Celebrity or Princess?

[4cats4me]

We are booked on the Grand Princess in a Vista suite. It's a fairly roomy suite with a huge balcony but the stateroom itself looks really dated. After sailing on Celebrity S-class, I'm struggling with going "backwards" to a dated suite (where the nightly cost is considerably higher than anything I've paid on X so far in a comparable suite).

 

I think I'm going to cancel and look at some X itineraries, although it doesn't look as though a Pacific Coastal will be an option :(

 

One thing I've seen complaints about many times with Princess is constant announcements over the PA system. Can anyone comment on whether those complaints were exaggerated? Are they really that bad?

 

 

I love the Vista suites on Princess due to their large balconies and corner location , but actually I prefer the mini suite layout for the room . The vistas are ALL about that wonderful balcony. Dolphin deck much deeper balcony than Emerald

 

 

There are no incessant announcements on Princess, maybe once a day, but I can tell you, on Celebrity last year I absolutely wanted to pull my hair out with the longest announcement in the world every day around noon I think? THe P.A. System was loud inside the ship and I couldn't even hea myself think while shopping in the gift shop. I swear the announcement lasted a good 15 to 20 minutes. Yes, it was the only announcement of the day, but really annoying. Princess will have a couple announcements, but I still can't figure out why cruise companies put out a little newspaper outlining he day's activities if they're going to say it all over a P.A. System anyway

 

I love the Solstice class rooms on Celebrity. Love AQ

Edited February 20, 2014 by 4cats4me

[hockeymom21]

As you can see, we have been on many Princess and in many rooms. From regular balcony to mini suite to extended balcony on the new Royal. We just went on Celebrity Reflection. I can give you a few of my personal likes/dislikes. Keeping in mind everyone is different. Before we went on the Royal every person on Princess board was complaint about lack of mid stairs and long elevator waits. Didn't bother us. I personally will have a great vacation wherever we go!! What I love about Princess is entering into a beautiful foyer. The Royal foyer I think is glamorous. The Reflection has a gathering area almost vs foyer. I preferred Crown Grill over Reflection's Tuscan Grille food wise. Not Ambiance wise. I love a piano bar and missed that on Reflection. I love MUTS and missed that on Reflection. Now, on Princess we bring on our own wine/champagne. We don't walk around the ship with it. Fill a glass. Take a walk. Etc.. With that being said when we went on the a Royal we still spent lots of money on buckets of beers/Beverly Hills Iced Tea/bottles of wine in Vines. This year is the first year we had to pay $15 per bottle brought on board. Still, we thought that was worth it. Went to Total Wines. Picked up my online order of 90 rated $10 and under. Perfect. On Reflection we were offered premium beverage package. Amazing. Loved it. Again, all the people on Celebrity board complained about long waits. We rarely waited. Loved not having to sign any slips! I wasn't fond of the closet doors. Just a silly thing. I prefer Princess open closet right by bathroom. I did not use Reflection over the bed storage. Kind of a strange place. I prefer Princess safe in the closet area and not where it is on Reflection. Again personal preference. I loved Reflection glass shower doors. we had an aqua class room and loved the shower. Food wise this trip I have to say Reflection Blu beat Royal hands down. What an amazing week we had. Everything from frogs legs to quail to lamb to veal. Wonderful staff in Blu. Already booked for next February again just for Blu. We did not once go to Spa even though we could have used Persian Gardens. Now, on the Royal we paid to use the Enclave. They only take so many people per week. It was amazing. Hot spa pool with jets and showers. Will do that again on Regal in December. On Celebrity board people complained about pool chairs/pool music. I am an early riser. I got up before 7:30, grabbed and amazing Caffe Anericana from the coffee place, found 2 poolside chairs and sat there all day. If you didn't need to sit poolside- plenty of chairs. Reflection was like a laundry mania. There were plenty of hot fresh towels. Princess tends to run out. On the Reflection they come around with frozen icy wash cloths on sea days!!! Seriously. Loved it! Plenty of wait staff walking around taking drink orders. Missed the Pizza poolside that's on Princess. Again personal preference. I can honestly say I saw maybe 2 scooters. Definitely many many more on Princess. I missed that there is no Chef's dinner. We always try on different ships. Princess has a lovely Chef's dinner. I know people will laugh but the very best Chef's dinner we have ever had was on the Carnival Dream. That was actually in the kitchen!! So much fun! I personally loved Celebrity. Can't wait to go back. But love Princess too. We were talking with a couple on board who have been going on Norwegian. He said the same thing. What happens is you get to a certain status on your "regular" cruise line and it's hard to start over. What even made this first time Celebrity ship arrival nicer was because we had Aqua Class you can bypass the lines and we were on the ship in less than 10 minutes. Every ship is different. I look at those new RCCL coming out and even might have to give one of those a try!

