Have you been on Crystal and/or Celebrity?

My wife and I - she in her 40s, me in my 60s ) cruised together for the first time last year on Celebrity Solstice. I found it a step up from prior experience with RCCL and Princess.

We are booked for Crystal Symphony in Feb 2011, Argentina to Miami, and are thinking about Oceania in May Barcelona to Copenhagen. I have reviewed the Crystal board, and most there say a big difference with Oceania is formal dress vs. informal. Are there other major differences?

We have never before cruised with a luxury line like Crystal or Oceania

( which Cruisecritic calls "luxury lite"). What are the primary differences when comparing to Celebrity ( cruisecritic calls this "deluxe", above mass market but below luxury) ?

What does "informal" mean on Oceania. No formal nights? No dress-up? How about parties , dancing etc?

Hey THANKS!

Newt

My wife and I - she in her 40s, me in my 60s ) cruised together for the first time last year on Celebrity Solstice. I found it a step up from prior experience with RCCL and Princess.

 

We have never before cruised with a luxury line like Crystal or Oceania

( which Cruisecritic calls "luxury lite"). What are the primary differences when comparing to Celebrity ( cruisecritic calls this "deluxe", above mass market but below luxury) ?

 

What does "informal" mean on Oceania. No formal nights? No dress-up? How about parties , dancing etc?

 

 

 

Hey THANKS!

Newt

Can't answer anything about Crystal...

Have been on Celebrity a few times. Only once recently but will do my best to recall. Will be on the Celebrity Xpedition next fall but that expect that it won't be anything like the mainstream ships:

We thought food was better on O, both in restaurants and in buffets (not that Celebrity is bad, mind you). Specialty restaurants are free on O. Much smaller ships, more personalized service, butler service in PH and up with insuite dining - IDK if that's available on Celebrity in the higher-end suites as we couldn't afford them back when we cruised Celebrity.:o

Not as much nickel and diming on O. Free espresso/cappucino. Good, real brewed coffee. No ship's photographer to bug you incessently. Much shorter lines, if at all, for dining, buffet, leaving the ship, etc.

No formal nights whatsoever on O. Country club casual - at most a button down shirt and Dockers. On occasion I'd bring a tie and jacket in case we dined with the captain (have had OS a few times and that's usually a perk). But you don't need it.

Dancing is limited on O. The lounge on the top deck (Horizons?) has a tiny dance floor, but a good and rarely used sound system. A few nights per cruise they had dance parties up there which were minimally attended and close up very early. There's dancing in the show lounge on a decent sized floor for 30 to 45 minutes before showtime, on nights when the orchestra/band is accompanying the show. But they play slow stuff... There isn't much going on at night, like there would be on a big Celebrity or Princess ship.

All this reminiscing is making me bummed that our next cruise isn't until February!

My wife and I - she in her 40s, me in my 60s ) cruised together for the first time last year on Celebrity Solstice. I found it a step up from prior experience with RCCL and Princess.

 

We are booked for Crystal Symphony in Feb 2011, Argentina to Miami, and are thinking about Oceania in May Barcelona to Copenhagen. I have reviewed the Crystal board, and most there say a big difference with Oceania is formal dress vs. informal. Are there other major differences?

 

We have never before cruised with a luxury line like Crystal or Oceania

( which Cruisecritic calls "luxury lite"). What are the primary differences when comparing to Celebrity ( cruisecritic calls this "deluxe", above mass market but below luxury) ?

 

What does "informal" mean on Oceania. No formal nights? No dress-up? How about parties , dancing etc?

 

Hey THANKS!

Newt

Well, Newt...

I've never cruised Crystal, but I have been on multiple Celebrity and Oceania cruises...

Don't get hung up on categorizations...It's not always fair to "rank" cruise lines...

Both Celebrity and Oceania give you great cruise experiences...

They are just different in a number of respects...

Celebrity's ships are two to three times larger than Oceania's ships...

