izzy19

Aft is definitely the way to go...Had an aft on RCCL and have one again upcoming in December on Equinox...loved everything about it:)

Why a big thank you going out to Alberta. So what of Alberta do you live in. We lived in Calgary from 1984-1996 and both of our son were born there.

 

Have a great time on your pre Christmas cruise aboard the beautiful Celebrity Equinox. Donna was looking at the early December cruise which is quite reasonable but, not in the budget. Would love to take our boys on a pre Christmas Cruise.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Oops...have to update my profile...we used to live in Red Deer for 19 yrs (1994-2013) originally from SK and have returned home due to work...this cruise is just for us...no kids

Fantastic review Kevin...we are also on the same cruise in December...have never gone that early in the season but like the pre-Christmas thing...

Fellow cruisers: This was perhaps what I was most worried about upon trying our first Celebrity cruise and ended up being the nicest surprise. Until most people our age (32 and 40) my DH and I do not have kids, so while most of our peers would be looking for something family friendly, we are not. We’d prefer there be as little children as possible onboard. Even with Carnival, we’ve always stayed away cruising during the summer months, school breaks or holidays and an attempt to minimize our exposure to children. It was SO nice hardly having any kids onboard. I can literally say that I saw LESS THAN TEN kids onboard the entire week (I was counting!). What was even more surprise was the few that we saw were really well behaved – you barely even noticed them.

 

The part of Celebrity that had me concerned was that I was worried prior to cruising that the age range of most onboard would have been much older. It was an older crowd (than us) for the most part. I would put the bulk of those onboard in the 40-60 range. With that being said, all of the older (than us) couples we talked to, we really enjoyed conversing with – and we probably had more in common with them, than we would with some people in our age range. With that being said, there were a decent amount of couples in our age range as well onboard.

 

I’m going to try to remain as “pc” as possible and you can take my comments for what they’re worth…the demographics onboard Celebrity seemed to be as close to ourselves as any cruise line would embody. In comparison to all of our Carnival cruises, everyone at least appeared to be of middle to upper class (ie, we didn’t notice any low class or “trashy” people that you often times will experience on Carnival – disclaimer – I’m clearly not talking about all those on Carnival since I’ve said with them many times). I’m not even speaking economically, more so in the way that people carried themselves. Everyone was very courteous to each other and the staff. Everyone we encountered was overly friendly. Celebrity seemed to embody a classier sort of cruiser. It was most definitely a nice change of place from what we’ve experienced on Carnival. This was probably what stuck out to us the most as being “different” than what we’ve experience on Carnival (not the food, service, etc that other people on other reviews mention).

 

With that being said, it also surprised me that most people onboard were dressed what I would consider “normal” and not as overly conservative or dressy – at least all the time during the day or onboard during the nonformal nights. Some evenings, while walking through the Lido deck, I felt overdressed in my sundresses while others were still wearing shorts & tshirts. After reading all these heated dress code debates on Celebrity’s boards, I would have expected to have felt underdressed at points – I did not. We knew going in that we weren’t going to participate in the formal nights – and were fine with dining elsewhere on those nights.

This is "bang on" as although we have kids...we prefer to vacation without them when possible...we are a bit older than you but never felt that we were on a ship with a bunch of upper class snobs...

Hi everyone, Tracy from Montreal, first time on Celebrity but Diamond Plus on RCI, so my question is, how similar would the two lines from the same stable be? One of the things we liked about Royal was that we felt right at home and could easily get around the ship, regardless of having been on a particular one or not, before. They're all plus or minus the same layout, with the same venues on the same floors, etc. We booked Celebrity Equinox for the Christmas and New Years cruise, 2014, and also to simply try something different. Is there anyone who can mention some similarities between RCI and Celebrity? Thanks

Hi Tracy, we have done both and like Celebrity a bit better...somebody posted earlier that RCCL was like "WOW" and X was like "Ahhhhhh"...I think that RCCL may be geared towards families more but that's not to say that the family programs on X weren't good. I think it really depends on what you like. We loved our first 2 RCCL cruises and wouldn't hesitate to go back on one but we rarely travel with our kids on our cruises and it seemed that X was maybe a bit more geared towards us. That also may be a result of going on a longer cruise with X. We went on the Millenium through the southern caribbean and it was easily the best one we have ever been on. We are also booked on the Equinox for the first time December 12/2014 and are looking forward to it. Got the wider aft cabin 1206.

thanks so much Sharon...I'll hit you up after you have gone to see how you liked it...but TA says it's the #1 attraction on Barbados...

Hi, does anybody know how much this charter costs for the 5 hour sail? Cruising in December and want to book either this or Silvermoon

We went Canyoning with Extreme Dominica when we were there in 2011...one of the coolest things ever done on a cruise...very safe...my wife had never rappelled before and they were top notch.

The Aft balcony's are huge...we had 6143 and it was a great cabin...about 12 inches wider and a larger balcony...also you are in "suite-land" which means you get the best attendants as they are servicing the penthouse suite at the very back. We also got invited in for a tour of the penthouse suite...wow...

We had the premium drink package on Millenium in 2011 and I didn't even really care for wine...until I took the Sommelier's recommendations...they were fantastic and we tipped him about 40 at the end of the cruise.

Thanks laura2060...we only had a balcony and inside on RCCL but I'll send Celebrity an note asking them if we qualify for anything.

We have done both as well...2 RCCL and will be going on our 2nd X in December... we both like the relaxation and less kids part of X...as well as the no smoking policy on balconies... food is a bit better imho... everybody seems to have hit the main points that make the 2 lines different.

We got the premium package on our first Celebrity cruise on the Millennium... and it was well worth it... we're not huge drinkers but a couple of bottles of water when you're leaving the ship+2 specialty coffees a drink in the afternoon, martini before supper, wine with supper and a couple of drinks at the show... Baileys before bed...:no wait... maybe we drink more than the average... lol

It's really well worth it...::)

Thanks for the info Mike...and really enjoy the review

Hi, we are going on the same ship in February and have been enjoying the pics and review...just wondering how far the ship made it after the first night as it will likely be quite a bit cooler when we go in February...