Celebrity vs. Princess

[niborHS]

We just returned from our 12th cruise, on Celebrity Millennium. Were looking to book for next year on board, but didn't like the itineraries, so we are looking to switch next year. Can anyone compare these 2 lines, as far as food, service, entertainment, teen activities, type and age of passengers. Any help would be great. Not sure which ship we were considering, but I think it was a Grand class, either Star or Sun maybe? We will probably book a suite, and our friend would go for either a balcony stateroom or mini-suite. We had a Sky Suite this year, our friend's had Concierge class w/balcony, which seems bigger than princess' regular balcony stateroom, more like the mini suite. Our boys would share a room. I posted this on both boards, so I will have to compare responses and figure it out.

[CaribbeanBound]

We've been on both.

As far as food: both are good. Celebrity gets edge.

Service: both are good. Celebrity gets edge

Entertainment: both are okay. Not totally impressed with either.

Teen activities: have not used.

Type of passengers: human

Age of passengers: generally older on Celebrity

 

Here are three VERY detailed reviews...

 

Western Caribbean on Celebrity Galaxy:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/westerncaribbean.html

Alaska on Princess Star:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/alaska.html

Eastern Caribbean on Celebrity Horizon:

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/easterncaribbean.html

[donnaw]

Hi Robin,

 

We do both and I have compared them in several reviews. Here is a link to most of the comparison part of the last one which was on the Grand Princess. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=122701 This should be the part you are most interested in. For us, they are close enough that we make our decision on itinerary then price.

[niborHS]

Thanks alot, very helpful review. The itinerary is our biggest problem on Celebrity for next year, and it seems like Princess has the edge right now, and i think we will end up with a room that is better than a Celebrity Sky Suite, for about the same price or less.

[barbon2]

Did 1 Princess cruise (Grand) and am not anxious to return. The food was mediocre at best and the service non existant. The staff did not seem to really care. In all fairness, we only tried it once and I guess if the itinerary was too good to turn down, I would give it another try, but I would search hard and long for an alternative.

[mtjlr]

Robin: We have sailed Celebrity 7 times and were due to sail the Summit again in January, but it was put in drydock at that time. So, we booked the Sun Princess instead. We had never sailed Princess before, but decided to give it a try as it was a 10-day and the itinerary was similar to Summit. Although, we still give Celebrity the edge, we had a great cruise on the Sun. The food was very good, and we felt the desserts and soups were even better than Celebrity. Service was excellent in the dining room and our room steward was very good. The Sun has a promenade deck that we enjoyed that goes all around the ship on deck 7. Drink prices are also less on Princess, as is internet access at 35 cents/minute. Entertainment staff was excellent as was the cruise director. The entertainment was similar with a Broadway type show, comedian, etc. Princess also offers Anytime Dining in the evening in one of their dining rooms, but also offers traditional dining, which we opted for. All in all, we enjoyed our cruise.

 

We would definitely sail Princess again, but Celebrity remains our cruise line of choice. Any other questions, would be happy to try and answer.

[DeRon]

I agree with everyone here, but thought I would add a few things.

 

Some of the things we like about Princess: Fresh water pools open 24 hrs, personal choice dining (that we loved), and (we thought) excellent entertainment, tons to do until 1:00 am, very good 24 hr buffet.

 

Things we thought could be better: not as refined as Celebrity, food in the evening not as good (although good to very good - best lobster we have had at sea).

 

They both are great ships. They just have a different feel to them. Princess more laid back and fun, Celebrity more refined and service oriented. Either way, have a great time!

[dhcoaster]

I like Celebrity better for the service and food. But itineraries and price play a lot into selecting the next cruise like it did for our next cruise on the Carib Princess.

[geoherb]

We've been on Celebrity twice and Princess four times. I'd book either again. I give Celebrity's dining room food and service the edge, but Princess has a better buffet and it's open all the time. Sometimes on Celebrity, we'd return to the ship late in the afternoon and not have many dining options. We like traditional dining and would hate to have another cruise where we were forced to do "Personal Choice" dining on Princess.

 

There are more entertainment options on the Grand-class Princess ships than the Century-class Celebrity ships. A lot of evenings, it was hard to decide which show we wanted to go to after dinner. For instance, there might be the production show in the theater and a comedian in the lounge.

[landbc]

I have sailed the Century and the new Carribean Princess and enjoyed both cruises greatly. I agree with others in that the food and service are better on Celebrity. One of my big pet peeves with Princess is that they do not have wine sommoliers(sp?). I enjoy a good bottle of wine and the table stewards on Princess are pretty clueless when it comes to wine. The activities and Cruise Director on Princess were far better. The cruisers are a bit younger on Princess. I go on a cruise for good food and relaxation so I prefer Celebrity but if you like a little more night life and better activities, go with Princess. Just my 2 cents.

[niborHS]

Thanks all, and as far as the sommelier issue goes on Princess, our sommelier this past week on Celebrity told us that they were going to do away with them as well, because with US passengers, it is just not worth it for them to do it, so by the end of the year, they will not have them any more. We bring on our own wine though and pay the corkage. I know that we are going to get alot of different opinions on this, so I am just going to hope that we have a good expeience if we choose Princess, because we decided we don't like next year's itinerary for the Carribean 7 day cruises that Celebrity offers.

[Desertbelle]

Perhaps I am just terribly unlucky, but my 2 Princess cruises (Star and Dawn) have been my least favorite of them all. It's mostly little things, but a long list of little things can really add up. Would never go so far as to say I disliked or hated the cruises, but I can't see us booking Princess again.

 

We are looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise in 4 months (and again in November :)) So far our favorite cruises have been on Royal Caribbean, so I expect that we are going to love Celebrity!

[Breezey]

Having no loyalty to any cruise line just yet after only 4 cruises, here's my two cents.

 

Was on the Golden Princess last year and the Celebrity Mercury last month. May be unfair to compare as we are talking about ships that have a major difference in size (golden is probably twice the size of the mercury).

 

Service - Celebrity wins over Princess although we never had a complaint on Princess.

 

Food - Found the dining room food perhaps a bit better on Celebrity but not that way superior expectation that I had. I preferred the buffet lunch choices on the Princess much better. High tea on Princess in the dining room exceeded that on Celebrity. Drove us crazy that the buffet area had only small plastic glasses for tea, lemonade etc.

 

Fellow Passengers - mostly same demographics on both (i.e. middle class) but found the passengers on the Celebrity a lot older than those on the Princess. We went the same time of year for both

 

Entertainment - Celebrity boring! Guess that's because it was a smaller ship whose entertainment was geared more towards an over 60 crowd. Ship was dead after 11.

 

Pool - Sorry but regardless of size of ship found the pool area on the Celebrity Mercury a major disappointment. Pool looked dirty and just not as close to being as pretty as the Golden whose main pool area is beautiful.

 

Miscellaneous - Celebrity seems to get away with charging more for their photos, drinks and wine. Liked the fact that there were limited announcements but found the on-board activities boring and limited. Internet fees are insane.

 

Bottom line - will need to try a few more ships on both cruise lines to see if the difference is consistent and enough to make me a loyal anything. For now we choose cruise lines based on itinerary.

[Dorie&Bud]

We have done both many times. My husband prefers Celebrity and I like Princess. I think both are compatable. Celebrity has an edge on food and Princess on entertainment and cabins.