Early or late dining and dining etiquette.

Hello,

I'm a newbie to cruising. A few questions about dining in Celebrity MDR, and etiquette whilst sharing a table with strangers.

Which is better? Early 6 pm or late 8:30 pm. seating in MDR? Pros and cons? The wife and I are not keen of being around young children whilst trying to enjoy a nice dinner. Sorry, to all parents with young children.

BTW: I love lobster. How can I find out in advance , the nightly featured menu so I can work around return from shore excursion or eat off ship?

Also, is it ok to request a double serving of lobster? Would eyebrows be raised by the other dinner companions at the table if I asked? I don't want to embarrass myself if I did so. :)

Thank you.

Sorry to ask simple questions.

I also would prefer to have fewer kids around at dinner. So we usually select the later dining. Even when there are plenty of families sailing, the late dining is mostly adults or older kids. But to be honest there aren't usually tons of kids on Celebrity such as you'll see on Carnival, NCL or RCI.

Also after a day at the beach, or a day off on excursions or even a day poolside, the early seating makes it difficult for me to get ready in time w/o cutting my daytime activities short. And since they no longer have the midnight buffet, I don't care how long my evening meal is.

Yes you can order double lobster and many folks do. Depending on where you're cruising, most of the lobster is that yucky warm water lobster so it may be a bit disappointing if you're thinking "Maine Lobstah".

Order 2 appetizers, entrees, dessert. Whatever. If you want it and will eat it, order it. But if possible, it's easier for your waiter if you tell him at the time you place your original order if you're going to want a second serving. So they don't have to make a special run to the kitchen for you (though they will do so).

SOmething not absolutely NECESSARY but kind of nice to do, if you know you're going to, say… dine in a specialty restaurant the next day, it's nice to let your wait staff and/or your dining companions know you won't be there so they don't hold up ordering. Not do or die, but it's a nice courteous thing to do if you get the chance.

BTW: I love lobster. How can I find out in advance , the nightly featured menu so I can work around return from shore excursion or eat off ship?

 

Also, is it ok to request a double serving of lobster? Would eyebrows be raised by the other dinner companions at the table if I asked? I don't want to embarrass myself if I did so. :)

On any of the cruises we have ever been on, lobster has been served on the last formal night.

It is perfectly okay to request a double serving. Depending on your servers, they must just come around with more unasked anyway. That has happened to us once or twice.

Thank you. Your advice really helpful.

Hello,

 

I'm a newbie to cruising. A few questions about dining in Celebrity MDR, and etiquette whilst sharing a table with strangers.

 

Which is better? Early 6 pm or late 8:30 pm. seating in MDR? Pros and cons? The wife and I are not keen of being around young children whilst trying to enjoy a nice dinner. Sorry, to all parents with young children. if you choose set dining, late seating tends to have less small kids. if you choose flex dining, you can be seated alone

 

BTW: I love lobster. How can I find out in advance , the nightly featured menu so I can work around return from shore excursion or eat off ship?

the menu is posted daily mid morning /early afternoon outside the DR. Lobster is typically only available on one formal night

 

Also, is it ok to request a double serving of lobster? Would eyebrows be raised by the other dinner companions at the table if I asked? I don't want to embarrass myself if I did so. :) double portions are fine(many others will do so) that being said.. the lobster is NOT high quality

 

 

Thank you.

 

Sorry to ask simple questions.

you may decide that you don't need or want two entrees.

Hello,

 

I'm a newbie to cruising. A few questions about dining in Celebrity MDR, and etiquette whilst sharing a table with strangers.

 

Which is better? Early 6 pm or late 8:30 pm. seating in MDR? Pros and cons? The wife and I are not keen of being around young children whilst trying to enjoy a nice dinner. Sorry, to all parents with young children.

 

BTW: I love lobster. How can I find out in advance , the nightly featured menu so I can work around return from shore excursion or eat off ship?

 

Also, is it ok to request a double serving of lobster? Would eyebrows be raised by the other dinner companions at the table if I asked? I don't want to embarrass myself if I did so. :)

 

 

Thank you.

 

Sorry to ask simple questions.

We prefer Traditional - Late Seating in the MDR for a variety of reasons:

We eat late often at home.

