Is Celebrity the new Carnival?

[NMTraveller]

9 hours ago, RichYak said:

 

It's not Carnival's inability to control the situation, it's their unwillingness to change the environment that leads to these situations.

 

These unruly passengers are choosing a product that best appeals to them. Short, cheap itineraries with a loud club music vibe can lead to occasional mayhem. That's simply the cost of doing business for Carnival.

Kind of sounds like the Perfect Day itineraries on Celebrity.

[hubofhockey]

On 9/20/2023 at 8:03 AM, CruisinShips said:

Trying to scare the OP off?

Nobody overreacts on Cruise Critic.  😄

[NMTraveller]

7 hours ago, JCMass. said:

I did read they removed the library, sorry to hear that I always like to go and choose a book or two and sometimes sit and read by the ocean.  Royal Caribbean has done the same thing, but they still have the books in the Schooner Bar, looks like the Summit has none at all. 

Which class of ship?

 

S class has a very nice library.

 

E class well no.  Carnival has a better library than the non-existent one on  E class...

Edited September 23, 2023 by NMTraveller

[deliver42]

They won't have a better one for long. They're replacing all the libraries with bars.

[kirtihk]

On 9/19/2023 at 3:54 PM, Cruisegoer said:

not everyone who cruises can afford the suite life or Aqua class. Glad to know people like class systems in 2023.

Actually, a real balcony price is very close or something’s even higher than Aqua when one selects all the same features (all inclusive and SEA Thermal Suite package).  I compared them on multiple itineraries and came up with this conclusion.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, deliver42 said:

They won't have a better one for long. They're replacing all the libraries with bars.

Who are “they”?  Celebrity?  Carnival?  Princess?

[RedIguana]

On 9/22/2023 at 8:32 AM, MadManOfBethesda said:

That may be true for Caribbean cruises, but it certainly isn't the case when comparing longer cruises to other destinations. I took a two-week transatlantic cruise on Carnival this past April from Tampa to Barcelona and a two-week cruise out of Baltimore to Greenland and Newfoundland last month and I will be taking a two-week transatlantic cruise on Celebrity next month from Barcelona to Port Canaveral. I am Elite on X and have found very little difference in the demographics and conduct between Carnival passengers and Celebrity passengers on these longer cruises.

Well those longer cruises require a passport and a clean criminal record in some cases. That eliminates 75% of Carnival's typical Caribbean cruiser..........😜

 

 

Please take this comment with the humour that is intended

 

[Cachecara]

On 9/20/2023 at 7:13 PM, zitsky said:

Nice post, but haven’t you read the other discussions?  No one can be enjoying Celebrity as much as you say.  This must be a fake post!!!  😂😂😂

I read other discussions often.  This is my POV.  And I’m quite happy that I’m pleased with my memories and experiences.  

[serene56]

We are carnival people 33 cruises.  We have sailed royal and princess.  We are taking out first celebrity in January.   Princess is owned by carnival but very much more upscale.  As I believe celebrity is more upscale than royal.    Carnival magic is our favorite.   Just did the Venezia.   But for us carnival just is the same old same.  Just the ship is different.   Even the live and marriage show has the same questions.  And the answers were the same   Looking forward to seein celebrity reflection.   You will not know if it’s for you if you don’t try it at least once 

[Treasure Hunter]

Try NCL. We think it falls in between Celebrity and the pre covid RCCL. We cruise a lot. Celebrity, NCL, Princess, Oceania  and even two on Regent.  Love Celebrity but NCL has better entertainment and is livelier. 

[Treasure Hunter]

I think the average age on HAL is dead.

[Georgia_Peaches]

14 hours ago, deliver42 said:

They won't have a better one for long. They're replacing all the libraries with bars.

Screech….wait….what?!!!

[deliver42]

 That is per John Heald.

[cruisefam38]

21 hours ago, zitsky said:

Who are “they”?  Celebrity?  Carnival?  Princess?

Question is:   Who is Carnival?

or is it:  What is Carnival?

confirmation from deliver42 in the previous post

 

[hubofhockey]

9 hours ago, serene56 said:

We are carnival people 33 cruises.  We have sailed royal and princess.  We are taking out first celebrity in January.   Princess is owned by carnival but very much more upscale.  As I believe celebrity is more upscale than royal.    Carnival magic is our favorite.   Just did the Venezia.   But for us carnival just is the same old same.  Just the ship is different.   Even the live and marriage show has the same questions.  And the answers were the same   Looking forward to seein celebrity reflection.   You will not know if it’s for you if you don’t try it at least once 

The last Carnival cruise we did was when the Magic was new in 2011.  We took our kids on a Med cruise.  I loved the ship.  John Heald was the cruise director.  The venues on the ship were nice, but they were doing “color wars” with red, white, and blue teams screaming in main dining rooms to see who could be loudest.   

