I'm not sure if this is in the right place for this question, but wasn't sure if it should go in the Royal Caribbean threads. Please excuse me if I am in the wrong place.

Our family just got back from a nine day Caribbean cruise on the Explorer of the Seas. We have only cruised twice as a family, both on Royal Caribbean. We have had wonderful experiences both times. In fact, we are ready to go back tomorrow!

We live in Ohio, and find driving to an east coast port a cheaper alternative to flying to Florida. We were looking at some cruises leaving from Baltimore and Cape Liberty.

A lady on the Explorer said that Bermuda is a great destination. We saw the 7 day cruise out of Cape Liberty on the Summit.

My question for the veteran cruisers is would you recommend the Celebrity ships and what distinguishes them from Royal Caribbean. I understand that Royal owns Celebrity.

We have had good luck with Royal Caribbean, but my opinion is, how do you know how the other lines are if you don't try them? Or, I guess, why mess with success? That's where I need your help and opinions.

What are the strengths of Celebrity? What would be the advantages of them over Royal Caribbean? (I think the Enchantment of the Seas goes to Bermuda out of Baltimore) Any weaknesses?

What about other lines? Should they be considered?

We have four children, ages 17-15-12-12. They like to do things. My wife and I enjoy doing things too, but we also just enjoy the cruise experience. The food in the dining room would be a plus if it is of excellent quality.

I think the thing is, we enjoyed our cruise very much, it's just that we felt the food in the dining room was somewhat lacking in choice and quality.

Thanks in advance for all of your help, suggestions, and opinions.

Mark

Celebrity Cruise lines is owned by the parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited. They own both the brands Royal Caribbean International (the cruise line), and Celebrity Cruise Lines. Celebrity is one of my favorite. They are a Premium cruise line. Royal Caribbean is mass market. Celebrity has a more refined experience. They are noted for their service and food.

I sailed on the Summit in Alaska and enjoyed the ship. To compare the Summit to the Explorer is hard to do because they are two totally different classes of ship. You will have to ask yourself what it was you enjoyed about the Explorer. The Summit has activities for children but Royal Caribbean offers more activities for children. The Enchantment of the Seas is different yet than the Explorer. It is an older much smaller ship. It does have rock climbing and a bungee trampoline. Bermuda is a great island with lots of activities.

You should talk with a cruise oriented Travel Agent that can explain the differences more in detail. Other cruise lines like Carnival and NCL may be good fits for you also.

Excellent advice, as always, from Cruise Fanatic. I'd add that another consideration would be the amount of time spent in Bermuda. It's a great place for a family vacation (we've done it four times; our son is 15). Certainly, the ship is a main draw, but when it comes to Bermuda I'd also give a serious nod to the itinerary.

I haven't been on Royal Caribbean in ages, so I can't provide a comparison. Yet I highly endorse Bermuda.

Hi Mark,

Just to expand a bit, Celebrity is considered the upscale sibling to Royal Caribbean. It's considered to have better food, but being pricier, generally attracts an older passenger demographic on most itineraries than Royal Caribbean.

Now I'll qualify what I just said. There are two things that will change the above. First, sailing from the greater New York area, there will be more families (who also don't want to fly) than usual on Celebrity. Plus, since I assume you'll be sailing when school is out, that will also increase the number of families with kids on the Bayonne sailings. Celebrity adds more counselors and beefs up their children's program a bit when they expect more children to sail, and I'm sure that's the case with their summer and holiday sailings.

As Cruise Fanatic said, Celebrity doesn't have ice skating rinks or rock climbing walls. If your children really enjoyed some of the more unique facilities on Royal Caribbean, that may be a good reason to consider going back on them again.

As noted, Bermuda is a wonderful destination. Lots to do, days spent out doing things, using the ship as your hotel, restaurant, and entertainment venue if you'd like. Bermuda has beautiful beaches, good shopping, and incredibly friendly and helpful people. There is a wonderful, safe and clean public bus system that can take you all over the country. You can go online and take a peek at Celebrity's shore excursions in Bermuda to get an idea of the variety of things you can do.