We like having the extra time to get ready / relax / enjoy Sailaway after a busy day ashore (6 to 6:30 PM is just too dang early for us, when the ship sails at 5 in many ports)

Although Celebrity does not have a lot of kids... Families due prefer the Early Time

We are middle aged (50s & 60s) and we find more like minded people in our age group at the Late Seating... Many of the true Seniors like to dine early / retire early... Where we enjoy Cocktail Hour - Dinner - Show - Late Night Comedy - and maybe a Night Cap (rare to be in bed before Midnight or 1 AM)

There are 14 Menues on rotation in the MDR... Unfortunately no way to know in advance what will be on your cruise... However the Nightly Menu is posted outside the MDR in the afternoon.

In the MDR there are no limits... You can have any, all, or as much as you want to eat of any course... Just ask.

Lobster onboard is normally Warm Water Lobster* (smaller & not as tasty). It is usually served on night on the cruise... As Lobster Tails.

* I say normally Warm Water Lobster... It was pointed out to me recently that on a Summit Cruise to New England that the ship there stocked up on Atlantic Lobster for its Pax on that cruise. Yum-yum

Warm Water Lobster in the MDR is good enough, but it is not Atlantic Lobster by any means.

Lobster is served elsewhere on Celebrity Ships, most notably the Specialty Restaurants... And typically differently (ie Lobster Thermidor). My fave dish is served in Muranos.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

Ps... I should add that we find Celebrity has done well by us when it comes to finding suitable table mates... With common interests (do not know how they do that). In the off chance you don't "mesh" with your Tablemates you can ask the MDR Maitre D for a change in seating. We like getting to know new people & our wait staff... So Traditional Dining is preferred for us over Select

We do select. Our times vary when in port, sea days, etc.

I dislike set times. AND order as much, when you want.

We prefer late seating for the traditional dining times.

They do a pretty good job matching people up at the tables. The chances of you sitting with a family with small children is pretty low and if it does happen you can ask to be switched. In fact if you are really concerned head to the MDR ASAP after boarding. There will be an area set up just outside one of the doors with managers who will answer questions and address issues with table assignments. They will be able to tell you if you are seated with a family with young children and possibly change your assignment.

As others have said there are generally fewer children at late seating than at early seating.

I've really enjoyed traditional dining and feel it is a great way to meet people on a cruise. We've had a good time with the table mates on most of our cruises and have formed some friendships. I also prefer late seating over early seating but both have their pros and cons.

Late seating means that you don't need to rush to dinner after a day at port and if you enjoy a nice lunch, on or off the ship, you'll have time to work up an appetite before dinner. When we get back from a day at port we like to relax before dinner. We like going up on deck for sail away from port and to view the sunset and sometimes also have a sail away drink at the aft bar or on our veranda. We enjoy time to get cleaned up and dress for dinner without rushing. Most of all we enjoy heading to the lounges before dinner to either listen to some entertainment over a before dinner cocktail or to socialize with fellow cruisers in the martini bar. The downside of course is that it's relatively late when you finish dinner (usually close to 10PM) so there is less time to enjoy the after dinner nightlife on the ship and when we're really tired it may mean heading to bed on a full stomach.

We've done early dining before but it seemed that we literally had to rush to get cleaned up and dressed for dinner after returning from port and often didn't have time for a before dinner cocktail before heading to the dining room. The flip side is that there is plenty of time to enjoy all of that after dinner without it already being late when you start.

The middle ground is Select dining where you can choose your own dining time. But at select dining we sometimes miss the traditional dining benefit of having the same waiter and tablemates each night. The shows on the ship are also scheduled around the traditional dining times so dining between those times may mean that you'll miss the theatre shows if that is important to you.

Don't hesitate to ask for an extra serving of anything at dinner or even for two different items. The waiters are very accommodating in the main dining room.

The etiquette is common manners. Don't chew with your mouth open, or talk while you're chewing!

Tablemates are fun! Just be pleasant and all is good! Don't talk politics or religion....talk about your plans for the next port, or what show you saw last night...

Just enjoy! And yes...order whatever you want!

Pick the time closest to when you normally eat. There's plenty of time to get ready for all seatings.

On any of the cruises we have ever been on, lobster has been served on the last formal night.

 

 

 

It is perfectly okay to request a double serving. Depending on your servers, they must just come around with more unasked anyway. That has happened to us once or twice.

