Celebrity versus Princess

[cruisechev]

5 cruises on Princess and open to new line. Definitely want balcony and prefer partial covered, places that are not so crowded for me and pool areas for wife. Is their a Sanctuary equivalent on Celebrity and also informal dining options....don't want to dress up for every dinner. We are not Princess groupies and open to variety of ages on cruise...thanks in advance for your thoughts.....

[roysue]

cruisechev - I'll give a try to answer some questions.

 

Our group is Platinum on Princess but our last few cruises have been on Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is a little quieter than Princess. Some of the furnishings are a little nicer. Balcony cabins on Celebrity have a small sofa rather than the 2 chairs that Princess has. Celebrity has a solarium which is a pool and lounge area that is limited to adults. Usually very quiet in there. There is no charge. They also have an area call the Persian Gardens. It is an up charge area and I don't know much about it. Celebrity has it's own buffet. It is the usual buffet. They have decent pizza, a pasta station, a stir fry station. It's decent. There are a few no charge venues for snacks but not much else for a meal except the dining rooms. Celebrity does not have do-it-yourself laundry facility, which I do miss. There may be a few less kids on Celebrity but we usually take 10 day cruises and neither Princess nor Celebrity have many kids on the cruises longer than 7 days.

 

Hope that is helpful!

Sue

[Host Jazzbeau]

Celebrity has two dress codes ("Smart Casual" most of the time; "Evening Chic" on one or two nights per cruise). I don't want to get into another nasty dress code thread, so I'll just point you to Celebrity's website definitions:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/ca/company/customer-support/help-and-faqs/during-your-cruise/onboard-dress-code

 

One other big difference from Princess: the casino on Celebrity is no-smoking all the time.

[cruisechev]

Greatly appreciate feedback......I'm thinking this will be a good option !

[OCruisers]

Celebrity is a very nice cruise line ... but there is less to do on the ship.

[BOLOTRAVEL]

We love Celebrity. There is as much to do as you want or as little. Excellent customer service by all crew. Great amenities.

[miched]

The loyalty program mmbenefits are way better on X

 

The biggest draw for us on X is the limited smoking policy.

 

 

Entertainment may not be a good on X but it is passable and something to do.

 

 

Officers are more visible and friendlier on X

 

 

I think the decor on X is a little classier.

 

 

Better theater seating and layout on X.

 

 

For the most part they are more similar than different and it almost becomes where you have to love the one you are with. All cruises are as good as you make them.

 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Denny01]

We cruise Celebrity unless there is a specific itinerary or to join friends on another Line. We’ve done Princess 3 times and enjoyed all, but find Celebrity more to our liking.

 

The differences in my opinion are:

- the standard Celebrity SR is larger and better layed out and larger shower. I’m not a big man but I found the Princess standard SR to be more restricted with a smaller shower. We would take a mini-suite on Princess.

 

- the Princess common areas and lounges seemed more crowded or cramped and we had to get to the main theaters very early to get seats together. Celebrity common areas and lounges seemed more spacious and the theater accommodated more. Of course Celebrity lounges would fill up during high time.

 

- both had good dining quality.

 

- Princess had more variety in entertainment but Celebrity had a great live band.

 

- both push their sales, but Celebrity only has one announcement per day, and Princess had more ‘lectures’ that turned out to be sales pitches.

 

Again, enjoyed Princess. but sticking w Celebrity. Agree that if you enjoyed Princess you should enjoy Celebrity also.

 

Den

[CA_Cruzing]

If I may ask, what are the age groups of respondents here? We’re booked on our first Celebrity cruise, 10 day in March 2019.

 

Dear wife and I will be 50/49, respectively on this cruise. We’re seeking to sail with similarly aged passengers (not exclusively, but in part).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[The Mommy]

If I may ask, what are the age groups of respondents here? We’re booked on our first Celebrity cruise, 10 day in March 2019.

 

Dear wife and I will be 50/49, respectively on this cruise. We’re seeking to sail with similarly aged passengers (not exclusively, but in part).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

We began cruising when we were younger than you but soon became addicted and love celebrity way above the rest. I am in my diamond year and our group is a mix from 54 to 65. I would say your age group is well represented on Celebrity. We usually go to the Caribbean so I am not sure if that itinerary choice affects the general age of the passengers? We also cruise in term time as we prefer a more adult only experience on our cruise. I hope this helps :D

[upwarduk]

We took our first Princess cruise last May on Crown.

