Sun Princess v. Celebrity Summit...recent comparisons

[PescadoAmarillo]

I am not trying to start a debate, or an argument, with this post. I am trying to point out the many and significant differences between a Sun Princess and a Celebrity Summit cruise experience. If you don’t agree with my conclusions, you are, of course, welcome to point that out. But please do not attack me personally, or denigrate my effort at honesty in reporting these differences.

First, we are Elite on both Princess and Celebrity. We have one more Celebrity cruise than Princess, but have more days on Princess than Celebrity. Ergo, we love both cruise lines. We intend to continue to cruise both cruise lines. We are in our late 40s and 50s, and cruise about 4-5 weeks a year as a couple (and I am lucky to cruise with other friends at least once a year).

My husband and I cruised on B2B cruises on the Sun Princess in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean in January 2007 (you may have followed my LIVE FROM posts). Shortly after our return home, he fell on the ice and sustained two broken arms. Two surgeries and many therapy sessions later, another cruise was just what the doctor ordered, and so we booked a last minute Celebrity Summit cruise, eastbound Panama Canal, 14 nights beginning March 31. On both ships, we were in inside cabins (which we frequently book); on both ships we were Elite status in the loyalty programs.

The two cruise experiences could not have been more different.

I will not spend a lot of time comparing the ships. The Sun class ships are not our favorite Princess ships (we prefer the Diamond/Sapphire); the Millenium class ships were not our favorite Celebrity ships (but they are now). I have always thought that Celebrity does not maintain their ships to quite the same level of Princess, and I still think that, but the gap is certainly closing. The Sun Princess was superbly maintained (except for occasional plumbing issues); the Summit showed some signs of flaking paint, the railings were not as well varnished and the white deck chairs could use an overhaul with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge, but the ship was spotless and beautiful. Our inside cabin on the Summit was 32 square feet larger than on the Sun Princess, but had less storage space than our Sun Princess cabin. Our bed linens on the Sun Princess were new, with duvets instead of blankets; the linens on the Summit were older but due to be updated this fall (I believe).

Instead, I will focus on the three things most important to us (aside from itineraries, which Princess excels in): food, service and entertainment.

The dining room food on the Sun Princess ranged from good to excellent; the dining room food on Celebrity was always excellent. I think that, in general, Princess does fish entrees and cold soups better than Celebrity, and Princess does soufflés, which Celebrity generally does not. Celebrity does beef entrees far better than Princess (more often, more tender, and bigger servings), their breadsticks are superb, their "always available" shrimp cocktails contained shrimp that were twice the size of Princess’s, their desserts, their ice cream are both better than Princess.

In the buffet, the comparison is night and day. The Sun Princess buffet was not even up to Hometown standards; the Celebrity buffet food was fresher, hotter, and far more varied with fresh made Belgian waffles in the morning, made to order pasta and pizzas all day till 1 am, made to order stir fry every evening, a large specialty cheese selection every afternoon, a wonderful made to order sandwich bar and salad bar, and multiple hot and cold beverages to choose from. Hot chocolate is free on Celebrity (except at Cova Café); it is extra charge on Princess. The only Brie I saw on the Sun Princess was a miniscule piece on an hor d’oerve; large slices of it were available every day in the Summit buffet. The cheese plate in the Princess dining room was Kraft with saltine crackers; on the Summit it was varied, with more expensive cheeses and crackers NOT in plastic wrappers.

One of the best Celebrity food offerings is the ice cream, available from noon till 10 pm in the buffet. Multiple flavors (7 or 8) of the best ice cream I’ve even had, plus kiddie toppings. While ice cream is available for dessert in the dining rooms on both ships, it is only available (and only 2 flavors) for an hour in the afternoon on Princess. Celebrity wins here, hands down.

For room service, there is, again, no comparison. Only suites on Princess can get hot breakfasts and full dinners delivered. On Celebrity, hot breakfast items (eggs, omelets, meats) and full dining room dinner menus are available in every stateroom.

