Princess suites and experience vs Celebrity

[XtaSea]

Would like some valuable input from knowledgeable Cruise Critic members. We have been cruising with Celebrity for awhile now and have two more cruises booked within the next four months. But for future cruises their pricing seems to be climbing exponentially, especially with their suites which we've recently booked. I understand that Celebrity has created a "suite experience" and includes a variety of services and amenities that may not be included on other lines. But from descriptions available, both here and on the website, it seems that the Princess mini-suite is comparable in size and layout to the Celebrity Sky suite--both being the entry-level suite for their respective line. In addition, we would like to plan an Alaskan cruise for 2017, either May or September, and I believe that only Princess and HAL are allowed access to Glacier Bay, which we feel is an important part of the Alaskan itinerary. We've cruised both lines in the past...Princess when the Grand was the newest ship, and Alaska on HAL some 20 years ago. Both were enjoyable, but things do change. For instance, we started cruising when RCCL launched Sovereign of the Seas as the world's largest ship and were regular RCCL cruisers for years. We returned to them last October for a Canada/NE cruise on Brilliance of the Seas and were, in many ways, underwhelmed. Not that we've ever had a bad cruise, but certainly some are better than others. We're mid-60s, active, fit and retired. We're not booze-cruisers, but certainly not snooze-cruisers, either. So after this long-winded set-up, I'm seeking input from anyone who can elaborate on any recent differences/similarities comparing Princess and Celebrity, especially with entry-level suites, as well as the other mainstays of cruising: food, entertainment, and other on-board activities.

[moki'smommy]

I have cruised Celebrity but not in a suite...so no comparison.

 

But, a Princess mini suite is not really a suite at all. It is a bigger cabin. It has a full sized couch, 2 TVs, and a bathtub. You do not get any of the suite amenities or perks.

 

Hope this helps.

[micmacmissy]

Great question and one I'm asking too- for the same reason! We are mostly Celebrity cruisers but the Alaska itineraries are much better, we are looking at June 2017.

 

So far the research I've done has yielded this: mini-suites get no perks other than the room being bigger. I think Celebrity is really trying to do that whole "ship within a ship" model where suite passengers don't mix with others- separate dining, separate club, etc. Princess doesn't seem to have the separate dining based on cabin selection.

 

Consensus also seems to be that Coral is the best ship to Alaska due to its layout (and avoid Island as it seems the retrofit screwed that ship up).

 

I think we're going to go with a regular balcony cabin, and spend the extra money on a land add-on before the cruise. Princess has some wonderful land options so you can see more of Alaska before/after.

 

Good luck with your planning and I look forward to hearing more from Princess regulars!

Edited January 6, 2016 by micmacmissy

[cynbar]

We often cruise both Celebrity and Princess, but our last few cruises have been in suites on Celebrity. Our next cruise, to the British Isles in May, will be in a mini suite on Princess. We have sailed in both mini suites and Sky suites in the past, and prefer the mini suite. Plenty of room, with a separate seating area with full couch and 2nd TV near the balcony door, as well as a full bath with tub/shower combo and full vanity. Plenty of closet space, and the closet area is separate and a good place to get dressed. No suite amenities with a mini suite, it's true, but we can get by without those. At this point we choose our cruise mostly based on itinerary, and Princess is a winner for the British Isles. We're sure we'll be quite comfortable in our mini suite.

[maggie.1008]

I have sailed Princess mini suites and X sky suites several times. Princess is 323 SQ. ft. including balcony. X is 300 with 79 sq.ft.balcony. Princess offers a bigger room and that is all. X offers Butler,Full bottle Champagne on arrival, private dining room Luminae. Plus 1 comp. spec. restaurant on 7 night cruise and 2 spec. restaurants on 8 night or longer. You can get anything you want from room service and you Butler sets up with linens on table or balcony. Also fruit and flowers in your cabin. For me there is no comparison. X is far nicer but does come at cost.

