My comparison between Celebrity and Princess

[Go-Bucks!]

Just returned from my first Celebrity cruise on the Reflection. Had a 1A balcony room on the hump (great location). Wanted to share my thoughts on the experience as compared to my experiences on Princess. Granted, this was just one time on Celebrity vs. 6 Princess cruises, but here are some insights on a number of areas. Overall, I like both cruiselines and will cruise on either again. Some specifics, though, are:

 

Liked these on Celebrity

1) Large, deep covered balcony (had the triple sized one)

2) Roomy, well designed bathroom with large shower with doors and decent amount of storage space

3) Extremely comfortable beds and pillows

4) Great buffet layout (stations) that didn't seem congested, even when busy. Lots of seating including lots of outdoor seating with no smoking allowed.

5) Excellent buffet food - far better than Princess. Same quality as MDR.

6) Officers/staff were very visible and talked with passengers, asking if you were having a good time and was there anything they could help with

7) Very friendly crew who greeted passengers whenever they saw you

8) A covered "welcome station" at the gangway that had icy cold washcloths, water and punch, and seats to sit down to relax a minute before reboarding

9) MDR food was very good - about the same as Princess but I felt some of it was better, except for the bread - bread is much better on Princess

10) Nicer balcony floor - it was a wood laminate that was much more comfortable to stand on than Princess' blue cutout matting

11) The free drinks include lemonade and juice, although the orange juice was very watery

12) Many more TV stations, but much fewer movies - and the movies they do have were mostly violent R-rated

13) Persian Gardens (same thing as Princess' Thermal Suites) - many more hot stone beds (16) that were nice and hot, 2 different type of saunas, one aromatic steam room, and a cold room (25 degrees F, felt great). And each of these rooms could seat 7-15 people each!

14) Bigger and more elevators (8 of them are glass)

15) Very easy to get around the ship. No trying to figure out which elevators to use to get to certain places on certain decks.

16) Ship did not feel crowded despite having 3,000 pax

17) Very little "junk mail" delivered to cabin

18) Escargot is on the Every Night menu in the MDR! Yumm - they were the best ones I've ever had!

19) Lovely large MDR

20) Guest Services desk much less crowded and had more crew to help

21) Very few smoking areas and did not smell smoke anywhere. Nice to have a smoke free casino too.

 

Don't like as well on Celebrity

1) Balcony cabin was larger than the same on Princess, but cost more. It was much narrower than a Princess minisuite (it had a very hard sofa), but cost about the same as a minisuite. I think a Princess minisuite gives more space for the money. Decor was OK.

2) Extremely little storage space! This was a big problem. Only 3 drawers, a shelf over the beds that was very high for a woman to reach, and a small closet with no shelf. I had to keep some stuff in my suitcase under the bed.

3) Afternoon tea isn't really afternoon tea. It was just the same goodies available to pick up in the buffet. You just get it yourself, make yourself some tea at the beverage station and sit in the buffet seating to eat it. And rock music was playing! Definitely not real "afternoon tea."

4) Have to prepay for excursions.

5) My balcony rail was very worn and rough with lots of splinters sticking up. Couldn't rest my arms or hands on it.

6) Very few daily activities compared to Princess.

7) Only 2 pools and they were both CROWDED (packed out) by 9am every sea day! Also, all the other lounge seating in other areas was too. Much easier to just lay out on my own balcony.

8) Only a few movies were shown in the Central lounge during the entire week. Princess has many (and better) movies everyday, including MUTS.

9) It was nice to have a covered balcony, but the "covering" was metal and it reverberated the neighbors conversation so it was often very noisy while sitting out there.

10) Very loud music in the foyer each night

 

Like on Princess

1) In minisuite (which is what I usually have), there is a nice big tub and large bathroom. Have a clothesline that helps with drying bathing suits or other clothing.

2) Afternoon tea - a classy event

3) Very good MDR food

4) Crew helps pax in buffet to get drinks and silverware. At dinner, there are tableclothes and it feels classier

5) More daily activities

6) Wider cabins

7) Lots of storage space in cabins

8) Don't have to prepay for excursions

9) MUTS and daily movies - many are very current ones

10) More pools that are less crowded

11) Lovely atrium/piazza with nice venues (esp IC) that makes sitting there a relaxing experience

12) Better loyalty perks

13) Better FCC program (although not as good as it was until recently)

14) Self-serve laundromats on each stateroom deck (and cheap too). Really a great perk for long cruises.