Regarding service in the dining room, Celebrity again excels. Celebrity’s waitstaff is far more polished and professional. Many of these people have been with the cruise line for 10+ years and it simply shows. Both cruise lines serve food…Celebrity does it with far more elegance at a more relaxed pace. Sommeliers and bar waiters on Celebrity do what falls to the assistant waiters to do on Princess. Again, the professionalism shows. On the Summit, our assistant maitre de stopped by our table every night without fail. On the Sun Princess, most of the time we didn’t even get a greeting when we went into Anytime dining in the dining room…we were simply asked “Your cabin number?”. Only when I finally said, one night, “Well, good evening to you too” did we start to be occasionally greeted. Upon entering the Summit dining room for breakfast or lunch, we were always greeted with smiles and welcomed by several members of the waitstaff…on the Sun Princess it was rare.

In the buffet, my husband was helped every step of the way with his tray (which, thankfully, Celebrity has). As soon as he was seated (and me, as I was frequently helped too), we were asked for our drink order, and our sodas were delivered. On the Sun Princess, tables were cleared loudly, and just feet away from people dining, food was scrapped into garbage piles and dishes stacked. On the Summit, clearing stations were located a bit away from tables, and table clearing was done more quietly.

There is no comparable to the AquaSpa Café on the Sun Princess, and we loved it. We ate breakfast there twice, lunch there a couple of times, and found we loved it for those couple of hours the buffet was shut down during the day. Healthy food, freshly prepared and elegantly served….it was wonderful.

Speaking of the buffet hours, it used to be that Celebrity offered two dinner seatings and a casual dining option with three alternating menus. That may still be the case on the smaller ships, but on the Summit, if we chose not to go to dinner, we had not only the casual dining sit-down alternative, but a salad bar, pasta bar, stir fry bar and sushi bar and the Aqua Spa Cafe. And, of course, that wonderful ice cream served all day till 10 pm. We used to miss the hours that the Celebrity buffet would close down (when we returned from a day on shore)…we didn’t get that impression this time. There was always food (pasta, hamburgs, etc, and ice cream) available, plus healthy food. However, the Summit dining room was closed on most port days for lunch.

Princess offers formal tea daily; Celebrity offers it only once throughout the cruise (plus a second time for Elite Captain’s Club members), but the service on Celebrity is truly formal, and the scones are wonderful, not hockey pucks. I did miss the cream that is available on Princess (clotted? Whipped? I don’t know, but I like it), but also appreciated the fact that the wait staff did not act like it was a punishment to be serving formal tea.

We purchased soda stickers on both ships ($3.95 per day on Princess, $4.95 per day on Celebrity). Bar service on both was excellent, but on the Sun Princess we never once (out of about 15 tries) got sodas delivered to us in the theater; on the Summit, with the exception of one time, we always did.

Our cabin steward on both ships was wonderful (as they generally are). We lacked for nothing, and all requests were delivered promptly and accurately. We like the assistant cabin stewards on Celebrity, but don’t miss them on Princess.

In general, the crew culture differences between the two ships were profound. We were too frequently not greeted, not looked in the eye by crew members we passed on the Sun Princess. At first we attributed this to the fact that the ship was coming off a noro outbreak and were fatigued, and it did improve, but only slightly as our 20 nights progressed. On the Summit, nearly every crew member, staff member and officer we passed greeted us, smiled, told us to enjoy our day, our evening, our meal, etc. The crew seemed much friendlier, much happier. On Princess, we frequently heard (without asking) how many cruises a crew member had left on their contract. On the Summit, we never once heard about contracts and cruises remaining. On the Sun Princess I witnessed some crew members mocking other passengers…I can’t even imagine such a thing happening on the Summit. On the Sun Princess, I once conducted an entire transaction in a shop without once word being said by the store clerk…not the case at all on the Summit.

