Celebrity vs. Princess?

[wallygator]

For my two cents. I have enjoyed Celebrity Cruise Line, Princess Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line. I am currenty booked on all three. They do have their differences. But all are fine with us. We are not looking for wonders, just good quality service. Good food, great staff, safe ships and nice fellow passengers. There do have their differences, but you and I are different. Celebrity vs. Princess not to worry both are great choices.
Just this Gator's opinion [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[img]http://www.animatedgif.net/animals/wateranimals/alligator-2_e0.gif[/img]

WallyGator

"Keep smiling and never stop cruising"

<marquee bgcolor="yellow" direction="left" behavior="scroll" scroll="continuous" scrollamount="6" vspace="5" hspace="10" align="center" style=" color:#003366; font-family:verdana; font-size:14; font-weight:bold; font-style:normal;"> Truth be said this Gator would rather be cruising! </marquee>

Celebrity Galaxy, Med Cruise
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Caribbean Princess
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NCL Dawn Adventurers II
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Princess (Dawn)10/97
Carnival (Holiday)10/2001
Princess (Grand)01/2002
Norwegian(Star)09/2002
Princess (Dawn) 11/05/2002
Celebrity (Constellation)Transatlantic East Bound
04/26/2003
Norwegian Sky (Alaska) 08/30/2003
Norwegian Dawn 10/19/03
Norwegian Dawn, Crazy Cruisers 1/25/2004

[email]wclark1192@aol.com[/email]

[Boo's Mom]

I was on the Golden back in Dec 03....and had a balcony cabin. We were unable at any time to touch the railing of the balcony! It was a beautiful wood....covered with a very sticky product! We even tried to clean it off ourselves....with no luck.

Had anyone experienced this?

Boo's Mom

Even the winds and the waves obey him!
Matthew 8:27

[theawesome1]

Had that also in November as I was told it was varnish but no sign not to touch & my white blouse was covered in it. Everything under it was rusty..........so we stayed away from the metal & wood.

My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another!

[demisod]

As an alternate data point, I have to say that I sailed on the Grand Princess two weeks ago and found the ship to be in good condition. No problems leaning on the rail on my balcony, and the carpeting was just fine throughout the ship. I thought my bathrobe and towels were perfectly acceptable. In general, I thought the interior public places were in superb condition. The only place I thought the ship showed some age was in some of the exterior areas, primarily some minor rust spots here and there and some of the wood was a little faded, but the deterioriation was very minor. I can't speak to the Golden, but I think the Grand presents itself as a well-maintained, beautiful ship to all but the most demanding.

[argosy]

To respond to the "aloof" comment I made about cruise staff, I was specifically referring to the cruise director on Celebrity Millennium. I have no idea why this cruise director was so rude. I was not drunk at the time and was dressed appropriately. Perhaps he just had a bad day. I met him in the hallway, extended my hand to say I was enjoying the cruise (and I was) and he totally ignored me. THAT is aloof. The cabin attendants and dining room waitstaff were great. Well...the waitstaff service was great, as far as getting the food on the table, etc. The main waiter was a little less satisfactory as far as personality, telling us of all his girlfriends at every port, though he was married and had kids. I found that to be a little repugnant. Oh, and he never knew our names. Not that I cared, but this seems to be a big negative for some posters on this thread, with Princess. Anyhow, this aloof attitude the cruise director had was repeated on more than one occasion. Still...it was just ONE cruise director, so I cannot fault the entire CD staff of Celebrity. However, I have been told by Celebrity fans that cruise directors on Celebrity have a different philosophy of what their job is about. So take that for what it's worth. I didn't like what I experienced. The entire cruise was very lifeless regarding entertainment. I know a large percentage of the passengers were elderly, but come on...I was 45 at the time! I'm not a 'youthie.'

And the complaints about Princess delivering luggage late: That happened to me on Celebrity!
I had to go find it MYSELF! I wandered the halls looking at luggage in the rooms next to the freight elevators (or whatever they were) and eventually found my luggage, all by itself, with the room # clearly marked. No idea why it was not delivered to my room.

So, in summary....in my opinion....you can get bad customer service no matter what cruise line you take. You take the good with the bad. We had a good Celebrity cruise. Overall, I consider them equal to Princess. But I prefer Princess for all the reasons I noted the first time (personal preference). Carnival has NOT destroyed Princess just yet.

[This message was edited by argosy on 04-26-04 at 09:40 AM.]

[Vernokenn@aol.com]

You may want to check out my comparison review on the Princess boards. We have been Celebrity customers often and just returned from our first Princess experience on the Grand. Other travelers' observations about the class of clientele and condition of the Grand are right on track. The simulated woodgrain curved panels outside stateroom doors on the Grand,for instance, are severely dented all over the ship: an unfortunate design error. They can't be fixed without replacement, so I suppose they will stay that way. Also, the cabin doors are all beaten up. On Celebrity, staff were cleaning and polishing at all hours. I would sail on Princess again if the price and itinerary cannot be matched by Celebrity, but otherwise, Celebrity will be a clear choice. My wife might not go along because she says it will be Celebrity for her or nothing.