Mind my typo - i meant they MAY just come around with more unasked ;)

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Select dining is the best for us. We like being able to decide when to eat and not have a set schedule.

We used to always do early, but now if we can't get Select we find late dining much more relaxing--no rush to get ready by six, or whatever time it is.

I honestly have never had any bad experiences with kids in the MDR. We've never been seated with a family with kids, other than our own grandkids. We don't normally cruise when more families are cruising, though, like Spring Break or summer. More families with kids will do early seating.

Select dining is the best for us. We like being able to decide when to eat and not have a set schedule.

 

We used to always do early, but now if we can't get Select we find late dining much more relaxing--no rush to get ready by six, or whatever time it is.

 

I honestly have never had any bad experiences with kids in the MDR. We've never been seated with a family with kids, other than our own grandkids. We don't normally cruise when more families are cruising, though, like Spring Break or summer. More families with kids will do early seating.

Is there a drop off in service when choosing Select Dining vs. Set Dining on Celebrity? They are both in MDR? Or is Select Dining in another DR? The reason I ask is when we took our first, and recent 7 night Alaska cruise with Princess, our Travel Agent (who was with our 30 person cruise group,) scheduled our group for Select Dining. I don't think it was in the MDR (usually aft?) The waitstaff seemed rushed, and not interested in providing "good" comparable service expected from a fine restaurant. They mixed up entrees, appetizers served after entree, and we had to request everything from refilling our water, to silverware. General confusion. :eek: Waitstaff did not offer refills on coffee, ice tea. Waited along time to order a second soda. Waitstaff seemed to be hurried with service. Very unsmiling, curt, and generally unfriendly waitstaff (Eastern European?). When waitstaff was Asian, our service was generally better.. We wondered if it was just a cultural thing. Or, maybe because of no extra gratuity? :confused:

Other Princess cruisers we met said Princess was generally a cut above Celebrity in food quality and dining service. Wife and I are a bit concerned. Should we be?

We are considering booking Celebrity Solstice class cruise to New Zealand-Australia for 2015. We like to cruise for a good dining experience, besides relaxation. Middle class budget newbies at cruising experience.

Thanks.

Hello,

 

I'm a newbie to cruising. A few questions about dining in Celebrity MDR, and etiquette whilst sharing a table with strangers.

 

Which is better? Early 6 pm or late 8:30 pm. seating in MDR? Pros and cons? The wife and I are not keen of being around young children whilst trying to enjoy a nice dinner. Sorry, to all parents with young children.

 

BTW: I love lobster. How can I find out in advance , the nightly featured menu so I can work around return from shore excursion or eat off ship?

 

Also, is it ok to request a double serving of lobster? Would eyebrows be raised by the other dinner companions at the table if I asked? I don't want to embarrass myself if I did so. :)

 

 

Thank you.

 

Sorry to ask simple questions.

You will find less children at the late seating.

Usually the nightly menus are posted early in the day. Also, you can do a search for the menus.

However, if you are interested in lobster, it is served on formal night. Also you can get it in the extra cost restaurant. In the MDR, yes you can order two servings. In the extra cost restaurant you cannot.

We really enjoyed the table-mate matches that Celebrity made for us in the past, but in the last few years it has not worked out to our liking due to huge age differences. We decided this year to ask for tables for 2.

We prefer late seating for the traditional dining times.

 

They do a pretty good job matching people up at the tables. The chances of you sitting with a family with small children is pretty low and if it does happen you can ask to be switched. In fact if you are really concerned head to the MDR ASAP after boarding. There will be an area set up just outside one of the doors with managers who will answer questions and address issues with table assignments. They will be able to tell you if you are seated with a family with young children and possibly change your assignment.

 

As others have said there are generally fewer children at late seating than at early seating.

 

I've really enjoyed traditional dining and feel it is a great way to meet people on a cruise. We've had a good time with the table mates on most of our cruises and have formed some friendships. I also prefer late seating over early seating but both have their pros and cons.

 

Late seating means that you don't need to rush to dinner after a day at port and if you enjoy a nice lunch, on or off the ship, you'll have time to work up an appetite before dinner. When we get back from a day at port we like to relax before dinner. We like going up on deck for sail away from port and to view the sunset and sometimes also have a sail away drink at the aft bar or on our veranda. We enjoy time to get cleaned up and dress for dinner without rushing. Most of all we enjoy heading to the lounges before dinner to either listen to some entertainment over a before dinner cocktail or to socialize with fellow cruisers in the martini bar. The downside of course is that it's relatively late when you finish dinner (usually close to 10PM) so there is less time to enjoy the after dinner nightlife on the ship and when we're really tired it may mean heading to bed on a full stomach.

