Any DCL fans been on Celebrity with kids?

[JMHDisney]

We have been big fans of DCL but the pricing has become crazy. This past week we tried RCCL and it was not a great experience (kids clubs were great, food and service were not). I'm wondering if Celebrity might me a better fit in terms of a cruise line that is at a similar level as Disney, but am concerned about whether my son would enjoy the clubs. He liked the clubs on Disney but loved them on RCCL because staff really played with the kids in a way they don't on Disney. Wondering if Celebrity kids clubs are similar to RCCL? Other tips on cruising Celebrity with kids? Thanks!

 

[jodifla]

Which RCCL boat did you try?

 

[JMHDisney]

Explorer. It happened to be at a port near us so we could try without the cost of airline tickets.

 

[Ofinn]

I think it would depend on the ship. You might try one of the newer royal ships. The oasis class ships get really good reviews. I would look at the newer celebrity ships. It seem like the newer the ship the more its geared towards families.

 

[JMHDisney]

I think it would depend on the ship. You might try one of the newer royal ships. The oasis class ships get really good reviews. I would look at the newer celebrity ships. It seem like the newer the ship the more its geared towards families.

I think the Oasis class are too big for us. Royal really didn't manage the number of people well on the Explorer so I can't imagine the zoo that more would involve. Looks like a number of the Celebrity ships are around 2800, which seems like a more reasonable size.

 

[Ofinn]

I think the Oasis class are too big for us. Royal really didn't manage the number of people well on the Explorer so I can't imagine the zoo that more would involve. Looks like a number of the Celebrity ships are around 2800, which seems like a more reasonable size.

My friend has been on 40 cruises. He loves oasis because he says the ship doesnt feel crowded at all. According to him the ship is laid out really well with the public spaces. I would look at cruise critics RCcl an Celebrity forums to get the best info.

 

[helenb]

We are elite on Celebrity and really enjoy the cruise line. That being said, we find their entertainment to be a little lackluster, so we tend to cruise Celebrity on very port intensive trips.

Pros: the ships are gorgeous, especially the new Solstice-class ships. If you're putting 4 people in a cabin, the extra 2 beds are separate, so the kids aren't sharing one pull-out couch. (On the bad side, they take up a lot of floor space, but it works.) Food is generally excellent on Celebrity and their specialty restaurants are wonderful. The adults-only pool areas are very nice. On the early solstice-class ships, the water 'fountains' area is wonderful for kids to play in. While you will see fewer kids on Celebrity than you will on Disney or RCCL, they are definitely there, and your children will have other kids to play with (particularly on a summer/holiday cruise). They have kids menus in the dining room and the waiters cater to them very well. Celebrity is a very classy line, with nice little touches everywhere. One of my favorite things is coming back all hot and sweaty from a day in port to find a shaded lounge with couches, ice water and ice towels on the dock, to relax and enjoy before reboarding!

Con: in the evenings, there is only one 'big' show in the main theatre, and that's about it. If you aren't interested in that show, there are very few other options. Also, there is no self-service laundry, so if you want laundry done you have to pay for it. The nicest pool (indoor) does not allow children.

As far as the kids facilities go, my children have always enjoyed them, and more so than on RCCL. That being said, my kids aren't as into sports and 'gimmicks', but enjoy crafts, board games and other group activities that aren't scavenger hunts or sports-related. Although there was one Celebrity cruise where there was a family scavenger hunt and we all did it together, and we won! The kids got really nice X Club backpacks full of cool prizes, and they still fondly remember that, 6 years later.

Celebrity does not have the ice rinks, climbing walls and flowriders that RCCL does, nor does it have the heavily character-themed atmosphere of DCL, but the kids' staff we have encountered has always been very caring and did their best to keep kids entertained. Our children have always been happy with the 'X Cruise'.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

We did an 11 night cruise to Alaska on the celebrity solstice. My kids loved the kids club mainly because they're only about a dozen or so kids on the boat (this was the last Alaska cruise of the season in mid September) and they got a lot of individual attention from the five kids counselors. Celebrity has those weird hours where they close every couple hours like a lot of other cruise lines, which I do not like. However I got such a big onboard credit I paid the extra money to have the kids be allowed to be in the kids club basically all the time up until like midnight. They also got a backpack and a T-shirt a tour of the bridge a tour of the backstage and I think a couple other perks I can't even remember. But this came in the cost of $175 each for the length of the cruise. They did have the kids put on a talent show near the end of the cruise and that was a lot of fun.

