Celebrity vs. Princess: A recent comparison

[ISABELLA]

21 hours ago, paulh84 said:

We did our first Princess cruise on the Regal Princess in April. The common description of the cruise amongst us was mediocre. The attention to detail, the finishes (as you mentioned, chunky hotel wine glasses opposed to Riedel you'll find on Celebrity), food that was not horrible but not great, mystery wine, friendly but indifferent service. The shower curtain in the cabin. For a ship that debuted after Celebrity's S class, the cabin finishes felt very dated like a 90's hotel. This was a pretty inexpensive cruise. If I was comparing Celebrity vs. Princess solely on price, my opinion is that Princess should be cheaper. It felt more like Royal Caribbean without the kids and waterslides than it felt like Celebrity. 

 

I was shopping a Mediterranean cruise for next year. Longer than 7 nights but we can't commit to 14+ cruise nights + travel days. Princess has a big weak spot in that segment. Celebrity excels in the 9/10/11/12 day cruises. 

 

I would maybe try it again for the right price and itinerary on the new Sun Princess. Princess seemed to have pulled more Carnival features on to that ship than I would prefer so I'm not rushing to book yet. 

We are Loyal X cruisers, former Loyal Princess cruisers ( last one was about 16 years ago), cruising on Equinox coming November and booked 14 days on Sun Princess next May. After reading all Pro and Cons X vs Princess, we hope that maybe sailing on brand new ship experience will be pleasant.

[luv4cruises]

Every cruise line has its cheerleaders.  I have cruised on 6 different cruise lines on 50+ cruises,  Many comparisons are ship dependent.  Every ship has offered a good experience. The newer ships are amazing.
I tend to book newer ships- now mainly on Celebrity and Princess. I believe they both offer a worthwhile product and change is good once in awhile, For example other than recent cutbacks the Celebrity MDR menu hasn’t changed in several years. I have been on the Equinox and Silhouette once or twice every year except Covid shut down and menu has been the same. Also Production shows don’t change either. I’ve seen Topper too many times. 
So don’t be afraid to experience change once in awhile.  If you want to see Glacier Bay you need to sail on Princess or HAL. They have the most permits into Glacier Bay. Celebrity has none. So we are so fortunate to be able to cruise!!!!’ Happy sailing, 

[Torfamm]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I am a longtime Celebrity cruiser who tried Princess in 2017 when they offered an itinerary that I couldn’t get on Celebrity. Since then, we’ve sailed with them quite often. To me, the two are more alike than different.

 

One thing I like about Princess is the passenger laundry facilities since we tend to take longer trips and I don’t like sending much of my clothing to the ship’s laundry. I also like the availability of savory items in the coffee shop. What I dislike is that they allow smoking in the casino.

I definitely agree that Celebrity has nicer cabins and bathrooms, especially on Edge class ships. The one thing Princess has is gigantic closets which are nice on long itineraries. We had plenty of room for two sets of golf clubs as well as everything else on the Enchanted Princess.

 

Celebrity used to have much, much  better food than Princess, but Princess has improved since the restart. It’s closer than it used to be. They also offer great variety in their buffet. I had the bad luck of trying to grab dinner on the Apex at 8:00 after an excursion this past winter and found only pizza, pasta, and burgers in the buffet. Hopefully that really has changed.

 

My tip for wine drinkers trying Princess is that the “Premier” fare package is $20 per day more than the “Plus” package and includes much better options. At $60 and $80 per day they both also include internet and gratuities (along with many other things) so they a good deal compared to just a beverage package. There is also a wine bar on many Princess ships offering a nice selection and Riedel stemware.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Torfamm

[sunkey1]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:36 PM, luv4cruises said:

Every cruise line has its cheerleaders.  I have cruised on 6 different cruise lines on 50+ cruises,  Many comparisons are ship dependent.  Every ship has offered a good experience. The newer ships are amazing.
I tend to book newer ships- now mainly on Celebrity and Princess. I believe they both offer a worthwhile product and change is good once in awhile, For example other than recent cutbacks the Celebrity MDR menu hasn’t changed in several years. I have been on the Equinox and Silhouette once or twice every year except Covid shut down and menu has been the same. Also Production shows don’t change either. I’ve seen Topper too many times. 
So don’t be afraid to experience change once in awhile.  If you want to see Glacier Bay you need to sail on Princess or HAL. They have the most permits into Glacier Bay. Celebrity has none. So we are so fortunate to be able to cruise!!!!’ Happy sailing, 

