Alternatives to Celebrity

[MamaFej]

21 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes, we like cruises with good space and staff ratios. We like 750 or fewer guests. When they build mega ships, they don’t put in enough exit and entry points to avoid congestions when guests visit ports. Ditto for elevators, seats for entertainment, service desks, lounges, etc. The separate areas that go by names like Retreat, Yacht Club, and Haven worked out well — for a time. But guests still had to go into the crowded main areas of the ship. These ideas used to be less expensive than the smaller “lux” ships. Problem is, they don’t seem to be anymore. Some people like crowded mega ships, and that’s fine. Lots of choices there. Just not for us.

Thanks for that perspective. 

 

We've done M & S Class on Celebrity, not E. Our largest ship has been Royal Class on Princess. We have discovered, since the restart, that we really like the smaller ships. Docking closer to the things we want to see (sometimes hours closer) and having more overnights is a real plus for us. The smaller ships just seem to suit us well for other reasons, as well. 

 

I don't imagine we will ever do a mega ship, unless we have grandkids (doubtful at this point) and travel with them. We did mostly RV travel when our kids were younger, taking them to 49 states and a few territories and provinces that way. The National Parks Pass is a huge bang for the buck! I'm writing this from our motor home in a valley nestled into the San Jacinto  mountains at the moment. 

 

We did nearly burn out our brakes coming down to your hometown one day.

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggerration, but not a huge one. 

[Moby Jones]

19 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I was just looking at a couple of Regent 2025 Cruises and when considering all that is included they are more than extremely competitive with the Retreat suites new costs. This whole thread has been eye opening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have been since the introduction of Edge. I remember seeing Aqua Class rooms at £600 ($750) pppn in its first season in the Med. 
 

It’s just that more people are starting to realise this now. 

[Ipeeinthepools]

6 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes, we like cruises with good space and staff ratios. We like 750 or fewer guests. When they build mega ships, they don’t put in enough exit and entry points to avoid congestions when guests visit ports. Ditto for elevators, seats for entertainment, service desks, lounges, etc. The separate areas that go by names like Retreat, Yacht Club, and Haven worked out well — for a time. But guests still had to go into the crowded main areas of the ship. These ideas used to be less expensive than the smaller “lux” ships. Problem is, they don’t seem to be anymore. Some people like crowded mega ships, and that’s fine. Lots of choices there. Just not for us.

 

Doesn't sound like you like the "ship with a ship" concept that is the basis for them charging the same amount as the true premium cruise lines.

[TeeRick]

2 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Doesn't sound like you like the "ship with a ship" concept that is the basis for them charging the same amount as the true premium cruise lines.

Do you think this is true?  Interesting perspective.  It applies to E-Class ships.  But suite prices are very high across all of their ships.

[Dolebludger]

No, we had two pre-pandemic cruises in Celebrity suits (CS and RS), one in MSC Yacht Club, And one in NCL Haven. We liked all, except that the Haven on the ship we took wasn’t fully developed. We liked the X suites the best, even though they weren’t entirely separate from the main ships. The food, service, and inclusions were very close to lux line. And I swear, we had included mini fridge access in CS. So, this year when we wanted to cruise again, we checked out Retreat prices and we’re “sticker shocked” as they were more than “lux lines”!. I checked here on CC and found that X suites might not offer the inclusions they once did. If Retreat prices and inclusions returned to pre-pandemic levels we’d be very interested, whether the Retreat area was fully separated or not. 

[terrydtx]

10 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

No, we had two pre-pandemic cruises in Celebrity suits (CS and RS), one in MSC Yacht Club, And one in NCL Haven. We liked all, except that the Haven on the ship we took wasn’t fully developed. We liked the X suites the best, even though they weren’t entirely separate from the main ships. The food, service, and inclusions were very close to lux line. And I swear, we had included mini fridge access in CS. So, this year when we wanted to cruise again, we checked out Retreat prices and we’re “sticker shocked” as they were more than “lux lines”!. I checked here on CC and found that X suites might not offer the inclusions they once did. If Retreat prices and inclusions returned to pre-pandemic levels we’d be very interested, whether the Retreat area was fully separated or not. 

