Celebrity Cruises

Review by eFreeware

If you have a Celebrity cruise booked, or you are weighing one up, this app is built for you. It is the line's own companion for the whole arc of a trip: choosing a sailing, getting ready for it, using it while you are on board and sorting out the next one afterward. The developer, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., ships it free, with no ads, and it has a 4.6 average from more than 33,000 ratings.

What appeals to me is the scope. Rather than a single-purpose tool, it gathers booking, travel planning, loyalty status and onboard logistics into one place. You can book a cruise in a few taps, buy gift cards toward pre-cruise purchases and new bookings, and plan flights, ground transportation and lodging for the journey around the sailing.

It is free to download and use, with no in-app purchases. There is no ad support to work around, which matters for an app you may open repeatedly in the weeks before a trip and again at sea.

Booking and planning before you sail

The booking side is where most people will start. You can reserve a cruise from the app, and the fleet covers nearly 300 destinations across more than 70 countries on all seven continents, so the range on offer is broad. Gift cards can be bought and put toward pre-cruise purchases or a new booking, which is a tidy way to spread the cost of a trip.

Travel planning extends past the ship itself. The app lets you search and book flights, look into transportation and lodging options, and assemble the whole journey rather than just the cruise portion. For anyone flying in a day early or adding a few nights on land, that is a useful consolidation.

There is also a video library covering the brands, ships and destinations, plus material on the Captain's Club loyalty program. The developer describes one-for-one tier matching across its family of brands, and you can enroll with a tap or track your existing tier and benefits if you are already a member.

Shore days, dining and extras

Once a sailing is booked, the app becomes a planning tool for what happens on it. You can reserve shore excursions for each port, along with ship-based excursions and experiences the line treats as exclusive. Drinks packages can be bought or upgraded, and an internet package is available if you want to stay connected at sea.

You can book specialty dining and add spa treatments to your schedule. Gifts, VIP Passes and pre-cruise deals all sit in one section. If you are traveling with other people, you can link reservations with your travel party so plans can be made together rather than by group text.

The developer pitches the app as redefining vacation planning, which is marketing language rather than something I can measure. The list of things it covers is long for a cruise line's own app, and the pieces fit together logically: excursions, dining, spa and packages all feed into the same trip.

Check-in, the Daily Planner and getting around the ship

Check-in is one of the more consequential features. You can complete it ahead of time in the app, start the safety briefing and get your SetSail Pass before you reach the terminal, which is meant to save time on sailing day. Having that done in advance strikes me as the single most practical thing the app offers.

The Daily Planner collects the shows and programming on board and lets you build a personal calendar, with notifications when you have plans. Deck maps help you find your way around a ship you have not learned yet, and group or one-on-one chats let you coordinate with the people you are traveling with.

You can also track onboard expenses in the app, view, purchase and download photos on select ships, and look into booking a future cruise while on board. After the trip, loyalty status and perks remain visible, the video library stays available, and you can start planning the next sailing.

What the app asks of you

The app is meant to be used on your ship's Wi-Fi network once you are on board, and no internet package is required for that: it connects through the guest network.

Features vary from ship to ship, and the photo tools are limited to select ships. So the experience is not identical across the fleet, and what you can do in the app may depend on which vessel you are on.

The developer also asks you to turn on auto-updates so you keep pace with changes. The most recent release improved speed and usability and fixed bugs, and feedback goes to [email protected]. For a free app with no ads, that is a low-friction arrangement.

How I would use it

My advice would be to treat the app as a checklist in the weeks before sailing. Book the cruise, then use it to sort flights and any hotel nights, add excursions for the ports you care about, and reserve specialty dining and spa time before the popular slots go. Gift cards bought in advance can offset some of that spending.

Closer to departure, complete check-in, start the safety briefing and pull up the SetSail Pass so the terminal is quicker. Link reservations with anyone traveling with you early, so group plans and chats are set up before you are all on board.

On the ship, the Daily Planner and deck maps are the two things I would expect to open most, with expense tracking if you want to keep an eye on the bill. If you are already in the Captain's Club, checking your tier and benefits is a tap away, and the same screen handles enrollment if you are not.

A companion for booked Celebrity passengers

This is a well-scoped app for people with a Celebrity cruise booked or in mind. It handles booking, the travel around the sailing, excursions, dining, spa, drinks and internet packages, check-in, the onboard schedule, deck maps, chat and loyalty status, all without ads and without a download cost. The 4.6 average from over 33,000 ratings suggests it does those jobs acceptably for a lot of people.

The caveats are simple: features vary by ship, and photos are limited to select ships. If you are sailing with Celebrity, installing it ahead of time and working through check-in early is the sensible move.

What's new in version 1.81.0

With this release, we improved the app's speed and usability, and fixed bugs. Make sure you turn on auto-updates, so you can keep up with all the ways we improve the app.