 

We've done early dining before but it seemed that we literally had to rush to get cleaned up and dressed for dinner after returning from port and often didn't have time for a before dinner cocktail before heading to the dining room. The flip side is that there is plenty of time to enjoy all of that after dinner without it already being late when you start.

 

The middle ground is Select dining where you can choose your own dining time. But at select dining we sometimes miss the traditional dining benefit of having the same waiter and tablemates each night. The shows on the ship are also scheduled around the traditional dining times so dining between those times may mean that you'll miss the theatre shows if that is important to you.

 

Don't hesitate to ask for an extra serving of anything at dinner or even for two different items. The waiters are very accommodating in the main dining room.

One thing that you will learn as you spend time on the Celebrity forum is that you can rely on almost everything that is posted by Larry Simon. :) As usually, he has made some excellent points here.

I just came off the Silhouette on October 18th. Lobster was served on the last formal night. I didn`t order it, but my table mate said it was excellent, and that he wouldn`t have known it was warm water lobster. I don`t even know for a fact that it was warm water lobster, but it was certainly larger than any warm water lobster I have ever been served. By all means, go ahead and order a second lobster if you wish.

Although we usually sail in Aquaclass, so have Blu as our main dining room (smaller restaurant...132 seats...more intimate, quieter setting) I have eaten in the MDR on three of the four Celebrity cruises I sailed on in 2014. My other cruise in (August) 2014 was on the Golden Princess. The food and service on all of my Celebrity cruises in the past year have been excellent, and was certainly a cut above Princess in every comparable venue. The food on Princess was good, but in my opinion, both the food and service on Celebrity was better, and in the buffet, there was just no comparison.

We were in Select dining on our back-to-back cruises on Century in February 2014, and managed to be seated in the same area, with the same wait team, every night except one. If you do choose Select, just tell the Select Dining hostess that you would like to be seated in the same area each night. We prebooked our Select dining times before we cruised, but changed the times aboard the ship on a few nights. There are usually two line-ups...for those with reservations, and for walk-ups. They do a good job of seating you in a timely way in Select Dining, but we never had to wait at all when we had reservations. Our preferred dining time is 7:30 pm, but that will often mess up attendance at the evening shows in the theatre, so you do have to decide what is most important to you, using the kind of information that Larry provided.

If you cruise at times when children are in school, then you won`t notice many children in the dining room. Families with younger children tend to be at early seating, while you may find teens at the later seating. But it is highly unlikely that you will be seated with families with children, if you are not sailing with children of your own. In our experience, families sailing Celebrity tend to have well-behaved children, and the Celebrity children`s programmes keep the kids engaged, and largely out of sight, if you are sailing at times when children are in school.

I am sure you will have a great cruise with Celebrity. Have fun with your planning, and feel free to ask any questions that occur to you. This is a community that loves to help!!

Is there a drop off in service when choosing Select Dining vs. Set Dining on Celebrity? They are both in MDR? Or is Select Dining in another DR? The reason I ask is when we took our first, and recent 7 night Alaska cruise with Princess, our Travel Agent (who was with our 30 person cruise group,) scheduled our group for Select Dining. I don't think it was in the MDR (usually aft?) The waitstaff seemed rushed, and not interested in providing "good" comparable service expected from a fine restaurant. They mixed up entrees, appetizers served after entree, and we had to request everything from refilling our water, to silverware. General confusion. :eek: Waitstaff did not offer refills on coffee, ice tea. Waited along time to order a second soda. Waitstaff seemed to be hurried with service. Very unsmiling, curt, and generally unfriendly waitstaff (Eastern European?). When waitstaff was Asian, our service was generally better.. We wondered if it was just a cultural thing. Or, maybe because of no extra gratuity? :confused:

Other Princess cruisers we met said Princess was generally a cut above Celebrity in food quality and dining service. Wife and I are a bit concerned. Should we be?

We are considering booking Celebrity Solstice class cruise to New Zealand-Australia for 2015. We like to cruise for a good dining experience, besides relaxation. Middle class budget newbies at cruising experience.

