How do You Rank Celebrity

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Quo Vadis? said:

Totally agree.

 

Balcony: HAL +, Celebrity: has a cabin with a window that opens -

MDR, HAL a bit better

Specialty restaurants:  HAL cheaper, Celebrity better but at a cost

Drink Pricing: HAL +

Live Entertainment HAL +

Stage  entertainers Celebrity + HAL very weak

Forward observation lounge HAL++ 

Pax demographics,  very similar.

HAL inside cabins: claustrophobic --, ships more crowded

Crew: fantastic on both lines.

 

My retirement budget does not support the suite life.

 

 

I agree with you assessments, however I give HAL a worse, if possible, than a minus on stage entertainment. Last year on the Oosterdam for 14 nights from Venice they had no comedians, no magicians, and no production shows. Every other night they showed a lame BBC World movie and other nights the same lame dancers and singers. It got to the point we just didn't bother to go anymore. On that cruise HAL cutbacks on entertainment were so very obvious. 

[Redtravel]

4 hours ago, zitsky said:

Where are you going?

 

I’m not a frequent cruiser.  Thanks to Covid I did a Celebrity cruise in 2019 then not again til 2023.  So to me it all seems new again.  But I could see how it gets monotonous to regular cruisers.

Did 3 cruises in 2022.  Celebrity, Windstar, and Oceania.  2 future bookings…not Celebrity.

in 2020, we got stuck at sea on Oceania.  Not our first Oceania cruise. It was our worst cruise ever.  I might have walked away from Oceania and cruising after that awful experience.  However Oceania gave us substantial fcc.  Used it for a 2022 cruise. It was excellent. Even booked a future cruise onboard.  Oceania is what Celebrity used to be before it was sold to RCL.  You may pay more for a bigger cabin or a preferred location.  Aside from that everyone enjoys all the dining venues.  No suite dining room, no reserved seats anywhere, no priority tenders, etc. 

[Redtravel]

On 3/7/2023 at 1:04 PM, kirtihk said:

Not only hold but also losing a payment if cancelled right after paying the initial deposit!

Viking asks for full payment.  However, my TA often asks for extensions.  I pay with a credit card which includes cancellation insurance.  120 days is maximum that I will pay in full.  
You can wait to book. There are often last minute deals.  We have booked them. However, if you want a specific itinerary, waiting may not work.  We were booked on Viking cruise in 2020 which got canceled.  Got refund.  Still wanted to do that cruise.  Waitied to book it in 2022. It sold out…every sailing.  This year we waited until 6 months out, saw a great promo, and booked the cruise.  

[Gracie115]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We have been cruising in Suites on Celebrity since 2019 and I agree with you about boredom with menus. Other than a few minor changes Luminae has the same menu as 2019, including the not so good Chef Boulud Moroccan chicken dish. Even the Specialty restaurants have the same menus since I can remember. Boredom and future cruise pricing has driven us to look elsewhere too.

 

Actually the Luminae menus really haven't changed much since 2015 when Luminae was created.  A few tweaks here and there but the menu that Eclipse had on the first sailing with Luminae in April 2015 is very close to what we had on the Apex in November 2022, and on the 5 other X sailings in between those dates.  

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Gracie115

[m8zenblue]

We are not seasoned cruisers, IMO.

We have been on only 3 cruise lines.

Of the 3, this is how we would rank them.

1. Holland America

2. Celebrity

3. Carnival.

We have heard that Princess is very nice, comparable to X.

If NCL and Royal are like Carnival, we would never cruise with them.

Just our personal decision.

[Tom47]

We have cruised 8 Celebrity, 3 Royal, 2 Hurtigruten, 1 ACL(US river cruises),4 Azamara, 1 pearl Seas, and 4 Vantage river cruises.

Our favorite is Celebrity, but we would consider HAL, Oceania, and Princess for itinerary.  We would never sail on Carnival or NCL   On one Celebrity Caribbean cruise, we were docked next to an NCL ship.  We watched(from our balcony)  as a "Froggy" bar had a conga line with teens old enough to drink ashore, but not aboard ship, get stupid drunk(shots being poured down their throat)..  When all aboard time came they staggered back to the NCL ship and the bar was empty..