Sandy

Mark
I've never cruised with NCL, but they also have many ship leaving from the east coast to Bermuda, and seem to have a well organized teen program.
Marsha

Thanks to all for your responses. I appreciate it.

Our children did not use the rock climbing wall or ice rink. I think they might have, but time just passed by too fast! They did use the sports court (basketball, soccer) and the miniature golf course.

We were just wondering if cruising with Celebrity would be a 'nicer' cruise, as far as the dining aspect, or even, perhaps the ship.

On Royal Caribbean, the service was great, the people were friendly, the rooms were excellent. We just wondered if it might be nice to try Celebrity, especially if the food was better with them, just to try a different line.

Thanks,
Mark

Thank you Mark for your question, I have been wondering many of the same things, except I do not have children to entertain. Really want to book a Celebrity cruise and always look for comparisons. Cross my fingers, business gets better, and a Celebrity Cruise in my future.

Mstick,
I think Sandy nailed it. I do love Celebrity and it can be an older crowd, but not to say there won't be any Kids. Bermuda is awesome, with lots to do. We tend to go whe kids are still in school so I am sure it would be different when school is out. I am taking the Summit to Bermuda but it will be May 16th. Either way you will have a fantastic time, food on Celebrity has been wonderful. Tough to pick, but isn't it nice to have so much to choose from?

Yeah, looking at a Bermuda cruise on the Summit next year, and it has us docked for three days ! Sounds wonderful....

Recommend you buy a three day bus pass. Then you can ride all over the island hopping on and off.

Thanks, MStick, for asking these questions, and thanks to everyone for the thoughtful replies. I'm also considering Summit for next year, so I found this thread very helpful.

My husband and I live in Michigan and I hate flying, so we sail out of the East Coast whenever possible. So far, twice out of NYC and once out of Cape Liberty. If you leave out of Bayonne, I recommend coming in a day early and spending the night at the Wyndham Garden Hotel - Newark Airport. They have great parking deals for the entire week and the hotel is clean and nice. We've stayed there a few times and will do so again if we leave out of the East Coast next year.

quote:

My husband and I live in Michigan and I hate flying, so we sail out of the East Coast whenever possible.

Do you drive from Michigan?

Yup! We drive through Ohio and Pennsylvania to NJ. It's about 10-12 hours, figuring in stops for lunch and such. Amazingly, it seems to fly by. This time, we put an audiobook on the iPod and off we went! "Read" the entire "Lincoln Lawyer" by Michael Connelly.

Wyndham has great "park and fly" deals. We just omit the flying part.

MStick, I can let you know in December. We're off on the Solstice. I have wanted to try Celebrity, but they were always much more expensive than Princess for the same itinerary. This one was only about $100/pp more, so I booked it. I'm excited to try a new cruise line. We've sailed HAL, RCI, Carnival, Costa, NCL, and Princess, so one more down and so many more to go! I have had friends that sailed Celebrity and loved it. They were married in St. Thomas, so part of their cruise was pre-marriage, part was honeymoon. They're planning another cruise for the 5th anniversary, coming up soon. They're in their 30s, took a 7 day Caribbean, and said there was a great mix of clientelle on board.

I still need to talk the guys into booking, can't even get them to commit to a deposit...tough times here in Michigan. But the bus pass sounds perfect, if and when.

Penny,
I noticed you've been on so many lines - any advice and thoughts about your favorites? What are the pluses and minuses of each?

