Little Touches above Royal Caribbean?

[4774Papa]

On 12/29/2019 at 6:22 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

Yes I think not having to show Sea Pass card for towels is a step above for X ships.  RCI very  tacky in this area.

Also the mattress on the beds are much better on x ships.  I was on the Silhouette and slept very well.  RCI is hard as a rock. 

Also loved the evening buffet on silhouette, even the Captain eats there.

 

The Captain's talk on Silhouette was the best ever. He had a 30 minute slide show which wonderful information about navigation and the ship.  Then he opened up to questions.

 

But RCCL does have nice cookies and good entertainment.  But silhouette has the nice grass area with those HUGE CHAIRS.

Royal C. has fantastic entertainment.   Some of their ships have an ice rink and they have wonderful ice shows as well.

Never had a problem with beds on RCI.

Loved the Diamond Happy Hour that runs from 5-8pm.  We have never paid anything for alcohol on an RCI cruise.

[Luvcrusn]

1 hour ago, dazey said:

If one sails on RC do you earn any Captain Club points?  I ask here as I see many sail on both and might know the answer.

Points are earned only on the line sailed, but each offers reciprocal levels up to diamond on Royal=Elite on Celebrity. 

[LMaxwell]

18 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

Points are earned only on the line sailed, but each offers reciprocal levels up to diamond on Royal=Elite on Celebrity. 

 

Will I be earning points with Celebrity on this sailing, even though I am using my higher status match from Royal Caribbean? 

[davekathy]

13 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Will I be earning points with Celebrity on this sailing, even though I am using my higher status match from Royal Caribbean? 

Yes.

Edited January 1, 2020 by davekathy

[taxatty]

On 12/31/2019 at 4:14 AM, The_Big_M said:

 

Err, not really. Pizzas on RCL are terrible as many agree, and limited in choice. 

 

Princess has traditionally been much better in them as well.

Pizza used to be terrible on RCI--but it's got much better in the last couple of years in the Cafe Promenade. I do agree that Princess still makes better pizza.

[varoo]

 

Yes, requiring your "guests"  to check out towels is really tacky, and we actually find it quite insulting to be treated as suspected towel thieves.

We would expect that practice at a high school gym, not on a cruise ship.

 

But we suspect that any cruise line needing to resort to such practices has probably experienced unusually high towel loss.  What does that say about their passengers?

 

We also dislike being bombarded with announcements throughout the day, reminding you that bingo is starting in 5 minutes.

 

As for  entertainment on a cruise ship, it just depends on what one wants. 

We all have different tastes, different expectations and different budgets.

 

We do not want ice shows or amusement park type rides on a cruise ship, finding them to be  much better on land. 

When we cruise with  Royal Caribbean, we prefer their  smaller Radiance class ships, without all the bells and whistles.

 

As the old saying goes, different strokes......

So even though in general we prefer Celebrity, we do cruise on Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines from time to time, for one reason or another.

              

[Oville]

15 hours ago, dazey said:

If one sails on RC do you earn any Captain Club points?  I ask here as I see many sail on both and might know the answer.

Yes up to and including Diamond level which equals Elite on X.  But you must set up a Captain’s Club account and link it with your Crown & Anchor account.

Edited January 2, 2020 by Oville

[Luvcrusn]

26 minutes ago, Oville said:

Yes up to and including Diamond level which equals Elite on X.  But you must set up a Captain’s Club account and link it with your Crown & Anchor account.

T isn't correct.  When sailing on Royal, points are only earned on Royal. When you sail on X, points are earned on X. Both recognize reciprocal loyalty levels up to Diamond on Royal and Elite on Celebrity.  You can be an Elite Captain Club member from X and be recognized as Diamond on Royal Crown & Anchor  with 0 points earned on Royal and vice versa.

[NemoCrownie]

On 12/23/2019 at 10:39 AM, LMaxwell said:

It has been many years since I've been on Celeb, but many, many sailings with Royal Caribbean.  Just booked a March 2020 trip w Celebrity and looking forward to it but wondering what are some of the small touches and differences that put Celebrity a half step above Royal?  We are Diamond on RCI so will use that for the reciprocity on Celebrity; any info on that would be helpful as well.  

I know you have been fairly vocal about your RCCL experiences over the past couple of years so I 

think you will appreciate the  change. We sailed Royal until several not so stellar (to us) cruises, for a variety of reasons, and decided we were ready for a change. Celebrity checks the boxes for us.

 

A cruise is a bigger commitment of our vacation time and $'s since, unlike you, we have to fly, book hotels, etc. I have never done the shorter cruises or been on Infinity but, based on our friends experiences on Infinity, I wouldn't judge Celebrity on this one experience. The differences are definitely noticeable on the 7 day or longer cruises. Enjoy the experience and please come back and let us know what you think.

 

FWIW, loyalty is overrated. After switching to Celebrity we realized that changing things up is quite enjoyable. There are a lot of places RCI doesn't go and cruising on different lines and having new experiences is a lot of fun.

 

Don't spend your time comparing, just go in with an open mind and enjoy the new experience.

[AC Stew]

Service: Always an excellent experience with both!

 

RCI: Smoking policy is horrid. Non-gambling cruisers gather in the casino; the space is utilized as the ashtray of convenience. On the plus side, the Diamond Lounge has it all over Celebrity's Elite Lounge. Open every single night, with generous hours of operation. We like the dedicated "help yourself" appetizer set-up on RCI.

 

Celebrity: Depending on the sailing, somewhat better selections in the Oceanview  over the Windjammer. Of course, food is always subjective. For what it's worth, I think that Celebrity keeps a cleaner ship. During dinner hours, there is always a washroom attendant in the Ladies, constantly tidying up. On our two recent RCI sailings, washrooms were nasty.

 

We enjoy both cruiselines. Sometimes RCI is priced better. But many Celebrity itineraries are more to our taste. Honestly, when you balance the little differences, there isn't a wrong choice.

 

PS> On a recent Transatlantic with RCI, I was pleasantly surprised to be served sparkling wine/mimosas during boarding!