Princess vs Celebrity

[AntonJ]

Our cruise line of choice is Celebrity. Unfortunatly, there aren't any Celebrity cruises the week we want to travel next year but there is a cruise on the Golden Princess. We like to travel in suites and RCCL was ok but are looking for any comments or comparisons anyone might have. We enjoy good food, the shows, the casino and a nice big room. I posted this on the Princess board but want some comments from Celebrity cruisers.

 

Thanks

[C 2 C]

We prefer Celebrity but have cruised on the Golden. Beautiful ship but larger than Celeb's... We would not hesitate to cruise Princess if the price is right.

[geoherb]

I'm sure there will be lots of opinions. We recently went on our second Celebrity cruise after four intervening ones on Princess. The things we like about Princess are the better buffet and food easy to get to anytime, the pools and hot tubs are always open (but they're fresh water--which most people think of as an advantage), more entertainment options in the evening (such as there may be a comedian performing in one lounge, a combo playing standards in another, a party band in a third, plus a DJ in the disco and a production show in the theater). I give Celebrity the edge for food and service. But you can have a great cruise on Princess as long as you're not constantly nitpicking the things it doesn't do quite as well.

 

Princess also does dessert souffles in the dining room. You've got to try the chocolate hazelnut one.

[AntonJ]

We don't nitpick but we are concerned about the personal choice dining. We don't always go to dinner in the main dining room but don't like the concept of freestyle cruising on NCL. Also, how's the decor? I know it won't be like Celebrity but we it's good to hear all of the comments? Anyone stay in a suite on Princess? What would be the comparisons there? Thanks again!

[Seabee]

Anton...I posted a comparison a few days ago on this board. You might find it a little down stream. Don't worry about Personal Choice dining. If you coose PC, you can eat dinner at one restaurant at the time of your choice. Traditional Diners are assigned a separate dining room with set times for dinner. Breakfast and lunch are all open seating so PC does not come into play. Also, all of the other dining areas are open to you whether you choose PC or Traditional. So PC only affects whcih restaurant you eat in (menus are idintical) and what time you eat. This is all based on my one cruise with Princess.

[geoherb]

Seabee has it right about dining on the Golden. There are two "personal choice" dining rooms and one traditional dining room. We prefer traditional. We had personal choice on one of our four Princess cruises. It did offer flexibility of dining times, and we ended up eating much later than we would with second seating traditional. Princess serves afternoon tea every afternoon in one of the dining rooms. It may not be as nice in terms of service as the one Celebrity does--but it's every afternoon instead of just once. There's usually a string quartet or classical guitarist playing for afternoon tea.

 

The decor on Princess is tasteful. You won't find modern art like you see on Celebrity--no giant red men like there were on the Century. There are more pools, and two of them are primarily for adults. The aft pool is always adults only. The pool near the spa has certain hours that children are allowed.

[caviargal]

IMHO Radiance class on RCI compares more favoraby with X than Princess. I simply did not find the staff and officers to be vwey warm on Princess and I was unimpressed by the food.

 

I prefer my ships to have fewer pax and very good service and food so X is a dependable choice. But my recent Serenade cruise in Concierge Class was a great experience!

[usha]

Golden is the only Princess ship I've ever cruised on, and it was the most crowded cruise experience I've had in 17 cruises. I thought the food was good, although I'd avoid personal choice dining. It was sometimes a 20 minute wait to get seats for just my daughter and me, and we weren't being picky about where we sat. Finding a deck chair ANYWHERE was a real feat of magic. There were just way too many people on this ship. Also, the service wasn't even in the same ballpark with Celebrity's.

I'd personally choose a HAL over Princess as a plan B, if I couldn't arrange a Celebrity cruise. HAL's staff seemed to have a much more service-oriented attitude than Princess', not quite as polished and gracious as Celebrity's staff, but very eager to please and friendly. I found some of the staff on Princess to be rude and surely.