[cynbar]

I absolutely agree that Celebrity will provide more of a "suite experience" in a Sky Suite than you'd get in a Princess mini suit, although I prefer the layout of the mini suite.. But Celebrity does not offer the itinerary we want, and that seems to be true for the OP also. I just think that the mini suite is a nice cabin, and since it's offered on the ship we have booked, we'll be very comfortable there.

Edited January 6, 2016 by cynbar

[XtaSea]

Appreciate the responses so far and, Maggie, the square footage information provides great insight. We originally booked the X suites almost a year ago (during "wave" season) with the idea of gaining more cabin space with a more useful layout. This was prior, I think, to the announcement of Luminae, the restaurant for suite occupants, and certainly before any mention of including Sky Suites in Michael's Club participation. The X suite butler service will, I believe, mean little to us, and I can add a total beverage package for two for a week on Princess for around $790. Does anyone know if Princess offers a specialty dining package? I did not see that on the web site, although obviously we can purchase those on an a-la-carte basis. As far as the ship itself, Coral seems to be about the same size and passenger space ratio as the X M-class ships, which is the size we prefer. Again, our thanks for the responses.

[sunshine nana]

We have done the UK cruise on Princess from London twice and loved it. We spent extra time in London both times. The Princess mini-suite is just the right size for us. The first Celebrity cruise in an S1 was great with a wonderful butler, but the next two the butlers were almost worthless. We like MDR dining on Princess and eat breakfast and lunch in the MDR when we can as well as dinner every night. We really like eating lunch there on embarkation without having to spend a lot extra for a suite.

Our UK cruise this past summer was on the Royal with the mini-suite having a heavy curtain between the sleeping area and the sofa area. That was great for us as one of us could nap or sleep late. It was more of a "suite" than the S1 or S2. The 2 TV's were good too. We just do not think the extra money for the suites are necessary on such a port-intensive cruise.

[Host Jazzbeau]

IMO the difference in itineraries -- with Princess including Glacier Bay and Celebrity unable to go there -- is far greater than the differences between the ships or the suites. I would chose Coral Princess for this itinerary. The mini suite will be plenty of room, because you will want to out on the many public viewing areas that make Coral such a great ship for Alaska and the Canal.

[GUT2407]

IMO the difference in itineraries -- with Princess including Glacier Bay and Celebrity unable to go there -- is far greater than the differences between the ships or the suites. I would chose Coral Princess for this itinerary. The mini suite will be plenty of room, because you will want to out on the many public viewing areas that make Coral such a great ship for Alaska and the Canal.

 

Have to agree with that.

[JahHaus]

My experience on Regal Princess last winter was a lot of fun. There seemed to be a lot more action on board and we loved the serenity pool area, but, I coil not get over the cramped veranda in our mini-suite. We're back on Celebrity Silhouette next month.

[Dulcibella]

We had a mini suite on the Sea Princess and a suite on the Golden Princess. We chose the suite on the Golden as the mini suites are like balcony rooms just a bit deeper and with small balconies because they are on decks with narrow balconies. On the Sea Princess the mini suites were two windows wide, ie not deep cabins but wide cabins. That was good and we wanted, and got, a similar configuration by taking a suite on the Golden. On the Caribe deck on the Golden the balcony is a comfortable depth. A few differences in service levels between suites and mini suites but not significant. I suspect suite service or other lines might be more attentive. We don't desire attentive service and did not get it.

[GUT2407]

We had a mini suite on the Sea Princess and a suite on the Golden Princess. We chose the suite on the Golden as the mini suites are like balcony rooms just a bit deeper and with small balconies because they are on decks with narrow balconies. On the Sea Princess the mini suites were two windows wide, ie not deep cabins but wide cabins. That was good and we wanted, and got, a similar configuration by taking a suite on the Golden. On the Caribe deck on the Golden the balcony is a comfortable depth. A few differences in service levels between suites and mini suites but not significant. I suspect suite service or other lines might be more attentive. We don't desire attentive service and did not get it.

