Celebrity vs Princess

[JustaOreo]

Need some help. 50-something married guys....opportunity knocked. Princess for 21 days or Celebrity for 19 days. Both about the same time frame, both out of Sydney, both in similar premium type accommodations. All things being equal....which one? We typically sail NCL.....love them.....but they aren't offering Sydney in our time frame. In terms of service and value....which one?

Thanx

[tompeter]

Which ship for each?

[Phxazzcruisers]

We would ALWAYS chose Celebrity.  Never had a bad experience.

[JustaOreo]

 We are leaning towards Celebrity as we have never been. On Celebrity it's Solstice and Princess is the Majestic. We've sailed on Princess a few times.

 

Thanx for the input........more research

[tompeter]

We love the Celebrity S class (Solstice) ships. 

[JustaOreo]

Hmmmm 2 for 2.....Excellent.Thanx

[keithm]

On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 12:17 AM, JustaOreo said:

Need some help. 50-something married guys....opportunity knocked. Princess for 21 days or Celebrity for 19 days. Both about the same time frame, both out of Sydney, both in similar premium type accommodations. All things being equal....which one? We typically sail NCL.....love them.....but they aren't offering Sydney in our time frame. In terms of service and value....which one?

Thanx

I've done both(Princess Royal class) & Celebrity Solstice class. Though the food quality had declined dramatically, we'd say go to Celebrity. Less annoying art show garbage/stupid endless announcements etc. than what you see on Princess. That being said, we switched to Oceania 2 years ago & haven't looked back. The food quality is stellar(we're in the food industry) Few announcements & NO annoying photographers to bother you!

Edited June 6, 2019 by keithm
additions

[JustaOreo]

Excellent....thanx. We’ll take a look at them.

[Surfguyxxx]

We've also done both Princess and Celebrity a number of times.   I'd go with Celebrity too.  While the food and the service is good on Princess, we've found that the service is dramatically better on Celebrity while the food seems to be a few notches above.  We also do a lot of specialty restaurants so we're not comparing apples to apples.  That being said, Celebrity is your best option; IMHO.  Have fun.

[obnurse]

My only complaint with Celebrity is that the evening fun ends way too early. If you're not at the martini bar, in the casino or in the dance club, there is absolutely nothing to do after the 2nd theater production. We find ourselves going back to our cabins because of nothing better to do. Our recent Princess cruise (multiple cruises on both lines) we found to have a lot more variety of evening entertainment, including a piano bar, movies under the stars, and more live musical entertainment. Additionally, the buffet on Regal Princess was the best we've encountered ever on any ship. JMHO

[prsr]

We have cruised on both.  Ruby Princess , Royal Princess and the Celebrity  Silhouette.   Both are great based on our experience.  Two things that are different between both and may be important to you given the number of days you are cruising. 

 

1. Cabin Bathrooms on Princess are smaller, most especially the shower size unless you are cruising in a mini-suite or above on Princess which will give you a tub. 

 

2. Princess offers self service-laundry facilities about $6 for Wash & Dry, laundry soap is an extra $1.50. Celebrity does not offer self-service laundry, you must send items to the ships laundry and since it's your first time cruising with Celebrity you will be paying full price which can get expensive. 

 

Both lines are very friendly to the LGBTQ communities.  I would say we preferred the shows and musicians on Celebrity. 

 

Happy Cruising whatever you decide.

[Mermen]

We too have cruised both and have enjoyed both for various reasons, although find the customer service better on =X=. Have fun!

[colocop004]

We have been on both as well, far more on Celebrity for us, but enjoyed both lines.  The food and customer service is better on Celebrity, it is why we keep going back!!

[dugknight]

On 6/12/2019 at 10:25 AM, obnurse said:

My only complaint with Celebrity is that the evening fun ends way too early. If you're not at the martini bar, in the casino or in the dance club, there is absolutely nothing to do after the 2nd theater production. We find ourselves going back to our cabins because of nothing better to do. Our recent Princess cruise (multiple cruises on both lines) we found to have a lot more variety of evening entertainment, including a piano bar, movies under the stars, and more live musical entertainment. Additionally, the buffet on Regal Princess was the best we've encountered ever on any ship. JMHO

We’ve experienced that too at times, but Celebrity is still by far our favorite, especially Solstice class. You could always just start drinking earlier, that way you’re ready for bed by midnight too!

[geoherb]

My last Celebrity cruise was a big disappointment. We've sailed numerous times on Princess and Holland America since. The thing I like about Princess is the variety of entertainment going on in the evenings. The food is much better than my last Celebrity cruise, too. We always have traditional dining, and service has been excellent on Princess. I had one of the best cabin stewards ever on my Island Princess cruises last month.

