B2B2B on Royal Princess, MSC Seaside and Celebrity Equinox. A comparison review.

[MikeyA53]

Background info: Mike (63), retired from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mountie) but still working for them so we can afford these types of vacations, Tracy (46) also a Mountie, originally from Wales, UK

 

 

 

 

We started cruising in 2009 with the kids; our first 13 cruises were with Carnival. Then when the kids grew up and it became just the two of us we started trying out other cruise lines. Since 2016 we have cruised with Holland America, Norwegian twice, MSC twice, Celebrity and Princess for a total of 20 cruises.

Our B2B2B started with Royal Princess out of Fort Lauderdale on Nov 9, 2018. An 8 day cruise to Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire. On November 17 we disembarked and walked over to the next terminal, lucky for us the ships were docked next to each other and we embarked on MSC Seaside for a 7 day cruise to Ocho Rios, George Town, Cozumel and Costa Maya. On November 24 we took an Uber to the Miami port and embarked on Celebrity Equinox for a 7 day cruise to San Juan, St. Thomas, Punta Cana and Nassau.

The following review is one person’s account (opinion) along with some input from Tracy based on what’s important to us when we cruise. The ship (we prefer the newer, bigger ships with lots of amenities), the food, (in a 7 days cruise we usually eat 4 or 5 times in the specialty restaurants), the entertainment (production shows and comedians), the cabins, the service onboard, the spa and the gym. The itinerary is also important but I won’t comment on that since they change or alternate from week to week.

My review will begin with the ships in general, followed by a review of the cabins, then the entertainment, the dining, the service and the spa & gym. Afterward I will have a few extra photos and comments before doing a summary.

 

 

The ships

 

Royal Princess is a 142,714 gross ton ship with a capacity of 3,600 passengers that went into service in 2013. I would estimate that the average age on this cruise was 65-70 years old. I heard that there were approximately 30-50 kids but the number of children I saw all week I could probably count on one hand. The passengers were friendly in general; it was relatively easy to start a conversation at the diner table, the theater, in the elevators, etc. The ship never felt crowded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

We were allowed to bring one bottle of wine each onboard in our carry on baggage and either a dozen bottles/cans of water or sodas each in our checked luggage. I put 12 bottles of soda in a cooler with a luggage tag and gave it to the porter; we pre-purchased twelve 500 ml bottles of water from Princess for a very reasonable price. Princess@sea Messenger was very convenient, allowing us free access to valuable information about the ship while onboard; such as the day’s activities, restaurant menus and our stateroom account. Plus, Princess@sea Messenger allowed us to send text messages to each other, or others onboard. Seaside and Equinox had an app which allowed access to the day’s activities.

Overall she is a beautiful ship with a very elegant atrium, we spent a fair amount of time there because of the International Café and Gelato, (more on that later). It has two dining rooms, the Symphony on deck 5 and the Allegro on deck 6. (We prefer multi deck dining rooms). The buffet area was typical in design, very much like what we have encountered on other ships. The theater was adequate in size for the amount of passengers onboard. The upper decks were very nice, we spent most of our afternoon up there sunning, playing table tennis, mini golf, laser trap shooting, shuffleboard and hitting golf balls in the enclosed driving range, etc. It also has a very nice walking and running track. 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

MSC Seaside is a 153,515 gross ton ship with a capacity of 5,119 passengers that went into service in 2017. I would estimate that the average age on this cruise was 35-40 years old. The cruise director announced that there were approximately 500 children on our cruise. This high figure was probably due to this being a Thanksgiving cruise week. A large percentage of the passengers were from Europe and Asia. A lot of the announcements were done in 5-6 languages. The cruise director was an American, the first on an MSC ship. On MSC we were not allowed to bring any wine, water or sodas onboard

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Awesome!  Thanks!

[MikeyA53]

The ship has a very modern, 4 deck atrium with beautiful spiral Swarovski crystal stairs. It has two main dining rooms, the Seashore on deck 5 and the Ipanema on deck 6. The all inclusive Yacht Club has their own gourmet restaurant on deck 18. The ship has 2 buffet restaurants, the larger one on deck 8 and the smaller on deck 16. The theater was a bit small in size for the amount of passengers onboard however the featured theater show had three showings every night (6:45, 8:00 and 9:15) with the exception of the first night which had two showings (8:00 and 9:15).

 

 

 

 

 

Swarovski crystal stairs

 

 

 

 

Theater

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

The upper decks were very nice but the Yacht club commanded all of the forward sections on the top three decks, leaving less room to find a nice quiet area. Overall the passengers were not as friendly compared to Princess, which was probably due to the blending of different cultures and languages. The ship did feel crowded at times in certain areas.

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Celebrity Equinox is a 121,878 gross ton ship with a capacity of 2,850 passengers that went into service in 2009. I would estimate that the average age on this cruise was 55-60 years old. I would estimate that the ship carried approximately 75-100 kids. It was not unusual to see them everyday in most of the areas throughout the ship. Overall the passengers were friendlier than on MSC and Princess. On Celebrity you are allowed to bring wine, bottled water and soda onboard in your carry on luggage.

 

 

[TracieABD]

Excellent start. I am looking forward to hearing which is your favorite and why!

