Disney Cruise VS Celebrity: Which One Wins?

Disney figure it out. It's ridiculous. I

love y'all, but it's ridiculous and

everybody thinks so. So, there you go.

Well, hello and welcome back to my

channel. I'm Jen. I travel. I do

lifestyle vlogs. I talk about all kinds

of things. And today, we're going to

talk about Disney Cruise Line versus

Celebrity Cruise Line. We're going to do

a little bit of a head-to-head. We're

going to go through several different

categories including food,

entertainment, overall vibe, cabin

quality, price. I'm going to tell you

where I think each cruise line excels

and where each one has a little bit of

work to do. And I'm really glad you're

here. So, this is a little bit unfair

because I have only been on one

celebrity cruise. It's why I was

hesitant to even make this video. But

you all who are regular Disney people, a

lot of you have been looking at

Celebrity kind of going, "Hm, I wonder

if I would like that line." So, this

video is really for you. Uh because it

is a very good cruise line. My friend

Christy basically was begging me to try

one. She was like, "Listen, I really,

really think you're going to like it.

They're about the same in terms of what

they offer. uh price is about the same.

Although I hear a lot of people telling

me that they think Disney is so much

more expensive than Celebrity. That is

not my experience. I will grant you I

tend to sail in off peak times, but my

Celebrity cruise for a three night and

my Disney cruise for a recent three

night were priced pretty much the same

and I was on the newer class of ship on

both cruise line. I don't see a huge

difference. I know Celebrity does have

sometimes some pretty big sales. Um, but

to me they're priced really similarly,

especially if you're someone that can be

a little bit flexible in your dates.

There are deals to be had with Disney

and there are deals to be had with

Celebrity. But if you compare apples to

apples, new ships to new ships, they're

priced very similarly. So, I want to get

that what I feel like is is a myth about

Celebrity that it's so much cheaper or

that Disney is so much more expensive.

No, they're priced very similarly. So, I

that's just my opinion. You may

disagree. Always welcome if it's done

politely. Okay. So, let's start with the

pre-booking process. Disney has a very

easy pre-booking process in my view.

Now, granted, I've taken over 15 Disney

cruises, so I know my way around. If I

were coming in, you know, it was my very

first cruise, I might not feel that way,

but I feel like they do a really good

job of making it really obvious when

your booking window happens, how you can

book things in advance, all the things.

Celebrity, on the other hand, drove me

crazy leading up to our trip. So many

add-ons, so many emails. Did we want to

add on the the beach club? Did we want

to add on the hire this? Did we want to

add on this? Oh, today flash sale. Do

you want to add this thing? You only got

24 hours. Oh, like email after email

after email drove me bonkers. So, for

pre-booking, the winner in what it's

like before you actually leave for your

cruise is Disney Cruise Line. Much

easier. Did not get bombarded with

upsell emails. Did not it it felt so

cheap to me, honestly, the way that

Celebrity treated us in the days leading

up to our cruise. And not only that, it

was very challenging to figure out what

you were even agreeing to pay for. So,

I'm out on all that noise. Celebrity,

y'all need to fix that. Very annoying.

Disney wins this category by a mile.

Next category, embarcation.

Bless Disney. Bless you. You've got to

fix your embarcation process. We got on

our celebrity cruise, and if you watch

the video, you saw my astonishment. the

way that it was orderly. We whisked

through security. Our mustard drill was

watching a video and checking in and

that was it. Within 10 minutes of being

on board, our vacation had started.

Compare that to Disney. That is one of

the only cruise lines that still does a

traditional muster drill. Even though

there's absolutely no reason for them to

do it, their terminals feel chaotic. The

boarding process can feel chaotic. There

are long lines. It's just not good. So,

for this cruiser,

no questions asked. No, I to me it's not

even a fair fight. It It is so obvious

who the winner is. For on boarding and

embarcation, the clear winner is

Celebrity Cruise Light. Y'all, they have

figured it out. They know how to move

people much more efficiently. You would

think Disney would be the leaders in

that based on the theme park history,

but evidently not. And the whole mustard

drill thing was so much better. The way

that we were able to leave our bags in

our rooms, so we weren't shleing all our

bags around at lunch and all the things.

