Compare Celebrity and Princess

[twonpcb]

We have cruised Celebrity twice before and it has become our favorite line. We have the opportunity to cruise on the Diamond Princess in Alaska soon, and I was wondering what anyone could tell me about the line. Are they close to Celebrity? What about food? I understand they have open seating dining....do they also have traditional? Any other input would be appreciated.


Thanks,

Robert

[StephenJohnson]

Princess has the option of traditional assigned seating for Dinner, or personal choice (open seating) - as well as the usual alternatives. We went with assigned seating. Personally, I'd give Celebrity the edge over Princess, but Princess is a very nice product, we had a [B]great[/B] time on the Sun Princess out of Whittier last month. Cabins are a bit smaller and have rather less storage, food is a bit plainer, but still good and the souffles were really nice (I thought). I'm sure you'll have a nice time.

Any specific questions?

[polodad]

I've been on one Princess cruise (Star Princess, new ship, 7 day to Mexico) and one Celebrity Cruise (Century, 7 day to E. Carib). We enjoyed both cruises. We found the quality of the food to be higher on Celebrity. We also found the service to be better, both food service & cabin. We assume the level of service may be due to Princess automatically adding gratuities to your bill. In addition we did personal choice dining & never had the same staff. We found Princess superior in the entertainment area & also room for listening to music, dancing. We also found Princess better on itinerary & shore excursions. One minor amazing difference was the size of the shower in the room. The Star Princess seems to feel that all passengers will be 5'8" and weigh 95 lbs. Hard to fit in the shower when eating on a cruise. We found embarcation and debarcation to be much, much better on Celebrity. Both lines are good. If it helps our next cruise is Celebrity, but my girlfriend says she enjoys RCL even more. Oh, when we were on the Star Princess 2 yrs ago traditional dining was available along with personal choice. The personal choice is convenient but we really enjoyed getting to know tablemates & staff on our Celebrity cruise.

[Dorothy]

I have to agree with the previous poster. I, also, sailed on Star Princess. I did not like breakfast or lunch. It was terrible. Dinners were excellent.

Food on Celebrity is much better. There was a few things that weren't so good like the Italian buffet, but I enjoyed everything else. I also found that Celebrity was comparable to RCCL in that department.

The entertainment on Princess is not as good as Celebrity or RCCL as well.

I have come to the conclusion that I will sail only with Celebrity or RCCL from now on.

[Traceybell]

We were on the Grand Princess a few years ago and have since been on 2 X cruises. Both are very similar but we felt that Celebrity had a few "extras" that made us feel a bit more spoiled and pampered. Like, having a napkin/placemat on the buffet trays and having waiters escort you to a table in the buffet dining rooms.

Celebrity had a bit more recognition for past cruisers than Princess and seemed more informed about the shore excursions.

If I had a choice I'd do Celebrity before Princess; but if Celebrity didn't have an itinerary I was looking for my next choice would be Princess.

Tracey

[StephenJohnson]

I feel like i should add that it seemed to us that the food on Princess this time was quite a bit improved over previous years. I can't say whether we just got lucky or there was a general upgrade, though ;)

[catmand]

Subjective: food , an edge to Celebrity
Subjective: Entertainment Princess, more venues, newer movies, great selection of in room FREE movies.
Subjective: service, Celebrity, not that is was better they just do a few little extra things.
Subjective: Excursions, Princess better selection
Objective : Pools, Princess, pools and hot tubs open 24/7 subjective, fresh water
Objective: Cabins, Celebrity, slightly larger and yes a "real" shower
Subjective: Laundry, Princess, they have coin operated washers/dryers on each floor. Now for people who may want to take less and do laundry, it is a nice option. They aslo have irioning boards/irons.


WE have only been on two cruises. One Princess, One Celebrity. We now have two booked, One of each. I honestly don't know how, (with so many of these things being subjective) anyone can say "this one is better" and think it means anything more than their opinion. We had a great time on both and think one is not "better" they are just different. The Diamond is a new, beautiful ship, you are sure to have a good time.

