Are you new to Celebrity? If so what did you think?

[Redtravel]

Yes, they are looking for younger cruisers who take shorter trips.  I used to really like 2 week or longer winter Caribbean cruises.  Sadly X gave them up. I don’t like b2b on X.  I found that other cruise lines do longer cruises.  

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

On 2/22/2024 at 1:50 PM, Redtravel said:

Yes, they are looking for younger cruisers who take shorter trips.  I used to really like 2 week or longer winter Caribbean cruises.  Sadly X gave them up. I don’t like b2b on X.  I found that other cruise lines do longer cruises.  

Yep, we are still doing the shorter cruises on Celebrity with our Adult kids who can't take two weeks off of work, but to fly to florida for just 7 or 8 days seams like a wast, so we either do BTB on Celebrity or Combine our Celebrity cruise with another cruise experience.  This year we are taking HAL through the Panama Canal to get to FLL, then we are doing back to back Celebrity.   We are later taking a 28 Day HAL Trans Atlantic and Baltic cruise followed by a river cruise.   

[NekoChef]

We are a mid-late 40s couple who has had 3 sailings on celebrity (no other cruises).

 

Responding as after a gap of 9 years we have booked a trip on the Beyond for May in a Sky Suite. 

 

What we are looking for is a clean modern environment where we can unplug and unwind. We looked at a bunch of options including The Haven (SIL prefers them) and couldn’t get past the how visually noisy their staterooms were. 

 

Food variety with service is important (not into buffets). Uniqueness of total dining experience is a big draw so we booked Eden and Le Voyage; we passed on Fine Cut as there are plenty of steakhouses with good meat in driving distance of our house.

 

The Retreat Lounge and Sundeck were huge draws as quiet places in which to relax.

 

The shows in the theater and the club seem appealing as we do want day/nightlife, just not 24/7 in your face party boat. 

 

Overall, E-class looks like the best blend of things we are looking for. We might consider revolutionized S-class in the future but i’m struggling to see how Michael’s club can mimic the openness of an e-class lounge without physically being relocated.  

 

We took a hard look at Virgin but passed on the short duration of their itineraries and ports of call (couldn’t care less about Key West or Bimini). A friend of ours sails regularly on Virgin and we might try it but not for this cruise. 

Edited March 2 by NekoChef

[atobols]

According to your descriptions, we're not in the target audience.  We're 46 and travel with our 17 and 15-year-old sons.  We've sailed 7 Carnival, 1 RC, 1 Costa, 8 Princess, and one Celebrity cruise.  Our preference lately has been Princess because they sail out of San Francisco, our home port.  We sailed our first Celebrity cruise last year and are planning our second one now.  There are things we like better about Celebrity and other things we like better about Princess.  If Celebrity decided to make SF a home port, it would be a tough call between the two.

 

Celebrity:

Food is better

Large-venue entertainment is better

loved the real towels in bathrooms

loved the coffee shop

 

Princess:

small-venue entertainment is vastly superior

naturalist onboard for Alaska and Hawaii voyages

longer itineraries (10+ days), which we prefer

food availability at all hours is better

wine bar experience is superior

 

 

[®Magic]

40 here....first cruise on Celebrity was in December on the Eclipse in a concierge cabin.  Prior to that I'd been on like 15 cruises going back as early as 2000...all with carnival + one horrid experience with both NCL & Princess.

 

Anyhow, I just loved my time on the Eclipse...love that Solstice class layout.  Found the service to be like it was on my first cruise back in 2000...which was a wonderful surprise given how much things have changed since then.

 

Since I live in Seattle and have gone on several Alaskan cruises... I booked the Edge in May in a Sky Suite...so definitely interested to see how the retreat experience stacks up.  Luminae sounds like a dream tbh.

 

The only negative - and it really isn't a big deal because I think it's an issue with most cruises - they're like 10 years behind the curve on their cocktail program.  World class and (I assume) Eden bars kinda approach where things should be...but they don't stock enough different spirits to push the envelope.  Take world class on the eclipse - the bartenders were absolutely the best on the boat, but they often didn't have base spirits to make a number of classic cocktails.  I wish mother corporate built them a better foundation so to speak to take things up another notch.  Oh and I found the martini bar - albeit super energetic - more about style over substance.  Once again not a big deal as I asked them to correct it - which they happily did...but a Manhattan for example shouldn't be shaken, and shaken cocktails should always be double strained.  I'm kinda bar industry adjacent though sooooo I'm probably a bit over the top vs the average joe.

