Veteran DCL cruisers looking for another option

[DVCTigger]

My DH and I are platinum DCL cruisers and are for the first time ready to try a different cruise line for better prices and itineraries. We are both 51, sailing without our adult children. We much prefer longer cruises, 10+ days. We enjoy quiet time reading or watching movies on the outdoor screen. We also really look forward to the food on cruises, but don't want to pay extra for it! We are ok with the buffet for breakfast, poolside for lunch and MDR for dinners. Lastly, we typically are in inside staterooms, we don't like to sit around in a room. We currently do have a placeholder on DCL, but the prices and itineraries of others are very intriguing.

So now that you know a little about us, we are trying to figure out which cruise line(s) we would be most comfortable with. We have been searching websites of Princess, Royal and Celebrity, but they are hard to navigate and we can't tell what food is included and what all the different "classes" really mean. We want another 10+ night cruise, but are willing to try different cruise lines for shorter trips to try different experiences back to back.

We know there are many of you that have experienced other lines, we would love to hear your opinions!
TIA

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My DH and I are platinum DCL cruisers and are for the first time ready to try a different cruise line for better prices and itineraries. We are both 51, sailing without our adult children. We much prefer longer cruises, 10+ days. We enjoy quiet time reading or watching movies on the outdoor screen. We also really look forward to the food on cruises, but don't want to pay extra for it! We are ok with the buffet for breakfast, poolside for lunch and MDR for dinners. Lastly, we typically are in inside staterooms, we don't like to sit around in a room. We currently do have a placeholder on DCL, but the prices and itineraries of others are very intriguing.

So now that you know a little about us, we are trying to figure out which cruise line(s) we would be most comfortable with. We have been searching websites of Princess, Royal and Celebrity, but they are hard to navigate and we can't tell what food is included and what all the different "classes" really mean. We want another 10+ night cruise, but are willing to try different cruise lines for shorter trips to try different experiences back to back.

We know there are many of you that have experienced other lines, we would love to hear your opinions!
TIA

Well, we've only done Princess out of your short list. But I certainly wouldn't be adverse to trying either of the other two. I'd just go for the itinerary/price that works the best.

On Princess the included food is the main dining room for dinner, buffet all day, ice cream station (basic soft serve only), pizza/burgers on the pool deck. I can't answer about what room service includes as we've not done that on Princess. I'm not sure what you mean by "classes" - room categories? They're pretty self descriptive, inside (Princess doesn't have many of those), oceanview (could be obstructed - with a window but pretty much blocked); partially obstructed - with a window with something blocking part of the window; and regular ocean view - with a window (small rectangular window); verandah - well, that pretty much says it all.

 

[MickeyD]

We have done Princess and Celebrity of the ones you mentioned. We are gold on DCL, so obviously cruise them more often. We are also same age range. So, given the factors you mentioned, I would suggest Celebrity. They have probably the best food out of the 3 I have sailed. The age skews a bit older than us, but it makes for quiet. As for pay extra things, they do have a lot of that, but it depends on the ship. They have Solstice class (about comparable in size and capacity to the Dream Class on DCL), the Millenium Class (comparable in size and capacity to the Magic class of DCL), and then they have their "specialty" ones of the Expedition class which are much smaller and go to places like the Galapagos. Their staterooms are smaller than DCL, but nicely appointed. What I love about them is mainly their itineraries. They have a some great 9-14 night itins. Service is on par with DCl, cleanliness same, the only part I hate is the casino and the smoking....however, they have rectified that since our last sailing, so it might be better? Hope this helps

 

[clten]

I've sailed Princess, Royal and Celebrity. I think of the 3 the one with the best food is Celebrity and I think the other one what probably comes close to giving you what you want is Princess. (While we really liked RCCL and would not hesitate to sail them again, I think of them more of the next step for families -- as kids age out of Disney type activities and are looking for more adventurous things they head towards RCCL; plus Celebrity is the more premium line run by the same company.) All the lines will have your basic foods included even if you don't do any of the upcharge restaurants.

As far a room selection it can be very confusing. It's not unlike DCL where the room categories are based on how far from midship they are and what deck they are on. It just seems like they have more breakdowns (if the room is on Baja deck it is a B1; B2; B3 but the exact same room on Caribe deck is a C5 or C6 can be very confusing). Personally, I don't let that distract me. I first find the itinerary that interests me, narrow it down to the dates that interest me and then I'll start looking at the general pricing. I'll only get into the category pricing once I've really decided I am interested in the cruise. (Also know that most other cruise lines have a category for "guarantee" rates where you let the cruiseline choose your stateroom. it's a separate category because most of them give you a little discount for it - unlike DCL who charges the same.)