 

Don't like as well on Princess

1) Hard, uncomfortable beds and pillows - even the foam topper doesn't help. In all fairness, though, I heard they're replacing the beds so maybe that will help.

2) Buffet food that seems like banquet quality food to me. Dinner is a bit better, but still not MDR quality. Very small and crowded food area with too little seating. Very little outdoor seating and what is there is the smoking area. Plus, there is smoking allowed on a pool deck near the buffet and people have to walk through it to get in. Yuck.

 

I think prices are better on Princess, plus my travel agent gets me 15-18% discount so it makes the prices even better. Celebrity doesn't allow discounting.

 

I read on another thread that some people thought that the free drink package was causing others to be drunk, but I saw nothing like that. There was a very diverse demographic because it was spring break week. Not alot of elderly, mostly middle-agers (many with older children), and quite a few younger families with small children. Teenagers had basically taken over the Hideaway and often were a bit roudy. This is probably just because of school break.

 

Again, overall Celebrity provided a nice cruise and I'm willing to sail them again. Princess is still my favorite, but frankly any vacation where I don't have to work, cook, or clean house is a GREAT time! :D ;)

[Cruise Junky]

Thanks for posting. We have a 1A hump balcony next month looking forward to it

[Psychedout]

Just returned from my first Celebrity cruise on the Reflection. Had a 1A balcony room on the hump (great location). Wanted to share my thoughts on the experience as compared to my experiences on Princess. Granted, this was just one time on Celebrity vs. 6 Princess cruises, but here are some insights on a number of areas. Overall, I like both cruiselines and will cruise on either again. Some specifics, though, are:

 

Liked these on Celebrity

1) Large, deep covered balcony (had the triple sized one)

2) Roomy, well designed bathroom with large shower with doors and decent amount of storage space

3) Extremely comfortable beds and pillows

4) Great buffet layout (stations) that didn't seem congested, even when busy. Lots of seating including lots of outdoor seating with no smoking allowed.

5) Excellent buffet food - far better than Princess. Same quality as MDR.

6) Officers/staff were very visible and talked with passengers, asking if you were having a good time and was there anything they could help with

7) Very friendly crew who greeted passengers whenever they saw you

8) A covered "welcome station" at the gangway that had icy cold washcloths, water and punch, and seats to sit down to relax a minute before reboarding

9) MDR food was very good - about the same as Princess but I felt some of it was better, except for the bread - bread is much better on Princess

10) Nicer balcony floor - it was a wood laminate that was much more comfortable to stand on than Princess' blue cutout matting

11) The free drinks include lemonade and juice, although the orange juice was very watery

12) Many more TV stations, but much fewer movies - and the movies they do have were mostly violent R-rated

13) Persian Gardens (same thing as Princess' Thermal Suites) - many more hot stone beds (16) that were nice and hot, 2 different type of saunas, one aromatic steam room, and a cold room (25 degrees F, felt great). And each of these rooms could seat 7-15 people each!

14) Bigger and more elevators (8 of them are glass)

15) Very easy to get around the ship. No trying to figure out which elevators to use to get to certain places on certain decks.

16) Ship did not feel crowded despite having 3,000 pax

17) Very little "junk mail" delivered to cabin

18) Escargot is on the Every Night menu in the MDR! Yumm - they were the best ones I've ever had!

19) Lovely large MDR

20) Guest Services desk much less crowded and had more crew to help

21) Very few smoking areas and did not smell smoke anywhere. Nice to have a smoke free casino too.

 

Don't like as well on Celebrity

1) Balcony cabin was larger than the same on Princess, but cost more. It was much narrower than a Princess minisuite (it had a very hard sofa), but cost about the same as a minisuite. I think a Princess minisuite gives more space for the money. Decor was OK.

2) Extremely little storage space! This was a big problem. Only 3 drawers, a shelf over the beds that was very high for a woman to reach, and a small closet with no shelf. I had to keep some stuff in my suitcase under the bed.

3) Afternoon tea isn't really afternoon tea. It was just the same goodies available to pick up in the buffet. You just get it yourself, make yourself some tea at the beverage station and sit in the buffet seating to eat it. And rock music was playing! Definitely not real "afternoon tea."

