Celebrity v. Princess

[Phishface]

We're considering a Princess cruise in the Baltic next month. Our only previous cruise was a Celebrity Summit Alaska cruise. We loved Celebrity, but the timing of their Baltic cruise doesn't work for us. We're also considering Royal Caribbean which we understand is similar to Celebrity.

 

Having never cruised on Princess, we were wondering how it differs as a line from Celebrity or Royal Caribbean (or other cruise lines that posters on this board may have had experience with). We've heard that in general Princess is more informal.

 

Some things that would be of interest would be -- in order of priority:

 

1. The overall appearance of the ships' rooms and common areas.

2. The quality of the food.

3. The workout facilities.

4. Entertainment.

 

Thanks.

[BarbaraB2]

There are a lot of comparisons on this site between the two. We have cruised with both a number of times and our vote goes to Princess. We like their anytime dining, their casual dress code, their beautiful ships, their public laundromats, their dinner buffet, and more.

Celebrity has superior dining room service, possibly more sophisticated food selections, a larger gym (depending on the ship), a larger cabin bathroom (based on a similar category) and free ice cream during the days.

We found the entertainment to be about the same.

With that being said, we just returned from Alaska on Princess but will go back to the Mediterranean with Celebrity for the third time this Fall. We would choose either one based on the itinerary, the ship, and the price.

Hope that helps!

[Hlitner]

It is very difficult to give a honest comparison of the various lines. I say this having been on more than 50 different ships from 11 cruise lines (Celebrity Elite, RCL Diamond, Princess Platinum, etc etc). One issue is its not only the lines that are different, but even the ships differ within the lines and that can also vary depending on the time of year, length of cruise etc. We do cruise very often with RCI and Princess and less with Celebrity (because they have fewer ships doing what we want to do). Celebrity markets itself as the upscale brand of RCI, but we have actually had some better cruises on RCI..particularly on their Radiance Class ships. Princess is also a darn good cruise line, but there is a huge variation among their ships from the huge Grand Class (109,000+ tons) to the 700 passenger Royal and Tahitian Princesses (they were originally Renaissance ships). I think the major weakness on Celebrity is their entertainment. We recently did a 14 day cruise on the Infinity (in February) and were not overly impressed by the dining room (our table mates were on their 29th Celebrity crusie and said it would be their last). However, we thought the buffets on the Infinity were the best we have ever seen on any ship, and than includes the very upscale Crystal. As to cabins, we are not very impressed by Celebrity. If you ever cruise on the Grand Princess (or its sister ships such as the Golden) and get a Caribe Deck balcony, you would understand why we are luke warm to Celebrity cabins. If you go on the Holland America Vista class ships (such as the new Noordam) you would also find the cabins nicer than on Celebrity (the Noordam and Infinity are very comparable). Based on our most recent cruises (Noordam, Infinity, Jewel of the Seas and Grand Princess) we would put them in Jewel, Grand, Noordam, and Infinity order (now I will really get flamed). I do not have any axe to grind and are next cruises will be on the Brilliance of the Seas, Azamara Journey (really a Celebrity product) and the Grand Princess. What makes this comparison so worthless is that in our experience the cruise lines are always changing so that what was great 3 months ago might suck next year.

 

Hank

[cruzerfornow]

We have sailed both lines and enjoy them both and will sail both again...as with all cruise lines and as someone above said even ships within a cruise line there are differences....your list with my opinion

 

1. Overall appearance....X but it really depends on your personal taste

 

2. Food.....X hands down, Princess food is good but X is excellent

 

3. Workout facilities, depends on the ship but X wins this as well

 

4. Entertainment, again depends on your taste but slight edge to X

 

All this being said Princess does have MANY good things we enjoy like fresh water pools, a more lively "scene" in the evening if we feel like a little partying.

 

One thing I did find a little tacky on Princess (though it was prolly only cause I had cruised X first) was after always seeing our wait staff on X in black tux's or white dinner jackets my eyes were assaulted when my first dinner on Princess anf the wait staff was wearing those god awful turquise jackets!! :eek: LOL

[BrooklynGirl2]

After sailing Celebrity four times we just got off the Crown Princess and had a wonderful cruise. We enjoyed it so much that we have a deposit on the Caribbean Princess for next summer. I wrote a review that is published on the review page of cruise critic which compares, to some extent, the two cruise lines.