We could get into our rooms immediately,

dump our bags, go to lunch, and the

vacation literally began within 10

minutes of getting on board the ship. No

notes, celebrity. You were impeccable.

You absolutely won this category.

Congratulations, Disney. Figure it out.

It's ridiculous. I love y'all, but it's

ridiculous. And everybody thinks so. So,

there you go. All right. Our next

category is food. Now, this is I it

pains me to say this,

and I'm not a big foodie, and even I

think this the food on Celebrity is

better than the food on Disney by kind

of a lot. There are better options.

There's more flexibility.

There's a more relaxed vibe because they

have more dining rooms, so people are

spread out. You have lots of smaller

venues. The food quality was better, the

service was better, the uh things that

they offered outside of the regular

dining rooms were better. The buffet was

better. Like I don't do the buffet at

all on Disney cuz gross. Uh but on

Celebrity, it didn't feel gross to me.

It felt lovely and and non-jermy and it

it was it was actually a quality

experience. Um, so aside from room

service, which I do have to give

Celebrity a bit of a tick down on that

because they do charge for their room

service, which I love me some room

service on Disney Cruise Line. And hear

me, I do like the food on Disney Cruise

Line, but it has gone downhill over the

years. And the winner in the food

category for me, don't give me hate in

the comments is Celebrity Cruise Line.

You guys are doing it right. And the

customer service we got, my friend

Christy uh has a very severe allergy and

they the way that they treated her, that

customer service was just above and

beyond anything I've ever seen on Disney

Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line does

some pretty good customer service. So,

in terms of the food, the quality of the

dining rooms, how quiet the dining rooms

were, the variety of choices, the food

buffet area, all of the things. I am

giving this category to Celebrity Cruise

Line. I'm sorry. Again, no hate, please.

No hate. Celebrity Cruise Line wins.

Okay, now let's move on to

entertainment. Okay, so if you are a

Disney fan, which I'm kind of assuming

you are if you're watching this video,

maybe you're not. Maybe you're a

celebrity person trying to decide if

Disney would be right for you. It's hard

to beat the Disney Entertainment. Disney

Entertainment is is such a high such a

high caliber Broadway style shows.

You've got of course Disney IP. So if

you're somebody who loves Disney music

like I do, I don't like Disney music. I

adore Disney music. I listen to Disney

music all day long. I listen to acoustic

Disney music and piano Disney music and

classical versions of Disney music. Love

it. Love it. Love it. So for me, the

entertainment on Disney Cruise Line,

this was a slam dunk. It's going to go

to Disney. Having said that, so the

winner is Disney. Yay Disney, you won

entertainment. Celebrity was really

good. They felt much more like Vegas

quality shows to me. The entertainers

were fabulous. I love that they had

things at a bunch of different venues,

including some smaller venues. The

quality of the dancers and the

vocalists, and I used to be a vocalist.

I was a singer for a really long time.

So very good. The imagination behind the

shows, um, in that regard, it felt a lot

like Virgin Voyages. If you've ever

sailed Virgin, that was the one bright

spot for me about Virgin Voyages was

their entertainment. very creative, very

imaginative, loved. I mean, no notes.

The the shows were all fabulous. Having

said that, how can you beat some of the

Disney entertainment? I mean, I'm

thinking of booking on the Treasure and

the Destiny, even though I don't like

those class of ships simply to see uh

the two shows that are on those ships

because I've heard that they're so

incredible. Uh it's Moana and um

Hercules. Disney wins. Having said that,

also good on Celebrity, you guys. It it

it really surprised me how good the

entertainment was. So, if you say a

celebrity and you're a normal Disney

person and you're like, "Oh, I'm just

going to skip the shows." Don't skip the

shows. They're really, really good. So,

well done, celebrity. Disney still wins.

