Celebrity vs Princess dining

Have not been on a cruise in years and are now ready to get back to it! We've always cruised Princess, but are open to other lines. Celebrity caught our eye, and I'm wondering about the dining. While we enjoy formal-ish dining, we also enjoy anytime buffet, or pool area burgers, pizza, salads, etc.... Does Celebrity have those options as well as their dining room options? Princess has a fairly large 24hr buffet, pool side food options, as well as upscale dining room (additional cost)....what are the Celebrity choices? Appreciate the feedback!

We’ve sailed on both Princess and Celebrity and they are very similar in terms of offerings (pool side, pizza, alternate .......) and availability. However we found a few notable differences. I will include the ship name as things may be different on other ships

1. Eclipse had an Aqua Spa Cafe in the adult only pool area. Some lighter fare for breakfast and lunch that we really enjoyed. But very limited hours 7am to 10 am and noon to 2:30 pm on our cruise.

2. The Grand Princess has an International Cafe with soups, salads and pastries specialty coffees & teas that we really love. It is open 24 hours and I really, really love that as I am an early riser and want good coffee at 6 am.

3. The Eclipse had Cafe al Bacio for specialty coffees and pastry only and they did not open until 7 am! -my first cup really needs to be at 6 am. They closed at 1am. I did not like that at all.

I won’t compare the quality of the regular free coffee, let’s just say I don’t drink it on any ship (I have tried it on all). My like and dislike is based solely on the availability of specialty coffee at 6 am.

4. Neither Princess nor Celebrity had 24 buffets on the cruises I have taken. The Eclipse stayed open later though, 12:30 am (but pickings were really slim the two times we went around midnight) Island, Grand, Ruby & Emerald stayed open to 11 pm and occasionally until 11:30 pm. I’ve never gone to buffet at night on Princess so can’t speak to the number of late night offerings.

5. On the Eclipse we had an Aqua class cabin so we used Blu which is a separate dining room with its own galley and menus. It is anytime dining for Aqua class. We would get there by 6 pm and be seated right away with the same fantastic waiter for dinner. Breakfast was never crowed and again had our same waiter. It was quite nice so we did not pay extra for the alternative dining venues.

6. On Princess ships we usually sail in full suites so we have Club Class dining. It is in a portion of the MDR and uses the same menu but there was an additional item available. It is anytime as well and no matter what time we went we were always sat immediately. In Blu if we got down at 6:45 or later we sometimes had to wait 5 or 10 minutes. We always had the same great waiter in CC as well.

7. On Princess ships we have eaten in both Sabatini’s and Crown Grill (for an extra fee). We had varying experiences so we now don’t go unless it’s a freebie.

8. Princess does a really fun Pub Lunch on some sea days. It’s free and in the Wheelhouse Bar.

9 Princess also has a Crab Shack on some evenings for an additional charge.

I’m probably forgetting a bunch of stuff.

I’m so glad you didn’t ask about the quality of food. Food is subjective and quality will vary from cruise to cruise....sometimes even meal to meal. I really hope no one hijacks your thread with that argument.

I hope have the best time ever on your cruise.

I have sailed Celebrity many times and Princess, recently twice. I have been satisfied with the food on both lines. I think Princess does seafood better and Celebrity excels with beef and lamb (I am comparing now the MDR offerings, not specialty dining).

I think the buffets are better (more choices) on Celebrity - both lunch and dinner. I really enjoy eating in the dining room but the buffets in the evenings on Celebrity has many many choices - stir fry, fresh grilled meat, ethnic options.

Anytime / select dining on both lines can be a bit of a scrum - well at least on Silhouette and Ruby. Both lines offer every day favorites - on Celebrity there is French onion soup and escargot - YUM!

We did not try speciality restaurants on Princess. The pub lunch was packed. We really like lawn club grill and Quisine on Celelbrity - in the past we have been able to get on board discounts.

Do not often use the pool side grills as I like the choices in the buffet. Celebrity has their pizza in the buffet area - it is not as tasty as Princess but I'm usually not eating pizza or burgers when I am on a cruise ship. My husband really missed the Celebrity ice cream offerings when we were on Princess - only "free" ice cream was soft serve. Celebrity has very good ice cream near the buffet and gelato (for a price) near the speciality coffee area on deck 5?

Enjoy your cruise!

And, Celebrity's waffles are MUCH better! :cool:

We really enjoyed the food on our Celebrity Infinity cruise in September 2017. We did not feel the need to do specialty dining, as the MDR was very good. Even had breakfast a few days there as well. We did not eat at the buffet much for lunches as we had a port intensive itinerary, but the offerings were very plentiful, and breakfasts cooked to order were awesome! The burgers/hot dogs at the pool grill were good. Some people complain that they don't get a "fresh" burger, but they were quite tasty nonetheless.

I have not sailed on Princess, but you will not go wrong with Celebrity.:D

We have been on both Princess and Celebrity. They are very similar, but some notable differences. Our Celebrity experiences have been limited to the Mercury, Summit and Constellation. We were not in a suite, so we did not dine in luminae or any of the speciality restaurants.