I was very impressed with the pre cruise web site.

Also that when you become Platimun, which we now have via P&O, you get 250 free internet minutes on a 14 night cruise. This aspect will encourage me to consider a Princess cruise if the itinnary is right.

 

However, I was unhappy with a few aspects.

The Self service ‘food court’ on Crown was small and difficult to negotiate. There is no comparison to Celebrity’s version, especially on the S class ships, as there are separate food stations. Also the menus in the MDR on Celebrity have symbols on them, for Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free and Vegetarian. This is a great help for me, as I am Dairy Intolerant.

 

The Captain decided that we were not going into Genoa ‘due to operational reasons,’ which I accepted, until we found out that Majestic Princess had managed to dock the day after we should have. I asked for a rebate on the bus portion of the trip we had booked, Genoa to Portofino.

I was told, “ you went on a tender.”

But every passenger passenger on the ship was able to use the tenders to Santa Margarita!!:evilsmile::evilsmile:

Eventually, on the last afternoon, I was told I would have a refund to my OBA. This came on the last morning, too late to use in the bars. This money was not refunded to my C.C on the last morning, as it would have been on Celebrity. I was told it would take between 4-6 weeks.

It still hadn’t been refunded 6 weeks after the cruise, so I rang Southampton. I was told the 4-6 weeks was for U.S customers only, my refund would have to be applied for and I would eventually be sent a sterling cheque, as automatic payments are only for U.S customers.

I am afraid this aspect has clouded my impression of Princess, so we are back to Celebrity in June 2018.

Edited April 12, 2018 by upwarduk

[varoo]

 

Better theater seating and layout on X.

...... and adequate theater seats.

On Celebrity cruises we can almost always arrive at the theater 5 - 10 minutes before a show starts and find good seats.

We dislike the cruise ships where you need to get to the theater a good half-hour before the performance begins just to get seats, and then waste your time just sitting there waiting and waiting, so we usually don't go to the shows on those ships at all (unless it happens to be something that we really, really want to see).

We also don't go to performances on the cruises where they require you to reserve seats in advance.

Just personal preference. We like to be spontaneous and avoid regimentation as much as possible when we are on vacation, or on holiday, for the Brits, but then I suppose I should also use the theatre spelling. :D

 

 

Edited April 12, 2018 by varoo

[Silkroad]

I haven’t sailed Princess, but think you may find this comparison of the two lines helpful:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2317130

[BlueCat1105]

We will be going on our first Celebrity cruise next March as well after several with Princess and one with Holland America. It sounds like it will be right up our alley. We find that Princess tries a little too hard to sell products, services, etc. for our taste. Is there a lot of that on Celebrity?

[George C]

We stopped sailing princess because ships seemed too crowded , almost impossible to get a seat to see the shows , this was on both the crown an Caribbean princess.

[villauk]

We find that Princess tries a little too hard to sell products, services, etc. for our taste. Is there a lot of that on Celebrity?

 

Yes, the same products are available on the 'special one time only sale' in the shops on every sailing, together with the art auctions, photographers when you are trying to eat your dinner, speciality restaurant offers, beverage package up sells, wine tasting sessions, Spa offers etc. I would imagine most mass cruise lines are similar in that regard?

 

As most will state, just say, 'No thanks.'

[Denny01]

As to sales and pitches to buy, I agree all Lines are out to make money - they are businesses. The difference I see between Celebrity and Princess (and RCL/Carnival/NCL type Lines) is Celebrity doesn’t have the announcements throughout the day making the sales pitches, which means you have to actively go to the shops or into the area they’ve set up the Big Sales. The do have little desk areas set up to entice you early on for drink packages and specialty dining, but again you mainly have to step up. On Princess, every time I ordered a glass of wine at dinner, the waiter would pitch a special package or a wine tasting. After the 2nd time, I told them I could read the daily and sign up if I wanted and to quit pressing.

 

We take a look at the table sales a bit, usually not interested in most and they don’t interfere with our enjoyment, but I’ve been known to make a run on a few things - last cruise, I bought 5 of those cheap small over-the-shoulder things with lots of zipper areas. For me, I call then ManBags! handy.

 

But my point is, yup, Celebrity does the monster sales and pitches, but it’s not nearly as intrusive.