 

[DVCTigger]

Thank you all, this is exactly the information we were looking for! Clten, that helped with my "classes" confusion! And we didn't realize that RCCL and Celebrity was the same company. MickeyD, we also would be put off by the casino and especially the smoke! Do they have designated smoking areas on board? PrincessShmoo, does the main dining room have different menus every night? And does the food at the buffet change from day to day as well, at least some things, like on DCL? The station at the back of Cabanas usually has something different every day.

We may try to plan two 7 night cruises back to back to test two of them out, sounds like Princess and Celebrity may be our top choices. One flight, still get in our 14 nights I knew I could get some good answers here, thank you again!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Thank you all, this is exactly the information we were looking for! Clten, that helped with my "classes" confusion! And we didn't realize that RCCL and Celebrity was the same company. MickeyD, we also would be put off by the casino and especially the smoke! Do they have designated smoking areas on board? PrincessShmoo, does the main dining room have different menus every night? And does the food at the buffet change from day to day as well, at least some things, like on DCL? The station at the back of Cabanas usually has something different every day.

We may try to plan two 7 night cruises back to back to test two of them out, sounds like Princess and Celebrity may be our top choices. One flight, still get in our 14 nights I knew I could get some good answers here, thank you again!

Princess has designated smoking areas. Part of the casino is smoking (but it really fills the whole space). There are 3 main dining room on Princess ships. One of them has fixed seating (early and late), a second has anytime dining (come when you want during the service hours), and the third is typically fixed seating for early dining and anytime after that.

There are "different" menus each night, but not like DCL. And, in reality, I've found the menu options to be pretty much the same from night to night. Basically italian fare (pastas, some sort of chicken/beef/fish entree, and salads). While they are called different things, I think they all tasted pretty much alike.

Not saying they're not good, just not a lot of variance.

On Princess, currently, for lunch and for dinner, the "menu" (food offerings)in the buffet are the same for 3 days, then change.

 

[soniam]

All ships catering to people from the US that allow smoking having designated smoking areas, with the casino being the major one. We tend to avoid it, because cigarette smoke bothers my allergies. I know DCL doesn't allow it on the verandahs, but I don't know about the other cruise lines.

I would suggest Celebrity as well. We have sailed RCCL a few times and enjoyed it. However, my boss and in-laws all raved about Celebrity. We have a 7 night Southern Caribbean out of San Juan booked for our anniversary next April on Celebrity. The room and food quality is supposed to be great. We chose it over DCL, because we are not taking our son. Plus, we got a small suite for about half of what it will cost the 3 of us to do a the Fantasy Western Caribbean 7 night out of Port Canaveral.

 

[Princess KP]

We've sailed with DCL 8 times and once our children were off to university, we decided to try an adult cruise. We had sailed RCL 3 times before and while we had a good time, it certainly wasn't Disney. We felt everything was a chance to upsell so we decided to try another cruise line.
I looked at Princess and Celebrity and based on itinerary and promos that were being offered, we settled on Celebrity Summit.
Food was good (not a lot of seafood or vegetables. Pizza in the buffet was yummy!), shows were just ok (we ended up not going to a lot of them), service was good but we spent a lot of the time comparing it to Disney. You do get what you pay for though. Our 7 night Southern Caribbean cruise was about half the price of Disney and we had a drinks package and $300 OBC included. Don't get me wrong, we still had a good time, it is a much more relaxed vibe.

We have another Celebrity cruise (10 night Southern Caribbean) booked for this September and the decision was based on itinerary (going to the ABC islands, which we have never been to).

We still love Disney and are anxiously awaiting to book a Panama Canal 2018 cruise next week!

 

[MickeyD]

Thank you all, this is exactly the information we were looking for! Clten, that helped with my "classes" confusion! And we didn't realize that RCCL and Celebrity was the same company. MickeyD, we also would be put off by the casino and especially the smoke! Do they have designated smoking areas on board? PrincessShmoo, does the main dining room have different menus every night? And does the food at the buffet change from day to day as well, at least some things, like on DCL? The station at the back of Cabanas usually has something different every day.

I was excited to learn that Celebrity no longer allows smoking AT ALL in public areas! From their website: For your comfort and enjoyment, our ships are designated as non-smoking; however, we recognize that some of our guests smoke. Therefore, cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking is permitted in designated outdoor areas of the ship. Smoking is not permitted in any dining venue, casino, theater, lounge, hallway, elevator, or corridor. This policy includes smoking-like products such as electronic cigarettes. Smoking is not permitted inside any stateroom, nor on any stateroom veranda. If you are in violation of this policy, a cleaning fee of $250 USD will be applied to your SeaPass® account and you may be subject to further action pursuant to the "Consequences Section" of the Guest Conduct Policy. Cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco must be properly disposed of and never thrown overboard.
This is new since we sailed with them. Love it!!