Okay. Um, next category. Are you ready?

This is big. Cabin quality. Okay.

This one was tough. And I'm trying to be

fair because I'm trying to compare. You

know, I like all of the class. Well, I

like the dream class Disney ships best,

but I've also sailed on the Magic and

the Wonder and I've also sailed on the

Wish. I would say if you're looking at

like the Dream class ships or certainly

the Magic and the Wonder, Celebrity wins

on their newer ships for cabin quality.

It was a beautiful stateateroom. It was

a quiet stateateroom. It was very

wellappointed. The bathroom was

beautiful. Um, it was it was absolutely

lovely. It actually felt closer to what

you get on Viking, which is actually a

luxury line, um, than what you get on

Disney. Such good quality in the

stateaterooms. It's just designed

really, really well. I do understand

Disney's catering more towards children.

Although Celebrity also has children on

board, so that you know, not as many as

Disney caters to, but still cabin

quality. I am giving a slight edge to

Celebrity, even on the newer ships. I

love the Wish. I love, you know, the

older ships on Disney still have a

shower curtain. Ew, don't get me

started. Um the the wish the bathrooms

are really lovely but overall room

quality and kind of how I felt when I

walked in. I am giving this category

again this might surprise some of you to

celebrity cruise line. Really lovely.

Haven't sailed the older ships. So you

comment below what you think. Like if we

were to compare apples to apples like

the magic and the wonder maybe compared

to the celebrity older ships. What do

you think? But for the newer ships, I am

giving Celebrity the Room quality award.

Congratulations, Celebrity. I hope it

brings you much joy and happiness.

There's actually no award. Sorry. All

right, let's talk about ship spaces.

Oh, this one is tough, y'all. This one

is tough because I love me a beautiful

Disney ship. And Disney has done such a

good job with so many of their ships.

And I have been on some of those ships

so often that they feel like home to me.

But from a design perspective, design

only, take Disney or not Disney

completely out of it. Again, I am giving

the award for design to

Celebrity Cruise Line. Y'all, this ship

was bonkers. The fact that they had real

plants, not everywhere, but most

everywhere, the plants that you were

looking at were real, the art on board,

the quality of materials in the

different venues, everything from like

just like the furnishings being super

individual, the design felt so

intentional and a lot of the spaces were

so well curated and absolutely lovely.

And as someone who is like an armchair

interior designer, I I mean I just like

watching videos about it basically. I

was wowed by the Celebrity Ascent. It is

an absolutely beautiful ship. Now, I

will say um the adult areas, if you're

going to count that as ship spaces, so

maybe like do a subcategory.

I would say it depends. They I did not

love and and I should have done spa as a

separate category, but we'll do it here

in ship spaces. I did not love the spa

area. The rainforest room on all of the

Disney ships is my favorite place. It

feels very um exclusive and quiet and

lovely. It is adults only as it is on

Celebrity. U but I didn't love it on

Celebrity. I had trouble relaxing. It

felt a little cold. Um I didn't I I just

didn't love it. it. They didn't have any

music playing and I still to this day

don't know if that was just like a a

fluke on the day that I was in there,

but there should be music playing in a

spa area, right? Um, so for the spa

category, so for overall ship spaces,

I'm giving it to Celebrity Ascent. But

if I had started out with a a separate

category for the spa, I would have given

the spa award to Disney Cruise Line

because nothing beats the rainforest

room for me. I've also been in the spa

area on Viking, which we're going to

talk about that later because I have a

Viking cruise coming up, and that really

wins across like all categories. I I

can't even tell you. Viking Ocean, not

River. Viking Ocean. Their spa area is

ridiculous. Wait, Jen, this video isn't

about that. Get back on track. Um, so

for the spa area, I'm giving it to

Disney. For all other overall ship

spaces, I'm giving the award to

Celebrity Ascent. So good. So beautiful.