 

Den

[nomad098]

Just off a Princess Cruise

 

The biggest let down and deal breaker for us was not being able to have a family sit down meal in the buffet in the afternoon or evening. We are not MDR people on any ship.

 

There was nothing wrong with the quality of the food but the variety was woeful with very little kid friendly food. Pizza, burgers and hotdogs were available and very good but were on the other side of the pool deck.

 

The buffet only had 1 section open on our cruise in the evenings so about the a quarter of the size of a Constellation class ship

 

On Celebrity we enjoyed having the choice of 4 or 5 curries, Pasta station, kids choices including kids healthy options, and a good selection of late night snacks.

 

We did the Ruby Princess for the ports, Pacific Coastal, we would not do this class of ship again unless it was an itinerary no one else was doing. We have been told that the buffet is better on other classes of Princess ships.

 

We found the staff on this cruise to be better than our previous Celebrity cruises but not by much.

 

We are really looking forward to our Celebrity cruise in August

[ghstudio]

We will be going on our first Celebrity cruise next March as well after several with Princess and one with Holland America. It sounds like it will be right up our alley. We find that Princess tries a little too hard to sell products, services, etc. for our taste. Is there a lot of that on Celebrity?

 

In our experience, Celebrity actually (hard/soft) sells more than princess. On past Celebrity cruises, I've counted 1/3 of the day's activities that were held by the shops (the grand fill in the blank unveiling)...art auction whatevers...free seminars by the spa (selling footbeds, etc), We had far less "sell" on our Princess Norway cruise last year.

 

IMHO, Celebrity, Princess and HAL are comparable with each having it's pluses and minuses which can vary on any specific cruise.

[villauk]

In our experience, Celebrity actually (hard/soft) sells more than princess. On past Celebrity cruises, I've counted 1/3 of the day's activities that were held by the shops (the grand fill in the blank unveiling)...art auction whatevers...free seminars by the spa (selling footbeds, etc), We had far less "sell" on our Princess Norway cruise last year.

 

IMHO, Celebrity, Princess and HAL are comparable with each having it's pluses and minuses which can vary on any specific cruise.

 

I agree. I think since they reduced the Activity staff so drastically a few years ago on X, more and more items on the dailies are as you describe.

[mnocket]

I recently posted my observations of Celebrity vs Princess. Might be helpful.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2614737

[SandG]

We have done a few cruises on each line. Most recently, we cruised on the Crown Princess last October and the Eclipse last February. Celebrity is my favorite cruise line of those we have tried, and Princess is second. The things that come to mind off the top of my head:

 

Food in MDR is good on both, but I think Celebrity is better. It seems to me that the food on Celebrity has more of a French influence and Princess more Italian. Princess has the best pizza, especially when the ship has a dedicated restaurant. I also like the Princess "pub lunch".

 

Celebrity S-class has a much nicer bathroom / shower: a roomy shower with glass door. Even the Regal Princess had a small shower with plastic curtain. The regular cabins in Celebrity feel bigger than a regular Princess cabin which dedicates more room to the closet area.

 

I liked the Celebrity breakfast buffet better - more cooked-to-order choices.

 

I liked the internet choices better on Princess - you can get cheaper options and I think you can still use by the minute. Celebrity charges a hefty charge for 1 hour, 1 day, or unlimited.

 

Princess entertainment had been better than Celebrity, but I was very impressed with the entertainment on my last Eclipse cruise.

 

Sue

[Host Jazzbeau]

Both lines have suffered a series of cutbacks. On our first two Princess cruises (in 2014 and 2015) they lived up to their reputation for the best pizza at sea, but on Crown Princess last fall the pizza was not good at all (even freshly made). We also felt the main dining room on Crown was less than acceptable – which is the main reason that cruise was probably our last on Princess [i don't have a recent experience of the Celebrity main dining room because our last cruise was in Luminae – another ding at Princess because they don't have anything comparable for their suite guests, but this doesn't affect most passengers on either line]. Princess entertainment is good, but the theaters are too small so you have to get there 1/2 hour early to get a decent (or any) seat for the more popular events [and we weren't very good at figuring out which ones would be the hot tickets, so we cooled our butts in a half-empty theater or had to stand at the back too many times :mad:] – on Celebrity we have always been able to arrive on time and find a seat.