On the face of it, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises are two completely different lines, aimed at different segments of the cruise market and whilst that is certainly the case, there are also plenty of similarities as well.

To start with, the lines are both owned by the same company, Royal Caribbean Group with RCI been the company’s mainstream line and Celebrity been there premium offering.

They also both offer large fleets sailing across the globe, with a mix of new and old ships.

I have been lucky enough to sail on both Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, including out of the same terminal at the same port and sailing to similar ports.

That makes it easier for me to compare the 2 lines and that is just what I will do in this article.

If you are trying to decide between the two for your next cruise or if you have sailed with one and wondering whether the other is right for you, this could be the just the article you need.

Royal Caribbean vs Celebrity Cruises

The pre-cruise experience is very similar as they use the same app, as you would expect from two lines in the same company and that allows you to sort most things before you even board via either the website or the app.

Add-ons, packages, upgrades, speciality dining, booking in for shows and all of those sort of things can be dine with ease and in exactly the same manner but there was one big difference.

With Celebrity, the extra costs are all up front and you can see the price of drink packages etc either before you book or during the booking process whilst Royal Caribbean utilise a dreaded ‘dynamic’ pay model, so not only do you not know the costs involved, but it can soon change.

Winner: That for me, and many cruisers, is a huge turn off and so for this one, I give the point to Celebrity as at least they are upfront.

A lot of the check-in process is now done well in advance of arriving at the port, so again with these two-sharing infrastructure, there are lots of similarities.

You fill in your passport details, add your photos, set up your onboard account and all of that well on the app, or website, for both lines so by the time you arrive at the port, the check-in process is all about how well organised the line is.

They do need to rely on the port themselves to, but I have sailed out of the same terminal at Southampton for both lines and that makes it easy to compare.

Winner: If you are looking to sail with either line, the great news is that the process is simple and quick with both and have been the best out of all of the lines I have sailed on but I will give the point to RCI for this one as whilst there was a last minute change of terminal when I cruised with them, it took only around 10 minutes from parking up to walking onboard- a record for me.

So far, things have been very similar, but this is where the two lines really do separate and aim their offerings at different customers.

Celebrity has a more traditional style of entertainment based around theatre performances, guest performers, musicians and activities whilst Royal Caribbean really do look to push the boundaries of what can be done on a cruise ship.

I am a huge fan of both lines and love what both offer and whilst I say Celebrities is traditional, it is done in a modern way and uses lots of modern technologies and for me that is a great combination, but Royal Caribbean are just the leaders when it comes to entertainment at sea.

From West End/Broadway shows to Street Parties and from Ice Dancing shows to High Dive shows, if it’s a form of entertainment, the chances are the line will offer it.

Winner: Both these lines get a big thumbs up for their entertainment offering but for variety, scale and uniqueness, Royal Caribbean get the win.

This is another one where the lines are different as Royal Caribbean aim their experience at families whilst Celebrity aim more at couples or older cruises.

Both offer so much that there is plenty of cross over and depending on the people involved, some families may prefer Celebrity, and some older cruisers may prefer RCI- there really isn’t a bad option with these two.

It’s so difficult to rank one of their offerings over the other as I like both and it depends on the type of sailing I would be undertaking.

If I was sailing on a port intensive cruise, the more structure nature of life onboard a Celebrity ship often works better as you don’t need to plan your days as much as you know what is happening and when, in the main, but if I was on a cruise with lots of sea days, been on a attraction heavy ship such as those offered by RCI would likely be my first choice.

On a shorter cruise, I would also probably prefer the all-action nature of Royal Caribbean but on a longer cruise, it maybe the more relaxed nature of Celebrity is the best option.

It may seem like I am waffling a bit now and that’s because I am as I just don’t really know which I would place over the other.

Winner: I have had my best ever experience onboard a Celebrity Cruises ship, the Silhouette to be precise, so I will lean that way, but if you ask me tomorrow, I may give you a different answer.

This is another one where both do really well and both offer things that I like including grab and go places, cafes, large buffets and relaxed MDR’s with dine when you like options.

The quality on both is up there as well, especially for there level of offering with RCI been one the best mass market food offerings and Celebrity been the best premium offering.

I am a bit of a foodie, so this is quite an important aspect of cruising for me and whilst I enjoyed my meals on Royal Caribbean, for me Celebrity just has a better offering.

To start with, in the buffet, things are a bit repetitive on Royal Caribbean but something I love about Celebrity is that they often have local dishes based on the ports you have visited.

In the MDR, I really find the menus on Celebrity more to my taste and their Duck l’Orange is the best meal I have had in a Main Dining Room.

In terms of grab and go options, such as pool side grills, both do those well and both offers including cafes- one of my go to options.

Winner: So, in other words, you won’t go hungry on either line and there are lots of options to make sure that even the fussiest eaters will be fine but for me, this one goes to Celebrity as the quality is just that bit higher and the variety is much greater.

This one is one of the easiest for me as whilst both have huge fleets offering the chance to visit most parts of the world, Celebrity just offer more of the types of cruises that I like.

Royal Caribbean tend to offer cruises sailing in more ‘traditional’ areas such as the Med and the Caribbean and if you are wanting to sail onboard one of their new ‘megaships’ you are limited to the biggest ports in those regions.

I like to sail in more out of the way places and especially in polar regions and Celebrity simply have more itineraries offering that.

Winner: They also offer more repositioning routes, again my preferred option so for this one Celebrity pick up the point but this is solely based on my personnel preferences, so for you it may be the opposite.

When it comes to value, it gets a bit tricky to judge, especially with these two having such different offerings. When I did a review of both lines, I actually gave both a score of 8.5 out of 10 for the value they offer and that just highlights how close I believe it is for this one.

For Celebrity, things like Café Al Bacio are things that I really value as is the numerous seating areas where thanks to their ships not been as busy, you can easily grab a seat and relax.

I do like to all-action nature of Royal Caribbean as well though and get lots of value from all of the shows on their ships and all of the included entertainment options.

Winner: If you are sailing as a family, having so many different options on RCI means there is always something to do for everybody and it is that variety of options that just pushes this one in the favour for Royal Caribbean, but the gap is paper thin.

So, as you have probably gathered, it’s incredibly close between the two lines and I am a huge fan of both but as you have also seen, for the purposes of this list, we do have a winner.

Winner: Celebrity picked up wins in 4 categories, whilst Royal Caribbean picked up 3 wins, so Celebrity gets it.

That will likely not be too surprising for long term readers of the CruiseHols website or the watchers of the CruiseHols YouTube channel as Celebrity are my favourite line, which should highlight how well of I think of RCI.