Ebvette

What to thank all of you for your time to reply to my post. Please let me once again stress, these are my own personal opinions on my own experiences between to the two cruise lines. To be fair, I was only on the Caribbean Princess, so do not know what the other ships are like. On Celebrity I was on the Equinox and the Solstice, and both ships were very much alike with minor, very minor differences.

Few more comments, yes Celebrity gives you chocolate at night on the bed turndown. I really don't base the make or break of a cruise on animal towel folds, just thought they were different and enjoyable. No I don't drink, I recouped from a rare cancer that I got from Agent Orange in Viet Nam, underwent a stomach Gastro Bypass surgery so that ended my drinking days and cannot have soda, so its water, ice tea or fruit juice, again this is my own situation, not for the general cruise. By nature I am a very detailed oriented person, so little things make a difference to me.

My point was not to offend anybody from there Cruise Line allegiance, but only to give my own insights, and by far I am not a seasoned Cruiser, (except for being in the US Coast Guard being stationed on ships for 4 years), so I am sure many of you who have cruised for years have your own opinions too.

Most likely, my next cruise will be on another cruise line, as I really do want to experience the differences, so I am not in any way attached to Celebrity. Neither am I trying to find the "perfect" cruise, just want to experience different things.

Again thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Regards,

What to thank all of you for your time to reply to my post. Please let me once again stress, these are my own personal opinions on my own experiences between to the two cruise lines. To be fair, I was only on the Caribbean Princess, so do not know what the other ships are like. On Celebrity I was on the Equinox and the Solstice, and both ships were very much alike with minor, very minor differences.

Few more comments, yes Celebrity gives you chocolate at night on the bed turndown. I really don't base the make or break of a cruise on animal towel folds, just thought they were different and enjoyable. No I don't drink, I recouped from a rare cancer that I got from Agent Orange in Viet Nam, underwent a stomach Gastro Bypass surgery so that ended my drinking days and cannot have soda, so its water, ice tea or fruit juice, again this is my own situation, not for the general cruise. By nature I am a very detailed oriented person, so little things make a difference to me.

My point was not to offend anybody from there Cruise Line allegiance, but only to give my own insights, and by far I am not a seasoned Cruiser, (except for being in the US Coast Guard being stationed on ships for 4 years), so I am sure many of you who have cruised for years have your own opinions too.

Most likely, my next cruise will be on another cruise line, as I really do want to experience the differences, so I am not in any way attached to Celebrity. Neither am I trying to find the "perfect" cruise, just want to experience different things.

Again thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Regards,

Interesting you say there was too much Trivia on Princess.

Do they somehow force you to go to it, or are the questions piped into your cabon on the loudspeakers?

When you are out and about or sitting in a bar, like the Explorer room and they start playing over and over, yes too much.

So I was part of the group on the "Concerts at Seas" Rock and Roll Cruise on the Caribbean Princess that departed Bayport Houston on 18 Jan, returning on 25 Jan 2014. Thought I would compare my own experiences between Celebrity and Princess lines. Not bad mouthing any of the cruise lines, just expressing my impressions and experiences between the two.

Background,

In the past I have had 2 cruises with Celebrity, well over 23 Cruises serving on US Coast Guard Cutters in the North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, and had a job where I went on fishing boats installing Loran C equipment for extended fishing on Georges Bank in the Atlantic, so I know my way around ships both military and commercial.

But I want to focus this on the Cruise on Princess Lines as to the Cruise on Celebrity. Let me make it clear, we enjoyed our cruise with Princess Lines, and found everybody on the crew friendly and efficient, but just want to provide you my personal feeling on the two cruise lines.....

Positives:

Specifically about the Caribbean Princess, a very nice ship. I loved the fact that Princess ships have so many pools, deck chairs, and especially smaller bars, and several dinning rooms that you can attend while at sea.

