Cruising DCL and Celebrity Cruise Line

[Chrissy-Mickey]

I've seen several DCL vs. _________ threads popping up.
While this is not a new discussion and an understandable one with DCL's price trend, I wanted to share my experience of doing DCL and other cruise lines.

A little about me: Female, late 30s, Floridian, and happily single without children. When cruising, I'm always with my sister, and sometimes we take along our retired parents.
Take a look at my signature to see where we've been and what lines we've cruises. As you can see, we're pretty new to cruising, but have done several of them already: we love cruising!

We currently have two cruises booked, both paid in full. As the heading suggests, one with DCL and one with Celebrity.

With DCL we're booked on the Westbound Panama Canal cruise in March 2020, we booked this one early 2019. We booked it using a place holder, that helped a bit with the cost. This will be the 3rd time we'll be on the Wonder, and the first time we'll be cruising for 14 nights (7 night cruises have been our max so far). We're going on this cruise purposefully to experience it all: all the menus, all the characters, all the entertainment, and the extra activities like adult-only time in the kids club. We enjoy DCL because of the service, the feel of the ship (themed environments, music, art, hidden Mickeys), the characters walking around, and the adult-only area. We love DCL....

Yet we also cruise other lines. Not to try and replace DCL, not to prove to ourselves that DCL is worth the extra money, and not even because of more interesting itineraries (though in the future that might happen when we're ready to explore the world further).
We cruise other cruise lines because of timing, because of great deals, and because we enjoy cruising!

So, the other cruise we have booked is a 4-night cruise with Celebrity Infinity.
I was looking at this cruise because it's a short cruise over the first half of the Thanksgiving break (we're closed the whole week, and after scheduling the two weeks off in March for the WBPC, my boss isn't very inclined to give more time off), and the fact that it's going to Mexico (we've been trying to take my dad to see the Mayan temples for a while now).
We booked this cruise because there was a sale that had the Aquaclass veranda staterooms for $320 p.p. including taxes and port fees.
We know that the price went that low because the Infinity is an old ship (2001) and isn't scheduled to join "The Celebrity Revolution" (major refurbishment) until late 2020, and that the cruise disembarks on Thanksgiving Day (which we personally do not celebrate). Our thinking, let Celebrity impress us with their service and food on an old ship... then we should be good to go on any of their newest ships in the future. We are looking forward to the Blu restaurant, the adults-only solarium, our veranda, and just cruising!

Earlier this year, we went on the Eurodam of Holland America Lina (HAL) to Alaska.
We're not big on cold, so going north for vacation isn't high on our list, but, it's Alaska! One of those things you just have to experience.
We booked HAL last minute, again as a great deal. It was just the two of us... our parents we invited, but they like cold weather even less, so they said no thank you. We loved the HAL service, the room was clean and comfortable, and we enjoyed the food and the ship. The entertainment didn't interest us at all, but we did enjoy the lectures and their game room.

Anyhow, we're looking forward to both upcoming cruises. I'll share my experiences here afterwards.
We don't have plans yet for late 2020 and 2021, but I'm hoping we will continue to cruise both DCL and other cruise lines.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Our favorite thing about Celebrity was the seminar talks! They had speakers about the different cultures before each of our ports and an engineering talk with one of the ships engineers. We loved that these were real experts in their fields. We such are nerds. They also had a cool galley tour and an amazing brunch on the last sea day. It was fun and different but not necessarily better than most our other cruises. Have fun!

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

Our favorite thing about Celebrity was the seminar talks! They had speakers about the different cultures before each of our ports and an engineering talk with one of the ships engineers. We loved that these were real experts in their fields. We such are nerds. They also had a cool galley tour and an amazing brunch on the last sea day. It was fun and different but not necessarily better than most our other cruises. Have fun!

That sounds great! We enjoyed the info sessions on HAL about Alaska.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

I've seen several DCL vs. _________ threads popping up.
While this is not a new discussion and an understandable one with DCL's price trend, I wanted to share my experience of doing DCL and other cruise lines.
I’m looking forward to trying Celebrity one of these days, just hasn’t been the one for us quite yet. I think you nailed it with the fact that you love cruising. We do too, I can totally relax and unwind on a ship, I don’t have to think about anything. I think there are a lot of people who just love Disney Cruising and there is nothing any other cruise line can do to make them happy.
A little about me: Female, late 30s, Floridian, and happily single without children. When cruising, I'm always with my sister, and sometimes we take along our retired parents.
Take a look at my signature to see where we've been and what lines we've cruises. As you can see, we're pretty new to cruising, but have done several of them already: we love cruising!

