After 5 P&O cruises.....Ive had a taste of Celebrity...

[kevinyork]

Cruised with P&O 5 times and RCI twice. We decided to do a late deal on Celebrity Eclipse to Iceland and Norway which ended last Saturday. I have to say Eclipse has become our favourite ship. More like a 5 star hotel than a cruise ship.

 

I can only really compare it to Azura and Ventura on P&O, both of which we have enjoyed multiple times. However, Eclipse is slightly larger but has several hundred fewer passengers and it showed. The distribution of passengers was great and we never felt like it was full. Service was consistently excellent, almost to the point of embarrassment and the food was superb. Obviously more international than on P&O but the quality of the ingredients and the menu choice was much better imo. For instance we had chateaubriand, duck a l'orange and a pretty large lobster in the MDR. We also enjoyed the mix of passengers from just about everywhere in the world and I think as a result encountered less people moaning about insignificant things, it was a more upbeat, positive atmosphere. We had select dining (similar to Freedom dining on P&O) and got a table for two every evening instantly. They dont even have buzzers to give out since everyone seemed to be seated straight away.

 

I know many complain about drink prices on American ships and yes they are higher but over the last few years, P&O prices have crept upwards too, beyond inflation anyway. A beer on Eclipse was $5.75 or £3.75 incl the service charge which isnt a massive amount more than on P&O.

 

Don't get me wrong, we will sail P&O again if they are going where we want to go however if its a straight match on itinerary then we would choose Celebrity given our first experience last week.

 

Also, P&O have lost some points with me over the Price Promise which has and still does thoroughly irritate me so part of our decision to try someone else was to avoid giving P&O our money as a protest. We are never going to book a Vantage Fare so would only consider a getaway fare in the future.

 

Im not saying Celebrity will suit everyone, but it definately suited us and we met many ex P&O cruisers on there that have not gone back.

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

We did a tour and lunch on the Celebrity Eclipse last year and were gobsmacked at the luxury, service and facilities onboard. Celebrity and Princess appear to have a range of nationalities travelling to the UK to sail on their ships out of Southampton, P&O only have Brits. IMHO P&O are the dinosaur of the cruising world and as their current database of ageing passengers cease to cruise that will be the end of the line.

[janny444]

Our first cruise was with P&O and we thought it was absolutely wonderful...how could you possibly get better...but since our first cruise we have sailed with different cruise lines and yes you can definitely get better.

Our favorite cruise line is Princess very closely followed by Celebrity...P&O are at the bottom of our list. Not saying that I wouldn't cruise with them again but the price would have to be very very competitive to tempt us.

As the OP mentioned the prices of drinks on the American ships are said to be considerably higher...are they really! On our Celebrity cruise I had a G&T...Gordons...it was a double..could certainly taste the gin...$7 including tip...that equates to approx £4.60....what is a Gordon's double G&T on P&O or even in a pub...can't really see it being that much cheaper..in 2010 a single G&T on P&O was £2.95...maybe someone can give a more up-to-date price.

 

I think P&O have an uphill struggle to regain people's confidence and certainly they have to "pull their socks up" to get back on an even footing with other cruise lines until then Princess/Celebrity will always be our first choice

[jeanlyon]

Very good report. Our only problem is we really don't like these enormous ships. Hated Azura, although Eclipse sounds better with more space and less pax. We actually prefer Fred Olsen. Now I know there is probably no comparison, but we did meet people from Holland and also South Africa on our last Fred cruise and I also didn't notice any moaning and we had younger folk on board. It was Cape Verdes and West Africa so that might have made all the difference, but some aspects of the service were much better than P&O.

 

We are on Oriana in September so it will be interesting to compare.

[rubydoobydoo]

I am also a Celebrity lover, we had our first cruise with them on Equinox in May

 

The food was outstanding and so was the service, far better than any P & O cruise I have been on

 

If we had not already booked our next trip on Azura in Oct before we went with Celebrity then we would seriously have considered Celebrity again

 

I found Celebrity to be 5 star luxury compared to low end of 4 star with P & O

 

Having said that we found the bar prices to be higher than what has previously been said, it was 6 dollars for a bottle of beer and that did not include the 15 per cent gratuity on all drinks over and above the gratity we had already paid in advance

 

Those tips were 12.50 dollars each per day, that ads up to a tidy sum, I think it cost us about £190.00 in tips for a 12 night cruise plus 15 per cent on our drink bill which was approx another £75 !