Regarding entertainment…we loved the entertainment options on the Summit. One passenger we spoke with remarked that they missed the entertainment choices available on Princess (at least two shows to choose from each evening). We didn’t. We loved, appreciated the fact that we could arrive in the theater five minutes before a show began and get a seat…no need to arrive 30 minutes early. We never had to debate which show to attend and how early to get there…much more relaxing. Still, there were multiple (usually 5) music options available around the ship every evening. We loved them all, and spent much more time in lounges listening to music before and after shows, and less time waiting for a show to begin. And the entertainment appealed more to our tastes…we’re not stuffy, but we like guitarists/singers (as the Summit often had outside on the back deck in the evenings…just like Key West), string quartets, a cappella singers and harpists in addition to the dance duos, ship orchestra and party bands. The Summit still had the usual ventriloquist and magicians (not my favorite entertainment, but someone’s, I’m sure), but the production shows are where the ship really stood out. A 16 member cast (5 singers, 11 dancers) plus an adagio/aerialist couple that left the audience gasping with their exquisite beauty. The production shows were innovative and different, with gorgeous costumes and props. They were a joy to watch, and we never missed them.

Other observations about things that are not important to us but may be to you…drinks on Celebrity are more expensive, wines are way more expensive. I can’t comment on shore excursion price comparisons, or spa price comparisons as they also are not big deals for us. I did appreciate the fact that the atrium on the Summit was never littered with tables of the “sale du jour”…those tables were there, just not in the atrium. And I adored the fact that they didn’t have that final sea day “Blue Light Special” in the dining room….how tacky. We like the stacks of towels available by each pool on the Summit, and the larger beach towels available to take off the ship for a beach day.

Saying all this, you might ask why our next cruises will be back on Princess. We like Princess, a lot. What first brought us to Princess, its itineraries, is what keeps us there. We also love the freshwater pools. The elite benefits on Princess are in a different league from Celebrity and appeal to the value shoppers in us. However, the service on Celebrity is also in a different league, and appeals to our desire for a more premium level cruise experience at a reasonable price. Interestingly, we survived on the Summit without free internet and free laundry (or even washers and dryers)…we simply didn’t use the internet on the ship, and our laundry bill totaled $10 over 14 days by simply washing out our undies every night….no big inconvenience. I think we needed to show ourselves that we could survive without those elite benefits, and we could. I do believe that as Celebrity begins to bring out more ships, their itineraries will expand and may begin to rival Princess…at that time, that will factor into our vacation decisions.

Again, these comparisons are between these two ships and these cruises…things change over time. I hope these current comparisons can help you make your cruise decisions.

[spongerob]

That's a good comparison. Too bad you couldn't compare Island or Coral Princess with Summit, since they were built on the same hull in the same shipyard.

 

Regarding crew attitude...were your observations about crew members limited only to what you saw on Sun Princess? We have generally found crew members to be quite friendly, except maybe once or twice. We had a cabin steward once who didn't seem friendly at first, then we figured out he was very uncomfortable speaking English and once we got past that, he was quite pleasant. We had another who spoke very good English, but just couldn't be bothered to do anything. The only other times I've been concerned about the attitude some crew members have projected has been short-timers on their last or second-last cruise.

 

I would never dare flame anyone who uses, "Ergo," in a post. And I think MrCleanMagicEraserSponge would be a great screen name. :)

[Druke I]

Pescado

 

Well written, thank you.

 

Only been on Celebrity once, Mercury, 3-04, followed by Sun Princess, 5-04. We thought Mercury over-rated, and we much preferred Sun Princess.

 

Isn't it wonderful we have so many choices?

[Druke I]

delete - dreaded duplicate. 1st time I've had that in a while.

[nschurr]

Would you mind comparing the cost of a Celebrity cruise vs. Princess cruise with similar itineraries?

[FLGolfer]

 

We purchased soda stickers on both ships ($3.95 per day on Princess, $4.95 per day on Celebrity). Bar service on both was excellent, but on the Sun Princess we never once (out of about 15 tries) got sodas delivered to us in the theater; on the Summit, with the exception of one time, we always did.