 

Here's the link.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=30183

 

What Princess ship are you looking at sailing in the Baltics??

[Wilcoam]

My wife and I are avid X cruisers, but booked a HAL cruise as we were going with our mom's. The HAL bumped us for a charter, and seeing as though we had sailed the Millie itin just the year earlier, were faced with a similar choices RCI or Princess. We choose the Star, Princess.

 

Having only sailed X or HAL, which we are told are Premuim lines, we were really really worried about Princess. However, Princess surpassed our expectations, so much so, we consider the line just as premuim.

 

The newer Princess ship, IMO are much nicer han the older X ships, however they are bigger. They will compete with the Summit, IMO

 

We've sailed both in a Galay Sky Suite and PH suite on Princess. Hands down, due the enlarged Caribe Balcony, 1/2 sun exposed, the Princess Suite WINS...X Concierge also WINS...

 

Workout facilities better on Princess, simply cos they are newer ships. Ent, is equal.

 

Food, I prefer X, my wife Princess. There are more choices on Princess cos they have 4 nightly entree choices on top of the 5 per evening. The deserts win hands down on X.

 

Service, X wins. Princess does not have proper wine service at dinner.

 

However, the bottom line, Princess, IMO competes quite well with X, while I would still choose X in Europe, Princess in Alaska, either-or is fine in the Carribean, with Princess potentially less expensive.

 

Good luck

jc

Toronto

X Galaxy Sept 06

Prin Star Jan 07

X Xpedition Sept 08

NCL Jewel Jan 08

[amagar]

Hi,

 

Over the past six years, we've sailed RC once, Princess twice and Celebrity four times and booked a fifth. We're kissing 40. We try to cruise at least once a year and take a land-based adventure, too.

 

What I would emphasize over all is the ship itself. Different classes of ships for each of these three are so different that you need to weigh what's important to YOU. There's give and take...and none would be a disaster.

 

We base our choice on a combo of price, itinerary and ship...all else if flexible

 

Here's answers to your partiulcar question:

 

Appearance: We have found each line to have similar and rather fantastic upkeep considering the amount of different people people on these ships.

Each also has its own color vibe and feel...and it's as much about ship as it is about the line. Overall, we prefer X but it's slight.

 

Food:

Overall, we find cruise food bland and boring. I'm not saying that to hurt anyone's feelings. It's just our opinion. When we mentioned we missed ethnic cuisine and spice on Princess, our waiter brought us a different nationality to try each night. Thai, Indian, etc. Still, slight edge to X. Spa food, some sushi options to break monotony. Note to cruise lines: I'd rather have three excellent choices than seven good choices. And I'd urge you to tailor menu to sailing season. It would be so lovely to have some warm water fish while sailing the south...some chowder in the cold...

 

Workout:

Depends entirely on ship. But we're suckers for the X T-pools to soothe aching joints afteward...

 

Entertainment:

N/A...we do our own thing

 

Have fun. Don't stress. Planning is half the fun!

[shofer]

We were on Coral Princess in February which is comparable in size to Summit.

Here are my observations from my review of Princess in comparison to Celebrity.

 

The room was lovely. I was surprised at how spacious it seemed. There was a very large, open closet with lots of hangers and a cupboard which contained the safe and shelves for our clothes. There were drawers in the nightstands and in the desk. The hairdryer was next to the desk which was pretty convenient. I did find the dryer to be woefully under heated. I have very fine, thin hair and at home it takes about 30 seconds to dry my hair. There was a lot of air blowing, it just wasn’t very warm. The bathroom was very small with a small shower. Not as small as RCCL, but close. (No pun intended)

