Comparing Celebrity to MSC and Princess in the Med! Help!

[AmeliaIslandVoyager]

Hello all-- I'm a long time member who cannot access an old account-- but I've been lurking here for many years! I'm about to celebrate the BIG 40 with my partner kids-free. 

 

We are planning a Med cruise and hoping to hit Santorini as well as either Rome or Venice in Sept 2023. 

 

We most recently cruised the Carnival Liberty (I'm a sucker for the fun ships since about 2002 when I sailed the Holiday) last month and Virgin Rockstar in June. 

 

We are down to three options:

 

1. Celebrity Aqua class on Infinity- I've done AQ before and LOVED it! The price is nice and good perks. We also love a good spa. Virgin has the best spa I've seen on water.

 

2. MSC Yacht club on Divina-- never sailed them and hadn't considered it before due to the terrible reviews and reported nickel and dime. But the YC balcony is only a few hundred more than the Celebrity Aqua and is mostly inclusive. 

 

But the Divina itinerary is awesome except it's 2 sea days and our time is very limited in Europe.

 

3. The best itinerary is on Enchanted Princess-- best price but also just a balcony with decent perks/drinks included.

 

And I'm worried we will be bored. We love to relax and sit by a chill pool and have great drinks and food! But we like comedy, passenger shows, trivia and bar crawls. Give me a sing a long piano bar please!

 

We would love exclusive spaces, but if the whole ship has a high end vibe and not a lot of kids, we can let that go. 

 

Can anyone shed some light? I'm open to all experiences and grateful for advice. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, AmeliaIslandVoyager said:

Hello all-- I'm a long time member who cannot access an old account-- but I've been lurking here for many years! I'm about to celebrate the BIG 40 with my partner kids-free. 

 

We are planning a Med cruise and hoping to hit Santorini as well as either Rome or Venice in Sept 2023. 

 

We most recently cruised the Carnival Liberty (I'm a sucker for the fun ships since about 2002 when I sailed the Holiday) last month and Virgin Rockstar in June. 

 

We are down to three options:

 

1. Celebrity Aqua class on Infinity- I've done AQ before and LOVED it! The price is nice and good perks. We also love a good spa. Virgin has the best spa I've seen on water.

 

2. MSC Yacht club on Divina-- never sailed them and hadn't considered it before due to the terrible reviews and reported nickel and dime. But the YC balcony is only a few hundred more than the Celebrity Aqua and is mostly inclusive. 

 

But the Divina itinerary is awesome except it's 2 sea days and our time is very limited in Europe.

 

3. The best itinerary is on Enchanted Princess-- best price but also just a balcony with decent perks/drinks included.

 

And I'm worried we will be bored. We love to relax and sit by a chill pool and have great drinks and food! But we like comedy, passenger shows, trivia and bar crawls. Give me a sing a long piano bar please!

 

We would love exclusive spaces, but if the whole ship has a high end vibe and not a lot of kids, we can let that go. 

 

Can anyone shed some light? I'm open to all experiences and grateful for advice. 

 

IMO, you're best off to book Carnival who can have multiple comedians every night; on X, they'll most likely have one comedy show at 7pm and repeat at 9pm then maybe the next night one at 1015pm.

[roxette]

I was on MSC in september. Yacht club. You can not beat the bang for the buck. Great service from embarktion to debarkation. If you go MSC, go yscht club. You will not regret it. Do not go regular MSC, that, you will regret.

[mnocket]

My vote is for MSC Yacht Club.  MSC really does the whole "ship within a ship" thing well.  It gives you an upscale experience with excellent service when you want it - and the option to  explore the rest of the ship when you want more of a Carnival/party experience.  Win - win.

[Essiesmom]

But you won’t have comedians on MSC.  Entertainment, especially in Europe will be mainly musical, as your fellow guests will not be Americans, and may not speak English.  Pay attention to the times in port, also. Many European cruisers go for the ship and to chill…they have already seen the ports, maybe multiple times.  Also, MSC boards new guests in nearly every port, so you are always seeing different people.  That said, cabins on Divina will be larger than anything on Princess, but don’t book anything that says ‘junior’ in front of it.  Especially insides.  EM

[prmssk]

Are you going for the itinerary or for the ship or are both a priority?  Mediterranean cruises can be so port heavy, the ship isn't always as important.  If that is your priority, then I would focus on itinerary and how long you are in each port.

 

If the ship experience is more important, the Enchanted Princess will have the smallest room of all three that will include a large closet (which is amazing for storage) but will make the room feel even smaller.  

 

And although the Infinity does have a Persian garden, it is completely enclosed and much smaller than anything on S class ships (I don't know on what ship you experienced Aqua class before).  

 

Both the Infinity and the Enchanted will have similar entertainment (trivia, shows, maybe a comedian, etc.) that will be fairly low key.  The MSC Divina will probably be a lot more lively and have a lot more entertainment options but it will cater to people who speak many different languages, so I doubt there will be a comedian.

 

The Yacht Club will be a true ship within a ship exclusive type experience that you won't find in Aqua Class on the Infinity or Enchanted.

 

The Infinity is the oldest of the ships and has not been revolutionized but if she is anything like her sister the Constellation, she has been well maintained.