CRUISER166

I think the restrictions are just perfect.  I hope Celebrity maintains these requirements for the rest of 2021.

I certainly hope vaccination passports are required for cruising.  No one should be allowed on board without proof of vaccination.

To me, one big difference was that Riviera has only one pool outside and Silhouette has 2 pools, an outside and a covered  pool.  That may not mean much to most, but I am very sensitive to the sun and greatly appreciate the covered pool on the Silhouette.  I did not find the food on the Riviera to be substantially better than on the Silhouette, however my wife disagreed with me on that point.  The Oceania buffet was less crowded that the Silhouette buffet but there were much more selections on the Silhouette.  For me, the price difference between the Riviera and the Silhouette greatly favors the Silhouette, for the few differences.

WE have sailed on both ships and like the Silhouette better.  The Silhouette has a Hideaway near the Hump on Deck 8 which provides a quiet place to read and coffee & tea are available all day long.  Very convenient for us, especially with a hump cabin on Deck 8.  The Equinox has a special whisky tasting lounge on Deck 15 which few people know about.  Ask at the liquor shop abot tastings if you are on the Equinox.

We have stayed at the Royal Ramblas on a previous trip and will be staying there again before our next cruise on Nov. 13. The Royal Ramblas Hotel is right on the Ramblas, a great walking street. It is also quite close to the Placa Catalunya, where there are many restaurants and where the Airport bus stops (if you want to save a little money instead of taking a cab). It is easy to order a cab from the hotel to the port. The port of Barcelona is huge and even if you had a hotel near the port, walking to your ship would be quite a challenge.

Also, another benefit of staying at the Royal Ramblas is that it is only a couple of doors down from a Carrefour Market. This is a great store which has just about everything one would want as last minute stuff to take on a cruise. They have a huge selection of wines and alcohol as well as sundries, food, water, snacks, etc. Make sure you check this place out.

We have been on many Celebrity Cruises and always choose Select Dining with reservations at 6:30 PM each evening. On virtually every evening, we would be seated at a table for 2 with no waiting. The hostess always tried to seat us in the same area so we would have the benefit of the same waitstaff at each meal which i thought was an added bonus.

Princess may be a good option if you are abandoning Celebrity. We found the food and dining room service was better, however the Anytime Dining management was atrocious. Less perks on Princess and the balcony rooms are smaller, with a chair instead of a sofa. The beds were excellent, but the bathroom was smaller and a not very good shower. This was the Island Princess, an older ship than S-class Celebrity. The library on Princess was much better than the poor libraries than Celebrity offers. The entertainment was about the same. The specialty restaurants are less expensive that Celebrity’s but we did not find a specialty restaurant that came close to Celebrity’s Murano.

If you find a good itinerary on Princess at a good price,take it.

Thanks everyone for the helpful information. I had planned to use an offsite parking facility but the preponderance of negative comments about the dangers of that convinced me to park at the POM. Navigating that port is a somewhat scary prospect as we have shuttled to it a few times in the past and I never figured out how anyone could navigate that maze.

We are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox in September and I have a specific question about parking at the Port of Miami. Can we drive to the check-in area of the terminal, drop off our bags and then park in the closest garage to the terminal? My wife is mobility challenged so I would like to drop her off with the luggage, go park the car and then walk back to the check-in area. Thanks for any help on this.

We are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox in September and I have a specific question about parking at the Port of Miami. Can we drive to the check-in area of the terminal, drop off our bags and then park in the closest garage to the terminal? My wife is mobility challenged so I would like to drop her off with the luggage, go park the car and then walk back to the check-in area. Thanks for any help on this.

We recently sailed on the Island Princess and selected Anytime Dining. It was basically worthless to try and make a day reservation, as Princess does not do advanced reservations. Even as late as 7:00 PM we usually had to wait 30 to 45 minutes for a table for two. We have done many cruises with Celebrity where we could book an anytime table for two for every evening at the same time, and never any waiting. Unfortunately, Princess Anytime Dining is completely mismanaged as they allow anyone to show up at Anytime Dining, even if one has booked a Traditional Dining table. I will say once we were seated, the food and service was very good.

