Want to try Celebrity

We have been on seven straight cruises with NCL and are first cruise was with Holland America. We have a eight NCL cruise coming up in March on the Spirit. We would like any recent feed back about Celebrity from NCL cruisers who have tried Celebrity. This is my first post, Thanks

We are sailing for the first time on Breakaway with our children and grandchildren. We have always sailed on Celebrity and just recently in Europe. We love the food in the MDR and the specialty restaurants and have found it to be most relaxing. Would highly recommend if you are not in your 20's or 30's and looking for a party. Most cruises we did were during months when children were in school. If you sail during those times I am sure it is quite different. If we had any issue, which were always minor, they were handled quickly. One time I received a coupon for a free dinner but I had already eaten there the day before. The manager adjusted the $20 fee off of our account immediately. I am sure our family cruise on Breakaway will be quite different but all will have lots of fun.

If you have any questions about drink package or cabin or anything really, let me know.

Do you enjoy "freestyle" dining on NCL? I do enjoy getting to know our waiter and knowing we will not have to wait for a table. It should be interesting to see how this next cruise in April goes with 11 people.

It's always nice to try a different cruise line. You might find that you like it better or the same or it might make you appreciate NCL even more. Celebrity is more upscale than NCL.

Keith

We have cruise Disney, RCCL, Carnival, NCL and Celebrity.

Of all the lines we enjoyed Celebrity the least.

To me there is no such thing as a "bad cruise", but we found the shows on Celebrity to be pretty poor and not entertaining at all. The MDR food was much better than NCL, but not as good as a specialty on NCL.

We are in are early fifty's and do not party, We just like to cruise for are vacations. We also like the freestyle dining.

My wife and I just cruised Celebrity over Thanksgiving. First time on Celebrity. Last time on Celebrity.

Too sedate during the day on sea days. Most items to do are sales seminars (booze, beer, future cruises, ship store sales, etc.). The glass blowing seminars given on our ship (Equinox) (not all ships have them) was nice, but too long.

I know food is subjective, but eating in the MDR, we found the food bland or over/under cooked. Our table mates, who have sailed Celebrity numerous times, found the food the same way.

I am in my mid 50's.

We are Elite with Celebrity and it is by far our favourite cruise line. We do, however, change things up and try other lines. We're booked on the Breakaway in May to Bermuda. Only our second NCL cruise in 12 years! We're not concerned about differences....we just take what we get and make the most of it. Usually, we're not disappointed and enjoy our cruise despite any glitches.

The no smoking policy on Celebrity is a big plus for us. Love the casino, but I hate the smell of stale smoke found in casinos that allow smoking.

The food on Celebrity is really very good and we've never had a complaint. Speciality restaurants are a bit pricey on Celebrity.

The S class ships are beautiful! M class are lovely, but a tad dated.

You cannot go wrong with Celebrity IMHO.

We have gone on 9 cruises -- all NCL. We love the free style concept and have enjoyed the cruises very much. The biggest negative for us is the smoke in the casino. Celebrity's no-smoking policy looks very attractive. Hopefully NCL will make some changes in the future. We had seen a thread saying NCL was going to retrofit the Escape casino to enclose the smoking portion, but we saw no signs of it on our December 12 cruise. Feel sorry for the casino workers who have to endure long hours jeopardizing their health.

We have been on seven straight cruises with NCL and are first cruise was with Holland America. We have a eight NCL cruise coming up in March on the Spirit. We would like any recent feed back about Celebrity from NCL cruisers who have tried Celebrity. This is my first post, Thanks

Celebrity is a different experience. You can do fixed dining or select dining (go anytime you want). The passengers seem to dress up more, especially at dinner - even though Celebrity has gotten away from the formal nights and now have evening chic. The food in the dining room is much, much better than on NCL. Celebrity's buffet was better then the one on my December Dawn cruise, but not as good as on my cruises on the Jewel and Pearl, sans the pasta station that is excellent on Celebrity. Celebrity's casino is non smoking which is awesome and I hope NCL makes that change as well. In the daytime, it is a little more laid back than NCL; many Celebrity cruisers on Cruise Critic have complained about the loudness of the music, something I don't agree with. The entertainment is far better on NCL, as is really anything after 10:00pm. Be for warned, however, many of the old time Celebrity cruisers are having the same complaints about them, as some do on here about NCL....too many changes coming at the same time and it is not the Celebrity of old.