Totally agree, even within the same line I find ships I love and ships I'd never sail on again. It's all so subjective, one person's "fantastic" food may only be mediocre to someone else. Same goes for decor and entertainment. You just need to find what fits YOUR vibe the best. I was an NCL snob for YEARS (back when they were Norwegian Caribbean Line), then finally dared to try another product, and hey, whatta ya know! I tend to select more for ship or itinerary than for line anymore. As an aside, I took the NCL Jewel to Alaska last year and they went to Glacier Bay. Fantastic cruise all around. Heartbreaking to see what's happening at Mendenhall.

[ecslady]

Thanks for this comparison.  I haven't cruised on Princess in years, but have started to research which cruise line to do Alaska with again, and this comparison helps. 

[chisoxfan]

I would say the ship, itinerary and cabin tier probably are more critical to one's experience than a comparison of the two cruise lines. There are a few general comments that apply to our views of them:

-ordering drinks in the room (via TV) with the Princess drink package was a game changer. It was wonderful having a beer (or two) with meals and keeping our aft balcony full of drinking water. Room service was very fast and accurate.

-we gravitate towards new ships and Princess has this well covered. We will do our first (and probably only cruise) in an infinite veranda in October and assuming it is not to our liking may be one of our last X cruises. We  will have a Sky Suite on Ascent but do not see this as typical for us. 

We will try a Club mini on Discovery Princess this Spring and am interested in how this compares.

So for us (and we have curtailed cruising because of pricing) we would gravitate to Princess or HAL (new ships) for most cruises (standard balconies or mini suites).

-we are pretty resigned to unremarkable food  and similar entertainment on X and Princess but if pushed would probably give the nod to X for MDR experience -

Will have to see how X suite is but now would use MSC Yacht Club for suites. JMHO

 

 

 

[Random Cruizer]

3-time cruiser, all on Celebrity, but Princess next summer in Alaska with my sister solely for Glacier Bay! Thanks for the comparison.

[CruisinBanka]

Thanks for the comparison between Celebrity and Princess. We have just been looking into trying Princess to sail to Hawaii from California, as Celebrity no longer offers that itinerary. All the information here helps. 

[doghog]

3 hours ago, sunkey1 said:

Totally agree, even within the same line I find ships I love and ships I'd never sail on again. It's all so subjective, one person's "fantastic" food may only be mediocre to someone else. Same goes for decor and entertainment. You just need to find what fits YOUR vibe the best. I was an NCL snob for YEARS (back when they were Norwegian Caribbean Line), then finally dared to try another product, and hey, whatta ya know! I tend to select more for ship or itinerary than for line anymore. As an aside, I took the NCL Jewel to Alaska last year and they went to Glacier Bay. Fantastic cruise all around. Heartbreaking to see what's happening at Mendenhall.

Agree. We would never book or not book a cruise line, ship, itinerary etc. based on others positive or negative opinions or experiences. I enjoy reading them and respect everyone's right to their opinion. Our first cruise was in 1991, and 4 cruises before joining CC in 2001. 

[padgman1]

1 hour ago, CruisinBanka said:

Thanks for the comparison between Celebrity and Princess. We have just been looking into trying Princess to sail to Hawaii from California, as Celebrity no longer offers that itinerary. All the information here helps. 

Agree. Mostly X cruiser here, have done Princess on Panama Canal transit cruise ( before the new locks), doing another Princess cruise along the Pacific Coast as X now rarely has a cruise there.

[doghog]

9 minutes ago, padgman1 said:

Agree. Mostly X cruiser here, have done Princess on Panama Canal transit cruise ( before the new locks), doing another Princess cruise along the Pacific Coast as X now rarely has a cruise there.

We'll be back on the Eclipse 8 October doing a Pacific Coastal cruise. We like the itinerary (done similar with RC and Celebrity) and ship. 

