From Carnival to Celebrity

[wife2b]

My husband and I are looking into other cruiselines after several cruises with Carnival. We are in search of better service, attention to detail, etc. We are both mid-twenties and not necessarily "partyers"- we're pretty easy going and can meet friends anywhere. From what I've heard about Celebrity, there is a bit of an older, more subdued crowd. We don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and are hoping to find others around our age. Is that likely?

 

FYI- I'm hoping I didn't offend anyone. We're excited about trying Celebrity, just want to get a handle on what to expect :)

[Chicago Boy]

My husband and I are looking into other cruiselines after several cruises with Carnival. We are in search of better service, attention to detail, etc. We are both mid-twenties and not necessarily "partyers"- we're pretty easy going and can meet friends anywhere. From what I've heard about Celebrity, there is a bit of an older, more subdued crowd. We don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and are hoping to find others around our age. Is that likely?

 

FYI- I'm hoping I didn't offend anyone. We're excited about trying Celebrity, just want to get a handle on what to expect :)

 

Welcome aboard! You will love Celebrity. Celebrity attracts people of all ages. I think you will find Celebrity to be the best cruise line of the "Premium" lines. Give it a chance, I think you will be glad you did.:)

[trianon4]

I echo the previous poster. While most passengers will be in the 50-60 age group there will be plenty with small kids.

 

Two things will be different:

- More formal dress on formal night but a tux is not required unless you are in Europe (then it becomes more important but still not required)

- A secretewwe know about. If you don't want to go to the dining room for dinner but saw something on the evening mene that you would like to have, just ask your stateroom attendant. He/she can bring you anything on the DR menu. Dinner for two in your stateroom!

[wife2b]

I so look forward to it! Dinner in your stateroom?! That sounds AMAZING! Thanks for the responses :)

[Germancruiser]

As this is the X- Board- most people around here love X and the product they deliever. I cruised -X- since I was in my mid twenties myself- and I found the most wonderful friends there- my age, older- but that is not important for me- and since a few years even younger people than me. LOL! So no problem there and you wont stick out - I am pretty sure of that. The only " Problem" that I can see for you is, that once you sailed with X- you most likely will not go back to Carnival!

Happy cruising

Michael

[bighairtexan]

Celebrity is my line of choice. When my kids were young they preferred Carnival. ONce they hit their mid 20's they preferred the level of service and casual sophistication of Celebrity. You'll love it.

[chloe kitty]

You are really stepping up in the world on X.

[PROCRUISE]

My husband and I are looking into other cruiselines after several cruises with Carnival. We are in search of better service, attention to detail, etc. We are both mid-twenties and not necessarily "partyers"- we're pretty easy going and can meet friends anywhere. From what I've heard about Celebrity, there is a bit of an older, more subdued crowd. We don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and are hoping to find others around our age. Is that likely?

 

FYI- I'm hoping I didn't offend anyone. We're excited about trying Celebrity, just want to get a handle on what to expect :)

 

 

As you can see, we've cruised with CCL alot but tried Celebrity and liked it so much we'll be on the Contellation for 2 weeks in January. We liked the service and the beauty of the Equinox, but more importantly we liked the slightly older mix of fellow passengers. Regardless of your age, I think you're going to be impressed with Celebrity. :)

[SuiteTraveler]

My husband and I are looking into other cruiselines after several cruises with Carnival. We are in search of better service, attention to detail, etc. We are both mid-twenties and not necessarily "partyers"- we're pretty easy going and can meet friends anywhere. From what I've heard about Celebrity, there is a bit of an older, more subdued crowd. We don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and are hoping to find others around our age. Is that likely?

 

FYI- I'm hoping I didn't offend anyone. We're excited about trying Celebrity, just want to get a handle on what to expect :)

 

Celebrity cruises in the Caribbean have a real mix of ages. If you were on our cruise out of Southampton last May, you would have found yourself in the minority with only a few twenty-somethings around. IN fact, my husband and myself at ages 49 and 52 were among the youngest on the Eclipse and got a lot of special attention from crew and other passengers because of that. LOL! There were a few twenty-somethings onboard, but not many - perhaps 10 or so younger than us, excluding the crew. I only saw 1 child the entire week. It was a very different experience for us. We have cruised Celebrity in the Caribbean and don't remember it being such a older crowd as this past cruise.

