line for Customs, maybe this is the terminal’s fault, but you would think they could have let us off AFT vs FWD. Never had anything like it on Carnival.

Price

Not really fair to compare, DH gets a great discount on Carnival through his work. Chose this cruise because of a gift certificate award from my work and was eager to try something new.

Appearance

Celebrity wins, ship was beautiful, stateroom was large, bathrooms blow Carnival away, plenty of storage. Only complaint here was in the smoking areas (yes we smoke). Celebrity never cleaned the ashtrays unless we asked, and even saw one of the standing containers on fire. I mentioned it to a server & he didn’t know what to do, I had to tell him to pour water in it. Carnival has buckets in smoking areas so we can empty our own ashtrays if needed.

Our room was very well kept and we had great Stewards.

Food

Quality – Celebrity was just a little better, but Carnival is great too.

Variety – in the buffet, Carnival wins hands down, Celebrity had the same thing every day for lunch & dinner, only things that really changed were the Carving Station, some of the sides & desserts. Only did the dining room twice, would rate them the same.

Bacon (who doesn’t love Bacon?) – Celebrity wins. I add this because Carnival has a bad rep over “Bacon Police” where the servers hand you bacon & sometimes give you a hard time when you ask for extra. Celebrity lets you get your own.

Specialty Dining – Not something we normally do, but decided on the Lawn Club Grill because it’s advertised that they let you help prepare the meal, wasn’t offered when we went. It was good, but not worth the extra cost IMO.

Drinks

Drink Package – Celebrity wins, not everyone in the room has to get it & no restrictions on the limit of drinks per day like Carnival does. Only complaint here, DH doesn’t drink very much so he didn’t get the package, but by Friday he decided he wanted it. They wouldn’t let him get it w/ out backdating it 2 days even though he had already bought a few drinks those days (we aren’t cheaters so he didn’t get drinks on my card).

Quality – Carnival wins, on Celebrity every drink was different depending on the bartender who made it, no consistency. And some were so strong they were undrinkable.

Activities

Carnival wins hands down!! Celebrity was actually pretty boring, not a lot going on. The Pool area was dead every night at 7 pm. Even the pool bar closed at 8. Carnival always had activities or live music on the Lido. I guess most of the Celebrity guests were more interested in getting dressed & going to dinner & a show than we are. We did go to one show for a bit & left early

Passengers

Added this topic to point out a few things.

First, not a lot of kids as opposed to Carnival. We don’t mind kids, never had a problem, so this doesn’t matter to us one way or the other, just calling it out in case others are interested.

Second, and this one really bugged me the whole time!!! Some people were so rude. Obviously I can’t blame that on Celebrity, but maybe because the prices are higher people feel like they are entitled somehow? Really, people would constantly cut in line for food or jump in the elevator as soon as it opened even if you were already standing there. And then when they were in the elevator, they wouldn’t move to the back to let others on. Got to the point where at least once a day I had to ask people to move to the back so we could get on.

All in all we did enjoy the cruise. Glad to say we tried something different.

Happy to answer any questions you have on anything I didn't cover.

Great review, you know what if I was 40 I think I would sail Carnival 👍🏻😜😜👍🏻🍷🍸

Thank you for the comparison! Very informative!!!

Thank you so much for taking the time to review. I appreciate the comparison because Carnival tends to get a bad wrap. We are Platinum on Carnival, and they put out a good product, imo.

Lately we have been cruising Celebrity and we love it. Our most recent cruise was in December, with an upcoming TA in April. It is now our cruise line of choice, and I doubt we will return to Carnival. I am 53, dh, 67. We prefer the quiet elegance that we think Celebrity delivers. We mainly cruise insides/outsides, so we feel at this price point we get an excellent product with Celebrity.

Thanks again for the review.

Marie

Thanks for review.

It read about how I expected it to...X is much more sedate than Carnival...

I don't know how to fix the buffet jumping in line problem, but I find myself doing that and it is really hit and miss.

