A DCL Platinum does a Celebrity Cruise

[DisneYE]

We did this Celebrity Cruise and would definitely cruise it again. DCL doesn’t have the itineraries we want!
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My God.. this itinerary looks AMAZING!
We priced it for 3 of us in a verandah and it's about the same as a 7-night Caribbean cruise with DCL... and this is a 14-night!!...Plus drinks and wifi included... this is nuts.
We're so doing this cruise once our DD finishes HS and takes a gap year, in less than 2 years.
I'm so tired of the same boring, overpriced DCL itineraries.

 

[ebockelman]

Hopefully with the new ships we'll see DCL expand the itinerary selection into more areas (like Asia) and not just be content with shifting them around to existing ports (like sending the Dream to Miami).

 

[RAD]

FYI, there's a thread over at Cruise Critic from the week prior to our sailing, he really did a great job on the trip report, tons of pictures and videos. If interested here's the link, https://boards.cruisecritic.com/top...22-1152022-virtual-cruise-plenty-of-pictures/.

 

[RAD]

That's right. It's Zenith. It's a dream that will probably never be realized, but I'll try my best!

At least Celebrity is giving something really valuable to their active/loyal customers vs DCL where you get a free dinner in Palo.

 

[CM Dad]

This forum is owned by Dreams!

Yes I know that. I was just curious if that was the reason or if there was a bad experience with Harr.

 

[imahistorygeek]

At least Celebrity is giving something really valuable to their active/loyal customers vs DCL where you get a free dinner in Palo.

This is so true. After your first sailing with Celebrity, your loyalty status gives you a free room category upgrade through Aquaclass. I took advantage of that for our next Celebrity cruise in a few weeks. I was hoping DCL would revamp their loyalty program.

 

[tidefan]

Thanks for the review. We've never done a Celebrity cruise. Like one of the previous posters, we prefer Princess for our non-DCL cruises, which I think is pretty similar.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We sailed on the Celebrity Millenium in 2007. Really enjoyed the cruise except for the fact our luggage never arrived (it was the airline's fault). Guess we need to look at Celebrity again. Actually looking at Princess for Alaska Sea/Land cruise because to Mouse doesn't go all the way north.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We sailed on the Celebrity Millenium in 2007. Really enjoyed the cruise except for the fact our luggage never arrived (it was the airline's fault). Guess we need to look at Celebrity again. Actually looking at Princess for Alaska Sea/Land cruise because to Mouse doesn't go all the way north.

We have done a Sea/land with Princess, and another one planned for this August. The luggage service on the land portion was wonderful, as were the accommodations. This year we want to go up to Fairbanks, we are sorry we missed it.

 

[hygienist999]

We just got off the Disney Fantasy on Jan. 15th and it was just ok. So much canceled and changed. We went on the Celebrity Edge last October and were blown away. We too will be going on another Celebrity at some point, but we also have 2 more Disney cruises scheduled. Hawaii and Iceland. Maybe there will be some improvement.

 

[Happy100]

We will be empty nesters in a couple years and we plan on sailing other cruise lines but will probably mix in off season Disney cruises every so often.

 

[RAD]

There's one thing I forgot to mention in the first post about food compared to DCL. I got a hamburger from the Mast Grill, which is like Petes Boiler Bites on the DCL ships. There was no comparison in the burger, I actually had messed up my shirt because the burger was so juicy that it dripped onto my shirt, I NEVER had that issue with the hockey pucks that DCL serves.

 

[beckicnm]

Just curious why? I have seen a lot of cruising videos they have on youtube. Is this a preference for support Dreams Unlimited (I have used them for most of our DCL cruises), or have you tried Harr travel and had issues?

I use Tracey Heinrichs to book my Celebrity cruises and have been very happy.

 

[Intr3pid]

A word of caution after what happened to Genting/Crystal last week. Most cruise lines are on shaky grounds with such low occupancies and don't have the sort of cash cows that Disney does.

If you are booking Celebrity etc., book only to sail in the short term and/or put down as little a deposit as you can. Additionally, don't book something you feel you will have to cancel. Their current wait times for refunds are running at 6-8 weeks, and, as for FCCs, we are still waiting to have some from a cancellation last November to be re-issued. If you are used to Disney moving your money around in an instant on the phone, you will be in for a big surprise!

