They are saying the grass is at all times greener on the opposite aspect, and after twenty Royal Caribbean cruises, I booked my first Celeb cruise. I assumed I used to be prepared for a change, however my seven nights onboard solidified my desire for Royal Caribbean.
I’ve been principally “Loyal to Royal” ever since my first Royal Caribbean cruise three years in the past. Although I’ve sometimes ventured to different cruise traces, resembling Princess and MSC, I’ve at all times discovered myself returning to my cruising roots.
Royal Caribbean, in my view, has essentially the most progressive ships at sea. I’ve by no means as soon as had a nasty expertise onboard, even when cruising on the road’s oldest and smallest ships. With prime quality leisure, top-notch eating, and a various array of onboard thrills, I had little motive to look elsewhere for a cruise trip.
All through the previous yr, nonetheless, a number of of my fellow Royal Caribbean Weblog writers have tried Celeb Cruises for the primary time. Studying about their experiences, I used to be intrigued by the cruise line’s distinctive itineraries, adult-focused ships, and extra upscale ambiance.
So when planning a summer time cruise to Europe, I booked a 7-night Norwegian Fjords cruise on Celeb Silhouette. I figured it was time to expertise what Celeb was all about.
I boarded my first Celeb cruise feeling optimistic about my subsequent week onboard, however I rapidly realized that I most well-liked Royal Caribbean.
From the profitable loyalty standing perks to eating choices, right here’s why I’m going again to Royal Caribbean for my subsequent cruise.
Crown & Anchor Society presents extra helpful advantages in comparison with Captain’s Membership
Royal Caribbean and Celeb Cruises allow visitors to match their loyalty standing from one cruise line to the opposite, however the advantages aren’t equal. For my journey fashion, I discover Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society presents extra profitable advantages.
As a Diamond Plus member with Royal Caribbean, my standing was matched to Celeb’s Elite Plus standing. This meant I may get pleasure from entry to unique events, a continental breakfast in a specialty restaurant every morning, reductions on choose add-ons, and two complimentary baggage of laundry, amongst different advantages.
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I appreciated the advantages not provided by Royal Caribbean, together with a free day of entry to the ship’s thermal suite and a complimentary scoop of gelato on the gelateria. That being stated, I didn’t make use of all the advantages, particularly as a result of my journey companion didn’t have standing within the Captain’s Membership, so I didn’t care to go to non-public occasions alone.
I missed sure features of Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society whereas on Celeb, like grabbing night hors d’oeuvres within the Crown Lounge and utilizing my purchase one, get one free profit at specialty eating places.
Most of all, although, I missed my free Diamond drinks.
My favourite advantage of Royal Caribbean’s Crown & Anchor Society are the Diamond drink vouchers, which supply various complimentary drinks every day relying in your loyalty standing. As a Diamond Plus member, I obtain 5 drink vouchers a day.
Onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise, I can use these drink vouchers every time and wherever I would like with only a few restrictions. As well as, the vouchers can be utilized ashore at Good Day at CocoCay. I’m not an enormous drinker, however I like using the Diamond drink vouchers to pattern cocktails across the ship, whether or not or not it’s the Toasted Marshmallow Outdated Customary or Cucumber Martini.
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Celeb Cruises additionally offers a drink profit to these with Elite standing and better, however it pales compared to what Royal Caribbean presents.
You may order drinks from a Blissful Hour menu from 5-7PM every night. Whilst you can get pleasure from as many drinks as you would like throughout this time, the choice of drinks is extraordinarily restricted.
Neglect attempting the Martini Bar’s ingenious Bananas Foster cocktail or a refreshing piña colada on the pool deck. The blissful hour drinks have been much more fundamental, resembling a vodka soda or glass of wine.
I used to be nonetheless grateful to obtain complimentary drinks throughout my crusing, however I actually missed the pliability of the Crown & Anchor Society’s drink profit.
I assumed I would like an adult-focused cruise, however I missed Royal Caribbean’s onboard actions
As a 20-something with out youngsters, I sometimes discover Royal Caribbean’s family-friendly ambiance—notably on the cruise line’s latest ships—pointless for my journey fashion. Whereas I might have beloved that carousel and stylish teen membership as a child, these options don’t essentially attraction to me as an grownup.
Nonetheless, it’s fairly straightforward to “escape” the kid-focused actions on Royal Caribbean’s ships. Most of those facilities are positioned in just a few choose areas of the ship, and by venturing elsewhere, you will discover a quieter, adult-centered expertise onboard.
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Even so, the dearth of family-focused actions on Celeb Cruises caught my eye. Though the cruise line nonetheless has a youngsters membership and actions like household karaoke, there’s a noticeable lack of thrilling points of interest like water slides and zip traces on Celeb’s ships.
I assumed this might make the cruise extra fulfilling as an grownup traveler, since there can be (presumably) fewer screaming youngsters operating across the ship.
As an alternative, I discovered myself lacking Royal Caribbean’s distinctive points of interest throughout my Celeb cruise. Regardless of attending actions like watercolor class, trivia, and a homicide thriller sport present, I really missed my exercises on Royal Caribbean’s mountain climbing wall and afternoon rounds of mini golf.
It’s straightforward to imagine actions just like the FlowRider, indoor skydiving simulator, and bumper automobiles are meant for kids, however these actions are numerous enjoyable for adults, too.
Throughout my seven nights on Celeb Silhouette, I got here to the belief that I choose high-energy, energetic actions onboard a cruise ship as an alternative of simply sitting on a chair for a spherical of trivia.
It’s unlikely that Celeb will ever provide all these thrills sooner or later, so I’ll in all probability ebook my future cruises with Royal Caribbean as an alternative regardless of the upper variety of youngsters and households onboard.
