Has anyone sailed on Celebrity?

[FSU Girl]

I tried asking over on the Royal Caribbean part, but no one got back to me. I booked my first cruise with them for an European cruise to Ireland and Iceland. I wanted to do Disney, but I think they'll just be too expensive, but we'll see when they finally put out their summer 2019 schedule.

Has anyone sailed on Celebrity? How is it? I'm a little worried that everyone on the boat will be like three times my age and there won't be much to do. There are four sea days and I'm not the type to just hang around a pool all day.

I also can't find any information about when to book excursions. I know with Disney they have very specific dates when you are eligible to start booking. Since I can't find anything with my research does that mean they aren't?

I've asked a few questions on cruise critic also.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You will probably get a ton of information on cruise critic. If not, I would call Celebrity and ask when you can book your excursions. We had a Celebrity cruise scheduled last year, but had to cancel, unfortunately, but I did find their reservation agents to be incredibly knowledgable and helpful.

 

[bkfamilyof5]

We traveled on Celebrity as a young family in Europe several years ago. There were not many young kids (my 4yo was one of maybe 5 in the kids club but she loved all the attention). It was a longer cruise during the school year (2 weeks in early Nov) which added to that. We were a family with 2 young kids, early 30s parents and grandparents (70s) and there were lots of people in both adult age ranges. It was fantastic and we had a great time. We are taking our first Disney cruise next week but for now Celebrity is our favorite line. Went on it to alaska last summer and it was similarly great and there were definitely more families and younger people. Neither cruise felt stuffy or “old”. There were lots of fun activities including wine tastings, lectures (from historians or architects etc about the places we were visiting). I’m not sure about the excursions - I think you can book them whenever including onboard. We also sought out others on our sailings through Cruise Critic and went on several excursions that were organized by other cruisers. They were fabulous!

 

[Keels]

Celebrity is our preferred line - it’s just the two of us (no kids), so we enjoy the more “adult” atmosphere on the ship, as well as the plethora of activities (wine tastings, Mixology, etc.) - and the multiple options for specialty dining on ship.

We went on the Solstice to Alaska most recently and felt that we were definitely in the majority demographic (30s-40s), but I have been on others where I’ve felt like we were way younger than the rest of the ship (mostly Caribbean itineraries).

As far as sea days - I spent a lot of my free time reading in the Solarium, or in the spa. There were also presentations by a historian and a naturalist on-board the ship to prepare us for different ports of call that were really interesting - I imagine this itinerary will offer something similar! There were plenty of participation events (bingo, trivia, dance class, putting contest, etc.) - but I didn’t do a whole lot of that as I preferred to just hang out in one of the lounges and read.

Most of the ships now have the Glass Show on the top deck, which is cool to check out. And the Lawn Club is nice place to hang out and watch the scenery pass by while at sea.

As for excursions, I’ve never had a problem booking excursions right up until sailing or even on the ship - the whole “everything is sold out right away” thing with DCL is crazy to me! Personally, I don’t book excursions through the ship any longer as I’ve found more independent vendors and operators to provide better experiences at a lower cost.

 

[FSU Girl]

We traveled on Celebrity as a young family in Europe several years ago. There were not many young kids (my 4yo was one of maybe 5 in the kids club but she loved all the attention). It was a longer cruise during the school year (2 weeks in early Nov) which added to that. We were a family with 2 young kids, early 30s parents and grandparents (70s) and there were lots of people in both adult age ranges. It was fantastic and we had a great time. We are taking our first Disney cruise next week but for now Celebrity is our favorite line. Went on it to alaska last summer and it was similarly great and there were definitely more families and younger people. Neither cruise felt stuffy or “old”. There were lots of fun activities including wine tastings, lectures (from historians or architects etc about the places we were visiting). I’m not sure about the excursions - I think you can book them whenever including onboard. We also sought out others on our sailings through Cruise Critic and went on several excursions that were organized by other cruisers. They were fabulous!

This is great to hear. The cruise we are doing is two weeks so I figured this would effect the demographic, but it's also during the summer so might not. I did join the Roll Call Cruise Critic has to talk to others on my cruise, I've never set up an excursion with others on a cruise before, that could be interesting.

 

[FSU Girl]

Celebrity is our preferred line - it’s just the two of us (no kids), so we enjoy the more “adult” atmosphere on the ship, as well as the plethora of activities (wine tastings, Mixology, etc.) - and the multiple options for specialty dining on ship.