4) Have to prepay for excursions.

5) My balcony rail was very worn and rough with lots of splinters sticking up. Couldn't rest my arms or hands on it.

6) Very few daily activities compared to Princess.

7) Only 2 pools and they were both CROWDED (packed out) by 9am every sea day! Also, all the other lounge seating in other areas was too. Much easier to just lay out on my own balcony.

8) Only a few movies were shown in the Central lounge during the entire week. Princess has many (and better) movies everyday, including MUTS.

9) It was nice to have a covered balcony, but the "covering" was metal and it reverberated the neighbors conversation so it was often very noisy while sitting out there.

10) Very loud music in the foyer each night

 

Like on Princess

1) In minisuite (which is what I usually have), there is a nice big tub and large bathroom. Have a clothesline that helps with drying bathing suits or other clothing.

2) Afternoon tea - a classy event

3) Very good MDR food

4) Crew helps pax in buffet to get drinks and silverware. At dinner, there are tableclothes and it feels classier

5) More daily activities

6) Wider cabins

7) Lots of storage space in cabins

8) Don't have to prepay for excursions

9) MUTS and daily movies - many are very current ones

10) More pools that are less crowded

11) Lovely atrium/piazza with nice venues (esp IC) that makes sitting there a relaxing experience

12) Better loyalty perks

13) Better FCC program (although not as good as it was until recently)

14) Self-serve laundromats on each stateroom deck (and cheap too). Really a great perk for long cruises.

 

Don't like as well on Princess

1) Hard, uncomfortable beds and pillows - even the foam topper doesn't help. In all fairness, though, I heard they're replacing the beds so maybe that will help.

2) Buffet food that seems like banquet quality food to me. Dinner is a bit better, but still not MDR quality. Very small and crowded food area with too little seating. Very little outdoor seating and what is there is the smoking area. Plus, there is smoking allowed on a pool deck near the buffet and people have to walk through it to get in. Yuck.

 

I think prices are better on Princess, plus my travel agent gets me 15-18% discount so it makes the prices even better. Celebrity doesn't allow discounting.

 

I read on another thread that some people thought that the free drink package was causing others to be drunk, but I saw nothing like that. There was a very diverse demographic because it was spring break week. Not alot of elderly, mostly middle-agers (many with older children), and quite a few younger families with small children. Teenagers had basically taken over the Hideaway and often were a bit roudy. This is probably just because of school break.

 

Again, overall Celebrity provided a nice cruise and I'm willing to sail them again. Princess is still my favorite, but frankly any vacation where I don't have to work, cook, or clean house is a GREAT time! :D ;)

 

Thanks! We have been contemplating a Celebrity Cruise :D

 

Hugh :cool:

[as19111]

Thanks for this comparison. We are very close to trying Celebrity and this gives me a lot of detail to compare and contrast.

 

I have to agree that the Princess buffet is not as good as it once was. The last couple of cruises, we avoided it as much as we could.

 

Your comments on the Celeb balcony was also very helpful. When I sit on the balcony, I want to escape completely and not have to listen to conversations on other balconies. I much prefer sitting on my balcony to sitting on the loungers in the public areas by the pool or sun deck, but I do enjoy the Sanctuary.

[Iamcruzin]

Thank you for your well balanced review. I would sail either line based on itinerary and price. I found that they are more alike than different. However, we do enjoy the food on Princess better.

[Happy2cruise]

 

 

I think prices are better on Princess, plus my travel agent gets me 15-18% discount so it makes the prices even better. Celebrity doesn't allow discounting.

 

Again, overall Celebrity provided a nice cruise and I'm willing to sail them again. Princess is still my favorite, but frankly any vacation where I don't have to work, cook, or clean house is a GREAT time! :D ;)

Normally sail Princess and our TA, like yours, gives a nice discount. Have to disagree about Celebrity not allowing discounting. We sailed Celebrity twice and just booked another one and have gotten discounts on all 3 cruises from TA.