 

[MikeyA53]

Compared to Royal Princess and MSC Seaside, Equinox was sort of plain in overall appearance. The Silhouette Dining on decks 3 and 4 was however very elegant. In addition I liked how 4 out of the 5 specialty dining restaurants were all together in the aft section of deck 5. Also I preferred how the buffet stations were set up on deck 14. Unlike MSC and Princess where you have to walk up and down one side of the ship or the other to find what you want to put on your plate, Equinox has all the food sections together in the middle of the buffet restaurant.

 

 

Theater

 

 

 

Silhouette Dining Room

 

 

 

Upper decks

 

 

 

 

Buffet

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Cabins

Royal Princess:

We had a deluxe balcony, cabin E727 on deck 6, starboard aft. This was an unexpected upgrade which would have occurred within the last week before our cruise. We were not notified and only found out when we checked in on embarkation. Our original room was a regular balcony, C239 on deck 10, mid forward. Even though the deluxe balcony cabin is slightly larger than a regular balcony, (the balconies were the same size) we would have preferred to keep our original cabin because of the location. In addition, since we were not notified, our luggage tags were marked for the original cabin number and thus we only got our luggage late that night. I even had to go to guest services to pick up one of our cases.

The deluxe cabin (185 square feet) was average in size; however the balcony was a measly 36 square feet, the smallest we’ve experienced on all of the cruise lines we’ve sailed on. The bed was comfortable and there were adequate storage compartments. We liked how the wardrobe was at the entrance, and easily accessible. The bathroom was adequate but did not have much storage area and the shower had a curtain rather than a glass door like on Seaside and Equinox. Overall the cabin was very quiet; we were never disturbed by noise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[4cats4me]

Enjoying your review immensely.  We love the Royal and the Equinox.  Have another booked on each for April and October. We’re tossed around the idea of MSC until I learned that a lot of passengers smoke. Did you find that to be the case? Thanks so much.  

 

[MikeyA53]

MSC Seaside

 

 

We had a regular balcony, cabin 11122, midship on deck 11. The cabin was 178 square feet and the balcony was 48 square feet. Overall a nice cabin, the bed was comfortable and there were adequate storage compartments, however the sofa made it awkward to access the wardrobe. Entry to the cabin was via a touch pad using your cruise card. The bathroom was well appointed with a glass door shower. The cabin was noisy until about 12 am each night, I had to put earplugs in my ears to eliminate the noise. There was noise from the hallway, the cabin next door at times and our balcony was above a promenade where the same people sat and spoke very loudly every night. I don’t think this was typical of Seaside, probably just bad luck on our part.

 

 

 

Sorry only these three photos were good enough to post

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

Celebrity Equinox

 

We had a Concierge Class cabin 1063 forward section. The cabin was 194 square feet and the balcony was 54 square feet. Both were larger than the cabins on Seaside and Royal. We loved a lot of things about the room and balcony. There were lots of drawers and cabinets including a big cabinet above the bed. The bed had rounded edges which made the room look bigger. However I’m only 5’8" and sometimes my feet were dangling over the bed depending on how I was sleeping. Also the bed interfered with getting into the wardrobe. The bathroom had lots of cupboard space; the shower had a glass door. One thing I really liked was the built in night light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyA53]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Awesome!  Thanks!

 

 

Thank you 😄

[MikeyA53]

42 minutes ago, TracieABD said:

Excellent start. I am looking forward to hearing which is your favorite and why!

 

 

 

Thank you. 

[MikeyA53]

27 minutes ago, 4cats4me said:

Enjoying your review immensely.  We love the Royal and the Equinox.  Have another booked on each for April and October. We’re tossed around the idea of MSC until I learned that a lot of passengers smoke. Did you find that to be the case? Thanks so much.  

 

 

 

Thanks, I can't remember it being a problem for us. All I can remember was that Princess had an area in the back near a pool that I noticed people smoking and on MSC I believe there was an area on the promenade on deck 8 that I saw some smokers.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Really enjoying your review and all of the pictures.  

 

 

[reedprincess]

Enjoying your review, thanks a million. 

Are you going to post it to the MSC and Celebrity forums as well? 

[cr8tiv1]

You have a very unique review.  I am enjoying the side by side descriptions.  Thank you very much.

 

[hllwdcruiser]

Loving this review! MSC and Celebrity are two lines I want to try so I really appreciate your comparisons and your photos. 

[Stonewolf Cruiser]

Really enjoying the review and photos.

You chose a very interesting B2B2B format.

[pcsunlover]

Great review!  I appreciate the comparison and pictures from all of the ships.  We generally love the Royal class ships with the exception of the tiny balconies.  Princess really missed the mark there.

[TracieABD]

Which ended up being your favorite cabin? Or will you include an overall score sheet at the end of your review?

[nutensteve]

Very good review ... thanks for posting.

[richsea]

Really loving your review and comparisons. It’s a rare thing to see, especially since yyour reporting on b2b2b sailings. We’ve sailed Equinox & Royal multiple times & love them both, even with Royal’s tiny balconies. Equinox & her sister Silhouette are probably our favorite ships. We’ve been considering MSC & your views will help. I was wondering how the Yacht Club affected the rest of the ship. Your comments kind of confirm my fears.