Differences Between Celebrity and Princess?

[4774Papa]

22 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I am definitely done with NCL. At least until other cruise lines prove to me their customer service is just as bad. I know other people feel they have been mistreated by the other lines, so if I encounter that myself, then I will certainly reevaluate. But, as things stand, Princess has treated me very well, despite my never having even sailed with them, and Celebrity  has also done right by me. Here's what I mean:

 

We were booked on an Alaska sailing in September 2020. That sailing was obviously canceled. We had only put down a $200 deposit, but they offered to double our deposit on a future cruise. We rebooked for the same week in 2021, I believe that one was supposed to be the Emerald Princess? Anyway, whichever ship it was, it was switched to the Majestic Princess. We were in an aft balcony and they gave us the same room for the same price, despite the Majestic being a newer ship with nicer aft balconies. Ultimately, we decided to cancel that sailing, though, so we could do this last NCL sailing with my parents this month. Princess gave us our $400 credit back on our account and we were able to apply it to our Alaska sailing for September 2022. So, despite us only having ever given Princess $200 a couple of years ago now, they have treated us very well in my opinion.

 

Then we have Celebrity. I am booked on a 5-Day sailing on the Summit in November. The price dropped because of the current 20% off sail. Despite being past final payment, they are giving me 100% of the difference ($348) in OBC. By contrast, I am booked on this B2B on the NCL Breakaway coming up. The price has dropped on the October 3 leg of the B2B by $191 per person. I reached out about getting some sort of compensation. I was informed that usually NCL would give 25% of the difference as OBC, but because that works out to under $50/person in our case, we get nothing. Literally $2.25/person short of their $50 minimum! So for a $348 price drop on Celebrity, I am getting $348 in OBC. For a $382 price drop on NCL, I am getting nothing.

We haven't done Princess, but I have heard good things about their cruises.

We prefer Celebrity, Royal C. and NCL in that order.

Service and dining are better on Celebrity and Royal.   NCL is inconsistent.   We have had great cruises on NCL, but we have had others where the staff seems to be untrained.  

Royal and NCL excel in entertainment, Celebrity is just good.

Ship design Celebrity wins, with Royal second.

COST, now Royal wins hands down, both Celebrity and Royal have gone to price bundling that forces perks on you that you don't need.  Also, Royal's Diamond loyalty benefit program is the best.

Unless Celebrity and NCL change their pricing, we may never do cruises again with them.