Celebrity Cruisers try Princess

[CathyCruises]

We just got back from a 10 day Princess cruisetour in Alaska. I am going to try very hard to make a fair comparison and review.

 

About us--DH and I are Elite on Celebrity; we did a Princess cruise because we saw a great deal. We took four new cruiser family members with us. I can't comment on the land portion because I've never done anything similar with Celebrity, so I am going to just talk about the cruise experience. I will say that the Princess Lodge in Fairbanks was very nice, and the complex in Denali was okay but obviously older and more basic.

 

I will start by saying that I really disliked the Sapphire Princess from a physical standpoint. We are used to the S class ships, but even the M class ships are more open and spacious. There were so many dead ends, or apparent dead ends on the ship, that I was constantly frustrated. I was also appalled to find that on an Alaska itinerary there was no forward enclosed lounge area, like the Sky Lounge on the X ships. Instead, they appear to have made over that spot with an outdoor "Sanctuary", for which there was a daily usage charge. It was very cold on our cruise, 7/21 to 7/28, and the only place to enjoy the spectacular scenery was from the outside of deck 8--where it was often frigid. When we went up to the Sanctuary, the only person there was the employee who was supposed to charge us to use it!

 

We had a designated 'reconnoitering' spot on Deck 14, in the back area of the buffet. Don't even get me started on how weird the layout of that area is--let's say it was very easy to get lost and turned around with the apparent dead ends, that turned out, when you walked right up to the wall, to have a small snail-type opening into the larger space. The decor, which was not very attractive wallpaintings of Venice everywhere, seemed very dated, although the ship was just built in 2004. BIG advantage to Celebrity on layout.

 

The public bathrooms were small (2 stall) and never nearly as clean as the ones we are used to on Celebrity ships, where it seems like they are always being cleaned. No comparison here, Celebrity wins. As an aside, whle I am used to always seeing people cleaning, polishing stair rails, vacuuming public spaces, etc., I never saw anyone doing that at any time on our Princess ship!

 

What we liked: our 'fully obstructed' OV cabin actually had something of a view, and was perfectly adequate for our needs. Way more storage than we were used to, more than we needed. No couch in the cabin, but it did have a small club chair that sat in front of the refrigerator, and a cocktail table that we had to put in the closet area or risk falling over in the middle of the night. The downside was the shower curtain and subsequent wet bathroom floor, but it was functional. Our steward was able to satisfy our one request, a pitcher of ice water, which was very nice as I have not been able to get that on X. This is a toss up. Some things better on one, some on the other.

 

The buffet area is way more limited than the same area on S class ships, but the tables are already set with silverware and napkins, and there are MANY waiters standing by to get your coffee or iced tea or oj, which was a very nice touch. Also a toss up--some things better on P, some better on X. I never saw a place to get cooked-to-order eggs in the buffet, for instance.

 

We all thought the food in the MDR was very good; I would have to say it was better than the food on X, although not by a huge margin. I had steaks several times and they were actually good; the bearnaise sauce was tasty, the Beef Wellington was very good, and I had a veal dish that I really liked. Several cheese tarts and soups were surprisingly good. However, I really did not get the 4 different dining rooms and really missed the big spacious MDR from the X ships. The menus were identical so it seemed kind of pointless. We tried every one. This was the first time I had ever done anytime dining--plusses and minuses, the biggest one of which is not getting to know your waiter. We could have done that had we chosen to eat in the same spot every night, however. It lacked a lot in continuity but part of that was my fault. Advantage here to Princess on MDR food.

 

Some of you may remember my posts about how hard it was to get X to properly credit me for a prior cruise; I had the same issue on Princess. They acted like this was my first cruise. When I went down to see the Captain's Circle rep, she instantly found our prior cruise (in 2007!) and credited us on the spot--big plus to Princess here.

 

We did like the semi-Promenade deck--which was deck 7, but in the front you had to walk up the stairs to 8, then back down again. Since our room was on Deck 8, we could walk all the way forward inside then slip out a side door right onto the front of the ship--great when there was a whale sighting, etc.

 

We never used MUTS--too cold!!

