*** November 2023 Update: According to some intel I received from The Getaway Guys, the relationship between Celebrity and Peloton is ending and the bikes will be removed from all ships. No word on exactly when that is happening (but please share to the comments if you’re on a ship where the bikes have been removed).
Allow me to apologize to my regular readers who have to suffer through another post about exercising on vacation when all they really want are cruise ship menus, food pics, and maybe ship and excursion reviews if I can practice the restraint necessary to keep them from becoming the length of a Dicken’s novel. Sorry crew, but cruise lines are more focused than ever on providing health and wellness experiences onboard their ships. And as someone who cares about her health, but also cruises a lot and consumes more calories in a day on a cruise than Michael Phelps did training for the 2008 olympics (12,000? Whoop-de-do, I pound that at breakfast alone!), I have to maintain a somewhat strict exercise routine on both land and at sea.
A few months ago I reviewed the new Xponential fitness classes being offered on Princess and today I’m going to cover a partnership between Celebrity and Peloton that gives cruisers complimentary access to Peloton bikes onboard most Celebrity ships.
As it happens, I’ve been using Peloton bikes ever since they were added to my apartment gym a few years ago. But how I use them is a bit unconventional (probably bordering on sacrilegious for some of Peloton’s many rabid fans). Here’s my deal: Three times a week, I load up an hour’s worth of cycle classes that include “upper body” sections and then prop my iPad in front of the screen where I’ll stream Netflix shows while totally ignoring the instructors (many of whom now enjoy a cult following) until an arm section comes on. Then I’ll grab my weights, turn up the volume on my bike and cuss my way through bicep curls and tricep extensions and shoulder presses and the like until I’m instructed to put down my weights (thank you, Jesus). Then I go back to peddling at the pace of a timid toddler on training wheels as I return to whatever series I’m binging. I’m not even on the leader board. Shrug. And if you’re wondering who my favorite instructor is, I couldn’t name a single one and hate them all equally. #sorrynotsorry
Now normally, I have to disrupt this usual (or make that unusual) routine while cruising. But not in Celebrity!
Here’s what my mornings looked like on my last Celebrity cruise onboard the Solstice:
Anyway, here’s everything you need to know about Peloton bikes on Celebrity ships…
Peloton bikes are available on the following Celebrity ships: Apex, Beyond, Constellation, Eclipse, Edge, Equinox, Infinity, Millennium, Reflection, Silhouette, Solstice, and Summit. Peloton bikes are not available on the Flora, Xpedition, and Xploration.
In most cases (I’ll talk about an exception to this later) Peloton bikes must be reserved once onboard the ship (you cannot make an online reservation prior to boarding). Reservations are made at the spa desk. You can make multiple reservations for the duration of your cruise at the same time. Just let spa staff know which dates and times you want and the duration (if you want a full hour, be sure to specify that or the reservation may default to 30 minutes). Be sure to keep a record of what you reserved, so you don’t forget. You should make your reservations soon after boarding, as popular time slots (especially in the morning) fill up very fast. If you don’t have a reservation and you try to use the bikes anyway, there’s a good chance you’ll get kicked off by a member of the spa staff (which can be embarrassing and create undue hassle for busy staff and other riders).
The Peloton reservation system isn’t perfect (I’ll speak to some of the challenges I witnessed later and some ideas to improve it), but it works okay if people follow it.
There is no cost to use a Peloton bike on your Celebrity cruise!
No. You can open a free account on your bike’s screen prior to your first ride. It’s an easy process that takes about 5 minutes. Once you have an account, you can log into it on any Peloton bike.
The two most common types of “cleats” used to attach special cycle shoes directly to pedals are SPD cleats and Delta cleats. The easiest way to know which type of cleat you have is by looking at the number of bolts that attach the cleat to your cycle shoes: SPD cleats have two bolts and Delta cleats have three bolts.
While Peloton-branded cycle shoes feature Delta cleats and if you use a Peloton bike at home, you likely have pedals that are compatible with Delta cleats, most of the Peloton bikes on Celebrity have pedals compatible with SPD cleats (because they are more common). On my most recent Celebrity cruise onboard the Solstice, ALL pedals were SPD compatible.