We did a one and done NCL Haven cruise pre covid and were not impressed at all.  I looked at MSC but most of their ships with YC are 7 day cruises and we want to cruise in no less than 10 days.

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Do you think this is true?  Interesting perspective.  It applies to E-Class ships.  But suite prices are very high across all of their ships.

 

Absolutely.  I was listening on a TA webinar when they were rolling out the E-class ships and this was clearly their intention. 

[xamsx]

6 hours ago, Moby Jones said:

 

They have been since the introduction of Edge. I remember seeing Aqua Class rooms at £600 ($750) pppn in its first season in the Med. 
 

It’s just that more people are starting to realise this now. 

That is crazy. We just booked a more exotic B2B cruise on Regent for just a bit more than that per day (PH suite).

[Dolebludger]

And we find it unnecessary to book as high as the  Penthouse suite level on Regent. Just one level above base suites will  get you a suite as good, or better, than Aqua, with more additional inclusions than space and time permits be to post. That is what we book. 
 

One of my problems with Celebrity is it has too many levels of perks, inclusions, and eligibility requirements for them (these seem to be constantly changing too).mIt takes a Philadelphia lawyer to figure them out. (I am only an Oklahoma lawyer.) A basic fact we can all understand is that the most basic suites on Regent come with inclusions and perks equal to (or better than) those provided in the highest Retreat level. So comparing Regent PH to X Aqua is worse than comparing apples to,oranges.

[Moby Jones]

12 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

And we find it unnecessary to book as high as the  Penthouse suite level on Regent. Just one level above base suites will  get you a suite as good, or better, than Aqua, with more additional inclusions than space and time permits be to post. That is what we book. 
 

One of my problems with Celebrity is it has too many levels of perks, inclusions, and eligibility requirements for them (these seem to be constantly changing too).mIt takes a Philadelphia lawyer to figure them out. (I am only an Oklahoma lawyer.) A basic fact we can all understand is that the most basic suites on Regent come with inclusions and perks equal to (or better than) those provided in the highest Retreat level. So comparing Regent PH to X Aqua is worse than comparing apples to,oranges.

I think you need to take two steps back. My reference  to aqua class which is their balcony cabin offering with private dining. It's a step well below the Celebrity suite experience. 

Not the Aqua sky suite. The point being made is Celebrity pricing can be ridiculous. Would you pay £600 pppn for a balcony room onboard Celebrity? I really wouldn't.  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, Moby Jones said:

I think you need to take two steps back. My reference  to aqua class which is their balcony cabin offering with private dining. It's a step well below the Celebrity suite experience. 

Not the Aqua sky suite. The point being made is Celebrity pricing can be ridiculous. Would you pay £600 pppn for a balcony room onboard Celebrity? I really wouldn't.  

I wouldnt pay $200CAD  pppn for Celebrity balcony with Always included 

[NMTraveller]

On 8/31/2023 at 6:16 AM, terrydtx said:

When we booked our Oceania Marina Santiago to Buenos Aires cruise I started looking at the Oceania CC forum, After I joined and explained that we booked because Celebrity had pulled out of SA for 2025, I was surprised by so many ex Celebrity cruisers on the forum congratulating me for jumping ship from X. 

I am looking at Oceania for a UK cruise.

 

For my next vacation it is looking like it won't be a cruise at all.  It is rather difficult to cruise into Paris.  I am looking for a cruise that starts and ends in Paris or overnights in Paris.  I have not found one so far except for river cruises.

[markeb]

1 hour ago, NMTraveller said:

I am looking at Oceania for a UK cruise.

 

For my next vacation it is looking like it won't be a cruise at all.  It is rather difficult to cruise into Paris.  I am looking for a cruise that starts and ends in Paris or overnights in Paris.  I have not found one so far except for river cruises.

 

We're probably taking a break from cruising after the two we have booked partially for the same considerations. We enjoy visiting Europe, and much if not even most of it isn't easily accessible by cruise. We would consider, with a lot more research, a cruise into one of the wine regions of France, but if I travel to Paris, I want to spend time in Paris, not traveling from the coast and back for a short visit. Same for most of Italy, and pretty much all of Germany, and definitely Austria and Switzerland. Some of that is amenable to a river cruise, but we'd be happy finding a nice location and just staying there, with or without a day trip or a rental car.

