New Princess Cruiser

Can anyone that has sailed Celebrity and Princess tell me something about Princess? We have sailed Celebrity for years and mostly love it but are joining a group cruise and will be sailing Princess the end of January. Hoping that some of you can tell us some of the differences and some of the similarities. Thank you for your time!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

If you like Celebrity, you should like Princess.

No direct experience, but from posts in the past there are a lot of similarities.

Do a search here or on Google for reviews for "Celebrity vs. Princess" or similar. There have been a LOT of reviews, comparisons, discussions.

Just go on the cruise and enjoy the differences you find when they appear; why prejudge?

You will not have to book specialty restaurants to obtain a nice meal. DR food on Princess is good.

You will be able to get free food at, the International Cafe open 24/7, Buffet, open 6am to late evening, never closes during that time, room service, the pizza bar and grill on the Lido deck open 11am to late evening. If you are on the Royal or Regal there is Alfredo's open 11am to 11pm.

Drink prices are generally lower.

Welcome to the Princess board!

I haven't sailed on Celebrity, so I can't help you, but here are some past posts that might be helpful....

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2459120&highlight=celebrity

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2418333&highlight=celebrity

Happy Reading!

:cool:

Can anyone that has sailed Celebrity and Princess tell me something about Princess? We have sailed Celebrity for years and mostly love it but are joining a group cruise and will be sailing Princess the end of January. Hoping that some of you can tell us some of the differences and some of the similarities. Thank you for your time!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

The lines are more similar than different. We like both Princess and Celebrity just fine.

Can anyone that has sailed Celebrity and Princess tell me something about Princess? We have sailed Celebrity for years and mostly love it but are joining a group cruise and will be sailing Princess the end of January. Hoping that some of you can tell us some of the differences and some of the similarities. Thank you for your time!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Would love to hear your experience after. Enjoy your Princess cruise!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

You will not have to book specialty restaurants to obtain a nice meal. DR food on Princess is good.

You will be able to get free food at, the International Cafe open 24/7, Buffet, open 6am to late evening, never closes during that time, room service, the pizza bar and grill on the Lido deck open 11am to late evening. If you are on the Royal or Regal there is Alfredo's open 11am to 11pm.

Drink prices are generally lower.

Celebrity's food isn't worse than Princess. I'd say that mdr food on Celebrity is a bit better, but Princess buffets have better variety especially in seafood selections

Celebrity has nicer pool setup with all padded loungers. Princess has more live music and lots of dancing on Piaza (atrium)

Both lines are wonderful and our #1.

My upcoming March cruise is on Princess...four prior cruises were on Celebrity...three before that were on Princess. I have loved both (nothing better than being on a cruise ship in my opinion) and agree that they are more alike than different. We skipped over from Princess to Celebrity several years ago because Celebrity had the better Med itinerary and then stayed with them for the next three trips. And going back to Princess now because their two-week itinerary is great. I think the décor on the Celebrity ships is a bit more "sleek" where Princess is more traditional. I'm not a foodie so can't really comment there except to say I've never had a bad meal on either line. A big plus for me, especially on this upcoming two-week trip, is that Princess has the self- serve laundromats on each deck. Celebrity believes that modern luxury doesn't mean I should have to do laundry, but I don't mind...and throwing in a couple of batches myself is far more cost effective than paying the astronomical prices they charge (yes, I'm frugal).

Enjoy!

my friend's parents traveled on Celebrity and Princess (only Regal and Royal Princesses), and they said the food on Princess was a lot better. Including Chocolate Journey.

They are more alike than different. We have only sailed Celebrity once, and the layout of the ship meant all the elevators were midshio. Princess has elevators forward, midshio, and aft

Princess has much better pizza. A lot of the rest depends upon which class of ship you are sailing, in terms of amenities, but I think you will enjoy Princess.

Overall, more similar than they are different.

A few things we like better on Princess include having the buffet open continuously from 6am-11pm or so. One side or the other may be closed while they switch over, but it's open continuously with fresh food and changing variety all day and night. No charge for late night room service on Princess. 24/7 food option in International Cafe (not available on Island). Unlike Celebrity's $4.95 for room service 11pm-5:30 am, and their no included 24/7 food. We like a snack after dancing till 1 or 2 am - and you have to pay for it on Celebrity. Less expensive gratuities, drink prices and specialty dining on Princess. But - less variety in specialty dining on Princess also. We like the Thermal Suite and Enclave better on Princess - larger areas, more variety of steam and sauna than Celebrity. Generally speaking, usually more live music and somewhat later night entertainment on Princess - sometimes an 11 or 11:30 comedian, or musical act, more venues ooen till midnight, late night happy hour, etc.

