Considering Celebrity

[Tapi]

14 hours ago, Cayman1 said:

We are in our early 50's and traveling with a 17 year old daughter. 

 

That being said, would Celebrity possibly satisfy the negatives that we face, which I mention above? 

We’re fairly close in age to your family. We’ve done Royal and Carnival (as well as others) with our kids. Last November, we took our first Celebrity cruise (Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles), and we had a great experience. Truly memorable and enjoyed by everyone. 
 

My kids are a bit younger than yours (early teens), but they had a lot of fun. Even though they normally spend some time at the kids/teen club when we cruise, this time they didn’t care about attending. They spent some time at the sports deck, at the pool, attended the shows, and danced (they loved the “silent disco” as well as the Abba dance party). We also went to Deal or no Deal (we didn’t even buy cards; we just went and had fun watching others play). On sea days, we went to the lawn club and watched sports events while playing cards laying on the grass. Ashore, we planned several fun activities that they would enjoy.

 

The overall ambiance on the cruise was indeed a tad more elegant and sophisticated (but not overly stuffy). There were many kids onboard (it was during Thanksgiving break), but everybody seemed to be in their best behavior (we didn’t get that feeling that we were being overrun by kids. No hordes of unattended and unruly kids terrorizing everybody, as we’ve experience on other cruises during school breaks).
 

Will your daughter have fun? It all boils down to what kind of kid she is. If she will only find herself entertained with elaborate teen programs, water slides, surf simulators. zip lines, rollercoasters, etc like on the newest ships on family friendly cruise lines, Celebrity may be a bit boring for her. Otherwise, it will most likely be a great experience for the whole family. It was for us.

 

My son (13) did say he had a blast, but he also said that he wants to go on Icon of the Seas when it comes out (he’s more of a daredevil and is attracted by thrill rides). But my daughter is super laid back and couldn’t care less about a ship like that. Celebrity was perfect for her personality. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Tapi

[Travelw]

First, we are loyal to Princess and RCCL.  Took one Celebrity cruise, 2022.  We were disappointed.  Ship decor was just ok, food good, service not good.  Example of the service, we stopped at the World bar on the way to a show to pick up a water and the workers told us to go elsewhere for the water.

Going to give Celebrity another chance in 2024, price was too good to pass up and we get out of midwestern weather in January.  Hopefully a better experience.

[Bo1953]

c1 - I would recommend that you sail when there is a good chance that teens will be on-board...

 

Based on what you have written I Am sure your DD will enjoy X, especially with her age group aboard. 

 

She will find that most of the teens are well behaved and enjoy doing things around the ship, PLUS there may be a few organized activities for that group which will enhance her experience and enjoyment aboard.

 

Good luck and bon voyage

[Cruise till you drop]

15 hours ago, realnice46 said:

Celebrity definitely older crowd not so much party atmosphere, but decent entertainment.  There will be some children but not like Carnival Royal Caribbean.We recently tried Princess and weren’t impressed with ship design, entertainment wasn’t that great either, food pretty good. Celebrity food quality not as good as it once was, but ok.  All in all we like Celebrity and have several cruises booked this year and next. I guess you’ll just have to try it.

I thought Celebrity had an older crowd until we sailed Princess in January.  No trouble getting up at 9 or 10 and finding a seat by the pool.  The passengers definitely had an aged quality

 

In our only experience so far on Celebrity, passengers are definitely older than Carnival but I would say more mature (middle aged and seniors, people not just there to get wasted)

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[cyntil8ing]

2 hours ago, Cayman1 said:

Beautiful family and looks like you had a blast. Love the pic with Captain Kate! She seems to be a great captain and very personable.

Thank you. My son had a crush on her back then. Lol. We were lucky enough to sail with her three times in 2019. Twice on Equinox during the summer, and then on Edge for Christmas. One of the summer cruises was my daughter’s 16th birthday and she and all the officers sang to her at the Cruise Critic party. She also gave them both a Bug pin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cyntil8ing]

 

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Edited March 19, 2023 by cyntil8ing

[sjb317]

We enjoy both Royal and Celebrity and think they are both pretty equal in terms of food and service.  I think Celebrity would be a good fit for you, especially if you give one of the Edge class ships a try.  We sailed on Apex last year and that was the first time in a longtime I have boarded a ship and said “Wow”.  I’ve always thought the entertainment on Royal was better but Apex had amazing entertainment.  Your daughter would love it!   We enjoyed every minute on the ship and are getting ready to go again in April. 
 