[UpcountryTravelers]

After 26 Princess cruises, mixed with 3 Celebrity (Reflection, Equinox, Constellation - and more booked), (and 4 other cruise lines) I find the two to be pretty much the same level.  Celebrity has a bit of an edge in Main Dining, but Princess Royal Class has a FAR superior buffet. I like the showers on Celebrity, but the stateroom storage on Princess is better.  Balconies (what we always book) are larger on Celebrity than on newer Princess ships.  Service is outstanding on both.  All said, Celebrity is more expensive, both overall and on-board prices (a favorite drink of mine is $8 on Princess, $15 on Celebrity.)  Decor is personal preference.  Princess has more of a nautical feel (which, as a former sailboat owner, I like), Celebrity is more like a hotel at sea (but I do like the quirky artwork on Reflection).  Bottom line: it's all about the itinerary for us.  And as the ships get bigger and bigger, we want to find smaller ones, even if older.

[padgman1]

3 hours ago, doghog said:

We'll be back on the Eclipse 8 October doing a Pacific Coastal cruise. We like the itinerary (done similar with RC and Celebrity) and ship. 

Our group was looking at 2024...only 1 Pacific coast cruise listed for the entire year...ONE ( May on Summit).

[stringbean10]

I also did a recent Alaska cruise on Royal Princess.  Wow.  The food was AWFUL.  I'm mean really, really bad.  We even ate at the speciality restaurants and they were BAD.  The steaks were like something out of waffle house.   We vowed never to do a Princess cruise again.  The ship was dated, the food terrible - of course the crew was amazing and the ports were lovely.  We had great company and great weather but otherwise - yeeeeesh.  Terrible. 

[YoPhilly]

On 8/2/2023 at 12:03 PM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

 

Hello everyone! I am not sure if people are interested in a post like this, but I shared at the end of my live trip report this June that I would do a comparison of Celebrity and Princess after a recent trip. Well, I just got back from Alaska with Princess, and I thought the comparison might be interesting for people here to read. First, why do I think this? Princess is usually the line I see recommended here after Celebrity in terms of how they compare to each other. It seems that a lot of people here have experience with both lines. I also think taking the Celebrity and Princess cruise within a month of each other allows for a good comparison because cruise lines can change quickly in terms of the offer. 

Thanks for posting this comparison.  I totally agree that X is a better product.  After 12 Princess cruises, we left them long ago for Celebrity, and even beyond...to Oceania.  

[Ken the cruiser]

For those that are interested, I’ve updated my below expanded Signature to include all of the Celebrity, Princess, NCL, and Disney Live From threads I’ve done since cruising started back up. The only thing, though, I didn't include are pictures of drinks and food, except on rare occasions. 

[dilbertsdaddy]

Recently returned from Alaska on Celebrity.  I found everything to be top notch with the exception of the buffet (more crowd issues than food quality) and the ridiculous stop at Icy Straight point.

 

I've not been on Princess but I have heard Glacier Bay is awesome and would probably look for an itinerary that includes this if I ever do Alaska again.  Our cruise included the Hubbard Glacier and it was great.

 

I've been thinking Holland America may be a better fit for me because of the Music Walk, but learned only a few ships have this as the cruise I was looking at did not.  The music on Celebrity was good but not great and I think this would add a lot to my experience.

 

. 

[doghog]

On 8/8/2023 at 11:55 AM, padgman1 said:

Our group was looking at 2024...only 1 Pacific coast cruise listed for the entire year...ONE ( May on Summit).

Since you failed to mention what year, I thought I'd post our 2023 cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

For those that are interested, I’ve updated my below expanded Signature to include all of the Celebrity, Princess, NCL, and Disney Live From threads I’ve done since cruising started back up. The only thing, though, I didn't include are pictures of drinks and food, except on rare occasions. 

I will say, though, we definitely have enjoyed eating in the Princess Reserved Collection (formerly Club Class) dining rooms on average much more than when eating in either Blu or Luminae. The food is tastier, we experienced no heartburn from excessive use of seasonings, and the tables are usually placed farther apart, to give folks more privacy.

 

Aside from that we enjoy cruising with both Celebrity and Princess. For us it's all about the itinerary.

[CruisinBanka]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

For those that are interested, I’ve updated my below expanded Signature to include all of the Celebrity, Princess, NCL, and Disney Live From threads I’ve done since cruising started back up. The only thing, though, I didn't include are pictures of drinks and food, except on rare occasions. 

Thanks Ken! I’ve enjoyed following your threads in the past and you gave me some great information I put to use on the Edge. 

