Celebrity or Princess

[NOSaints1]

If you were to sail on one line, based on food, price, entertainment which one would you pick?

 

 

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[cr8tiv1]

I've done one Celebrity cruise to Alaska, one Holland America repo from Vancouver to San Diego, and several Norwegian cruises. I found both Celebrity and Holland to be very comparable to Princess with only a few minor differences (don't like NCL). I've became an Elite Captain Circle Member on Princess because of the attention to details and their loyalty perks. Have you tried either? Everyone has their personal opinions. Cruise both lines to find out which matches you best. Have fun doing this.

[TM]

We've sailed on Celebrity twice, the most recent being last fall on the Reflection. We're elite on Princess. Considering everything we will typically always pick Princess first. It just seems a better fit for us. Food is always subjective but I think Princess is better, particularly the soups and pastas. The specialty restaurants on Celebrity are quite a bit pricier than those on Princess. We've also found the entertainment to be better on Princess although that can vary amongst sailings and again this is subjective. Plus it's hard to give up the perks for Princess Platinum and Elite. We were close to achieving them with Celebrity but they just changed their program so now we're a few cruises away from attaining them. I like being able to go to the stateroom as soon as we get on a Princess ship. Typically on Celebrity that doesn't happen till between 1:30 - 2:00 pm.

 

Hopefully you realize that asking this on a Princess board will get you responses mostly favorable to Princess. Yet if you ask this on the Celebrity board those folks will steer you toward Celebrity. It's all a matter of personal choice which is why there are so many cruise lines with a variety of ship's to hopefully meet everyone's individual needs and desires.

 

Tom

Edited February 19, 2014 by TM

[Pam in CA]

If you were to sail on one line, based on food, price, entertainment which one would you pick?

Food is very subjective and from what I've read, for the best cruise experience on Celebrity, you should book an Aqua class cabin. When comparing prices, Celebrity doesn't discount but TAs can offer you OBC (which is not combinable with other OBC) whereas a Princess TA can quote you a discount of 10-20% and give you OBC (which is combinable with any other OBC) and perks.

 

In my experience, and not having booked Aqua Class, the food, service and cabin on Celebrity was substandard to Princess. I found it very expensive compared to Princess even for a balcony cabin.

[debandbruce]

Celebrity for us. We find the cabins larger, don't have to book a suite to get a sofa in the room. To us the food is better and the buffet wins hands down. We have dined in the regular MDR and in Blu when we sailed Aqua class and found the food in both places excellent. The S class ships have a solarium which I love. I like having an enclosed pool as an option as I love to swim and can do so in any weather.

Having said that, we have enjoyed our Princess cruises and are trying the Royal Princess next month. I understand the buffet is much improved so looking forward to that. Still wish there was a sofa in our cabin but not a deal breaker. My hubby is not happy that it is an extra charge for the steam room on the Royal, he loves the S class gyms on Celebrity and the fact that the steam room is no extra charge. We also find the staff much more enthusiastic and willing to help on Celebrity. We feel much more pampered with them.

As it's been said everything is subjective and we are happy we don't have to choose! Enjoy your holiday whatever line you decide on.

Edited February 19, 2014 by debandbruce

[NOSaints1]

We've only sailed Carnival. It would be nice if our days sailed to transferred.

 

 

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[emileg]

Both Princess and Celebrity are great cruise lines and are our two favorites. You won't mistake one for the other as the ships have very different character. However, I would agree with the above posters that when you go on Celebrity, choose Aqua class if you can afford it, as the Celebrity MDR food and service is not quite as good as Princess. In Aqua, you get to dine every night in a specialty restaurant called Blu. On Princess, the food and service in the MDR are so good, you don't need a specialty restaurant.

 

None of the Celebrity ships have a wrap-around promenade whereas all the Princess ships, except the Royal, do. Nevertheless the non-wrap-around promenades on Celebrity are better than the what little public area that is available on the Royal.

 

You can't go wrong with either cruise line. I would highly recommend instead of choosing one line over the other, try both.

