Is Celebrity the new Carnival?

[eroller]

32 minutes ago, hcat said:

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

Virgin is completely different than Carnival.  Totally different clientele and atmosphere.  As different to Carnival as Celebrity is (in different ways).  

[Cruising89143]

I haven’t stepped foot on a Carnival ship since the fall of 2004 and I don’t really see us cruising with them again. We had over twenty cruises with them but they no longer appeal to us. I won’t make any comments about the current situation as I have no first hand knowledge so it would not be fair to them. We simply grew tired of their product and I’m not a fan of their newer ships. Believe it or not we liked the old Farcus designs. The designs were “out” there and fun. Loved the Holiday and Fantasy class designs.
 

We receive several emails weekly from their casino department for cruises. We have yet to take them up on an offer. We like RCI and X but prefer X a little more. We’re over the Oasis class. Simply too big.  We prefer the Voyager class on RCI and the S class on X. The perfect size ships for us. 
 

Finally based upon my remembrance of the Carnival product, X is not the new Carnival. Not even close.

[PoodleMom102022]

15 hours ago, JLS07 said:

 

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).  

How sensible of you! 😂

 

We're taking our first cruise (ever, with any line) with X in 2024. So we won't know what we're missing from the old days, LOL!

 

But based on this thread, I have a feeling we'll have to stick with higher end. I know now that setting foot on a Carnival ship is NOT for me!

[Cruise till you drop]

Why is this thread still going on and turning off new Celebrity cruisers?

 

Celebrity is several steps up from Carnival and some of these posts are just plain ridiculous to make people think it’s on the same level as Celebrity.  Utter nonsense

[gkbiiii]

Celebrity is new NCL!  Carnival has really stepped up its game with Celebration, while endless fees, reducing perks/meal quality; now they rival NCL, for the bottom tier. 

[gkbiiii]

32 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Why is this thread still going on and turning off new Celebrity cruisers?

 

Celebrity is several steps up from Carnival and some of these posts are just plain ridiculous to make people think it’s on the same level as Celebrity.  Utter nonsense

This is simply NOT true for 2023: the Carnival Celebration is the best ship I've been on in nearly 40 cruises.  She is better than the Celebrity Edge or any other Celebrity vessel I have sailed on.  I am Diamond Plus with Royal, so Elite on Celebrity.  The Fahrenheit Steakhouse, Rudy's Seafood, & Emeril's Bistro, are better than most paid offerings on Celebrity.

 

Even the new NCL offerings, compete with Celebrity, if you include NCL's endless "Nickel & Diming," which is now the Celebrity Standard.

[KKB]

On 9/19/2023 at 12:35 PM, young_k92 said:

 

And, if someone with experience could elaborate on the difference between Celebrity and HAL post-Covid, I would appreciate it. The plan was to try MSC first, then Celebrity, then HAL. But after reading these reviews, I'm wondering if moving straight to HAL might be a better option for us.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

30 cruises over 20 years....10 Celebrity, 5 in the last 2 years.

Have not done HAL; have done 1 Carnival last January.

4 MSC cruises this year.

 

OK.

CELEBRITY IS THE CLEAR WINNER, NO CONTEST.

 

Did 4 B2B MSC cruises--Caribbean & Europe. Incredible price. Too many rude passengers in both locations! Won't cruise them again (tho I have heard Yacht Club is amazing)

 

Carnival--we LOVED our 2 week cruise to Hawaii on Miracle this January even tho we were told we would hate it after Celebrity, Princess, NCL, DCL & RCCL. Crew said long Carnival cruises are awesome & we agree. 

 

I know Carnival's reputation for those shorter cruises...

But those who cruise Celebrity the most/the longest have pretty high expectations.

But NO, Celebrity is NOTHING like those short Carnival cruises.

It is still a big step above.

Edited September 28, 2023 by KKB

[C4HCG]

24 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

This is simply NOT true for 2023: the Carnival Celebration is the best ship I've been on in nearly 40 cruises.  She is better than the Celebrity Edge or any other Celebrity vessel I have sailed on.  I am Diamond Plus with Royal, so Elite on Celebrity.  The Fahrenheit Steakhouse, Rudy's Seafood, & Emeril's Bistro, are better than most paid offerings on Celebrity.

 

Even the new NCL offerings, compete with Celebrity, if you include NCL's endless "Nickel & Diming," which is now the Celebrity Standard.

No posts here offering opinions are TRUE. They are all subjective and reflect posters individual preferences and experiences.  That is a simple truth.

[gkbiiii]

2 minutes ago, C4HCG said:

No posts here offering opinions are TRUE. They are all subjective and reflect posters individual preferences and experiences.  That is a simple truth.

