Cruise Critic People Are Making Me Nervous

[budwmn]

I love this board. People here are helpful, kind, and go out of their way to answer your questions. Sometimes we disagree, but its normally done politely. The passengers I've encountered on DCL seem to be a reflection of this board's members -- friendly people.

Unfortunately, DCL does not cruise to the Mediterranean (Disney build those new ships!) and we are forced to try out another cruise line. We've chosen Celebrity - the ship looks beautiful, the ports are wonderful, and the kid's club has been highly reviewed (won't be as great as DCL, but good enough).

I've started checking out Cruise Critic's Message Board in order to be as prepared as I was for DCL. I'm amazed and just plain offended by some of the comments I've read. While some people seem kind and helpful, a large group of them seem to thrive on tearing other people apart. They just slam comments with which they disagree. Many comments also talk about how much they dislike children on board (yet Celebrity is trying to attract more families and I've heard of 500+ children on board during school breaks).

Are these people representative of those I'll meet on Celebrity? I sure hope not! Any past Celebrity passengers or other Cruise Critic members please help!

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

In my opinion, the mainstays on the Cruise Critic board are very protective of their "turf." It's hard to show up there as a newcomer and get any information without sifting through a bunch of garbage. Your example of comments made about children is probably indicative. Let me guess: someone asked a question about the children's activities and then a few people responded with, "what do you want to bring kids for?!?!"

I've sailed on Celebrity, but not in the Med. I've sailed the Infinity out of San Juan, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I didn't have kids then, so I can't comment on the clubs, but in my (limited) experience, the people on CruiseCritic are not indicative of those on Celebrity's ships. Unfortunately, I have not found a resource for other lines which is anywhere near as good as this board is for DCL.

 

[Bev J]

Hello, it's too bad you have found a few bad apples on the cruise critic. I have been posting and reading those boards for about as long as the DIS, many years. Mostly I find people on both boards to be very helpful. Don't take it personally some people just love to be negative.
We have sailed on Celeb. and found everything just great. We did not take our kids but asked people who did and their kids were having a great time.
There are many people who have had bad experiences with kids running wild on cruise ships, if you don't want to cruise with alot of kids then book during a time when kids are in school. We usually hear the senior set complaining the most about kids.

Your family will enjoy your trip with Celeb. and please don't give up on the cruise critic, there really is some valuable information to be found there and alot of friendly people, just ignore the trolls and grumps.

 

[mac_tlc]

One other place you can try is Cruise @ddicts at:

www.cruise-addicts.com

Fairly active boards for non-DCL lines and not as negative as cruisecritic


mac_tlc

 

[Tluvs2talk]

budwmn,
I sailed on Celebrity's Galaxy in March and had a wonderful time. I had also read the Cruise Critics comments and was worried. WE had a great time!! Don't worry you get out of a cruise what you put in it.


Teri

 

[maps]

i had the same reaction you did when i researched my holland america cruise. the people were so mean and nasty i almost cancelled the cruise. i just got back last week and had a great time.
after scanning the cruise critic message board, i was able to figure out who the "regulars" were and who i would get the best info from. it definitely is the most active board so keep reading. eventually you'll be able to get the info you need.
by the way, the hot topics for the holland america board were:
dress code, kids and tipping (not always in that order)

 

[dianedisney]

I too have posted on Cruise Critic and was blasted by a couple people on the board for liking to cruise without children. I was told in very plain english that I was an unfit parent if I didn't take my children on vacation with me. After a couple of encounters like that I have since chosen NOT to go to their discusssion boards again. I just think I will stay with the best....DIS Boards.

Happy Cruising Matey...arghhhhh

 

[disneykins]

We were on Cruise critic yesterday and looked up the Magic. Almost all the comments were positive. We then checked Norwegian Wind which we're cruising next summer in Hawaii and the posts were almost 50% negative. We stopped reading so we dont get discouraged. Anybody have any experience with Norwegian Wind?

 

[tecdavidt]

We have cruised on Celebrity twice, once on Galaxy and once on the Millie. Celebrity has a childrens program only if there are enough children on board. This cruiseline really is not set up for children. The Millie cruise was over a holiday and there were a lot of children. I was missing DCL big time because DCL can handle children--Celebrity can not.

The kids were out of control. I could go on and on about what we saw and experienced. The line is expensive to cruise. One family had their nanny in tow. The children were making a mess at the table while the mother and father sat there watching. The nanny was the one who cleaned up the mess. No one told the children to stop the bad behavior. The orange peelings left on the railings of the stairways were really annoying as well as children running up and down the halls screaming at hours when they should of been in bed. None of this is the cruiselines fault. We also have never had these problems on DCL since the children have options. I felt like I was on a Carnival Cruise!!! only the cruisers paid a lot more for their cruise than on Carnival.