[evandbob]

I've sailed the Crown Princess and the Celebrity Summit, and enjoyed both. However the food and entertainment on Celebrity was better IMO, I especially enjoyed the veal dishes in the MDR and in the Celebrity specialty restaurant. As for entertainment, the Summit had Lindsay Hamilton singing one night. She's the British equivalant of Patti Lupone.

Edited February 19, 2014 by evandbob

[NOSaints1]

I guess it Would be a step up from Carnival.

 

 

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[DrivesLikeMario]

Definitely, absolutely a step (or three) up from Carnival!

 

I prefer Princess simply because of the Elite perks, but I'm also at one of the higher levels with Celebrity. I wouldn't hesitate to book a Celebrity cruise again and prefer their Solstice Class ships, but if Princess were doing the same itinerary, I'd choose them first.

 

IME, Celebrity's dining room was fantastic and their buffet food left A LOT to be desired. I found myself missing Princess. But, Celebrity's gyms are a lot nicer and have newer, more modern equipment.

 

One thing to consider is the pool situation on the Solstice Class ships if you're going to be doing a warm-weather itinerary. They have fewer pools than Princess does on most of their ships (excluding the Royal and the Small Ships of course). I would not choose to cruise with them if I wanted to be out by the pool every day - it's just way too crowded.

[OCruisers]

Both Princess & Celebrity are very nice cruise lines and we have cruised on both and certainly have nothing bad to say about Celebrity.

We've found Princess to be the best "All Around" fit for us so we cruise on Princess way most often. :D

 