 

Thanks.

I don't think there is any difference in service. It really is luck of the draw as to how effective your wait staff is. On almost all Celebrity cruises (25) we have had waitstaff from very good to excellent. We have had a couple middle of the road, and one or two that were definitely not up to par. In one case we actually had to say something to the maitre d', which is very unusual. We have dined both early and late seatings and found little difference, although if you are in early seating they don't like you to linger too much after dinner as they have to prepare for the next crowd.

Is there a drop off in service when choosing Select Dining vs. Set Dining on Celebrity? They are both in MDR? Or is Select Dining in another DR? The reason I ask is when we took our first, and recent 7 night Alaska cruise with Princess, our Travel Agent (who was with our 30 person cruise group,) scheduled our group for Select Dining. I don't think it was in the MDR (usually aft?) The waitstaff seemed rushed, and not interested in providing "good" comparable service expected from a fine restaurant. They mixed up entrees, appetizers served after entree, and we had to request everything from refilling our water, to silverware. General confusion. :eek: Waitstaff did not offer refills on coffee, ice tea. Waited along time to order a second soda. Waitstaff seemed to be hurried with service. Very unsmiling, curt, and generally unfriendly waitstaff (Eastern European?). When waitstaff was Asian, our service was generally better.. We wondered if it was just a cultural thing. Or, maybe because of no extra gratuity? :confused:

Other Princess cruisers we met said Princess was generally a cut above Celebrity in food quality and dining service. Wife and I are a bit concerned. Should we be?

We are considering booking Celebrity Solstice class cruise to New Zealand-Australia for 2015. We like to cruise for a good dining experience, besides relaxation. Middle class budget newbies at cruising experience.

 

Thanks.

We have cruised with Celebrity and Princess in the past year and have used Select dining on both. We did not experience any problems on either and in fact found service and menus very similar although we would give a slight edge to Celebrity. Princess has several smaller dining rooms on most ships and one (or more) is designated for Select Dining. Celebrity has one large MDR and a section of this is used for Select. There are always differences in experience on ships and hopefully your poor service was a one off. We always leave our automatic gratuities in place but only tip extra for really exceptional service after the event. We have never felt that the lack of extra tips reduces the service in any way.

Since you asked about etiquette - if you are in fixed dining, early or late, show up on time. They will eventually close the doors (within about 15 mins.).

Main reason is that the waiter usually will be holding off until everyone has arrived before getting orders in for the whole table. The waiters and kitchen have a systematic flow that can get thrown out of sync. So your table mates are left gnawing breadsticks for 10-15 mins.

If you are a free spirit who drifts in late everywhere you go, or find it stressful to stick to a schedule on vacation, or just can't decide in October when you might want to dine in February, do yourself and everyone else a favor and just book Select.

By the way, Select can also mean "choose your own fixed time" (neither too early nor too late). We've done that and had the same wonderful table for two & great waiters every night of the cruise. The dining room manager offered this when we were happy the first night and set it up automatically thereafter for all 15 nights.

Is there a drop off in service when choosing Select Dining vs. Set Dining on Celebrity? They are both in MDR? Or is Select Dining in another DR? The reason I ask is when we took our first, and recent 7 night Alaska cruise with Princess, our Travel Agent (who was with our 30 person cruise group,) scheduled our group for Select Dining. I don't think it was in the MDR (usually aft?) The waitstaff seemed rushed, and not interested in providing "good" comparable service expected from a fine restaurant. They mixed up entrees, appetizers served after entree, and we had to request everything from refilling our water, to silverware. General confusion. :eek: Waitstaff did not offer refills on coffee, ice tea. Waited along time to order a second soda. Waitstaff seemed to be hurried with service. Very unsmiling, curt, and generally unfriendly waitstaff (Eastern European?). When waitstaff was Asian, our service was generally better.. We wondered if it was just a cultural thing. Or, maybe because of no extra gratuity? :confused:

Other Princess cruisers we met said Princess was generally a cut above Celebrity in food quality and dining service. Wife and I are a bit concerned. Should we be?

We are considering booking Celebrity Solstice class cruise to New Zealand-Australia for 2015. We like to cruise for a good dining experience, besides relaxation. Middle class budget newbies at cruising experience.

 

Thanks.