Both are fairly uncrowded...as evidenced by similar space-to-passenger ratios...

But, there are some other differences that go with the size differentials...

Smaller ships are able to dock at some smaller, more unusual ports--so check out Oceania's very interesting itineraries and unusual ports...

Also, with smaller ships, you dump out fewer tourists into a port (of course, this advantage is tempered when visiting a port along with multuiple other ships)...

Of course, the smaller size brings some negatives as well (of course, considered negatives only if these things are important to you)...night life onboard on O can be relatively quiet...

You don't get the variety of entertainment and large production shows because they just can't fit the same stage facilities...

Beyond that, there's the obvious:

Dinner is all open seating...You show up at the main dining room any time during posted hours and they will seat you...There are trade-offs--you likely get different waiters all the time...OTOH, you can adjust dinner time to your port schedule...

Dress is ALWAYS casual--no formal nights...no required suits or ties or tuxes...You can show up each night in dockers and a sports shirt--as I do--or in a jacket if you are the type who just likes to wear a jacket...

Also note that the specialty restaurants carry no additional charge...but number of reservations is rationed to give everyone a chance...

Past there, there a lots of minor, largely immaterial differences as there are between most cruise lines...

We like both Celebrity and Oceania for a lot of different reasons...and a lot of the same reasons...both, in different ways, give you a very relaxed, very adult, very elegant cruise experience...

AND most importantly to some of us..... smoking limited to only two areas, one inside a lounge and one outside on the pool deck, which can easily be avoided as we have managed to do on 10 cruises.

DW & I have cruised Crystal 8 times and O 5 times. If you want two assigned seatings and formal nights, then Crystal is the line of choice. O will give you NO formal nights, open seatings for all dining venues and a country club dressing experience. Also smoking is very restricted to two small places on their ships.

Have done Crystal and O is now our line of choice.

I agree with Steve b

We love both O and Celebrity and we tend to alternate between them. Leaving for Panama Canal on the Infinity tomorrow morning.:)

Celebrity is gradually relaxing the dress code -- I predict no formal nights before long -- many simply go resort chic those nights.

Celebrity now has Select Dining so you can do open seating if you prefer not to have a set time.

In my opinion, Celebrity's food is really quite good -- not quite as good as O but it does not disappoint. They are making a lot of changes and now there is an evening buffet option (has some fancy name) that will be similar to Tapas.

If you like to dance (we love ballroom dancing), there are many more opportunities on Celebrity -- O is limited in that respect.

Sometimes for the identical itinerary I can get a suite on Celebrity for the price of an outside cabin on O. The value is tremendous. The experiences are different but we enjoy them both.

We tried Celebrity once,and never again. One of their smoking areas on our ship was directly upwind of our Deck 12 Sky suite, rendering the huge balcony -- the primary reason we booked that choice -- unusable. The crowds were overwhelming at a tender port, and we waited over an hour to get ashore even though our suite included priority tendering. The food was reasonably well selected and prepared, but sat in the kitchen cooling until everyone had gathered for the set dining time, by which time it had cooled. The only hot food we had on the entire cruise was at the custom pasta station at the buffet. I requested an appetizer portion of one of the entrees, and was told it would take an hour or more to prepare -- everything had already been dished out.

The special grand buffet breakfast they had one morning in the main dining room was a madhouse with huge crowds of greedy passengers pushing and shoving to get what they perceived was the most desirable tidbits.

Select dining may have made food preparation more spontaneous and therefore at a more desirable temperature, but that and a more relaxed dress code are vociferously protested by a more aggressive "old guard" than I have encountered on any cruise line.

We rated our recent experiment on NCL higher than our experience on Celebrity.

Oceania, of course, is unique, both in quality of food, service and accommodations, but primarily in the friendliness and unassuming natures of its passengers.

better and something worse. Regarding Crystal...if you like being told when to eat--an inconvenient plan to book times is new--and if you like being told what to wear...this is the place for you. Very uptight and very formal and on formal nights you MUST STAY IN YOUR STATEROOM if you don't conform.