 

Change is good.  On the whole, I like Celebrity’s more relaxed and casual vibe.  I find the ships nicer than Princess, but not as glitzy.  It depends what you are going for.  At this point, for us, smaller is better and we like Aqua class and the smaller M class ships.  Our alternatives now would be Oceania or Azamara.  My issue with Viking is that they include excursions and I don’t want to pay for that option.  We can live with $400 each passenger credit for excursions simply more on Oceania, but not more than that.  Enjoy the Reflection.  If anything, it will be a much different vacation feel than Carnival and Princess.

[hubofhockey]

23 hours ago, deliver42 said:

They won't have a better one for long. They're replacing all the libraries with bars.

Replacing a non-revenue space with revenue generating space makes sense for Carnival.  I suppose more bars is an overkill for Carnival since it’s not too hard to find a drink on a Carnival cruise.  However, the library was probably the least utilized space on their ships.  Can’t blame them.

[deliver42]

Just what Carnival needs, another place to get drunk and start a fight.

[eroller]

2 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

Replacing a non-revenue space with revenue generating space makes sense for Carnival.  I suppose more bars is an overkill for Carnival since it’s not too hard to find a drink on a Carnival cruise.  However, the library was probably the least utilized space on their ships.  Can’t blame them.

 

You can find a bar on Carnival, but be prepared to wait for that drink.  Bartenders are often overwhelmed and there are not enough of them, especially with the amount of drink packages onboard.  Drinking is probably the #1 activity on CCL.  Fighting comes in second.  😜

[Treasure Hunter]

I made the Love Boat theme my ringtone.

[doghog]

1 hour ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I made the Love Boat theme my ringtone.

I hate that theme even when cruising with Princess. But we do like cruising with Princess but their Captains Circle perks/benefits are no where near as good as Celebrity's CC. 

[hubofhockey]

4 hours ago, eroller said:

 

You can find a bar on Carnival, but be prepared to wait for that drink.  Bartenders are often overwhelmed and there are not enough of them, especially with the amount of drink packages onboard.  Drinking is probably the #1 activity on CCL.  Fighting comes in second.  😜

Vomiting would be third.

[montythecat]

I would recommend the OP tries HAL .  We are Elite Plus with

Celebrity but have moved to Holland America and find 

everything more to our liking. The Pinnacle Class ships with their

interesting range of music keep us fully entertained in the evenings.

Vista Class ships are also pretty good. We think the food is better

than X and the layouts on both classes are better than X’s Edge

Class ships.

 

[JLS07]

On 9/22/2023 at 1:00 PM, JCMass. said:

Thanks for this, we are going on our first Celebrity cruise on the Summit, in two weeks.  so we thought we would try Celebrity but all the comments here make it sound awful. 

 

Got see for yourself - you will enjoy it.  People (myself included) are complaining because we had a 9.5/10 for the price of a 7/10.  Now we have an 8/10 for the price of an 8/10.  There was this, almost, unknown value within Celebrity that only those that cruised it knew about.  You were treated like a Ritz Carlton guest for the price of JW or Marriott.

 

Yes the food was better "back in the day" - it is still really good now, and you won't go hungry

 

Yes the service was better "back in the day" - they had a better crew to guest ratio, but it is still really good

 

Yes the prices were better "back in the day" - they are still fairly reasonably priced for a family of four compared to the next step up (Regent, Oceania, etc).  

[hcat]

On 9/21/2023 at 11:34 PM, NMTraveller said:

I have yet to be on a Carnival cruise.  

 

However I have waited for a shuttle at a park and ride with a bunch of Carnival cruisers.  They were so boozed up before the cruise I did not care to see how such a cruise would go.  Perhaps in my younger 20s I would have joined the Carnival Toga party. 🙂 

This may be a dup or partial forgotten post.It popped up whrn I went to post something else.???

 

".  we were on X in ARUBA  with a Carnival  ship nearby.  After lunch we walked to the store area.  We could not believe the loud, pushy, wild  behavior in the stores and and on the street and sidewalks  as the  passengers from that ship travelled  along in packs.  

 

We went back to the ship early,  only to be disrupted  by loud, pulsating,  party music with  an obnoxious DJ...blaring from their top deck......."

[hcat]

After reading the Virgin CL thread..sounds more like that is the " new Carnival"..but a bit more upscale...