Yes! The Peloton bikes on Celebrity are equipped with dual-sided pedals, meaning there’s a clipless version on one side and a clipped version on the other. The clipless side features “cages” you can slip your feet into and tighten to secure any kind of regular workout shoe.
Yes! Two pound weights will be provided on each bike.
Here’s how my most recent Celebrity cruise onboard the Solstice went with regard to the Peloton bikes:
I headed directly up to the spa after boarding and asked for the earliest reservation they had each day. Since the spa didn’t open until 8am, I booked an 8am reservation for all 7 days of my cruise. Note that the gym was open 24 hours a day, but Peloton reservations could only be made for hours when the spa was open (since spa staff members are responsible for managing the bikes). Spa hours on the Solstice were 8am-10pm. I asked if I needed to check in with anyone before jumping on a bike and was told no, just arrive at the reservation time, remove the cloth cover on the screen and set it aside, and ride. Here’s what the cloth screen cover looked like:
Despite showing up a few minutes before 8am on the first morning, there were already two people on bikes (there were four bikes total available on the Solstice). I proceeded to hop on a vacant bike, did my usual setup with my clip fan and iPad, and started a class. It didn’t take long for some weaknesses in the system to emerge. The two people already on bikes did not have reservations and one of the other bikes wasn’t working properly and needed a small repair. When others with reservations arrived at 8am, there weren’t bikes available for them. Spa staff approached everyone already on a bike and asked if they had a reservation and for their name and cabin number. The two people without a reservation were asked to leave. The person who showed up last for the 8am reservation slot wasn’t able to use a bike, because only 3 bikes were working properly.
Another issue occurred at 8:30am. Unbeknownst to anyone who made an 8am reservation, others were allowed to make 8:30am reservations. That meant that before those of us who had reserved for 8am were finished (with even a 30 minute ride since several had to start late due to their bikes being taken), others were showing up with reservations for our bikes.
This same scenario played out on day two with broken bikes and people jumping on bikes just prior to 8am without a reservation and messing up the whole flow. At this point I was thinking, “this must happen on EVERY cruise” and “there has to be a better system.” In my mind it would be easier to number the bikes and stick a sign-up sheet on the wall in front of each bike (or somewhere obvious, like on the table where one signs up for the other classes) and have people sign up for a specific bike at a specific time. This would allow “walk-ins” to see when each bike is reserved, discouraging them from using someone else’s time.
After struggling with the reservation system for a few days, I realized that prior to the first reservation time in the morning, the bikes can be used on a first come/first serve basis as long as you’re OFF THE BIKE a few minutes before the first reservation time at 8am. So I cancelled all my reservations and used a bike at 6am each morning for the duration of my sailing with no problems.
-Reserve your preferred time slots as soon as possible after boarding.
-If you want to ride for longer than 30 minutes, be sure to specify that when making your reservation.
-If you prefer to ride early in the morning before the spa opens, you may do so without a reservation as long as you’re off the bike a bit before the first available reservation (give yourself a few extra minutes to clean it).
-There are screen covers on each bike instructing riders to “make a reservation with the spa receptionist.” You can remove the cover when you’re ready to ride, but be sure to put it back on when you’re finished. Otherwise people won’t know they need to reserve the bikes and it will create problems for those with reservations.
-If you show up for your reservation time and there isn’t a bike available, visit the spa desk – they will sort it out for you.
-Show up for your reservation a few minutes early. If there’s a broken bike, you won’t get stuck with it.
-Take good care of the bikes. Clean them after each use and immediately report any issues to spa or gym staff so they can be rectified as quickly as possible.
-If you’re booked in a suite, you can actually request a Peloton bike be delivered right to your cabin for your private use throughout your whole cruise!
Cycling is my least hated form of exercise, but most cruise ships require signing up for an expensive class (possibly offered at an inconvenient or impossible time) in order to use the spin bikes (other recumbent bikes are NOT the same). Kudos to Celebrity for providing Peloton bikes for those of us who like to watch Netflix while enjoying a leisurely ride between torturous arm exercises as a weak mitigation effort because we need to sample every dessert onboard so none of them feel left out. And with that…
Class Dismissed!
Homework (10 points): Do you crazy enough to exercise on a cruise? If so, share your workout of choice to the comments? If that question doesn’t apply to you, feel free to share your favorite dessert instead (high five!).
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