Celebrity verses Princess

[brownie9]

What would make me pick Celebrity over Princess? I have a cruise on each that would work. I have sailed Princess before with no complaints.

Please help.....

 

Brownie9

[cynbar]

We are loyal Princess cruisers who went on Celebrity's Eclipse in January. It was a very nice cruise, no problems, but we were a little let down because it didn't really WOW us. Posters here on the Celebrity board state loudly and often that there is no cruise line to compare to Celebrity, but we didn't see it. The food was very good, ship was elegant. But the evenings were quieter, in fact the whole cruise was more sedate with less entertainment. We missed the mini suites on Princess, the International Cafe, the more extensive evening buffet option (although we seldom eat there), MUTS, the Crown Grill. I must say, however, that the more restrictive smoking policy on Celebrity was a pleasure. We would absolutely sail Celebrity again, it gets a little boring to always cruise the same line, but will make our choice based on itinerary and likely price.

[Essaru]

To compare between the two:

 

Both have great service.

 

Celebrity has slightly better food in MDR, Princess has a better overall buffet, Celebrity has better room service, both have great specialty restaurants.

 

Princess I think has better entertainment options, to include MUTS.

 

I like the Princess cabin setup better because of the closet space.

 

Celebrity has a better smoking policy, it was nice going into the casino and not smelling smoke.

 

I liked the drink packages on Celebrity.

 

I liked both so I would pick based on itinerary.

[Lady Arwen]

We've sailed with both lines many times. We love them both, each for different reasons.

We would not hesitate to cruise with either one, depending on the itinerary and price.

Our fondest memories are of the (old) Star Princess......amazing cruise, and the Mercury a couple of years later was equally fabulous.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Ok I have done both Princess and Celebrity and the Princess ships are lovely and I love the pools, hot tubs and movies under the stars.

 

Why do I like Celebrity better? Well first of all the service and the ships are not as crowded. From the moment you set foot onboard with the complimentary champagne or orange juice- you get the feeling that you are a valued guest. This is less so on Princess. So this sets the tone.

 

I enjoyed Equinox but am not a fan of the larger ship and do think that it was way to earth toned and boring in decor. I also hated the MDR on Equinox- too crowded and claustophobic at least on the upper level where I was seated.

 

I do LOVE the Millenium class ships and think they are perfect in everyway. I personally have had bad experiences with Princess, just too many at this point so I am reluctant to sail with Princess again. I have had great experiences with Celebrity so its a no- brainer for me.

 

Princess does have better itineraries and they do a good job on excursions so I am really not knocking them. Give Celebrity a try though. Do the Millenium class ships though. I think they are better.

[KirkNC]

We have sailed both and I would give X the edge if for no other reason than the more restrictive smoking policy. You can't go wrong with either one.

 

Kirk

[Esprit]

I'm with Cynbar

 

MUTS and other entertainment available on Princess just edges above Celebrity.

 

The Pizza and burger grills on deck offer superior snack food too.

 

Food elsewhere is great on both ships.

 

In choosing one or other though it would be the cost and itinerary that would be the deciding factor.

[luvtocook]

We are VERY loyal Celebrity cruisers and sailed Star Princess last November strictly for the itinerary.

My comparisons are as follows:

MDR food much better on Celeb.

Buffet food equal but layout on Star very crowded.

Did not partake of any entertainment--no comment.

Mini suite on Star was fantastic--better than any Sky suite on Celeb.

Cold weather cruise, did not see MUTS or use pools.

Service, equal.

Specialty restaurants--better on Celeb.

International cafe vs Cafe al Baccio, Cova Cafe-equal.

Smoking. DEFINITELY Celeb.

Overall, we would do Princess for an itinerary that was a must do that Celeb did not do, but we much prefer Celebrity. You can't miss with the Aqua class cabins & Blu on the S class ships too.

Also meant to add, the pizza & outside grill food was better on Princess!

