I love Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, so I had high hopes for this "luxury" line. It was fine, but definitely no better than these other cruiselines. Don't spend more money thinking Celebrity is something special.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We love to show up 2 hrs before sail away. We waltz right onboard with our own bags and the room is already ready. The buffet is clearing out and we have a light meal with no trouble finding a table.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The buffet was 4/5 stars except the desserts were awful. The main dining rooms was not good at all, but a few desserts were good.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Not much to do except trivia.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The shows were good and the comedians were great.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Servers forgot things constantly. Gone are the days where they remember your preferences from the day before. Room steward was average.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Everything was in great shape except our balcony furniture looked 20 years old! The finish peeled right off. We had to use a beach towel on the seats because the metal bar was painful.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Sometimes we could smell cigarette smoke from deck 5 smoking area below our balcony. The cabin was well laid out, but had less storage than other cruiselines with a different layout of the closet. The room was very central to the forward elevators and we used the stairs for the buffet.
Ship tip
Avoid forward balcony cabins on the port side due to smokers.
Beautiful, but not much to do. You can sit on the tiny beach in town, but the water is too cold for swimming. We did a bus tour of Avalon with Celebrity, but it was not worth the money. It took less than an hour and you cannot get out. It's a converted school bus, so the view is poor. I recommend the walk-up golf cart rentals 2 hrs for $60. They're a prescribed route and you see so much more than the bus.
Gorgeous, but not much to do. Try renting bikes or look up a free walking tour. The Mission is not worth seeing. Ocean water is too cold for swimming. Tendering can take awhile, so wait a couple hours before lining up.
Best port ever! The pier is right downtown and there are two nautical museums right there, also Seaport Village for shops and the ferry to Coronado Island was wonderful. Be sure to watch the sail in and sailaway. So, so beautiful!
Love Celebrity.. beautiful cruise line, different from Royal with all the slides for the kids.
We just got off the Celebrity Beyond and it was nice and quiet. Last September RC Odyssey.. lovely ship.. but crowded in the ports with so many more people.
The Eclipse is old and hasn't been refurbished. You should try one of the newer Edge class ships before crossing Celebrity off your list.
BTW Celebrity is not a "Luxury" cruiseline. It's considered "premium".
Thanks for the review and advice. I agree that Celebrity isn’t much different than the other major lines. Certainly not a luxury line (I’ve never been on one but I would know one if I see one) I thought the deserts were decent on the Celebrity ships I’ve been on though. Royal is the only line with deserts I wouldn’t finish. I just cruise on whatever line has the best price and itinerary.
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