 

Anyhow, as for value...I think it just depends.  I've gotten both cruises at what seem to be price points well under the average for the respective cabin types - like $450pp base for the eclipse concierge & $1600pp for the edge sky suite.  I dunno that I'd want to pay the $1200+ pp I see for many concierge rooms or the 3k+ pp for the retreat I see for many other itineraries...but I've always been happy to seek deals and walk away if the numbers don't add up.  At those higher price points I'd probably prefer to just go to a place myself and do more of a deep dive into the location than a cruise could ever offer.

 

Anywhos...I think that about covers it...once again I'm really excited to go on the Edge in May. 🙂

[Ducky_01]

My DW and I are in our 40s, I am not new to Celebrity or cruising but my wife is/was until our first ever cruise on Celebrity Beyond last May in the Eastern Med.

 

Funny story: we met Captain Kate in-person in Montenegro and, not knowing she was the captain, my DW shared her thoughts honestly - she told the captain she was apprehensive at first but fell in love with cruising as a holiday (although Captain Kate said choosing Beyond as your first ship set a "very high bar", and I agreed!).  Key benefits of cruising according to my DW: the ability to unpack and relax/unwind right away, waking up to new ports that we otherwise would not visit on a land-based trip, and - most of all - the incredible service.  

 

I've cruised with X on and off for the last 10 years - they're definitely my preferred cruise line.  As a point of comparison, we do beach vacations, staycations, and city trips (usually of one week or less). FWIW Here are my thoughts:

- A transatlantic (which I did solo in 2015 on Celebrity Equinox) was incredible value for money and good fun especially when at sea, but bear in mind I traveled with friends that shared a love of boats, cruising, and all things nautical. X ships are amazingly well-designed, so they'd be my ship of choice for long TA journeys

- I never thought drinks packages, suites, or even internet represented good value-for-money and I still don't think so; I do enjoy an occasional splurge at the spa, which was always overpriced but I think of as a vacation treat

- I have seen the decline in MDR food quality (specifically, I find mains to be less colourful or vibrant, and lacking in seasoning).  I also miss offerings that were once free or represented good value-for-money, such as room service or the fill-a-bag laundry special (my DW has no such comparison, and reminds me these would be at a similar cost if at a hotel, so in that sense we're not really missing out) 

- On the other hand, the newer X ships are more modern and seem to have more variety in entertainment?  I also find the food portions to be just right, and I commend X for minimising food wastage and trying to control costs in that way (IMO, a win-win).  I wouldn't say any of it particularly caters to our taste as Gen X-ers / Millennials although the ships themselves, due to their unique design, are very photogenic and the cruise cos are more tech-savvy (ex. must drills via the X app)

- I have NOT seen a decline in the service - stateroom attendants, bar staff, waiters work just as hard as they did 10+ years ago and they deserve every penny we give in tips

- Due to inflation, costs are rising on everything: flights, hotels, even cruises.  You can add to that: food, dining out, gas, rent, etc. This is just life.  Bar prices on Beyond seemed comparable to high-end hotels, and my philosophy on specialty dining is "take-it-or-leave-it" - no-one is forcing you to go, but for a special occasion the upcharge represents comparable value to an upscale restaurant (v. dinner at Applebees) and worth it when you consider the decline in MDR

 

... these are just my/our personal thoughts, I'm sure others will disagree.  Will we continue to cruise?  Yes!  In fact, we're going on Celebrity Apex this spring.  But I wouldn't say cruising is any better value proposition than land-based holidays, whereas that may have been the case some years ago.  Just a different type of holiday and every once in a while, isn't it nice to have a change?  

Edited March 11 by Ducky_01
typo

[LA24]

FIRST CRUISE

ASCENT MAR 3 - 10TH.

 

Food, entertainment, room,  staff, ship excellent…loved it.

Ports -  Bahamas…nice port.

Cozumel - didn't like port. Had friends that went to margarita ville and had fun. We should of done that instead of walking around looking at the shops.

Cayman - so so port. Did a beach excursion …..coral beach club…. clean but old and tired needs a refresh….imo not worth the price we payed.

 

Negatives in whole experience 

Booked cruise through celebrity’s website…..as it seems to have lots of IT issues. After booking and paying on line. In a few days our discounts disappeared and we were sent a new bill saying we owed 3 thousand more dollars. It got resolved but not without time (3hrs) and stress and having to go to a supervisor (manager) with celebrity.

