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Princess vs. Celebrity or NCL


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9 minutes ago, pcur said:

For a December 2021 cruise, 7 nights from FLL, the add-on cost for tips, drinks, and wifi is $666 per person.  Can't post the page here, since Big Box's name is all over it.

 

 

If I could ask, which cruise is it, what's the base price per person (not counting taxes and fees) and what's the cabin category? I'd like to compare it with what's shown on the X website.

 

Update: Also, is this a Princess cruise or a Celebrity cruise? I'm assuming it's Celebrity.

Edited by Ken the cruiser
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2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I could ask, which cruise is it, what's the base price per person (not counting taxes and fees) and what's the cabin category? I'd like to compare it with what's shown on the X website.

 

Reflection, 12/11/21, OV category 08 for $1,016 pp before taxes, etc.   Add-on $666 per person for the tips, drinks, and wifi.   Shopping card after the cruise is $140 without the add-on, $215 with the add-on.  

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11 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

Reflection, 12/11/21, OV category 08 for $1,016 pp before taxes, etc.   Add-on $666 per person for the tips, drinks, and wifi.   Shopping card after the cruise is $140 without the add-on, $215 with the add-on.  

The Celebrity base NRD rate with AI for an O8 is $1,349 pp (and add $120 pp for the RD rate). Not quite sure where your TA is getting the $666 per person for the AI option.

 

image.thumb.png.da05b645f17f5dfd9c5347ed59adaf01.png

 
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2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The Celebrity base NRD rate with AI for an O8 is $1,349 pp (and add $120 pp for the RD rate). Not quite sure where your TA is getting the $666 per person for the AI option.

 

image.thumb.png.da05b645f17f5dfd9c5347ed59adaf01.png

 

 

Not sure, either, but that's what is showing when I ghost book.  I think the screen I was in had already added in the port taxes, because the total was exactly the same as what you show after the add-on.  So, it's not a savings on the price, but the OP could book without the "always included" if desired.  

 

To us, it's the shopping card that's important.  We don't need obc on board an RCCL ship, except to get my husband a soda package.  The shopping card is free gas and food purchases, so it's money back in our pockets.

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14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The Celebrity base NRD rate with AI for an O8 is $1,349 pp (and add $120 pp for the RD rate). Not quite sure where your TA is getting the $666 per person for the AI option.

 

image.thumb.png.da05b645f17f5dfd9c5347ed59adaf01.png

 

This is so expensive. I mean I would expect anything these days but these prices are insane. I really hope that we will get some additional discounts for returning cruise lovers. I dont want to overpay for the things that I got so used to

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7 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

This is so expensive. I mean I would expect anything these days but these prices are insane. I really hope that we will get some additional discounts for returning cruise lovers. I dont want to overpay for the things that I got so used to

 

I agree.  Celebrity is more expensive than RCCL, Princess, NCL, and HAL.  That's why we don't sail on Celebrity anymore. I've found much better pricing for 2021 and the first half of 2022 on RCCL and Princess.  Our sailing experience is still excellent, too.

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3 hours ago, pcur said:

For a December 2021 cruise, 7 nights from FLL, the add-on cost for tips, drinks, and wifi is $666 per person.  Can't post the page here, since Big Box's name is all over it.

 

 

Princess' add on for a 7 night cruise December 2021 is $280/pp, total $560 for two. It's is their current add on standard of $40/pp/day. It covers unlimited wifi, premier drink package with tips, hotel gratuities. If you book between now and March 31st it also includes cabin location upgrade and specialty dining, which are also included in the no frills fare.

Drink package is limited to 15 alcoholic drinks/pp/day plus unlimited non alcoholic drinks. Some non alcoholic beverages such as canned soda are excluded. Room service is also excluded. Drink package is for all beverages menu priced $12 and under which is about 90 to 95% of all beverages on the ship. 

Edited by skynight
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20 hours ago, skynight said:

Princess currently has the no frills option and the option that includes the beverage package, gratuities, wifi and other benefits. You can book either way for future cruises. The current promo expires March 31st. After that there is always another promo, but what it contains and how it is fared will only be known at the end of March. 