Kathy

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

See budwmn, it doesn't matter what board you go to, there's always someone that's going to complain about a cruise that they were on and didn't have a good experience. So take everything with a grain of salt, the good and the bad.

tecdavidt - no sure what the Carnival comment is referring to, we've never had problems with out of control children, nothing outside the norm anyway, and have never had kids screaming up and down the halls.

 

[NicoleinFL]

Originally posted by tecdavidt

The kids were out of control. I could go on and on about what we saw and experienced. The line is expensive to cruise. One family had their nanny in tow. The children were making a mess at the table while the mother and father sat there watching. The nanny was the one who cleaned up the mess. No one told the children to stop the bad behavior. The orange peelings left on the railings of the stairways were really annoying as well as children running up and down the halls screaming at hours when they should of been in bed. None of this is the cruiselines fault. We also have never had these problems on DCL since the children have options. I felt like I was on a Carnival Cruise!!! only the cruisers paid a lot more for their cruise than on Carnival.
Kathy

Hey now..just came back from a Carnival cruise..Didn't have a single encounter with rowdy children. The adults, however, were a different story! Actually, only one group of adults were rowdy. Overall, the cruise was enjoyable. I don't think the cost of a cruise makes a difference. It's been my experience that money doesn't equal class! Carnival seems to get a lot of unwarranted criticism because they charge less.

 

[kmc33]

The anti-kids cruising contigent on Cruise Critic seems to be on each cruise lines board. I posted questions on the Carnival board in the past, which I thought was a good line to bring kids. After all, they advertise the Camp Carnival as one of the features. I received negative comments that a cruise ship was no place for kids -- on the Carnival board! That really surprised me. So, I wouldn't let them worry you.

Here are some other sites that may be helpful for cruising with kids. Travel with kids (about.com) has a section dedicated to cruising: Family Cruises

And Cruise Mates has some articles about cruising with kids.

And finally, on Cruise Critic, there is a message board under the Special Interest Cruising called, Family Cruising. That's a good place to post questions about kids. Those posters seem to be more kid-friendly. In fact, check out this thread, where someone specifically posted a question 'Has anyone taken kids on Celebrity?'

And keep in mind, in general, the Mediterranean cruises are probably going to have fewer kids than the Caribbean cruises (not that there is anything wrong with that).

 

[mcnuss]

We have friends who have cruised Celebrity twice with their 2 kids, once to Alaska and once to the Carib. Both times they came back saying that the cruise was the best vacation they had ever taken. With respect to out of control children, that has nothing to do with the line, and everything to do with the parents. We saw some real doozies on the Magic, too. IMHO all these ships are large enough to steer clear of the bad apples and they are good teachable moments for your own children.

Interesting, though, the perception that Celebrity is expensive. Compared to DCL, I think it's cheap. These same friends paid half what we did for their verandah stateroom for a roughly equivalent peak period compared to what I paid for our Cat. 6, and we are 3 people and they are 4.

 

[Dancind]

I've been hanging out on the Celebrity CC boards because we are taking a 10 day cruise over Christmas this year. Look for the "Roll Call" board for your cruise. If anyone is on it, they are generally very nice because you will be cruising with them! Most of them have cruised Celebrity before, too. We have a group of about 35 people on our Roll Call, only one other couple has children. Most are in their 50's. By the way, this cruise is costing 40% of the price of our DCL cruise next year at Christmas. Diana

 

[tecdavidt]

Carnival and Celebrity cruiselines do not have the caliber of children's program as what DCL provides to it's children cruisers. Celebrity states in their brochures to check to make sure the cruise you will be on will offer a program for children. It depends on how many children cruisers are on the ship. Our Galaxy cruise in '00 did not have a program and there were children on board but not many. I also stated it is not Celebrity's fault that children were out of control. If you are on a line that isn't prepared for a huge number of children you will see the bad behavior. This is what we had on the Millie. Even the crew were shaking their heads but there was nothing they could do about it.

Carnival is not the line that we experienced the out of control children. That comment was strictly about the Millie cruise. Carnival does not have the entertainment area for children that Disney offers. There is no adult only area on either line so if you want to get away you can't. We took our children on a Spring Break Carnival cruise after they had been on the Magic. The boys said never again will we go Carnival unless we are 21. Our daughter was bored on that cruise. She too requested no more Carnival. We have cruised Carnival since that cruise and the children stayed home.