We booked our flight through celebrity, ground transportation and excursion. I have learned that they are all 3rd party company’s. 
i thought the flight was guaranteed that if u missed the boat because of flight delay or shuttle delay. They will assist u in finding another plane to the next port…..but they dont tell u …that u will pay for the flight….it is kind of misleading even when u read the fine print and when I talked to them when I book. They dont explain to u that it will be on ur dime..they just say they will take care of u and get u to the ship…….there was no advantage to book through them and we payed more to do so. 
in future I would get a hotel the night before so no stress about maybe missing the ship.
Their ground shuttle to port (third party) dropped us off at the wrong port, I realized it within a minute of getting off the shuttle and was able to flag him down to get back on board to be taken to the right port. Decided to take an uber on the way back to the airport - cheaper and better imo.

 

 

Edited March 12 by LA24

[ScottC4746]

On 2/11/2024 at 7:02 AM, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

The scuttlebutt is that Celebrity is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, and that the customer survey cards from the guest who are new to Celebrity are extremely positive.  This is despite all the changes that us old timers have been complaining about.   If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands? 

We jumped from RCCL to HAL to X in September 2022 and fell in love.  We loved HAL but it was a bit too old for us...in 2016.  We have gotten older so maybe not now.  We tried X and it was wonderful.  Great service in Alaska on the Solstice.  It was nice coming in from the ports that were cold and wet and having hot homemade consume to sip to warm up.  Shows were great with live orchestra.  We cannot say enough positive about X.

[NMTraveller]

10 hours ago, LA24 said:

Cozumel - didn't like port. Had friends that went to margarita ville and had fun. We should of done that instead of walking around looking at the shops.

 

Cozumel.  Go to Tulum...

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 2/11/2024 at 10:02 AM, WesternBroncoCruiser said:

 If you are younger (say than 50) and tried Celebrity for the first time in the last year or so, I'd love to hear what your impressions were and how the value of the product felt to you, maybe compared to other types or vacations or other cruise brands? 

As promised - we tried our first Celebrity cruise this month and loved it. Reflection was just the right size ship, not overcrowded, in great shape and super clean, food was very good, entertainment was great, soft serve was delicious, the crew was absolutely fabulous and friendly. We loved it. There was a ton of people our age - 40-50s and quite a few teens with them.

 

I do think the MDR and buffet food in general was better overall on Enchanted Princess in Nov 2022, however, I will get to refresh my memory and get a more up-to-date opinion next month when we'll be back on Enchanted. Of course, Reflection doesn't have International Cafe or crepes in MDR, but we we were still pretty happy campers.... And I liked X's escargot and mushroom risotto more than Princess'.

 

If you want a more detailed review, it's in my signature.

Edited April 27 by Itchy&Scratchy

[mshaines]

I've been meaning to circle back on this post as I think we're exactly the cruisers OP was asking about.  I'm 43.  DH is 40 and our son is 8.  We sailed Apex in the Retreat (SS) the week before Easter (i.e. the kid's spring break).  The ship was sold out, but never felt particularly crowded.  We LOVED it.  For reference, we had done one NCL balcony, two NCL Haven, and one MSC YC cruise previously.  We enjoyed the high level of service (not just in the retreat but everywhere), the quality of the food, and the beautiful ship.  Having the retreat sundeck was nice, but I think we could certainly enjoy an X cruise without the retreat.  We ate at the Grand Bistro (good), Eden (LOVED), Blu (good),  and LPC (HATED  for both the duration of the meal and the really not great food).  We ate most of our meals in the Retreat Restaurant (excellent) but ate buffet pizza nearly everyday.  Our son very much enjoyed the kids club.  We will definitely be back on X, probably next year.  

 

For us, our son doesn't really care about the "stuff" on NCL or RCCL.  We didn't miss the go karts, slides, etc.  So for us, NCL Haven't really isn't as good of a value proposition as Celebrity is.  We would certainly cruise NCL again, but only in the Haven and only for a compelling reason (with friends, great deal, bucket list itinerary, etc.)  I actually would do the MSC YC again (ONLY YC), but my husband hated it even if it was half the price.  I'm curious about the suite classes on RCCL, but the prices are higher than celebrity (which I understand) and generally have less perks than the Haven (despite also being more expensive than that as well), so it just doesn't make sense for us.

 

The only other thing I was a wee bit disappointed by on X (by way of comparison) were the drinks.  The Retreat really didn't have a fancy bar (which I knew), but we sorta missed the smoked old fashions and proper mixology from the Haven.  I was also not impressed by the wine selection, considering X marketing.  Thankfully this forum had adjusted my expectations.  (Not that I couldn't always find a good drink or that my pickiness diminished the cruise in any way.)

