Celebrity vs. Princess - My View

[Nurse Bambi]

I hope that someone at X reads posts such as this one. I think that X forgets that they're not the only cruise option available. I too like X's product better than the others but that does not mean that X is that much better nor that X will automatically get our bookings. Food is no longer as important to me as it once was and remains very subjective. Access to the internet during longer voyages is becoming more of an attraction. With Princess offering me free internet, I feel I'm getting closer to booking with them again... (but I hate free style dining)...

 

We always book traditional dining when sailing on Princess. While every once in awhile, depending upon tours and such, we wish we had anytime dining, but for the most part we prefer the traditional dining option.

[Porkys2]

Thanks to the OP for the excellent comparison of the two cruise lines. My wife and I took our first cruise in September... we sailed on the Crown and loved it. We're thinking about Celebrity for our next... so your review was very helpful.

 

For anyone who's interested, I've posted just over 300 photos of the Crown (with descriptions) on my website. -Here's the link- Lots of pics of our room (including balcony and bathroom), the pools, public rooms, dining rooms, ports, etc. They'll give you a good idea of the Crown experience.:D

 

Thanks again for the write-up!

[Drew B]

Thanks to the OP for the excellent comparison of the two cruise lines. My wife and I took our first cruise in September... we sailed on the Crown and loved it. We're thinking about Celebrity for our next... so your review was very helpful.

 

For anyone who's interested, I've posted just over 300 photos of the Crown (with descriptions) on my website. -Here's the link- Lots of pics of our room (including balcony and bathroom), the pools, public rooms, dining rooms, ports, etc. They'll give you a good idea of the Crown experience.:D

 

Thanks again for the write-up!

 

That looks fantastic. My next cruise is definitely Celebrity (I have a 30% off voucher), but after that, I think it may be time to try Princess.

[two rabbits]

We just returned from a 7 day cruise aboard Crown Princess, our first Princess cruise after 13 cruises on Celebrity. I thought that I would try to give some comparisons or differences between the 2 lines. I realize that it is a little unfair to compare the two after only one cruise on Princess but I will try to be objective as I can. Please remember that these are only MY views & others may disagree.

 

First a little background about us. We are 62 & 63 years old & try to cruise twice per year. Things we look for on a cruise are good service, good food, clean ships & enjoyable entertainment. While we haven’t tried RCI & Carnival, I don’t perceive them as being what we look for in a cruise.

We enjoy dancing & our port days are usually spent at the beach. We rarely take ship excursions & don’t have to be “on the go” 24/7.

 

We took this cruise with our 8 year old grandson, so there were many ship’s facilities that we did not make use of because we chose to spend most our time with him.

 

Here are some of our observations:

 

Service: Overall, I would say that the service is comparable. We found cabin service & room service the same on Princess as we have come to expect from Celebrity.

We did personal choice dining in the Da Vinci Restaurant because we felt it would be better suited for us with our grandson. We did not try the specialty restaurants. I liked being able to dine when we were ready, but also enjoy having the same waiter & dining companions. Most of our waiters on the Crown were efficient & friendly. I think I prefer traditional dining, so maybe next time.

 

Entertainment: IMO, Princess clearly wins over Celebrity. There is much more going on in the evening than on X. There was a lot of entertainment that we would have liked to seen, but weren’t able to because of our grandson. What we did see; the comedians, a ventriloquist, a magician, & 2 “body balancers” who did things that defy gravity, were very good. There were always a number of venues available every night. Movies Under The Stars (MUTS): We enjoyed it, but it was a little loud & the accoustics make it hard to understand sometimes. If you don’t like it, there are alternative pools to use. Our grandson loved it.

We also felt that the hot tubs on Celebrity were more powerful than on the Crown.

 

Food: Celebrity wins here for us, even though we think that X’s food is slipping somewhat. What is with the “small plate” “large plate” on Princess? It seems that all the soups, appetizer, & salads are just bunched together on the menu. Soups were limited, & the ones we had we found so so.

We found the entrees good, but did not find one that jumped out for us. We also thought that the desserts were nothing special, just OK. X has better bread sticks, but Princess has far better rolls.

