Alternatives to Celebrity

[ECCruise]

6 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I don't understand why anyone who prefers to sail on much smaller ships is even commenting on this board.  Seems like a waste of time to me.  Carry on.  

Maybe because the title is "Alternatives to Celebrity?"

 

Why would a smaller ship not be an alternative?  We have gone back and forth dozens of times sailing, e.g., Celebrity and Oceania and Azamara.

 

You've said you don't like small ships.  That's fine.  But it doesn't mean that many of us can't do both.

[Dolebludger]

Hey, whoa! When we cruised in Celebrity suites just a few years ago we loved it. It was really comparable to a small lux ship experience, and then it cost less. Shortly after, we quit cruising for obvious reasons. When it became OK to cruise again, the Retreat was the first thing we checked out — only to find the cost was greater than that on a smaller lux ship. Then in further checking, we found that perks and inclusions were being cut — even at that very high fare. If nothing had changed so dramatically, we’d booked in the Retreat right now. The size of the ship has nothing to do with it. The quality of the experience for the money is all that counts.

[MamaFej]

I prefer Fuji apples. That won't stop me from commenting on also Gala apples in the appropriate context. 

[goofysmom99]

27 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I don't understand why anyone who prefers to sail on much smaller ships is even commenting on this board.  Seems like a waste of time to me.  Carry on.  

Alternatives to Celebrity include many different-sized ships.  I've found this particular thread to thoughtful, helpful and refreshingly "unsnarky," for the most part.  What a change of pace from the usual comments we see.

[Dolebludger]

I do not have a problem with the size of Celebrity’s ships. All I have a problem with is the massive fare increases and the reduction of perks and inclusions. In fact, on our X suite cruises in 2018 and 2019, we liked the size of the ships and the varied offerings therein. 

[hubofhockey]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I don't understand why anyone who prefers to sail on much smaller ships is even commenting on this board.  Seems like a waste of time to me.  Carry on.  

 

The topic is alternatives to Celebrity.  Why aren't smaller ships an alternative?  

[Lynn2629]

I also was taken aback by Celebrity’s pricing when I started to look for next summer’s Scandinavia cruise. I always enjoy the time I spend on the balcony, but the best I could swing would be an oceanview cabin at $6000 for 11 days.

 

Then I explored other options, and came across Cunard’s new Queen Anne for an obstructed balcony at $4000 or an unobstructed for $4700 for a 10-day Scandinavia cruise. I’ve heard mixed things about the food, but the ship will be so beautiful and the price so much less - for better accommodations - that I went ahead and booked. 

 

* prices are for solo 

** for those who don’t like formality, Cunard might not be a good fit. For me, I like to spiff up!

[Covepointcruiser]

On 9/1/2023 at 7:42 PM, mango puddin said:

 

Cunard Grill level used to be exceptional food and service. Food quality went downhill a bit, but still better than Celebrity suites. 

 

I didn't find the dress code onerous, I just put on a slightly nicer dress at dinner time, that's all. 

 

Preferred Cunard overall.

We were on the QM2 in the Queens Grill for 20 days in Nov- Dec.    We found the food to be even better than pre COVID.    We had whatever we wanted for lunch and dinner.    Table side preparations were done with every dinner.    In the U.S., Grill reservations come with most drinks and gratuities.   The upper limit for drinks was $13 and there were many drinks that fit below that price.   However, if you ordered a drink that was $13.50 you were charged the total amount.

[Dolebludger]

They are an alternative, especially for Retreat cruisers. The Retreat replicates the small ship experience within the Retreat, while still offering the alternative of large ship experiences. Those of us who liked the Retreat (the way it was) but not now (the way it is) may feel that a small ship is the best alternative.

[Jeremiah1212]

4 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Has anybody considered copying this thread and sending it to Celebrity’s president and marketing VP? Heck, I’d do it but I lack the needed computer skills. I know that this has been done with other threads on CC from time to time.

 

You can summarize this thread easily. 17 pages mentioning nearly every mainstream cruise line out there ranging from $350/night to $3,500+/night. Honestly not a whole lot to be gained. 

[Dolebludger]

Well, I just thought somebody a Celebrity might like to know why many former cruisers were thinking about leaving Celebrity and some doing that. But maybe not?

[sparkopotamus]

12 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Well, I just thought somebody a Celebrity might like to know why many former cruisers were thinking about leaving Celebrity and some doing that. But maybe not?

With all decrements to service, perks, quality, etc., I'm reading about, I wonder if the new X leadership mentality has no issue with loyalists (we are Elite +) leaving.  All those perks, e.g., a comp'd bag of laundry, 15% off a bottle of wine, discount on speciality dining, etc., add up.  It would seem X continues to scrub its numbers, looking for ways to cut back.  I suspect they would prefer a non-perk customer to one who has earned a few. Maybe I'm nuts but that's kind of what I see going on.

[mac_tlc]

An alternative to Celebrity is anything that a person would consider instead of Celebrity, here size doesn’t matter. 
 