[RyanR1982]

We have only done Princess and really enjoy all that have offered us.

[JustaOreo]

Thanx for all of the responses! Everything I've seen, read and heard leads me to believe there really will be no bad decision. For that thanx. Still early so we are going to see how things go.

 

Thanx again.

[Britboys]

Just back from a Princess cruise in Alaska on board Coral Princess.  Did sail Celebrity once but many years ago and enjoyed it.  Food and service were good on Coral, with the buffet offering a huge choice of food style - especially if you are adventurous eaters.  We had anytime dining and service was excellent every night. Musical entertainment in the bars and lounges was good with a Piano Bar until 1130 and disco in another lounge until later.  Production shows were absolutely outstanding imho.

 

The one thing that I didn't rate was the scheduling and location of the nightly LGBT+ meets.  It was at 9pm each evening in one of the biggest bars on the ship.  Not very conducive to an unhosted meeting and at a time when many would be eating.  Fortunately, the LGBT+ meet is not something that makes a huge difference to me enjoying a cruise!

[ShawninFL]

We've sailed on both Princess and Celebrity; however, we weren't big fans of Princess.  Nothing was explicitly wrong with our Princess experiences, they were just sterile.  We've been pretty loyal to Celebrity for about the last 5 years.  We've enjoy all of our cruises on both the Solstice and Millennium class ships. (Solstice is our favorite class of ship of every one we've been on).  I will say I really enjoyed the food on our Princess voyages, but we also love the food on Celebrity.  We're actually considering a Princess cruise for 2020 to give them another go.  Due to us both working for our family's small business we have to take our vacations between early June and early October.  Since we want to expand our travels to Asia/Australia/South Pacific, Princess in really the only options to hit these location in this time period.  I don't think you can go wrong with either line; but personally if itinerary and pricing was equal, I would go with Celebrity.  I hope whatever you choose, it's a memorable trip.

[gentlemancruiser]

100% Celebrity.  They have actively marketed to the LGBT community.    They were  the 1st cruise line to celebrate pride day at sea.  They are  also the 1st cruise line to have corporate staff marching in the Miami Pride Parade.    

[PhillyTravelBug]

I’ve been eyeing a gay Mediterranean  cruise on celebrity apex next summer. Haven’t sailed with celebrity in 20 years, but looks like they have a good thing going in recent years .

[misterkevin]

They are comparable, but I would give the edge to Celebrity between the two. 

 

Celebrity and Princess are close on service and accommodation. Princess probably has an advantage for entertainment and activities during the day.  However, Celebrity is just a more gay-friendly brand. The ships are hipper and more contemporary. They're filled with interesting and whimsical art. The food is also better on Celebrity. But more importantly, we found the LGBT gatherings which typically happen after dinner in the martini bar to be much better attended on Celebrity. They'll advertise it the first night, and then folk will just come every night around then. I've also found the non-LGBT passengers on Celebrity to be more accepting and less conservative than on Princess. We were on Princess for Alaska in summer '17, and the gatherings on the Ruby were in a lounge every night where only one other couple attended. Your mileage may vary. 

[heath_durbin]

I actually want to give Celebrity a try... the main thing holding me back it they are owned by Royal, and I had a bad experience with them.

[misterkevin]

9 hours ago, heath_durbin said:

I actually want to give Celebrity a try... the main thing holding me back it they are owned by Royal, and I had a bad experience with them. 

They're owned by the same parent company, but two completely different animals. Just like Azamara or Silversea owned by RCL, you won't have the same experience on these ships. That's like saying, I didn't like Carnival so I won't like Seabourn!

[heath_durbin]

Ok, but I think your  analogy is off...

 

it’s more like saying, 

 

“I don’t like carnival, so I won’t like princess” (seabourn would be closer to silverseas then to celebrity I believe)

 

But I will say, I get upset with princess all the time... when they don’t do something as good as carnival. I expect them to have the minimum service that carnival has and more. (GS hates when I compare them, I say, well carnival is a vaule you cruise and your a Premium, that means you should surpass all of the carnival standers.)

 

And then when I have an issue/complain with Carnival the guest service do what ever it takes to make it right... with princess, they could care less. “Just another stuck up guy complaining”

 

(Now I do understand that this is more of my own experience, carnival guest service have always gone out of there way to make me happy

 

While both Royal and Princess don’t drop what ever they are doing to try and appease me.) (unacceptable *wink*)

 

 

***sorry I got way off topic***