Compare Celebrity to Princess for me

[supersecdd]

We were on the Celebrity Constellation this year and it had very good points and very bad points. We are thinking of going on the Celebrity Eclipse or for the first time on the Crown Princess (6 yrs old) to the Mediterranean in Sept. 2013. Please let me know what you think of the two cruise lines/two ships. We enjoy learning about ports, cooking and eating good food (not medium/just ok food), not big drinkers, some spa, excellent excursions, nice people on board (not a bunch of drunks), a bit picky about some things and can let other things (problems) go, and a balcony room. We have also been on NCL many years ago and on Regents (which was so wonderful I didn't want to leave the ship). We really need your help in deciding which cruiseline to go with next year.

[supersecdd]

We were on the Celebrity Constellation this year and it had very good points and very bad points. We are thinking of going on the Celebrity Eclipse or for the first time on the Crown Princess (6 yrs old) to the Mediterranean in Sept. 2013. Please let me know what you think of the two cruise lines/two ships. We enjoy learning about ports, cooking and eating good food (not medium/just ok food), not big drinkers, some spa, excellent excursions, nice people on board (not a bunch of drunks), a bit picky about some things and can let other things (problems) go, and a balcony room. We have also been on NCL many years ago and on Regents (which was so wonderful I didn't want to leave the ship). We really need your help in deciding which cruiseline to go with next year.

 

I am 60 and my husband and I both are still working. We usually like the dance bar/room in the evening, after the main show.

[dforeigner]

We were on the Celebrity Constellation this year and it had very good points and very bad points. We are thinking of going on the Celebrity Eclipse or for the first time on the Crown Princess (6 yrs old) to the Mediterranean in Sept. 2013. Please let me know what you think of the two cruise lines/two ships. We enjoy learning about ports, cooking and eating good food (not medium/just ok food), not big drinkers, some spa, excellent excursions, nice people on board (not a bunch of drunks), a bit picky about some things and can let other things (problems) go, and a balcony room. We have also been on NCL many years ago and on Regents (which was so wonderful I didn't want to leave the ship). We really need your help in deciding which cruiseline to go with next year.

 

Service and decor a notch better on Celebrity. Entertainment, better on Princess. Food is subjective. Balcony rooms on board Celebrity include a little sofa. Princess you get a chair. Theater seating is better on Celebrity. On Princess, you must arrive 30-45 minutes before the function in order to get a good seat.

[Cruisfan]

The comments of dforgeiner are quite accurate. I have cruised on Princess many times and loved the food, the shows etc but cruised last Xmas on Celebrity for the first time and was impressed by the service, the attention you got everywhere on the ship. For example, when you come back to the ship after a day in port, you are greeted by someone who hands you a moist facecloth to wipe your face with. The beds on Celebrity have rounded ends which make it easier to walk around the room. The maitre Ds on Celebrity are amazing, unlike Princess where they are surly and have a superior attitude.

 

When you board the ship, you are given a glass of champagne. Best of all though were the genuine smiles and pleasent " hellos" from all levels of staff. It just made you feel truly welcome.

I will certainly cruise with Princess again but realy liked this special attention you get on Celebrity and will be cruising with them again next Spring.

 

Cruisfan

[pris993]

We are elite on Princess, elite on Celebrity too. Have not been on the Crown but have been on many other Princess ships. We have been on the Constellation, Summit and Infinity plus the Eclipse, and Equinox on Celebirty. Actually prefer the Constellation class over the Eclipse. The newer X class ships are very modern but we did not like the MDR ... noisy, crowded, food hit and miss. We even booked a second time and booked a Aqua Class and tried BLU, still did not see much difference. We cruised on the Eciplse one week, and the Ruby Princess the next. We enjoyed the Ruby more. But that was just us...we get better amenities on Princess being elite than on X. Dancing is probably better on X with the small combo bands.

 

Given your enjoyment of dancing in the evening... the line that fits that interest the most is Cunard. We did two cruises on the Queen Victoria in 2011. Did a TA first, enjoyed it so much, booked again for a Mediterranean. Thought food, service, entertainment and dancing every night in the ball room was fantastic.

[Magellan321]

We are elite on Princess, elite on Celebrity too. Have not been on the Crown but have been on many other Princess ships. We have been on the Constellation, Summit and Infinity plus the Eclipse, and Equinox on Celebirty. Actually prefer the Constellation class over the Eclipse. The newer X class ships are very modern but we did not like the MDR ... noisy, crowded, food hit and miss. We even booked a second time and booked a Aqua Class and tried BLU, still did not see much difference. We cruised on the Eciplse one week, and the Ruby Princess the next. We enjoyed the Ruby more. But that was just us...we get better amenities on Princess being elite than on X. Dancing is probably better on X with the small combo bands.