I love Mixology, that's good to hear they do this too. I noticed they had a lot of specialty dining restaurants, we are thinking of doing a dining package to try them all.

Most of the ships now have the Glass Show on the top deck, which is cool to check out.

That sounds like fun.

As for excursions, I’ve never had a problem booking excursions right up until sailing or even on the ship - the whole “everything is sold out right away” thing with DCL is crazy to me! Personally, I don’t book excursions through the ship any longer as I’ve found more independent vendors and operators to provide better experiences at a lower cost.

That was what I was trying to figure out. I know with Disney if you aren't online at midnight when your window opens you can miss out on a lot of the great excursions. I've been reading up on some that would be where I'm going so I don't want to miss out, but I figured it might not be as strict with dates since my Googling produced no results. Even on Celebrity's website it doesn't mention anything about when you can start booking. I've thought of doing independent tours, but I like knowing the boat won't leave without me if I do an excursion through them

 

[Keels]

I love Mixology, that's good to hear they do this too. I noticed they had a lot of specialty dining restaurants, we are thinking of doing a dining package to try them all.

If you like wine, the wine bar usually offers 2-3 different wine tastings a day on sea days, too!

As for excursions ... maybe you can’t book until you’re Paid in Full? I’ve always been able to book them straight away, but we always pay for the whole thing when we book cruises since we don’t plan that far out for them ...

 

[FSU Girl]

If you like wine, the wine bar usually offers 2-3 different wine tastings a day on sea days, too!

As for excursions ... maybe you can’t book until you’re Paid in Full? I’ve always been able to book them straight away, but we always pay for the whole thing when we book cruises since we don’t plan that far out for them ...

That could be. The cruise is like a year and a half away, so I'm guessing it's just too early to see that stuff yet. I haven't paid anything but the deposit on the cruise so far. My Fiance would like the wine tastings, I more prefer martini's, but it could be fun to try.

 

[Keels]

That could be. The cruise is like a year and a half away, so I'm guessing it's just too early to see that stuff yet. I haven't paid anything but the deposit on the cruise so far. My Fiance would like the wine tastings, I more prefer martini's, but it could be fun to try.

What ship is the cruise on? It will probably have a version of the martini bar ... they do flights of the whole martini menu and then daily specialty martinis.

The drink package on Celebrity DEFINITELY comes in handy if you want to try things out!

 

[FSU Girl]

What ship is the cruise on? It will probably have a version of the martini bar ... they do flights of the whole martini menu and then daily specialty martinis.

The drink package on Celebrity DEFINITELY comes in handy if you want to try things out!

The cruise is on Silhouette. When we booked they had a deal with one free perk so we picked the drink package. I'm not sure which one it is though, it looks like they have three levels of drink packages.

 

[bkfamilyof5]

The cruise is on Silhouette. When we booked they had a deal with one free perk so we picked the drink package. I'm not sure which one it is though, it looks like they have three levels of drink packages.

We were on the Silhouette in Europe (Adriatic) and it was lovely! We spent a LOT of time at the “Molecular Bar” which had amazing and fun drinks. I found out a week after our cruise that I was pregnant so we were a little worried the baby would be pickled but he’s now a healthy and happy 3.5 year old! (It was a completely surprise pregnancy and I was on birth control... we took permanent bc measures after that because 3 kids is enough!)

 

[FSU Girl]

We were on the Silhouette in Europe (Adriatic) and it was lovely! We spent a LOT of time at the “Molecular Bar” which had amazing and fun drinks. I found out a week after our cruise that I was pregnant so we were a little worried the baby would be pickled but he’s now a healthy and happy 3.5 year old! (It was a completely surprise pregnancy and I was on birth control... we took permanent bc measures after that because 3 kids is enough!)

This cruise will be somewhat of a second honeymoon/1st anniversary trip. We are doing a Disney cruise in January since our wedding is in November, but we really wanted to go to Europe for the real honeymoon. My plan is to potentially get pregnant on the cruise, really hope not before.

 

[Keels]

The cruise is on Silhouette. When we booked they had a deal with one free perk so we picked the drink package. I'm not sure which one it is though, it looks like they have three levels of drink packages.

The Silhouette is my favorite ship!!