 

The employees did not seem as friendly as we are used to--maybe the cold, rany weather all summer was getting them down. Our first two waiters were not personable AT ALL. I had brought these new cruisers with us, one of whom is a vegetarian. When she asked for a side salad at the pub lunch, she was told 'no' in no uncertain terms--right after I told her they would get her anything she asked for! But it got better after that.

 

Our room steward never smiled, was all business (and did not have an assistant) but teared up when we gave him an extra $20 on the last night!

 

That's all I can think of for now--I'm sure I have forgotten something. Feel free to critique, ask questions, whatever. My skin is very thick after 12 days in close quarters with DH's family!

 

Oh! One other thing! After reading so many posts here about the dress code, I was a little embarrassed to have the family show up to formal night in distinctly NON-formal dress! DH and I dressed appropriately but the rest were barely 'smart casual'. Oh well--nothing I could do about it!

[Andy]

Hi Cathy,

 

Thank you for your very informative comparison. We sailed on Caribbean Princess several years ago, and had a nice Cruise - though not nearly as great as Celebrity. The dealbreaker for us - the cuisine was dismal on a number of nights, and the public venues were too crowded. I found their menu ranged from inedible (many beef items) to incredible (their pasta dishes - especially the fettucine). Nonetheless, I'm very intrigued with their new ship (Royal Princess) making her debut next year, and she's on my 2013 cruise radar.

 

Just one question please - would you sail Princess again ?

[smtcan]

 

Some of you may remember my posts about how hard it was to get X to properly credit me for a prior cruise; I had the same issue on Princess. They acted like this was my first cruise. When I went down to see the Captain's Circle rep, she instantly found our prior cruise (in 2007!) and credited us on the spot--big plus to Princess here.

 

 

This is something that impressed me about Princess. We took our first ever cruise with Princess in 1994 (for our silver wedding) and have not cruised with them since. When I checked their web site before booking our up coming Princess cruise, I was able to find a record of that cruise, and create an account which made me eligible for a past cruiser price. Since this saved over $300 pp it made me very happy. I hope the cruise is as good as the web site!

Sheila

[CathyCruises]

Hi Cathy,

 

Thank you for your very informative comparison. We sailed on Caribbean Princess several years ago, and had a nice Cruise - though not nearly as great as Celebrity. The dealbreaker for us - the cuisine was dismal on a number of nights, and the public venues were too crowded. I found their menu ranged from inedible (many beef items) to incredible (their pasta dishes - especially the fettucine). Nonetheless, I'm very intrigued with their new ship (Royal Princess) making her debut next year, and she's on my 2013 cruise radar.

 

Just one question please - would you sail Princess again ?

 

I would cruise with them again, but only if the itinerary was one that X didn't offer, or I got an INCREDIBLE deal. Our only other Princess cruise was in Tahiti, and we loved it--we could easily do that one again! I also missed the ambiance aboard--and boy, their Martini Bar was DEAD!! A big disappointment to me! However, I would be interested in trying their new ship--my biggest gripe was the ship itself, so a new one might be a great solution to that.

[dmwnc1959]

Many THANKS for the comparison with Princess! After and absence of 13 years I was booked on the Caribbean Princess for this coming October but have since re-booked with Royal Caribbean on the Allure of the Seas (122 days and a wake up)! The closer my cruise got on CP, the less enthusiastic I was about it. There was just something about the ship (couldn't put my finger on it but your review nailed it) that just didn't keep me really excited. I've also booked a B2B on the new Royal Princess for next year but we'll have to see after December after I get back.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I've sailed Princess 3x in the past few years and I had a good time. I much prefer Celebrity but if I was doing a port intensive cruise- it really doesn't matter and the Princess tours that I did I have to say were excellent.

 

But if both were doing the same itinerary- Celebrity would win. I love the open airy feel on Celebrity. I think Princess ships are like hotels and Celebrity ships are like Ships- with lots of glass for viewing. Although I prefer the "M" class to the "S" class.

 

I do like their pools- there are several nice pools on Princess that you don't have to pay for. They have nice hot tubs on deck 17 aft. I personally LOVED MUTS and fortunately I had not seen the movies they aired. I watch so many movies on demand that now I'd probably be bored watching MUTS because I probably would have seen them already. Food is good on both. Service is better on Celebrity- from the staff on their website- to the check-in- to the guest relations staff- to the waiters- to the cabin stewards.

