Princess "wins over" a Celebrity only cruiser

[Bisous3]

Well I have to admit, I never thought that I'd say this , but my next cruise is being planned on Princess and not Celebrity!!
Why? Mainly because I loved the anytime dining and they have a much better kids program.
There are endless comparisons that can be made...we all know why we love Princess....there are only a few things Celebrity, in my opinion "does" better. One is French cuisine and breads. Princess obviously does Italian cuisine better.
I could do without the public announcements....especially the one at 5:45 AM from the parents trying to find their teenage son!
I don't get why they don't just make a central pool towel area....a big cart where you can turn in wet towels, pick up dry ones, etc. I wasn't crazy about toting along wet towels to lunch!
Celebrity staff is much friendlier.
I wish both lines would do away with stopping in Nassau. We were there from 7Am to noon. Too short to do much unless you want to get up at 6 AM!
Thats it....other than that- I just loved my Island Princess cruise.If anyone has any questions- shoot!

Suzanne
Oceanic '82
Oceanic '83
Century '01
Century '03
Millennium '03
Island Princess '04

[Coral]

bisous - I am sure you will be pleased to know that they don't do public announcements at 5 am on all Princess ships http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Princess used to give towels out at the pool and people were leaving the towels at the chairs (or using them to save 5 chairs) and not returning them to a laundry bin. I believe Princess thought this would help solve the "chair hogging" problem but it doesn't appear to.

Most Princess ships don't go to Nassau - it is just with the cancellation of Cartegena that Princess scrambled to come up with ports and Nassau became one of them.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[mii]

Welcome to Princess. As Coral said they don't always run public announcements over the intercom and they don't always go to Nassau. We were on the Coral just this last Feb and they did stop in Nassau. I was happy as I had never been there but was great for me. Again, welcome to Princess.


Marilyn

[Bisous3]

Thanks for the welcome! I am looking forward to many wonderful Princess cruises.

Suzanne
Oceanic '82
Oceanic '83
Century '01
Century '03
Millennium '03
Island Princess '04

[CruiseFever]

Having not sailed Celebrity but very much aware of their fine reputation I guess it's quite a complement to have you with us!

Welcome!

Happy Cruising

Chris

www.LifeIsCruising.com (http://www.LifeIsCruising.com)

Next up:
Caribbean Princess 06/26/04
Star Princess 10/24/04
Carnival Victory 12/19/04
Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

[pamwinn]

Personal Choice is what keeps me from trying other lines. I know that I would not enjoy fixed seating dining. It would be like daily appointments and I approach my cruise vacation minute by minute. I don't ever know what I am going to be doing in two hours and I like it that way.

Sapphire Princess Inaugural
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[Salty Dawg]

Bisous3,

Welcome to the Princess family!

Did you take advantage of the on-board booking plan for a future cruise?

Ken & Nancy http://www.ozpets.com.au/kids/media/animation/dogs/dog1.gif

[BJS]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>don't get why they don't just make a central pool towel area....a big cart where you can turn in wet towels, pick up dry ones, etc. I wasn't crazy about toting along wet towels to lunch! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The Dawn had a bin to put wet towels in this month but that was the first one I've seen on a Princess ship. There was also still the card in the room telling you to return them to the room.

Future cruises:
Sept. 04 Star Princess x 2
Jan. 05 Diamond Princess
July 05 Star Princess
Aug. 05 Star Pincess

Past cruises:
04 Dawn Princess x 2
03 Grand,Sun,Tahitian,
Royal Princess x 2,Island Princess
01 Ryndam x 2
00 Sky Princess
79 Sitmar's Fairwind

[Bisous3]

Ken and Nancy-
I should have done that! I didn't realize it was good for any ship - any time.
We are currently trying to decide the when and where of our next Princess cruise.
I am really blue since returning home. I think about that cruise all day! LOL!

Suzanne
Oceanic '82
Oceanic '83
Century '01
Century '03
Millennium '03
Island Princess '04

[CruiseFever]

My enduring question: Did they ever once play the theme song to "The Love Boat"?

Happy Cruising

Chris

www.LifeIsCruising.com (http://www.LifeIsCruising.com)

Next up:
Caribbean Princess 06/26/04
Star Princess 10/24/04
Carnival Victory 12/19/04
Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

[Salty Dawg]

Bisous3,

Since we took advantage of the on-board booking option on our last cruise we could send you a "share the wealth" coupon. (These can be used for other family members not traveling with you at this time, or friends that would like to take a future cruise. By using these coupons they get in on the same deal; For $100 per person deposit, rather than a larger, normal deposit, you book a cruise and not have anything additional due until final payment was due. In addition, you get up to $100pp onboard credit depending on the length of the cruise. You can even have an "open" booking with Princess, with no specified cruise date, which is valid for 4 years!)