[austinlw]

I realize this is the Celebrity thread, but in your situation I would suggest you might also give Royal Caribbean a try. IMO they are a notch up in service and detail from Carnival, and their ships are nicer. Plus they have a lot of adult activities onboard that are fun without being quite as "silly" as some of what they do on Carnival.

[siestaclaud]

We took our first Celebrity Cruise in our mid 30's - leaving 4 kids at home. We loved it - but we were on the young side compared to most.

We ended up meeting a couple close to our age. We had been placed at a large table for 10 originally for dinner but switched to dine with them without a problem after the first night.

 

Celebrity and Carnival however just don't compare.

[letsgo39]

We took our first Celebrity Cruise in our mid 30's - leaving 4 kids at home. We loved it - but we were on the young side compared to most.

We ended up meeting a couple close to our age. We had been placed at a large table for 10 originally for dinner but switched to dine with them without a problem after the first night.

 

Celebrity and Carnival however just don't compare.

 

Have you cruised on Carnival?

[Bridge Maven]

The main differences between Celebrity and Carnival...

 

Carnival ships have a Vegas feel to them, Celebrity's decor is more subdued

 

Celebrity has a more formal ambiance

 

Carnival has more activities

 

Carnival has better entertainment

 

Carnival has a lot of children so their ships are more likely to sail at maximum capacity, Celebrity ships usually sail with only two passengers per cabin

 

Celebrity's food is more gourmet oriented but the quality of food in the main dining room is comparable on both cruise lines

 

Pricing is very comparable on both cruise lines for basic cabins, but Celebrity's suites are more expensive than Carnival's suites

 

Carnival is better for three generation cruises, Celebrity is better for a couple who want a quiet relaxing cruise

 

Neither cruise line is intrinsically better than the other, it is a matter of personal preference.

[lovevacadays]

Celebrity is my line of choice. When my kids were young they preferred Carnival. ONce they hit their mid 20's they preferred the level of service and casual sophistication of Celebrity. You'll love it.

 

Love your screen name! Why is Celebrity your line of choice? I sail often with my niece who is 30 so am interested in reading this thread as we want to try a cruise on a different line just to compare.

[bighairtexan]

I haven't tried the premium lines like Seabourne or Crystal or Regents.

Celebrity, to me, is the best of the mainstream lines. It's more like Princess and HAL but even nicer IMHO. Better service, great breakfast choices for room service, gorgeous understated elegant ships.

My daughter and I cruise together a lot. She's 29 (how can that be since I'm only 40 LOL). She also prefers Celebrity. We've also cruised NCL (I liked it better before Freestyle), MSC (I was surprisingly pleased w/ that cruise), RCI (ICK) and others. I think Celebrity gives the most "bang for my buck." Years ago, Celebrity used to have the tag line "sophisticated but not stuffy" and I think that really says it.

PS: I live in TX but am a Californian and I really have "little" hair. LOL

[chloe kitty]

The main differences between Celebrity and Carnival...

 

Carnival ships have a Vegas feel to them, Celebrity's decor is more subdued

 

Celebrity has a more formal ambiance

 

Carnival has more activities

 

Carnival has better entertainment

 

Carnival has a lot of children so their ships are more likely to sail at maximum capacity, Celebrity ships usually sail with only two passengers per cabin

 

Celebrity's food is more gourmet oriented but the quality of food in the main dining room is comparable on both cruise lines

 

Pricing is very comparable on both cruise lines for basic cabins, but Celebrity's suites are more expensive than Carnival's suites

 

Carnival is better for three generation cruises, Celebrity is better for a couple who want a quiet relaxing cruise

 

Neither cruise line is intrinsically better than the other, it is a matter of personal preference.

 

I agree with some of your opinions, but on X you aren't served a sandwich with mold on the bread.

 

IMHO Celebrity has MUCH better entertainment than Carnival.

 

Carnival is for two types of people...party goers and children.

[seafood]

I agree with some of your opinions, but on X you aren't served a sandwich with mold on the bread.

 

IMHO Celebrity has MUCH better entertainment than Carnival.

 

Carnival is for two types of people...party goers and children.

 

 

Wow! I'm not a party goer, am in my upper 50's and happen to enjoy Carnival. However, I also enjoy Celebrity and Princess. I've enjoyed different experiences on each cruise as ships within the same cruise line can be different. I don't consider any of the cruise lines "better" than the others, just different. A lot of similarities, but differences.