[Joe_Antonelli]

Catmand...can you define a "real" shower. Are you trying to tell me (us) that I will actually have room to turn around in the shower? Do you mean I might actually not hit my head on the shower head? Do you mean that I might actually not be laughing every time I shower because of the tight quarters? Oh please....say it's so!!

Joe

[Boo's Mom]

Robert.... I sailed on the Golden Princess this past December..... and I have been on three Celebrity ships...and one Carnival.

Prior to sailing on Princess, we really thought that it might compare to Celebrity....but, found that the service (specifically in the dining room) fell short on Princess.

Although there were some very good waiters.....we also encountered some rude waiters and those who were lacking the ability to offer refined service. This really disappointed us.

ie: one evening, a waiter came up to our table...got our attention...and then proceeded to look at his watch and then ASKED us if we were going to order dessert! We were in the anytime dining.....and we were pressured to get in and out...because another large table was due to come down and get our table.

I agree with a prior poster.....that the tips being automatically posted to your account hurts the service.

Hope this helps.

[catmand]

Yes Joe, REAL showers on Celebrity. Of course the standard comedians joke on Princess is.....to shower, squirt soap on the walls and spin!

[cruising with marti]

having sailed Princess many times and Celebrity our last 3 cruises, I find that over all it is a toss up. there are many thing I like about each of th lines, but would be hard pressed to vote for one over ther other. And by the way Mom, our last two celebrity cruises, the gratuities at our request were posted to our account, the same as princess and with princess and celebrity you can opt not to have them posted.

Phil

[smudge's mom]

Just wanted to post to see how many postings I still have left - and to see how the new board works. Sorry for the imposition.

[smudge's mom]

oops

[Dorothy]

I couldn't believe how big the shower is on Celebrity. It was so nice to have room to move around. It also had a shower head that was removable. Definately a plus that Celebrity has.

[Boo's Mom]

cruising with Marti....

Yes, I did see that there is now the option to post the tips to your account on Celebrity.
I think..... that it affects the service when it is automatically posted there. Most folks probably don't think about it. I wonder what percentage of people actually add/deduct from the automatically posted tips?

Just some thoughts.

OT: My posts are not automatically coming to my email box. I go in and change it to instant notification....and still no progress. Anyone out there having a similar problem?

[jezzdogg]

We just did the Island Princess in April. Food not question about it Celebrity wins and wins and wins.
Service, again Celebrity. Although we had a very nice waitress, who really cared about us and our table....she had our table of 10, and 3 other table to take care add all the other things she had to do wine...,bar...., soda....There is not way for the service not to suffer.
Found the cruise staff were great on our cruise, the cruise director had to be the all time worst! Would not even say hello to the people when he walked thru the ship. horrible horrible horrible
Entertainmemt was awful on our last 2 Princess cruises, unless you go on the cruise for a movie......then it was wonderful
Night life does not exist on a Princess cruise, especially if you take late seating. No grand buffets and the one caribbean night by the pool started at 10 oclock and ended by 11.
However , all that said, Princess is a dominate player in Alaska, and if you go for ports aspect and the excursions and know what to expect.............

[donnaw]

Hi Robert,

Alaska - Definitely Princess since they get the best dock space!

And the winner is:

Pools & hot tubs - Princess (rarely much of an issue on Alaska run)
Buffets - Princess
Laundry facilities - Princess
Beef - Celebrity
Cabin service - slight edge to Celebrity
Cabins - Celebrity unless you pay for it.
Showers - Celebrity
Coffee - Celebrity
Coffee Mugs - Princess
Creme brulee - Princess
Ice cream - Celebrity
Drinks - Princess?
Little touches - Celebrity

We can and do go either way based on itinerary then ship and price. Product is really very comparable so whatever makes the best sense with the itinerary that you are looking for. Either choice and you will have a spectacular cruise! I thought it was a once in a lifetime but now I'm thinking of going back since there is too much to cover in one trip.