It’s exhausting to beat the number of leisure on Royal Caribbean
After crusing on 5 separate cruise traces, Royal Caribbean’s leisure has been the crème de la crème.
Leisure is at all times fairly low on my checklist of causes to ebook a specific ship or cruise line. I at all times recognize the quantity of theater exhibits out there whereas cruising, but when I’m being trustworthy, I don’t at all times attend the exhibits. Most evenings I choose listening to music at a bar as an alternative or lounging on the out of doors decks to observe the sundown.
The exception to that is after I cruise with Royal Caribbean. Other than the oldest Imaginative and prescient and Radiance Class cruise ships, the entire cruise line’s vessels provide distinctive leisure venues, whether or not it’s the ice-skating exhibits, technology-focused performances at Two70, Broadway productions, or diving spectacles on the AquaTheater.
With so many distinctive venues, Royal Caribbean is extra the exception than the rule. Historically, cruise ships have at all times provided productions in a theater, and theater exhibits have been the one fashion of efficiency provided on Celeb Silhouette.
I attended the ship’s manufacturing of “On Broadway” whereas onboard, which featured reside music and choreography from a choice of Broadway exhibits, together with Hairspray and Les Misérables. I didn’t have any complaints with the present, however it, after all, couldn’t evaluate to the full-length Broadway productions out there on Royal Caribbean.
Each cruise traces fared equally properly when it got here to different leisure, resembling reside bands and comedians. But if I needed to decide a cruise line based mostly on leisure, I might select Royal Caribbean in a heartbeat.
Celeb provided upscale eating, however I choose Royal Caribbean’s meals choices
Practically each evaluation I examine Celeb raved in regards to the cruise line’s meals, however I truthfully choose the eating venues on Royal Caribbean. Given the optimistic evaluations, this was one of many greatest surprises of my trip.
Meals is so subjective that I used to be apprehensive to even embody a meals evaluation on this checklist, so my opinion must be taken with a grain of salt. Should you ask 5 cruisers to evaluation meals amongst an inventory of cruise traces, you’d probably see 5 drastically completely different rankings.
As an illustration, I discovered the meals on each of my MSC cruises to be glorious; the emphasis on high-quality Italian meals matched my palette completely. Others, nonetheless, rank MSC dead-last of their rankings on cruise ship meals—some even name it inedible!
All that stated, I assumed the meals on Celeb Silhouette was not as seasoned as I choose, and menu choices have been typically too elegant for my tastes.
As a traveler who loves spicy, worldwide flavors, I’m undecided I’m within the cruise line’s goal demographic for menu choices.
I loved the number of meals on the buffet, Oceanview Café, and there have been gadgets I’ve hardly ever seen in Royal Caribbean’s buffet, together with hummus, ceviche, and even lobster mac and cheese. Regardless of this, I felt that almost all dishes may have used extra taste.
More often than not, I caught to the stir-fry station so I may customise the dish to my liking with further spice and seasonings.
So far as the Most important Eating Room, I discovered myself lacking Royal Caribbean’s menu. I like how Royal Caribbean incorporates a theme into every night, whether or not Italian or French night time. At instances, I felt Celeb tried a bit too exhausting to make traditional dishes elevated.
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As an alternative of a traditional basil pesto present in Royal Caribbean’s Most important Eating Room, as an illustration, Celeb provided a extra enhanced model, made with walnut-arugula pesto, asparagus, tomato confit, and parmesan cheese.
Whereas fancier, the dish was fairly earthy in style, and I felt the traditional dish would have tasted higher, regardless of being extra easy.
Once more, meals is a subjective matter, and maybe my palette is just not as refined as different cruisers onboard. There have been loads of dishes I loved throughout the week, particularly the Indian curries, however I merely choose the meals choices and menus provided on Royal Caribbean.
I’d nonetheless ebook a cruise on Celeb, however principally for the itinerary
Although I most well-liked Royal Caribbean over Celeb, one motive I might ebook a Celeb cruise over the previous is due to the itinerary choices.
Celeb Cruises presents a wider vary of itineraries in comparison with Royal Caribbean—you will discover cruises to nations like Argentina, Peru, Samoa, and India, together with extra conventional itineraries. The road even presents cruises to Antarctica, which permit visitors to sail by the continent and revel in views from onboard, in addition to expedition cruises to the Galapagos.
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Royal Caribbean nonetheless presents intriguing itinerary choices, and I’ve sailed on the road in North America, Europe, and Australia. Nonetheless, as somebody who chooses cruises primarily for the vacation spot, Celeb’s choices are price looking.
If I have been selecting between an identical itinerary, I might probably decide Royal Caribbean over Celeb. If I needed to ebook that bucket-list cruise to Patagonia, although, I wouldn’t hesitate to ebook one other Celeb cruise.
Generally it takes trial and error to seek out the very best cruise line for you
Each cruiser has their very own journey fashion. Some choose the celebration ambiance of a Carnival cruise whereas others get pleasure from a luxurious expertise onboard a cruise line like Silversea. There’s no proper or unsuitable technique to cruise, and typically it takes just a few tries to seek out the cruise line that matches you greatest.
After taking so many Royal Caribbean cruises, I couldn’t assist however marvel if there was a greater cruise choice on the market. But after attempting 5 cruise traces up to now three years, I’ve come to understand the standard and consistency of Royal Caribbean’s product.
Whether or not it’s the morning mimosa with my Diamond drink voucher, afternoon trip on the zip line, or night stroll by means of Central Park, I like how various the Royal Caribbean cruise expertise will be.
In the long run, I’m blissful I attempted Celeb Cruises. I made fantastic reminiscences throughout my time in Norway, and I had nothing however nice experiences with the ship’s situation, service from crew members, and itinerary.
But in the end, I’m nonetheless loyal to Royal.