[cruisequeen4ever]

My Celebrity ratings 1-5:

Food- 3

Itineraries- 5

Ships- 4

Entertainment- 3.5

 

Food is very important to us, so we prefer Princess. 

[Quo Vadis?]

20 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Food is very important to us, so we prefer Princess. 

Two decades ago we had just embarked Princess for lunch.  While eating a corn chowder everyone at our table as well as a waiter, heard a loud crack as I split a tooth from top to bottom as I bit on something hard in the soup.  Princess told me tough luck. Luck them!  (Sorry wrong letter.)  Love their pizza though.

 

[Orator]

My rankings of lines I've been on since Covid startup:

1. Old Crystal. I'll wait for reviews of new Crystal before I consider booking.

2. Viking

3. Celebrity

4. Oceania

[In Toronto]

On 3/7/2023 at 1:48 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Just to follow up, a Concierge balcony cabin is the same as a regular veranda. The only difference is you get a bottle of bubbly, 3 free bags of laundry (up to 20 pieces each), and you get to prebook your free allotment of specialty restaurants a few days before the regular balcony folks. Oh, and you get access to a Concierge Lounge if you like that sort of thing.

As far as I know, you do not get any free laundry in a Concierge cabin.  I would like to be wrong because we are sailing Concierge in April.  I don't think there is a Concierge Lounge.  I think you may be thinking of suites (or elite level).

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, In Toronto said:

As far as I know, you do not get any free laundry in a Concierge cabin.  I would like to be wrong because we are sailing Concierge in April.  I don't think there is a Concierge Lounge.  I think you may be thinking of suites (or elite level).

Here's the Oceania Concierge balcony cabin perks link.

 

Oceania Cruises' Concierge Level Veranda - Luxury Staterooms

 

[In Toronto]

Oh.   Okay, Ken the cruiser.  I thought that you were talking about Celebrity.  My mistake.

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, In Toronto said:

Oh.   Okay, Ken the cruiser.  I thought that you were talking about Celebrity.  My mistake.

No issues. I had a feeling that's what you're referring to. We used to always book the Celebrity concierge cabins to get those 5 points per day to get to Elite and that free bag of laundry each. Celebrity can do whatever they want with the perks as long as they leave the Elite and Elite+ laundry perks alone. 😂

[Nicole&Pete]

We would always opt to cruise Celebrity over any other but would also choose HAL Princess and Cunard. We have done Royal Caribbean a lot and the ships are lovely but they’ve made too many cuts for us now.

 

What we like about Celebrity compared to the others;

Service

Food quality

General attitude and helpfulness of staff

Large dining rooms and theatres

The solarium

Sofas in the cabins

Availability of complimentary juices, tea and coffee around the ship

 

What we like about other lines compared;

More interesting and often longer itineraries 

Number of complimentary dining options (relates to Princess)

Less upselling

More affordable drink packages 

Less public areas taken over by suite guests only

 

 

 

 

[hubofhockey]

I am in the minority on this one, but I would probably only book M class ships on Celebrity.  They do the best itineraries, have smaller roomier less crowded ships, and still have decent entertainment and specialty restaurants.  If Azamara has good deals and does an itinerary that fits, love to go with them as well.  We live in Florida and have nice beaches, so no great need for Caribbean cruises.

[ChucktownSteve]

Our primary go to line used to be Celebrity during Chandris and the five years following where Celebrity was required to meet certain standards. However since LLP transferred from RCL to cut corners, they've become an also ran.

We just completed three Regent cruises which we purchased during the pandemic at a great price. They hadn't raised prices yet but Celebrity rates were soaring to eat up all that FCC. So we got the suites at lower PP/PN rates for the same square footage but it included everything: air, transfers, hotel room, premium liquors in the suite and throughout plus specialty restaurants, WiFi, gratuities, unlimited daily laundry and more.

 

Before that, our sailings also included Azamara, Oceania and HAL.

 

Due to Celebrity's death by a thousand cuts, Azamara is a primary consideration.  We're also beginning to reconsider Oceania. Regent prices soared  once people started booking their small vessels so unless there's a good value, we probably will hold off on them.  But we prefer the smaller ships.

 

Itinerary is now a primary consideration unless we just want a mindless Caribbean cruise.  For Europe, probably O or AZ will be primary. Value is the second consideration.  It's not about being the cheapest but what's included that counts. If Celebrity becomes a value, they'll be considered.