Vern

Gen. C.H. Muir 1947
Gen. Harry Taylor 1947
Adriatica Esperia 1971
Ital. Line Michelangelo 1973
Chandris The Victoria 1985
Chandris Britannis 1986
Norwegian Coastal Voyages 1989
Epirotiki Oceanos 1990
Renaissance R-2 1999
Celebrity Galaxy 2000
Celebrity Century 2001 P.Deilmann Konigstein 2001
Vantage River Odyssey 2002
Celebrity Summit 2002
Viking Star 2003
Celebrity Infinity 2004
Grand Princess 2004

[theawesome1]

WOW! Do you remember the D's name??? We want to be forwarned if we hear he is ours......... many will straighten him out very fast too.

My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another!

[argosy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Do you remember the D's name?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep. Apparently I was not the only one with the same issue, and he has been approached towards making changes. I did report it, and I got a letter about it from Celebrity, offering apologies and providing some info as to the outcome. I don't want to mention his name on this board now, because as I said...the issue has been resolved.

You can email me for the info privately if you like.

[theawesome1]

Perfect Argosy, as you answered my question without me asking it, you are very good! So we both appreciate great service & appreciation to us for choosing them over others. That is good business.

My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another!

[theawesome1]

We were on the Grand Princess a week after her innagural, and they upgraded us from BD category to BA (verandah cabin from midship to top floor). We were quite excited, thus being on our 3rd Princess cruise, that we were getting the best verandah.

WRONG! Right across from the employees' elevator. First night, we were exhausted from the flight CLE-MIA-San Juan to board her. So we went to bed after early traditional seating. About an hour later a huge BANG & our door caved in & luggage poured in on top of it. Guys laughing outside & we freaked. On the phone to "0" and a voice asked what assistance was needed. When she learned what happened she laughed & said they would be clearing the luggage out & putting the door back up, just go back to sleep.

We were furious! Break in our stateroom & have a party???? We couldn;t get out, so we banged on the seperator of our balcony so the next door neighbor would hear us. He made a call to the Captain & sure enough the Captain showed, was furious with the staff & moved us to a suite for the rest of the cruise. But the toilet in the suite didn't work to well, 5 flushes to get toilet paper down, and alot of noise from above. Turned out it was the teen disco........

No butler, no free booze, just a big room with a dining room table for dinner.

My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another!

[CruiserJill]

Wow, thanks to everyone for their input - I did post the identical question on the Princess board, so I'll go there and read those reponses as well.

But I'd forgotten that Princess was purchased by Carnival - it does sound like things have gone down hill after that. The Celebrity cruise is longer, for the same money, and it sounds like it might be nicer as well.

But someone made an excellent point about flights - we will have to fly into Houston and get transport to Galveston (we always fly teh day before), so will have to factor that into my pricing comparisons.

Thanks again for everyone's input!

[Rustynail]

We love our Century experience but we also like variety that is why we are sailing on the CArribean Princess in Jan 05.

I really can't imagine having a bad time on any ship that is away from the two W's (work and winter).

Happy sailin'

Rusty

[img]http://www.animatedgif.net/animals/dogs/stikdog_e0.gif[/img]

CARRIBEAN PRINCESS JAN 2005
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CARNIVAL'S LEGEND JAN 2003
CELEBRITY'S CENTURY DEC 2003
[img]http://www.animatedgif.net/animals/dogs/cflbird2dog_e0.gif[/img]

[teedee]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by smudge's mom:

I think when you have a table full of compatible people, it's just the luck of the draw.
QUOTE]

I really can't agree with this, on my first Century cruise everyone at our table (10 people) were approximately the same age. On our 2nd cruise on Century this past December we were at a table with 2 couples we knew from these boards. We didn't ask to be seated together, or at least the two of us didn't. I think it would be too big a coincidence that we all just "happened" to be seated together. it turned out to be great. We had a great time with them (Hi Dan, Lian, Jonathan & Patti).



Terri

Skyward - 1989
Carnivale - 1991
Holiday - 1994
Fantasy - 1998
Century - 2002
Century - 2003
Jubilee - 7/04
Century - 9/04
Coral Princess 3/05

[theawesome1]

Oh Rusty, You said the magic word WINTER! Today is 3 weeks + days til SUMMER & we had a blizzard in Cleveland. The snow piled up but then melted when the heavy rains hit for evening rush hour & temps hit 37 (the high) - actually 48 at 12:01AM.

We are off to Orlando for the weekend to enjoy MGM Studios at Disney. FREE Hilton at Disney for 2 nights & BOGO CO air....

So we wait til Sept 7th for the cruise & we are still flipping coins over Panama Canal or S America as 2 weeks cruise next year & when to do them since we have 2 weeks on Maui every February.

My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another!

[theawesome1]

Price out Celebrity air, as it includes the transfers to & from the ship. Plus anything weather wise, meachanical wise, you are protected.

My logo: When we disembark, I just have to book another!

[smudge's mom]

[B]teedee[/B] - Why didn't Celebrity care whether we were seated with people our age?