[baldercash]

hockeymom21 I enjoyed your comparison and agreed with the majority of points.

You have a good perspective on cruising and enjoy the ship you are on regardless.

 

I haven't cruised Royal yet but you make very balanced points. I will be sailing Oasis for 26 days combined doing it's 2 TA's this fall, I swore I would never sail it when it 1st sailed but 5 years latter I am looking forward to give it a try. I will likely sail Royal or Regal in a few years as well. Never say never!

One of our best cruises ever was on Ruby as we had an aft cabin on the Aloha deck and hitting the aft pool each morning and having breakfast outside on the deck each day outside the buffet was great.

I have a FCC on Princess from sailing an LA cruise on Princess last year I have not decided which cruise I will take yet will combine with future cruise deposits I have.

 

Our recent cruise on Millie in an A1 aft cabin 35 day trans Pacific is the bench mark I now hold all cruises to yet while cruising it I met many who where disappointed with the ship and what it offered!

 

The benefits of being Elite & now Elite plus on X really enhance the cruise experience regardless of catagory booked.

The free laundry, dry cleaning, internet package and cocktails every night, smoothies and cappuccinos at breakfast and now specialty coffees offered at meals definitely throw bias X's way.

 

I still look forward to cruising other lines and since Princess has a much larger fleet then X a broader itinerary.

[blueboro]

We were on Caribbean Princess last year...good service...good cruise...food okay but not as good as X IMO. Buffet on Princess was an absolute zoo...no place to sit...and not near as many choices as X. The main problem I had with the Caribbean Princess was the layout. We quickly found you could "not get there from here" syndrome. Decks would just end and you had to figure out in order to get somewhere you had to go down two decks, and then go back up from the atrium. Plus, the aft elevators were absolutely confusing. Side by side elevators...one would go to certain decks and the one beside would not...so you had to go up...get off...and get on anther one if you chose the wrong elevator.

 

One thing we all loved on Princess was the Ultimate Balcony Dinner. We had an Emerald deck mini-suite far aft and had a huge balcony that allowed all 8 in our party to have the UBD while leaving Aruba. And 4 in our party did the Chef's Table and said it was the best thing they ever did on a cruise.

[UpcountryTravelers]

We were on Coral Princess twice in the last year and there were very few announcements. None were audible in our cabin unless we opened the door.

 

We also found the food and service on Coral Princess to be as good (and friendly) as we had gotten on Celebrity in 2012. But most of the posts on this thread seem to be comparing the newer ships, so I guess what others call "dated" decor strikes us as "classic." The new ships (on both Celebrity and Princess) are way too Vegas for our taste!

 

Agree. We loved our cruise on the Reflection, and will do Celebrity again at the drop of a hat (or a better itinerary). That said, Princess is still our favorite, as we like the ambiance of Princess (more nautical - Celebrity reminds me of a big city hotel). We are not heavy drinkers, so the loyalty program on Princess is far superior. I also like to be able to go to ANY bar at the pools.

 

Service in the buffets is far superior on Princess (now that they have started table service), but Celebrity buffet layout is better - well, except for Royal Princess, which is better than Celebrity OR any other Princess ship. MDR food is very similar, but the dining room design is more open on X.

 

Celebrity does have better variety in beverages: more than PCL's 5 brands of beer, and the Molecular Bar on Reflection is fabulous!!

 

My personal scale of cruise lines I have done is Carnival: 1, Princess: 10, Royal Caribbean: 8, Celebrity 10.5. I would happily cruise again on any of these except Carnival. Celebrity is more expensive than Princess, so they are pretty equal $ for $.