 

Agree with you that Princess is our favorite too with Celebrity being #2:)

[Kartgv]

Thanks for a very thoughtful and well written comparison! We also cruise both lines and agree with almost everything you've said, though I do think some of your Celebrity comments may be more 'ship' related than 'cruise line' related (balcony size, buffet layout, more elevators, etc.). We've been very unhappy with the Celebrity buffet food and layout lately on the last 2 ships - Century and Summit. Next cruise will be on the Crown, so we'll see how things compare.

[kdooley]

Interesting that you pointed out the lack of storage in the Celebrity ship. We did a 10 day on the Reflection and had a horrible time with noise. The neighbors had 2 small kids running back and forth and making a lot of noise. Every time the door slammed, our cabin wall shook (I could go into great detail about how this happened many, many times at all hours of the day and night...). But on a recent Princess cruise we were discussing how they had that huge closet that supports the wall in the cabin and how it also absorbs the noise from the hallway.

 

On the food, I like The Princess buffet better (especially omelet station) but agree about beds and pool space between the ships.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Coral]

 

I think prices are better on Princess, plus my travel agent gets me 15-18% discount so it makes the prices even better. Celebrity doesn't allow discounting.

 

 

Doesn't Celebrity allow agents to give "OBC" instead of discounting? At least they did the last I checked.

[iancal]

Our on line TA gave us discounts in the form of OBC's on our last four cruises-as recently as our Christmas cruise. I think your TA is misleading you a little on this.

[Happy2cruise]

Doesn't Celebrity allow agents to give "OBC" instead of discounting? At least they did the last I checked.

We got both.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Happy2cruise

[Woobstr112G]

Go-Bucks;

 

Thanks for your well balanced thoughts on your likes/dislikes for both ships.....:):):)

 

Bob

[4cats4me]

doesn't celebrity allow agents to give "obc" instead of discounting? At least they did the last i checked.

 

 

yes

[Go-Bucks!]

Doesn't Celebrity allow agents to give "OBC" instead of discounting? At least they did the last I checked.

 

 

I got a little OBC from the agency but no cruise discount. With Princess, they give me a large discount as well as usually twice or more as much OBC as I got for this last cruise.

[Jetswdo]

I loved Celebrity Reflection. I booked Aqua class. We had a very comfortable

cabin near midship elevator and cabin above and below us. Very quiet. We found the food excellent wherever we ate. The only thing that I hated was not having self service washers and dryers on board. Having been on Princess before, what I didn't like was the horrible beds, and the food really was dreadful on one of the two sailings that I was on. But entertainment was much better on Princess. What I hate about Princess is their Sanctuary and Enclave policy. If that alone was what I wanted for the cruise, then Celebrity has it all over Princess in that department. We orrigionally booked Celebrity Silhouette for April cruise, but the itinerary was better for us on Princess for the one week we have available. So we switched to the Royal. The food reports have been very good so far; we are keeping our fingers crossed. I'm happy regarding washers and dryers, entertainment, etc. Not happy that I probobly will not be able to use Sanctuary due to difficulty getting in. But will plan on doing trivia on Princess.

Next trip planned is Bermuda, from NY after visiting relatives there. Celebrity will have our business once again. Fortunately it is 1 week, so laundry not an issue. The trip after that: Princess has the itinerary for partial Panama Canal that we want. So back to Princess!

[Cuppachat]

"people thought that the free drink package"

Really ? I haven't heard of this yet, where do I find out about it ?

[hllwdcruiser]

Thank you for your excellent comparison post. We have not sailed nearly as much as most of the experts on this board but after only 4 voyages even we have noticed some things going downhill in Princess.

 

A small example - there were no cool washcloths being handed out when we returned to the ship after a day in the ports....no cups of cool water either. After hours of walking in the hot Caribbean sun those little amenities were sorely missed.

 

Just curious, is it possible for you to describe why you thought the Buffet was better on Celebrity? Was it the selection, the presentation, the preparation or all three?

[Iamcruzin]

"people thought that the free drink package"

Really ? I haven't heard of this yet, where do I find out about it ?

 

Celebrity has been running a 123 Go Promo on and off for the past year. You can choose the free classic drink package, OBC or free gratuities. On some sailings you get a choice of two out of the three.

Edited March 17, 2014 by Iamcruzin

[cantbackup]

We are not as experienced at cruising as others on this Board, have been on NCL, Holland America, Princess and Celebrity each a couple of times. And, while this is not an amenity we would want to use again, I have to give a plug for Princess medical facilities.