Saying all this, I love Celebrity, it is a great cruise line and I've never had a bad experience on the line, but I also (like with NCL) don't let little things bother me. I think that a cruise or any vacation for that matter, is what you make out of it; if you go around looking for issues, then you are going to find them and probably have a lot to complain about and a lousy vacation.

I've cruised four times with celebrity, and once with ncl on the breakaway. To me, the lines have a different vibe. Ncl is more fun and busy. Celebrity is more relaxed and upscale. We found the nightlife on ncl to be far more exciting. We loved the comedy club, the dueling piano bar, and the rock of ages show on the breakaway. I haven't done the older ncl ships to know if their entertainment is as good. I don't think we were in bed before midnight a single night on our ncl cruise! On celebrity, there's shows and music acts, but in general a more sedate vibe. The late night action can generally be found in the casino or at the martini bar.

I find celebrity to be more luxurious. The food is noticeably different. In the main dining room in celebrity, you can get duck, lamb, and lobster, all things that I only ever found in the pay extra restaurants on ncl. In the buffet, I enjoyed my feta chese, ham, and asparagus omelet each morning on celebrity; ncl had neither feta or asparagus, and the "cheddar" cheese they used tasted a whole lot like velveta processed cheese. We didn't starve on ncl, but when looking at future cruises, I will figure in the cost of speciality restaurants on ncl as I felt like those delivered the same quality food as celebrity's mdr.

I also love on celebrity that there are indoor pools open to everyone. On the older ships they are more of a spa pool with jets, while on the newer ships they are just regular pools in a beautiful solarium. I was lucky enough to have good weather for my ncl cruise, but really wondered what I would do all day if it was raining and couldn't go to the pool!

I would sail either line again (still preferring celebrity, but ncl is often cheaper).

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I concur with what is posted.

If you are a foodie (but don't want to spend extra on specialty restaurants) and want a more upscale luxury laid back experience, go with Celebrity.

If you want more action and one of the best entertainment on a cruise ship, go with NCL.

We are elite with Celebrity and Platinum with NCL. We enjoy both lines, but prefer Celebrity.

The food is better on Celebrity and service is more consistently good as well.

Entertainment is slightly better on NCL.

We enjoy NCL also but want to try another cruise line. From what I have read on Cruise critic Celebrity sounds like a good fit for us so far.

We just did two weeks on celebrity in oct/Nov. It was okay. The food was really boring... every night the main choices were steak, salmon, and maybe a couple other plain-ish dishes. Nothing exciting and the preparation and service was inconsistant. Shows were bad. Trivia and game shows were good to great. Too many boring seminars trying to sell us stuff. Not many fun events going on the Lido. If you just want to hang in a deck chair by the pool and don't care about activities then you should be fine.

I went on a short four-day cruise to the Bahamas and Key West at the end of March this year on board the Celebrity Constellation. I will preface this with I am a very easygoing guy that is easy to please. I likely would never go on another Celebrity cruise again. I had problems with the company from the start and my cruise wasn't that great, although some Celebrity enthusiasts told me shorter cruises are not the best way to experience their product.

When I originally booked the cruise, I placed a courtesy hold for 24 hours to ensure my partner at the time was really committed to go. Placing a courtesy hold on the cruise locks in that pricing. Within the 24-hour window, I booked he cruise, but I was given a price about $300 more than what my hold was for. I called them and the customer service representative fell just short of calling me a liar. He kept saying, "This can't be possible," and that I have to be mistaken. He booked my cruise, but upon my card being charged, he still overcharged me by about $100. I called back and basically got an apology. Since they weren't willing to change the amount I was charged, my partner and I wanted to upgrade our room and pay the difference. They said they could do that, but I would lose my perks, despite the promotion still going on, because we were beyond final payment... I'll note this was within 48 hours of booking my original cruise. I actually had to come on here and complain in order to get someone to look into my problem. Someone from their "executive team" contacted me. She did end up giving me onboard credit equal to what I lost, a bottle of wine and a free meal at a speciality restaurant of my choosing. I ended up getting charged for the restaurant and had to call afterwards to get reimbursed for that.