[Denny01]

We've cruised Celebrity 11 times and just finished our 2nd Princess in Jan, and as you can see in my signature, we are booked for a Aug Princess and two Celebrity cruises in 2012.

 

We go with Princess for specific itineraries, but Celebrity is our starting point. We enjoy Celebrity as our 'Line of Choice'. Princess has more varied itineraries mainly because they are a much larger Cruise Line. Comparing?

 

SRs:

- The standard Celebrity SR has more seating for guest/entertaining area than the standard Princess SR. Edge Celebrity

- The Princess standard SRs have more storage than the Celebrity S-Class, but same as M-Class. M-Class closets lined up with exit. Edge Princess.

- standard Celebrity BR's are bigger and we found the showers to be larger. Could barely turn around in standard Princess shower. Celebrity S-Class shower is great with curved glass door. Edge Celebrity

- Went with mini-Suite on Princess 2nd cruise because of limitations, but you pay a good deal more.

- Overall, Edge Celebrity

 

Dining:

- MDR. Found both very nice, but liked Celebrity more because of the more open layout and double-level openess. Edge Celebrity

- Buffet. Princess is open all the time, but didn't really need it. Celebrity had more variety, and Loved the stations on Celebrity S-Class. Princess buffet layout caused more jamming. Edge Celebrity.

- MDR Quality. Both the same. Very subjective. Enjoyed most meals.

- Service. Both outstanding.

 

Pools:

- Tough on this one. Princess gets the edge on pools and hottubs open later.

- Celebrity gets the edge with the M-Class T-Spa Pool - best afloat pool.

 

Entertainment:

- Give Celebrity the big edge.

- Many say Princess has better shows and entertainmenet, but I found the theater to be too small and people went there over an hr early to get decent seats. Some Princess theaters had bad viewlines. If we went in 15min prior as we do on Celebrity, there were no 2 seats together. Also, Princess has canned music for the singers while Celebrity has a live band.

- Princess (some ships) has Movies Under the Stars. Enjoyed and a positive.

 

Service:

- Thought both had excellent service, but I give Celebirty the overall edge on this, but not by much.

 

Ship Atmosphere/Layout:

- Celebrity common areas seem less crowded, few chokepoints.

- Enjoyed the decor of both.

- Celebrity more restrictive Smoking is a Big Plus. Princess allows smoking in SRs and on their balconies. We had to have our SR cleaned twice and we aren't hardover on it.

- Celebirty big edge for smoking and less crowding.

 

Misc:

- Loved the Princess Coffee card.

- Loved the Celebrity S-Class Bistro on 5 for light dining, and the Aqua Spa Cafe.

- Thought Princess had more hard sell. More announcements and some 'lectures' which were just 'infomercials'. Hated that.

- Princess has more activities, but for us, not that important. We enjoy entertaining ourselves, meeting with travel friends and new friends, and don't need what I call the canned activities. Subjective opinon.

 

again, we are Celebrity cruisers. Enjoy Princess and cruise it if they have an itineary we want that Celebrity doesn't, but would always go with Celebrity when we can.

 

Den

[brownie9]

Thanks so much, this really helped. I will have to check the smoking policy on Celebrity as my husband still ( working on him ) smokes. This will probably make it easy to pick.

 

Thanks again,

 

Diane

[bellybutton530]

A PLUS for Princess: passenger laundry and ironing areas

 

A PLUS for Celebrity: restrictive smoking policy

 

Everything else, in my opinion, is about equal.

[shofer]

We made a lot of comparisons on our first cruise with the Princess line after 6 cruises with Celebrity. This is what we found:

 

The bathrooms on Celebrity were bigger with shower stalls that were more rectangular in shape and height adjustable shower heads. Celebrity also had dispensers on the walls in the shower with shampoo and conditioner. Princess had all the bath amenities in cardboard containers on the vanity. We had 3 sets of towels in the bathroom on Celebrity but only 2 sets on Princess.