We currently have two cruises booked, both paid in full. As the heading suggests, one with DCL and one with Celebrity.

With DCL we're booked on the Westbound Panama Canal cruise in March 2020, we booked this one early 2019. We booked it using a place holder, that helped a bit with the cost. This will be the 3rd time we'll be on the Wonder, and the first time we'll be cruising for 14 nights (7 night cruises have been our max so far). We're going on this cruise purposefully to experience it all: all the menus, all the characters, all the entertainment, and the extra activities like adult-only time in the kids club. We enjoy DCL because of the service, the feel of the ship (themed environments, music, art, hidden Mickeys), the characters walking around, and the adult-only area. We love DCL....

Yet we also cruise other lines. Not to try and replace DCL, not to prove to ourselves that DCL is worth the extra money, and not even because of more interesting itineraries (though in the future that might happen when we're ready to explore the world further).
We cruise other cruise lines because of timing, because of great deals, and because we enjoy cruising!

So, the other cruise we have booked is a 4-night cruise with Celebrity Infinity.
I was looking at this cruise because it's a short cruise over the first half of the Thanksgiving break (we're closed the whole week, and after scheduling the two weeks off in March for the WBPC, my boss isn't very inclined to give more time off), and the fact that it's going to Mexico (we've been trying to take my dad to see the Mayan temples for a while now).
We booked this cruise because there was a sale that had the Aquaclass veranda staterooms for $320 p.p. including taxes and port fees.
We know that the price went that low because the Infinity is an old ship (2001) and isn't scheduled to join "The Celebrity Revolution" (major refurbishment) until late 2020, and that the cruise disembarks on Thanksgiving Day (which we personally do not celebrate). Our thinking, let Celebrity impress us with their service and food on an old ship... then we should be good to go on any of their newest ships in the future. We are looking forward to the Blu restaurant, the adults-only solarium, our veranda, and just cruising!

Earlier this year, we went on the Eurodam of Holland America Lina (HAL) to Alaska.
We're not big on cold, so going north for vacation isn't high on our list, but, it's Alaska! One of those things you just have to experience.
We booked HAL last minute, again as a great deal. It was just the two of us... our parents we invited, but they like cold weather even less, so they said no thank you. We loved the HAL service, the room was clean and comfortable, and we enjoyed the food and the ship. The entertainment didn't interest us at all, but we did enjoy the lectures and their game room.

Anyhow, we're looking forward to both upcoming cruises. I'll share my experiences here afterwards.
We don't have plans yet for late 2020 and 2021, but I'm hoping we will continue to cruise both DCL and other cruise lines.

 

[LD92599]

We're platinum w/ Disney but have also cruised HAL ( Alaska), Celebrity (Bermuda) and Cunard (QM2). Disney service blows the others out of the water. We do often travel w/ my mom who is mostly wheelchair bound and Disney is tops for that. Our teen much prefers HAL over Disney (go figure). Disney prices have gotten too high usually so we'll look at that and itinerary. We also love that even though it's Disney, the ships don't feel overrun w/ kids; the adult spaces are strictly adults. The restaurants aren't full of screaming kids because the kids are engaged in activities, things to do and do! We do keep coming back to Disney for a reason!

 

[cmhguy]

11 cruises...6 of which were on DCL, and I will take Celebrity Aqua class anytime over the others. Only problem is itineraries haven't always lined up with our travel times and often are longer cruises than we have time off. We are huge disney fans and 2 adults....if we had kids, I wouldn't pick Celebrity.

 

[soniam]

11 cruises...6 of which were on DCL, and I will take Celebrity Aqua class anytime over the others. Only problem is itineraries haven't always lined up with our travel times and often are longer cruises than we have time off. We are huge disney fans and 2 adults....if we had kids, I wouldn't pick Celebrity.

Couldn’t agree more. Loved our Celebrity Southern Caribbean cruise. Service and food were excellent, even on the Summit pre-refurb. We have a kid though and do DCL with him. The only thing I missed about DCL was Remy.