 

[tink1970]

Thanks for posting...we are in the same boat (I know, bad pun) for next year, trying to decide between Celebrity or DCL next summer. It's a harder choice than I thought, especially since Celebrity's website isn't as familiar to me and I have a hard time finding some of the information I'd like to have.

 

[Chica1581]

I would recommend Celebrity if traveling without kids. It's definitely an adult vibe with great food (better than DCL) and good prices. I recommend the aqua class staterooms that include access to the spa (like rainforest room) and free access to the aqua specialty restaurant. But the MDR is really good and menu changes every night. The buffet changed nightly and the pizzas were available through 2-3am.

I got a great deal with celebrity that included an upgrade, free wifi, free gratuities, free premium drinks, and $300 OBB.

If you keep checking their site and see extras included at the same price you booked, they will honor and add to your account if you book through Celebrity. I told them Costco offered additional $300 OBB and they honored it so I had $600 OBB which paid for all of our excursions.

We really enjoyed their solarium adult pool and really enjoyed the ice bar with specialty drinks in the evening. We never went to the casino so we never dealt with smokers. The shows were so-so but good enough. Room service offered hot times like eggs and pancakes. Service was excellent.

 

[DVCTigger]

Is there a better time to book on these lines then another? I know with DCL, in order to get the best prices, you typically need to book right when the itinerary is released. We are obviously looking for the best prices, and wondering if we should wait or book when we find an itinerary that works best. We aren't really worried that a certain cruise will sell out, as we are still in the research phase.

 

[Chica1581]

I booked a late December cruise in September but the deals and prices got better in October. Either way, Celebrity honored the deals and upgraded my cabins when I called and told them the prices had changed.

I know RCCL offers a 60% off second guest and free third guest twice a year.

 

[DVCTigger]

I booked a late December cruise in September but the deals and prices got better in October. Either way, Celebrity honored the deals and upgraded my cabins when I called and told them the prices had changed.

I know RCCL offers a 60% off second guest and free third guest twice a year.

Good to know, thank you!

 

[cruisehopeful]

The only other line I've sailed on is Princess and I liked it a lot. I am the same age as you and also traveled with my husband, no kids. I found the food to be much better on Princess than on Disney. I didn't go to any of the specialty restaurants that cost extra. We had excellent service. If you drink, the drinks cost less on Princess. If you like fresh brewed coffee or espresso drinks, you can buy a coffee card on Princess that gives you unlimited brewed coffee and 15 esspresso drinks for around $35. If you aren't a coffee snob, you can drink the syrup made stuff for free anytime.

I am far from a Princess expert, but it seems like opening day pricing is the best with them. They have a lot of sales, but the sales I've seen in the past year have all ended up costing more than the original pricing. I was told that with Princess, you need to really do the math whenever a sale is offered to see if it will be better to cancel what you already have booked and to book the sale. One example is my cruise was offered at a sale price and yes, the price was $100/less per person. However, my original booking came with $150 OBC for each of us. so the net cost would have been more on sale.

 

[owensamo]

We are Platinum on DCL, and took our first Celebrity (X) cruise to Alaska last summer - and really enjoyed it! Celebrity has similar service and ship size/capacity to Disney, but at a better price, and with a lot more variety in itineraries. We're sailing them again this summer. Even our teenager enjoys Celebrity. It's a different sort of cruise for us - but given we're looking for specific itineraries and planning to maximize our port time, it's perfect as we don't feel like we have to run back to the ship for fear of missing out on activities (which we often do with Disney).

X offers both fixed and anytime dining options, but each ship also has more than one added fee dining location (signature restaurants). These are clearly marked in their Daily (Navigator), so you shouldn't have unexpected expenses. They do have free hand-dipped ice cream in the buffet, and for-fee gelato near Cafe Al Bacio (Cove Cafe - but with more/better pastries). They do offer packages for multiple signature meals. They also offer drink packages as soda isn't included (except in the dining room, I think) - both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. You can often get that included in your fair on a promo.

Celebrity's cabin categories are basically the same as Disney (what confuses me the most is the deck names vs. numbers - it's a little harder to figure out where cabins are in relation to the Promenade or Lido decks without knowing what numbers they are), and the classes within those categories are similar - higher price near the center of the ship. Room numbers don't always follow deck numbers, so that can be confusing as well. Our daughter slept on a pull-out chair (not a couch) on the Millenium, but it looks like she should have a couch on our Reflection cruise. If it's just the two of you, you can book in Aqua - those rooms all sleep 2 only, but have some added amenities, and a dedicated dining room (Blu) as well as access to the Persian Gardens, which has heated tile loungers and aromatherapy rooms.