 

The argument about only unpacking once only applies if you move from place to place. There are a lot of places where you can immerse yourself for days and never change hotels.

[Dolebludger]

We have enjoyed European river cruises. But they only offer a relatively short time in each destination. If you book on one of the more inclusive lines, choices of excursions are offered (not at additional cost), all onboard beverages, snacks, food, tips, and everything I can think of are included in the fare. They are good at what they are designed to do — provide guests with a “taste” of the areas. Not an immersive experience in any one area. For that experience, no kind of cruise will do. 

[broadwaybaby123]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:36 PM, Islander500 said:

Hello fellow cruisers,

As a loyal and long-term Celebrity cruiser, I am starting to do some due diligence for other cruise lines.  Of course, I have a lot of research to do but thought I'd ask you experts who have also been Celebrity cruisers. Some info about us. We are in our 60s/70s, typically travel with friends of similar age, looking for interesting itineraries, excellent meals (we like the size and ambiance of BLU), lounge spaces with live music of various kinds, nice seating spaces to relax, chat, have a cocktail or coffee, somewhat reasonable pricing (whatever that means for you) for balcony cabins (don't need suites.)

 

Would love to hear your thoughts with some details, and thank you in advance.  💗

 

 

 

 

 

If you like Celebrity, consider Royal Caribbean.  They're sister cruise lines, so if you like one, you'll most likely like the other.  There's plenty to choose from for bars: Vintages, Schooner, Rising Tide (Oasis class ships only), Trellis, Playmakers, Lime And Coconut, Boleros, and Bionic Bar just to name a few.  Dining includes Jamie's Italian Grille (by Jamie Oliver), Wonderland, Johnny Rockets, IZUMI, Giovanni's Italian Kitchen, Chops Grille, Sorrento's, and Cafe Promenade, are just a few of the restaurants you'll find.

 

Oasis class ships also have Central Park which features live music every night.

 

There's a lot of balcony cabins, particularly on the Oasis class ships.  Some of the balconies are actually considered inside cabins because they overlook open air decks.

[neverlaysup]

On 8/20/2023 at 10:30 AM, tfred said:

All that would do is poach X suite customers who may not come back 

Those older and formerly loyal Suite customers will be replaced with younger Suite customers that will spend more. That is what Celebrity wants.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

If you like Celebrity, consider Royal Caribbean.  They're sister cruise lines, so if you like one, you'll most likely like the other.  There's plenty to choose from for bars: Vintages, Schooner, Rising Tide (Oasis class ships only), Trellis, Playmakers, Lime And Coconut, Boleros, and Bionic Bar just to name a few.  Dining includes Jamie's Italian Grille (by Jamie Oliver), Wonderland, Johnny Rockets, IZUMI, Giovanni's Italian Kitchen, Chops Grille, Sorrento's, and Cafe Promenade, are just a few of the restaurants you'll find.

 

Oasis class ships also have Central Park which features live music every night.

 

There's a lot of balcony cabins, particularly on the Oasis class ships.  Some of the balconies are actually considered inside cabins because they overlook open air decks.

Was on RCL last year hopefully never again 

[ECCruise]

6 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Was on RCL last year hopefully never again 

We've done quite a few Royal (only Radiance class or smaller) which could be considered an alternative to Celebrity.  Actually find them more equitable with M class, e.g., than E class on =X=.

 

But no way are, IMHO, Oasis, Quantum or likely even Freedom or Voyager class (let alone ICON class 🫢) be considered an acceptable Celebrity alternative.  Unless =X= has even morphed even further afield than I am afraid they already have. 

[hubofhockey]

On 9/1/2023 at 11:23 PM, MamaFej said:

Thanks for that perspective. 

 

We've done M & S Class on Celebrity, not E. Our largest ship has been Royal Class on Princess. We have discovered, since the restart, that we really like the smaller ships. Docking closer to the things we want to see (sometimes hours closer) and having more overnights is a real plus for us. The smaller ships just seem to suit us well for other reasons, as well. 