 

[gatordoc]

Guess everyone’s different. It’s just my wife and I, in our 50s, and had cruised NCL, Princess, and Carnival before trying Disney. We fell in love immediately and have now been on 19 DCL cruises. Last year we decided to try Celebrity because they had a great deal on an interesting itinerary, and we had heard great things about sailing with them. We loved the ports we visited, but were really underwhelmed by the shipboard experience, including the food. We’re happily back to DCL, and are not likely to go looking elsewhere again. If anyone’s interested in our experiences, I posted a long comparison at https://www.disboards.com/threads/platinum-disney-cruisers-try-celebrity-long.3704753/
Just our opinion - no problem at all with people who enjoy Celebrity, but it wasn’t for us.

 

[tvguy]

I'm just back from my first Celebrity cruise (6 days ago).. Service was top notch. Food was good, but a hair below other lines. They spend way too much time pushing the extra cost specialty restaurants, and when they didn't book up, pushed them again with a $15 a person discount. They are very organized in events and excursions. They have an organized disembarkation system (DCL was my worst disembarkation, "walk right off" means stand in line 45 minutes).
Only cruise line that was different.....maybe a cut below...was NCL America around Hawaii. But that is less a cruise than a mobile hotel. The ship and on board activities take a back seat to being in port every day in Paradise.
For the record, I have cruised Paquet (defunct luxury French cruise line), NCL x 2, RCCL x 2 HAL x 2, DCL x 1, Celebrity x 1.

 

[Shanon1217]

My husband and I tried out Celebrity for an Alaska cruise in 2017. We had taken Royal Caribbean cruises prior to that one and wanted to have a more "luxurious" experience (It took a while to convince my husband to try DCL because of the kid factor. Now he's hooked on DCL!). We loved Alaska, but were very disappointed in Celebrity. Compared to our previous Royal Caribbean cruises, we thought Celebrity's food was lacking. The ship was "parked" at the ports much farther out, necessitating tendering and shuttles, something we had very little experience with on RC. The worst was the spa. I had specifically called Celebrity and asked if they provided robes for larger people, as my husband and I are not "one size fits all" types. They assured me that they did. When we went for our massages, they had only standard robes which barely closed on me. Their attitude was very dismissive and unhelpful. We would have packed our own robes had we known, that was why I had specifically called. Embarking and disembarking were both a nightmare. We would be happy to return to Alaska, but we will never take another Celebrity Cruise. They are not worth the extra money.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Our first Celebrity Cruise was in March, a cruise around the Horn of South America, and it was excellent! Our next Celebrity Cruise will be next October, Rome to Rome with three days in Israel!

We are Catholic, and because it was in Lent, there was a priest on board who said just about daily Mass. I did not know this was going to happen, and it was very much appreciated and well attended. I was on RCCL a few Decembers ago and there was also a priest on board who said Mass nearly daily. I was also on board the Oasis one December with no priest, so it’s not something that always happens.

We book mostly for itinerary, and DCL does not have much to offer, yet, we have done thirty something cruises on DCL because we enjoyed the ship board experience. Very few shows that I have seen on other lines can compare with Tangled which is our favorite, or Beauty and the Beast. Still, some stand out. On Radiance of the Seas the Cruise Director put on a Neal Diamond Tribute that was fabulous, something special a Sea day.

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

Great to read some more points of view regarding Celebrity. Thank you all for sharing! Our cruise is in 4 weeks, and I'm so curious

 

[starvenger]

I think you'll quite enjoy yourselves. Please do write a report, and cross-post to the Royal forum (people don't always look at both areas for some reason).

 

[tvguy]

My husband and I tried out Celebrity for an Alaska cruise in 2017. We had taken Royal Caribbean cruises prior to that one and wanted to have a more "luxurious" experience (It took a while to convince my husband to try DCL because of the kid factor. Now he's hooked on DCL!). We loved Alaska, but were very disappointed in Celebrity. Compared to our previous Royal Caribbean cruises, we thought Celebrity's food was lacking. The ship was "parked" at the ports much farther out, necessitating tendering and shuttles, something we had very little experience with on RC. The worst was the spa. I had specifically called Celebrity and asked if they provided robes for larger people, as my husband and I are not "one size fits all" types. They assured me that they did. When we went for our massages, they had only standard robes which barely closed on me. Their attitude was very dismissive and unhelpful. We would have packed our own robes had we known, that was why I had specifically called. Embarking and disembarking were both a nightmare. We would be happy to return to Alaska, but we will never take another Celebrity Cruise. They are not worth the extra money.