 

The Princess room was lovely. I was surprised at how spacious it seemed. There was a very large, open closet with lots of hangers and a cupboard which contained the safe and shelves for our clothes. There were drawers in the nightstands and in the desk. There was bottled water to purchase in the room and an ice bucket in the small fridge but no pitcher of ice water changed twice daily like on Celebrity. The trash baskets had plastic liners on X but not on Princess which made you hesitate to throw anything messy in the container.

 

Celebrity had robes in the room. We had to ask for them on Princess. We have since discovered you can request them online prior to departure. But we still had to request them from the cabin steward even after doing this.

 

The freshwater pools were great with plenty of deck chairs. Celebrity has saltwater pools. Celebrity also has unlimited pool towels out on deck. On Princess the pool towels placed in your room also doubled as your beach towels. Beach towels were separate on X and were bigger and thicker.

 

I thought the food on Celebrity was more upscale. I was surprised to see plain white rice served with some of our entrees. We liked that the alternative selections were printed on the menu and you did have your option of white rice, French fries or baked potato with your entrée On Celebrity you get whatever is plated by the chef with your entrée. But they will bend over backwards to give you boiled or baked potatoes or any vegetable that you request. It may not be at that meal, but every meal after that.

 

I LOVED the dessert soufflés on Princess. Some other differences we noticed was that hot cocoa was free on Celebrity whereas you pay for it as a specialty drink on Princess. Of course it is served in a tall glass with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

 

You also had to pay for ice cream when you finally found the counter by the Spa pool. It was free at certain times in the buffet but we really never made an effort to find it since they moved the location around and did not direct the passengers to it. They would rather you paid for the sundaes and shakes by the pool. It was always available in the buffet on X as well as softserve.

 

The service is more formal on X. If my DH chose not to order an appetizer or soup, they brought his salad out while we were eating the other items. On X, he would be served the same course with everyone else. The bus boy acted as your wine steward, no sommelier making suggestions. The wine list on X is much more extensive.

 

We liked the dispensers on Princess for the hot beverages which came out very hot. This made for a nice cup of tea. The cups were also bigger than on Celebrity which offered a barely 4 ounce cup. Princess had a decent sized cup for coffee or tea. The coffee ranged from the merely adequate to the downright execrable. I stick to tea bags since I can control what I actually get.

 

Celebrity does have nice trays with cloth placemats and cloth napkins in the buffet and waiters to carry it for you instead of just large platters that you have to juggle with your drink. They also have a sandwich station all during lunch where they will make your sandwich to order. They would have these scrumptious pretzel rolls that we would keep going back for. It seemed that Princess only had sandwiches from 3-4 PM in the buffet. I didn’t see it as a food option in the Princess Patter. Maybe it was only for those coming back from a late shore excursion.

 

The pizza on the Coral Princess was very good with an excellent crust and they would make you whatever you wanted, just like Celebrity would.

 

I do have to hand it to Princess for the continuous buffet even if I don’t see the need for it to be 24 hours. Celebrity would shut down breakfast an hour before lunch where on Princess they would close one side of the buffet to get ready for lunch and continue serving breakfast on the alternate side until lunch was up and running. We never tried the buffet for dinner as we prefer the dining room experience for that meal.

 

Shore excursions: Princess really shines on this part of the experience. The shore excursions were many and varied, with some unusual choices. You could be as active or sedentary as you liked. Celebrity’s excursions are rather humdrum with more of an emphasis on shopping.

 

When coming back from shore excursions on Celebrity there is a tent set up on the dock for passengers where you could get a drink of cold water and/or fruit punch and a cold cloth for your fevered brow when you are returning to the ship. There was nothing like that on Princess.

 

The production shows were terrific on the Coral Princess and most of the other entertainers were also pretty good . We liked the option of 2 different shows a night but the seating in both theaters was limited. The theater only had a capacity of 600 on a ship with 1980 passengers. The sightlines were excellent but this was not set up as a "show lounge" like the Universe Lounge.