 

[rochmom4]

My friend and I are looking at a Canada New England cruise on DCL for 6 night with 3 ports. It is a lot for me to put out the amount they are asking. I have looked and even budgeted a 11 night Boston, Maine and Canada cruise on The Celebrity Summit. It's more than the DCL cruise, but has more ports and more nights. It would be my 1st cruise ever and I'm not sure if doing an 11 night cruise would be too much for the first time. One plus for the Celebrity cruise is they have a shower only with no tub. We would need an accessible room on DCL because I have a Neurological condition that makes me not able to step out of a tub without getting off balance and having a lot of bars to hold onto. My own apartment tub has the side cut out of it and I have plenty of bars to grab. The accessible rooms showers flood the bathroom a little and I'm afraid my friend, our Stateroom Host or myself could slip and get hurt if we don't wipe it up enough. If we go with DCL we would possibly have to get an inside room on the Magic, but if we pick Celebrity we can get an oceanview room. The Celebrity cruise is out of Boston and I live about 30 minutes away from the cruise port. My friend would have to fly in from NC and we would stay at a hotel in the town next to mine the night before. The prices of hotels in Boston match the time square hotel prices, so going to the town next to me and taking a car service would be a better choice. It would be easier for me to do the Celebrity cruise than the DCL cruise. I would need to buy some more nice clothing and other things, but not having to pay airfare I would be able to buy what I need. The point I'm trying to make is would you do a 11 night cruise for your 1st ever cruise. I like to think I could do it. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

My father in law had a handicapped accessible veranda room on the Summit in 2019. There was no automatic door opening button for his room. As he was in a wheelchair, he was unable to open the door to exit his room without assistance.

 

[ebockelman]

There's one thing I forgot to mention in the first post about food compared to DCL. I got a hamburger from the Mast Grill, which is like Petes Boiler Bites on the DCL ships. There was no comparison in the burger, I actually had messed up my shirt because the burger was so juicy that it dripped onto my shirt, I NEVER had that issue with the hockey pucks that DCL serves.

In general the Celebrity food is better. Even the buffet. Cabanas is a total embarrassment compared to Ocean View Cafe.

And I say this as someone who talks up DCL food a lot to friends and family. It's just that the food on Celebrity is that good.

 

[beckicnm]

In general the Celebrity food is better. Even the buffet. Cabanas is a total embarrassment compared to Ocean View Cafe.

And I say this as someone who talks up DCL food a lot to friends and family. It's just that the food on Celebrity is that good.

I (as a solo cruiser) will eat most dinners in Oceanview, because it is that good. And on Millie, you can take your food out to the Sunset Bar or up to the Rooftop Lounge and eat outside with an amazing view. {chef's kiss}

 

[kathi]

A word of caution after what happened to Genting/Crystal last week. Most cruise lines are on shaky grounds with such low occupancies and don't have the sort of cash cows that Disney does.

If you are booking Celebrity etc., book only to sail in the short term and/or put down as little a deposit as you can. Additionally, don't book something you feel you will have to cancel. Their current wait times for refunds are running at 6-8 weeks, and, as for FCCs, we are still waiting to have some from a cancellation last November to be re-issued. If you are used to Disney moving your money around in an instant on the phone, you will be in for a big surprise!

That's why I use a travel advisor. And the wait times to get through to DCL lately have been upwards of 3 hours (not that I'm sitting on hold).

 

[Intr3pid]

That's why I use a travel advisor. And the wait times to get through to DCL lately have been upwards of 3 hours (not that I'm sitting on hold).

Use of a travel agent is unrelated with waiting for your refund to process or FCC to be re-issued.

 

[Sykes]

That's why I use a travel advisor. And the wait times to get through to DCL lately have been upwards of 3 hours (not that I'm sitting on hold).

Use of a travel agent is unrelated with waiting for your refund to process or FCC to be re-issued.

Sure it does. She's talking about the hold times on the DCL phone line. If she's using a travel agent, rather than waiting on hold on the phone she's taking 30 seconds to send an email to her agent and then it's the agent's problem.