 

Also the trips were expensive

 

Next time we go i will look out for the free drinks package offer

 

Janis

[jeanlyon]

Goodness that does add up to a lot. Wonder what price a glass of wine or a carafe at the table?

[rubydoobydoo]

Goodness that does add up to a lot. Wonder what price a glass of wine or a carafe at the table?

 

My hubby had a bottle of the house wine, that was $36 plus 15 per cent

 

It would have been equivilent to the £13.95 bottle on P & O

 

Another thing about Celebrity is they charged us $12 each for the shuttle bus from the ship to the old town in Dubrovnik, and it was $25 dollars each for the water shuttle from the pier near the ships to St marks sqaure in Venice.

This added another $74 dollars unexpected charge to our bill, we didn't know until the night before

 

I don't know if P & O charge for these particular shuttles

[Brayman]

My hubby had a bottle of the house wine, that was $36 plus 15 per cent

 

It would have been equivilent to the £13.95 bottle on P & O

 

Another thing about Celebrity is they charged us $12 each for the shuttle bus from the ship to the old town in Dubrovnik, and it was $25 dollars each for the water shuttle from the pier near the ships to St marks sqaure in Venice.

This added another $74 dollars unexpected charge to our bill, we didn't know until the night before

 

I don't know if P & O charge for these particular shuttles

 

On Oriana in May the Dubrovnik shuttle was free.

 

The Venice shuttle was charged because the port insisted on using their own boats! Venice is getting really strange with its rules and regulations, I definitely got the feeling they didn't want to cater for the disabled.

[rubydoobydoo]

The hidden extras and tips can soon add up on Celebrity but it was still a fantastic cruise, and in my opinion worth the extra money

 

The staff were all really wonderful, it really went a long way in making the cruise extra special, something that is lacking on P & O I am sorry to say, just my opinion of course !

[jeanlyon]

Wow, $36 for a bottle of wine, no thanks.

 

We use the People Mover in Venice - 1Euro each to Piazza Roma where you can get your Vaporetto ticket.

[kruzgal]

We just paid $29 for a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (not house wine). Beer was between $4.5 and $6 depending on your choice (plus 15% gratuities).

 

Having sailed with Celebrity many times we know that the charges for port shuttles and excursions are high so I do my research before we go (using the ports of call section on this site) and we use public transport. We enjoy the challenge and it saves us a fortune along the way.

 

The free beverage package is a really good offer that they have been promoting lately and if you are feeling really brave (as we did this year) you can book through a US travel agent and get even more benefits (often free gratuities) and flexibility in your booking. It doesn't have to be as expensive as people perceive.

[jaxw17]

Yes the wine on princess is also upwards of $36 a bottle and then 15% tax. on Princess though you can on some of your own. We have sailed Celebrity and Princess many times this will be our 1st P and O cruise .

I am looking forward to it but hope that it lives up to our expectations.

WE have found the service on celeb and Princess to be fantastic and the food especially on celebrity to be excellent.

We sail on the 18th August lets hope we are pleasantly surprised.

[Essexlass2]

if you are feeling really brave (as we did this year) you can book through a US travel agent and get even more benefits (often free gratuities) and flexibility in your booking. It doesn't have to be as expensive as people perceive.

 

Kruzgal, are you able to give us a clue as to which US travel agent you used please?

[terrierjohn]

Wow, $36 for a bottle of wine, no thanks.

 

We use the People Mover in Venice - 1Euro each to Piazza Roma where you can get your Vaporetto ticket.

Jean, I paid between $7.50 & $9.75 per glass of wine on Eclipse, which is £4.80 to £6.20 and Eclipse does not add the 15% gratuity. They are large ones probably bigger than the large ones I had on P&O in April which cost between £4.50 and £9.95 each.

Beers were from $5.50 (£3.50) and my favourite Margaritas were $7.00 (£4.50).

Yes wine by the bottle does start about $30-35 (£19.50 - £22.00) but I have certainly never seen wine on P&O at £13.95 a bottle in the last 2 years.

But the auto tip is much higher, which is why Celebrity staff are significantly happier and why the service is far better.

As I have said to you before do try an Eclipse cruise, I will be amazed if you do not become another convert.

[bee-ess]

Another Celebrity Fan here as well - booked again for next year, with free Drinks Package, if you like a drink, it is the only way to go !!

 

We will still use P&O if the price and destination is right but Celebrity is better, although the on-board spend and tips are higher.

Edited July 25, 2013 by bee-ess

[rubydoobydoo]

£9.95 each.

but I have certainly never seen wine on P&O at £13.95 a bottle in the last 2 years..