After 6 cruises with Celebrity, we were making a lot of comparisons. The bathrooms on Celebrity were bigger with shower stalls that were more rectangular in shape and height adjustable shower heads. Celebrity also had dispensers on the walls in the shower with shampoo and conditioner. Princess had all the bath amenities in cardboard containers on the vanity. Celebrity had robes in the room. We had to ask for them on Princess. There was bottled water to purchase in the room and an ice bucket in the small fridge but no pitcher of ice water changed twice daily like on Celebrity. We had 3 sets of towels in the bathroom on Celebrity but only 2 sets on Princess. The trash baskets had plastic liners on X but not on Princess which made you hesitate to throw anything messy in the container. But these were comparisons we made among ourselves since our last cruise had been on Celebrity’s Summit to Hawaii. Our cabin steward Anthony was very efficient and took care of any special requests. There were no announcements on CP as well as X. If you wanted to know what was going on, you looked in the daily paper, the Princess Patter. The freshwater pools were great with plenty of deck chairs. As compared to salt water pools on X. Only one day did we have to go searching for a place to stretch out in the shade. Celebrity also had unlimited pool towels out on deck. On Princess the pool towels placed in your room doubled as your beach towels. Beach towels were separate on X and were bigger and thicker.

 

I thought the food on Celebrity was more upscale. I was surprised to see plain white rice served with some of our entrees. This was not something you would ever see on Celebrity. I wonder if this is a new development since Carnival bought them. It seemed to cheapen the meal. We liked that the alternative selections were printed on the menu and you did have your option of white rice, French fries or baked potato with your entree. On Celebrity you have to depend upon your waiter to mention them to you and he usually only does it once at the beginning of the cruise. The salmon in butter sauce was excellent and we all had more than one shrimp cocktail.

 

I LOVED the dessert soufflés. Even if I was stuffed, I managed to choke down a few tastes of those. I just had to try the Princess Love Boat Dream after reading about it and it was almost too pretty to eat. The service is more formal on X. If my DH chose not to order an appetizer or soup, they brought his salad out while we were eating the other items. On X, he would be served the same course with everyone else. The bus boy acted as your wine steward, no sommelier making suggestions. The wine list on X is much more extensive.

 

On Shore Excursions, Princess really shines on this part of the experience. The shore excursions were many and varied, with some unusual choices. You could be as active or sedentary as you liked. Celebrity’s excursions are rather humdrum with more of an emphasis on shopping. Coming back from shore excursions on Celebrity though, there would a tent set up on the dock for X passengers where you could get a drink of cold water and/or fruit punch and a cold cloth for your fevered brow when you are coming back from excursions. There was nothing like that on Princess.

 

Did we like Princess? Yes, very much. Would we go again? Yes, again. Was the experience as elegant as X? No but it certainly wasn't like a Greyhound bus, either. If the price is right, as it was this time, and the itinerary is what we want, then we will sail Princess again. With all being equal, then I would go with Celebrity.

[woodofpine]

You're not going wrong with either Princess or X.

 

I concur strongly with Barabara2.

 

X is more "elegant" - particularly in the dining rooms which are more architecturally impressive too. Without getting drawn into the subjective "food fight" X gets the nod of the cruise media, but individual ship chefs can tip the scales - its that close...

 

Generally I think that Princess ships are better maintained (paint and carpet stuff) even if less highly decorated. Princess pools are the best. From a 'seamanship' standpoint (no tendering in the Baltics) I'd definately give that to Princess.

 

But on elegance and dining it's X...

 

Head you win, tails you win...

 

Enjoy

[GORDONCHICK]

On any European cruise that is port intensive, I wouldn't hesitate to go with Princess. While I prefer traditional dining in most cases, Anytime would be great because of visiting all the wonderful ports and not having to be back to the ship for a specific time for dinner. Plus Princess has an evening buffet and X doesn't in most cases, except I found out there will be a buffet on X on our Alaska sailing for two evenings where we leave the port way after early seating.

 

As far as the ships go, X is more of an understated elegance while Princess does have some glitz. I'll give food to X, but again, Princess was no slouch in this area. I can't speak to the workout facilities, since I stick to walking stairs and the outside track. As for entertainment, if you have a port-intensive itinerary, you may not care!

 

Bottom line for me, I would pick itinerary first. If you have same ports, evaluate what's most important on your list.