We have sailed 10 TA's mostly on Celebrity and Holland America. On only one do I remember a rough sea for a couple of days. Often, the middle of the Atlantic is as smooth as glass. Looking forward to our first Oceania TA on the Riviera this November from Barcelona to Miami.

About Us: My wife (semi-retired) and I (retired) just started cruising after 10+ years of no vacations due to the demands of a small business. In less than a year we have taken 3 cruises.

 

 

• · April ’17 Celebrity Reflection TA
  
• · Oct ’17 Celebrity Equinox southern Caribbean
  
• · Jan ’18 Coral Princess Panama Canal
  

Prior to that we did an Alaska cruise 15 years ago and I did a Caribbean cruise as a child in the early 60’s on Canard.

My main purpose in this post is to offer some observations on the differences we saw between Celebrity and Princess based on only a few cruises. I realize, and readers should keep in mind, that the Reflection and Equinox are larger ships than the Coral Princess. As a result, my observations don’t hold true across the entire fleets. After two Celebrity cruises, I was curious about how Princess would differ. I’ve tried to present my observations below. We are not loyal to any line - our next cruise is on Azamara and I keep watching for an affordable cruise on Oceania. I’ll start by briefly mentioning a few observations on Reflection and Equinox.

 

 

Reflection – Equinox Observations: These are sister ships, but there are a few differences.

 

 

• We much preferred the layout of the Sunset Bar on Reflection.
  
• We LOVED the Lawn Club Grill on Reflection and really missed it on the Equinox. I see that many people here like the glass show on Equinox (occupies the LCG space), but when I heard that the glass show was closed for renovation, I was hopeful that the Lawn Club Grill was coming to Equinox too. No such luck. The hot glass show just changed from a free demonstration to a paid hands-on experience.
  
• The Mast Grill on Equinox is more enjoyable because there is less wind due to design differences at the front of the deck.
  

• Cellar Masters on the Reflection is rarely used and the Gastro Pub on Equinox is a much better use of the space.
  
• Reflection has a small area on Deck 9 called Game On. It has several tables for card games, but what we really liked was that there were several gaming tables with large touch screens on the surface. These gaming tables had a variety of games that you could play. We liked a game that was pretty much like Word Search. The nice thing is that both people could play simultaneously. I looked for a home version of this kind of electronic gaming table but couldn’t find one. Seems to me like a good product opportunity for the video game industry. We were disappointed to find that Equinox lacks this feature.
  

Given a choice we prefer the Reflection over the Equinox.

 

Celebrity – Princess Observations: Admittedly based on a limited exposure to each.

 

· Embarkation: We arrived at the terminal at about 10:30am for each cruise. On both Celebrity and Princess we completed registration quickly and painlessly. On Celebrity we immediately boarded the ship, but the rooms were not ready until 1pm. On Princess we had to sit in a waiting area until about noon before we could board, however the rooms were ready when we boarded.

 

· Cabins: The big difference between Celebrity and Princess balcony cabins is the bathroom and the sitting area. We liked the bathroom on Celebrity much better – especially the shower size and shower door vs curtain. The sitting area on Celebrity had a love seat. On Princess you needed to book a mini-suite to get a love seat, otherwise there was just a single chair.

 

· Bars (getting to the really important stuff 😊): We really enjoyed the Marini and Sunset Bars on Celebrity and thought we would miss them on Princess. To our surprise we found the selection of bars on Princess to be superior. We also found the bartenders on Princess to be more personable. After a few days, many of the Princess bartenders didn’t even ask to see our cards as they told us “we know your number”. The bartenders on Princess seemed to really enjoy their jobs, on Celebrity – not so much. One disappointment on Princess is the mixes they use. Generally subpar. The worst is the pina colada mix. We drank a lot of pina coladas on Celebrity. On Princess it only took one to convince us to switch to something else. The margarita mix was OK, but not great. All-in-all we still preferred the bars on Princess – service goes a long way, we just had to be more selective about what we ordered.