LuLu

~~~~

[4cats4me]

They're both good cruise lines, but right now Celebrity gets my vote, nicer cabins , MUCH roomier bathrooms in even the most basic cabin, better buffet layout, better buffet food, excellent cuisine , yu don't have to pay $40 a day to lay in Celebrity's sanctuary ; it's free Better martini bar, more comfy beds

Even the entertainment was good

[Jetswdo]

If sitting in a very comfortable adult only area with thalasotherapy pool- free to all passengers and plenty of space is a deal breaker------Celebrity

If running like a maniac to try to purchase loungers to sit in similar area without pool, and then being turned away-----Princess

 

Aqua class on Celebrity which included a comfortable stateroom with balcony, included access to steam rooms and saunas, excellent food in Blu- healthy but tasty offerrings.

 

non alcoholic packages that also includes water and more soda choices- Celebrity-

 

The last time that I was on a Princess sailing was 2006- Food was lousy on two different sailings and ships.

 

Now, if you don't need the Sanctuary or enclave, and you are on a Princess sailing where the food is good, the prices are probobly more reasonable than Celebrity. Also, Princess has self service washers and dryers. Celebrity doesn't.

I will be on Royal Princess in a couple of months. The objective on this cruise is the 3 ports to go snorkeling. Everything else is secondary.

[Cabunit]

Short answer: Both!

 

Only slightly longer answer: Usually the itinerary and/or sailing dates decide for us.

[Working 2 Cruise]

They're both good cruise lines, but right now Celebrity gets my vote, nicer cabins , MUCH roomier bathrooms in even the most basic cabin, better buffet layout, better buffet food, excellent cuisine , yu don't have to pay $40 a day to lay in Celebrity's sanctuary ; it's free Better martini bar, more comfy beds

Even the entertainment was good

 

Drinks and packages (and fares) seem to be a lot higher on Celebrity... That is one of the reasons I haven't tried Celebrity yet... That and the platinum benefits and the military OBC we get from Princess.

 

That said, I sailed with Carnival twice, the least cruise was on the Splendor.. And I said never again... I did get a "free" cruise offer from Carnival and we are not taking it... Saving towards our next Princess cruise!

[jomf]

We have cruise both several times.

Celebrity wins on all counts.

We have found Celebrity to have better food, service and definitely a better bed!

[ready2cruzagain]

I love both Celebrity and Princess but if given a choice, I would pick Princess. The reason is the entertainment. On Celebrity the music was geared to a much older clientele. Big band era music, a guitar player, a piano player and a Latin band.

 

Princess had several types of bands that were not geared to the people in their 80's and older.

 

As far as food goes, very comparable IMHO but like others said...it is subjective. I did like Celebrity's breakfast buffet better than any other cruise line though.

[fishywood]

On Celebrity there are very significant differences in amenities between their M-class and S-class ships as opposed to Princess whose ships (other than the two small ones) are all more alike than different. If deciding between specific ships you should let us know which ones.

 

I will concede that Celebrity's cabins are larger and beds more comfortable. And on my one-and-only cruise with them, Breakfast in the MDR was among the best I have experienced. But that was the only culinary highlight: on all other dining aspects, and on all forms of activities and entertainment, Princess blows them away.

 

The service at Celebrity Select Dining (their version of Anytime) was the worst I have ever had on any ship by an unfathomable margin--an hour or more between starters and entrees every night. The simplest requests such as sauce on the side, or substituting a vegetable for one offered with a different entree, were refused. The buffet, while of acceptable quality for an alternative, offered the same pizza, pasta, sushi and curries every single night. The pay restaurants were inferior not just to those on Princess but even ones on NCL that charge less than half what Celebrity does.

 

If you have late dinner seating, or choose to dine later on Select, you will have a pre-dinner show every night, and emerge from the dining room to find yourself on the Mary Celeste. The only late-night entertainment is the on-demand movies in your cabin--which you pay $10 for! And the bars listed in the daily program as open until 12:30 would be stacking chairs and locking up the stock by 11; it took persistent begging to be served.

 

All public rooms, especially bars and restaurants, have no windows and are kept very dark. Celebrity obviously wants you to feel like you are at some artsy-fartsy boutique hotel rather than on a cruise ship. Thanks, but no thanks, I'll stick with a real cruise line like Princess.

[geoherb]

Princess usually wins our business based on prices and itineraries that fit our schedule. We've been on three Celebrity cruises and had a good time on them. I'd book another if it fit our schedule and there wasn't a Princess or Holland America cruise at a better price at the same time.

 

We've taken four HAL cruises. I like that we can get our Carnival Corp. stockholder benefit on those cruises like we do on Princess. I miss our free Internet package. And after our next cruise, we'll be Elite on Princess, so those will be other perks to consider when booking a cruise.

 

Overall, the food and service on all three is about the same. We had some of the best waiters ever on a Celebrity cruise--and also some of the worst on our last one.

[eclue]

On Celebrity there are very significant differences in amenities between their M-class and S-class ships as opposed to Princess whose ships (other than the two small ones) are all more alike than different. If deciding between specific ships you should let us know which ones.

 

I will concede that Celebrity's cabins are larger and beds more comfortable. And on my one-and-only cruise with them, Breakfast in the MDR was among the best I have experienced. But that was the only culinary highlight: on all other dining aspects, and on all forms of activities and entertainment, Princess blows them away.

 

