Written by Kim & Alex
Many of our friends have asked what our favorite cruise line is. Honestly, there are things we like about each so thought we’d do a summary of our thoughts and experiences. We’ve been on 28 cruises – 25 on Royal Caribbean, 2 on Celebrity, 1 on Virgin. On Royal we sailed 8 on Oasis Class, 7 on Voyager Class, 6 on Quantum Class, 3 on Vision Class, and 1 on Freedom Class. Both Celebrity were on Silhouette. Our Virgin was Scarlet Lady. Clearly, we’ve had more exposure to RCCL so have seen the changes over the years. We are Diamond Plus loyalty status on RCCL which got us upgraded statuses on both Celebrity and Virgin for some extra perks. We also get status match with MGM from our RCCL status which gets us rooms and perks at Borgata and Vegas.
In this comparison we will primarily focus on our last 3 cruises.
Celebrity Silhouette – 10 day Southern Caribbean- launched 2011, refurbished 2020, 2,886 passengers , 1,500 crew (1.9:1 passenger to crew ratio)
Virgin Scarlet Lady – Key West/Bimini 4 day – launched 2020 – 2,770 passengers, 1,150 crew (2.4:1)
Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas – Bahamas/Coco Cay 4 day – launched 2007, refurbished 2011 & 2016 – 3,798 passengers, 1,360 crew (2.8:1)
We’ve organized our thoughts in categories and will rate each category from 1-10 with being best. Yes – this is what you get from an accountant and engineer 😜🤣
Embarkation / Disembarkation – All 3 were very good and relatively seamless. Virgin boarding is early afternoon (2 I think) where you get wristband upon arrival at checkin and proceed right to your cabin. Celebrity and Royal were both late morning checkin but for Celebrity you could go to your cabin and dropff your carryons immediately. For Royal cabins aren’t available till 1. Disembarkation has become pretty simple with face recognition at customs. We didn’t rate separate because we walked off with luggage on our 4 day cruises and checked bags on Celebrity which was simple. Ratings: Celebrity – 9, Royal – 8, Virgin – 10
Cabin – the cabin size, layout & bathroom was similar on all 3. The bed comfort on Liberty was horrible even with the egg crates which helped some. Both Virgin and Celebrity beds were comfortable. Virgins cabin was most technologically advanced with an interactive tv and tablet style remote that also opened and closed the curtains, allowed you to request ice or pillows and set different lighting moods like hangover, zen and get it on! Virgin also had a button by the door to set do not disturb or ask for housekeeping. The weird thing about Virgin is we never saw a room steward our entire 4 days. Someone tended to our room but they were like ninjas you never saw anyone. Virgin room access and account charging was done with a wristband while both Royal and Celebrity use a card. . Ratings: Celebrity – 7, Royal – 6, Virgin – 9
Passenger Demographic and Vibe – Royal is the most age diverse with lots of families (on our cruise lots of preschool kids), many people our age and lots of elderly with scooters and walkers. Many multigenerational family gatherings travel on Royal especially on short 4 day cruises. Virgin was quite the opposite. Adults only and a much younger and socially diverse crowd. Virgin has lots groups of bachelor and bachelorette parties, 40 and 50th birthdays – quite a party atmosphere. We were the old ones on Virgin who you could tell because we had no tattoos. We were on the younger side on Celebrity. There were only a few kids and/or gen Xers. We will be more careful in selecting shorter cruises & summertime with Royal to avoid being overrun with kids. Celebrity demographic fits us best even though it’s a bit quieter in the late evening. Ratings: Celebrity – 9, Royal – 5, Virgin – 7
Dining – the dining options vary across the lines. At Virgin, there is no main dining room there are different types of restaurants you make reservations in each night which are included in your base fare. There is also a buffet like venue that’s more like a food court called The Galley where different stations offer different choices (eggs, bagels, sushi in the am – burgers, salads, cooked entrees, burritos and sushi in the pm). The restaurants on Virgin were better than RCCL main dining room but not as good as specialty restaurants; however, the service in Virgin restaurants lacked some of the basics like timing of courses (e.g. starters before not with entree, drinks before starters and hot food. Royal main dining has declined significantly so we typically pay an up charge to visit specialty restaurants. On shorter RCCL cruises we often get the Ultimate dining package and never eat in the main dining room. Celebrity main dining room was very good with great service, hot food and efficient timing (no 3 hour dinners). The buffets at both Royal and Celebrity offer good variety but are very crowded and difficult to navigate. The Galley on Virgin is a much better casual dining offering. Ratings: Celebrity – 8, Royal – 5, Virgin – 7
Entertainment – Virgin entertainment staff and offerings are quite different to RCCL and Celebrity. They don’t officially have a cruise director or activity staff. They have performers and one lead called the hostess. They don’t do pool games or production shows more of the entertainment is 10-15 minute pop up shows, circus style acrobatics or music. Celebrity and RCCL are more traditional with a cruise director, pool games, production shows, headliners, etc. We thought the headliner and production singers and dancers were top notch on Celebrity but they don’t have the unique venues like Royal. The entertainment is more diverse on bigger RCCL ships with aqua shows, Broadway shows and ice shows but I don’t think the headliners (e.g. magicians, singers, etc) are as good as Celebrity. Casinos were similar (none payout enough 🤪). Virgin casino was a bit smaller but we dislike that they still allow smoking in the casino on Royal. There is no smoking in Celebrity or Virgin casinos. Ratings: Celebrity – 8, Royal – 8 (one point off for smoking in casino), Virgin – 6
And for our overall rating: Celebrity 41, Royal 32, Virgin 39
As you can see there are things we like about all 3. What we’ve learned is we need to be careful with size of ship and duration depending of what type of cruise we want. We really enjoyed Celebrity and likely will cruise them more in the future. We may also do Virgin again – it would be fun with some friends I think.