 

If you were not sitting on the aisle, you could forget about that after-dinner drink as the theater was stadium seating and the poor drink servers would have to crawl over several people to serve you. Because we had early seating we found ourselves racing to the theater a half hour before the show if we wanted to get 4 seats together.

 

Celebrity’s theater will hold half the passengers on the ship and is set up as a “show lounge” with loveseat style seating and small tables to hold your beverages. It was much more conducive to ordering that after dinner drink.

 

Overall, we like Celebrity best but Princess will upgrade you if you book a guarantee cabin. We have never been upgraded on Celebrity.

[Denny01]

Thanks so much, this really helped. I will have to check the smoking policy on Celebrity as my husband still ( working on him ) smokes. This will probably make it easy to pick.

 

Thanks again,

 

Diane

Celebrity website has a general statement on smoking, but doesn't list out the specific smoking areas since it differs on each ship a bit. But here is what I've seen. Others can add/correct me:

- No Smoking in SRs or Balcony

 

- No smoking in Casino or any other inside area except for:

---Inside Smoking area is usually the forward Lounge on each ship. This is a large lounge on the bow. Very large area and smoking is on the Port side. A lovely lounge with floor-ceiling windows.

 

- Outside smoking was on the portside I believe the 5th deck outboard of the Casino, and the Resort deck portside near the pool, and the aft bar. I think it varies with the bars.

 

Most smokers who have posted on Celebrity site have said they found the smoking areas acceptable...but of course, if they didn't, they'd Not be cruising on Celebrity again.

 

Most Celebrity smokers are thoughtful and so are the non-smokers (general statement in both cases).

 

Edit: by the way, here is an article from ScienceDaily on 'Fake Cigarettes' and how they increase the success rate for quitting smoking....just some info we all might find handy:

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110511193254.htm

 

 

 

 

Den

[59impala]

If price makes a difference, then you appear pay considerably more for a balcony cabin on the Princess ships.

 

We checked out both cruise lines for the 2012 Med season and Celebrity is better value for balcony cabins. We have cruised before on Celebrity Equinox and loved it and thought we might give Princess a look, but the comparative balcony price was too dear.

 

We are now booked on Celebrity Solstice for Sept 2012.

[TwoCruisers]

What does Celebrity have for daytime activities on sea days? I have sailed Princess and they have things like, Trivia games, dance lessons and much more. I am trying to decide between the two cruise lines and any comments would help.

[Cruise Junky]

When coming back from shore excursions on Celebrity there is a tent set up on the dock for passengers where you could get a drink of cold water and/or fruit punch and a cold cloth for your fevered brow when you are returning to the ship. There was nothing like that on Princess.

 

 

Just wanted to correct this. Princess started doing the same thing a couple of years ago.

[Vol fan]

What does Celebrity have for daytime activities on sea days? I have sailed Princess and they have things like, Trivia games, dance lessons and much more. I am trying to decide between the two cruise lines and any comments would help.

 

We were on the Eclipse in April and had cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, trivia, croquet tourney, putting contest, hot glass show, etc.

Carole

[UandMe4Ever]

Celebrity website has a general statement on smoking, but doesn't list out the specific smoking areas since it differs on each ship a bit. But here is what I've seen. Others can add/correct me:

- No Smoking in SRs or Balcony

 

- No smoking in Casino or any other inside area except for:

---Inside Smoking area is usually the forward Lounge on each ship. This is a large lounge on the bow. Very large area and smoking is on the Port side. A lovely lounge with floor-ceiling windows.

 

- Outside smoking was on the portside I believe the 5th deck outboard of the Casino, and the Resort deck portside near the pool, and the aft bar. I think it varies with the bars.

 

Most smokers who have posted on Celebrity site have said they found the smoking areas acceptable...but of course, if they didn't, they'd Not be cruising on Celebrity again.