So welldesigned. Very, very well done.

All right, let's talk about the one that

might be the most controversial that I'm

going to talk about, especially for

celebrity fans that are watching this

video, and that is the overall vibe of

the ship. Disney cruises are very

friendly spaces. It is possibly because

there's a lot of families, although I

see so many adults only doing Disney

Cruise Line. It is possible because when

we get on board, we all have this sort

of shared love of Disney culture, Disney

music, Disney entertainment. It's

possible that it's things like, you

know, I generally tend to hang out with

people that are also Disney Vacation

Club members and there's kind of this,

you know, like the trivia and all the

things, but I did not feel like

Celebrity was nearly as friendly. I

sailed by myself a lot. I was with my

friend Christy on this trip. But Disney

is just friendlier and that could be by

design, right? Because celebrity maybe

people want to stay to theirelves more

and not really chat or whatever. But

Viking is also very chatty. Um people on

a Viking cruise. So I don't really know

why it felt that way. It could have been

because it was a three night. Again, I

am very open to you sharing a different

experience, but celebrity felt a little

the people felt a little cold to me.

People were not striking up

conversations and in the pool area.

Everyone just seemed to be sticking to

their own immediate party, which there's

nothing in the world wrong with that. To

be frank, Christy and I were kind of

sticking to ourselves, too. But the

times when I was alone on the ship where

I was like meeting Christy early or or

we went our own separate ways, I didn't

get the same warm and friendly vibe.

Interestingly, the only really great

conversation I had, and I generally do

have really good conversations on

cruises with people that I had not met

before, I don't like to call them

strangers, but you know, people I had

not met before, was with a couple in the

little cafe um outside the adult areas.

And guess what? They're DVC members and

Platinum Disney Cruisers. and we struck

up a great conversation and it was

lovely. Uh, but overall it did not have

the same friendly vibe for me that

Disney Cruise Line does. So, having said

that, what's really interesting is I

thought about which line would I

recommend for solo cruisers and that

could be kind of its own um, you know,

definitely could be like its own

category, right? In fact, let's make it

its own category. Which one won for solo

cruising? which is challenging for me to

say because I didn't actually do a solo

cruise. But I will tell you sitting here

right now, if I was going to book a solo

cruise and and the prices were the same

and the itineraries were the same, I

would 100% choose Disney over Celebrity.

Not to say that I couldn't have a lovely

time, but I think I would get lonely.