 

Given your enjoyment of dancing in the evening... the line that fits that interest the most is Cunard. We did two cruises on the Queen Victoria in 2011. Did a TA first, enjoyed it so much, booked again for a Mediterranean. Thought food, service, entertainment and dancing every night in the ball room was fantastic.

 

Spot on about the MDR! I love Celebrity rooms, theater, etc.....but I felt like I was in a cattle call in the dining room. The dining room on Solstice was soo tight and loud.

[SAC69]

I was on the Eclipse in March in a Celebrity Suite which included butler service. The service overall was excellent throughout the entire ship. I really enjoyed the X class layout and I thought the food and entertainment was very good. I am on my first Princess cruise this Christmas on the CB and am looking forward to comparing. My expectation based on what I have read is that the two lines are similar with their own strengths and weaknesses. The comments about the tight MDR on X class are accurate.

[Yumagal]

I like both cruise lines but give Princess a slight edge because the evening buffet has different dishes each night where X seems to be the same things each night. If you're not a big MDR fan then you would like Princess better.

[Debathome]

I am platinum on Princess and have also cruised Celebrity and last May, the Eclipse. It is difficult not to compare the lines although there are some difference I prefer on each of the lines. Not necessarily things I don't like, just done differently.

 

I do prefer Princess dining room but Celebrity buffet layout is far superior although as pointed out, repititious, but good. The service on Princess at the buffet is without question much better, you will never see a table sitting with dishes and they are constantly coming around to serve you whereas on Celebrity it is more laid back.

 

The two lines are very similar as far as food, drinks etc. The Eclipse had somthing going on in the atrium each night. Music, dance or themed parties. Lots of dancing and plenty of different music venues. I do like Princess for the disco and found their bars better.

 

It is all so selective and personal. I would cruise either /or any time and it's nice to have the two to choose between so I usually go with price or itinerary.

[RMLincoln]

I have cruise both lines but neither of your ship choices. The med is a very port intensive itinerary so you may want to consider your port times and shore excursion options too.

 

I have never found the dining room managers on Princess surley, always very personable and helpful, but YMMV. Celebrity's open dining system worked beautifuly on our 14 day cruise aboard Constellation, better than any other open dining we have done.

 

Princess has a much better buffet selection and you can actually dine, as with table cloths, multiple food selections, partial table service.... in the Princess buffet in the evening if you're on shore late and don't want to deal with the MDR. Celebrity has a very meager selection in the buffet at night and mostly only staff eat there for dinner. But their buffet is better than Princess for breakfast and lunch, for me. Buffet hours are longer on Princess also.

 

For rooms, I'd compare for your particular ships. I find the beds on both lines bordering on miserable, compared to HAL for example. I'd order an egg crate matterss pad.

 

Princess is doing different format now for shows, shortening them and having them 3 times per evening so as to reduce crowding. I loved the entertainment on Celebrity and though it was a cut above Princess.

 

Service I think is very similar, in fact I find both lines have much more in common than different. I would go with itinerary and price after I compared the amenities in the types of rooms you would choose. Have a great cruise! m--

[lcmslady]

My last 5 sailings have been with Celebrity. It's been 13 years since Princess.

We're doing the PC with Princess strictly because of the ship's amenities over the X Infinity.

If it weren't for that, I'd be sailing with X.

Sailed on the Solstice in January. I was a little apprehensive about the larger ships after sailing exclusively on smaller ships.

No problems. Someone really thought out the ship's design - buffet and pool on different levels. You no longer had to walk through the casino to get somewhere. The ship never felt crowded except on dis-embarkation.

The other thing I liked was the lawn and the Hot Glass Show. I hear that on the last ship of this class there is no glass show and the lawn is being turned into a specialty dining area.

 

After reading the comparisons of hte other posters, I'm not sure if I'll be impressed with Princess. I have gotten used to everyone - down to the guy mopping the floor, greeting you pleasantly.

 

No worries - it's a cruise, after all and I won't be at work!

Have fun no matter what you end up doing.

[DrivesLikeMario]

...Given your enjoyment of dancing in the evening... the line that fits that interest the most is Cunard. We did two cruises on the Queen Victoria in 2011. Did a TA first, enjoyed it so much, booked again for a Mediterranean. Thought food, service, entertainment and dancing every night in the ball room was fantastic.

 

I agree with your dancing comments about Cunard. For those that really enjoy dancing to big band sounds and the like, Cunard is definitely the place to be.