 

Most Celebrity smokers are thoughtful and so are the non-smokers (general statement in both cases).

 

Edit: by the way, here is an article from ScienceDaily on 'Fake Cigarettes' and how they increase the success rate for quitting smoking....just some info we all might find handy:

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110511193254.htm

 

 

 

 

Den

 

Hi: Most of this post is accurate. My DH finds is bothersome not to be able to smoke on the balcony in the a.m. with the coffee we order before we get ready for breakfast or any other time he enjoys sitting, staring or reading his book!:( Also, no smoking in the Casino :( is a downer for him as well, as he enjoys a cocktail and smoke while at the tables.

The other places are OK even though not many as long as he's out and about.

These are a few reasons we have STOPPED sailing with Celebrity....No longer as relaxing or enjoyable.

Just his/our humble opinions. No replies required.

Safe sails.

[John73]

Hi: Most of this post is accurate. My DH finds is bothersome not to be able to smoke on the balcony in the a.m. with the coffee we order before we get ready for breakfast or any other time he enjoys sitting, staring or reading his book!:( Also, no smoking in the Casino :( is a downer for him as well, as he enjoys a cocktail and smoke while at the tables.

The other places are OK even though not many as long as he's out and about.

These are a few reasons we have STOPPED sailing with Celebrity....No longer as relaxing or enjoyable.

Just his/our humble opinions. No replies required.

Safe sails.

 

Sounds like X isn't the right line for what you are looking for. Hopefully you'll find another line that is more to your liking.

 

For me, the no smoking policy is a great + for X. I really don't enjoy cigarette smoke and do enjoy my balcony relaxation time as well as ship donations (aka Casino time), so I appreciate X's policies there.

[KruzPrincess]

We made a lot of comparisons on our first cruise with the Princess line after 6 cruises with Celebrity. This is what we found:

 

The bathrooms on Celebrity were bigger with shower stalls that were more rectangular in shape and height adjustable shower heads. Celebrity also had dispensers on the walls in the shower with shampoo and conditioner. Princess had all the bath amenities in cardboard containers on the vanity. We had 3 sets of towels in the bathroom on Celebrity but only 2 sets on Princess.

 

The Princess room was lovely. I was surprised at how spacious it seemed. There was a very large, open closet with lots of hangers and a cupboard which contained the safe and shelves for our clothes. There were drawers in the nightstands and in the desk. There was bottled water to purchase in the room and an ice bucket in the small fridge but no pitcher of ice water changed twice daily like on Celebrity. The trash baskets had plastic liners on X but not on Princess which made you hesitate to throw anything messy in the container.

 

Celebrity had robes in the room. We had to ask for them on Princess. We have since discovered you can request them online prior to departure. But we still had to request them from the cabin steward even after doing this.

 

The freshwater pools were great with plenty of deck chairs. Celebrity has saltwater pools. Celebrity also has unlimited pool towels out on deck. On Princess the pool towels placed in your room also doubled as your beach towels. Beach towels were separate on X and were bigger and thicker.

 

I thought the food on Celebrity was more upscale. I was surprised to see plain white rice served with some of our entrees. We liked that the alternative selections were printed on the menu and you did have your option of white rice, French fries or baked potato with your entrée On Celebrity you get whatever is plated by the chef with your entrée. But they will bend over backwards to give you boiled or baked potatoes or any vegetable that you request. It may not be at that meal, but every meal after that.

 

I LOVED the dessert soufflés on Princess. Some other differences we noticed was that hot cocoa was free on Celebrity whereas you pay for it as a specialty drink on Princess. Of course it is served in a tall glass with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

 

You also had to pay for ice cream when you finally found the counter by the Spa pool. It was free at certain times in the buffet but we really never made an effort to find it since they moved the location around and did not direct the passengers to it. They would rather you paid for the sundaes and shakes by the pool. It was always available in the buffet on X as well as softserve.