Notes from the MDR:

Starting with the bread - we prefer Celebrity. The rolls on Princess tend to be hard shelled - like french or sourdough bread. They serve a butter margarine mix. Celebrity has better rolls and a selection of three different spreads. The appetizers, salads and soups were a toss up. All very well done. Main courses and desserts were also very comparable. Don't forget to check out the kids menu. Some of the best desserts are hidden there.

Grill:

Both cruise lines have grills that serve hamburgers, hot dogs and fries. pretty comparable there also.

Pizza:

Princess frequently has a dedicated pizza location. However, Celebrity has fresh pizza in the buffet. It was nicer many years ago when Celebrity had made to order personal pizzas in the buffet.

Ice Cream:

Princess has soft serve and milk shakes. Celebrity is a clear winner here. Made fresh daily - ice cream, sorbet and soft serve.

Buffet:

Varies from ship to ship. Princess Royal class ships have wonderful buffets. Both lines buffets are excellent.

Celebrity also has the aqua spa We only ate there once during the previous cruise.

Coffee Bar:

Both lines offer speciality coffee bars.

I've said both recently.

Others have done a good summary of the differences, and I agree that they are more similar than different.

One big difference is that while both buffets close late, Princess has on most ships the IC which is open 24/7 and has food available (mostly snack type stuff very late at night, but food). After the Celebrity buffet closes you can still get room service, but there is a charge (it's around 5-7 dollars or so) after 11 pm.

So if you're wandering around at 2:30 am and get hungry, on Princess you go to the IC for included food. On Celebrity you are SOL unless you want to pay for room service.

We sail both lines and do find them similar. Both have a lot of food options, good buffets for all 3 meals, a grill for burgers and fries, pizza and salads. I think Princess has the best pizza at sea, but others may disagree. One nice touch about the Celebrity dinner buffet is that they will grill a steak or fish to order for you (I haven't actually tried it but seen it mentioned often on these boards.) You can also order meals delivered to your cabin from the MDR during regular dining hours, if that appeals to you. I miss the International Cafe when I'm on Celebrity, but other than that, you can't go wrong with either cruise line.

Princess coffee is generally swill. They use big containers of coffee syrup and mix it with hot water - at least at the buffet. It's right up there with the fake scrambled eggs the cruise lines use.

We switch to tea when we cruise with Princess.

Princess coffee is generally swill. They use big containers of coffee syrup and mix it with hot water - at least at the buffet. It's right up there with the fake scrambled eggs the cruise lines use.

 

We switch to tea when we cruise with Princess.

Celebrity coffee used to be even worse than Princess, but they upgraded to a new system that uses high-quality ground coffee and now it's very good. Last trip on Princess I had to give in and buy a coffee card :mad:

Thank you everyone....lots a great information here. It's been so long since we've cruised, that I feel like a novice again!

Celebrity coffee used to be even worse than Princess, but they upgraded to a new system that uses high-quality ground coffee and now it's very good. Last trip on Princess I had to give in and buy a coffee card :mad:

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Being a X regular, and considering Princess for the first time. I have to ask...what is this coffee card? How is it different than just paying with your Seapass?

Princess for a long time has offered a premium coffee card aka "New Grounds Coffee Card." For a fee of $35.65 you get "unlimited brewed coffee" [i.e. decent coffee, not great] on your cruise – plus 15 cups of non-alcoholic specialty coffee (espresso, macchiato, cappuccino, iced coffee, latte, coffee blends) which never expire. I saved the one from my last [and I do mean last] Princess cruise to give to a friend who is sailing Princess to Alaska [the one itinerary I recommend Princess for] this summer. She'll get 3 espressos as my gift LOL

Being a X regular, and considering Princess for the first time. I have to ask...what is this coffee card? How is it different than just paying with your Seapass?

 

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The Princess coffee card is worth every penny. It provides a great variety of good coffee. Otherwise, I agree you are SOL.

It seems that Celebrity is now offering a version of Coffee Cards:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2626674

The difference is that the Celebrity card is only for specialty coffees – but of course it isn't required to get ground coffee because that's already included for everybody.

In my opinion Celebrity is so much better in the food department then Princess. I have sailed on both lines and the Celebrity ships offer so many more options at their buffet then Princess. I do also feel the main dining room is also better on Celebrity. Princess seems to have had many cut backs in the dining room over the last few years. I am sure there are some people who will disagree with me but in my opinion Celebrity is the winner in the food department.

In my opinion Celebrity is so much better in the food department then Princess. I have sailed on both lines and the Celebrity ships offer so many more options at their buffet then Princess. I do also feel the main dining room is also better on Celebrity. Princess seems to have had many cut backs in the dining room over the last few years. I am sure there are some people who will disagree with me but in my opinion Celebrity is the winner in the food department.

I absolutely agree. Especially with the specialty dining! Celebrity wins hands down for me!

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