Edited February 21, 2014 by UpcountryTravelers

[obnurse]

For me both Princess and Celebrity are equal....not the same, but equal. Some things we love about Celebrity are: pool area furniture, the Solarium (adults only pool, no extra charge and VERY nice), standard balcony cabin is nicer (has sofa for guests), bathroom is better (shower door instead of fly away curtain), easier to get a seat in the show theater

 

Things we like better on Princess: MUTS (love it at night, dislike it during the day), self-service laundry, buffet at dinner time (usually mimics the menu in the MDR), better atmosphere in MDR (not as crowded, better lighting, service faster)

 

Some things I find equal: food service and quality, general service, entertainment

 

I would sail either line without apprehension. It comes down to date, itinerary and ship and cost. Both lines are our favorites....we can't go wrong!

[makkblin]

Celebrity hands down.

[dbsb3233]

You might love Princess, give it a try. You will never know for sure unless you experience it yourself.

 

 

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Our first Celebrity cruise is upcoming in April, but we've been on many RCCL cruises. I assume they're similar (being owned by RCCL). And we've been on 2 Princess cruises.

 

The food was better on RCCL, although not by a massive margin.

 

We liked the cabins better on Princess (the balcony rooms that have the storage area with the long door-less closet somewhat separate from the bed area (facing the bathroom). That divider wall (i.e. the backside of the closet) kind of separates the room in two, and acts as a sound and light buffer from the person using the bathroom and the person still sleeping. It also gives a nice space to get dressed separate from the bed area. And that long closet rod is twice as long and roomy as others, with tons of room to put the suitcases and lots of other stuff. The open closet without doors and drawers and other constrictions is a far superior design to any other cabin we've been in on RCCL or NCL.

[Clutterlady]

We are booked on the Grand Princess in a Vista suite. It's a fairly roomy suite with a huge balcony but the stateroom itself looks really dated. After sailing on Celebrity S-class, I'm struggling with going "backwards" to a dated suite (where the nightly cost is considerably higher than anything I've paid on X so far in a comparable suite).

 

I think I'm going to cancel and look at some X itineraries, although it doesn't look as though a Pacific Coastal will be an option :(

 

One thing I've seen complaints about many times with Princess is constant announcements over the PA system. Can anyone comment on whether those complaints were exaggerated? Are they really that bad?

 

Don't know where you found the constant announcements, but it wasn't on Princess.........

[CathyCruises]

As you can see, we have been on many Princess and in many rooms. From regular balcony to mini suite to extended balcony on the new Royal. We just went on Celebrity Reflection. I can give you a few of my personal likes/dislikes. Keeping in mind everyone is different. Before we went on the Royal every person on Princess board was complaint about lack of mid stairs and long elevator waits. Didn't bother us. I personally will have a great vacation wherever we go!! What I love about Princess is entering into a beautiful foyer. The Royal foyer I think is glamorous. The Reflection has a gathering area almost vs foyer. I preferred Crown Grill over Reflection's Tuscan Grille food wise. Not Ambiance wise. I love a piano bar and missed that on Reflection. I love MUTS and missed that on Reflection. Now, on Princess we bring on our own wine/champagne. We don't walk around the ship with it. Fill a glass. Take a walk. Etc.. With that being said when we went on the a Royal we still spent lots of money on buckets of beers/Beverly Hills Iced Tea/bottles of wine in Vines. This year is the first year we had to pay $15 per bottle brought on board. Still, we thought that was worth it. Went to Total Wines. Picked up my online order of 90 rated $10 and under. Perfect. On Reflection we were offered premium beverage package. Amazing. Loved it. Again, all the people on Celebrity board complained about long waits. We rarely waited. Loved not having to sign any slips! I wasn't fond of the closet doors. Just a silly thing. I prefer Princess open closet right by bathroom. I did not use Reflection over the bed storage. Kind of a strange place. I prefer Princess safe in the closet area and not where it is on Reflection. Again personal preference. I loved Reflection glass shower doors. we had an aqua class room and loved the shower. Food wise this trip I have to say Reflection Blu beat Royal hands down. What an amazing week we had. Everything from frogs legs to quail to lamb to veal. Wonderful staff in Blu. Already booked for next February again just for Blu. We did not once go to Spa even though we could have used Persian Gardens. Now, on the Royal we paid to use the Enclave. They only take so many people per week. It was amazing. Hot spa pool with jets and showers. Will do that again on Regal in December. On Celebrity board people complained about pool chairs/pool music. I am an early riser. I got up before 7:30, grabbed and amazing Caffe Anericana from the coffee place, found 2 poolside chairs and sat there all day. If you didn't need to sit poolside- plenty of chairs. Reflection was like a laundry mania. There were plenty of hot fresh towels. Princess tends to run out. On the Reflection they come around with frozen icy wash cloths on sea days!!! Seriously. Loved it! Plenty of wait staff walking around taking drink orders. Missed the Pizza poolside that's on Princess. Again personal preference. I can honestly say I saw maybe 2 scooters. Definitely many many more on Princess. I missed that there is no Chef's dinner. We always try on different ships. Princess has a lovely Chef's dinner. I know people will laugh but the very best Chef's dinner we have ever had was on the Carnival Dream. That was actually in the kitchen!! So much fun! I personally loved Celebrity. Can't wait to go back. But love Princess too. We were talking with a couple on board who have been going on Norwegian. He said the same thing. What happens is you get to a certain status on your "regular" cruise line and it's hard to start over. What even made this first time Celebrity ship arrival nicer was because we had Aqua Class you can bypass the lines and we were on the ship in less than 10 minutes. Every ship is different. I look at those new RCCL coming out and even might have to give one of those a try!