 

The service is more formal on X. If my DH chose not to order an appetizer or soup, they brought his salad out while we were eating the other items. On X, he would be served the same course with everyone else. The bus boy acted as your wine steward, no sommelier making suggestions. The wine list on X is much more extensive.

 

We liked the dispensers on Princess for the hot beverages which came out very hot. This made for a nice cup of tea. The cups were also bigger than on Celebrity which offered a barely 4 ounce cup. Princess had a decent sized cup for coffee or tea. The coffee ranged from the merely adequate to the downright execrable. I stick to tea bags since I can control what I actually get.

 

Celebrity does have nice trays with cloth placemats and cloth napkins in the buffet and waiters to carry it for you instead of just large platters that you have to juggle with your drink. They also have a sandwich station all during lunch where they will make your sandwich to order. They would have these scrumptious pretzel rolls that we would keep going back for. It seemed that Princess only had sandwiches from 3-4 PM in the buffet. I didn’t see it as a food option in the Princess Patter. Maybe it was only for those coming back from a late shore excursion.

 

The pizza on the Coral Princess was very good with an excellent crust and they would make you whatever you wanted, just like Celebrity would.

 

I do have to hand it to Princess for the continuous buffet even if I don’t see the need for it to be 24 hours. Celebrity would shut down breakfast an hour before lunch where on Princess they would close one side of the buffet to get ready for lunch and continue serving breakfast on the alternate side until lunch was up and running. We never tried the buffet for dinner as we prefer the dining room experience for that meal.

 

Shore excursions: Princess really shines on this part of the experience. The shore excursions were many and varied, with some unusual choices. You could be as active or sedentary as you liked. Celebrity’s excursions are rather humdrum with more of an emphasis on shopping.

 

When coming back from shore excursions on Celebrity there is a tent set up on the dock for passengers where you could get a drink of cold water and/or fruit punch and a cold cloth for your fevered brow when you are returning to the ship. There was nothing like that on Princess.

 

The production shows were terrific on the Coral Princess and most of the other entertainers were also pretty good . We liked the option of 2 different shows a night but the seating in both theaters was limited. The theater only had a capacity of 600 on a ship with 1980 passengers. The sightlines were excellent but this was not set up as a "show lounge" like the Universe Lounge.

 

If you were not sitting on the aisle, you could forget about that after-dinner drink as the theater was stadium seating and the poor drink servers would have to crawl over several people to serve you. Because we had early seating we found ourselves racing to the theater a half hour before the show if we wanted to get 4 seats together.

 

Celebrity’s theater will hold half the passengers on the ship and is set up as a “show lounge” with loveseat style seating and small tables to hold your beverages. It was much more conducive to ordering that after dinner drink.

 

Overall, we like Celebrity best but Princess will upgrade you if you book a guarantee cabin. We have never been upgraded on Celebrity.

 

Just a couple things.... On the S class ships, there are no pitchers of ice water in the cabins. No trays in the buffet and no help with taking your food to the table. I personally hate when staff tries to grab my food and carry it for me, so I was happy at that. Princess has free soft serve ice cream at the ice cream bar by the pool. They've had this for a over two years.

 

To the OP: I've cruised Princess many times and decided to try Celebrity. I had a nice time and I may go on a Celebrity cruise again, but Princess is still my cruise line of choice. I liked Celebrity's balcony cabin for the couch and big screen TV on the S class ships. The bed was more comfortable than the beds on Princess. Bathroom was a nice size. I prefer the cruise experience on Princess. Celebrity was downright sedate and it seemed like the ship was half empty even though I know it was sold out. It was very, very quiet. The evening buffet on Celebrity is limited. Food is subjective, but I like Princess food better. Pizza on Princess is much better. I missed MUTS, International Cafe, shopping and fun on Princess. I'm not a party person at all, but it just seemed like there was more activity on Princess. I had a nice experience on Celebrity and there's nothing wrong with it. I personally just like Princess better.