Loyal royal trying celebrity

[L0VES2travel]

Hello there! I’ll be sailing on my first celebrity cruise in March and wanted to see if anyone can offer any advice or tips for the Summit! I’m diamond on royal and will call to my status transferred but what differences Can I expect from royal? I’m so curious about the ship and can’t wait to sail! Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

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[keesar]

I found that the food was a notch better on Celebrity. Cruisers were definitely older on Celebrity and few children on board. Entertainment and overall energy level were selling points for RCCL. Both were very good experiences for us.

[GUT2407]

Agree, you will tend older and dare I say more sedate.

[chemmo]

The focus on Celebrity is rest and relaxation. There are far fewer organised activities on X, no golf, climbing walls or surf riders.

 

We also find the food on X generally better although speciality dining venue choices on the M class are (in my opinion) now limited.

 

The Elite cocktail hour on Celebrity is shorter than the Diamond event. There is no dedicated Diamond room, the event is held in a lounge. There is also a buffet breakfast held in one of the speciality restaurants. We much prefer the Celebrity cocktail hour. In our experience the Diamond lounges have been very full to the point of being not enjoyable....

 

There are traditional shows and live music events but not the range of show types as on the bigger RC ships.

 

Whilst we have many happy RC memories we now cruise almost exclusively with Celebrity....It is hard to describe an ‘ambiance’....but it is the calm, quiet, restful, good service and nice food which make Celebrity our preferred choice. We leave a RC cruise sometimes feeling we need a holiday to recover...we leave a Celebrity cruise feeling rested and relaxed.

[MicCanberra]

Royal has far more families on her and as such the X crowd will seem older but whether they are more sedate really depends on the itinerary (cruise length and ports visited).

[parrotfeathers]

As a first time Celebrity cruiser this November, I also appreciate this insight. Exactly what I was hoping for--rest and relaxation. Love kids but love that Celebrity will be more sedate. Looking forward to Michael's Club also. Anthem's suite restaurant spoiled me for sure.

[4774Papa]

We went the opposite direction. We are elite on Celebrity (10 cruises) and booked two Royal cruises out of Sydney in April of this year. One is to NZ, the other a transpacific cruise to Seattle. I compared Celebrity's prices as well as comparable NCL cruises with Royal's. Celebrity and NCL have gone to bundled pricing which includes promos that we don't want. It has jacked up prices so much at when I compared one cruise to NZ about the same time, the Royal cruise was almost half the price of the Celebrity cruise. Also, the Celebrity cruise was one day shorter. Yes, the Celebrity crusie included a promo, beverage package (which is of little benefit to us).

 

You can still find some base price Celebrity cruises, like transatlantics or repos, we did recently book Eclipse from Valpariasio to San Diego in 2019, where prices were base and low, but for many cruises, we will now compare Royal. Since we will be diamond on Royal, we will enjoy the similar elite benefits.

[chemmo]

As a first time Celebrity cruiser this November, I also appreciate this insight. Exactly what I was hoping for--rest and relaxation. Love kids but love that Celebrity will be more sedate. Looking forward to Michael's Club also. Anthem's suite restaurant spoiled me for sure.

 

You will find the suite life so much better on Celebrity. We cruised Allure this time last year and found Coastal Kitchen and the concierge area adequate but uninspiring. I think you will find Luminae and Michael’s both a step up in terms of quality of product and service.

 

We are not big butler users but we were surprised that we missed having one, so many thoughtful little gestures again lift the ambiance of the cruise experience.

 

Have a great cruise!

[DirtyDawg]

Summit is a lot smaller than many Royal ships so tendering is easier if you have tender ports of call.

[L0VES2travel]

Thank you for the great info everyone! That’s exactly what i wanted to know! I have 2 children under 2 and my husband and i need a break!

 

Is the elite cocktail hour a one time event or it is every night? On Royal during the Diamond cocktail hour you’re able to order 3 drinks in a any bar during the event if you don’t want to go to the lounge. But i assume that’s because of overcrowding in the lounge.

 

 

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[leaveitallbehind]

Thank you for the great info everyone! That’s exactly what i wanted to know! I have 2 children under 2 and my husband and i need a break!

 

Is the elite cocktail hour a one time event or it is every night? On Royal during the Diamond cocktail hour you’re able to order 3 drinks in a any bar during the event if you don’t want to go to the lounge. But i assume that’s because of overcrowding in the lounge.

 

 

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By comparison, The RCI Diamond lounge is a dedicated lounge open for 3-1/2 hours every night for unlimited drinks, including the first night, and the three drink coupons are automatically loaded onto your SeaPass card daily for use outside the Diamond Club at most lounges around the ship.

 

Celebrity's Elite cocktail hour is 2 hours per night typically in the Sky Observation Lounge with unlimited drinks, which is closed for the Elite members during that time. It is open each night except the first night and the Captain's reception night, which if you are Elite you can also attend and is held in the same lounge. There are no complimentary coupons automatically issued on your card for use in other lounges.