Food is really, really, good. Lots of dancing. Good lectures, but in my opinion an overgrown kindergarten for people who have no other opportunity to play dress up at home.

We've been on both Celebrity and Crystal.

Celebrity was very much like HAL and/or Princess. We thought it perhaps over-hyped - it really is a mass market line.

We sailed twice with Crystal, both times on the now gone Crystal Harmony. Beautiful ship, with very good food, although I would give the edge to Oceania's food. We thought Crystal somewhat stuffy, both passengers and crew.

Aside from Oceania's fine food and small ships, we really like O's dress code. It sure simplifies packing.

Why can't we just recognize that each lines has it devotees as well as its strengths and weaknesses? No one line can ever fulfill everyone's preferences. That's why there are so many different liens out there and we can choose the ones we prefer.

Why can't we just recognize that each lines has it devotees as well as its strengths and weaknesses? No one line can ever fulfill everyone's preferences. That's why there are so many different liens out there and we can choose the ones we prefer.

Then what would people have to moan about :D

Why can't we just recognize that each lines has it devotees as well as its strengths and weaknesses? No one line can ever fulfill everyone's preferences. That's why there are so many different liens out there and we can choose the ones we prefer.

We do recognize that. But, the OP asked a question. What should we do, not answer in order to avoid upsetting your sensibilities?

Have done many Crystal cruises - have never found them stuffy. Yes most people dress up on formal nights but there are variations of what people call dressy - people seem to enjoy dressing up. Other than eating locations people do tend to relax dressing after eating.

What makes Crystal superb is the service and the people who provide it. Order a diet coke day one at the pool from the pool staff and one will appear at your side the next day when you show up. The pool guys remember people's names from year to year. The guest lectures are always somewhat different and real experts or famous in their fields.

Their new pick your own time for dinner and reserve is new so who knows how it will work. My wife and I always end up eating at the same time anyway and like having "our" table and wait staff always available to us.

Crystal - more expensive and more formal but I've never found it stuffy

We have cruised O and Celebrity and like them both for various reasons. The entertainment on X is fabulous, and yes, I am an entertainment ho. I love production shows.

Food is subjective, although we've never had a bad meal on either ship. (Wish I could say that for some of the other luxe ships.)

We would sail O or X in a heartbeat, and will. Indeed the dress code is relaxing a bit. The largest ship we've been on with X is the Summit/Constellation. The newer ones are just too large for our liking.

And the shore excursions X offers are fabulous. Excellent selection.

We would sail O or X in a heartbeat, and will. Indeed the dress code is relaxing a bit.

If you mean on Celebrity, I don't see a relaxed dress code. Every cruise, no matter how short, has at least one formal night. There are two formal nights on cruises of a week, and three formal nights on cruises of twelve nights or more.

Celebrity describes formal as

Ladies: Cocktail dress, gown or dressy pantsuit

Gentlemen: Tuxedo, suit or dinner jacket with slacks

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/faq/home.do;jsessionid=0000eL4rFn5-l95F1MfNQ42bhGC:12hdbcveb?faqSubjectName=Dress+Code&faqId=478&pagename=faq_answers

Thank you, Hondorner for considering my sensibilities. Very thoughtful of you. But there is a difference between answering a question and doing a diatribe in why one line is better than another.

Thank you, Hondorner for considering my sensibilities. Very thoughtful of you. But there is a difference between answering a question and doing a diatribe in why one line is better than another.

Actually, Wripro, although it is well known in Cruise Critic circles that enthusiasts for each cruise line tend to dominate those particular boards; the Oceania forum is generally singled out for its' genial and informative discourse.

It is also true (for me. anyway) that some of the most fascinating posts represent opinions that are nothing like mine.

Vive la différence !

