Alaska cruise

Couple of questions, looking for Alaska Cruise. We usually cruise royal caribbean and have built up some crown and anchor equity. However, we have noticed a steady decline in the food on Royal Caribbean almost to the point of it not being edible in some situations. My questions are this:

1. To keep our crown and anchor, does the Celebrity line have better food since it is supposed to be a nicer line?

2. We are traveling with teens and like the activities Royal Caribbean offers, should we just deal with the food?

Just so you are aware and to possibly broaden your choices, cruising on Celebrity does not give you Crown & Anchor points.

As you know, food is subjective. We have cruised RCI many times and although some of the items were not our favorite and in fact, they have changed some items and eliminated others altogether, overall we enjoy RCI's food. We have never gone hungry. But as I said, food is subjective.

Having said that, we took our first Celebrity cruise to Alaska last year and loved it. The food was delicious. On Solstice, they had a made-to-order Eggs Benedict bar in the morning, ice cream station at lunch and dinner (with home made hard ice cream and many kinds of toppings), and just overall excellent quality and service. Little things made the difference, like real ceramic cups and real cream for your coffee. It was wonderful.

I'm sure the kids will find something to do on X but in my opinion, until they are older I would stick with Royal. Celebrity is an amazing line and we look forward to cruising with them again, but we are a married couple in our early 50's. I would suggest families would enjoy RCI more, as there is simply more for the kids to do.

The Crown and Anchor program has reciprocity with the Captain's Club on X. Your status is recognized but your points do not transfer between the lines. If you are Diamond on RCI and therefore Elite on Celebrity, you will receive the perks and benefits but not the points you have already accumulated cruising on RCI.

Have fun planning and researching. :)

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If the kids are having fun and are happy....You will enjoy your cruise. So I would stick with Royal!

Royal Caribbean's round trip Seattle cruise has the WORST itinerary of any I've seen. Their one-way cruises are better, but they only go to Hubbard Glacier. They don't have permits for Glacier Bay. You should check the itineraries and decide what you want to see and do in Alaska, then see if RCI's cruises meet your needs. Don't settle for a lousy itinerary just because you have loyalty perks.

Princess has more ships and itineraries in Alaska and has been doing Alaska far longer than RCI. Teens should find activities and meet others just like RCI Alaska ships.

Since you are unhappy with RCI (for any reason , food is too personal to evaluate ) time for a change ;)

Also Princess does not have the restrictions on TA discounting and OBC combining that RCI has. Also Shareholder and Military OBC on most every sailing.

Royal Caribbean has Radiance which is a really beautiful ship with glass just about everywhere, but on the small side, and Explorer which has more to do for the kids. Alaska is more about Alaska though, not a huge amount of time onboard the ship.

We also think Celebrity's food overall is better than Royal, but that isn't a game changer for me.

I hope you have a wonderful time in Alaska whichever cruise line you decide. :)