On Celebrity, we like the Martini Bar, which seems to usually be the liveliest place onboard - on Princess, rhe Martini bar features a live pianist/singer/performer, not just records music. Love the silent disco in Celebrity. Enjoy the variety of the different specialty dining options. Like the couch in the rooms but don't like the lack of storage (prefer the walk-in closet setup of Princess which separates bathroom from bedroom and tons of storage - I'll take it over the couch most times). Love Aqua and Luminae, Princess has nothing like them, but then they don't have as much class separation between stateroom types. They do have Club Class now, a nod towards moving in that direction.. Love Evening Chic vs actual formal nights.

All in all, they're more alike than different in general. If you've enjoyed Celebrity, you'll likely enjoy Princess.

While Princess offers more smaller scale entertainment we enjoyed shows in Celebrity theater more. Plus new Princess ships have smaller theaters for such crowd.

We had back to back Celebrity Silhouette and Royal Princess Christmas/NY cruises last year. Enjoyed both, but found some downsides. Princess has weaker internet, also it doesn't have traditional promenade. If this is important to you Celebrity casino is smoke free, but overall Celebrity has more outside smoking areas.

We find Celebrity cabins to be cozier, but Princess has "walk in" separate closets. Princess has better TV programming with tons of free on demand movies.

Princess offers more tables for two in mdr. Princess has longer gym hours. On Celebrity at 6 am sometimes I had to wait when gym opens.

We've been on both way more than once.

Since you've always enjoyed cruising on Celebrity, there's every reason to feel you'll enjoy Princess as well.

Look forward to having GREAT cruise! :)

I always read where people say these two lines are more alike than different but I disagree with this statement. I think they are very different from one another. We are elite on both and have sailed on Princess twice as many times as we have on Celebrity.

Celebrity is a clear favorite of ours by a wide margin but there are things we like better on Princess.

Booking: Princess is much easier to book. They are very flexible and you can usually stack your perks and take advantage of more than one at a time (military, stock holder, senior and resident discounts, etc). Also, their website is more user friendly, as are their future cruise certificates / deposits, which you can transfer to different travel agencies any time prior to final payment. If you need to cancel a cruise, no problem, that FCC goes back into your Princess bank. The whole process is just so much easier on Princess.

Captain's Club / Circle Benefits and Hosts: Celebrity gets my vote on this one but if you don't necessarily drink alcohol but have a lot of laundry needs, Princess is your better bet.

The captain's circle host on Princess will probably not reach out to you or learn your name after many cruises whereas they will more than likely spoil you rotten on Celebrity.

Free perks: Now, I am aware that the free perks that are offered aren't necessarily free but on average, I can save a lot more money overall when booking with included perks on Celebrity.

Cabins: The cabins on Princess tend to run small in comparison to those on Celebrity, which tend to run about 30 sq larger for the standard balcony on an S-class ship compared to the cabins on a Grand or Crown Class ship on Princess. Celebrity's cabins have a sofa instead of a chair so there is a place to sit other than your bed if inviting someone to your cabin for a pre-dinner cocktail.

The open design closets on Princess are so much nicer without those awful closet doors to contend with. They also have read nightstands next to the beds instead of that little shelf. However, the bathrooms are much nicer on Celebrity ... lots more storage! Princess still has those awful shower curtains.

The balcony surface and furniture goes to Celebrity. I despise that blue matted flooring they use for their balcony floor surface on Princess. It is nothing but a filth collector.

Dining: The buffet definitely goes to Celebrity IMO, the MDR food as well as the service is equal. The specialty restaurants on Celebrity wins by a hair in terms of choice and elegance however, you pay for this. The specialty dining on Princess is at a lower cost but no special packages so maybe it is a tie.

Celebrity's Cafe Al Baccio is worlds better than the International Cafe ... again, IMO. Celebrity's dress code is now a lot less formal than on Princess, which still includes actual formal nights.

Celebrity still has sommeliers in their dining rooms making it seem a bit more elegant.

Room service has been consistently better on Princess ... not the menus but the service itself.

Princess has the best pizza (out by the pool) but the Mast Grill on Celebrity has better burgers and such. But, the Trident Grill on Princess has a different menu during dinner hours and you can enjoy them at MUTS (movies under the stars) if you wish. Princess also has popcorn available out by MUTS at night ... winner!!

