Royal Caribbean or Celebrity

[JHarry]

I have a cruise booked for November 23 aboard Celebrity's Equinox, an 11 nighter ultimate caribbean cruise but am worried that I will find the ship boring. I have never sailed on Celebrity and cannot find much information as to what is to do onboard. I am thinking about switching over to the Freedom of the Seas on a 7 nighter. I know there are tons of things to do on RCI. Can anyone tell me anything about Celebrity? Not much info on their boards.

[bgsimp]

You won't be bored on Celebrity. There's plenty to do. The shows are great & the food is very good, but it is a little more upscale & quieter than RCCL. We have been on Celebrity 15 times & Royal Caribbean 11 times. Love both lines for different reasons. RCCL tends to be a little more active & fun. It really depends on what you like to do. I don't do the Flowrider or Rock Wall, but I like to watch others do it. We will sometimes play mini golf. There are more pool side games etc. on Royal.

We will now cruise more on RCCL because of the smoking policy. It may not make a difference to you if you don't smoke, but Celebrity no longer allows smoking on the balconies.

( Not turning this into a smoking thread, just stating a fact.)

 

They're both great lines. Just depends on your idea of fun.

 

Happy Sailing !!

[JHarry]

The smoking policy is probably going to turn into a deal breaker. My wife smokes and I smoke when i drink on cruises but not the rest of the time and from what i have heard there are very few places onboard Celebrity where you can smoke. On Carnival you could smoke in your room. Luckily Celebrity and RCI are owned by the same and they told us we could change our cruise up until the 1st of September. I am thinking we are going to change to Royal Caribbean.

[bgsimp]

The smoking policy is probably going to turn into a deal breaker. My wife smokes and I smoke when i drink on cruises but not the rest of the time and from what i have heard there are very few places onboard Celebrity where you can smoke. On Carnival you could smoke in your room. Luckily Celebrity and RCI are owned by the same and they told us we could change our cruise up until the 1st of September. I am thinking we are going to change to Royal Caribbean.

 

I don't care about smoking in the room, but that's why we always get a balcony. There is only 1 lounge on the ship that you can smoke in & that's the Sky Lounge on top. It's a very small section. No smoking in the casino. There is an area outside next to the lifeboats, the top deck at the very back at the Sunset Bar & the starboard side at the pool.

[negc]

It is probably not fair to compare a cruise on a Freedom or even a Voyager class ship with any other ship or line because few, if any, of those other ships feature the many bells and whistles that you will find on RCI's largest ships. A better comparison between Celebrity and RCI might be the Radiance class ships and IMHO both offer a fairly similar cruise experience. As others have said, the Celebrity cruise might be a bit quieter and some, not me, will claim that the food is better. Service on our RCI cruises, overall, has been friendlier but we received excellent service on Celebrity as well. I did prefer Chops and Portofino (both food and service) to what I considered pretentiousness of the service and the menu in Ocean Liners on the Constellation, but the lecture series on our Celebrity sailings is something that I would like to see replicated on Royal Caribbean. If I were considering between a Celebrity and an RCI cruise, I would probably focus on price and itinerary since I am sure I would have an excellent time on either.:)

[CRUZBUDS]

I don't think there's much diifference in the smoking policy, except that you can smoke on the your balcony on RCCL and not on Celebrity.

 

Carnival is far more smoker-friendly or non-smoker unfriendly depending on what side you're on. ;)

[bgsimp]

I don't think there's much diifference in the smoking policy, except that you can smoke on the your balcony on RCCL and not on Celebrity.

 

Carnival is far more smoker-friendly or non-smoker unfriendly depending on what side you're on. ;)

 

There is a big difference with the smoking policies.

On Celebrity, the only place you can smoke inside the ship is a small part of the Sky Lounge.

On RRCL, you can smoke on your balcony & approximately half of the bar/lounges are smoking & half non-smoking & you can smoke in the casino.

[esbie11]

I don't care about smoking in the room, but that's why we always get a balcony. There is only 1 lounge on the ship that you can smoke in & that's the Sky Lounge on top. It's a very small section. No smoking in the casino. There is an area outside next to the lifeboats, the top deck at the very back at the Sunset Bar & the starboard side at the pool.

 

Are you referring to RCI or Celebrity regarding the no smoking in the casino and only 1 smoking lounge?

[esbie11]

Are you referring to RCI or Celebrity regarding the no smoking in the casino and only 1 smoking lounge?

 

 

Sorry, we must have been typing at the same time! I see the answer to my question above:D

[bgsimp]

Are you referring to RCI or Celebrity regarding the no smoking in the casino and only 1 smoking lounge?

 

That's the smoking policy for Celebrity.

[MAGNUM PI]

Our very first cruise was on Celebrity's Constellation. Since then we have taken two RCCL Serenade of the Seas cruises. Currently have three Adventure of the Seas cruises-booked.

 

So, both of these cruise lines are great, IMO.

 

I find that Celebrity was much more of a formal atmosphere, than RCCL. The wait staff was polite, formal, very efficient, but seldom smiled-on Celebrity. We much prefer the more relaxed, friendlier atmosphere, we have experienced with RCCL. I do feel that Celebrity has a better dining room cuisine; with a European style service.

 

I think that Celebrity and RCCL appeal to different style of cruisers/interests. After experiencing Carnival, Celebrity, and RCCL; I am staying with RCCL.

[erniesband]

This thread may interest you, it's a comparison of Summit and Serenade.

I get into the smoking thing and other differences.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=909706

 

Ernie