My husband and I got the premium drink package and we really were able to get our money's worth, because the kids were mainly in the kids club the whole time. They didn't even really want to eat with us they just wanted to eat with their new friends and the club counselors in the buffet. Often we would just go to the buffet at lunch and even dinner and find them and hang out with them so we would have more time with them. I forced them to eat dinner with us in the dining room a couple times but they really didn't want to have to dress up nice or anything they just wanted to hang out in the buffet with their buddies and the counselors.

We also got our kids a drink package, mainly because they like smoothies etc. And boy did my kids get their moneys worth they were getting smoothies two or three times a day.

We also had a fantastic room, it was the family room with the balcony and it was over 500 square feet. The ship was beautiful really really really nice. More of a modern feel than Disney. I found out near the very end of the cruise the outdoor pools are heated and hot tubs are actually a lot of fun to sit in while cruising in Alaska. They were almost empty all the time. My son and I got in one near the end of the cruise and I wish we had done it more often. I used the indoor pool by myself a couple times, but as a previous poster noted my kids were not allowed in there. But they did have about a two hour window every day where the kids were allowed it just never really fit in with their schedule. Probably in the warmer weather cruises they don't have that two hours for the kids but they did because it was Alaska.

The cons were that I was hoping we would've spent more time together as a family likely to Disney Cruise line, but the nighttime shows were rarely that great, let alone age-appropriate. They weren't bad they were just more like musical numbers or comedians and not a Broadway style style type show like I'm used to on Disney. Although overall it was a really great cruise I missed spending a couple hours as a family together at night watching the shows and eating dinner together.

Although the crew were fantastic and always great with my kids another con of celebrity was that I know the other passengers were not very kid friendly. When they didn't realize we had kids with us they would say things like, I'm so glad there's so few kids on this cruise, etc. when I would mention that I normally cruise Disney they would say oh my God I couldn't stand being around all those kids. Of course they didn't know we had our kids with us because the kids were never around. It's just something I like about Disney where you don't have to feel embarrassed because you have kids with you, orworried that you'll be the only people with kids.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

One other thing, I originally had booked a seven night on the Disney wonder. There were five of us altogether including my mom. Because I thought that we would be to cramped in the family veranda on Disney, I had two rooms, an inside and Verandah. The total cost on DCL would have been $7500 for 7 nights. The total cost on Celebrity for 11 nights was around 6000 I think maybe a little bit more. That was for a two bedroom 500+ square foot family verandah. I had somehow ended up with $450 in onboard credit from Celebrity, gratuities included for two of us, drink packages include for all of us, although I did pay to upgrade us all to the premium package. I prepaid the additional gratuities, and used my onboard credit for the kids club upgrade, and for laundry, and a couple other purchases in the shops. I think I ended up spending like $50 over the OBB.

 

[JMHDisney]

I really appreciate these detailed responses - very helpful! Thank you!

 

[princessmommyx3]

We did an 11 night cruise to Alaska on the celebrity solstice. My kids loved the kids club mainly because they're only about a dozen or so kids on the boat (this was the last Alaska cruise of the season in mid September) and they got a lot of individual attention from the five kids counselors. Celebrity has those weird hours where they close every couple hours like a lot of other cruise lines, which I do not like. However I got such a big onboard credit I paid the extra money to have the kids be allowed to be in the kids club basically all the time up until like midnight. They also got a backpack and a T-shirt a tour of the bridge a tour of the backstage and I think a couple other perks I can't even remember. But this came in the cost of $175 each for the length of the cruise. They did have the kids put on a talent show near the end of the cruise and that was a lot of fun.