Let us know if you are interested, or just call Princess directly to ask about the program.

Happy sails to you...

Ken & Nancy http://www.ozpets.com.au/kids/media/animation/dogs/dog1.gif

[PINEY10]

On the Diamond, they did play the "Love Boat" song, but of course, that route is the route from the Love Boat.
With regard to the comparison, I am not quite yet in the total Princess quarter--have taken 3 Princess cruises (last spring on the Star, last summer on the Coral to Alaska, this spring on the Diamond, and next fall on the Coral) and have generally liked it. The food is NO comparison to Celebrity (hands down), but this past cruise on the Diamond is the best food we have yet had on Princess. Hope that is the "standard" now for Princess. I found Celebrity's food was not geared for the average cruiser and included some spicey, interesting choices versus the same old, same old.
Although we had the "best waiter" ever this past cruise on the Diamond, I have found that the customer service level on Celebrity far exceeded that also of Princess. Much more respectful of an individual's needs, although Princess is far better than RCCL in my view. Celebrity also has a much more luxurious, high end feel where I felt more special even though all cruise lines are generally solicitous of their customers. With older children and so close to almost all empty nesting, I liked the more "adult" atmosphere of Celebrity, although Princess does have a tad of this as well, but not to the point of Celebrity. We also thought the specialty dining on Celebrity on the Infinity class ships was outstanding--better than the PC choices on Princess. Also, I am not a fan of PC dining since I found that the times you generally could reserve on PC basically are the same as those for traditional seating. When we tried to make reservations for PC dining on the Coral, we were given a 6:00 or 8:00 time and could not do a 7:00/7:30 time--not available, and I was there the first day at the time we boarded. We were told we could come at the 7:00 or 7:30 times and take the chance of getting a pager, and probably not seated until 8:00. Therefore, I did not see the difference between PC and traditional dining. I heard similar complaints on the Diamond. Diamond was good in that you got the menus in the traditional seating for the PC dining rooms, except for Sabatini's. We tried that for the first time this cruise, and although the food was good, it was an awful lot of food. Not exceptional, but good. THe service, however, was impeccable!

All in all, I like the more personal touches to Celebrity--I felt more special and accommodated than with Princess. But Princess is a wonderful line and far exceeding RCCL in my view which caters to a larger rowdier bunch. I have heard good things about the radiance, but would likely not do RCCL again unless we get an offer/itinerary we can't refuse! In my point of life (just 50), I am now ready for R&R and less noise/excitement constantly going on (like at the pool deck), but enough to keep us happy.

We did find that Princess offered more onboard activities that are fun, the at sea program, trivia shows, and various types of entertainment in the evenings, versus the standard shows which you could not choose from. To Celebrity's detriment, the last time we were on last fall (Galaxy out of Baltimore), the entertainment was the worse we have ever seen on any cruise ship. I could have sung better than the singers and I don't sing! Princess also needs to recycle more of its entertainment--we saw the same comics on our last three cruises.

[Bisous3]

I totally agree about the entertainment. I am a choreographer/dance studio owner and the Princess shows were very good. Celebrity's shows were laughable.
We had "anytime dining" and ate dinner every night at 7:30. We never once were given a beeper or had to wait. 10 nights out of 10 we were seated immediately.
I think , as I said in my trip review that hopefully will be posted soon, that Celebrity does French food better, and Princess does Italian better. The gnocchi tasted EXACTLY the same as it did in Italy!
There just seemed to be something missing in terms of the overall friendliness of the crew. Maybe since the ship was getting ready to finish its Carribean run and head to Alaska, people were ending thier contracts?
Kene & Nancy - thanks for that idea about the coupon- I will call Princess about it.
A friend just expressed interest in trying the Carribean Princess in July.

Suzanne
Oceanic '82
Oceanic '83
Century '01
Century '03
Millennium '03
Island Princess '04

[montgomeryfamily]

Salty Dawg, If bisous3 doesn't want the Share the Wealth coupon, we would certainly appreciate getting it. It has been many years since we last sailed on Princess and we are planning a cruise with my brother and his family on one of the "Grand" Princess ships, as we understand that that class is better for children--with more for them to do. My email address is aleta@ev1.net

[Salty Dawg]

Montgomeryfamily,

Will e-mail you tomorrow.

Talk to you soon...

Ken & Nancy http://www.ozpets.com.au/kids/media/animation/dogs/dog1.gif

[montgomeryfamily]

Salty Dawg, Thanks. Look forward to talking with you.

Kathy

[JanetMarie]

We are elite members of Princess, and as you can tell, we simply love the line.

We took our first Celebrity cruise a month ago, and to us, there was no comparison. Please don't get me wrong. We had a blast on our cruise, but throughout that week we often thought of Princess and how we could not wait to get back on her. Next up, the new Caribbean!

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