 

We were charged £13.95 2 weeks ago for a bottle of Pinot Gris white wine on Oceana, I don't drink wine but my friends said it was fine, I assume it was like a house wine

[kevinyork]

We were charged £13.95 2 weeks ago for a bottle of Pinot Gris white wine on Oceana, I don't drink wine but my friends said it was fine, I assume it was like a house wine

 

I had the drinks package on Eclipse but the wine I was drinking was $6.75 per glass for a large serving. The somaliers know their stuff. Tell them what you have ordered for dinner and they will recommend a wine. Also, if you try a wine and dont like it, they wont charge you and will let you try something else. Of course there were many wines that were a lot more expensive but I dont judge a cruise just on the price of wine. (I spotted one bottle at $1400!).

 

When we started cruising P&O, the cruise prices were lower than American lines plus onboard prices were lower. Now the American lines cruise prices seem more on a par, and sometimes less, than P&O and P&Os drinks prices keep rising.

 

Its an interesting point that has been made re P&O having only Brit passengers (apart from some Aussies on our Baltic cruise). It says something that people fly from across the world to join a Celebrity or RCI cruise from Southampton and certainly means P&O have a far more restricted group to market themselves to. We met some great Canadians and Americans on our Eclipse cruise plus there were 400 Brazilians onboard.

 

 

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[rubydoobydoo]

We flew to Barcelona to meet the equinox, the majority of passengers we saw or met were from America and Canada, very few Brits considering the flight was less than 2 hours

[Thejuggler]

9 days and we will be on it.

 

Some costs may be slightly more than P&O, (Just like Princess, but we did find wine at less than $36 a bottle) but when you pick up a family GTY balcony cabin for 60% less than initial brochure launch price (P&O decided to exclude familes from cheaper fares) you don't baulk at a few extra dollars a day.

Edited July 25, 2013 by Thejuggler

[FredChopin]

I don't think we're going to be worried about on board charges next year - we have a free drinks package and $500 OBC. The fare is less than P&O for an equivalent cabin, we only paid £150pp deposit, against 15%, and the balance is not payable 90 days before departure. P&O have some serious thinking to do. I say this after 35+ P&O cruises, one RCI (never again!) and now 4 Celebrity cruises with 2 more booked.

[jeanlyon]

I just don;t think we will be trying it anytime soon. The size of the ship puts me off for a start. Also, the trips out of Southampton don't appeal. the canaries etc.

[kevinyork]

I just don;t think we will be trying it anytime soon. The size of the ship puts me off for a start. Also, the trips out of Southampton don't appeal. the canaries etc.

 

What about the Baltics, Med, iceland, Norway? Or Fly to Venice or Rome and join another Solstice class Celebrity ship.

 

 

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[Lovemychoos]

It really made me smile reading this post :)

 

Another Celebrity convert here too! After 30+ cruises with P&O, we took our first Celebrity cruise in October 11 and have never looked back.

 

It would always be our first choice of line now, everything from the service, food, surroundings, cabins, etc, etc, etc.

 

We did go on Oriana last year, for the 175th Anniversary cruise, and got quite a shock after Celebrity. No comparison IMHO.

 

Lou

[kevinyork]

It really made me smile reading this post :)

 

Another Celebrity convert here too! After 30+ cruises with P&O, we took our first Celebrity cruise in October 11 and have never looked back.

 

It would always be our first choice of line now, everything from the service, food, surroundings, cabins, etc, etc, etc.

 

We did go on Oriana last year, for the 175th Anniversary cruise, and got quite a shock after Celebrity. No comparison IMHO.

 

Lou

 

Thanks. Weve only done 5 P&O cruises but for someone with 30+ under their belt to concur is reassurring.

 

 

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Edited July 25, 2013 by kevinyork

[kruzgal]

Kruzgal, are you able to give us a clue as to which US travel agent you used please?

 

Would love to but sadly it is against the rules of this forum to even give a hint :(

 

9 days and we will be on it.

 

Some costs may be slightly more than P&O, (Just like Princess, but we did find wine at less than $36 a bottle) but when you pick up a family GTY balcony cabin for 60% less than initial brochure launch price (P&O decided to exclude familes from cheaper fares) you don't baulk at a few extra dollars a day.

 

You make the most important point - I always say what matters is the total cost overall. It doesn't matter if the gratuities are higher if the cruise is cheaper and/or you have a free beverage package meaning your onboard spend is lower. The total cost is what matters at the end of the day - and having a good time of course!