My husband and I got the premium drink package and we really were able to get our money's worth, because the kids were mainly in the kids club the whole time. They didn't even really want to eat with us they just wanted to eat with their new friends and the club counselors in the buffet. Often we would just go to the buffet at lunch and even dinner and find them and hang out with them so we would have more time with them. I forced them to eat dinner with us in the dining room a couple times but they really didn't want to have to dress up nice or anything they just wanted to hang out in the buffet with their buddies and the counselors.

We also got our kids a drink package, mainly because they like smoothies etc. And boy did my kids get their moneys worth they were getting smoothies two or three times a day.

We also had a fantastic room, it was the family room with the balcony and it was over 500 square feet. The ship was beautiful really really really nice. More of a modern feel than Disney. I found out near the very end of the cruise the outdoor pools are heated and hot tubs are actually a lot of fun to sit in while cruising in Alaska. They were almost empty all the time. My son and I got in one near the end of the cruise and I wish we had done it more often. I used the indoor pool by myself a couple times, but as a previous poster noted my kids were not allowed in there. But they did have about a two hour window every day where the kids were allowed it just never really fit in with their schedule. Probably in the warmer weather cruises they don't have that two hours for the kids but they did because it was Alaska.

The cons were that I was hoping we would've spent more time together as a family likely to Disney Cruise line, but the nighttime shows were rarely that great, let alone age-appropriate. They weren't bad they were just more like musical numbers or comedians and not a Broadway style style type show like I'm used to on Disney. Although overall it was a really great cruise I missed spending a couple hours as a family together at night watching the shows and eating dinner together.

Although the crew were fantastic and always great with my kids another con of celebrity was that I know the other passengers were not very kid friendly. When they didn't realize we had kids with us they would say things like, I'm so glad there's so few kids on this cruise, etc. when I would mention that I normally cruise Disney they would say oh my God I couldn't stand being around all those kids. Of course they didn't know we had our kids with us because the kids were never around. It's just something I like about Disney where you don't have to feel embarrassed because you have kids with you, orworried that you'll be the only people with kids.

Thank you so much for posting this. I have recently been pricing out Alaska on the Solstice for next summer and you answered so many of my questions. I am also looking at September dates. How was the weather? Did you see much wildlife? These are my concerns with sailing so late in the season. I was also wondering about the family verandah rooms because we have 3 kids. They sleep 5, correct? I don't see them online but I assume that means you need to call to book them? Also, which specific itinerary did you sail?

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Thank you so much for posting this. I have recently been pricing out Alaska on the Solstice for next summer and you answered so many of my questions. I am also looking at September dates. How was the weather? Did you see much wildlife? These are my concerns with sailing so late in the season. I was also wondering about the family verandah rooms because we have 3 kids. They sleep 5, correct? I don't see them online but I assume that means you need to call to book them? Also, which specific itinerary did you sail?

You can only book the family rooms by phone and not online. There's only four per ship. I would call right away to see if there's any left for the sailing you want and book it even if you might cancel later. Two of the rooms have small balconies and two of the rooms have huge, so try to get the ones with the larger balcony. I'll look that up and try to post it later.

The room has a Huge living area with a dining table; one bathroom; a huge master bedroom; and a small room with two bunkbeds. The fifth person is supposed to sleep on the couch, but we just took the mattress off and put it in the extra space in the master bedroom underneath the window because my son was afraid to sleep out in the living room alone

 

[Chica1581]

We did a DCL cruise over thanksgiving and did a Celebrity cruise over New Year's this past year. I would have to say that for my four year old DD, I would definitely pick DCL. On the DCL cruise we were able to do so many things together and she loved the clubs. She would ask to go every morning to the club. However, on Celebrity, the club was closed for many hours during the day, and there was barely anything for her to do. There were very few kids her age, but many older kids. Although the counselors were very nice on the Celebrity cruise, they did not have the activities or interactive games with the characters that she had enjoyed on DCL. Also, the DCL pools were great for the kids and she really enjoyed the Mickey pool, the splash area, and the movies at the pool. The pool on Celebrity was ice cold, packed, and there was really no kids pool. What I disliked most was the extremely loud music at the pool on Celebrity. I also like that DCL has lifeguards while Celebrity did not. I saw MANY babies with swim diapers in the Celebrity pools, but nobody said anything to them. At least on DCL, the lifeguards would tell people that babies were swim diapers were not allowed.