 

We much prefer the wider minis to the deeper.

[Ginnyfyr]

We sail in minis on Princess and sky suites on Celebrity. Personally, I prefer the sky suites as I've found there's more variety to them. We've done 3-4 mini suites on Princess now and the room is always the same size and layout - the only change we have noticed is if you get one at the very back of the ship you'll get a (wonderful) extended balcony. We've done 3 sailings in sky suites with X and every time the cabin has had a slightly different layout and the balconies have varied in shape (for example, in our first sky suite we had a bit of a 'foyer' area when you entered the room and a huge bathroom with separate tub and shower; in our last sky suite we had a regular tub/shower combo in the bathroom but a huge closet and really cool balcony layout). I also love that you get more amenities included with sky suites on X, especially the free specialty restaurant reservation and the new Luminae restaurant. Overall we love both lines and itinerary is largely what determines our booking. We're going to Alaska on the Star Princess in a mini suite in May and just booked a Pacific coastal in a sky suite on the X Infinity for September!

[Go-Bucks!]

I have sailed Princess mini suites and X sky suites several times. Princess is 323 SQ. ft. including balcony. X is 300 with 79 sq.ft.balcony. Princess offers a bigger room and that is all. X offers Butler,Full bottle Champagne on arrival, private dining room Luminae. Plus 1 comp. spec. restaurant on 7 night cruise and 2 spec. restaurants on 8 night or longer. You can get anything you want from room service and you Butler sets up with linens on table or balcony. Also fruit and flowers in your cabin. For me there is no comparison. X is far nicer but does come at cost.

 

 

You are comparing apples to oranges. A Princess minisuite is NOT a full suite, therefore you get no "suite" amenities. If you do get a full suite on Princess, they have many wonderful perks (you can find them listed on the Princess website).

 

I've sailed in Princess minisuites and full suites, as well as a veranda cabin and a full suite on X. I prefer the Princess suite amenities, but the X perks weren't too bad. Had no use for the butler, though; he was just a glorified room service delivery guy who required a big tip and he was full of misinformation (he told us we had to pay to eat in Blu, which of course wasn't true). :rolleyes:

[Brisbane41]

If you are talking hardware as in how the suite is then Princess does not have anything special. A standard veranda cabin on Celebrity is much better than some of the suites Princess have. On Princess the bathrooms are a compact unit with shower curtain, plastic basin and shelves behind a mirror. The bathroom on a Celebrity cabin has a sliding perspex shower door, tiled floors, wood or imitation wood paneling in the bathroom with drawers and cupboards and shelves as well as a raised porcelain type sink with lighting above the mirror. With the exception of the couch in the cabins on the Solstice class which looks like some excess stock from the 50's the Celebrity cabins are much better than the cabins that Princess has.

 

Bear in mind however that Princess was designated as mass market and Celebrity as Premium so it stands to reason that Celebrity facilities would be better. Unfortunately the GFC hit cruise lines hard and lines like Celebrity dropped the price to compete with the likes of Princess so I fear that now things are improving Celebrity may be trying to raise the bar again.

 

I cant really comment on service as I have only ever been in Princess full suites for 2 night cruises. I love the Princess style and I also found Celebrity great. I sometimes refuse to compare aspects because I know there are some things each of them do better than the other.

[Dulcibella]

If you are talking hardware as in how the suite is then Princess does not have anything special. A standard veranda cabin on Celebrity is much better than some of the suites Princess have. On Princess the bathrooms are a compact unit with shower curtain, plastic basin and shelves behind a mirror. The bathroom on a Celebrity cabin has a sliding perspex shower door, tiled floors, wood or imitation wood paneling in the bathroom with drawers and cupboards and shelves as well as a raised porcelain type sink with lighting above the mirror. With the exception of the couch in the cabins on the Solstice class which looks like some excess stock from the 50's the Celebrity cabins are much better than the cabins that Princess has.

