Recommend a Cruise Line AFTER taking a Disney Cruise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did Disney when my kids were small. When they out grew the Princesses and Disney characters we switched to Royal. Much better price point and my kids loved all the higher adventure stuff like rock wall, water slides, ice skating rinks etc. They're now young teens and they like Celebrity the best. Celebrity is more higher end than Royal and a bit more subdued. Adults (parents and grandparents) also like Celebrity the best. We typically sail on the newer ships, both Royal and Celebrity have some smaller older boats that wouldn't be as good of a fit for us.

OP here. What kind of activities does Celebrity have for kiddos? Your kids are younger teens... would Celebrity skew too old for elementary kids? My kids don't care for characters and would enjoy the adventures on Royal but not of they're too chaotic or too long of a wait

Celebrity has a kids clubs too. My kids actually liked it better than Disney at one point because its more organized and structured with specific activities where Disney was more of a free for all. The kids club also had them moving around the boat - scavenger hunts, talent shows etc. We have always traveled during the holidays or summer time and found there were plenty of other kids in all age groups (but not as many as Disney or Royal). My young teens now typically meet other teens at the teen club the first night and then meet up during the week around the boat. Its less organized and they go get pizza, go to the silent disco, hang out at the coffee shop. I actually think its been easier for them to meet friends when there are less kids than when there are like 1,000s on the big Royal boats. During the day my teens like to lounge by the pool and they will go to a few activities with the adults in the family like bingo, trivia, shows, walking track, pickleball, outdoor movies etc. Grandparents like to eat sit down meals for all meals so they come to some (dinner is required but they come and go for lunch/breakfast). We tend to be very busy on port days so sea days are for relaxing.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, I’m watching a travel vlog by two CruiseTubers who tend to stick with Disney and Royal but they tried an older, smaller Celebrity ship (Summit)—and they concluded the good on Celebrity was dramatically better than Disney (noting the Celebrity MDR food was better than Disney specialty restaurants (using their most recent trip on Wish as the basis for comparison).

This tracks with my own experience, but I’ll note that food tends to taste better on smaller ships than mega ships (given the reality of cooking for crowds).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I’m watching a travel vlog by two CruiseTubers who tend to stick with Disney and Royal but they tried an older, smaller Celebrity ship (Summit)—and they concluded the good on Celebrity was dramatically better than Disney (noting the Celebrity MDR food was better than Disney specialty restaurants (using their most recent trip on Wish as the basis for comparison).

This tracks with my own experience, but I’ll note that food tends to taste better on smaller ships than mega ships (given the reality of cooking for crowds).

I cruised with Celebrity on Edge in Summer '24 and thought the food was TERRIBLE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I’m watching a travel vlog by two CruiseTubers who tend to stick with Disney and Royal but they tried an older, smaller Celebrity ship (Summit)—and they concluded the good on Celebrity was dramatically better than Disney (noting the Celebrity MDR food was better than Disney specialty restaurants (using their most recent trip on Wish as the basis for comparison).

This tracks with my own experience, but I’ll note that food tends to taste better on smaller ships than mega ships (given the reality of cooking for crowds).

I cruised with Celebrity on Edge in Summer '24 and thought the food was TERRIBLE.

Edge holds 2,900+ passengers. The CruiseTubers were on a smaller Celebrity ship that holds 2k.

Fwiw, I’ve spoken to crew members on various lines who have all essentially said they prefer working on smaller ships AND service is better on smaller ships. That makes sense to me.

I’ve also noticed that crew members tend to stay on smaller ships for multiple contracts (years even) while the bigger ships routinely need to onboard/train new staff.