The shows on Celebrity are definitely geared towards adults and were not kid-friendly. My daughter loved the DCL shows and deck parties.

The service and food on Celebrity were very good. Since my daughter had recently been on DCL, she requested the Celebrity waiter do the Mickey Ketchup and he did every night. We really appreciated the large concierge suite on Celebrity, which we cannot afford on DCL. The food was way better on Celebrity, even the kids menu was more varied.

If we were sailing alone or with an older child, we would pick Celebrity because we can afford concierge or the Aqua level and get the premium drink package, but since we travel with a preschool we have decided that DCL is for us.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Sorry I wasn't done, but hit the post reply button by mistake!

In addition to the veranda there are windows in the dining room and in the master bedroom that look out over the very front of the ship where the helicopter pad is. We happen to have a medical evacuation on our cruise and we ended up watching it from our guestroom with the helicopter hovering right outside our balcony for quite some time.

We did the 11 tonight ultimate Alaska I believe it was called. we left out of Seattle and ended in Vancouver. Skagway, Juneau, Victoria, Ketchikan, Tracy arm fjord, Icy straight point, and Nainamo. Not in that order of course. Ihad read a lot of things about how the weather can be so bad in September but either we were really or lucky global warming has changed things. The weather was beautiful -sunny, warm just fantastic the majority of the time. We had two or three of the 11 days where it was rainy and overcast. I think one was in Juneau and one was at sea and I can't remember the other day but most of our days were great. I was wearing tank tops on deck many many days. I brought all these jackets and cold-weather clothes I never even wore. We did Portland Oregon and Seattle before the cruise. It was overcast in Portland but beautiful in Seattle and we could see Mount Rainier every day.

We went on a whale watching excursion with Harv and Marv in Juneau and it was so fantastic! The best excursion I've ever done and well worth the money. Because we had five people and children we had to do the private excursion so it was just us on a boat. Afterwards they took us to Mendenhall glacier for about 30 minutes and we saw a bear. That was our last day in Alaska and we have not seen a bear and it was the one thing we really wanted so is really like a miracle for us. We saw Salmon jumping on a different excursion and we saw bald eagles.

The itinerary we were on did not go to glacier Bay, and that was a concern I had. But the only option I had really looked at that fit our time schedule and included glacier Bay was Holland America, and we have been on Holland America before and I just really wanted a little bit nicer ship.

A lot of people say you really need to do GB, and I can't really address it because I have not been there. But we really loved Tracy arm fjord and I was very happy with this cruise and the scenery of Alaska it was really really beautiful.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Thank you so much for posting this. I have recently been pricing out Alaska on the Solstice for next summer and you answered so many of my questions. I am also looking at September dates. How was the weather? Did you see much wildlife? These are my concerns with sailing so late in the season. I was also wondering about the family verandah rooms because we have 3 kids. They sleep 5, correct? I don't see them online but I assume that means you need to call to book them? Also, which specific itinerary did you sail?

OK it's the deck eight rooms that you want to get because they have the bigger balconies

 

[darnheather]

I've been doing a lot of research and reading reviews, talking to friends, etc. I would try NCL next with kids. Have you checked them out?

 

[princessmommyx3]

Sorry I wasn't done, but hit the post reply button by mistake!

In addition to the veranda there are windows in the dining room and in the master bedroom that look out over the very front of the ship where the helicopter pad is. We happen to have a medical evacuation on our cruise and we ended up watching it from our guestroom with the helicopter hovering right outside our balcony for quite some time.

We did the 11 tonight ultimate Alaska I believe it was called. we left out of Seattle and ended in Vancouver. Skagway, Juneau, Victoria, Ketchikan, Tracy arm fjord, Icy straight point, and Nainamo. Not in that order of course. Ihad read a lot of things about how the weather can be so bad in September but either we were really or lucky global warming has changed things. The weather was beautiful -sunny, warm just fantastic the majority of the time. We had two or three of the 11 days where it was rainy and overcast. I think one was in Juneau and one was at sea and I can't remember the other day but most of our days were great. I was wearing tank tops on deck many many days. I brought all these jackets and cold-weather clothes I never even wore. We did Portland Oregon and Seattle before the cruise. It was overcast in Portland but beautiful in Seattle and we could see Mount Rainier every day.

