We’re planning to do a Greece cruise in fall of 2024 and looking at a 9-day cruise with either Celebrity or Azamara - it will be a family trip with 4 adults and 4 kids in their mid-20’s. Anyone have experience with either of those cruise lines in that area? We are on the fence on what line to choose and would love any feedback to help us make a decision.
Editing to add: would also love any tips you have on Greece and what not to miss. Last time we were in Europe was pre-kids, so this trip is long overdue.
Lol. No idea about individual cruiselines but remember having a great meal at top of a cliff in Santorini (as part of a land tour). The cruise ship stops at the bottom of the cliff (LONG way down)–only way up for passengers is climbing up or a donkey ride. But those donkeys know better–they get half way up and refuse to go further. Hilarious to watch from above but not so funny down below. I know because a friend did a cruise to that exact spot.
I’ve cruised with Celebrity and can say with little doubt there will be more to engage that age group on Celebrity - we had Wii bowling tournaments, amazing brunches, a great gym & spa area, some arts and crafts stuff and a lot more to explore on the ship -
I don’t know about Azamara but had a wonderful experience on a Celebrity eastern Med cruise about 10 years ago. The majority of the passengers were mid-30s and up and amenities were geared to that demographic. We stayed on the spa deck (I think that is what it was called), which had a dedicated dining room with healthier options than the main dining rooms.
We did not participate in any of the Celebrity tours. Instead, we did our own exploring or private tours with groups of 6-8 that we connected with on Cruise Critic (great resource, btw). We are still friends with two of those couples and have visited in our respective homes (in GA, WA, Toronto).
Edit: Just noticed @gouf78 comment. Ha. We stopped in Santorini and rode the donkeys! Luckily they did not stop on us. Others did the hike and dodged the donkey poo. But if neither of those appeals (or someone has mobility issues), there is an easy gondola ride as well.
I remember looking at Azamara years ago. But we chose Variety (and were delighted). Our preference was defined for small, and Variety had mega yachts, not cruise ships.
I think you should look at what both offer and what everyone in your group wants (alone and as a group) and I suspect it will be quite clear. Both your options are good, just different.
At Santorini, my huband walked down to where the cruise ships docked. All the passengers rode the donkeys up but my husband hiked all the way back up again!! I took the trams.
I agree with the recommendation to check out the forums on CruiseCritic. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/ It’s very similar to College Confidential in that there are many long time knowledgeable posters. Also there are subforums for each cruise line and also for ports of call.
I’ve never been on Azamara and they have a good reputation, but be aware that their ships are older and smaller (by a lot) compared to the Celebrity ships. That can be either a plus or minus depending on what you want, but I tend to think that the young adults will much prefer Celebrity. But also look at what the other ports are on your itinerary choices, time in port, etc. Have fun!
I also recommend CruiseCritic (“the other CC”). It’s very helpful to read feedback about the exact ship/itinerary you are taking (or considering). For example, that’s how I first learned that there would be an opportunity to hire out for $25 midweek load load of laundry (or the cheaper option to use the guest laundry room.)
CruiseCritic also has a Roll Call section where you can discuss your trip with folk who will be on your exact trip/week. Sometimes one person will arrange a cheaper private shore excursion and look for others to join. (Caution on that method - ship will only wait for its own shore excursions to return before departing. Also I suppose small risk of being scammed.) On our carribean cruise somebody organized breakfast meetup the first day with the roll call gang.
Another reason for using Cruise Critic is that some cruise lines work with them to host a welcome event on board in the first couple of days of a cruise. I’ve attended/set them up with both Royal Caribbean and Holland America in years past. One was very elaborate with door prizes etc., others were more just a private space with coffee and munchies and such. The Roll Call is used to publicize and sign people up.
We did an 11-day cruise to Greece and Turkey on Azamara last summer. We thought Azamara was outstanding, with the understanding that these are small ships as the cruise industry goes. If you want a million options for nonstop entertainment onboard, it’s not the line for you. We cared about good food, great service, and lots of time to enjoy the port visits. There was a solid library and wonderful spots to sit and read, which gives you a good idea of our priorities. Most of the other passengers were 50+ and from Europe, Canada, and Australia, which we found more interesting than a heavily American crowd. We did go to several of the evening shows and thought the quality was high, just not elaborate productions, etc. Upgrading to a balcony room was totally worth it for us. Overall, a great experience.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. The itinerary of the two that we are comparing are exactly the same, except that Azamara does a drive-by (no stop) at one additional location.
I have been lurking on Cruise Critic, but most of the reviews don’t seem to be that current. I was leaning towards Celebrity (mainly because I thought the kids might enjoy the bigger boat with more entertainment and because I thought the passengers there might skew younger). However, many of the Cruise Critic reviews seem to think that the quality of what Celebrity offers has dropped dramatically post-Covid, including the quality of the food (which I do care a lot about!). The other thing is that the Celebrity cruise is on the Infinity, which is one of their older boats (>20 year old), and quite a number of complaints on the other CC about the condition of the boat.
Anyway, I was hoping to get feedback here from people like @Hanna (thank you!) who have recently cruised with one of those lines, and I appreciate all the CC people here because y’all are always so super helpful!
I cruised on the Celebrity Infinity in 2006! That’s acually the same year I joined the Cruise Critic forums, and I think that every year for the past 17 years posters have complained about falling standards. I also think that all the cruise lines have struggled with getting adequate staffing since the pandemic. FYI the Infinity was launched in 2000 so it’s the same age as the 4 ships in Azamara’s fleet. I’ve never sailed on Azamara though so I can’t compare. Most of our cruises have been on Princess but our next cruise is going to be on Viking Ocean.
Certainly cruising is not at all what it was pre-Covid days, and frankly was even slipping for a couple of years leading up to…people on CC were complaining about having to choose nightly turndown service, whether they wanted daily linen changes, etc. All the cruise lines were cutting corners right down to loyalty perks. Covid-days just added an additional stab to the cruise industry heart. Sad really as it’s one of my favorite ways to travel. I’ve had some amazing trips on cruise ships.
We were on the Celebrity Solstice. It was only a couple years old at the time and we thought it was nice. We enjoyed the eastern Med itinerary.
We aren’t big cruisers and the others we’ve done were mostly family-oriented cruises from Carnival to Disney. So the CruiseCritic site was a huge help for me with planning an “adult” trip. We knew we did not want to use the ship tours and be carted around with hundreds of people on busses. That just did not appeal to us as we wanted more flexibility. We got great advice on private tour companies from CC and were able to customize each tour to our small group’s preferences. This was all pre-covid obviously.