The way the area is set up, if you only want one thing from each station, I try to find a break in the line and just jump in and grab what I want and leave...vs getting in line.

Sometimes the lines go both ways on the same station.

We've never sailed Carnival before, but I had to chuckle at the 15 drink daily limit when I heard about it recently.

Is it a cost saving measure or to keep passengers from drinking themselves to death?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Interesting perspective and thank you for adding it.

Must admit reading here, I had assumed Carnival was a bit of a bun fight, but sounds like much the same as Celebrity is going to be, albeit better dressed in gowns and tux's :)

Once again, thank you for sharing your opinion on your holiday and sounds like you still had a great time.

Thanks for the review. It's always good to see a cruise through someone else's eyes.

BTW - I love that it's quieter at night and there aren't a ton of activities going on. I don't need to be entertained but I understand others do. Glad you found where you belong. You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. ;)

"If it makes you happy... then no-one else's opinion matters"

Isn't this what makes us all different... thanks for the review. But I have to say, I have only been on RC and now a total Celebrity baby... couldn't see me changing, albeit, I have to agree, manners seem to be a thing some people leave in the bucket on the gang plank on the way onto the ship... maybe they collect them on the way off.... but IMHO....Why so rude?

Thanks again and happy cruising x

Thank you so much for taking the time to review. I appreciate the comparison because Carnival tends to get a bad wrap. We are Platinum on Carnival, and they put out a good product, imo.

 

 

 

Lately we have been cruising Celebrity and we love it. Our most recent cruise was in December, with an upcoming TA in April. It is now our cruise line of choice, and I doubt we will return to Carnival. I am 53, dh, 67. We prefer the quiet elegance that we think Celebrity delivers. We mainly cruise insides/outsides, so we feel at this price point we get an excellent product with Celebrity.

 

 

 

Thanks again for the review.

 

 

 

 

 

Marie

Sounds like us. We are going on Carnival w/ family this weekend. Have no other Carnival cruises booked, we do have 2 Celebrity booked. It just fits us better now. Glad there are choices for all out there.

Nice to hear some thoughts about comparing... great job...

Yes the Elevator game got to love it.

Have to agree with a good number of points. like in life those are the people who must exit off a ramp in full traffic from the LEFT lane no stress for them in the world.

Great review, you know what if I was 40 I think I would sail Carnival

We are in our 30s, and Celebrity is plenty active for us. In fact, we are some of the ones who get a little put off by the loud pool music in the day lol :eek:

To the OP, great review and thanks for taking the time to do a comparison. Totally agree about the lack of variety in the buffet. We are Celebrity devotees, but are moving away from them for higher-end lines now. It's always interesting to read what newbies to Celebrity think. Happy sailing!

Michael

Thank you for the review. My DW (39) and I (40) just booked the Celebrity Reflection for April 2017. We have sailed once on Royal and NCL each. I sailed Carnival in 2003.

I have loved every cruise that I have been on and I am looking forward to trying Celebrity. Our most recent cruise was on the Getaway this post October and loved the service and food. We originally had booked Royal's Harmony of the seas for this cruise but decided that we would get a better value going with Celebrity.

Thanks for your review - it wasn't bad and was very honest! We'll be on her for our first X cruise next week (10 under RC) so it was nice to hear your perspective.

As for rude people, I'm hoping that's not the case on our cruise - I detest people that act entitled (maybe it's because I see it so often these days).

Looking forward to our cruise and Thanks Again!:)

....and this is the reason there are differenct cruise lines with different "flavors".

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Last Celebrity cruise we were on we had dinner with a couple who were on a back to back. They had cruised Carnival first and were finishing up their vacation on Celebirty. They loved Carnival....Celebrity not so much.

I am the opposite you just never know.

Thanks for your review - it wasn't bad and was very honest! We'll be on her for our first X cruise next week (10 under RC) so it was nice to hear your perspective.

 

As for rude people, I'm hoping that's not the case on our cruise - I detest people that act entitled (maybe it's because I see it so often these days).