So, the drink package you get is the middle one (Classic) ... it should cover most everything under $8-10 or so (I can't remember the exact price point, but you'll see it on the menus). With Celebrity, if you want to order something over the price of the drink package, they just charge you the difference. We usually end up upgrading to the premium for the better coffee and hard liquor, for me to get Red Bull and for the large bottles of Evian. The specialty dining package is DEFINITELY worth it - I bought ours for Alaska in advance and was so happy I did. It was basically buy three nights, get one free. We did Silk Harvest (which isn't on Silhouette - that ship has QSine instead), Tuscan Grille, and then both a regular dinner and a Chef's Table dinner at Murano. Sushi on Five is also really good - the sushi is pretty nice for being cruise ship sushi, and they serve some pretty great ramen. It's a chill vibe and is a nice break (especially for lunch) if you get tired of the MDE and buffet dining.

 

[FSU Girl]

The Silhouette is my favorite ship!!

So, the drink package you get is the middle one (Classic) ... it should cover most everything under $8-10 or so (I can't remember the exact price point, but you'll see it on the menus). With Celebrity, if you want to order something over the price of the drink package, they just charge you the difference. We usually end up upgrading to the premium for the better coffee and hard liquor, for me to get Red Bull and for the large bottles of Evian. The specialty dining package is DEFINITELY worth it - I bought ours for Alaska in advance and was so happy I did. It was basically buy three nights, get one free. We did Silk Harvest (which isn't on Silhouette - that ship has QSine instead), Tuscan Grille, and then both a regular dinner and a Chef's Table dinner at Murano. Sushi on Five is also really good - the sushi is pretty nice for being cruise ship sushi, and they serve some pretty great ramen. It's a chill vibe and is a nice break (especially for lunch) if you get tired of the MDE and buffet dining.

That's great to hear its your favorite ship

If we upgrade the package would we just pay the difference since the package was free? Martini's are usually more than $10 so I could see it being beneficial to upgrade.

When I booked they said it was too early to get the dining package, it probably won't be out until 8 months before, so I have a little time to wait and decide what to do. They said there are 5 specialty restaurants and we have 4 sea days, would you recommend doing a 4 night package or 5 so we can try everything? There are a few overnight ports on this cruise so we'd probably dine in the city those nights. Is Sushi on Five free or an upcharge restaurant?

 

[owensjro]

Celebrity is our "other" cruise line now. We've done 12 (with #13 booked) DCL cruises and 2 Celebrity cruises, once to Alaska and a 10N Med cruise 2 years ago. We were not as into a lot of the sea day activities so spent most of the time enjoying the scenery while sailing and reading. The night shows consisted of a lot of singers which is fine if that interests you but got a bit stale on our 10N. We loved that the buffet was open for dinner as we didn't feel the MDR had the selection of foods we were looking for (when compared to DCL). We did enjoy eating at their specialty dining venues (extra fee) and were glad we got a discounted package of dinners before the cruise. The premium drink package was great and we definitely made good (maybe not for our livers) use of it! Service on the ship was on par with DCL.

All in all, we enjoyed Celebrity and now when we look to book trips we check both DCL and Celebrity itineraries.

Oh, I should mention we are in our mid 40's with a teen daughter and felt we were about in the normal age range.

Jim

 

[owensjro]

That's great to hear its your favorite ship

If we upgrade the package would we just pay the difference since the package was free? Martini's are usually more than $10 so I could see it being beneficial to upgrade.

When I booked they said it was too early to get the dining package, it probably won't be out until 8 months before, so I have a little time to wait and decide what to do. They said there are 5 specialty restaurants and we have 4 sea days, would you recommend doing a 4 night package or 5 so we can try everything? There are a few overnight ports on this cruise so we'd probably dine in the city those nights. Is Sushi on Five free or an upcharge restaurant?

You posted while I was responding...I would keep your eye on the dining as they often have sales for dining packages. I don't remember what we paid but I seem to recall it was a 20% savings on their 6 night package which made paying extra for the dinners much more palatable to me

 

[Keels]

That's great to hear its your favorite ship

If we upgrade the package would we just pay the difference since the package was free? Martini's are usually more than $10 so I could see it being beneficial to upgrade.

