Celebrity fan cruises Princess....

[Bisous3]

I just returned from the Island Princess, 10 day Panama Canal cruise. I said I'd post a comparison when I returned (I see someone else did as well) so here it goes:

Celebrity definitely has better service. I passed several Princess employees without any "hello" or barely eye contact.

Celebrity has better French food, Princess better Italian food. The pizza was delicious.

 

The "Anytime dining" was terrific- worked very well for us and would be a reason to sail with Princess again.

The one thing that drove me nuts about Princess was the pool towel situation. There were 3 in our room when we arrived. Every time we wanted to change them, we had to contact our cabin steward! It was ridiculous! I got really tired of schlepping wet towels to lunch.

Princess has a far better children's program and facility.They spend lots on the kids supplies, toys and prizes.

This ship was great as far as finding lounge chairs. Lots of room to spread out with 4 pools to choose from, plus one in the kids area.They also had a security guard who kept a very close eye on unoccupied loungers and cleared off any belongings that were left there for more than 30 minutes.

We enjoyed the very international crowd.

It was Easter week, and there were a lot of kids, but not as many as on Celebrity because Princess limits the amount of children the will book. Though I am the parent of a 4 year old, I witnessed my share of unsupervised kids on cruises...the more kids there are, the more unsupervised kids there are.

Embarkation and disembarkation were fairly similar...nothing to complain about.

The shows on Princess were far better than Celebrity.....Princess had many different shows, musicians,and comedians to choose from every evening from 6 PM on.

I felt that the Millennium was much more beautiful and the public areas restrooms were cleaner.

So folks, its a tie. I would definitely sail Princess again. The choice would be decided by dates, prices and itineraries, as both lines have their strong points!

 

Suzanne

Oceanic '82

Oceanic '83

Century '01

Century '03

Millennium '03

Island Princess '04

[cruising with marti]

My views exactly almost word for word.

 

 

 

Phil

 

Galaxie Trans Atlantic

[parody]

Given that I found service to be about the same between Princess and Celebrity, but given the better selection of shows on Princess and the option for regular or alternative dining, I would tip the balance slightly in favor of Princess, but agree that ultimately it comes down to a choice of dates, prices, and itineraries.

[Bisous3]

One thing I forgot to mention- the coffee on Princess was vile. Thank goodness I brought my own travel coffee maker.

 

Suzanne

Oceanic '82

Oceanic '83

Century '01

Century '03

Millennium '03

Island Princess '04

[Longboysfan]

Went on princess a few years back.

Celebrity wins - in my estimation - in food and service.

And that is why I cruise Celebrity.

Shows were slightly better on Princess. But the shows all seem to blend together after awhile.

 

The cruise staff was better on Celebrity.

 

I found calling the princess offices to be well below a standard a paying passanger should put up with.

 

Cruising Celebrity - No worries.

 

Cruising princess -

 

Next - Millennium - The wait begins anew. <applet code="countdown.class" CODEBASE="http://*************/java-sys" width="203" height="25">

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<param name="month" value=2>

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Always booked and waiting...

 

[argosy]

Service: I think it depends on how you define it. Does it mean individual functions or how they perform the individual functions, or both?

 

Ideally, in my opinion...it would be both.

 

However, Princess does not have the extras like cool towels for passengers at ports, or the thing of escorting you to your room on boarding, or wine stewards. But since Princess doesn't provide the extras, I think you have to look at the services they do provide...and judge whether they are done well.

Celebrity fans love these extras that Princess does not offer. I MIGHT be impressed with these little extras if I didn't have to deal with rude aloof behavior elsewhere on their ships.

 

For example:

The act of handing a passenger a cool towel is negated when the same passenger is then reamed out and given the 3rd degree for not knowing exactly which way to insert the boarding card into the machine at the ports!

 

I have other examples, but suffice it to say that I would much rather be on a ship with a staff that is consistently friendly and attentive in the services they DO provide.

 

And the other thing is this: I realize overall service varies widely from ship to ship within a cruise line itself. This is just my experience.