Celebrity/HAL cruiser considering Princess - comparisons?

[StartrainDD]

Spoke with good cruising friends last night as we would like to cruise together in January. They suggested the Crown Princess. Neither we nor they have been on Princess before and we know very little about Princess. As you can see in our signature, we've been on Celebrity and HAL in the past 18 months. We are all in our early 50's. We tend to book standard outsides.

 

Our friends were just on the Nieuw Amsterdam Nov 7 sailing and were not impressed. We were thinking of the Eurodam but it's essentially the same ship and cruise. None of the Celebrity sailings fit our date and port of call desires, so the Crown Princess came up as an option. Crown would certainly be a larger ship than we have been on before.

 

Overall comparisons are requested from those who have cruised both lines, and a few specific questions:

- We like to dance (Ballroom style - foxtrot/waltz/rumba) is there a venue on the Crown that offers this?

- On sea days, can deck chairs be found or are they all claimed by 8AM? Are there deck chairs on the promonade as well as by the pools?

- Is there a Thalassotherapy pool like Celebrity has on the M-Class or anything kind of similar, and if so, is there an additional charge?

- What are drink prices like? For example, Celebrity is generally higher than HAL. Is Princess more like HAL?

 

Thank you in advance for your responses!

[eandj]

Ask your question on the Princess board too. You'll get lots of info on the particular ship.

[Nukesailor]

We've been cruising on Princess, HAL (several years ago) and Celebrity. At the moment, we would consider Princess to be on par with Celebrity. We also are ballroom dancers and were greatly disappointed in the total lack of a decent dance venue on the Solstice. Princess has some very good dance floors - real wood. Dancing is typically in the Wheelhouse Lounge, just behind the theater (all Princess ships have a Wheelhouse Lounge with big, overstuffed leather chairs, sofas, wood paneled walls, model ships, etc.). The band that plays there, sometimes two bands, typically knows good ballroom dance music and does requests.

 

Chair hogs can be found on all cruise lines. We've found it more peaceful to get a lounge chair in the shade elsewhere on deck. Less traffic, fewer kids, etc. The Princess ships usually have chairs and lounges (made of teak) on the Promenade Deck.

 

Never been in the Thalassotherapy pool, so I can't say.

 

If memory serves me, drink prices on Princess are a little lower than on Celebrity. However, prices have been rising over the last couple years, so it's hard to say. I do notice that the prices are the same or slightly less than you'd pay in a restaurant on shore.

 

Hope this helps,

Art