 

· The Sanctuary: Not a comparison, because Celebrity has nothing like it. We had a lot of sea days on the Princess Panama Canal cruise and, having heard good things about the Sanctuary, we headed straight there upon boarding to book afternoons for every sea day. We loved it! I hate to rave about it because I like to keep “my favorite fishing hole” secret. The Sanctuary on the Coral is particularly nice because it has its own little pool.

 

· Main Dining Room: I know, I know, food is subjective so skip this section if you wish. Let me start by saying I am not one who expects fine dining on a mainstream cruise ship. When serving 1000’s of diners it’s unrealistic to expect much more than high end banquet food. In general, this is what both Celebrity and Princess accomplish. It’s fine. The menus are a bit boring, but I can always find something that sounds good. I do think Princess should be a bit embarrassed about replacing steak on the every day menu with a hamburger - but that’s just me. I’m always amazed at how both cruise line kitchens manage to serve properly cooked fish. It must be magic. I’d never order fish at a banquet hall. There were a couple fails on Princess. One was Beef Wellington where the pastry was totally soggy. The other was short rib that was so tough that it was hard to even cut. That aside, the MDR experience on Celebrity and Princess are pretty much comparable. We eat late (8-8:30pm) and anytime dining on both lines worked fine.

 

· Specialty Restaurants: On Celebrity we…… Love the Lawn Club Grill, quite enjoy Murano, were surprised by Sushi on Five, Sushi on a cruise ship? That can’t be fresh. But, it was actually much better than expected, Tuscan Grill is loved by many – but not us. On Princess the choices were more limited. Many people rave about Sabatini’s, but my wife didn’t care for the menu at all. Imagine…. An Italian restaurant where someone who loves Italian food hates the menu. The Coral also has the Bayou Café & Steakhouse. Ate there once. It was OK. We did miss the Crab Shack and the occasional pub lunches which people seem to really enjoy. The best thing the specialty restaurants have going for them on Princess is the price.

 

· Entertainment: Princess does a much better job of offering live entertainment at multiple venues throughout the ship. As a result, I’d say Princess is much livelier at night. As for the main showroom – I like the layout of the Celebrity showrooms better. Particularly the larger size. I didn’t like having to show up at the Princess showroom early in order to get a seat. That said, I heard that Princess has better shows. The first cast show proved that to be true. The singers were much better than those on Celebrity (Celebrity tended to have one decent male and female vocalist and the rest were mediocre). The Princess cast was clearly more talented however, the following two cast shows were not good fits for the cast. The Universe Lounge on Princess was a really strange design. We sat on the balcony level which has comfy chairs and sofas. The problem is that the floor is flat. You could either sit in the front row where you could see the stage (except for the annoying railing that ran at eye-level), or you could sit on a nice sofa in the second row and look at the back of the heads of the people in front of you - with absolutely no chance of seeing the stage which was too low and not in line-of-sight. Looking down on the main level, there were also comfy chairs and love seats, but again the floor was rather flat and the stage was only raised about a foot or so. It seemed likely that those sitting in the back would have a hard time seeing the performance. Just a really strange design.

 

· Casino: The casino on Princess was smaller, but this didn’t really prove to be too much of a disadvantage. I play blackjack and there were only two blackjack tables - a $10 table and a $25 table. I initially thought this would be a problem, but it really wasn’t. I rarely had trouble getting a seat at the $10 table. The casino staff were great on both lines. My wife liked the slot selection on Celebrity better. The larger size of the Celebrity casino is nice too. One real plus for the Princess casino is that you can charge casino play directly to your cabin account without any added service fee (Celebrity charges 5%). On Celebrity I carry cash for the casino – no need to on Princess.

 

Website: I just can’t pass up an opportunity to slam Celebrity for their unimaginably poor website. I’m sure more than a few new cruisers, after having experienced Celebrity’s website, quickly decided to move on to other cruise lines. It’s a real shame because the on-board experience is so much better than the pre-cruise.

 

So there you have it, some observations from a relatively new cruiser. All-in-all both Celebrity and Princess do a good job providing an enjoyable cruising experience. They could certainly learn some things from one another. Still, as many have said, they are more alike than different. I would gladly return to either line.