 

I was interested to see what you had to say but had to give up as it is so hard to read. Maybe some other poster would be willing to make paragraphs??

Edited February 21, 2014 by CathyCruises

[dinosaurdem]

We are booked on the Grand Princess in a Vista suite. It's a fairly roomy suite with a huge balcony but the stateroom itself looks really dated. After sailing on Celebrity S-class, I'm struggling with going "backwards" to a dated suite (where the nightly cost is considerably higher than anything I've paid on X so far in a comparable suite).

 

I think I'm going to cancel and look at some X itineraries, although it doesn't look as though a Pacific Coastal will be an option :(

 

One thing I've seen complaints about many times with Princess is constant announcements over the PA system. Can anyone comment on whether those complaints were exaggerated? Are they really that bad?

 

Sailed Princess last year for the 5th time.. Yes they are irritating.

[Clutterlady]

Sailed Princess last year for the 5th time.. Yes they are irritating.

 

Will repeat again, except for an update around noon, or an update when in port or a late afternoon update from the captain there are no "irritating announcements"....Princess is known for very few announcements! Oh but wait...this is a Celebrity board...lame!!!

[hughdm]

%#$?>%^@$!!!

 

We have absolutely loved our Celebrity cruises. I really want to do a Pacific Coastal cruise in spring 2015. I was so disappointed to see that the Century was leaving the fleet in April 2015 as it had some nice Pacific itineraries which really interested me. Recent discussions on the X board indicated that several people had been told by X that there would be no more Pacific Coastal cruises, so I started looking elsewhere.

 

I ended up booking this past weekend with Princess. Now I'm wondering if I've made a horrible mistake.:eek:

 

Tell me I won't be sorry...

We have done both lines, as you can see from my signature. Yes, IF Celebrity were doing your chosen itinerary, you might prefer it, but by no means will you have a horrible time on Princess Enjoy!

[baldercash]

Will repeat again, except for an update around noon, or an update when in port or a late afternoon update from the captain there are no "irritating announcements"....Princess is known for very few announcements! Oh but wait...this is a Celebrity board...lame!!!

 

We did a Princess cruise last Nov and they did have announcements twice a day.

As noted X does one announcement early midday by the Captain to give position and other information. It can be long winded at times and worse if given in multiple languages.

 

No one is saying Princess is announcing bingo and such.

Any announcement can be irritating as few passengers care what the longitude, latitude and speed of the ship is. No one wants to hear a port is being missed or bad weather is ahead.

[baldercash]

I was interested to see what you had to say but had to give up as it is so hard to read. Maybe some other poster would be willing to make paragraphs??

 

 

We have been on many Princess cruises and in many types of cabins from regular balcony's, mini suite's to an extended balcony on the new Royal.

 

We just sailed Celebrity Reflection.