 

I was replying to a comment about Celebrity, not Princess. I am aware that Princess gives you the option to have no frills pricing or the add on options pricing.

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We aren't loyal to one line we. Our decision is based on itinerary and price. In the past Princess hit those marks over Celebrity util Celebrity started offering their pick your perk deals.  I have been pricing out cruises and if I were to book a cruise right now Princess would be my choice with the all inclusive items. We would buy a drink package and an internet package anyway so the all inclusives works out to be less expensive.  I use a spreadsheet to figure out which line has the best price per day.

 

I stopped comparing food, service and entertainment because it's a trade off no matter which line you choose. Princess has the worst rooms at sea with no place to sit and the Royal class ships have tiny balconies. The showers are also too small and we are not big people. The room was never an important part of the cruise for us until we tried Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. Now with covid in the picture or any other quarantine diseases that come along the size of the room and comfort have moved up on the list.  I would rather have a place to sit and a larger shower than a walk in closet. We never had an issue for storage on Celebrity. 

 

I think Princess has a better buffet and over all the food is better. As far as entertainment NCL hits the mark but that's about it for that line. I don't like the casual atmosphere and the comfort food. When we cruise we like an experience that we don't get at home or on a land trip.  I think NCL is a great line if you travel as a family but for us 52 yrs and 60yrs old it's not for us. We would choose Royal Caribbean over NCL if itineraries were the same.

 

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We have cruised with Princess, Celebrity, HAL, RCI, NCL, Crystal, and Carnival.  

 

They have all been very good cruises and we would not hesitate to cruise on any of them again...depending on the ship and the itinerary.   There are differences to be sure but less and less.

 

We suspect that there may be some significant changes post covid.   The past may not be a true indication of the future.

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3 hours ago, dog said:

I have cruised on all 3 lines. 
my rating:  

1) Celebrity 

2) Princess 

 

I would not choose NCL again

 

 

We have good perks on Celebrity/Royal C ,Cunard and NCL. We loved Disney on our one cruise but they are just so expensive. MSC we had one cruise, the entertainment was good and friendly crew but the dining room was awful. Princess is a little pricy and we have no perks yet as we have only two cruises. Our third is coming up in May if we do not get cancelled!

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Thanks everyone for your input and thanks to the OP for raising the question.  Like him we are considering saying farewell to Celebrity because their new AI pricing does not fit our needs.   Neither of us drink anywehre near enough to make any kind of bev package worthwhile  and as Elites with Celebrity we get enough free wifi for most trips and tips are normally covered by our TA.  So the reality for us is that our Elite status now has very little value after we check in for the cruise so it is time to look else where once our currently booked cruises cancel out.  Thanks again for all of the info, biggest point for me is balcony cabins do not have sofas...I need that to have a place to dump my "stuff" when we come in.....The good news is we are not likely to be booking anything for any time in the next year. Still too many risks for our taste.

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Mr. Click-

Many balconies on Princess have sofas (at least on the newer ships).

We usually book a "Premium Deluxe Balcony" and we love those. We always

book one with a nice sized balcony and all is well.

 

We are Platinum on Princess and were so excited because now we could get

WiFi as a benefit. Now it is usually included, however, we still book the cabin

with the "Everything" included because it boils down to $40.00 per person per day.

When you consider gratuities at $14.50 per day, some espresso, and 2 glasses of wine

then it is worth it to not be concerned if you fancy some bottled water or fresh squeezed O.J.

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     We sailed with all of them. If it was a year ago I'd say Princess was overall my first choice even though I like/love all of them. We did not have a very good experience on Crown for New Year. I mean it was good, but we were surprised with a maintenance and upkeep of the ship. We liked this class (sailed on Caribbean, Grand and Ruby prior) .. how it is partitioned to give you smaller less congested spaces with pools. But ship showed her age with paint peeling off the walls in elevators.