If it weren’t for Celebrity’s drastic price increase and flurry of changes/cutbacks, we probably would be booking a few more Retreat cruises. We love E-class Retreat. But, we are looking at other options . 
 

Personally, I don’t think Celebrity cares if I stray, or if I ever come back. I think they should, but they probably don’t. Sending them a thread such as this would not be a surprise to them. The only thing that will get them, or any company, to consider reversing some of their decisions is less bookings. Given that the next 6-12 months are mainly bookings made before the changes were made, it will take a year to know if our decisions to look elsewhere has any impact. 
 

mac_tlc

[Traveling Fools]

6 hours ago, 2tixParadise said:

We are trying the Encore Haven in Feb 2025, I feel confident that we will enjoy the Haven section of the ship

 

I can assure that you will enjoy the Haven

[Traveling Fools]

37 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

An alternative to Celebrity is anything that a person would consider instead of Celebrity, here size doesn’t matter. 

 

True...the title of this thread was Alternatives to Celebrity.

 

Regarding size of ship.  That will soon become more and more relevant.  Some ports are now beginning and I feel many more in the future will begin to limit the size of cruise ships which in the past have been permitted to dock/tender at their port.

[Dolebludger]

This is a factor I hadn’t thought of in the “ship size” debate. But I do know there are some ports where mega ships have never been able to go due to shallow water. French Polynesia comes to mind. As far as I know, nothing over 400 pax has ever been able to offer cruises in some areas there. And some ports now are limiting the number of guests there to dock at the port. There is a new term “over tourism” that has come into play.  On our Regent Explorer cruise to Alaska in June 2023 (750 pax) there were no onboard problems at all. But in some of the ports there were three mega ships in port at the same time with us. The ports were over crowded and that diminished the on-shore experience. Sitka looked like NYC!  Key West had a pax limit on cruise ships, and still might have one. Venice, Italy is closing its cruise port, as I recall.  So this may be a factor in the survivability of mega ships. But, for now, the main issue is the best cruise experience for the money. Celebrity no longer gets my vote.

[hubofhockey]

There are different types of people who take cruises.  Some want a floating resort and others who use cruising as a means to see the world.  If you want to see Bangkok or Saigon and dock in the city, instead of 2 to 2.5 hours away, your retreats/havens/yachts clubs will do you no good.  Some have pointed out other itineraries as well.  The smaller ships are an alternative, but I get it that they are not for everyone and there are many Celebrity loyalists who would never even get on an M class ship.  The smaller ships are an alternative, but those of us who love them understand that they are an alternative, but not for everyone.  

[wineoclock]

Yes I worry about trying Regent as to whether it will be too small for me, but more from a motion sickness perspective. The only way for me to find out is to try it.
 

But also I remember being on Constellation and I didn’t love it as felt too small, though I loved the PS balcony. Way out of price range now unless for a very special occasion. 

[cluso]

9 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

This is a factor I hadn’t thought of in the “ship size” debate. But I do know there are some ports where mega ships have never been able to go due to shallow water. French Polynesia comes to mind. As far as I know, nothing over 400 pax has ever been able to offer cruises in some areas there. 

 

Many years ago, we sailed on the Tahitian Princess around French Polynesia.  It was based there.  She was number 4 of the R ships.  680 passengers.  It is now Oceania's Sirena.

[deultgen]

Lots of good information here on this topic.  My own thoughts below considering the questions in the original post:

 

 

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.  We too have been on multiple Celebrity cruises over the past 10 years and consider it our cruise company of choice.  At the same time, for many we are interested in, Celebrity is out of our price range.

 

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.)  We are in our 50's, typically sail Aqua Class, appreciate Blu, the Solarium, live music, and a good cocktail.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts with some details, and thank you in advance.  We have found we can take a Princess cruise in a Balcony stateroom, on a newer ship, spend (and pay for) every afternoon relaxing in the Sanctuary, dine every night in a Specialty Restaurant, and drink all we want for FAR, FAR less than an Aqua Class stateroom for a similar itinerary.  We are booked on a Princess Cruise this winter and the cost is less than half for similar accommodations and ports.  

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, deultgen said:

Lots of good information here on this topic.  My own thoughts below considering the questions in the original post:

 

 

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.  We too have been on multiple Celebrity cruises over the past 10 years and consider it our cruise company of choice.  At the same time, for many we are interested in, Celebrity is out of our price range.

 

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.)  We are in our 50's, typically sail Aqua Class, appreciate Blu, the Solarium, live music, and a good cocktail.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts with some details, and thank you in advance.  We have found we can take a Princess cruise in a Balcony stateroom, on a newer ship, spend (and pay for) every afternoon relaxing in the Sanctuary, dine every night in a Specialty Restaurant, and drink all we want for FAR, FAR less than an Aqua Class stateroom for a similar itinerary.  We are booked on a Princess Cruise this winter and the cost is less than half for similar accommodations and ports.  