No, the use of the word "subjective" is a code word, used to excuse mediocracy, by disavowing contrary opinions.  This type of "to muddy the water approach," is to hide the inner truth, to what I am saying.  There is absolutely no reason for your commentary, other than to silence, both truth & common sense.

[C4HCG]

6 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

No, the use of the word "subjective" is a code word, used to excuse mediocracy, by disavowing contrary opinions.  This type of "to muddy the water approach," is to hide the inner truth, to what I am saying.  There is absolutely no reason for your commentary, other than to silence, both truth & common sense.

Care to translate that for me? Someone has the opinion Celebrity is better than Carnival and they are wrong because you say so? That’s not my approach to debate but hey ho, who am I, didn’t even know subjective was a code word!

[Cruise till you drop]

53 minutes ago, gkbiiii said:

This is simply NOT true for 2023: the Carnival Celebration is the best ship I've been on in nearly 40 cruises.  She is better than the Celebrity Edge or any other Celebrity vessel I have sailed on.  I am Diamond Plus with Royal, so Elite on Celebrity.  The Fahrenheit Steakhouse, Rudy's Seafood, & Emeril's Bistro, are better than most paid offerings on Celebrity.

 

Even the new NCL offerings, compete with Celebrity, if you include NCL's endless "Nickel & Diming," which is now the Celebrity Standard.

🙄 seriously ?

[Smmessineo]

On 9/27/2023 at 10:33 AM, JLS07 said:

 

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).  

What a great explanation! My husband and I agree. Celebrity still gives us OUR best experience. I'm sure some people are losing what really matters to them, but we feel like we get a lot of things we love for a good price in today's vacation market.

[Smmessineo]

1 hour ago, gkbiiii said:

This is simply NOT true for 2023: the Carnival Celebration is the best ship I've been on in nearly 40 cruises.  She is better than the Celebrity Edge or any other Celebrity vessel I have sailed on.  I am Diamond Plus with Royal, so Elite on Celebrity.  The Fahrenheit Steakhouse, Rudy's Seafood, & Emeril's Bistro, are better than most paid offerings on Celebrity.

 

Even the new NCL offerings, compete with Celebrity, if you include NCL's endless "Nickel & Diming," which is now the Celebrity Standard.

How many .kids are on the Celebration on a 5 or 7 night cruise? How nice is the smoking area on the Celebration? How's the drink package?  How are the inside staterooms? Those are important to me and I've seen some ships that I recognize as great..but not great for me. 

[gkbiiii]

2 minutes ago, Smmessineo said:

How many .kids are on the Celebration on a 5 or 7 night cruise? How nice is the smoking area on the Celebration? How's the drink package?  How are the inside staterooms? Those are important to me and I've seen some ships that I recognize as great..but not great for me. 

I was on an 8 night Comped Casino Cruise on Celebration (Aruba & Curacao), last month so here a a few observations.  There were many children on my two casino comped Edge Christmas cruises as well, but more on this, maybe? 

 

Outstanding Smoking & non-Smoking areas, including two separate wings of the casino (largest casino at sea, larger than Oasis/Allure!) with good smoke filtration.

 

I was in a Balcony Cabin, thus I don't know what their insides were like. The cabin seemed narrower and had much fewer power socket, NONE on the side of the bed!  

 

As a Casino Comped Guest, "drinks while you play," was my booked offer, so I only had one drink outside casino.  All my Bombay & tonics were outstanding, with great service, for a very large casino.  The bars were stunning throughout and had drink menus which had many long lost drinks, Royal does not currently serve: Harvey Walbanger, (Royal does not carry Galliano fleetwide now!) Bahama Mama, Grasshopper (Royal does not carry Cream de Menth) etc.

[jonyboy]

13 minutes ago, Smmessineo said:

How many .kids are on the Celebration on a 5 or 7 night cruise? How nice is the smoking area on the Celebration? How's the drink package?  How are the inside staterooms? Those are important to me and I've seen some ships that I recognize as great..but not great for me. 

All these comments remind me of when I was younger and my dad and my uncles would discuss, sometimes heatedly, which was the best car brand, you were a Ford man, a Chevy man or a Chrysler man.  In retrospect all had pros and cons but you could never convince any of them of that, they all had there favorites

[Smmessineo]

15 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

I was on an 8 night Comped Casino Cruise on Celebration (Aruba & Curacao), last month so here a a few observations.  There were many children on my two casino comped Edge Christmas cruises as well, but more on this, maybe? 

