Trying to decide between DCL and Celebrity

[rgsmith]

I have never been on either of these cruise lines - my experience is limited to 1 cruise on RCCL Radiance. My children (girls 4 and 6) loved RCCL's Adventure Ocean. My husband and I liked the Radiance although we thought that the food was mediocre. We would like to take a step up in food/experience.

We have a nicer cabin on hold on Celebrity's Century. On Disney Magic, we have a Category 3. We are planning to go during our Spring Break which is the end of March 2004.

On Celebrity, I am worried that there will be very few children and/or lots of people who don't want to see my children. On Disney, I am worried that it will be too kid/Disney oriented. My children are not huge Disney fans - although they certainly enjoy it. My husband and I are worried about the level of the food and the quantity of adult activities.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have to decide today. Yikes!

 

[Dancind]

Quick turnaround, huh? We are sailing Celebrity in two weeks, so can't completely compare yet. I think on the Century, they have a pretty good kids program, but as you know, it's Disney's specialty. Celebrity is known for the food, but I understand that DCL comes close in this area. The nod for entertainment goes to DCL. DCL is also very strong in adult only areas. They have adult-only pools & hot tub, nightclubs, restaurant, private beach. That's one of the biggest complaints of other cruise lines, kids in the hot tubs! I think at your kid's ages, DCL would be the best family vacation. If you want to read more about Celebrity, visit cruisecritic.com . Out of 20 couples on the roll call for our cruise, only one other couple has children, and none have younger children. And it's a Christmas cruise! My daughter is 12, so I think we'll be OK. Diana

 

[MickeyB426]

If you and your DH can deal with not having a casino, I'd say it's a no-brainer.

Having a Category 3 suite and with all the perks that come with it should be reason enough to go with DCL. I've cruised in the suites twice (Cat 1 and 3) and I'll never go any other way.

There is SO much to do for adults, the food is one rung shy of excellent, and the service is second to none.

Good luck!

 

[wintermom]

We have done both, Celebrity befor we had DD and DCL with
DD. We have also cruised with Holland American and another
line that went out of business. My DH and I love good food and first class service. We think DCL is excellent. Try Palos for an
wonderful dinner. The cabins on DCL are larger too. Celebrity
was nice but we liked Disney better, the ship was cleaner
the wait staff better. We are booked on our second DC in a few weeks and we book a catagory 6 which we love, if your going with a 3 you are going to have a great time!!

There is no casino but the spa is excellant and lots of adult things to do. As to other children being on Celebrity, when we went there were almost none but it was durning the school year and several years ago. I know lots more families cruise these days so that probably changed.

Hope this helps
Wintermom

 

[tecdavidt]

We have cruised on both. If you go during Spring Break there should be a lot of children compared to non-holiday times on Celebrity. We have been on the Galaxy which is a sistership to the Century. My husband thinks the food on Celebrity is the best and I don't agree with him, I think it is about like DCL. DCL did a great job following my gluten free diet and Celebrity did not. Celebrity line is a quite line compared to other cruiselines. No horns, no announcements. Celebrity has the casino and DCL does not. We never saw any of the shows on the Galaxy because we had late dining which meant late shows which is different from DCL. Late dining means early shows. As far as class, both lines are a class act. One more thing, on the Galaxy the ship pools were not heated and they were chlorinated salt water. The DCL ships have chlorinated fresh water pools and they are heated. I prefer the fresh water but that is just my preference. The Galaxy had a wonderful enclosed pool that was gorgeous. The roof could be removed if they wanted the warm sunshine or covered if there was rain. It just needed to be heated for me. You won't be disappointed with either line. Kathy

 

[Dancind]

rgsmith - be sure and let us know what you decide! If you go with DCL, be sure and visit the Who's Sailing? board for your cruise. Diana

 

[tink5697]

Originally posted by rgsmith
. My children are not huge Disney fans - although they certainly enjoy it. My husband and I are worried about the level of the food and the quantity of adult activities.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have to decide today. Yikes!