When I booked they said it was too early to get the dining package, it probably won't be out until 8 months before, so I have a little time to wait and decide what to do. They said there are 5 specialty restaurants and we have 4 sea days, would you recommend doing a 4 night package or 5 so we can try everything? There are a few overnight ports on this cruise so we'd probably dine in the city those nights. Is Sushi on Five free or an upcharge restaurant?

Yup - you just pay the difference ... $11.80/pp per day. You can do it in advance or once you get on the ship!

So - to of the specialty restaurants (Blu, Lumiere) are for specific stateroom guests (Blu is for AquaClass, Lumiere is for Suites). Qsine, Tuscan Grille and Murano are flat-rate $/pp restaurants (similar to Palo & Remy). Lawn Club and Sushi on Five are $ a la carte restaurants. The three main specialty restaurants also offer things like brunch or specialty themed lunches throughout the cruise - they're usually cheaper than what you're paying for dinner, so I pay out of pocket for those instead of using the dining package

For a cruise of your length, I would at least do four nights - you can try out all three and then go back to a second time to your favorite. Personally, if a deal came across for six nights, I would buy that in a heartbeat ... mostly because I get burned out on the MDR (even though the food is pretty good for cruise food) and the forced dining time. Sometimes I want to have dinner at 7 instead of 5:45 or 8:15, you know?

You posted while I was responding...I would keep your eye on the dining as they often have sales for dining packages. I don't remember what we paid but I seem to recall it was a 20% savings on their 6 night package which made paying extra for the dinners much more palatable to me

This!! And you have up until three days before sailing to buy your advance dining package, so definitely wait for a deal that works best for you!

 

[Fyrefly]

That's great to hear its your favorite ship

If we upgrade the package would we just pay the difference since the package was free? Martini's are usually more than $10 so I could see it being beneficial to upgrade.

When I booked they said it was too early to get the dining package, it probably won't be out until 8 months before, so I have a little time to wait and decide what to do. They said there are 5 specialty restaurants and we have 4 sea days, would you recommend doing a 4 night package or 5 so we can try everything? There are a few overnight ports on this cruise so we'd probably dine in the city those nights. Is Sushi on Five free or an upcharge restaurant?

We did our honeymoon on the Eclipse, one of the Solstice-class. Yes, if you have the classic you can upgrade to the premium for the different per day, it was $11ish I think for us per person per day? And that's not just booze, that is "if it is liquid on the ship and under $15, you can have it." So fresh squeezed orange juice with breakfast, premium coffee or tea from the coffee shop, smoothies by the little spa food area for lunch, wine with dinner, $15 cocktails from World Class Bar (try the Zacapa Old Fashioned!), bottles off water off the ship for excursions or in our room at night. It completely paid for itself many times over so you should totally do it.

We thought Sushi on Five looked like a rip-off, tbh. It was a la carte and around the same price we'd pay for sushi on land. Since we'd already paid for the cruise it seemed silly to pay that rate for sushi. If it was all you can eat so I could try new things, maybe. We found Qsine to be a lot of fun and Murano was one of the best meals we've ever had. Tuscan Grille didn't speak to us so I can't say about that, and we also really enjoyed the main dining rooms so don't feel like you have to try every restaurant. Also it's cheaper to prepay but if you end up with OBC from a travel agent you can blow that on dining. We ended up some OBC from our agent and picked free gratuities and drinks as our perks. After prepaying the beverage upgrade I think we left the ship with a $50 bill for two weeks because we had to try the Murano wine pairing menu and overshot our OBC. Which btw if you want to do that, you can't use the prepaid credit on it as it's a much pricier meal.

Hope that helps!

Edit because another poster mentioned a set dining time in the MDR - in our experience we just signed up for any time and walked down whenever we were hungry.

 

[karatstravels]

We have done Celebrity too, Adults only and would do so again if not traveling with our kids. We enjoyed the upgraded premium drink package (we thought it was well worth it, the bartenders were great always making fancy drinks to try). The spa was also great, we used the steam / shower rooms and had a few treatments. We found a great mix of ages, we are middle aged and found this was a big demographic. I think we saw 5 kids the whole time on the boat. We had Aqua class rooms and enjoyed dining in Blu, the service was great. I would recommend Celebrity, but not sure how it would be for families.

I am sure you will have a great trip!

 

[polyenthusiast]

Great information!
Has anyone sailed on Celebrity—with teens?