[Bridge Maven]

Thanks for the review. I have not sailed on a Princess ship yet, but since so many of our friends love Princess we are planning to take one soon.

[fishywood]

Kathy, thank you for this fair and reasonable assessment. I hope you won't mind a few comments from someone who believes Princess is leagues better than Celebrity (and happened to spot this thread in the "last post" column on the boards index page):

 

Did you not check out Skywalkers Lounge at the top rear of the ship? You would have had beautiful 360 views from there. Yes it is closed at 5:00 certain evenings for the Elite/Suite passengers happy hour--but it is reserved far fewer hours than the Constellation Lounges on X are (a moot point for elites like yourself, but not the rest of us);

 

Admittedly Pub Lunch may be the only place on a Princess ship with an inflexible menu. The servers are not waiters but bar staff whose only goal is to make you thirsty. But the dining rooms will accomodate any reasonable request far more willingly than Celebrity: "sauce on the side" is never a problem on Princess, but such a request was repeatedly rebuffed on my Infinity cruise. And having smaller, single-story dining rooms cuts down on both the noise and the time it takes your order to arrive--waiters for Select Dining on X have to run up and down two flights of stairs between the galley and the Select seating area. Absolutely ridiculous! Food quality is comparable, but a huge edge to Princess for proper pacing and temperature.

 

The solo room stewards on Princess do a far better job than the tag-team on Celebrity. A couple mornings I ran back to the cabin for an item after breakfast and found the pair of them yapping away while one fluffed the pillows and the other wiped down the sink. But each day I would notice a different "little thing" that wasn't done; I can picture them eyeballing each other as they leave each cabin: "Did you scrub the toilet?" "No--did you?" "Aww, fughetttaboutit!" Princess may sometimes be a bit late making up the cabin, but as you say they are "all business" when it comes down to the details.

 

Oh, and the public bathrooms nearest the theatre on Infinity were hardly capacious--gents was one stall + standing capacity for two, lines out the door of both gents and ladies every time I came in and out of the theatre. On most Princess ships the facilites on Deck 6 between the casino and theatre and on Deck 7 near Sabatini's are twice as big as any I stumbled into on Infinity.

 

Again, thanks for taking the time to comment, and happy sailings to all no matter which line you choose next.

[junglejane]

CathyCruises: Thanks for your review. Sorry you didn't like the Sapphire Princess. I've been on the Sapphire twice and am booked for a third time at Christmas. It will be our first time back on since she was refurbished. While I'm not a fan of MUTS, I'm definitely looking forward to the International Cafe which I like better than Cafe al Bacio. We enjoy both Princess and Celebrity and find them overall to be very comparable cruise experiences.

[Putterdude]

I think the review is pretty objective and thank you for taking the time to post it. We have cruised a lot more on Princess then Celebrity and I must say we have really enjoyed the Sapphire and her sister the Diamond. However, in January we decided to try some other cruise lines and I must say we were once again very impressed with Celebrity and will certainly be spending a lot more time on their ships in the future.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review and comparisons.

[Mercruiser]

. . .I was also appalled to find that on an Alaska itinerary there was no forward enclosed lounge area, like the Sky Lounge on the X ships. Instead, they appear to have made over that spot with an outdoor "Sanctuary", for which there was a daily usage charge. It was very cold on our cruise, 7/21 to 7/28, and the only place to enjoy the spectacular scenery was from the outside of deck 8--where it was often frigid. When we went up to the Sanctuary, the only person there was the employee who was supposed to charge us to use it!

 

I noticed the same thing last week on Golden Princess. Personally, I consider this a fundamental flaw for cold weather cruising. On Mercury, 11 years ago, we were able to spend many hours in the forward facing Navigator's lounge to enjoy the Alaska views without freezing. Skywalkers, on the back of Princess ships, is fine if you like looking backwards. Its forward views are restricted by the ship.

 

The real advantage Princess has for Alaska are the permits to enter Glacier Bay. I've never seen Glacier Bay on an X itinerary. Princess was also having last-minute fire sales on Alaska cruises which is how I ended up on Golden last week. If the itineraries and price were same, I would always pick X. But when Princess has a strong advantage in the itinerary or price, I am happy to cruise with them.

