Help will be appreciated!

[janotay]

:D HI,

 

I am currently researching a Feb 09, 7 night Carribean Cruise. There will be four easy going adults - early to mid 50's. I have not sailed with Princess before and my experience is Celebrity M-class - 3x and RCC 1x. Happy with both but interested in expanding my cruising. I am asking for input as to the differences between Celebrity and Princess from those that have experienced both. Things like cabins, food, service - the basics.

[drummondcreek]

Princess is a step down from Celebrity. Kind of like going from Saks to Dollards. You will still have a great time. Just don't expect it to be as refined as what you had on Celebrity.

[janotay]

I am really hoping to get some input. Anyone?:confused:

[eandersen]

We have sailed on the Celebrity Summit and then high-tailed it back to Princess. I don't think Princess is a "step down" AT ALL from Celebrity. It's just different. Celebrity (in our experience) differs most in terms of the approach by the crew. On Celebrity, the crew was impeccably polite, but kinda had that "I'm only going to talk to you if you address me directly" service approach. No chirpy greetings and smiles as you moved down the hallways. Very, very reserved. In the dining room, we were pretty much left completely alone after being served. Felt really weird not to be checked on a few times. We didn't like it, although I'm sure that style appeals to a lot of people. On Princess, you get a lot of smiles and enthusiasm and offers of service, without feeling smothered. I like that. I found the ships to be equal in terms of beauty, luxury, comfort, etc., although again, I prefer the more approachable decor/ambience of Princess. The Summit felt like an art gallery to me - look, but don't touch. Hope this helps somewhat.

[willysgrandma]

I enjoyed Princess as much as I did Celebrity. I've done two Celebrity cruises - one I love,d the second I didn't like and really disliked the ship I was on.

 

I cruised on the Crown and loved it. In my mind, the only area I prefer Celebrity for is the food. Other than that I thought the two lines were similar if you go on one of Princess' new and larger ships.

[4cats4me]

I went on the Infinity in 2001 and have been on 7 Princess cruises

since then, but I still yearn to go back on Celebrity and do have

the Solstice planned for '09, but we're also going on the Emerald Princess

in a few weeks.

 

They both have their good qualities. I like the anytime dining flexibility

on Princess, but I like the elegance of Celebrity. I thought the food

was excellent on Celebrity but they did not have 24/7 food either.

The pastries on Celebrity were excellent compared to those on Princess,

but the food on Princess is quite good.

 

Everything is subjective. Princess does have friendly service, but I

felt it was also good service on Celebrity, just a bit more reserved.

 

Entertainment on Princess seems better than on Celebrity.

 

I do prefer the decor of Celebrity's ships.

[swigso]

Hi

I have started a thread not realising that this was here,

I am also looking at Princess, mainly due to some nice itinaries.

Are there any special tips like Best Cabins/bigger balconies etc.

Having sailed with X and RCCl this is a new experience gathering all the info.

Thanks for your help.

[willysgrandma]

Hi

I have started a thread not realising that this was here,

I am also looking at Princess, mainly due to some nice itinaries.

Are there any special tips like Best Cabins/bigger balconies etc.

Having sailed with X and RCCl this is a new experience gathering all the info.

Thanks for your help.

 

If you are sailing on the larger ships and want a balcony, try and get the Caribe deck. The balconies are larger and half covered, half uncovered.

[PescadoAmarillo]

On Celebrity, the crew was impeccably polite, but kinda had that "I'm only going to talk to you if you address me directly" service approach. No chirpy greetings and smiles as you moved down the hallways. Very, very reserved. In the dining room, we were pretty much left completely alone after being served. Felt really weird not to be checked on a few times. We didn't like it, although I'm sure that style appeals to a lot of people. On Princess, you get a lot of smiles and enthusiasm and offers of service, without feeling smothered. I like that. I found the ships to be equal in terms of beauty, luxury, comfort, etc., although again, I prefer the more approachable decor/ambience of Princess. The Summit felt like an art gallery to me - look, but don't touch. Hope this helps somewhat.