Edited March 11, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[tosteve1]

Have only been on Disney x 2,  Princess x1, Silversea x1and HAL x2. Leaving in a week for the Caribbean on the Rotterdam. We enjoy the HAL pinnacle class ships very much with the music walk. For us it was a game changer. The smaller HAL ship, Zuiderdam, was disappointing in terms of entertainment. Specialty restaurants on HAL are not worth it except for Tamarind. Princess seemed very traditional and nothing stood out. Disney….overpriced and children are not my thing anymore! Silversea had an awesome itinerary and was all inclusive which was great.But…entertainment was minimal and service overrated. Not 6 star as advertised! 
We are booked on the Solstice in Asia March 2024 so will be excited to finally get on Celebrity. We were looking at Viking and Oceania for that cruise but preferred the Celebrity itinerary.

From my reading all the lines have cut back and are not what they were. Itinerary and entertainment are most important to us.

[HMR74]

On 3/6/2023 at 1:46 PM, jagoffee said:

Obviously they see no reason to even try a different cruise line.

 

I am still a Suite Celebrity fan.   Based  on their itineraries, I have cruised on Princess enough to reach the Elite level.

 

I really enjoyed Oceania, so given the right itinerary, I would pick it over Princess.Although I would not hesitate to book a Princess cruise with the right itinerary.  

 

When Celebrity eliminated their regular 14 day winter Southern Caribbean cruises, they drove  me to try some other lines including Regent.  I would much rather cruise in a Royal Suite on Celebrity over a Regent cruise. (I also did not like the fact that shore  excursions for ever port was built into the base price.) 

 

i would say that Celebrity is trying to push me away with the lack of 14+ day itineraries.  I tried a B2B, 4 day with a 10 day on the Silhouette last fall.  Just not the same and my wife says never again.  I have done a B2B  with two seven day cruise, but I did not care for that one either.  
 

I have some other cruises lines (like Seaborne or perhaps Viking) to try.  
 

My next scheduled cruise is on the Summit from Iceland to Boston. (12 days) with an extra 3 days in Iceland.  
 

We have sampled many locations over the years with the French Polynesia being out most frequently non Caribbean visited area.

 

the only negative is that we would have been at the Zenith level if we had only cruised Celebrity, but it has never been our priority.

as we know, one problem of creating a longer cruise using b2b2b is you have 2 or 3  wasted days if using the same "home" port.

We usually tried to go on point to point cruises, leave one city and end up in another.

 

A winner winner chicken dinner would be say b2b2b Barcelona to Rome to Athens perhaps back to Venice with some small island hopping along with the obvious choices. Better would be how oceana does it where you can "hop on and off".  Or Just do a Barceloneto rome to Istanbul to Athens and then to Venice  cruise with good ports in between. All sorts of creative things they can do --if they are truly a premium big ship offering.

 

if they were to do it they need more than a 14 day menu cycle--has to get a bit more creative. (although as I say, I could see dining in port in the better ports to enjoy the local cuisine).

Would  also like late evening stays where we cou;d enjoy local cuisine  dinner and get back to ship and wake up in another port early. -thus have 12-15 hours in port to really enjoy a day there. The 8-5 stays is nothign more than drive by sightseeing IMHO and now since the costs are so high, I  want more than drive by sightseeing and sea days. I could rest at home if I wanted to rest.

Edited March 13, 2023 by HMR74

[aml3679]

Number 1

[Cruise till you drop]

On 3/10/2023 at 2:46 PM, cruisequeen4ever said:

My Celebrity ratings 1-5:

Food- 3

Itineraries- 5

Ships- 4

Entertainment- 3.5

 

Food is very important to us, so we prefer Princess. 

I would second those scores and would add cabin and balcony as a 4.5 as we really enjoy their Sunset Verandah

 

As for rankings based on cruise lines we’ve sailed

 

1 - Celebrity

2 - Princess

3 - Carnival

Edited March 13, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[ChucktownSteve]

5 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

I would second those scores and would add cabin and balcony as a 4.5 as we really enjoy their Sunset Verandah

 

As for rankings based on cruise lines we’ve sailed

 

1 - Celebrity

2 - Princess

3 - Carnival

 

I concur if those were my three, that is the order I would place them.