 

By the way, the thing I missed the most last week was seeing the traditional Inside Passage between Vancouver and Ketchikan. The Grenville Channel was one of my favorite parts of the Mercury cruise. Sadly, the Seattle cruises skip most of the inside passage and head out to open sea, west of Vancouver Island.

[DCT61]

Sure...you may have to walk up a few stairs to complete the promenade, (at least the SP HAS a promenade) but the ability to stand on the <covered> prow of the ship and watch the ship knife through the water is a treat.

[cruisetrail]

Princess Grand Class ships are designed for warm climate.

This is where they have advantage over Celebrity S-Class.

On Princess, we enjoyed spacious and conveniently arranged pool deck including aft terrace pool, nice wrap-around promenade, spectacular front observation deck with wings and aft observation deck on Skywalkers, great food, tasty atrium cafe, pub lunch, proper afternoon tea with white glove service.

On Celebrity S-Class we were disapponted with the lack of promenade deck, relatively small cramped pool deck. The food was not as good as on Princess. Poorly arranged afternoon tea was a surprise.

Overall, Princess looked like more lively, better designed cruise ship while

Celebrity looked more like a nice floating hotel.

Princess has distinctive flavor of cruising.

Celebrity - rather bland and quite uninspiring.

Just my opinion.

[dmwnc1959]

...rather bland and quite uninspiring.

 

I've also heard those same words used to describe the many Grand-class ships (and all of its variations) which pretty much all look the same on the inside; bland and uninspiring. Someone also used the word 'southwestern' to describe some of the outdated interior decor.

 

To each his own. ;)

 

.

[cruisetrail]

"Bland and uninspiring" - I am not talking about the decor specificly. This is about the ship as a whole.

[dmwnc1959]

"Bland and uninspiring" - I am not talking about the decor specificly. This is about the ship as a whole.

 

And that's the feeling I get when I look at a Grand-class ship and any of it's derivatives as a whole; uninspired. The original plans may have been inspiring a decade ago but too many clones get boring after a while. And nine clones of the same class definitely shows a lack of inspiration or imagination. Except the ones that have those ridiculous jet engine looking things on the smoke stack. :rolleyes:

[caripoo]

Thank you for the review...We also are Elite with Celebrity, and always look to them first, but after years of waiting to do the British Isles, we booked the Caribbean Princess for this August. Timing is EVERYTHING, as Celebrity will start this itinierary next year. We have not been on Princess for MANY years, but are looking forward to our cruise, even without the perks!!!:o:o

[TeaBag]

Thank you for your review. We have sailed with Princess 3 times but Celebrity always wins out for us now. Maybe we should try them again.

[CathyCruises]

I noticed the same thing last week on Golden Princess. Personally, I consider this a fundamental flaw for cold weather cruising. On Mercury, 11 years ago, we were able to spend many hours in the forward facing Navigator's lounge to enjoy the Alaska views without freezing. Skywalkers, on the back of Princess ships, is fine if you like looking backwards. Its forward views are restricted by the ship.

 

The real advantage Princess has for Alaska are the permits to enter Glacier Bay. I've never seen Glacier Bay on an X itinerary. Princess was also having last-minute fire sales on Alaska cruises which is how I ended up on Golden last week. If the itineraries and price were same, I would always pick X. But when Princess has a strong advantage in the itinerary or price, I am happy to cruise with them.

 

By the way, the thing I missed the most last week was seeing the traditional Inside Passage between Vancouver and Ketchikan. The Grenville Channel was one of my favorite parts of the Mercury cruise. Sadly, the Seattle cruises skip most of the inside passage and head out to open sea, west of Vancouver Island.

 

We DID go to Skywalkers--but the forward facing part had very limited seating and was way too far removed from the action to be satisfactory for Alaska. You just can't compare a wrap-around forward lounge to a winged rear lounge on the 18th floor IMO.

 

And yes, I do think Princess has the edge on itinerary in Alaska--we were very happy wth that. We had two nights in Fairbanks, the train to Denali and a night there, the 'coach' to Whittier and 7 days on the ship in an OV cabin for ~$800/pp--I thought that was a great deal and still do!!!