Upon boarding the cruise, we were immediately hounded about buying drink packages. This seemed endless and was very pushy. While going to our muster drill, a staff member told my partner and I to walk to the other side of the ship to clear up space on the stairways. We were stopped by a steward that told us to turn around and go back. I refused to do so and walked past him, letting him know we were told to go that way. At the muster drill, the captain came over the loud speaker and announced the various rules passengers were expected to follow, including dress codes. I knew and understood there was a dress code on the ship, but I was missing NCL's laid back attitude. This was my vacation after all, and I should be able to dress and act how I see fit, within reason of course.

One thing I love about NCL is the freestyle cruising. I loved being able to eat whenever I wanted. We had anytime dining on Celebrity. Our first night we waited almost an hour to be seated. When we went to check what the holdup was, we were told that they had forgotten about us. My partner requested a manager and when he came over, the manager seemed more interested in other things than hearing our concern. He kept looking away from my partner. He said, "Oh, sorry. What is your cabin number?" and then left without another comment. We had a wait for dinner every night.

The food was OK for the most part. Nothing spectacular by any means. The entertainment was mediocre to poor. The only show I enjoyed was a comedian the first night. We, along with many other people, actually walked out of another show. The ventriloquist was not funny, or entertaining and was degrading audience members instead of being playful as most people jokingly criticizing passengers are.

They were also having a half-charter, which I only knew from this site, so some of the venues were closed to us at times. We usually spent time in the Thalassotherapy indoor pool area before dinner, which was an adults-only area. We were told we had to leave at one point, because the area was being closed for a private charter party.

Our shower rarely had cold water and the water pressure was terrible.

In the end, the ship was OK and Key West was really nice. I didn't do any excursions with the ship, though. I really missed the laid back feel of NCL. I felt Celebrity was a little to stuffy for me, and I do like finer things in life. I'd say Celebrity is more regimented compared to NCL.

I've cruised mostly on NCL, and twice on Celebrity. I enjoy both. I kept hearing people talk about Celebrity being more upscale, so I was half way expecting a bunch of snobs. That is not what I encountered, though. People were nice and I did not notice any more people complaining about others not conforming to their views of the rules than on NCL.

If you are a wine drinker, Celebrity will be a treat, as they employ a number of sommeliers to serve wine during dinner, so you don't have to wait as long for a glass of wine as you might from the waiter on NCL. Also, the specialty coffees are far superior to those on NCL. When I last cruised on Celebrity, which was in 2012, the specialty coffees were included in the drinks package, as was bottled water and fresh squeezed juices. This is also a difference from NCL. We were served the largest lobster tails I've ever seen in the main dining room on Celebrity.

I had excellent experiences on the two Celebrity ships, and would book another in a minute if the price and itinerary were right. I'm sure you will enjoy.

We enjoyed the Equinox, not so much the Summit. I do plan to go on Celebrity's Solstice-class ships again. They're lovely. Very similar cabins to the Breakaway.

I've found it best to try the various cruise lines out for myself. We have not had a bad cruise yet!

I've cruised on Celebrity 3 different times, the most recent being on Eclipse where we had a helicopter med evacuation and simultaneous unrelated man overboard on the last night of the cruise - the odds on that happening must be astronomical but it did. The ships I have been on were the now retired Galaxy, Millennium and the last one - the Eclipse. This is a quieter more refined type of cruise.

The decor on the newer ships (Solstice Class) is beige and mauve. Even in the year these ships debuted, it looked dated to me, particularly the fabric chosen for draperies. The bathrooms have faux vessel sinks with way too big faucets that make it hard to wash your face. The showers are small in comparison to other ships I've been on and don't have hand held shower heads. Given the small size of the shower and the lack of a hand held shower head, getting showered and rinsed off is not the easiest. The toilet is wedged between the sink and shower. They say these bathrooms were designed by a committee of women. Apparently none of them knew anything about space planning or practicality. Their main contribution seems to be a bar for putting your foot on while you shave your legs (I guess they were unaware that laser hair removal has been the trend for some years now) and a tower cabinet to one side to hold your stuff. The cabins are beige and mauve with a stiff and uncomfortable cream colored sofa and a small oval table. The sliding closet doors seemed unusually thin and of poor quality already showing signs of damage.

The dining on Celebrity is more traditional with a MDR serving food that is generally better than all of the other mass market cruise lines. Service includes a waiter and second waiter and a wine steward. The buffet is also very nice and it is typical to find different kinds of sushi up there every day along with other things you don't see on other ships for free. The specialty restaurants are good, but generally not as full as on NCL or other lines. This is because the dining room food is so good that most people don't particularly feel the need to go to a specialty restaurant.