 

 

In general, the crew culture differences between the two ships were profound. We were too frequently not greeted, not looked in the eye by crew members we passed on the Sun Princess. At first we attributed this to the fact that the ship was coming off a noro outbreak and were fatigued, and it did improve, but only slightly as our 20 nights progressed. On the Summit, nearly every crew member, staff member and officer we passed greeted us, smiled, told us to enjoy our day, our evening, our meal, etc. The crew seemed much friendlier, much happier. On Princess, we frequently heard (without asking) how many cruises a crew member had left on their contract. On the Summit, we never once heard about contracts and cruises remaining. On the Sun Princess I witnessed some crew members mocking other passengers…I can’t even imagine such a thing happening on the Summit. On the Sun Princess, I once conducted an entire transaction in a shop without once word being said by the store clerk…not the case at all on the Summit.

 

 

 

You do pay a gratuity for the soda card. I have never had a problem getting a diet coke in any venue with my sticker. If I had a problem in the theater on more than one occasion I would inform the pursers desk. While I would not likely mention any ones name (not that I would remember it) I would request a dollar or two of the auto tips for a day or two for the lack of service. A dollar or two from the cruise total is not going to hurt anyone, but it sure would send a message if done early in the cruise. Again I have never had a problem on multiple Princess cruises in various venues including the theater.

 

Comparing a ship off a noro outbreak to one that has not had one recently does not seem appropriate. Did there initial fatigue color your mood. If you are in a bad mood people notice and it is easier to find fault with others as well.

 

I have found good and less than good service on all cruise lines, but generally I have found Princess better than average. By all means sail on whoever pleases you, but do not be surprised if people like myself have had much better cruise experiences on Princess than X.

[bobpatj]

This was very interesting for me to read. We take most of our cruises on HAL, but sailed on the Sea Princess in January, and the Summit in February, 2006, the reverse itinerary to yours. Everything you had to say was so true, though I think our experience on the Sea Princess was better than what you described on the Sun. We had good food and service on both ships, in the dining room, but the Horizon Court is so lacking! It is a plus that Princess keeps their dining rooms open for breakfast and lunch on port days. We will sail Princess again.:)

[geoherb]

I compared the cost of Celebrity versus Princess last fall when looking into a Christmas cruise for us. The cost per person per day was about the same. We ended up chosing the Sun Princess. We had a great cruise.

 

There are always things I miss when going on another cruise line, but I always manage to have a great time. Yellow Fish mentioned many of the things that Celebrity does well, including having sommeliers and better dining room food. I always give the edge to Princess, however, for buffet food. To each his own.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Regarding crew attitude...were your observations about crew members limited only to what you saw on Sun Princess?

 

Good question. On our month long Sapphire and Diamond Princess cruises, we thought the crew was very friendly and welcoming. However, two years ago we did several cruises in quick succession after my husband returned from the Iraq war...two 12 night Galaxy cruises were followed by two one week Grand Princess cruises, and then back to the Galaxy, and, again there, we noticed a big difference in attitudes (Galaxy being far more welcoming). I thought at that time it really came down to the culture as set by the Hotel Director (at that time, on the Galaxy, it was Costas Gatsis, one of our favorites who has moved over to Oceania). It could also bear some relation to cruise length. I'm not sure.

 

I would never dare flame anyone who uses, "Ergo," in a post.

Ergo, I'll be sure to work it into every future post. ;)

 

And I think MrCleanMagicEraserSponge would be a great screen name.

My favorite household cleaning tool. If I wasn't so darn pleased with my own screen name, I might switch.

:)

[Coral]

Thanks for the review. My first comment is the same as Rob's in that the Island/Coral would make for a better comparison.

 

I have no doubt your impressions are accurate from your experiences on the two ships and with the two lines. I have only cruised with Celebrity once and the service was very disappointing, so much so that I haven't returned to Celebrity. When one is using valuable vacation money, it is difficult to relook at a line that was extremely disappointing on one's first experience.

 

I should return to Celebrity again because I am willing to admit that any ship can have a bad week and I may have hit that bad week on the Millie. I know I have had some Princess ships where my service is better than on other Princess ships.