 

I don't imagine we will ever do a mega ship, unless we have grandkids (doubtful at this point) and travel with them. We did mostly RV travel when our kids were younger, taking them to 49 states and a few territories and provinces that way. The National Parks Pass is a huge bang for the buck! I'm writing this from our motor home in a valley nestled into the San Jacinto  mountains at the moment. 

 

We did nearly burn out our brakes coming down to your hometown one day.

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggerration, but not a huge one. 

 

The largest ship I would take now is M class.  I do wonder what will happen when these ships’ useful life comes to an end.  They have all of the main things from a big ship I want and are not crowded and do some great itineraries.  I wish Royal Caribbean had invested more in Azamara and built more smaller ships.  They bought Silverseas, but I have no interest in those prices.  We liked Azamara, but no thanks on the new owners.  We are using Oceania as an alternative and will book M class on Celebrity  when they have itineraries which we like.  Our last large ship cruise was nine years ago on the Royal Princess.  It was new at the time, but the ship part of the vacation seemed annoying - waiting at elevators and crowds everywhere.  It was also our last cruise with Princess.  Just awful in every way and docked  so far away from Stockholm that it was an annoyance.

[ECCruise]

22 minutes ago, hubofhockey said:

 

The largest ship I would take now is M class.  I do wonder what will happen when these ships’ useful life comes to an end.  They have all of the main things from a big ship I want and are not crowded and do some great itineraries.  I wish Royal Caribbean had invested more in Azamara and built more smaller ships.  They bought Silverseas, but I have no interest in those prices.  We liked Azamara, but no thanks on the new owners.  

Curious.  Have you sailed Azamara since the Sycamore sale?

[1Virgo]

On 9/1/2023 at 5:13 AM, OysterD said:

They've not been removed, if you want them (not sure why you would, they're a bit naff) ask and you can still get them. They just don't arrive for everyone every day by default.

 

I remember being rather underwhelmed and leaving most of them on my first cruise on Reflection in 2012, I wouldn't say they've gotten any better or worse since then lol.

no canapes in Aqua class in January on Equinox  and Aqua in April/May on Summit.   We asked. No canapes

[George C]

2 hours ago, broadwaybaby123 said:

If you like Celebrity, consider Royal Caribbean.  They're sister cruise lines, so if you like one, you'll most likely like the other.  There's plenty to choose from for bars: Vintages, Schooner, Rising Tide (Oasis class ships only), Trellis, Playmakers, Lime And Coconut, Boleros, and Bionic Bar just to name a few.  Dining includes Jamie's Italian Grille (by Jamie Oliver), Wonderland, Johnny Rockets, IZUMI, Giovanni's Italian Kitchen, Chops Grille, Sorrento's, and Cafe Promenade, are just a few of the restaurants you'll find.

 

Oasis class ships also have Central Park which features live music every night.

 

There's a lot of balcony cabins, particularly on the Oasis class ships.  Some of the balconies are actually considered inside cabins because they overlook open air decks.

Grand suite on some oasis class ships is way cheaper than the smaller sky suite on celebrity, over a thousand per person. Doing another in November, prefer rccl specialty restaurants and way better entertainment, negative thing is amount of children.

[Dolebludger]

Just a question — what perks does a suite on Royal come with? Things like included beverages, priority boarding, mini fridge access, etc. I’m not up to date on Royal, and suspect this is true of others here.

[jelayne]

30 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

no canapes in Aqua class in January on Equinox  and Aqua in April/May on Summit.   We asked. No canapes

We were told the same thing in May.

[Dolebludger]

ECCruise:

 

Just curious — have you checked Silversea’s current prices and compared them to current prices in the Retreat? I have, and have found that (generally) you might be able to book Silversea for around the price of a Retreat Sky Suite, and get more inclusions and perks. We’ve had two cruises on Silversea, and it is a class act. The only reasons we didn’t make our recent booking on them (instead of Regent) are the itineraries and the fact that Silversea is VERY formal on its formal nights. But my aversion to formal nights is just personal,— many love them.