The buffets were comparable, with the standard choices, although I’ve never seen meat loaf, macaroni salad, or tuna salad served on X. I’ve seen complaints about the layout on Horizon Court, but I think that the way Princess has it laid out makes for a better flow than on Celebrity as you are able to skip what you don’t want & not file along. We enjoyed the pizza on both lines; X has crispier crust; Princess thinner crust & cheesier. Pizza is very subjective.

 

Cabins: We had a balcony stateroom on Baja Deck. The size was similar to most of the rooms we’ve had on X, but really not efficiently laid out. My wife said that they needed a woman to design them. The shower is the smallest since our Meridian cruise, definitely not for sharing a shower! There is kind of a walk-in closet with some shelves that also house the safe. There were many more hangars than the three of us could use, but not nearly not enough drawers for storage The room had a refrigerator (not stocked) which housed the ice bucket, but the frige is enclosed in a cabinet that has a chair in front of it. In order to get in the frige, you must move the chair, open the cabinet, & open the frige. Very clumsy.

 

Embarkation: Similar between the two lines. We arrived at just before noon & were in our stateroom by 12:30. Disembarkation was not as smooth. We waited in the theater from 8;30 & gor off the ship at 12:30! They started disembarking at 8:15 & there was about an hour around 9AM that no one was called. I don’t think this was the fault of Princess, but customs; however, it would have been nice to be told something.

 

Other Observations: I think X does some little things that Princess doesn’t; like the welcome champagne, I know it’s cheap, but a nice touch.

Escorts passengers to rooms.

Supplies trays in buffet & sometimes offers to carry them to your table.

Supplies towels by the pool - you don’t have to bring them from your room.

Amenities in bathroom; Q-tips, shower caps, beach bag in room.

Cold towels when returning to ship.

Free sorbet by the pool.

X has interactive TV where you can check your $ charges to date at any time.

Fewer announcements on X. Two or three days we were awoken to announcements at 7:10 AM

Free ice cream - not so on Princess

 

Princess plus’s: While no interactive TV, there are more channel choices with better selections.

Chair hogs; never had a problem getting a chair by the pool.

Much more lenient with soda card. My wife A grandson ordered soda from the same card with no questions asked.

Future cruise program; booking onboard. For $200 down you can prebooke with cabin credit, depending on length, & have 4 yrs’ to decide on a cruise. Can also invite others who get tha same perk.

The future cruise area is stocked with tons of brochures. On X it seems that they are rationed, like they really don’t want you to take one.

Better hair dryers, just ask my wife.

 

 

Bottom line, & I apologize if I went on too long, I would (& did) book again with Princess, but I think that Celebrity remains our line of choice. They just seem to be making it harder to stay with because of some of their policies and the fact that there are less & less opportunities to cruise X to the Caribbean, plus they seem to have priced us out of the Bermuda market with their outrageous rates to Bermuda on Journey.

 

Richsea:

Great write-up! Nice to see an open minded report, such as yours, on these boards.

 

DrewB:

I think you will enjoy your Princess experience.

[Drew B]

DrewB:

I think you will enjoy your Princess experience.

 

I'm relatively easy to please. I'm sure I will.

[two rabbits]

That looks fantastic. My next cruise is definitely Celebrity (I have a 30% off voucher), but after that, I think it may be time to try Princess.

 

Please post on the board whether or not Celebrity lets you use your 30% off voucher for special prices or happy hour prices for your next cruise.

If you decide to try Princess, I can't remember if enrollment in the Captain's Circle is automatic or not, but be sure to join. They do offer great perks after only five cruises.

[Drew B]

Please post on the board whether or not Celebrity lets you use your 30% off voucher for special prices or happy hour prices for your next cruise.

If you decide to try Princess, I can't remember if enrollment in the Captain's Circle is automatic or not, but be sure to join. They do offer great perks after only five cruises.

 

It specifically says on the voucher that it CANNOT be used for happy hour prices, but aside from that, I think it's for the best price available (and not simply for brochure price). In any case, it's for a dollar amount equal to a percentage on my LAST cruise, so if I choose a shorter/cheaper cruise or a lesser category cabin, I could even get my next cruise FREE.