Celebrities seem to have a lot of larger

groups that were very connected and

fewer solo travelers. I always run into

a ton of either solo travelers on Disney

Cruise Line or people that are sailing

with their kids and their kids have gone

off somewhere and they never see them

the whole ship. So, it's kind of like

they're a solo traveler. And on

Celebrity, I just I could tell almost

immediately that it would be a very

solitary experience for me. Now, don't

get this picture of me that I'm like

chatting it up with everybody I see on a

cruise ship. I'm, believe it or not, a

kind of an introverted person, but I do

like to have like one-on-one

conversations, right? Just like a, you

know, sitting having a drink at a bar or

whatever. Just like an interesting like

where are you from? And I'm really

curious about people's lives and their

stories. And I have heard so many

amazing stories traveling all over the

world. So, I really do like engaging

people in that way. On Celebrity, that

did not feel like something I would feel

comfortable doing. I don't know what it

was. It just almost a little bit like

hoidy toy. Like people were like, "Don't

talk to me." Which on Disney Cruise

Line, you never feel that way. And it's

not about money because as we've already

discussed, they're very similarly

priced. But there was just something

about the clientele on Celebrity that

made people feel a little standoffish to

me, and it wasn't exactly my vibe. Now,

let's talk about some fears you might

have about Celebrity versus Disney. What

I hear from celebrity people who are

thinking of trying Disney is that

they're very worried that it's just

going to be screaming children 247. No

quiet spaces. Everything is going to be

chaotic. And whilst some things are

chaotic, the adult spaces on Disney

Cruise Line are lovely and the

entertainment is lovely. And you

actually don't run into huge crowds of

children as often as you think you will,

especially if you sail in the offse. Uh

you you just don't run into that. I have

never run into that. If you're someone

who can't stand to be around children

ever, maybe don't do either cruise line

because they both welcome children on

board. Although Disney does have a

better reputation, so they for their

kids clubs, although my friend Christie

was saying the kids clubs on Celebrity,

her son absolutely loves them. So maybe

that reputation isn't warranted. Um, but

yeah, I I I have never felt on a Disney

cruise that I was just surrounded by

screaming children all the time. It's

just not true. So, if you're a celebrity

person and you really enjoy celebrity

and you've been thinking of trying

Disney, I would try Disney and I would

see what you think and then maybe you

have a YouTube channel and you could

make a video about it. Now, for my

Disney folks, and this is who I'm going

to spend the majority of the rest of the

video talking about who are thinking of

trying celebrity, try see what you

think. Um, I think a three night like

what I did is a good way to kind of get

your feet wet. One of the reasons why I

did it is I'm kind of interviewing them

for an Alaskan cruise. And I can tell

you I would not hesitate to do an

Alaskan cruise with Celebrity. Uh

actually, one of my sons and his partner

want to do an Alaska cruise and we're

hoping to do that in the next couple of

years and I think Celebrity would be a

great choice for that party. Um neither

of them are as into Disney as I am and I

think they would be really happy with

Celebrity. Um for adults only, Celebrity

is fantastic. even with kids. Again,

check Christiey's content. I'll put the

link to her podcast down in the

description box because she's done

several videos about that. But y'all, it

is um it is a lovely Celebrity is a

lovely cruise line. You will have a

great time. You will love the food. You

will love the entertainment. You will

not be surrounded by drunk people all

the time. I know because Disney doesn't

have a drinks package. Several of you

have voiced to me that you get concerned

that it's just, you know, people it's

like spring break in Daytona 247. That

is not the vibe I got from Celebrity at

all. Now, did I see a few people that

were inebriated? Yes. Not nearly as many

as I saw on our one Virgin Voyages

cruise, by the way. It seemed like a

very much more subdued crowd. I never

felt like things were rowdy. Even in

the, you know, adult only venues in the

evenings, it wasn't a rowdy crowd. It

was a very fun crowd and we had a really

good time and I think if you like the

quality of Disney, you will really

really be happy if you sail Celebrity,

especially with that whole embarcation

mustard drill thing. Oh my god, Disney

get it together. Like, why are we still

doing that? Why is that still such a

miserable experience? Now that I know

that there's another way to do that, I I

I don't I don't know. It's going to make

me mad every time I get on a Disney

cruise. I'll get over it. I'll get over

it super super fast because I still love

me some Disney Cruise Line. Um, but also

I have found a cruise line that I think

I will absolutely sail again and I

really really loved it. Again, would I

sailed them solo? Probably not.

Although, if I was really burned out and

I just wanted some time alone, that

might be the better choice depending on

the deal you could get because Celebrity

does have some solo cabins on a few of

their ships. So, maybe consider that.

Um, it just didn't feel like the right

vibe for what I usually get out of a

solo cruise, which I love doing on

Disney so very, very much. I hope this

was helpful. Put your questions down in

the comments below. Subscribe if you

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patrons. Do you agree with my

assessments? Do you disagree with my

assessments? Those of you that are

experienced in either cruise line, chime

in in the comments respectfully and

understanding that it's your opinion.

Remember the scene in inside out two

when or is that an inside out one? I

guess inside out one. Facts and opinions

all over the ground getting confused.

They're not facts. It's your opinion.

But please feel free to share it. And I

I hope whatever you're doing, you're

finding joy. And I will see you in the

next video. Bye.