The Good Life
with Celebrity Cruises
Relax, nurture yourself and enjoy some of the
best dining at sea with this chic mainstream cruise line.
Celebrity Cruises began in 1988 as a subsidiary of the Chandris Group, a shipping line from Greece. Celebrity’s famous “X”, branded on each of its cruise ships’ funnels, actually comes from the Greek alphabet. It signifies the Greek letter “chi”, the first letter of the Chandris family’s name.
Fast forward to 1997 and it has become part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., currently the second largest cruise company in the world, which incidentally also owns Royal Caribbean International, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France.
What makes it unique
Apart from its beautiful ships, Celebrity also focuses on a fantastic dining experience and superior service given to all its guests. It also emphasizes on health and wellness in general.
Its ships’ décor are known to be more chic and sophisticated, showcasing quality modern and abstract art fit to be included in galleries.
The atmosphere might tend to be quieter than some of the mainstream lines, but for those who want a calm and serene atmosphere then this cruise line can be a good choice.
For service, it consistently earns top rankings from enthusiastic cruisers who sing its praises. One of its secret ingredients is its crew members who are highly trained in giving a consistently high level of service to all their cruise guests.
In 2010, CruiseCritic gave Celebrity’s Solstice Class ships two awards for Best for Healthy Cruising and Best for Dining.
Recently, readers of Condé Nast Traveler, the premium travel magazine known to scour the planet for the best and most luxurious in travel, voted Celebrity cruise lines #1 among the large-ship lines in its 2011 Readers Choice Awards.
Photo credit:
Avjoska
12 ships in its fleet
Century Class: Celebrity Century
Millennium Class: Celebrity Millennium, Infinity, Summit, Constellation
Solstice Class: Solstice, Equinox, Eclipse, Silhouette, Reflection (Fall 2012)
Celebrity Xpedition – small intimate ships that sail to the Galapagos Islands.
Celebrity’s Millennium Class ships will be renovated one by one and modeled more like its newer Soltice class ships. The company even created a verb for it – “Solticizing”.
Where it goes
Celebrity cruise ships have itineraries that travel to Alaska, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, Canada/New England, Bermuda, Bahamas, the Caribbean, Panama Canal, South America, the Galapagos, Europe, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, as well as cruises across the Atlantic and the Pacific.
From Fort Lauderdale, Celebrity cruise line's itineraries will mostly take you to the different parts of the Caribbean but also to the Panama Canal, South America and even a few that crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
Good for families
Many of Celebrity’s services and activities are more geared towards middle-aged adults, but great care has also been given for the kids programs.
These programs group kids close in age to cater to their ever-changing interests.
• Toddler Time is for infants and children under 3 years old.
• Shipmates are for a slightly older group for 3-5 year olds
• Cadets is targeted for those ages 6-8 years old
• Ensigns are for school-aged children 9-11 years old
• Junior Teens entertain young adolescents 12-14 years old
• Senior Teens groups kids 15-17 years old
Celebrity even has a program that promotes health and wellness for young passengers, a very important message to pass on especially now that they’re still young.
Nerdel from the planet Zerdel teaches young children through stories and play the importance of eating well and taking care of their bodies.
Moms and dads who have spent some of their relaxation time in the spas rejuvenating will be happy to know that their kids are also learning about habits for healthy living – lessons that they will hopefully remember and use later on.
The above just highlights some of the services for kids in a Celebrity cruise. There are also special events, games and entertainment specifically made for kids cruising with their families.
In general, there will be a lot more families with children traveling on cruises during school breaks and summer and winter vacations. Choosing a Celebrity cruise itinerary during these times will ensure that your kids will get to meet others around the same age as they and have a better opportunities of having fun!
Get more information
The official company websites below will give you a lot more information about this celebrated cruise line:
Celebrity Cruises Homepage
– its main website providing company information as well as travel information and itineraries.
Celebrity Cruise Channel
– To get a visual for what the cruise line offers and a general idea of the atmosphere in its cruises, this website posts short and timely videos of all its ships, services and other aspects of its cruises.
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Photo credit: Celebrity Cruise ship courtesy of Avjoska under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