 

On a trans-pacific trip to Hawaii, my husband had chest pains. (it was nothing) We went to the medical facility, and struck up a conversation with the dr. He is a traveling doc, who goes from cruise line to cruise line. He said the best medical facility of all of them is Princess. We were on the Golden, and he said that particular ship rivalled many shore hospital clinics. He was speaking in terms of live saving and diagnostic equipment.

 

That is not a perspective I am "happy" to have, but it is one that thankfully, most do not hear about, and certainly if you do hear about it, few get to get a comparison from a professional point of view.

 

We have an upcoming Princess from San Fran to Alaska; we look forward to al of it and HOPE not to use the best medical resources on the high seas.

[chamima]

We just did a B2B on the Celebrity Eclipse and then the Royal Princess.

I wrote about it on the Celebrity boards under "Has anyone else noticed less crew per passenger lately? "

We were in Aqua class on Celebrity and so dined in Blu not the main dining room.

 

I agree with pretty much everything you had to say.

We found the food much better on Princess . (We were on the new Royal so had the HUGE new buffet.)

We also felt the crew was friendlier and there were more of them (not being stressed might have accounted for the friendlier) on Princess.

 

Each line has it's pluses and minuses but for the time being I think Princess has the edge.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thank you for your excellent comparison post. We have not sailed nearly as much as most of the experts on this board but after only 4 voyages even we have noticed some things going downhill in Princess.

 

A small example - there were no cool washcloths being handed out when we returned to the ship after a day in the ports....no cups of cool water either. After hours of walking in the hot Caribbean sun those little amenities were sorely missed.

 

We were greeted with cool washcloths at every port on our Panama Canal cruise on Coral Princess this January. [And there were convenient barrels to toss them before we got on the gangway.]

[Hlitner]

"people thought that the free drink package"

Really ? I haven't heard of this yet, where do I find out about it ?

 

This is the new trend sweeping the mass market cruise industry. As has been posted, Celebrity began marketing (usually 3 or 4 times a year) a program they call 1-2-3 where you can choose their Classic Drink Package as a booking amenity. HAL is now just starting their own drink package program. And the trend is quickly spreading to all the lines. But there is a caveat and we warn our fellow cruisers to BEWARE!

 

In the case of these booking amenities, free is not always what it appears. For example, a few months ago we booked a lengthy HAL cruise that included their new drink package. 2 weeks later they ended the free drink promo and significantly dropped the price of the cruise (without the drink package). We repriced (and rebooked) the cruise with a savings of over $3000 by simply dropping the drink package. We have seen similar things with the Celebrity 1-2-3 Promotion where you can sometimes find that booking without the promotion will save you more then enough money to buy your own drinks. So one needs to carefully consider booking amenities and monitor price changes.

 

Hank

[LewesBeach]

Thanks for this detailed comparison. We will b Elite after our next Princess Cruise in May and are seriously considering Celebrity next. I am concerned about what I recently read about very loud music being pumped throughout the ship, ostensibly to attract a younger more hip crowd. You confirmed this and frankly, thats a deal-breaker for me. If that issue doesn't get rectified, I'll never book Celebrity.

[Kristal Blade]

We did our first Celebrity cruise last year and loved it. The food is very good, but yes, they do pipe loud music out a lot. However, when we were seated under a speaker in the buffet we just asked them to turn it down and they always did!

 

Don't dismiss Celebrity just for the music because they will accommodate those of us who prefer calmer, quieter conditions.

 

We have done 2 Princess cruises and are about to do another later this year.

 

Celebrity has way better food than Cunard, which we experienced on QM2 on a trans Atlantic recently.

[Go-Bucks!]

I am concerned about what I recently read about very loud music being pumped throughout the ship, ostensibly to attract a younger more hip crowd. You confirmed this and frankly, thats a deal-breaker for me. If that issue doesn't get rectified, I'll never book Celebrity.

 

 

Just to clarify - the loud music was being played by a live band in the grand foyer in the evening and could not be heard in my cabin which was near the foyer area. It was not piped in music being played all over the ship. The ship was very quiet during the daytime except for the pool area. Quiet music was played in the buffet. The band at night was the only loud music I ever heard. Definitely don't avoid Celebrity because of just one band at night in the foyer.