[abbydancer2003]

I sail both Celebrity and Princess, and prefer Celebrity, but I book minisuites, and Celebrity has a better (and more expensive) product there. 

 

Last summer, I did 3 Alaska cruises (all moved from 2020 and 2021), two with X and one with Princess.  The Princess one was a family cruise that my mom paid for.  We selected Princess because of the itinerary and the overall Alaska product.  Also, she had a suite and we had reserve class minisuites, and that worked out.  

 

We live in California, so will continue with Princess because they have more ships here, and if we want a short cruise, or to not fly far, Princess is a better option for us.  For our longer and destination based cruises, it's X.

 

 

[D. B.]

On 8/2/2023 at 1:20 PM, CruiseDad-NYC said:

Thanks for the comparison with Princess, a cruise line I have been curious about but never sailed on. I have only been on Royal and Celebrity (and 1 Mein Schiff) for the 20 cruises I have been on.  With all of the cuts post pandemic (particularly on Royal) I am open to trying other cruise lines whereas I wouldn't have before. Your perspective confirms what I have read elsewhere.

 

Alaska is definitely on my bucket list!

I tried Princess Twice to Alaska.

the first was a really terrible experience and finally my TA found a very good deal for a Solo traveler last summer for a 2 week Alaska cruise on one of their newer ships.

the 2 things I like Better about X were the buffet on X is Way better. The MDR was about the same. My favorite place on the X M& S class ships is the Sky Lounge at the front of the ship and that was missing on both Princess ships.

Also I Hated the Princess Madalion thing that had them tracking me and was supposed to open my cabin door but worked only part of the time and I couldn’t wait to throw it in the trash once off the ship.

 I’m staying with Celebrity.

[lf4UA]

10 hours ago, dilbertsdaddy said:

Recently returned from Alaska on Celebrity.  I found everything to be top notch with the exception of the buffet (more crowd issues than food quality) and the ridiculous stop at Icy Straight point.

 

I've not been on Princess but I have heard Glacier Bay is awesome and would probably look for an itinerary that includes this if I ever do Alaska again.  Our cruise included the Hubbard Glacier and it was great.

 

I've been thinking Holland America may be a better fit for me because of the Music Walk, but learned only a few ships have this as the cruise I was looking at did not.  The music on Celebrity was good but not great and I think this would add a lot to my experience.

 

. 

From someone who has sailed on both HAL Eurodam and Rotterdam ships, I have to say that we enjoyed the music in BB Kings much more on the Eurodam than on the Rotterdam.  Yes, the Rotterdam also has the Rolling Stone Rock Room, but we could rarely find a seat. We could always find a seat at BB Kings on Eurodam (could be Alaska itinerary vs. Caribbean) and the band was much better.  It sounds like there has also been a band added, or will be, to the Ocean bar on the several of the ships that don’t have the RSRR. That should be a great addition. 

[UpcountryTravelers]

23 hours ago, YoPhilly said:

Thanks for posting this comparison.  I totally agree that X is a better product.  After 12 Princess cruises, we left them long ago for Celebrity, and even beyond...to Oceania.  

Yeah.  Oceania now owns my two favorite Princess ships!

[jzad]

On 8/2/2023 at 12:03 PM, AbbyCruiser45 said:

 

Hello everyone! I am not sure if people are interested in a post like this, but I shared at the end of my live trip report this June that I would do a comparison of Celebrity and Princess after a recent trip. Well, I just got back from Alaska with Princess, and I thought the comparison might be interesting for people here to read. First, why do I think this? Princess is usually the line I see recommended here after Celebrity in terms of how they compare to each other. It seems that a lot of people here have experience with both lines. I also think taking the Celebrity and Princess cruise within a month of each other allows for a good comparison because cruise lines can change quickly in terms of the offer. 

 

So, why did I book the Princess trip? This was a family cruise with my parents, sister, and my boyfriend. We wanted to see Alaska. Previously, we sailed Disney to Alaska over 5 years ago. We went to Tracey Arm Fjord (Sawyer Glacier). While this was beautiful, we really wanted to go to Glacier Bay. This meant knocking Celebrity out of the options, as that is now our go-to cruise line.  