 

Ps I’ve posted to both Celebrity and Princess boards. I hope this isn’t against the rules.

As a long time Elite Celebrity cruiser and a first in a long time upcoming Princess cruise, thank you for your comments about both. We too will be taking a Panama Cruise but on the Island Princess.

After reading much about the differences between the two lines, the two most annoying things about Princess are the absence of a sofa in balcony cabins and the inability to make long term dinner reservations for Anytime Dining. Many of the criticisms about Princess are from cruisers who complain about long waits for Anytime Dining. It seems that Princess still hasn't figured out how to manage this aspect of their cruises. (I know, anytime dinning should not need reservations but we like to eat at 6:30 - 7:00 PM at a table for two every night, not at 5:30 PM or 8:30 PM every night at a table with 6 or eight other people we don't know. I can do that on Celebrity and it seems I can't do that on Princess.)

Will be on the Eclipse in November. I am not a drinker due to my meds. I don’t drink soda either. Can I get club soda? If I order water, is it in the bottle?

 

 

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My wife doesn't drink alcohol either. She gets club soda during the Elite cocktail reception while I get to enjoy my Dewars Scotch.

Delta? My son has a peanut allergy, and we flew Delta for this most recent cruise. I was pleasantly surprised when they made this announcement. Whether other passengers actually comply or not, I'm not so sure. My wife and kids were in a row of three seats. I was in the aisle seat on the opposite side of the aisle.

 

I find that with allergies, some people are very understanding, while others just have the "sucks to be them, they should just die" attitude. The woman next to the window in my row was eating some kind of nutty looking granola bar. She must not have noticed or heard the flight attendant coming by and confirming the peanut allergy to my wife earlier. Because when the announcement came on, the woman muttered something like, "they should just live in a bubble". Her husband shushed her. Then I not-so-softly said to my wife, "oh, that's so nice of them to do that for our son, I appreciate the fact that Delta is so understanding". Not much that can be done about people like that woman.

I guess I am confused about this peanut allergy and the airline then not serving peanuts to anyone. Whenever I fly, if any food is given out at all, it is usually in small sealed bags. I fail to understand how any passenger with peanut allergies would be impacted if each passenger is given their own sealed bag containing peanuts?

Celebrity allows advance reservations for your entire cruise in Select Dining. This is one of many reasons we choose Celebrity.

From what I read Celebrity does not have a uniform policy for b2b passengers. Sometimes there is lunch, sometimes not. Sometimes you must disembark, sometimes not. Is there any way to find out ahead of time what they will do on our cruise? We are doing a b2b to Alaska on the Millennium in August, with turnaround in Seward. Would sure be nice to get a bag of laundry done.

The best way to find out what the procedures are for B2B day is to ask the Hotel Manager. Usually, if you attend the Cruise Critic Connections reception which happens early on the cruise, all of the officers attend that event and it is easy to ask the Hotel Manager at that time. I received excellent information on the Eclipse Connections Party this past April, which was really helpful for my wife who was very relieved to know that she would not need to leave the ship.

Elite breakfast was a buffet on the Eclipse TA this past is past April. It's great in the Tuscan Grill if you can get a window table for two with the greatest view in the world!

Most of the benefits are basically fluff or available to everyone else on the ship. For example in reality, unless you are into Capuchin's or Smoothies, the breakfast menu is basically the same. The priority embarkation is just a separate line which you already get as Elite. It really depends on the price difference and which type of ship you are on. On M class ships, locations of CC cabins can be better and veranda's bigger. S class ships there really is no difference in cabin or veranda size. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than $50pp more for a CC cabin over veranda.

I completely agree. I see no benefit whatsoever for Concierge, except maybe for the 5 points per day. I think the Veranda locations are just as good as Concierge, except as the ship starts to fill up, Concierge cabins may be the only good ones left. Now, if they replaced that cheap bottle of sparkling wine with a bottle of scotch, I might reconsider.