We haven't found a drop off in service on either Celebrity or Princess when choosing Select dining. It is true, though, that the waiters do not get to know you and your preferences as well, if you are doing Select. You can go ahead and make reservations for a certain time and wait staff when doing Select; sometimes there are restrictions for very busy times, such as 6:30 to 7:00. We normally don't make reservations, but do once in a while if there is a certain activity schedule we don't want to miss.

I think on most ships waiters are more rushed because they have more tables to cover than they used to. The same goes for cabin stewards. We always do auto-gratuities, whether we're in Select or not; I don't think this has an effect on service.

All ships I've been on Select dining is in the MDR. Princess usually has three MDRs; either one or two are dedicated to their version of Select dining. We've never had much of a wait, but we generally don't go at the most popular times.

Celebrity normally has one larger MDR; Select diners are in one section. We've cruised a lot more with Princess; our 4th Celebrity cruise is coming up. Mostly due to prices and itinerary.

I feel Celebrity and Princess are very comparable as to meal quality and service. Quite a few people feel Celebrity is a cut above.

It is true that some waiters are much more personable than others; we don't happen to care too much about that, although of course enjoy good service. I've never had the issues you mentioned; sure once in a while something is forgotten or mixed up, but not often.

I think you will be just fine and have a great cruise.

I

Other Princess cruisers we met said Princess was generally a cut above Celebrity in food quality and dining service. Wife and I are a bit concerned. Should we be?

Although my experience is skewed, 1 Princess cruise and about 8 Celebrity cruises, I would say they were wrong. I didn't enjoy the food at all on Princess.

No need to be concerned on that.

What time should we pre reserve or show up at select dining on the millennium to insure we can comfortably make the evening show? 1st celebrity cruise.

Thanks for letting me crash this post a second!

This will be our first time doing Select dining. If we want to attend a show that evening, how much time should we allow to eat dinner so we will not feel rushed?

OP, are you concerned about sitting at a table with children or having children in the vicinity?

When we book, we always request a private table for four (we have 2 kids) and this request has always been honored. I can't imagine too many families who would want open seating. Over many, cruises, it has just been a handful of times during an open lunch seating in the MDR where we were seated with a couple without kids, but usually even for lunch, they give us a private table.

If your concern is having children in the vicinity of your table, I think you would be safer with late seating and also expressing your concerns to the maître d.

What time should we pre reserve or show up at select dining on the millennium to insure we can comfortably make the evening show? 1st celebrity cruise.

 

Thanks for letting me crash this post a second!

This will be our first time doing Select dining. If we want to attend a show that evening, how much time should we allow to eat dinner so we will not feel rushed?

There are usually 2 shows a night in the Main Theatres on Celebrity... One Early & One Late... They are timed for those in Traditional Dining... Early Diners go to the Late Show, and Late Diners to the Early Show. (estimate 7:00 and 9:00 PM*)

On the first formal night - Captain's Toast & Welcome BOTH shows happen after Dinner (estimate 8:00 and 10:00 PM*)

* Times are estimates because each ship / itinerary / Sr Crew set the daily schedule for the Ship / Cruise. Consult YOUR specific cruise for times via the Daily "Celebrity Today"

As for time to eat... Allow 1 to 2 Hours if you are in Select. 2 would be the high end, but corresponds to what Celebrity allows for their Traditional Diners

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

Ps... I should also add that the shows in the Main Theatre are but one form of evening entertainment... There are often other things going on in the evenings around the ship in various venues (ie Grand Foyer / Attrium performances). Some of them have but one performance a night, but will then be offered on another night, at a different time so more can see it. And then there are the late night events that are timed for all... So may occur just once (check "Celebrity Today" for more info... Late Night Comedy - Pool Deck Party - Chocolate Extravaganza etc)

Other Princess cruisers we met said Princess was generally a cut above Celebrity in food quality and dining service. Wife and I are a bit concerned. Should we be?

We are considering booking Celebrity Solstice class cruise to New Zealand-Australia for 2015. We like to cruise for a good dining experience, besides relaxation. Middle class budget newbies at cruising experience.

 

Thanks.

Our 1st Princess was in 1992, 1st Celebrity in 1994. Our sailing on the Ruby Princess in 2012 was no where close to the quality of our cruise on the Celebrity Reflection last Nov 2013.

Years ago we felt they were close to the same, no longer, Celebrity is a big step up.