I will give you a few of my personal likes and dislikes keeping in mind everyone is different.

 

Before we went on the Royal many people on the Princess board were complaining about lack of mid stairs and long elevator waits this didn't bother us.

I personally will have a great vacation wherever we go!!

 

What I love about Princess is entering into it's beautiful Piazza. The Royal foyer is glamorous while the Reflection has just a gathering area.

 

I preferred Crown Grill over Reflection's Tuscan Grille's food but not ambiance wise.

I love a piano bar and missed that on Reflection.

I love MUTS and missed that on Reflection.

 

On Princess we bring our own wine and champagne. We don't walk around the ship with it, fill a glass and take a walk, excreta.

With that said on the Royal we still spent a lot of money on buckets of beers, Beverly Hills Iced Tea and bottles of wine in Vines.

This year was the first year we paid a $15 per bottle brought on board charge and I still thought that was worth it.

We went to Total Wines to pick up our online order of 90 rated $10 and under wines before boarding. Perfect!

 

On Reflection we were offered a premium beverage package an amazing deal and we loved it.

People on the Celebrity board complain about long waits for drinks. We rarely waited and loved not having to sign any slips!

 

I wasn't fond of the closet doors a silly thing as I prefer Princess's open closet right by the bathroom.

I did not use Reflection's over the bed storage it is in a awkward place.

I prefer the Princess safe in the closet area and not where it is on the Reflection a personal preference.

I loved Reflection's glass shower doors, we had an aqua class room and loved the shower.

 

Food wise I have to say Reflection's Blu beat Royal hands down.

What an amazing week we had everything from frogs legs, quail, lamb to veal with wonderful staff in Blu.

We have already booked for next February again just for Blu.

 

We did go to the Spa even though we could have used the Persian Gardens.

On the Royal we paid to use the Enclave. They only take so many people per week and it was amazing a hot spa pool with jets and showers. I will do that again on Regal in December.

 

On the Celebrity board people complained about lack of pool chairs and pool music.

I am an early riser and get up before 7:30, grabbed an amazing Cafe' Americana from the coffee place, found 2 poolside chairs and sat there all day.

If you didn't need to sit poolside there are plenty of chairs.

 

Reflection was like laundry mania! There were plenty of hot fresh towels Princess tends to run out.

On the Reflection they come around with frozen icy wash cloths on sea days!!! Seriously loved it! Plenty of wait staff walking around taking drink orders.

I missed the Pizza poolside that's on Princess again personal preference.

 

I can honestly say I saw maybe just 2 scooters there are definitely many more on Princess ships.

 

I missed that there is no Chef's dinner as we always try it on different ships. Princess has a lovely Chef's dinner.

I know people will laugh but the very best Chef's dinner we have ever had was on the Carnival Dream. That was actually held in the kitchen!! So much fun!

 

I personally loved Celebrity and can't wait to go back but I also love Princess!

We spoke with a couple on board who have been cruising on Norwegian and they said the same thing. What happens is you reach a certain status on your "regular" cruise line and it's hard to start over.

 

What made this first time on a Celebrity boarding the ship even nicer was that we had Aqua Class which allows you to bypass the lines and we were on the ship in less than 10 minutes.

 

Every ship is different I look at the new RCCL ships coming out and might even give one a try!

 

I gleaned a fair amount of information from her post and I believe she will have a great vacation wherever she goes!!

[Putterdude]

Based upon our experience on the old Mercury and the Constellation I would have given a slight nod to Celebrity. Before I go on I must also praise Celebrity for the design of our accessible cabin on the Silhouette...beyond a doubt it was the finest cabin we have had on any ship on any line. Sadly that is where it ends.

 

We found the Silhouette without any character, the food very average, the entertainment severely lacking, the staff poorly trained, the pool area not adequate for the size of the ship, columns in the theatre (who thought of that), guest relations unable to deal with issues preferring to blame it a computer system that came over on the ark.

 

My DW probably said it best when she said "none of the issues we encountered actually were enough to spoil our b/b cruise but were enough to spoil the wow factor that we enjoyed on previous Celebrity cruises and enough to keep us from moving over to Celebrity full time".

[NOSaints1]

Does either one have if you book at one price and it goes down you get the difference in an OBC?

 

 

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