 

We also did really like being able to get way out in front (in the 'clamshell' as I dubbed it)--don't understand why X doesn't consider a true promenade deck.

 

Oh! I forgot one major point. Princess still has the art auctions with some VERY tacky pictures piled up in multiple locations on the ship--makes me so glad that X has done away with it. Flamenco dancers? Really???

 

I just think there is a huge difference between the sleek, flowing spaces of the S class ships, and the Sapphire (don't know anything about the other P ships). The decor is hugely different. I had heard that the Sapphire had just come out of drydock, but you sure couldn't tell--everything looked very dated. Why they didn't remove the endless Venetian murals is beyond me. But there is more to a cruise than the decor, and overall we had a great experience.

[Denny01]

Thanks for an informative review. We've cruised Princess 3 times for itinerary and enjoyed them, but found the ships less desirable than Celebrity.

 

We loved the International Cafe and the coffee card we could share, and the partial Prominade we could walk.

 

Had to upgrade to a mini-suite to have enough room for socializing which we could do in a standard Celebrity SR. Hated the Princess very small shower stall.

 

I found the Princess common areas to be smaller and more crowded especially the theater which require you to show up at least 45min before the get seats together.

 

Always enjoy all my cruises, but find Celebrity and definite step up compared to Princess.

 

Den

[patterson3]

Thank you for the very informative review, Cathy. My wife and I are loyal Celebrity cruisers and have our first Princess Cruise booked for next April, also on the Sapphire Princess. I'm excited to experience the aft pool (assuming the weather allows), the wrap-around promenade and the beautiful piazza, but I'm sure there will be times when we will miss being on a Celebrity ship. Either way, from what I hear the two lines have far more similarities than differences and unless the ship sinks, I'm sure we'll have a great cruise.

[celtic selkie]

So no more art auctions on Celebrity? Wow! I have been away from cruising too long. I have a lot of catching up to do. Think they finally ran out of Picasso etchings?

 

I need to study these boards carefully to see what else I've missed.

 

We have cruised both Princess and Celebrity in the past and enjoyed them both, but it has been some time so I am not qualified to compare.

 

The reason we chose Celebrity to come back to after all these years is we could get a brochure mailed to us from them and not from Princess. We live on the Outer Banks and have never seen a travel agency to get a brochure from.

 

Just find it easier to compare cruises from the book rather than the website. So for lack of a brochure, Princess lost.

 

Celtic

[CathyCruises]

Thank you for the very informative review, Cathy. My wife and I are loyal Celebrity cruisers and have our first Princess Cruise booked for next April, also on the Sapphire Princess. I'm excited to experience the aft pool (assuming the weather allows), the wrap-around promenade and the beautiful piazza, but I'm sure there will be times when we will miss being on a Celebrity ship. Either way, from what I hear the two lines have far more similarities than differences and unless the ship sinks, I'm sure we'll have a great cruise.

 

The aft pool WOULD be fun--there are actually two, one on top of the other, with hot tubs on the deck above that! None got much (if any) use since the weather did not cooperate. One aft pool is labeled 'adults only' (but the only person I ever saw in it was a little boy).

 

But that makes me think of one other point. On S class, our favorite reading/relaxing spot is either in the Solarium or on the pool deck in the loungers by the windows. There was a decided lack of lounge chairs at ANY pool, although that could have been intentional because of the weather--there were lots of plastic tables and chairs however. And the one time we did try to relax by the indoor pool, it was not relaxing at all--the LOUDEST place on the ship! Kids yelling and screaming and jumping into the pool, pool stewards having loud conversations in groups of 3-4, and people playing dice/domino games that involved lots of slamming of tiles onto the tables. I am not exaggerating--the decibel level was off the charts! That one experience alone made me long for the calm of the Solarium!! It was probably the single most unsatisfactory experience on the cruise. We never did find a comfortable spot to sit and read and people-watch; the closest we came was the buffet area!!:eek:

[swedish weave]

Except the ones that have those ridiculous jet engine looking things on the smoke stack. :rolleyes:

 

Those are placed there to symbolize the ships' unique gas turbine diesel power systems.