Tell me about Celebrity..good and bad...!!!

[S&D]

Thanks for the replies...we are looking forward to it...and will do a review when we get back......

 

cheers

 

 

S&D

[Allis154]

Interesting reading. We are going on The Millenium in April from Shanghai. Our friends told us, once you go on Celebrity you won't want to go on any other Cruise Line. I will make my own Judgement. Have been on most P&O ships from Aussie and RCL. Elite on Princess. Will miss the benefits. lol. I have been told our RCL cruises count for our Celebrity cruise. Will wait and see. Will wait for your input.

 

You need to call captian's club before you board and get your celebrity membership number and have it added to you reservation. Benefits are great!

[Aus Traveller]

The original poster may already have sailed so my post might not be helpful to her.

 

We cruised on the Celebrity Century in January and, as regular Princess cruisers, couldn't help comparing - although I tried not to. There were 'pluses' and 'minuses'.

 

Pluses of Celebrity over Princess -

 

The glass of bubbly on boarding was lovely.

 

Celebrity cabins had an incredible amount of storage space, the bathrooms were larger and the towels were very large and fluffy.

 

Passengers can check their on-board account on the in-cabin TV.

 

They handed embarkation and disembarkation very well, probably a bit better than some Princess ships, even when it was a tender port.

 

The buffet was gorgeous. It was very well laid out and queues didn't seem to form.

 

Minuses of Celebrity (the Century anyway) compared with Princess -

 

No service in the buffet. Staff only clean tables and do not offer water or coffee service. They simply point to the machines where passengers help themselves.

 

Food in the buffet was always lukewarm. We used the buffet many times over 15 days, and never found hot food. At lunch we started going to the hamburger station outside near the swimming pool and waited while they cooked a hamburger and put on all the trimmings.

 

Our cabin stewards kept knocking on the door while we were in the cabin (3 to 4 times a day) for the most trivial things - like delivering ice that we didn't use, a facewasher that we didn't use, or the paper for the next day. Obviously we should have put up the "Do not disturb" sign.

 

There was a charge to watch recent release movies on the stateroom TV.

 

The production shows were woeful. We have never seen such bad shows. I am not criticising the performers. When we saw a show called Liverpool Knights we were expecting something like British Invasion on Princess. No! The singer/dancers had black/grey clothes, no stage sets and sang songs that none of us had ever heard. Then they had a number called "Little Old Ladies" where the 8 female dancers came out using walkers and dressed in longish pale blue dresses, wearing grey wigs. They then proceeded to sing something forgettable and dance with the walkers. We felt it was very inappropriate and wouldn't appeal to the older members of the audience (nearly everyone).

 

After disembarking the Celebrity Century we spent eight weeks on the Grand Princess.

[Mothballs]

Avalon007,You tube Graham Seymour-old people.I think you will enjoy it.

 

I am in my mid fifties and recently returned from a cruise to New Zealand where the majority of people were elderly and I was glad to get off the ship.I was an RN and worked in aged care for many years and understand the physical and chemical changes to the body and brain but seriously I have never been in contact with so many impatient people ever.They would cut in front of you in queues and stand so close to you that it was difficult to bend your elbow to use the tongs at the buffet.I had a man and wife complain that we were sitting in their usual seat at the Windjammer or if I found an empty table to sit at I had people call out from behind that they were going to sit there.

Regards Elaine.

[Sutho]

I was just on Celebrity and found it outstanding. A very modern trendy cruise line which has young and old. It is not an ancient age that the passengers are but the more modern type. It was very friendly with the staff quick to get to know you and know your favourite drinks at the bar. They are always looking out to help. Entertainment is slightly different to the Princess/P&O brands but all the same it is outstanding. The cabins are clean and spotless and the cabin bathrooms are the best I have ever seen on a cruise ship. The high standards of cleanliness on that ship really puts the Carnival brands to shame. There is no stinking shower curtain. Instead it is a shower cubicle with sliding door. They keep it dry all the time. The in cabin entertainment is the best I have seen with lots of free and pay movies as well as room service options. There is even pornographic channels for people interested.

 

I found the crowds to be younger than P&O and Princess. It felt younger and the people on ths ship seemed to enjoy it and like what Celebrity does. I have been loyal to P&O for almost 20 cruises and it has given me second thoughts about them now as Celebrity did many things a whole lot better.

 

If I could sum up Celebrity in words I would chose: Modern, trendy, sophisticated, innovative, young, active, relaxing.

 

The cruise for me was perfect. The ship was enourmous.

[aussie57]

We sailed to Alaska on Celebrity Mercury - loved the ship, food, staff. Our biggest problem was that smoking was allowed in quite a few public places including one HALF of the observation lounge (how can you have smokers across the room & not be impacted by the smoke?)

Don't know if their smoking policy has changed, but it affected us negatively.