Platinum Disney cruisers try Celebrity (long)

[Pandafamily]

Great Review.

 

[FSU Girl]

Thank you for your review. A lot of your points were why we decided to cancel our trip for our honeymoon. I just feel like I would be bored on sea days, which I love on Disney.

 

[GuardMusic]

Thank you for this post. While my BFF and I aren’t quite as old as you, we are also Platinum and like/dislike all the same things as you onboard! Thus, you’ve saved us time and effort in even considering a different line!

 

[PrincessTrisha]

the thing I love about Celebrity is their non-alcoholic drink packages (though we've always been able to get at least 1 free perk with our booking if not two so we generally have the classic alcohol package included for my mother and I and the classic non-alcohol package for my dad). The freedom to get bottled water, specialty coffees & teas, and of course soda from any bar on the ship - and not just dispensers on deck - that is great. Loved stopping at the entrance to the oceanview buffet and grabbing an ice cold can of soda, getting my food and then having a server come around and get me another one (or a bottle of water). And sitting at Café Bacio with a caramel latte and a piece of cake/pie/sweet - wonderful.

On Celebrity we really like the amount of live music around the ship - something we miss on DCL. The Atrium doesn't exactly have a lot of seating where you can sit and enjoy. On Celebrity in the late afternoon and throughout the evenings, it seemed like there was live music all over the ship - from a piano player, to electric violinists to guitars to 3-4 piece bands.

We've never had a split bath on DCL and find the accessible cabins on Celebrity to be well thought out and very functional; we've also not experienced the worn out bedding on their ships. I'd say that's an anomaly and not the norm.

Too bad you didn't enjoy your trip.

For us, we enjoy cruising - even on our least favourite cruise line we have a great time.

 

[buzzrelly]

We still had a great trip, though,

Too bad you didn't enjoy your trip.

Clearly you didn't read to the end of the OP's post…see above.

I appreciate reading this well thought out review, thanks Gatordoc for posting.

 

[mevelandry]

Thank you for your detailed review.

As they say "Different strokes for different folks".

Some of the things you described are totally our jam... Which makes Celebrity quite appealing for us. (The more I read about Celebrity, the more interested I am).
Also, I googled the ship... My jaw dropped. Looks like I have a thing for "upscale shopping mall".

UPDATE: I was looking for a very short and "quick and not too expensive getaway" early 2020 and I have found a 2 nights to the Bahamas cruise on the Equinox that was extremely affordable (around 90$/night per person, taxes and fees included).

This detailed review made me believe that this ship would be greatly appreciated by my husband and I ... So when I saw the deal, I did not hesitate one bit and I booked.

 

[Bonnie1222]

@gatordoc Thank you so much for taking the time to write the review. I read your opening statement and you are describing me and DH, we are in our 50s with no kids. Our next cruise is our first as Platinum and we have only done one other cruise, on Princess that was paid for by my MIL for our 15th anniversary. At that time we had only done a couple DCL trips and we spent half the trip saying "Disney wouldn't do that, this isn't nearly as good as Disney, etc..." I honestly can say it was so non-impressive I don't remember a lot of details like I do on my Disney cruises. DH is not a gambler, but I like to play penny slots just for fun but only spend a few dollars at a time so the casinos are not a draw; and we are not big pool people so on board activities are kind of important.

We are looking to do Alaska in 2020 for our 30th and no matter how much we want to do Disney - we realize we can do a cruise and all our excursions for the price of just the cruise on DCL. We also want to do a land (train)/sea trip which is pushing us back to Princess. A coworker just got off the Celebrity Equinox and she loved it. She stayed in a spa level room. She just booked Alaska for next year and is trying to convince us to go with - but she is going at a time I cannot get off work.

You have given me (us) lots to consider, and I will be honest I am now more nervous about changing lines just because we love DCL so much. As a previous poster mentioned we are looking at port intensive trips so that is something I need to consider - we are there to sleep and eat - not stay on the boat all day. My TA said - don't pick a cruiseline - pick the places you want to see then make the cruise fit your itinerary. I think that is what I will do, and then narrow the cruise line down from there.

Thank you and all the others on this thread for sharing your experiences.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

@gatordoc : just saw your post about Celebrity. We were on the Millennium several years back and your description brought back memories of that cruise. Ours was just as you experienced. Definitely more geared to senior adults that like to spend time in the casino or the lounges/discos. We enjoyed our cruise on celebrity only because it was our second ever cruise. Now that we are DCL CC Gold, definitely will not go back.

 

[mmmears]

Gatordoc, thank you so much for writing this review and sharing your thoughts on Celebrity. I've been looking at some of their itineraries (DCL needs to step it up in that area) and just can't get excited about sailing with them. I look at the deck plan and don't like how their bumpouts ruin that amazing 180 degree view we get on DCL. And I looked at their daily activities for at-sea days and can't figure out what we would do all day since nothing appeals to us. And I don't have little kids anymore...

My take-away from my research was that it could work on a port-intensive cruise with 1 or no sea days, but I wouldn't want more than that (and unfortunately the ones I was looking at had something like 5 days at sea, and even with extended family members already booked I just can't seem to go through with a booking).

I appreciate all the pros and cons you listed since that helps the rest of us understand what you liked and didn't like.

 

[KashasMom]

UPDATE: I was looking for a very short and "quick and not too expensive getaway" early 2020 and I have found a 2 nights to the Bahamas cruise on the Equinox that was extremely affordable (around 90$/night per person, taxes and fees included).

This detailed review made me believe that this ship would be greatly appreciated by my husband and I ... So when I saw the deal, I did not hesitate one bit and I booked.

Nice! I know you will enjoy!