I may be a little late in answering, but here goes (in my opinion). We traveled with a 6, 4, and 3 year old this past May. In my opinion they were the perfect age for the Oceaneers Club. You certainly don't need to be a lover of Disney to enjoy all they have to offer. My daughter didn't want to come out of the Club to eat with us! This coming from a child that is usually pinned to my leg. She enabled my husband and I to actually vacation alone. We went to the adult only pool, sat and people watched, fell asleep in the deck chairs and finally went back to the room to nap because we realized we were snoring and drooling!! All this while I had a beeper that would beep if she needed me. It was absolute heaven knowing I could get to her within 4 minutes if they beeped me while in a complete child free area of the ship.
I strongly suggest DCL. We are cruising again in May 2004. Good Luck!

 

[rundogrun]

We've sailed both (Magic, Wonder and Galaxy, Millenium, Mercury)...here's our perspective:

Service - edge to Celebrity. No question DCL staff is friendly, but Celebrity staff does SO much more for you, and is just as friendly.

Accomodations - Nicer accomodations than a Cat 3 means you probably have a Royal Suite. We had one on Galaxy and a Cat 1 on Wonder. Edge here again to Celebrity. There's no comparison between Celebrity Butler Service and the DCL Concierges. Butler Service and the perks are far superior. The only reason to book a Cat 3 or higher on DCL is the extra room. On Celebrity, you book suites for the service.

Kids Programs - Edge to DCL. Our kids loved the Fun Factory on Millie, more than they liked DCL (my daughter loved both). However, we didn't have our kids with us on Galaxy or Mercury. We did peek into the kids club on the Mercury and thought it was nice, however DCL and the newer Celebrity ships have better facilites.

Entertainment - DCL. Hands down.

Food - Very different experiences. Celebrity is fine dining. DCL is more casual. Think of Celebrity as eating in Palo each night. Both are fine...choose your own preference here.

 

[Dancind]

A question for those that have responded to this post (the OP seems to be gone), and have cruised on Celebrity. Did you find that average age on Celebrity is quite a bit older than DCL? The average age amongst the couples on our CC Roll Call seems to be around 55-60. Even the parents with older kids are older, late 40's. We fit right in with that group, but DCL did seem to be younger families. What was your impression? Diana

 

[rgsmith]

Hi .... I'm still here (the OP) - just on and off. I really appreciate everyone's comments. From this forum (and several others), it looks like we really couldn't go wrong either way.

Because we had to make a deposit today to hold our cabin, we decided to go with Disney. We felt that there were small advantages and disadvantages each way, but we felt that there would be more family activities for us all to do together on the Disney ship. Our girls could dislike (or like) any children's program so we needed to make sure that there was plenty to do no matter how they felt about the program. Plus we're planning on doing lots together.

So we're on the Magic the week of March 27, 2004. I hope everyone on the ship is as nice and as helpful as everyone has been here! Thanks again!

 

[rundogrun]

Good reasoning....have a blast!

As to the question about ages, DCL will definitely have a younger median age because of the family appeal. Thinking back on our Celebrity cruises I would say the average age is late 40s, early 50s. If you're traveling during a holiday week, expect that age to be more in the 40s.

 

[tecdavidt]

The two Celebrity cruises we took the age groups looked like 30's, 40's & 50's. In fact our Milli cruise last Jan. (New Year's Eve cruise) we were the old ones at our table at the ripe "old" age of 45. The other two couples were ages 30's & late 20's and none of the three had children. The late 20's couple were newlyweds. The 30's were not married but planning their big day. Kathy

 

[brack]

As Disney cruisers who cruise without kids (our son is 30 and wants to go with us but his wife want let him!) we have never really been bothered by the kids. I think Disney does a great job with them and I agree with the one post that said the kids didn't want to leave the activities to come eat with the parents. I think you made a good choice.