[WesternBroncoCruiser]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:33 AM, LA24 said:

FIRST CRUISE

ASCENT MAR 3 - 10TH.

i thought the flight was guaranteed that if u missed the boat because of flight delay or shuttle delay. They will assist u in finding another plane to the next port…..but they dont tell u …that u will pay for the flight….it is kind of misleading even when u read the fine print and when I talked to them when I book. They dont explain to u that it will be on ur dime..they just say they will take care of u and get u to the ship…….there was no advantage to book through them and we payed more to do so. 
in future I would get a hotel the night before so no stress about maybe missing the ship.
Their ground shuttle to port (third party) dropped us off at the wrong port, I realized it within a minute of getting off the shuttle and was able to flag him down to get back on board to be taken to the right port. Decided to take an uber on the way back to the airport - cheaper and better imo.

 

 

Hi LA 24, I am just having time to circle back to my post to read replies.   

 

I am wondering what lead you to believe that you would have to pay to get caught up to the ship or have your flights changed to another airline.   We have had several times where we our selves or members of our traveling party had flights cancelled and Celebrity moved us/them on the spot to other fights on different airlines at no charge.   That is one of the prime reasons we book with Flights by Celebrity.   

 

This is their language on the website, can you please cut and paste where you saw that guests are responsible for paying to get to the port?

 

"Protection

When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

[kpic]

Well I meet your age requirement (early 50's) but that's about it as I've never been on a cruise! Unless you count taking the Cape May ferry from Lewes De. to Cape May NJ? But I thought I'd make an account here and post on why we ended up choosing Celebrity and I suppose future-me will update on the experience.

 

My wife (same age range) and I are booked on Ascent for next August to Italy & French Riviera (Sunset Veranda\Floor 9). Now I never thought I'd be on a cruise at all and was never even interested in it but we've been wanting to visit Italy and the idea of stopping at several spots (there are 4 stops in Italy and 1 in France) instead on 1 or 2 if we just flew into a destination was too good to pass up.

 

My wife has been on one cruise to the Caribbean on RC last year (no idea what island, I forgot already as she's the beach person and I don't care) she was also a 'cruise virgin' up to that point. Other than she thought there were a lot of kids around she loved it. She is also going back to the Caribbean this year (another different island but not sure what one because well you know not my thing so I stopped paying attention - don't worry I'll find out what one prior to her leaving and wish her well!) this one will be on Carnival, she has heard they skew younger but she was basically gifted this cruise by one of her girlfriends to come along so she can't turn it down. 

 

So we ended up on Celebrity for a few reasons; one of her other girlfriends swears by them when she goes, they met our itinerary requirements and lots of research here at this site. I need to thank those of you that left your thoughts about the different cruise lines, the different room types and even what floor (if you can get it) to stay on, and especially the pictures! Actually we hurried and booked the Sunset Veranda after I saw so many said to get it soon as they go fast. I still don't get all the lingo being thrown around but I'm sure at some point I'll say 'Ah, that's what they meant!'

 

So thank you again for all of the great questions & posts I've been able to search through, it really has been a big, big help. I've gone from not really caring about a cruise at all to really looking forward to it!

[JCGD91]

We just tried our first Celebrity cruise (Apex).

 

We're early 30s and have done a few with Royal Caribbean (Older ships and newer). We spoke to many people on past cruises who recommended Celebrity based on a slightly elevated experience.

 

We found that the service on X was (probably) marginally better than Royal and we honestly could not see any difference in the food (a few people told us that the food is MUCH better on X), although, we've never complained about the standard of food on Royal. Overall we were very impressed and will definitely be booking again.

 

The ship was the perfect size.

 

Food:

 

We tried MDR, OVC, and Fine Cut.

 

We found MDR to be on par with the MDR on Royal. It felt to us as if OVC had less options than the windjammer, and we honestly could not tell the difference in food quality here. Fine cut was identical to Chops Grille (at least to us).

 

We love the food on both though, so no complaints :).

 

Entertainment:

 

We both agreed that the X original production shows were better than Royal.

 

In our opinion, the quality of the live music on Royal has been much better for us than what our X cruise had to offer. We're not saying the music was bad, it was just a lot more relaxed, and not what we were used to.

 

In future, we'll be cruising between Royal/X.

Edited Saturday at 04:42 PM by JCGD91
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