 

I’ll provide a breakdown of the different areas below, but here is my takeaway for those who don’t want to read all of that. For Glacier Bay alone, I would book Princess again for Alaska. The Glacier Bay day was stunning and long. We were there from 6 AM to 4 PM. For any other cruise, I would only choose Princess over Celebrity if the price difference was above $1,000. Otherwise, Celebrity is the better product in every category. Overall, the service and quality were just really lacking. The crew was strangely unfriendly, and often any request was met with resistance or confusion. 

 

Dining
All right, we know dining is a big issue for Celebrity. I was a part of the ever-so-lucky two-week trial on the Equinox with the severely limited menu. The Princess menu was more expansive than the typical Celebrity menu. It offered five starters, one pasta, six entrees, and three desserts each night. This is on top of the every night items, which included three starters, one pasta, and two entrees. So, Princess wins in terms of menu diversity and size. However, Celebrity won in terms of the quality of the food. Even with the limited menu I had on the Equinox, the quality of each item was excellent. And from what I’ve read, the menu is back to normal, so the diversity of the menu is less of an issue. 

 

Drinks
I am not really one to be super picky about wines, but I learned that I actually might be. Princess has a tier of all-inclusive offerings, and I was on the first tier, including drinks up to $15. The biggest issue here was the wine. On this tier, they do not tell you the wine that you are drinking. The menu only offered the variety (e.g., Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, etc.). They also did not have sommeliers in the dining room. When I asked the dining staff what type of wine it was, they could not answer. The lack of sommeliers was a huge issue, too, because our dining team had to run to the bar for each order. There were no bottles of wine waiting at the dining station, as with Celebrity. This resulted in wine taking as long as 20 minutes to arrive to the table, and usually the white wine was room temperature by that time. In this regard, Celebrity is also the winner. Celebrity also has better quality wine glasses, with the wide mouth and customized to red or white wine. On Princess, it was one type of glass, which was shorter and thicker. 

 

 Service 
The service was also superior on Celebrity than on Princess. On Princess, it took two days to meet my stateroom attendant. He did a great job, but I thought it was strange that I did not know who it was for so long. The bar staff on Celebrity also cannot be beaten. They are always so friendly and personable. At the coffee bar on Princess, the same crew member was there every morning and did not greet me when I went to order. He just would stay silent until you ordered. Maybe this is a petty thing to compare, but it made the Celebrity experience far better. The officers were also not visible on Princess if this is important to you. One super strange thing on Princess is that I asked a few crew, while attempting to chat, where home was. They all answered something along the lines of “oh I am from XYZ but my home is this ship”. At the beginning of a show, the cruise director said for the crew this ship was home, and we are all family. I thought this was incredibly strange and really dehumanizing, and it seems this is a point Princess is trying to make and seemingly instruct their crew to say. I know there contracts are long and they are on the ship more often than home, but on Celebrity, it is always interesting to hear the crew talk fondly about their home and family. 

 

Cost
I do not have a comparison of the cost for the cruise I took because I did not know I would be making this comparison. Instead, I went ahead and priced out both a trip to Alaska and the Caribbean in 2024. Both inclusions are similar (tips, wifi, drinks), time of year (June 2024), ports (Eastern Caribbean) and the stateroom (inside). For a Caribbean, Celebrity didn’t offer a 7 night and Princess didn’t offer an 8-night, so the price comparison is by night. Celebrity comes out to $430.25/night and Princess comes to $397.57 a night ($3,011 vs $2,783). For the same trip I went on this year, but in 2024, the price difference comes to $396.28/ night with Celebrity and $371.42/night with Princess ($2,774 vs $2,600). For these could hundred-dollar differences, I would choose Celebrity any day (with Glacier Bay access as the exception). If that price difference grows substantially, I would consider giving Princess another chance. 

 

Final Thoughts
The one category I’m missing is entertainment, that is because it was a cruise to Alaska, so I was on the deck basically all day. Otherwise, my final thought is that Celebrity has been experiencing a lot of cuts lately, but they still are a better product than other cruise lines in their category. Hopefully, this trend continues. I won’t be sailing Celebrity again until June 2024, but I’m hopeful that the experience will be as good as my last time on board, and I am really looking forward to it. 

Great outline of both and I totally agree with you!  While not horrible by any means, Princess just doesn't live up to Celebrity in my books.