The service at Celebrity Select Dining (their version of Anytime) was the worst I have ever had on any ship by an unfathomable margin--an hour or more between starters and entrees every night. The simplest requests such as sauce on the side, or substituting a vegetable for one offered with a different entree, were refused. The buffet, while of acceptable quality for an alternative, offered the same pizza, pasta, sushi and curries every single night. The pay restaurants were inferior not just to those on Princess but even ones on NCL that charge less than half what Celebrity does.

 

If you have late dinner seating, or choose to dine later on Select, you will have a pre-dinner show every night, and emerge from the dining room to find yourself on the Mary Celeste. The only late-night entertainment is the on-demand movies in your cabin--which you pay $10 for! And the bars listed in the daily program as open until 12:30 would be stacking chairs and locking up the stock by 11; it took persistent begging to be served.

 

All public rooms, especially bars and restaurants, have no windows and are kept very dark. Celebrity obviously wants you to feel like you are at some artsy-fartsy boutique hotel rather than on a cruise ship. Thanks, but no thanks, I'll stick with a real cruise line like Princess.

 

 

I totally agree with you..we sailed on the Mellennium through the Panama Canal and it was the worst cruise ever.....mediocre food, poor service, no entertainment to speak of unless you like to listen to the 90 y0 xylophone player ...the ship was like a nursing home...simply awful.

We love Princess and will stick with them!!

[terrierjohn]

We would probably choose Celebrity ahead of Princess, although we have done more Princess cruises.

We would find it hard to differentiate between the food served in the inclusive restaurants, but Celebrity would edge the it on the Specialities.

Service standards on both lines are excellent.

For entertainment Princess edges it mainly because of the number of venues they have on their ships.

However for standard balcony cabins the X Solstice class is way ahead of Princess. The bathrooms are better designed with a solid perspex type shower door rather than the infamous Princess plastic ones, their balconies are bigger, except for the C deck Grand class ones, and they include a sofa. Their only downside is the lack of storage space compared with the Grand class cabins.

The Ocean view buffet on the Solstice class is streets ahead of the Horizon court on the Grand class, mainly because the servery area has access from both sides of the buffet and they have fewer long lines.

The Final decider for us for Southamptom based cruises is that over the last couple of years when we have needed to book early to secure an accessible cabin Celebrity's launch pricing has been much lower than Princess, and so far we have never needed to test X's willingness to honour price drops for existing bookings. However Princess did reduce our May cruise when they offered better prices this January, so maybe their higher intial prices should not be seen as such a disadvantage.

[hllwdcruiser]

We haven't sailed on Celebrity, but were just on the Ruby last week. We met a lot of passengers who have sailed Celebrity and all of them, with no exception, told us that they thought the food on Celebrity was better. Again, food is subjective, and we happen to find a lot of dishes on Princess that we like - but all the comments made us curious about Celebrity.

 

Other than the food, everyone seemed to think that both lines are on par with each other, some things better on one, other things better on the other. They all said prices and itinerary are usually better on Princess.

 

I fell in love with Princess after our first cruise on the Ruby and we plan to sail with Princess again in Alaska - but will definitely try Celebrity some time in the future.

[Shake]

If you were to sail on one line, based on food, price, entertainment which one would you pick?

 

Based only on those 3 factors.

 

Celebrity wins on food and entertainment, Princess on price.

[eandj]

Based only on those 3 factors.

 

Celebrity wins on food and entertainment, Princess on price.

 

Two areas the OP wants info on are the most subjective...food and entertainment. :eek: Considering tastes differ, I wouldn't name one better or worse for someone other than someone I knew well. Even DH has surprised me with his choices of a "good" show as of late. And every meal presents different reactions to different courses. Certainly enough choices on both lines to replace something you don't like. As far as pricing that too can vary like crazy. All depends on itineraries, room level, date etc. I have paid much less for X cruises and when comparing the balcony rooms on the new ships, got more for the money. But we got a great price from a TA for our recent Princess 7 day Carib cruise getting a group rate. So pricing isn't a cut and dry answer either.

They are more alike than different. I say try them both. :) Remember that individual ships vary on lines too. Know what you are comparing.

[jaspersmommy]

There is an identical thread to this one on the Celebrity board right now. How timely for me since I really love Celebrity and have just booked my first cruise with Princess. After the first page of responses on the Celebrity board, I was scared enough to consider cancelling the Princess cruise that I just booked.

 

After having read many more responses now, I'm starting to realize that I should ignore some of the more strong opinions expressed on both boards. You can see loyalty to a particular brand really showing through from many posters. I also don't put much store in opinions from anyone that has only sailed a particular cruise line once. It's not that their experience isn't valid, it's just that the experience could be an isolated incident or that they had issues adjusting to a different cruise line. I'm thinking that I should listen more to the people who have sailed both lines frequently - they have a lot more experience to draw on, and probably have less bias. JMHO.

 

I will say so far that the cruises I looked at on Princess seem pricey compared to what I've paid per night on Celebrity (although I know a lot of different things can affect that). However, I am very impressed at Princess' itineraries - they are quite refreshing and offer more selection. I'm not sure what I'll end up doing, but after my initial panic, I'm starting to settle down a bit and think that I will likely have as good a time on Princess as I do on Celebrity.