We went on a whale watching excursion with Harv and Marv in Juneau and it was so fantastic! The best excursion I've ever done and well worth the money. Because we had five people and children we had to do the private excursion so it was just us on a boat. Afterwards they took us to Mendenhall glacier for about 30 minutes and we saw a bear. That was our last day in Alaska and we have not seen a bear and it was the one thing we really wanted so is really like a miracle for us. We saw Salmon jumping on a different excursion and we saw bald eagles.

The itinerary we were on did not go to glacier Bay, and that was a concern I had. But the only option I had really looked at that fit our time schedule and included glacier Bay was Holland America, and we have been on Holland America before and I just really wanted a little bit nicer ship.

A lot of people say you really need to do GB, and I can't really address it because I have not been there. But we really loved Tracy arm fjord and I was very happy with this cruise and the scenery of Alaska it was really really beautiful.

Thank you so much for all of your input. It is so helpful. We are die hard DCL fans and have never cruised another line, but we also so far have always cruised in the off season when prices are only slightly ridiculous. Since there really is no off season for an Alaskan cruise, I am having a hard time with the outrageous prices and thus I have started researching Celebrity. We always cruise concierge on DCL, and many people have told me that we would probably like Celebrity. We do have kids, but on a port intensive cruise like Alaska, we won't be using the pools (we hardly ever use them on DCL, even on caribbean itineraries) and probably won't even venture to try the nightly entertainment since my kids are still young enough that they will be very tired after a long day off the ship and just want to crash in the room. For Alaksa, I really just want something with a good room for 5 people with a nice balcony (the deck 8 rooms sound perfect!), good food and good service. My kids have never been crazy about the clubs on DCL, so the kids clubs are not important to us. I have always heard that Alaska is a cruise that you take for the ports/scenery and not the ship, so I don't want to pay DCL prices.

 

[acndis]

We had decided to jump ship to Celebrity for an Alaska Cruise and had booked a Sky Suite with lots of incentives with a price much, much better than DCL. However, I started getting cold feet after our last Dream cruise when my 8-year-old spent the entire time in the club and really enjoyed the company of all of his new friends. I don't think he loves cruising. He loves DCL.

I emailed my travel agent and she thinks Celebrity is great but we saw that Adventures by Disney was offering a very competitive rate for their Alaska land trip. We cancelled our Celebrity and booked that. We are very happy about our decision! It's a very different trip than the cruise but we really wanted to see Alaska and have traveled with ABD many times before and have always loved it. If you are on the fence, you might want to check out the ABD prices. It worked for us!

 

[princessmommyx3]

We had decided to jump ship to Celebrity for an Alaska Cruise and had booked a Sky Suite with lots of incentives with a price much, much better than DCL. However, I started getting cold feet after our last Dream cruise when my 8-year-old spent the entire time in the club and really enjoyed the company of all of his new friends. I don't think he loves cruising. He loves DCL.

I emailed my travel agent and she thinks Celebrity is great but we saw that Adventures by Disney was offering a very competitive rate for their Alaska land trip. We cancelled our Celebrity and booked that. We are very happy about our decision! It's a very different trip than the cruise but we really wanted to see Alaska and have traveled with ABD many times before and have always loved it. If you are on the fence, you might want to check out the ABD prices. It worked for us!

I would LOVE to do an ABD trip, Alaska or otherwise. But, we have 3 kids so the price is just too much. I just priced the cheapest Alaska trip for 2017 and for our family it would be $21,350 before airfare. WAY more than a cruise for 5 of us on Celebrity. I am envious of you though! I would love to experience ABD one day!

 

[JMHDisney]

I've been doing a lot of research and reading reviews, talking to friends, etc. I would try NCL next with kids. Have you checked them out?

I have looked a little online but will take a closer look!