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I wish I had been on more, but here goes. Princess is my favorite, so far. Since they were acquired by Carnival PCL, they have changed and not for the better. Still, they do offer what I consider, the best cruise experience. It's not stuffy, but it is classy. The crew are professional, again not stuffy, but not as layed back as some of the other lines. The ships are immaculate and the food used to be fantastic. The food now is good, sometimes great, but it has slid since the take-over. I prefer the Sun class ships (Sun, Sea, and Dawn), but they have moved the grand class into Ft. Lauderdale now. We went on the Royal (one of their smallest ships-don't know what the class is called) in December/January and really enjoyed her. She's the size of the old cruise ships where the Sun class ships seem to be just perfect. They're 1950 passengers, so they're not tiny, but they're not huge like the Ruby and Emerald. Not that the Ruby and Emerald aren't beautiful ships, they're just hard to get around (have to go up or down to get to where you want to go).
Costa is a great line, if you don't let some things bother you like: all announcements are made in 5 languages, muster is also made in 5 languages while you are standing outside in your life jacket, not all the crew speak English but you are always able to find someone who does, the dining experience is like a huge Italian family dinner (which I love), and the crew is not quite as responsive as other lines that sail out of the US and cater to Americans. It's not that they don't attend to your needs, it's just that it takes a while. Costa is a more lively cruise, VERY family oriented with gobs of children running around. The ships are beautiful, clean, and well maintained. The food is good, again not great, just good. The cabins are HUGE for a mass market line, much larger than a Princess cabin. (We've been in inside, outside, and balconies on all lines except HAL. HAL was just an inside. Never had a suite of any sort).
Carnival is a fun line. We've sailed on her when she was the "party" line and more recently after they changed their image. They have definitely cleaned up their act, no more really inebriated folks on board. The ships are clean, and the staff is fun loving. They still do the animal towels and candy. They have geared their ships more towards the family experience, have a great children's program, are installing the water works on many of their ships, and have taken the Movies Under the Stars from Princess and put up large screens on many of their ships. The food is good. The chocolate melting cake is divine.
Royal has changed from being upscale to more family oriented. Not sure between Royal and Carnival which has the smaller cabins. To me, it feels like Royal does. It might just be the lay out of the cabin, but it feels much smaller. The food used to be great, now it is good to average. Their ships are beautiful, kept immaculately, service is fantastic. They're usually higher priced than the other mainstream cruise lines for the same itineraries. Guess they have to pay for their rock walls, ice rinks, floriders, and other ammenities not offered on other lines. I haven't had the privilege of sailing on any of their HUGE ships, so cannot compare them fairly with the likes of the Emerald.
Holland America is more upscale. The ships are immaculate with beautiful decor. Service is impeccable. Cabins are on par with Princess as far as the size. They cater to an older clientelle, although they do have facilities for children, it's not their forte. Their food is elegant, but I cannot say in honesty that I was impressed with the flavor. Presentation was beautiful, and some dinners were very good. I guess they don't season highly because they do cater to an older demographic.
NCL is another fun line. Their ships are distinctly decorated. I love the fun colors and whimsical themes. (Costa and Carnival also have great colors and themes-some can be a little overboard-but they're always interesting). The crew is much more layed back. They, too, have a good children's program, but are not geared as much towards that as Carnival and Costa. I enjoy their food, they have more spicy offerings than most lines. But, it's definitely not 5 star food, it is good. Their sticky buns are sinful (on the main buffet for breakfast). The ships are clean, cabins are small, prices are definitely good.
All of the lines I've been on have been unique, and great in their own ways. I've been repeat customers on all of them, with Princess leading the way at 8, Carnival 5, NCL 4, Costa 5, Royal 3, HAL 2. I believe that you can have a fantastic time on any ship when you go with no preconceived notions and go with the flow. I'd love to experience every line, including river cruises. I could definitely find the time, if I could only find the money

On average, I'd say RCI standard cabins are about 20% or so smaller than those on Carnival.

When a cruise line gets swallowed up by another one it rarely improves things. To me there is a big difference from when Celebrity was owned by the Chandris family to these days under RCCL ownership.

Nice job Penny, very informative, due to some changes, I am currently shopping other lines for cruises to come, I obviously like RCI, but believe variety will always spice up my Cruise experiences.
"I believe that you can have a fantastic time on any ship when you go with no preconceived notions and go with the flow."
FANTASTIC statement.

Wow Penny - thanks for the detailed reply!
My husband and I took our 4 older boys on RC last summer and really had fun. I went again on RC with friends. We are trying Princess next month, so after your note I am even more excited to try it!
We also want to try Celebrity. I'd love to take the Solstice cruise that you are going on...maybe next spring.
Thanks again for all the insights!
Lynn

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