Emerald Princess or Celebrity Solstice

[Jetfan1521]

My husband and I are planning a cruise for mid to late January or early Feb 2010. I'm debating between the Emerald or switch to the new Celebrity Solstice. What's your take?

[tom_uk]

My husband and I are planning a cruise for mid to late January or early Feb 2010. I'm debating between the Emerald or switch to the new Celebrity Solstice. What's your take?

 

I've never cruised on Princess although I have been on P&O's Ventura, a Grand Princess class ship (very similar to Crown, Emerald & Ruby). I've also cruised on Solstice. I blogged from both cruises. You might find the Solstice blog posts informative; they're here.

 

(For completeness, the Ventura blog posts are here.)

[jt1120]

Absolutely, positively, unequivocally SOLSTICE! We sailed her inaugural cruise last year at this time and was totally blown away. It is the best ship we have sailed on by far. No offense to my Princess friends on this forum but nothing that Princess has can outdo the Solstice class. If you are a cruise fan you must sail one of those ships.

 

Feel free to contact me for particulars, but we leave this Friday on the Island Princess, so I may not be able to answer until I get back. Trust me, book the Solstice.

[lovespositano]

Absolutely, positively, unequivocally SOLSTICE! We sailed her inaugural cruise last year at this time and was totally blown away. It is the best ship we have sailed on by far. No offense to my Princess friends on this forum but nothing that Princess has can outdo the Solstice class. If you are a cruise fan you must sail one of those ships.

 

Feel free to contact me for particulars, but we leave this Friday on the Island Princess, so I may not be able to answer until I get back. Trust me, book the Solstice.

I am a true Princess fan, so I am sorry to say that I have to agree - the Solstice, NO QUESTION!! Have sailed on all the new Princess ships and just got off my first non-Princess cruise (we were on the Equinox). You will be absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the Equinox or the Solstice!!!!!

[Woodmnky]

If we wouldn't have snagged an extra large aft balcony on the Emerald, we too would be sailing on Solstice. The photos from that ship have to be the most gorgeous that I have ever seen.

[sunviking82]

Princess loyal, but drift to Celebrity from time to time. Solstice is wonderful except open deck space is at a premium, the Lawn Club takes up too much space IMO and I missed MUTS.

 

The dinning options on Solstice and the layout and great, I prefer the slightly more laid back atomosphere on Princess vs Celebrity however. Either way you can't go wrong.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[gertz]

Your asking to compare apples and oranges. One has a space rating of 43 and the other has 38. Which would you choose?

And if I were you JT I wouldn't get too carried away until you get on the Island with a better space ratio than all but 2 of the X's and it is a tie with them. The Island is a great eloquent ship in every category.

[CFM1000]

We previously traveled more times on Princess and thought they were the best. But the last 3 cruises we have selected Celebrity. We took the Solstice in January 2009 and truly love it. The Solstice is definitely a step higher in service and quality than Princess. We are booked to take the Solstice again on January 3, 2010.

 

On our January 2009 Solstice trip, there were numerous passengers who loved the ship so much they booked a summer cruise in Europe while at sea. We had an inside cabin on the first Solstice and truly loved the new decor. Our upcoming trip we have reserved a balcony. If you have a chance - book one of the alternative restaurants. We ate at the Asian restaurant - well worth the charge, but the restaurants book quickly on board. We are booked on Murano for the upcoming trip - we did it on line with Celebrity prior to the cruise in order to get the specific date.