 

 

 

Bear in mind however that Princess was designated as mass market and Celebrity as Premium so it stands to reason that Celebrity facilities would be better. Unfortunately the GFC hit cruise lines hard and lines like Celebrity dropped the price to compete with the likes of Princess so I fear that now things are improving Celebrity may be trying to raise the bar again.

 

 

 

I cant really comment on service as I have only ever been in Princess full suites for 2 night cruises. I love the Princess style and I also found Celebrity great. I sometimes refuse to compare aspects because I know there are some things each of them do better than the other.

 

 

The description is of a standard cabin bathroom on Princess. In my experience both the mini suite on the Sea Princess and the S4 suite on the Golden had marble bathrooms with spa baths and large showers with glass doors.

 

The bathroom pictured at http://www.beyondships.com/Princess-GP-Tour-7.html matches the one we had on the Golden. Not a shower curtain in sight.

[Antonintassie]

Hi

We have had both a penthouse suite on the Royal Princess and a Celebrity Suite on the Eclipse.

Celebrity suite perks were better than Princess as was the layout of the suite ,food was about even in my opinion and overall service levels were similar.

My biggest complaint about the Royal Princess was the stupidly small balcony and the poor traffic flow due to no midship stairwell .

The suite lounge on Celebrity was a nice touch and I used it a lot .

We have decided that neither line was really us and have moved on but was happy enough with both cruises.

[Essiesmom]

There are two other choices for Glacier Bay in Alaska...NCL has some permits for Glacier Bay, and Carnivals ship in Alaska usually visits Glacier Bay on the first and last cruises of the season. EM

[Colo Cruiser]

You are comparing apples to oranges. A Princess minisuite is NOT a full suite, therefore you get no "suite" amenities. If you do get a full suite on Princess, they have many wonderful perks (you can find them listed on the Princess website).

 

I've sailed in Princess minisuites and full suites, as well as a veranda cabin and a full suite on X. I prefer the Princess suite amenities, but the X perks weren't too bad. Had no use for the butler, though; he was just a glorified room service delivery guy who required a big tip and he was full of misinformation (he told us we had to pay to eat in Blu, which of course wasn't true). :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Not true on the Dawn/Sun/Sea. Mini's are the size of a suite on other Princess ships.

Although I agree reg mini's on the Grand Class etc should not have the word "suite" in their description. Its very misleading.

[cruiselvr1]

If you are talking hardware as in how the suite is then Princess does not have anything special. A standard veranda cabin on Celebrity is much better than some of the suites Princess have. On Princess the bathrooms are a compact unit with shower curtain, plastic basin and shelves behind a mirror. The bathroom on a Celebrity cabin has a sliding perspex shower door, tiled floors, wood or imitation wood paneling in the bathroom with drawers and cupboards and shelves as well as a raised porcelain type sink with lighting above the mirror. With the exception of the couch in the cabins on the Solstice class which looks like some excess stock from the 50's the Celebrity cabins are much better than the cabins that Princess has.

 

Bear in mind however that Princess was designated as mass market and Celebrity as Premium so it stands to reason that Celebrity facilities would be better. Unfortunately the GFC hit cruise lines hard and lines like Celebrity dropped the price to compete with the likes of Princess so I fear that now things are improving Celebrity may be trying to raise the bar again.

 

I cant really comment on service as I have only ever been in Princess full suites for 2 night cruises. I love the Princess style and I also found Celebrity great. I sometimes refuse to compare aspects because I know there are some things each of them do better than the other.

Your discription of the bathroom sounds like a regular stateroom. We were just off the Grand, and our bathroom doesn't have plastic, or shower curtain. We had two doors to the bathroom, with a whirlpool tub, we were in the vista suite. I couldn't see paying the extra cost for a penthouse suite for two people. The balcony furniture which is important to us, is very comfortable, from what I saw the balcony furniture on the mini is the same as a balcony stateroom. We enjoyed having breakfast at Sabatini's every morning, and eating our dinner on our balcony from the MDR menu every night. Now after saying all this, we are looking into RSSC because of all inclusiveness (including tips).