 

Looking forward to our cruise and Thanks Again!:)

Which ship are you sailing? And will you post a review?

Thank you for your review/trip report.

Keith

jen&samcantwait , good review. Everyone's opinion counts and yours is on point.

Although I have never been on Carnival, I do agree with Celebrity becoming a dead zone after 8 PM. So many wonderful spaces all empty.

I also agree with your take on passengers. Some very rude people, in the elevator lines and in the buffet particularly. It may be an age thing but, old people being rude to other old people is almost comedic, and I am a retiree :)

Anyway, thanks for your perspective. I have only cruised Celebrity and perhaps it is time to spread my wings?

Interesting review. I thought your perspective was very interesting. It shows to me that different cruise lines are geared for different people.

DH,DS and I have been on both Celebrity and Carnival and are a bit older than you are. While I disagree on food, I think Celebrity is much much better, that is a very subjective thing and everyone likes different things.

On entertainment, I think Carnival has some really great things and I absolutely love their games. Celebrity's entertainment, IMHO, while geared for a different demographic, is not as good. I think it is something that Celebrity should rethink, especially if they are trying for a younger demographic. Louder music is not the way to fix this issue.

I agree about the drinks. While I like Celebrity a lot, it seems that every bartender makes drinks differently. We try to find someone who makes what we like and go there. We have found this to be true even with nonalcoholic mixed drinks. Last cruise, one bartender said she did not even know what we were asking for - even though the drink was on the printed menu. The other bartender at the same bar knew what it was. Strange, but something we just work around.

I enjoy Carnival and would cruise it again. DH and DS, would rather not.

Ohiodoglover

Excellent review and "spot on" about the elevators. We take the stairs at every opportunity. Perhaps it's a big city versus smaller city thing with the elevators. There is a definite elevator etiquette practiced in big cities.

Loved your review! Even though Celebrity is our favorite, we wouldn't balk at being on Carnival or any other line, for that matter. There are rude / entitled and wonderful people on each line. The big difference, I think, are the number of children onboard.

Thanks so much for your candid review and comparison to Carnival. We are going on Celebrity cruise soon, having gone on Celebrity only one other time about 20 yrs ago. In meantime we have cruised Carnival and have always been happy. I am anxious to make my own comparison. One reason we especially like cruising, in general, is the option to partake or not to partake in the on-board activities. Everyone can do what they like and be happy. From what I have read, I am sure to pack an extra book and crossword puzzles, just in case. I have never been on a cruise I didn't like. :)

We are in our 30s, and Celebrity is plenty active for us. In fact, we are some of the ones who get a little put off by the loud pool music in the day lol :eek:

 

To the OP, great review and thanks for taking the time to do a comparison. Totally agree about the lack of variety in the buffet. We are Celebrity devotees, but are moving away from them for higher-end lines now. It's always interesting to read what newbies to Celebrity think. Happy sailing!

 

 

Michael

Michael:

Please do at sometime a comparison between the upcoming luxury cruise lines you will be sailing versus Suite Class aboard X.

Be curious to know what your thoughts and experiences are.

We did AZ 3 years ago and weren't all that impressed. Really love the solstice class ships, feel right at home.

Thanks,

Thank you for your review...I was glad to hear of your good experiences on Carnival. We always hear bad things, but I'm going to give them a try next year I think.

We're a "mixed" marriage personality-wise :D DH is more the Carnival extrovert personality who loves upbeat music and activities and I'm more the quiet introvert X person. But the lack of energy/nightlife in the evenings is the one thing even I wish I could change about X.. It was so dead in the clubs every night on our one X cruise to date - and I was actually on a 5-day western Caribbean cruise out of FLL which is supposed to draw a younger, more active group.

My only hesitation in trying Carnival is the concern that there will be a ton more kids. Truthfully, I'm fine with a ship full of kids if parents and/or crew keep things in reasonably good control. But I hear that's often not the case.

Totally agree with you we did X once and never again.