 

I'm sure there are many that would agree with your other comments about Cunard, but I cannot. Perhaps it's because I'm a little younger, but I thought the lecturers were terrible (that was really, really disappointing), the daily activities were not nearly as numerous as I expected, the food was very mediocre and the service was nowhere near the level of Princess.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I was on the Eclipse in March in a Celebrity Suite which included butler service. The service overall was excellent throughout the entire ship. I really enjoyed the X class layout and I thought the food and entertainment was very good. I am on my first Princess cruise this Christmas on the CB and am looking forward to comparing. My expectation based on what I have read is that the two lines are similar with their own strengths and weaknesses. The comments about the tight MDR on X class are accurate.

 

That's going to be tough for the CB to live up to - the Christmas cruises are never a typical Princess experience IMO. The demographics are totally different, the ships are packed and the staff is stretched thin compared to cruising at other times of the year. Be gentle with your comparison please and take that into consideration. ;)

[sunshine nana]

We've been on both Princess and Celebrity. Both are great, but I have to agree that the entertainment on Princess is better and we love the extra space of the mini-suites. Celebrity does not have a similar category-to get a tub and extra space, you need a full suite ($). We did eat in Blu on Celebrity and DH really liked the extra attention and quiet. I don't have a problem with the MDR on either line.

[Mulege]

I like both lines. The Solstice ships get great reviews from multiple sources. Celebrity has one feature that I enjoy, full in room dining for BLD while the MDR is open. I used to find Princess' showroom better but not since they went to mini shows. Can't beat the pizza on Princess. Ships getting old on Princess. Look forward to Royal.

[dcruisers]

I vote for Celebrity...love their ships..beautiful and so much easier to navigate than Princess (with their dead end making you go up a floor to go down-what's with that Princess?) I find Celebrity to have beautiful rooms and outstanding service. You get a sofa in your room. With Princess, you have to book a "mini suite" to get a sofa! This past Jan we sailed on Celebrity Sihouette and loved everything. The entertainment was outstanding! We were upgraded to Aqua class for $1.00 each and loved eating in Blu- Smaller restaurant with excellent food and service only for Aqua class. However, we did try the main dining room one night and the food was excellent.

We are sailing on Sapphire Princess to Hi in Jan. We selected Princess(this will be our 5th Princess cruise) only because the ship is larger (concerns of crossing Pacific in smaller ship) and newer than the Celebrity Century doing the same itinerary. One other thing...Celebrity's officers were always visible and interacting with passeners making all of us feel appreciated and welcomed.

Out of all our cruises I rank Princess 3rd after Celebrity and RCL...followed by Carnival and NCL. Just my opinion and perspective with our cruising experiences.

Whichever you choose, here's to a fun, exciting and relaxing voyage.

[shofer]

I like that Celebrity still has a sommelier in the MDR. Also they have a pitcher of ice water in the cabin, 3 sets of towels instead of two, plastic bags in the garbage cans, dispensers of shampoo and conditioner in the shower.

 

Their theaters hold half the passengers so no rushing to get there 30-40 minutes early to acquire a seat.

 

You can order full breakfast, lunch and dinner in your room. If you alert your stateroom attendant ahead of time, you can have your romantic dinner on your balcony at no extra cost ordering off the MDR menu.

 

Haven't been on the new ships and am hoping to do that next year. Princess has been lovely and the price and itineraries have been the driving factor for our last few cruises. We did the 10 day partial Panama Canal which worked for us at that time and our next to Alaska had the cruise tour that suits our needs.

 

Sue

[Keith1010]

Always best to experience both yourself so you can figure out which will work best for you.

 

Keith

[pris993]

Always best to experience both yourself so you can figure out which will work best for you.

 

Keith

 

Agree, here. Reading through others' comments reinforces this for me.

 

We would rate the lines, in this order, Princess, HAL, Cunard, Celebrity... for us. Very different then what others might for themselves - taking into consideration the ship, itinerary, service, food, costs, entertainment.

[AZaTaz]

We have sailed both lines and find them very similar. We chose the itinerary first, then price and lastly line.

The comment on friendliness of staff is interesting because we have found it depends on the ship. Over all we have had good experince on both lines but had bad experinces on one ship on each line.

We will sail both lines back to back in 2014 so we can get the itenerary we want.

[deelastcre]

They are both similar in service. We like the food, wine seminars and entertainment better on Celebrity. I like the itineraries and excursions better on Princess. Celebrity's loyalty program is easier to move to the next level if you are trying to decide which one to book most of your cruises. I have one booked on each. I would suggest that you try both. The ship and crew has a lot to do with your satisfaction level. On port intensive cruises I would prefer, Princess on a fun cruise, Celebrity.