 

On my last Celebrity cruise in May, we were in a CC2 cabin and we asked for cheese & crackers for our daily hors d'oeuvres & a couple of times the cheese was molded. We, however, don't nitpick every little thing that is not perfect on our cruises.

 

I appreciate the differences and, IMHO, believe that each cruise line that I've experienced does some things better and some things not as good as the others. I'm happy to say that I've never had a bad cruise!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I think you'll enjoy yourself.

 

As some others have pointed out - the average crowd onboard is somewhat determined by both the duration and location of the cruise. We have only sailed from Florida (so have not seen, but read of the location factor). On a couple of short sailings on the Century we found the crowd to be similar in age to the MANY Carnival cruises we have taken. On the Solstice (7 night) we found the crowd similar to our age (late 40's) with a trend towards the older crowd - enough that nightlife was somewhat subdued. On the Constellation (Thanksgiving 10 night) we were definitely among the younger crowd - with the average age easily 65+. Nightlife was non-existent, and the big music onboard was a POLKA BAND (really)!

 

Age notwithstanding, we have found (and this is after several observations) that the crowd sailing on Celebrity is definitely more cosmopolitan. After many dozen Carnival sailings, it was VERY obvious - never had we cruised (again, this is out of Florida) and encountered so many fellow passengers speaking a variety of languages. This is likely due to Celebrity's presence in many other parts of the world, and Carnival's focus on the US.

 

Carnival has a good basic product, but we found many things about Celebrity that we enjoyed. Multiple specialty dining options were appreciated, as we find the MDR fare on ALL lines just so-so, and when we are on vacation, we like a certain level of quality, atmosphere, and selection. We enjoyed the OBVIOUS difference in the passenger space ratio - Celebrity is simply less crowded, you feel less like a number. We enjoyed the quality and design of the ships - particularly the Solstice (definitely more refined... impressive). We enjoyed the lack of irritating PA announcements for the "inch of gold" sale, "bingo", etc!! We REALLY enjoyed the greatly reduced smoking onboard Celebrity, particularly the smoke-free casino! :)

 

Having said all of that - our trip on NCL Epic earlier this year was fantastic, though certainly a portion of that was owing to the fabulous suite complex on that ship. More entertainment and dining options than I have seen on any ship. We rebooked another Epic cruise as soon as we arrived back home. Looking forward to our return after Thanksgiving - but we know it will be an active week, full of fun - with late nights. Likewise we are looking forward to our Eclipse sailing early next year, because we know it will be refined and relaxing!

 

Tom

[letsgo39]

I agree with some of your opinions, but on X you aren't served a sandwich with mold on the bread.

 

IMHO Celebrity has MUCH better entertainment than Carnival.

 

Carnival is for two types of people...party goers and children.

 

 

Wow! Harsh! You have only been on Carnival one time,Right?

 

We cruised the western Med last June with our Son,Grandson DH and I. It was their first time to Europe and we wanted to use a means of transportation that EVERYONE would enjoy both day and night. We ALL had a wonderful time. Every generation kept very busy enjoying doing their own thing on the ship.We toured together and met for dinner everynight. We were on the new Carnival Magic and the food,activities, ship were all wonderful.We have been to Europe many times so we planned all our port excursions on our own. I would not even have considered Celebrity for this 3 generation vacation.Dh and I are in our 60's and definitely no longer big partiers.

 

DH and I we will be on the Celebrity Equinox next May and I hope the other passengers are not so stuck up and impressed with themselves that it impacts our cruises. I usually just find people like that amusing.:D

[mcrcruiser]

Because we have taken 54 cruises we have cruised on many lines .Yes we have about 10 Carnival cruises & 30 Celebrity cruises under our belts.

 

For folks in their 20s there is no question that Carnival delivers the best excitement for their cruising;). Celebrity's demografics are more inclined to the 40s & upward. Reason is what Celebrity delivers a all around cruise experience with a far less party type atmosphere& a relaxing cruise:D. Now don't get me wrong ,Celebrity definitely has great music & dancing .It is just not the hairy chest contests :othat you find on Carnival cruises. Nor do they have water slides.

 

In the MDR there are suble differences between the 2 lines .Imo Celebrity delivers a notch up in food quality & service & certainly no nightly waiter dancing;).