The entertainment is traditional cruise ship entertainment. A comedian one night, and musical and dance shows performed by the cruise ship's young performers are mostly an opportunity to see attractive young people in pretty costumes.

Our last cruise on the Eclipse was in the Med for 13 days round trip Southampton. At age 50 and 51, we were among the youngest on the ship and got special attention from the crew because of this - yes, I'm serious - they acted really happy to be around younger people. LOL! In the Caribbean there is more of a mix of ages on Celebrity. At every port, there would be several ambulances waiting to take off unlucky passengers (all elderly) who had gotten hurt or sick or died during the cruise. Since the cruise was predominately British, the casino was a ghost town. They did show a couple of movies in a lounge on a sea day and we went to those. Other than that, the entertainment was going to the martini bar where the bartenders put on a fun show making 20 martinis at a time and doing various tricks with bottles. We also enjoyed wine tasting in the wine bar. During sea days I hung out in the tea shop and watched as passengers berated the girl at the gelato station because the gelato was not free. This happened all the time. I felt sorry for her and was amazed at how she just continued to be polite day in and day out to all the nasty people who acted like it was her fault the gelato was not included when all they had to do was go up to the buffet where there is a huge hand scooped ice cream station that is free.

Up on the top deck was a lawn that was little used and they had a glass blowing demonstration and a tiny glass blowing museum. Once in a while you might see someone playing bocce ball up there, but otherwise, it seemed to be a waste of space. I understand this area has since been partially repurposed during a dry dock.

I went to the pool deck after breakfast one day thinking I might sit by the pool and read and was astounded to see hundreds of people over the age of 70 sunbathing! Who knew the elderly like to sunbathe so much? Needless to say it was not the most inspiring sight and any thought I had of hanging out by the pool went away immediately.

One afternoon, I took my IPAD and got into a square hammock to read my book. Everything was great until I went to get out and found it almost impossible to get out of the hammock. I was laughing as it was so ridiculous. Eventually I pulled myself out of there. Luckily there was no one near by to witness the ungainly way I managed to extricate myself from this contraption! On the Galaxy, there had been a thalisotherapy pool in the spa, but there is nothing like that on the Eclipse, so I never used the spa at all. The gym is located at the front of the ship near the spa. It has the usual equipment but I found the movement of the ship made it hard for me to use it and I got queasy and had to get more midship.

During one sea day, I was sitting in the tea shop and the cruise kids (entertainers) came out in fancy costumes and did a dance number on the central stairwell. I think it was meant to be a preview of that night's show. On another day, there was a towel animal folding demonstration. Sometimes a band would setup in the atrium and play for an hour or so.

Since it was a Med cruise and most days were spent off the ship when we got back onboard, we were tired and just wanted dinner and bed, so we didn't mind that there was not all that much to do onboard. Had this been a different kind of cruise, I don't think I would have enjoyed the ship that much as I like to go to the casino and shows and have lots of options of things to do. I especially love the spa on the newer NCL ships and that has been my major hangout during the day, so not having that on Celebrity Solstice class was very disappointing.

In the evenings, there really was not much to do and the ship seemed to be a ghost town by 10pm.

So what I would say about Celebrity is that their great weakness is entertainment. Their strength is food. The cabins are so-so unless you are in a suite. If you are looking for a quieter style of cruise with really good food, this would be it.

I would choose Celebrity for a Med cruise or other port intensive cruise if the itinerary and price were good and nowadays I would probably choose a suite to get a better bathroom. But I wouldn't go out of my way to sail on Celebrity when other lines offer much more entertainment and are more exciting in the Caribbean.

I think the line that is most similar to NCL is RCCL. In fact, these two companies are direct competitors. I would suggest trying RCCL's Oasis, Allure or Harmony if you are looking for a different cruise with great entertainment. Certainly the RCCL Oasis Class ships are amazing and very different to NCL but at the same time, similar enough in how active a cruise it is and how much there is do and see onboard with lots of specialty restaurants that you won't have time to do it all much less be bored. Our first cruise on Oasis, my husband and I got off and looked at each other and said "Let's do that again!" It's that kind of wonderful!

Thanks suite traveler, Will have to check RCCL.