[Flacrusrs]

I have been enjoying reading the posts about the differences between the two lines. We have done 4 Celebrity cruises and 1 Princess. After our Princess cruise we thought Celebrity had better food, more impressive service and we loved the warm T pool, but Princess had better entertainment and friendlier staff. Then we sailed Celebrity again and there was a big improvement in their entertainment and the staff was the most accomodating we have ever found.

We choose Princess for our next two cruises because of itinerary and price. That is another plus in their favor--more ships doing more itineraries, (especially in the Caribbean) and better pricing.

[Kruzrazkal]

[QUOTE=Boo's Mom]Robert.... I sailed on the Golden Princess this past December..... and I have been on three Celebrity ships...and one Carnival.

Prior to sailing on Princess, we really thought that it might compare to Celebrity....but, found that the service (specifically in the dining room) fell short on Princess.




Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]


Celebrity's service is much better than Princess. That being said, I'm disappointed that both Princess and Celebrity have that automatic tipping. I prefer to tip according to the quality of service given.

[Boo's Mom]

Kruzrazkal........ (cute name, BTW! ) :rolleyes:

I would not say that Celebrity has automatic tipping.

Automatic tipping (such as Carnival does)...is when the tip is on your ship's charge account. The cruiseline puts it there. The passenger has the option of leaving it, lowering it, raising it, or completely taking it off.

Celebrity, on the other hand...... does not have anything in the way of tips (except the drink gratuities, of course)... automatically put on your account. In fact, I only heard mention of this option once in the 7 days on the Summit. The passenger has the option of calling Guest Relations and having their tips charged to their shipboard account.

I was rather glad that I did not see Celebrity pushing this option, because I sincerely feel that automatic tipping hurts the service.

[sueclark]

[font=Comic Sans MS][color=red]We recently did a first Princess cruise. After many Royal Suites on Celebrity we were able to book both Grand suites on Grand Princess. The suite was lovely- by far more luxurious than the Royal Suites we have been booking, but the service was far below what we are used to receiving. Princess recently upgraded their suite amenities, but we found we had to ask for the benefits over and over, before we could get any of them.... even the glass of champange on arrival.[/color][/font]

[font=Comic Sans MS][color=red]For me, Celebrity is still my cruiseline of choice.[/color][/font]

[MattInFLL]

Here is my extremely biased opinion... just did Diamond Princess and would be very hard pressed to ever sail Princess again. Food was mediocre, the buffet was OK, but the "traffic" set up is a joke. The ship is bland bland bland, and for being one of the biggest ships sailing the seas, managed to always feel cramped. Crew and staff at all levels always seemed "bothered" by you being in front of them, and many of us shared this opinion. IMHO, NCL does a much better job at non traditional dining than Princess.

My cruise on Infinity last July was fairly flawless as far as food and service go. And we got great docking in all the ports.. and were within a 1000 feet of Hubbard Glacier as it calved. Princess does have an Alaska edge if you are doing the inland tours from Anchorage, because they have their own lodges, etc.. but for the round trip Vancouver route, everyone gets the same wonderful scenery..

[marco]

Cruise line to cruise line, not that big a difference (IMHO) But.....we have not been on the "Diamond" but have been on the "Dawn" and "Sun". If the deck plan for the "Diamond" is similar to the other two, I would NOT want to do an Alaska cruise on it. There are just not enough public spaces that have large exterior views, other than being outside. For this cruise in particular, I would want to be on a ship that no matter where you are or what you are doing, you can see the scenery.

[argosy]

They are similar with minor differences. For me, the only major plus in Celebrity's favor...a very concrete difference and not subject to taste...is the showers in the standard cabins. On Celebrity, the showers are close to normal size. I find more pluses in Princess's favor overall, but most of those are due to personal taste and are subjective, so I won't list them here. The concrete difference in Princess over Celebrity which is a major plus: 24 hour freshwater pools.

[hotspur]

[quote name='argosy']The concrete difference in Princess over Celebrity which is a major plus: 24 hour freshwater pools.[/QUOTE]
A subjective judgment, to be sure. Some of us who live near the ocean much prefer access to salt water. Especially when we're sailing in an ocean of it.