X does have an adults-only area (the Solarium) with a pool and spas - though on some itineraries (Alaska), they do have family hours in the indoor pool. There's also a spa and gym on the ship. The premium coffee location (Cafe Al Bacio) is not in the adult-only area. The buffet is open pretty much all day (6am-2am), with some down time between meals - but there's something available at least, as well as tea and coffee pretty much whenever. Since the buffet is open for dinner, we typically end up there as we can eat what we want when we want. They do tend to have themed meals in the buffet on different days, as well as having standard fare (pasta, pizza) and cooked-to-order options (omelets/eggs in the morning, meats/fish in the afternoon/evening). There is a pool-side grill as well, but most of the pool deck food is easily accessible in the buffet.

Shows on Celebrity aren't quite in the same league - they do have comedians and such like Disney, but their stage shows aren't quite the same thing. They're enjoyable, but we never felt that we needed to see them (while we rarely miss DCL shows, unless we're on B2B cruises). In Alaska, they had someone on board who gave great talks on nature and science - more educational than trying to sell something. DCL does similar things with local port expert talks, so very similar there. X also offers line dancing classes, a lot of trivia, karaoke, some craft events, etc. We didn't do many of those, though we did enjoy watching some of them (especially trivia) from the Sky Lounge, which is right over the bridge with amazing views.

One big difference is shopping - X has a mini high-end mall in their ships, while DCL has a few shops. They do have a Celebrity shop on the X ships, but the merchandise is minimal. They focus more on their high-end stores selling watches, jewelry, and high-end fashion. They do offer daily specials in the center, with some interesting and often local-themed specials which can be a good deal.

One thing to look at on X is the current available promos. It's pretty easy to amass a fair amount of OBC on X with promos and deals. I think we had over $600 on our first cruise, and $500 on this cruise. Previously you had to wait until you were on board to use OBC - unlike DCL, where you can pre-book dining and excursions, and it doesn't get charged until the event on-ship, X requires pre-payment for anything booked before the cruise. However, they recently started allowing you to use your OBC to pre-book excursions and beverage/dining packages. It only applies for OBC from Celebrity itself, so if your TA offers some directly, you will only be able to use that on the ship - but it does make it easier to book some of those ship excursions you want to make sure you get if necessary!

While we love DCL (and do have another DCL trip booked), we really enjoyed X and will be sailing with them more in the future. It's a different type of vacation - which isn't a bad thing! We did find it more relaxing overall than our typical DCL cruises (which always feel like go-go-go, and you still miss something), but does miss that extra bit of magic that is Disney. However, the cruise staff was just as helpful and the service was great, and once you get over the fact that you don't enter into the atrium with your name announced (though they do hand you a glass of sparkling wine), there are no characters wandering around, and you can't find hidden Mickeys allover the ship, it's easy to settle in and feel welcome and comfortable.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are Platinum on DCL, and took our first Celebrity (X) cruise to Alaska last summer - and really enjoyed it! Celebrity has similar service and ship size/capacity to Disney, but at a better price, and with a lot more variety in itineraries.

If I were considering another line than DCL for Alaska, I would look for one that goes to Glacier Bay. Neither DCL nor Celebrity go to Glacier Bay.

 

[owensamo]

If I were considering another line than DCL for Alaska, I would look for one that goes to Glacier Bay. Neither DCL nor Celebrity go to Glacier Bay.

While I'm sure Glacier Bay is amazing - and if/when we do Alaska again, we will probably prioritize an itinerary that goes there - we were limited in weeks and the necessity of a 1-way cruise. Alaska in general is amazing, and I certainly wouldn't rule out any itinerary just because it doesn't include Glacier Bay.

 

[DVCTigger]

Wow, owensamo, what a great review/comparison!! Thank you for all of that info! We are looking for a relaxing cruise, what you described sounds like what we are looking for! We have researched enough to know that the prices and itineraries are better, and we are excited to try something different. We will always love our DCL cruises as well (we also have a placeholder in hand), but want to enjoy different ports and experiences.

 

[Bethany10]

looking for specific itineraries and planning to maximize our port time, it's perfect as we don't feel like we have to run back to the ship for fear of missing out on activities (which we often do with Disney)

this has become the "Disney magic" factor for me as I'm researching our cruise for next May. We're looking at a SHIP intensive itinerary vs a PORT one, and Disney has really edged out our other choices based on that. If we were looking for a longer, more port intensive trip, then I'd be more open to trying another line.