 

Outstanding Smoking & non-Smoking areas, including two separate wings of the casino (largest casino at sea, larger than Oasis/Allure!) with good smoke filtration.

 

I was in a Balcony Cabin, thus I don't know what their insides were like. The cabin seemed narrower and had much fewer power socket, NONE on the side of the bed!  

 

As a Casino Comped Guest, "drinks while you play," was my booked offer, so I only had one drink outside casino.  All my Bombay & tonics were outstanding, with great service, for a very large casino.  The bars were stunning throughout and had drink menus which had many long lost drinks, Royal does not currently serve: Harvey Walbanger, (Royal does not carry Galliano fleetwide now!) Bahama Mama, Grasshopper (Royal does not carry Cream de Menth) etc.

Thanks for answering my questions! It actually made me go look closely at  the Celebration and her sister ship the Mardi Gras.  I might have to check it out if I find a good deal.  

[QuestionEverything]

In a discussion with cruise friends, our opinion is that Celebrity is trending downwards, leaving the top spot in the mass cruise market.

Celebrity most certainly is not trending upwards towards the premium tier that is for sure.

When Celebrity launched in the early 90's, Celebrity was the Oceania, premium line of the day.

Full high tea with white gloved staff etc. I enjoyed Celebrity very much.

From about 2015 or so, Celebrity reduced their status down to mass market.  

From what we all see, Celebrity intends upon moving themselves downward further.

That is their decision.

There certainly are many "Celebrity Refugees" as they are called on the Oceania board and there were many, many on my August Oceania Insignia voyage.

 

[tce40]

1 hour ago, QuestionEverything said:

In a discussion with cruise friends, our opinion is that Celebrity is trending downwards, leaving the top spot in the mass cruise market.

Celebrity most certainly is not trending upwards towards the premium tier that is for sure.

When Celebrity launched in the early 90's, Celebrity was the Oceania, premium line of the day.

Full high tea with white gloved staff etc. I enjoyed Celebrity very much.

From about 2015 or so, Celebrity reduced their status down to mass market.  

From what we all see, Celebrity intends upon moving themselves downward further.

That is their decision.

There certainly are many "Celebrity Refugees" as they are called on the Oceania board and there were many, many on my August Oceania Insignia voyage.

 

 

Happy you have found refuge on Oceania. 

[QuestionEverything]

4 hours ago, tce40 said:

 

Happy you have found refuge on Oceania. 

Thank you. Not easy. But the former Celebrity no longer exists.

I remember getting on Solstice in 2015 docked at Chiv for Rome - Baco had fabulous shrimp and crab sandwiches and other sandwiches in the case while we waited for our bags and entrance to cabins. We had a glass of wine. Outstanding.

It went downhill from there. 

I suspect many posters have 0 knowledge of the former Celebrity. 

[Cruise till you drop]

9 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

.

There certainly are many "Celebrity Refugees" as they are called on the Oceania board and there were many, many on my August Oceania Insignia voyage.

 

 

Apples and Oranges.  On similar sailings, you’re paying at least 50% more on Oceana vs Celebrity for a balcony room

 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[jonyboy]

7 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

 

Apples and Oranges.  On similar sailings, you’re paying 50% more on Oceana vs Celebrity for a balcony room

 

 

I agree

[PTC DAWG]

On 9/19/2023 at 2:21 PM, RedIguana said:

RCI has pretty much turned into Carnival. Celebrity is becoming (has become?) what RCI used to be.

Just my opinion.

So they have added slides, flowriders etc?  I think not.

[PROCRUISE]

Elite with Celebrity, soon to be 4 star with Holland America,

I'd try Celebrity and would certainly then try Holland America.

For me, the only real difference is atmosphere. Celebrity is a little "livelier" and HAL is a little more quiet. That being said, HAL is trying to gather more younger passengers (like yourself) on their pinnacle class ships with Music Walk. Really enjoyed this on the Rotterdam and Statendam and like Club Orange private dining.

[gkbiiii]

1 hour ago, Cruise till you drop said:

 

Apples and Oranges.  On similar sailings, you’re paying at least 50% more on Oceana vs Celebrity for a balcony room

 

 

This does not make sense, as these are former Celebrity cruisers, who left the line due to the poor condition of the Line; to find standards somewhere else.  I'm surprised Cunard is never mentioned, but I do understand why Oceana & Viking Ocean are where many cruisers are going. 

[NMTraveller]

On 9/28/2023 at 10:16 AM, Cruise till you drop said:

Why is this thread still going on and turning off new Celebrity cruisers?

 

Why is Celebrity still building ships without the balconies?

 

Carnival and most other lines have balconies.  

Edited September 29, 2023 by NMTraveller