Wow, we tried Celebrity last week because they were so much cheaper than everyone else. $600 a person for a balcony 7 day, Vancouver, to Victoria, to San Francisco (overnight) to Santa Barbara to Los Angeles.

 

[Shanon1217]

It is pretty normal that some will have a great experience, while for others a perfect storm will occur to make a trip not as enjoyable. We are usually fairly easily impressed. Sometimes, it's just the luck of the draw. We were on the first cruise of the Alaska season, so they likely didn't have all of the bugs worked out yet. We are just far happier with the service that we have received on DCL and even on Royal Caribbean.

 

[Intr3pid]

We are on the Celebrity Millennium this December for a 14-night Southeast Asia cruise out of Singapore. Millennium was the first ship refurbished under the new 'Revolution' program, and we are looking forward to the new look. A phenomenal itinerary as well - visiting Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc - including a new year overnight in Halong Bay.

This is our first time on Celebrity. We will be on Fantasy in April (and we were on Magic in the summer), so we aren't really looking for a DCL experience - rather, how each cruise line offers something unique and how it fits in our broader plans. Go in with an open mind, and make an effort to enjoy it. A vacation is what you will make out of it!

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

It's been a few weeks, but here is our report on the 4-night cruise with Celebrity Infinity:

- The ship: Infinity is one of Celebrity's oldest ships that have not been updated, but the ship looks good. Our rooms were nice, we enjoyed our balcony, and the public spaces were clean and in no way dated.

- The service: Here we had some hiccups. We had two rooms next to each other, but we had two different stateroom hosts. One was very present, brought all we requested on time (a complimentary bottle of champagne on ice on the requested day), and kept the room clean and well taken care of. The other person was rarely seen, the room wasn't very clean uppon arrival, and that offered bottle of champagne never arrived.

- The food: We booked Aquaclass so we had access to Blu. We liked the restaurant, and the appetizers were awesome each night. Unfortunately, the entrees were hit and miss, with low quality beef one night, and undercooked salmon the other night. Both problems were brought to the attention of our main server, but apologies weren't even made, just an offer of something else as if we simply stated that we did not like the flavor of a meal (especially unacceptable in response to undercooked salmon). Breakfast at Blu was great.
One breakfast and all lunches were had at the buffet (we're not people to sit down and take a lot of time for lunch). The food at the buffet was first and foremost cold. Choices were also limited.
Overall, we rate this cruise as having the worst food of all the cruises we had been on. Not to say that we went hungry of course.

- The entertainment: Beyond DCL we've never been impressed with cruise line evening entertainment, but we have to say that the main show of this cruise was good. The performers were talented, and the show entertaining. None of the other shows interested us, but one good evening on a 4 night, was a pleasant surprise.

- The pool and decks: On cruise ships, we tend to find the quests areas to enjoy the sun or pool. On the infinity, we found comfortable beds on the top deck forward. In the evenings, we enjoyed the almost deserted adults-only solarium. We were very pleased.

In summary, we enjoyed ourselves and were comfortable on the ship. The low-quality food surprised us though, and we'll be hesitant to try Celebrity again.

 

[SnappySerape]

Thanks for remembering and posting an update. I always enjoy getting more perspectives on line comparisons. I'm a single, no-kid, early 30s guy so getting some thoughts from someone in a similar boat is great!

 

[DisMommyTX]

We have found that most cruise lines crews have less impressive crews/chefs/shows on their shorter cruises. I think the experienced crew choose the newer ships with longer itineraries, so the older ships running shorter itineraries have the newer crew. Often they are on their first or second contract in that position. The worst food we had was a short Princess cruise, but their 7 night to Alaska was excellent. Similar experiences on NCL, Carnival, and Royal. With 14 ships to choose from, I suggest trying a longer cruise on one of their newer ships before crossing Celebrity off your list.

I wonder if we will see DCL suffer this same fate as they rapidly increase the size of their fleet?

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

We have found that most cruise lines crews have less impressive crews/chefs/shows on their shorter cruises. I think the experienced crew choose the newer ships with longer itineraries, so the older ships running shorter itineraries have the newer crew.

An interesting theory. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.