 

Sherri🙂

[d9704011]

3 hours ago, Cayman1 said:

In all fairness, rj59 stated “generally”.

Don't be ridiculous; the assertion was clearly made that affluence leads to good behaviour amongst children.  The 'generally' is irrelevant and you're only using that modifier as a means of excusing the statement.

[Fly and Sail]

9 hours ago, d9704011 said:

Affluence leads to good behaviour in children?

 

Anyone else who had the "pleasure" of attending an elite boarding school or Oxford College would probably beg to differ. Some pretty vile behavior being exhibited there.

[Cayman1]

1 hour ago, cyntil8ing said:

Thank you. My son had a crush on her back then. Lol. We were lucky enough to sail with her three times in 2019. Twice on Equinox during the summer, and then on Edge for Christmas. One of the summer cruises was my daughter’s 16th birthday and she and all the officers sang to her at the Cruise Critic party. She also gave them both a Bug pin.

 

 

That is SOOOO awesome! She is amazing... we follow her on Instagram.

 

 

1 hour ago, cyntil8ing said:

 

 

 

 

 

[TeeRick]

3 hours ago, Travelw said:

First, we are loyal to Princess and RCCL.  Took one Celebrity cruise, 2022.  We were disappointed.  Ship decor was just ok, food good, service not good.  Example of the service, we stopped at the World bar on the way to a show to pick up a water and the workers told us to go elsewhere for the water.

Going to give Celebrity another chance in 2024, price was too good to pass up and we get out of midwestern weather in January.  Hopefully a better experience.

The World Class Bar serves only specialty drinks from their menu.  You cannot get beer, wine or anything else there.  Probably not water or soda.  You stopped at the one bar on board where this would be an issue.  Not an example of poor service IMO.  By the way, you could get water in the theatre.

[d9704011]

2 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

The World Class Bar serves only specialty drinks from their menu.  You cannot get beer, wine or anything else there.  Probably not water or soda.  You stopped at the one bar on board where this would be an issue.  Not an example of poor service IMO.  By the way, you could get water in the theatre.

I bet the bartender didn't use the exact phrase 'go elsewhere'.  More likely something  like 'sorry sir/madam, we don't serve bottled water here; I recommend you ask at the theatre or Cafe al Bacio'.

[kearney]

My observation is that longer cruises and those during school season will have fewer kids... We have sailed a lot in the fall and there were maybe a dozen kids... but during an easter cruise..which was a two week one.. I was surprised that there were 100 or more... but since most of the passengers seemed to be British I assumed that their break was longer.  We prefer the more relaxing feel of Celebrity..but don't mind  an occasional activity packed cruise on Royal. But sometimes the packed schedule..I find stressful..and requiring planning...which I like to avoid on vacation

[C4HCG]

5 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Anyone else who had the "pleasure" of attending an elite boarding school or Oxford College would probably beg to differ. Some pretty vile behavior being exhibited there.

Please expand

[C4HCG]

7 hours ago, Travelw said:

First, we are loyal to Princess and RCCL.  Took one Celebrity cruise, 2022.  We were disappointed.  Ship decor was just ok, food good, service not good.  Example of the service, we stopped at the World bar on the way to a show to pick up a water and the workers told us to go elsewhere for the water.

Going to give Celebrity another chance in 2024, price was too good to pass up and we get out of midwestern weather in January.  Hopefully a better experience.

My husband had a similar experience. He asked for a beer on the way to a show, he got told to go elsewhere. Drunken idiot was in the Future Cruise Shop  🤣

[Duanerice1]

Been on all 3, mainly Carnival since Covid due to price.   We didn't experience any of the negatives you mentioned so we must have just gotten lucky.  Love their food options and overall entertainment.  But, we don't travel during kid vacation times either... makes a difference

 

Anyway, been on 12 ish Celerity cruises and heading back in a few weeks.   If I was a 17 yo I'm not sure I'd like Celebrity.  Definitely not as exciting as Carnival.  Royal or Carnival would be my choice but have fun whatever you decide.

 

 

[Cayman1]

Thank you all for your input. Yesterday we decided and booked Celebrity Beyond for Christmas 2024. Our daughter will be 18 at that time, so the teen clubs will no longer matter, thus we felt this would be a good time to try Celebrity.

[TeeRick]

16 hours ago, C4HCG said:

My husband had a similar experience. He asked for a beer on the way to a show, he got told to go elsewhere. Drunken idiot was in the Future Cruise Shop  🤣

That would have an quite an expensive future beer!