[two rabbits]

Many stories have been said about the 30% off coupon, and it would be interesting to see what the actual policy is at the time you decide to use it. Let us know when you use it!

Happy sailing

[Drew B]

I sure will. I assume it will be "Book a trip on a qualifying cruise, they discount the price by the appropriate amount". If it's anything more complex than that, I will be upset...

[richsea]

Please post on the board whether or not Celebrity lets you use your 30% off voucher for special prices or happy hour prices for your next cruise.

If you decide to try Princess, I can't remember if enrollment in the Captain's Circle is automatic or not, but be sure to join. They do offer great perks after only five cruises.

 

Thanks for the kind words.Yes, enrollment in the Captain's Circle is automatic. We received our Captain's Circle documents & membership cards before we disembarked. I think that's one area where Princess excells. Another nice small touch is the "Cruise Planner" that is in your room on the first day, detailing the week at a glance, listing ports, times, entertainmet shows & schedules for each day of the cruise.

[barbarah33]

I have traveled on both lines - more than once, including the Crown Princess last month and I do agree with most of what you said. However, there are a few things I would like to point out in case anyone is stuck trying to decide. Please allow me to state that these are only my opinions.

 

The Crown Princess did have free ice cream every afternoon back in the buffet. You had to go to the side of the buffet that was closed in the afternoon and the ice cream was there for the taking. (Not that I would have found that one my own but the Princess boards are constantly talking about it so I knew to look for it.) In general I prefer the food on Celebrity though I do like the options on Princess - dining room, buffet, Café Caribe, pizza, burgers, and two specialty restaurants. I am a traditional diner on Princess so that is the same on both lines.

 

Cabins: I take suites on both and I prefer Princess's layout. (Though the butler you get on Celebrity can't be beat and he makes up for any lacking.) Yes, Princess is short on drawer space but you get a whole cabinet full of shelves by the closet. If you get a suite on Princess the bathroom is well laid out with plenty of room - including a bath tub. (I also sailed the Meridian so believe me I understand a small shower stall.) I think the verandahs on Princess are also larger and I like the way if you are sailing with others you can get your cabin steward to open the door/wall between the verandahs so you can easily walk from one to the other. I wish all cruise lines would do that - as far as I know Carnival is the only other one who does. In a suite on Princess - even a mini, which is what we normally take, you do get the welcome champagne and your fridge is filled with soda when you board the ship though they will not be replenished after you drink those unless you want to pay for them.

Past Passenger Program - I think Princess has the better program by far. The free Internet when you get to platinum status and free laundry and dry-cleaning when you hit diamond are great.

 

Service - I give the edge to Celebrity. I just think they work harder at it. Then again they have fewer passengers so maybe it's not as tough for them. When I sail I like to be pampered and the little touches like somebody to carry my tray for me when we go to the buffet are appreciated.

 

I like both lines and was set on sailing only on Celebrity until they stopped adding new ships and kept to the same itineraries year in and out so I flipped back to Princess which has options. (I don't care for Carnival or NCL and RCCL just seems to be rolling out new ships so fast that I wonder how good they can be so I have avoided them as of late.) I suppose if you are trying to chose between the two you need to look at what is most important to you.

[two rabbits]

Thanks to the OP for the excellent comparison of the two cruise lines. My wife and I took our first cruise in September... we sailed on the Crown and loved it. We're thinking about Celebrity for our next... so your review was very helpful.

 

For anyone who's interested, I've posted just over 300 photos of the Crown (with descriptions) on my website. -Here's the link- Lots of pics of our room (including balcony and bathroom), the pools, public rooms, dining rooms, ports, etc. They'll give you a good idea of the Crown experience.:D

 

Thanks again for the write-up!

 

Porkys2,

 

Thanks for the great pictures of the Crown. We have heard a lot of great things about the Crown experience. Most of the reports that I have read are reporting a beautiful ship, excellent service and food.

Thanks for reporting your experience.