 

Entertainment on Celebrity is far better in all regards to Carnival .We have seen entertainers on Celebrity who would fit into Broadway & opera houses vs Vegas style reviews on Carnival . We have seen mainliners on Celeberity:D ;but ,never on Carnival .

 

Europe cruises ,trans Atlantic ,Hawaii ,Alaska cruises on Celebrity will definitel be a older pax vs the same on Carnival

 

The space ratio is far better on Celebrity . An example is the M class ships on Celebrity vs the Spirit class on Carnival. both about the same size ship .Carnival 2600 pax vs Celebrity 2000 pax. You definitel feel those extra 600 people around you on Carnival :(. Also the restrictive smoking policy on Celebrity is a delight vs Carnival.

 

Hope that you find this comparison helpful for your cruising decisions.

[Sabbycat]

Celebrity is definitely more subdued than Carnival. My dh and I are in our mid-thirties and are usually, other than honeymooners, among the youngest on the ships.

Be aware that age demographics range depending on the area of your cruise, (i.e.: Caribbean vs. med vs. northern Europe.) While I have only ever cruised in the Mediterranean and TA, and the average age on these cruises is certainly over 50; a Caribbean cruise, I am told, attracts a younger clientele and more children.

After our last cruise, my dh and I looked at RCL and Princess as we have been told the clientele is younger, but after finding a perfect itinerary on X, we are back on her this Spring.

I guess the long and short of what I am saying is, yes the median age on X is A LOT higher than on Carnival, but if you are cruising for the destination and your cruise is port intensive, I would not worry too much.

(The reason I responded after so many others have made the similar comments, is a) we have had this issue ourselves being on the young spectrum for these cruises, and b) to reinforce, YES the average X passenger is A LOT older, and it is important that you know this b/c it can really affect your cruise. That is why we looked at other cruise lines; Being on average 20 yrs younger than your fellow passengers can certainly put a different spin on your trip. But X has a great product! )

[peteskibum]

I won't pig pile on everyone's comments above. What I will say is that while the demographics on Celebrity are older than Carnival, it is what you make of it and the attitude you have. We make the 50 group but have been told we are trapped in older bodies! We have met wonderful younger couples on our Celebrity cruises and have had a blast at dinner, the pool, the shows and casino. There is way less drama on Celebrity and you can have fun and relax. The best part about it is you are FREE to choose. For us, Celebrity hits the mark.

 

Good luck to you both.

[Bridge Maven]

Regarding demographics - I think the price of the cruise, the itinerary, and number of days has a greater affect on passenger demographics than the cruise line itself.

 

A short Caribbean Cruise on an older ship during Hurricane season will attract a very different passenger than a two week European Cruise on a new ship during prime season, no matter what mass market cruise line you consider.

[ROXY6997]

As added input...my fiance and I are in our 30s and are cruising X in June...our first time on X. We are actually looking forward to the older crowd as they are just as fun and you can learn a ton from them as they have more experiences, cruising and in other aspects of life!

 

My cruising experience was my one time on Carnival and I absolutely hated it. It was a Caribbean cruise and there were obnoxious drunk people everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love nightlife and don't mind drinking...but I was there to do more than party. My finace sailed on Princess and he enjoyed that very well, but my travel agent says that that is usually an even older crowd than X (not sure if that's accurate).

 

I think as everyone else has stated, the destination/length of cruise has a lot to do with the age group.

 

We chose X because we wanted more sophistication and better service...therefore, I think we are in the same boat as you guys (no pun intended).

[pbrady]

We stared cruising when my girls were 6 months and 2 years - the old Big Red Boat. Since then we have done just about every line, and many several times. Last year we did a B2B on Celebrity and my older daughter (now 24) was able to join us the first week as it corresponded to her med-school break. It was her 18th cruise. My younger daughter (now 22) was in her senior year and was able to join us for the other week because of her spring break. It was her 20th cruise. Just their opinion:

Carnival - did not like - too wild & too many young kids

HAL - too old of a crowd and didn't like the entertainment

Princess - nice, no real complaints but again the smoke

RCCL - 2nd favorite - more activities but too smokey

Celebrity - by far their favorite

Like I said, this is what they tell me - don't jump on me if you don't agree. I just wanted to make the point that two in their 20's love Celebrity.

Now, If you are smokers, make sure you know Celebrity's policy before to sign up.