I noticed itineraries weren’t listed in the above descriptions. 
 

We are in our early 70s and find we enjoy longer 3-5 week itineraries with a combination of sea days and port days. Right now we have 4 cruise lines on our go to list, PCL, HAL, NCL and then X, in that order. 
 

We enjoy booking PCL vista suites, HAL aft-facing vista suite balconies (with CO), NCL club balconies (with FAS Plus), and X Aqua cabins. We used to cruise in X sky suites when cruising first started back up for about $350 pp/day. But when the Luminae food started giving us heartburn and the rates started going over $500 pp/day, we switched to Aqua. 
 

But as I mentioned we enjoy longer more unique  3-5 week itineraries rather than the shorter 7-12 day ones, and PCL, HAL and on occasion NCL offer some pretty cool ones. Not so much with X. 
 

We like larger 2000-3000 pax ships, as we like getting lost in the crowd and being entertained, rather than the smaller 400-1200 pax ships. For us those smaller ones, such as the Oceania ships, feel just too crowded for us anymore, especially since we really don’t like socializing when we’re on a cruise and their entertainment is pretty weak.

 

But, that’s just us. 😁

Edited September 6, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[mitz18]

On 8/16/2023 at 2:31 PM, C 2 C said:

We've cruised on every class of Celebrity ship from Horizon to Edge.  We started cruising with HAL in 1989  and cruised a dozen times with them over the last year.  HAL has better itineraries, a crew that is just as friendly as on Celebrity and lower prices for drink packages than X.  We like the new class of Pinnacle ships better than the Edge class.  Celebrity has stunning design but the practicality of HAL's ships is more to our liking.  The Crow's nest on HAL beats anything that Celebrity has as a go to place on board.  Celebrity has given all the best views to suite passengers but HAL uses the forward observation lounge as a meeting place for coffee, puzzles and activities such as trivia.  There are real dance floors on HAL whereas on Celebrity they are walk through locations.  However we love the older Millennium class ships more than the older HAL ships.  We have found that many Carnival cruisers have moved up to HAL just as Royal pax move on to Celebrity.  Flip a coin to pick your voyage when in doubt.  Both lines will give you a fantastic experience.

Are the balconies, rooms & bathrooms sizes fairly equal between HAL & X (same class)?
TIA

[terrydtx]

18 minutes ago, mitz18 said:

Are the balconies, rooms & bathrooms sizes fairly equal between HAL & X (same class)?
TIA

The big difference between HAL and X are on HAL their newest ships have traditional open balconies without having to book a suite or sunset verandah on the E Class ships. We absolutely hate the IV cabins, which is why we book the Retreat on the E Class ships. Now with all the outrageous price increases, the Sky Suites on E Class ships are our of our budget and we are looking at other lines like HAL. HAL's new Pinnacle class ships are IMO just as innovative and gorgeous as the E Class, with real balconies. When the entry level Celebrity  Sky Suites are higher in cost for similar itineraries on a real premium line like Oceania, we will book on Oceania every time.

[killaypirate]

20 hours ago, Lynn2629 said:

I also was taken aback by Celebrity’s pricing when I started to look for next summer’s Scandinavia cruise. I always enjoy the time I spend on the balcony, but the best I could swing would be an oceanview cabin at $6000 for 11 days.

 

Then I explored other options, and came across Cunard’s new Queen Anne for an obstructed balcony at $4000 or an unobstructed for $4700 for a 10-day Scandinavia cruise. I’ve heard mixed things about the food, but the ship will be so beautiful and the price so much less - for better accommodations - that I went ahead and booked. 

 

* prices are for solo 

** for those who don’t like formality, Cunard might not be a good fit. For me, I like to spiff up!

Did the scandinavia cruise this summer $7000 balcony, booked on board previous cruise. Next year would be $8800. 25% increase in one year. Looking @November cruise in Med $5250 in Aqua. Land based 5* hotel $1350, but only half board & drinks meals only. Could have 1 month in hotel or 1 week on cruise, starting to make me think cruising days are over as much as I like it 

Edited September 6, 2023 by killaypirate

[Lynn2629]

2 hours ago, killaypirate said:

Did the scandinavia cruise this summer $7000 balcony, booked on board previous cruise. Next year would be $8800. 25% increase in one year. Looking @November cruise in Med $5250 in Aqua. Land based 5* hotel $1350, but only half board & drinks meals only. Could have 1 month in hotel or 1 week on cruise, starting to make me think cruising days are over as much as I like it 

Yes, that can be true, especially when you consider how high Celebrity is pricing their voyages. For me, the 10-day Scandinavia on Cunard’s new Queen Anne (obstructed balcony) works out to $400 a day, and that seems like a nice deal: on land, I would pay around $300 a night on a hotel, so for the extra $100 a night, I get three full meals, entertainment and activities, and of course the transportation from city to city.

 

I hope I’ll like Cunard as much as I’ve enjoyed Celebrity.