We are going to be on the Summit on June 18th. This will be our first time with Celebrity. How would you compare this with Holland America? I have been on the Westerdam in Alaska and Nieuw Amsterdam in the Med. Both were nice ships but the food didn't impress me.

I think you will find the food and the choices a little better in the MDR with Celebrity than with HAL. However, the music on HAL is much better (to my taste) than on Celebrity, as I prefer classical and quiet older music compared to the noisy rock music that seems to pervade Celebrity nowadays. Celebrity ships are a little more glitzy that HAL which has an older more European ambiance. HAL also as a great cooking Culinary center for those interested in that. Overall, they are about equal so I choose on the basis of itinerary and price. Also, for the technical folks, Celebrity seems to favor Apple products whereas HAL favors Microsoft products. HAL seems to have a slightly older clientele than Celebrity.

We are Elite on Celebrity and our last cruise was a TA onthe Equinox in 2016. We did complain thatthe food in the MDR was not as good as our previous sailings. Also, we had a bad experience in the TuscanGrill where I pad an upcharge to get Prime beef. The steak was one of the worst I can rememberand after complaining about it they did refund the upcharge for Prime. I asked the Maitre D if what I had was SelectBeef or something worse and he assured me it was Prime but they still refunded the upcharge.

We are sailing on the Eclipse this weekend and I am hopingthat the meals are better in the MDR than they were on our last cruise. If not it may be time to start shopping forother cruise lines.

Booked at shore excursion on our cruise from Abu Dhabi that leaves in less than a week - got an email saying:

 

"Dear Guest, We’re looking forward to welcoming you aboard Celebrity Cruises. As you prepare for this exciting vacation, we need to let you know that your tour reservation for Day & Night Encounters: Athens - Ancient Greek Traditions and Folklore (PRC6) in Athens, Greece has been canceled due to an itinerary change. We’ve already updated your itinerary and refunded your original form(s) of payment in the full amount."

I went on my reservation and the excursion is still available but at a higher price.

Called as I am freaking out about the itinerary change. Was told the following:

1. Probably not a real change, just the reason they put in the email
   
2. Could be a real change and we just haven't been notified yet
   
3. Just because it shows up on the website doesn't mean its available (what the heck good is the website then)
   
4. It's not our fault/problem, its the shore excursion company
   
5. Advised to wait and book new excursion on board (notice many of the excursions can only be booked online, not onboard)
   

I replied it is their problem if they keep cancelling last minute as Celebrity chooses the shore excursion companies, not me.

Bottom line... last minute cancelling leaves me scrambling for new options immediately that both DH and I would enjoy.

NEVER AGAIN am I booking an excursion with the cruise line - unreliable, unresponsive and unempathetic. So disheartening to hear the responses that blame their subcontractors. They should have given us 20% off another excursion for cancelling so close to sailing. I was so angry I honestly hung up on the person before I said something I couldn't take back. I know it wasn't her personally that did this but her dismissive attitude and lack of empathy weren't helping as well as the defensive stance of making excuses and NEVER ONCE trying to problem solve.

I just needed to vent - thank you for your patience.

In the event that you can't find a replacement tour, you can always take the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus from the port of Athens. It stops at all of the important sites. Make sure you leave at least an hour for the Parthenon, as it is quite a climb to the top. Lots of other great stops.

My wife and I were on the 2016 Equinox TA with you and I believe you were on the small bus for the Lanzarote tour.

The fact is that on the Solstice Class ships, Concierge class is a highly overpriced cabin with little or no additional benefits. On Concierge Class ships, the cabin size difference between a Veranda Cabin and a Concierge class cabin is zero. You get a higher deck, you get a footstool on your balcony and you get a different shower head. Big deal! The biggest advantage to Concierge Class is that when all the Veranda cabins are sold, there are usually Concierge cabins left, so if you are willing to spend hundreds of dollars more for the same cabin, they may be available. On the M-Class ships, the Concierge cabins are slightly larger.

Thanks everyone for your replies. that will make my first Oceania cruise just that more enjoyably.

Rudy

Thanks for the replies. Should any liquor be brought on board via luggage or carry