First time cruise for my parents, should I send them on Celebrity of Princess?

[Wishing on a star]

We were on Princess a few months ago.

The good and the bad:

Yes, varied and EXCELLENT entertainment.  And, yes, there is the theater, the nightclub, comedy or musical acts in other venues...  Serious choices.

However, food and many of the cocktails, especially with the new dining/culinary changes....   Leave me refusing to board Princess again.   Not unless I knew for sure I would be served decent food and food that wasn't 'processed'.  That I could get real dairy butter, real sugar, etc...

 

If this were my choice, I would try Celebrity.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Wishing on a star

[Doc2725]

5 minutes ago, zalusky said:

 

The solstice class ships are definitely nice but it really depends on what kind of people your parents are:  crowds vs quiet, entertainment vs socialize in a bar, excursions vs on your own.  As I mentioned the biggest difference I have seen is entertainment.

They are crowds (not wall to wall people, but lively bars, etc.), they like both entertaining and socializing, and I don't think they care much about excursions. They might even just stay on the ship and drink at certain ports if they aren't too exciting, 

[Ken the cruiser]

I just looked at the cruises available and I would suggest booking the Aqua class on the Equinox in the western Caribbean. The best price for what you get on either ship in June. Besides, if this is their first cruise, they really need to book a veranda to truly appreciate the joy of cruising!!

[Doc2725]

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I just looked at the cruises available and I would suggest booking the Aqua class on the Equinox in the western Caribbean. The best price for what you get on either ship in June. Besides, if this is their first cruise, they really need to book a veranda to truly appreciate the joy of cruising!!

I think they are going to do a suite. A guaranteed suite is a little less than $4k total.

[4cats4me]

35 minutes ago, Doc2725 said:

Just checked, it's May. Definitely going to advise Equinox now as it will essentially be brand new.

 

Yes, I amended my earlier post above and also attached a link. We must have been typing our responses at the same time.  

[4cats4me]

7 minutes ago, Doc2725 said:

I think they are going to do a suite. A guaranteed suite is a little less than $4k total.

 

If they do a suite then they can dine in the suites- only restaurant, Luminae. They can also dine in Blu on a space available basis.  $4,000 seems like a good price for a suite.  Can’t even get aqua for that usually.  

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, Doc2725 said:

I think they are going to do a suite. A guaranteed suite is a little less than $4k total.

That's even better as the Luminae is a wonderful place to eat meals and Michael's is a great place to get free drinks!! Ideally if they can get a corner aft-facing cabin, that would be icing on the cake!!

[aprilsp88]

18 hours ago, zalusky said:

From my experience Princess tends to have more parallel entertainment at night.   Celebrity tends to have everybody march to the same beat.  As a result the Celebrity theater is larger whereas on princess there maybe a comedy show going on while the theater show is going on.

 

 

This is an interesting analogy. On celebrity, does this mean I won't miss any activity at night, but if I don't like one, I'm stuck? Does it have live music in different venues throughout the whole night?

[richsea]

My first thought is either line would suit them. We find them more similar than different: but Equinox wins in a landslide over Caribbean Princess. The ships are not comparable, period.

I'll now go back and read the responses to your question.

Edited April 24, 2019 by richsea

[skynight]

Here is an example of just one evening on a Princess Grand Class ship. Music sets are generally 45/50 minutes long. You can see the cross overs and the need to select. Most evenings are similar, but times and activities do change.

5:15 & 6:15 Guitar/Vocal entertainer in Wheelhouse Bar

6:30 & 9:45 Movies Under the Stars

6:45 Captain's welcome aboard party

6:45, 8:15, 9:45, Magic in Explorer's Lounge

7:00, Karaoke in Club Fusion

7:15, Guitar melodies in the Wheelhouse Bar, different performer from the first sets

7:30 & 9:30, Showtime in the Princess Theater

7:45, Piano Classics in Crooner's Lounge

8:15 until late, dancing with the Rumba Duo in the Wheelhouse Bar

8:30, Trivia Challenge in Club Fusion

8:30 & 9:30 Jazz with the Princess Orchestra in Adagio Bar

9:00 onwards, Piano/Vocal entertainer in Crooner's Lounge

9:30 & 10:30 until late Dancing with the party band in Club Fusion

10:00 onwards, DJ in Skywalker's Nightclub.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AAAAmerican]

Dear Doc2725,

 

 

Both Cruiselines , IMHO, were a lot better before thewy were swallowed up by the Publicly Traded firms CCL :NYSE /LSE and RCL :NYSE now.

 

We did want to hire our Wait Staff from the what was A Greek Line with places paid for in Hamilton, Bermuda ( Somers Isles).

 

Food is so subjective. Each has attibutes too. Choices abound.

 

Whatever you choose may the cruise be well and not large swells.

 

IMHO have them go on both to see the differences.

[zalusky]

2 hours ago, aprilsp88 said:

This is an interesting analogy. On celebrity, does this mean I won't miss any activity at night, but if I don't like one, I'm stuck? Does it have live music in different venues throughout the whole night?

 

I dont have any current patters for either Celebrity Equinox  or Caribbean Princess.  They are different classes of ships but this has been my experience.  The princess theaters are a lot smaller than Celebrity which can be up to 3 levels because they design the ship to have multiple parallel activities.  This also means if you have a slow dinner process it can be difficult sometimes on Princess to make an evening show as people can be holding seats 45 minutes or more early.

[Thrak]

5 hours ago, skynight said:

8:30 & 9:30 Jazz with the Princess Orchestra in Adagio Bar

 

We love this one. 😎

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, zalusky said:

This also means if you have a slow dinner process it can be difficult sometimes on Princess to make an evening show as people can be holding seats 45 minutes or more early.

 

If it's just people sitting in seats I don't have a problem. Anybody who tries to tell me a group of seats are "saved" is not going to be happy as we will happily sit where we like. Princess clearly announces before each show that saving of seats is not allowed.