My husband and I have cruised Celebrity, Carnival and DCL. By far the most expensive line we have experienced is Celebrity. The one big difference between Celebrity and DCL is that Celebrity will drop prices as the cruise date approaches and TA's can pass that savings on to their clients. I have never experienced that with DCL. We canceled our Celebrity Jan.'04 cruise with our daughter when we got the true price, hm, a room similar to a cat. 6, cruise started in San Juan, a 7 day and the price--$12,000. That is more than what we paid for our cat. 3 during Spring Break. That did not include airfare. It depends on how the cruise is selling whether or not the prices drop.

I have been on this board for over 3 years and my motto is simple, any day on a cruise ship is heavenly. Did I dislike my Millie cruise, no. Did I miss DCL, yes. We have never experienced that many out of control children. I am not talking teens; it was grade school age children rooming the halls at all hours. Once you experienced a cruise like our Millie cruise you will understand what my statements are about. To those who think, well, these two don't like children. We have 4. The oldest now is 23 and the middle two are 20 and the baby is now 11.

Kathy

 

[DMS_cruisers04]

there isn't a cruiseline out there that is going to match Disney's children's program. Period. That's what they do and what they have been doing for decades.
But let's not 'name call' other cruiselines because we like DCL best. Obviously we all are Disney fanatics, or atleast enjoy Disney a whole lot, or we wouldn't be traveling on their ships and visiting their parks. Disney didn't invent cruising, and even though someone might prefer DCL over other lines, there are pros and cons to ever debate.

Mike

 

[rundogrun]

The best thing to do is avoid the "debate" threads at CruiseCritic. When we sailed the Millie back in Feb. I started hanging out on the board to ask questions. As I started reading threads it became obvious there's a really obnoxious group of posters over there. Ignore them...they are not reflective of Celebrity at all.

The Millie was our third Celebrity cruise and the first we brought our kids on. It was President's Week so there were plenty of kids on board. You never would have noticed.

I thought the kids program was outstanding and equal to Disney. While the facilities are smaller, there are fewer kids than on DCL, even in peak cruise time. Someone chastised me in an earlier thread for talking about how wonderful the kids program was on Celebrity and pointed out they have fewer counselors. True, they do, but the kids to counselor ratio was much lower in my observation vs. DCL. Ironically, I don't believe this poster had even cruised Celebrity and had no basis for comparison. But that proves the point that people take their cruiselines seriously and will defend them, right or wrong. The activities on the two ships are almost exactly the same.

FWIW, both kids (7 and 4) preferred the Fun Factory on Millie. YMMV.

We booked a Celebrity suite and an inside stateroom (long story, but we needed to book an extra room to have a 4th person in the suite...we then gave that room to some friends who babysat). It cost us about the same as what a DCL Cat. 4 would cost during a holiday week.

As for kids running amok...it's not indicative of the cruiseline, just bad parenting. We sat in the Goofy Pool this summer and watched kids doing cannon balls off the "No Jumping" sign onto swimmers in the packed pool below, while their parents watched uninterestedly. Is that a reflection of DCL? Nope, just bad parents. They're on every cruiseline.

We'll be trying NCL and RCL in 2004, but are already itching to get back to Celebrity in 2005. If DCL's prices come down, then that could change.

 

[MNTigger]

I am sorry that you had a bad experience with cruisecritic.com.

Unfortunately, there's bad apples in every bunch. The webmasters have even posted a message about "Trolls" that lurk in every chat room trying to cause conflict.

Don't give up on CruiseCritic. Visit as many boards as you can. I frequent the cruisecritic site quite often and have already struck up a lot of conversation with folks that will be sailing the same time we will. I've also picked up some megatips as well.

Sorry folks- don't blast me too hard. There are a lot of good people here with big hearts- but I felt more welcome right off the bat on the CruiseCritic site and I felt it was very difficult to strike up a conversation here.

There also seems to be a caste system of sorts here. Those that are DIS veterans and those that aren't. Those that have been touched by the Tag Fairy and those that have not. Everybody's a Cool Cruiser on CruiseCritic.

I've been spending more and more time on CruiseCritic and have been checking here periodically for an update on Nate.

 

[mcnuss]

We canceled our Celebrity Jan.'04 cruise with our daughter when we got the true price, hm, a room similar to a cat. 6, cruise started in San Juan, a 7 day and the price--$12,000.

Wow, you need a new travel agent. We were going to go on the Constellation with the friends I talked about for the week right after New Years, and we had planned to get the Sky Suite just for the heck of it, and it was priced for us at $1300 per person for the 7 day So. Carib intinerary from San Juan. DCL wanted about that same price for a Cat. 6 for the same week. We ended up deciding to go on a ski trip - how's that for really changing your mind!!?

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Back when I was a frequent flyer, I participated in a board about commercial aviation. There were <b><i>frequent</i></b> flame wars there... and the big hot-button issues there were definitely about kids. The negativity definitely outweighed the valuable information available there. Pity.