My opinion differs a bit. We are Elite on both Celebrity and Princess, and so obviously like both cruise lines a lot. Celebrity is my personal favorite; Princess is my husband's favorite, although we are both happy on either cruise line. But we believe that there is no comparison between the attitude of the crew on Princess and on Celebrity. It is on Celebrity that we feel most welcomed, most greeted by the crew. In 2005 we cruised 3 weeks on Celebrity followed a week later by 2 weeks on cruises, followed a week later by 2 weeks on Celebrity and that is when we really noticed the differences. Celebrity's crew seems to be consistently passenger-oriented; on Princess it had been a bit more hit and miss. Happily, on our most recent Golden Princess cruises, we felt the crew was quite happy and went out of their way to make us feel welcome.

 

But I totally agree that their M class ships feel like art galleries to me. Who chooses that stuff, anyways??

 

We find the entertainment on the M class ships to be way better than Princess, but on their Century class ships it can be pretty abysmal. But I will be the first one to admit that I love classical music and string quartets more than dance bands.

[shun]

Hi we've done both, 2 celebrity and 2 princess.Our first was with princess then followed by 2 celebrity cruises.Our first celebrity was the summit, nice ship but entertainment was better on princess.Crowd was much older on our first celebrity.Second cel. was on the Mercury, it was an older ship in much needed repair but service was excellent.Our last cruise this past feb. was on the caribbean princess, we found the ship to big and miss being able to walk on the top deck without having to go up and down all the time.Also the rooms smell of cigarette smoke.Service was great, people are friendly dining rooms have low ceiling.Try it, if you don't like it you can always go back.We loved watching movies on deck.

[frofro]

Princess is a step down from Celebrity. Kind of like going from Saks to Dollards. You will still have a great time. Just don't expect it to be as refined as what you had on Celebrity.

 

 

Saks to Dillard's is WAY more than a step down! :eek: and I don't think Princess is that way off from Celebrity...

[SusieS]

I much prefer Princess! We were on the Celebrity Mercury a yr. & a half ago, & I did not like it at all. We've been on The Dawn, Sapphire, Diamond & Golden Princess ships, & absolutely loved them all, except for the Golden, which didn't seem nearly as special.

[Putterdude]

Our feeling is that there is not a ton of difference between the two. We think the balcony cabin layout of Princess is better than X and feels roomier as does the balcony but that is the result of having better sized furniture. We like the showers in X over Princess only because X has the shower wand and Princess's is fixed. The service is a bit better on X but hard to quantify. Food is maybe just a little better on X but in our opinion Princess has better beef. We like the anytime dinner option of Princess but like the formalness of X. We like the free ice cream on X that Princess charges for but at the end of the day it pretty much a "pickum" with maybe just a very slight nod to X.

[bdwyer]

I go back to your statement "There will be four easy going adults - early to mid 50's". I find Princess much more relaxed that Celebrity...anytime dining, etc. As previously suggested, go with balcony cabins on the Caribe deck where you have the option of both covered and uncovered sunning. Not sure which ship you're considering but if it's the Crown, Emerald or Ruby, the Sanctuary is an ideal adult spot for relaxing. Anytime dining with all of the other dinner options makes for a totally relaxing cruise. Enjoy

[Tatka]

Princess is a step down from Celebrity. Kind of like going from Saks to Dollards. You will still have a great time. Just don't expect it to be as refined as what you had on Celebrity.

 

I disagree.

 

Princess and X are my two #1 lines.

 

I'd say that Celebrity provides somewhat more "whiteglove" service, but service on Princess is also exellent and in some areas Princess exceeds X. For example in overall entertainment. I also prefer pool set up on Princess when you have many of them for every taste (music, no music, MUTS, several adult only etc).

 

We are ready to sail on Ruby Princess and very excited about it.:)

[Heatherco]

While we had a wonderful time on Celebrity, I was kind of bored to tell you the truth. None of the activities appealed to me that much. Princess has a nice range of activities to appeal to a broader group...but that's just my opinion.

 

I guess I would say that Celebrity was a little more sedate, while Princess was a little more easy-going. Service was excellent on both though.

[janotay]

Good input. thanks so much. I am picking up some information from my TA today and will see what she has come up with. I'll keep you posted.:D