Smoking: I shouldn't go here but smoking is much less restricted on Princess. While you are not able to smoke in your cabin or on your balcony on Princess, they still allow smoking in the casino on all nights but formal night.

Reciprocity: Even though Princess falls under the Carnival Corp umbrella, just as Celebrity is under the RCCL umbrella, there is no reciprocity with those cruiselines under the Carnival Corp.

Onboard expenses: Everything on Celebrity seems to cost a bit more than you will find it for on Princess.

Entertainment: Although the entertainment, for the most part, has been better on Princess, the venues used for a popular show or show time are just not adequate and don't hold enough people. So, not sure what good it is to go see a show if you are skunked out of getting a seat because you didn't go an hour early to save one.

Ships: The maintenance on Celebrity's ships has seemed to be much better than on Princess. To be fair, I haven't sailed on a newer Princess ship in quite some time, though. I like the design of the S-class ships much better than the Grand or Crown class ships of Princess. I have yet to sail on the Royal class so maybe this is not really comparing apples to apples.

The hot tubs on Princess never seem to be hot .. they are actually always very tepid at best. Celebrity has a better adults only pool section than you will find on Princess.

Itineraries: Now, this is where the Seawitch clearly wins and why we've sailed on her so many more times than we have on Celebrity, which has kind of abandoned us here over on the west coast.

Don't forget to buy 100 shares of Carnival stock for OBC.

You've enjoyed "Modern Luxury" so now be prepared to "Come Back New". Its all good.:D

You got some really good replies. I would be curious about which Princess ship you are sailing? It can be comparing apples to oranges depending on the ship you are sailing and have sailed.

Maybe buffet quality is different on different classes of ships now...but on Royal Princess it blew every other lines buffets away. Even people who hated new ships design LOVED it.

The only thing that missing was eggs Benedict station

I'm glad to hear all the positives of Princess. I've cruised Celebrity, Carnival and Princess, but this will be my husband's second cruise only. We did our honeymoon in the Mediterranean on Celebrity, and he loved it. Said he'd never felt so pampered. So I'm hoping our cruise to Hawaii in November will be just as nice. We are celebrating our ten year anniversary, and I don't want him to be disappointed. I've booked some really great (hopefully,) excursions and an Ultimate Balcony Dinner for one of the nights. I'm going to surprise him with that!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I have been on both cruise lines. Just my opinion I think the food is better on Princess.

I just like to say in the last couple of years there is a lot less choices on the menu now.

Tony

While Princess offers more smaller scale entertainment we enjoyed shows in Celebrity theater more. Plus new Princess ships have smaller theaters for such crowd.

 

We had back to back Celebrity Silhouette and Royal Princess Christmas/NY cruises last year. Enjoyed both, but found some downsides. Princess has weaker internet, also it doesn't have traditional promenade. If this is important to you Celebrity casino is smoke free, but overall Celebrity has more outside smoking areas.

We find Celebrity cabins to be cozier, but Princess has "walk in" separate closets. Princess has better TV programming with tons of free on demand movies.

Princess offers more tables for two in mdr. Princess has longer gym hours. On Celebrity at 6 am sometimes I had to wait when gym opens.

These comments refer to the Royal, Regal & Majestic Princess. Other Princess ships have a true promenade and those in the U.S. market do not have on demand TV.

Dining: The buffet definitely goes to Celebrity IMO

 

Ships: The maintenance on Celebrity's ships has seemed to be much better than on Princess. To be fair, I haven't sailed on a newer Princess ship in quite some time, though.

 

I have yet to sail on the Royal class so maybe this is not really comparing apples to apples.

the reason you think Celebrity buffet is better than Princess' is because you haven't experienced Regal/Royal buffet. Also, maintenance on these new ships is great.

Maybe buffet quality is different on different classes of ships now...but on Royal Princess it blew every other lines buffets away. Even people who hated new ships design LOVED it.

The only thing that missing was eggs Benedict station

it's totally different on Regal/Royal from other ships.

Having sailed on Regal first and on Caribbean second, I was unpleasantly surprised by Caribbean's buffet. It was about 1/3 of Regal's size with fewer offerings and no Chocolate Journey desserts.

I haven't sailed on Caribbean for long time (last was in 2010) . It that time buffets were wonderful. This is a shame if quality has gone down.

Royal and Regal are wonderful in this regard. I do prefer Caribbean and her sisters in terms of pool setup though