 

  Princess offers amazing and cheap internet. I think flying internet for 4 devices for a week was about $130. Also you will have your internet wired room key which will automatically open your door when you approach.

 

 Food? I always enjoyed it on Princess just like on Celebrity. Princess used to offer much better variety of seafood. I remember several extensive seafood buffets per week. have not noticed it this time around. However several years ago we sailed on Royal Princess and buffets were much better.

 

   Entertainment ... well it was better than with Celebrity last time on Summit, but NCL (and Royal) usually have the best entertainment. In 10 days Princess had 4 production shows, but only one was spectacular.

 

  I found fellow passengers be more like Celebrity pax than NCL (on average).

 

 Check Royal Caribbean too. They match status with Celebrity (Platinum = Select, Diamond = Elite)

Edited by Tatka
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6 minutes ago, voljeep said:

yep, that's a deal breaker for us also

 

  There were some other things like fuel smell on promenade often. We love promenade and often spend time there on all ships with open promenade, but that was strange.

   

  Also I just remembered .. although this might not be even important for majority. I exercise in gym daily, at 6 AM. On Royal class gym is not located above passengers' rooms so it is open even before 6AM. On Grand/Caribbean class it is at 7 AM which messed my plans a bit.

 

   Princess still provides more elegant experience that NCL, which I like for other things (but only 90K ships, not Breakaways and such), I just hope they will update ships. It is interesting that cabins which I used to think were bland on Princess ships are still bland 🙂 , but are very functional in terms of storage and changing room. Although due to space devoted to Changing room there are no sofas.

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16 hours ago, AF-1 said:

so Tatka;  do you think just Princess ships are falling apart; or do you think the other lines have not kept up with their maint of ships?

 

  I was upset with a shape of Crown. I understand there was mechanical problem so we missed one port and were late to some others. I do not usually experience this on cruises, but it is unexpected. However peeling paint and fuel smell was not something we ever experienced on Princess ships. This was our 7th cruise with Princess. And we cruise on ships of similar age of various lines.

 

  Just to give you an idea why I am saying this. Lately we sail more with Royal Caribbean. It is a happy medium for us, but we till now considered Princess to be a superior line. On par or near Celebrity. When we booked 5 dayer on Explorer of the Seas from Miami for Christmas and right after 10 dayer Crown Princess out of Fort Lauderdale for New Year we expected seriously upgraded experience (go from low to high) . We knew that entertainment probably won't match although remembering Royal Princess from New Year 2017 we knew Princess was great for New Year celebration. This was very nice this time around too. We also knew that we will meet many British pax which is always fun. This happened too. 🙂

  But some key elements were definitely off. Upkeep, variety of food, service in MDR. All this and more refined pax in our opinion were making Princess a premium massmarket. Now we do not know what to think. We could not believe 5 days Explorer would leave a better impression on us.

 

 in 2019 we sailed 14 days on NCL Gem, 6 on RCI Advenure of the Seas, 7 days on Celebrity Summit, 8 days on RCI Anthem of the Seas and 5 days on RCI Explorer of the Seas and 10 on Crown Princess... We thought experience on Princess should've been closer to Celebrity Summit in terms of quality, but it was not.

 

 I hope it was just one cruise/ship, but it will be more difficult to convince myself and my DH to drive to Florida to experience Princess rather than use other lines closer to home for us.

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I haven’t sailed NCL, but I’ve done Princess many times and Celebrity once. I personally highly prefer Princess’s food; after hearing for years about Celebrity’s amazing food, the reality was quite a letdown. The entertainment is more polished on Princess IMO. The ships themselves are nice on both lines. The staterooms are nice on both lines. Drinks cost a lot more on Celebrity, and I thought they were very subpar, whereas I love Princess’s drinks. I have found the crew to be much warmer and accommodating on Princess. Even though I came away from that experience  more eager than ever to sail my beloved Princess, I don’t at all regret trying Celebrity. It’s good to experience different lines and decide which suits you. Try Princess, and if you hate it, you probably won’t mind paying more for Celebrity thereafter. If you love it, great! 

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