 

Overall the RCI cocktail hour - and IMO the loyalty program in general - is better than Celebrity's. But after many years of loyalty to RCI we have shifted our cruising preference to Celebrity for many of the reasons outlined by others on the thread. Along with the better food, we feel the individual customer focus is also better along with a more relaxed cruising atmosphere that is not quite as younger family oriented. We were that demographic at one time and RCI fit that profile well for us, but we don't need zip lines, bumper cars, and rock climbing walls in our cruise experience any more. :)

Edited January 7, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[Aunt Tina]

If you are on a cruise with more Elite and Elite Plus passengers than the Sky Lounge holds they may give you coupons that can be used for designated happy hour drinks in any lounge.

[leaveitallbehind]

If you are on a cruise with more Elite and Elite Plus passengers than the Sky Lounge holds they may give you coupons that can be used for designated happy hour drinks in any lounge.

 

Thanks for this clarification. I thought that was the case but had not experienced it first hand so I didn't want to indicate that in case I would be incorrect.

 

And the DL's on RCI are relatively small and are almost always crowded as a result which is why the 3 coupons are always loaded on the SeaPass cards for the option of other lounges.

Edited January 7, 2018 by leaveitallbehind

[George C]

You will find the suite life so much better on Celebrity. We cruised Allure this time last year and found Coastal Kitchen and the concierge area adequate but uninspiring. I think you will find Luminae and Michael’s both a step up in terms of quality of product and service.

 

We are not big butler users but we were surprised that we missed having one, so many thoughtful little gestures again lift the ambiance of the cruise experience.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

We are looking forward to Luminae in two months, another plus is it appears Luminae is on all celebrity ships , costal kitchen is not on most of the rccl ships only the newer ones, entertainment was what I really disliked on my one celebrity cruise, but we will be on charter filled with great music groups

[Georgia_Peaches]

The main difference for us when we switched from Royal to Celebrity (aside from what others have mentioned about the food and service) was the lack of children. Royal seems to be more family friendly with lots of things for the kiddos and young adults to do and see. When we are cruising with all of our family of varying ages, we opt for Royal. When we cruise by ourselves, we opt for the solitude of Celebrity. We are ages 50 and 52 and find the crowd on Celebrity to range from late 30's on up. Not a lot for the 20-somethings to do. Either way, we keep all of our cruises within the Royal or Celebrity family.

[Cruise Raider]

Thanks for this clarification. I thought that was the case but had not experienced it first hand so I didn't want to indicate that in case I would be incorrect.

 

And the DL's on RCI are relatively small and are almost always crowded as a result which is why the 3 coupons are always loaded on the SeaPass cards for the option of other lounges.

 

Just for a little more clarification, they can be used for designated happy hour drinks in 'designated' bars and lounges.

[leaveitallbehind]

Just for a little more clarification, they can be used for designated happy hour drinks in 'designated' bars and lounges.

 

 

....as is the case with RCI and their cocktail hour and coupons, although most venues are included. To further clarify my comments, when I said "unlimited drinks" I meant in terms of quantity available in the DL, not variety. And clearly the 3 drink coupons limits the quantity available in the other lounges - along with the variety.

 

But with either cruise line, what the heck, free is free. :D

[stevea36]

One other item that I have not seen mentioned which is BIG for us is that smoking areas are severely limited on Celebrity. One can actually breath in the casino !!

 

Steve

[parrotfeathers]

Will a Celebrity person tell me--the restaurant for suites--which days is it open for lunch? I thought I read it was only on sea days. But it sounds as if it is open on embarkation day.

[davekathy]

We like RC and Celebrity equally. We like and enjoy both lines upper tier level perks. Now if we could just combine both into one package that would be cool.

[leaveitallbehind]

One other item that I have not seen mentioned which is BIG for us is that smoking areas are severely limited on Celebrity. One can actually breath in the casino !!

 

Steve

 

Agree completely - much better difference between the two.

[leaveitallbehind]

We like RC and Celebrity equally. We like and enjoy both lines upper tier level perks. Now if we could just combine both into one package that would be cool.

 

I generally agree although certain things recently with RCI have changed - and not for the better IMO. But they do have some really nice ship classes. I definitely agree with combining the two - that would be very nice! :)

[MicCanberra]

Will a Celebrity person tell me--the restaurant for suites--which days is it open for lunch? I thought I read it was only on sea days. But it sounds as if it is open on embarkation day.

Luminea is open everyday for suite guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[tanzania2015]

We were on the Eclipse and Equinox this fall in Sky Suites and the Liminea was only open for lunch on sea days except it was open on embarkation day. It is open for breakfast and dinner every day.

 

 

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[Mythbuster]

Luminea is open everyday for suite guests for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

That is not true on the Summit. The Luminae is closed on port days for lunch. The maitre d' may open on the last day in port if he chooses. It is open on embarkation day and I strongly encourage you use it vs the buffet.