[Thrak]

I have sailed Princess mini suites and X sky suites several times. Princess is 323 SQ. ft. including balcony. X is 300 with 79 sq.ft.balcony. Princess offers a bigger room and that is all. X offers Butler,Full bottle Champagne on arrival, private dining room Luminae. Plus 1 comp. spec. restaurant on 7 night cruise and 2 spec. restaurants on 8 night or longer. You can get anything you want from room service and you Butler sets up with linens on table or balcony. Also fruit and flowers in your cabin. For me there is no comparison. X is far nicer but does come at cost.

 

Wow! I had no idea one could have a "suite" that small! As for the butler... I can't imagine I would ever have any use for a butler and it just seems like one more person who would want a large tip - especially as he was (theoretically) "providing special, personal service". I don't need fruit and flowers in my cabin.

 

Granted, I have never sailed X and also have never sailed in a suite. However, I just don't see the perks being worth the extra cost for a tiny little suite like that. Heck, I don't even sail in the Princess mini. :rolleyes:

[maggie.1008]

When we first sailed in a sky suite ( smallest suite ) on X I felt we would never use the Butler. Well having your Latte brought to you each morning while still in bed was a lovely treat. Afternoon he brings around a tea trolly. At cocktail hour a appetizer platter or whatever you would like. Do we need a butler, NO. I cook lunch and dinner everyday so being waited on is something we women really enjoy on holiday.

[Luvmyrotti]

If you are talking hardware as in how the suite is then Princess does not have anything special. A standard veranda cabin on Celebrity is much better than some of the suites Princess have. On Princess the bathrooms are a compact unit with shower curtain, plastic basin and shelves behind a mirror. The bathroom on a Celebrity cabin has a sliding perspex shower door, tiled floors, wood or imitation wood paneling in the bathroom with drawers and cupboards and shelves as well as a raised porcelain type sink with lighting above the mirror. With the exception of the couch in the cabins on the Solstice class which looks like some excess stock from the 50's the Celebrity cabins are much better than the cabins that Princess has.

 

Bear in mind however that Princess was designated as mass market and Celebrity as Premium so it stands to reason that Celebrity facilities would be better. Unfortunately the GFC hit cruise lines hard and lines like Celebrity dropped the price to compete with the likes of Princess so I fear that now things are improving Celebrity may be trying to raise the bar again.

 

I cant really comment on service as I have only ever been in Princess full suites for 2 night cruises. I love the Princess style and I also found Celebrity great. I sometimes refuse to compare aspects because I know there are some things each of them do better than the other.

 

I don't know what suites or mini suites you've been in on princess, but I've sailed in both mini suites and more recently full suites (all Grand class ships) and none have a plastic sink, a compact shower unit or a shower curtain. Full suites have a split room bathroom with a jet tub and large glass-enclosed shower on one side and a large sink area with shelving and storage on the other side.

 

Also, both Princess and Celebrity can be classified as "mass market" or "premium" depending on who you ask, so don't kid yourself that Celebrity is somehow a step above. As is soften said on these boards, they are more alike than different.

 

As for perks, I am intrigued by some of the suite-only venues that Celebrity has launched and that does escalate their perks in my mind. though opinions differ on what perks are desirable That being said, I don't take a suite for the perks (though I do love breakfast in Sabatini's), I take it for the real estate of both the extra large room, the stateroom set up itself with the separate sleeping and living areas, as well as the aft-facing balcony of the vista suites that we have booked the last three cruises.

[JohnDG]

I have sailed Princess mini suites and X sky suites several times. Princess is 323 SQ. ft. including balcony. X is 300 with 79 sq.ft.balcony.

 

To clarify: for X, does the 300 sq.ft. include the balcony? That is, a total of 300 for X and 323 for Princess?

 

jdg