We are Elite with Celebrity and it is by far our favourite cruise line. We do, however, change things up and try other lines. We're booked on the Breakaway in May to Bermuda. Only our second NCL cruise in 12 years! We're not concerned about differences....we just take what we get and make the most of it. Usually, we're not disappointed and enjoy our cruise despite any glitches.

 

 

 

The no smoking policy on Celebrity is a big plus for us. Love the casino, but I hate the smell of stale smoke found in casinos that allow smoking.

 

 

 

The food on Celebrity is really very good and we've never had a complaint. Speciality restaurants are a bit pricey on Celebrity.

 

 

 

The S class ships are beautiful! M class are lovely, but a tad dated.

 

 

 

You cannot go wrong with Celebrity IMHO.

On the BA may I offer this advice....

Be prepared to be shocked at the location of the casino and the smoke that permeates it and the atrium decks above and below it.

I've cruised mostly on RCL. We're not necessarily die hard RCL fans but I always seem to default to RCL. I have only sailed Celebrity once but I did like it a lot. There is definitely a different feel than even an RCL ship. As others said, it is a more subdued experience, the clientele is a bit older and more upscale, and it's far less family-centric than RCL or NCL. Nightlife can be a bit lacking. We usually over do it during the day and go to bed fairly early anyway.

I would agree that even on the S class ships the interior looks dated. I'm sure it's very well kept but it does look tired. The new NCL ships are far ahead when it comes to a more modern design. Considering the first S class ship sailed in '08...the interior design was likely developed in the early/mid 00's...so it's not exactly fresh at this point.

Granted I've only had a 7 day experience with X, but I don't think the CC forum is indicative of the typical X cruiser. When I read those threads I can't help but to think the typical poster is one of the older passengers who is holding on to the idea of yesterday's cruising. I think X continues to appeal to a younger demographic who aren't looking for a super family friendly environment but don't want the party of a Carnival ship either. I have two friends in their mid 30's who cruise X almost exclusively and they say they never feel like the 'youngsters' on a Caribbean cruise. Go for a Med route or a 7+ day trip and and I'm sure the average age increases a lot.

We sail the Escape in a few weeks and I'm excited to compare to two. Already looking towards a late 2016/early 2017 cruise, unless NCL completely wins me over we will continue to look at X or maybe even Princess. The waterslides, cartoon characters, kids clubs, ropes courses etc. are things that we aren't looking for in a cruise.

We have been on seven straight cruises with NCL and are first cruise was with Holland America. We have a eight NCL cruise coming up in March on the Spirit. We would like any recent feed back about Celebrity from NCL cruisers who have tried Celebrity. This is my first post, Thanks

I was on the Constellation in 2009. While I would never consider myself a "party person", I found the ship pretty much rolled up the carpet around 9:00pm including food venues. I wouldn't return to Celebrity.

Celebrity is more relaxed and upscale. On celebrity, there's shows and music acts, but in general a more sedate vibe.

 

I find celebrity to be more luxurious. The food is noticeably different. In the main dining room in celebrity, you can get duck, lamb, and lobster, all things that I only ever found in the pay extra restaurants on ncl.

I agree with the above comments. We have found the best food on Celebrity, both MDR and buffet. Also the best cabin in comparable categories

We are in our 50's. laid back, not into the disco or casino. We have cruised Disney, RCCL, Carnival, NCL, HAL, Princess and Celebrity.

Disney is a different animal - so taking them out of the equation, Celebrity is our favorite, followed by Princess. But we are not tied to any one line - choosing based on itinerary, price, etc. Hence we have NCL on tap this coming spring

Thinking of Bermuda on the Summit or Pacific Coastal on the Infinity I'm 37 and my DW is 36, I guess we'll feel like the young ones or does it matter your age on X

Well as you can see there are different opinions on celebrity and we have that in my household as well. We went to Alaska on the Solstice in a suite no less,I like the room the ship and the food especially the speciality res. We are DP on Royal so that made us next highest on C. Liked the non smoking casino as well. My wife on the other hand didn't like it though most of the people were snobbish and rude thinking it was an upscale ship. Didn't like the butler only seen him twice but room guy was ok as most are they are the ones that do the most work anyway. We most likely will not go back on C staying with NCL and R I love speciality dining. Been 8times on NCL now and have never been in he MDR. But going on the Freedom J 3 like that ship as well going to through on skates and make a few laps around the rink not bad for a 66 YOG.