As the dairy farmer once said, no matter how many times you tell the cream that it is heavier than the milk......it still rises to the top. :rolleyes:

If you mean on Celebrity, I don't see a relaxed dress code. Every cruise, no matter how short, has at least one formal night. There are two formal nights on cruises of a week, and three formal nights on cruises of twelve nights or more.

 

Celebrity describes formal as

 

Ladies: Cocktail dress, gown or dressy pantsuit

 

Gentlemen: Tuxedo, suit or dinner jacket with slacks

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/faq/home.do;jsessionid=0000eL4rFn5-l95F1MfNQ42bhGC:12hdbcveb?faqSubjectName=Dress+Code&faqId=478&pagename=faq_answers

I said "relaxing A BIT." Yes, I know what the dress code states, but on our most recent X cruise, there was definitely a more relaxed atmosphere on formal nights than before. Same with HAL. Yes, there are still tuxedos, but fewer and fewer.

We are definitely not cheerleaders for any one line. A cruise company wouldn't love us because we flit from one line to the next, depending on our whims. But stick to only 4: X, O, HAL and Regent.

StanandJim,

No one understands better than I that there are extreme partisans on each and every cruise line board. That is part of my point. Because people will defend to the death their preferred line it all needs to be taken with a grain of salt because so many posts are biased. As I have often said and will repeat here: There is no such thing as the best cruise line....there is only the one you prefer.

......... As I have often said and will repeat here: There is no such thing as the best cruise line....there is only the one you prefer.

I wonder if you also disagree with other western cultural customs of naming " best picture of the year", " best defensive player ", etc?:confused:

From conversations regarding these "bests", I would say there is as much dispute amongst various people as there is about the "best"cruise line!

Best picture is nothing more than a marketing gimmick drummed up by Hollywood to stimulate business. There is no such thing as best picture or best performance. If there truly were the Hollywood trade papers would not be filled with ads soliciting members' votes. Same holds true in the cruise business. No such thing as best. Only the most suitable for you or me.

If you mean on Celebrity, I don't see a relaxed dress code. Every cruise, no matter how short, has at least one formal night. There are two formal nights on cruises of a week, and three formal nights on cruises of twelve nights or more.

 

Celebrity describes formal as

 

Ladies: Cocktail dress, gown or dressy pantsuit

 

Gentlemen: Tuxedo, suit or dinner jacket with slacks

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/beforeyourcruise/faq/home.do;jsessionid=0000eL4rFn5-l95F1MfNQ42bhGC:12hdbcveb?faqSubjectName=Dress+Code&faqId=478&pagename=faq_answers

One example of relaxing their dress code is that nice jeans are now allowed on smart casual night. Not that I wore them but I saw many that did, along with tennis shoes and crocs which neither too me are much in the way of smart casual. I don't mind putting on a coat and tie a couple of times in a trip. On the other hand I don't mind not wearing them either.

I liked Celebrity quite well. For me itineraries and ship size are what gives O the edge.

We have sailed all 3 of the lines within the last 3 years. Crystal has all of the bells 7 whistles. Friendly and efficient crew, fine dining, excellent entertainment, good ports, HIGH priced tours. Celebrity has much less concern for their passengers, but the crew is friendly, and the food is fine. Oceania has great food, poor entertainment, friendly crew (they have remembered us from prior cruises - Crystal did also, including our preferences). The worst thing about Oceania is the size of the staterooms (below penthouse) and the pricing of their tours. We have tried to make private arrangements both for comfort and cost. Great about Oceania is the lack or restrictions on dress, and the ability to choose your dining time.

We are booked on Celebrity in Jan 2011 (So America) and Oceania in Arpil 2012 (Polonesia).

bigbill2009

Yes, the size of O's cabins below PH are smaller but you will also pay much less than on Crystal where the cabins below are also not large. (There's a 30 sq, ft. difference between cabins with verandas on O and the Symphony and a 53 sq, ft difference to the Serenity.)