We found the ship to be very clean, fairly well maintained, and our cabin girl (Mary Ann) was very prompt and kept the room very clean. We certainly lucked out, regarding our weather and sea conditions, although the ship was late leaving by three hours due to a scrub down for the Noro Virus, we still managed to board quickly by 3:30 PM, and ship was underway leaving dockside by 6:20 PM. We made all three port of calls, and I found booking and paying for the excursions easy, as you paid once on board the ship, so you did not have to pay in advance. Love the Ice Cream and Pizza bars. We celebrated our 20th Anniversary, they provided two balloons, a card, and a sticker on the cabin door. Liked the little international café that served soup, light meals, and deserts.

Now about the Celebrity Cruises: We book the Aqua Class, which has many different options, that includes something like the Serenity Area, that is included, and my review is based on the Aqua Class, that Princess does not have. Celebrities Aqua Class provides only that class with your own Dinning room called BLU. Aqua Class cost includes the following, every day a bowl of fresh fruit, bottled water, fresh flowers, hors d'oeuvres, and also, day you leave port a cold bottle of champagne on ice in your room, room scent, many spa items in the bath, bigger shower with six to eight shower heads. plush terry cloth robs, and slippers, and larger staterooms than Princess staterooms, and much larger bathrooms and showers. We celebrate our anniversary on Celebrity, they provided a cake and bottle of Champagne with card, with chocolate covered strawberries, no additional cost. Celebrity Captain was out an about the floor during the evenings, meeting the passengers, very available as well as the executive officer. Immediately when you board Celebrity you are handed a glass of Champagne or Orange juice, and once in the dinning room before you leave the port you can purchase a special mixed drink, both with liquor or without, and keep the glass. Layout of the ship was much easier to remember and get around, not as many pools, but had larger putting green on real grass. When you return from a day in port Celebrity has set up as you board a tent that contains cold water, fruit juice, and cold washcloths. Although trivial, towels made into animals several times during the cruise, a novelty, but still nice to see and experience. On board TV, you could order many movies in your room, more selection of programing, including more news and weather channels. Although you paid $15.00 per head, you had a very nice afternoon tea. More people engaged in Formal Night than what I witnessed on the Caribbean Princess. Prices for onboard activities much cheaper, including mix drinks, wine, and specialty restaurants, were cheaper. Two toot bags, one for each person, plus little flashlights, and couple other free things. A set of binoculars in the room for your use. Much more on the room service menu to choose from, especially the breakfast menu. Everyplace on the ship you had hand wash stations to clean your hands, only seen them in the dinning areas on the Princess ship. Celebrity had many more waiters, both in the common areas and on the deck.

Disappointments:

For the Princess Cruise, never saw the captain, executive officer, or any other high ranking officer the entire cruise. No champagne at all, none when you board, nothing in your room, nothing at all. Paid more for my balcony state room that I did for the Celebrity balcony state room with the extra Aqua Class. Food was fair, not bad, nothing to brag about. Stateroom was small, bath was a closet, closet was decent, and storage was decent. Balcony was good size. Bed mattress, felt the springs, so I assume mattress was well worn. No extras, one tot bag was provided. The shops had limited sizes on clothes, for example I wanted to buy a Princess Cruise polo shirt, only had sizes small and medium in men's, asked if they will be getting larger sizes, told no. Clothes seemed to be very overpriced, especially anything related to Princess Line Logo. Other stores had good stock, good brands. Drinks and wine seemed to be very very expensive, I don't recall paying as much on the Celebrity Line for mixed drinks or glass of wine. Price of cruise was very high compared to Celebrity, and seemed like you got less. Photographs that were taken was VERY expensive at $25/ 8X10/photo...only bought a couple because of the price. When you return back to the ship from being out on a day in port, no greeting by crew, no smile, just show me IDs. I could only find ice tea in the buffet top deck, nothing in bars, as I don't drink liquor, I had to settle for either tap water, or orange juice, OJ was not fresh but from a concentrate mixed by bartender. Had to ask for ice in my room several times. Sent laundry out on two occasions, both time had to call to get it sent to room, arrived late by several hours. TV was in corner on top of high shelve with limited visibility from the bed, remote never seemed to work right. Too much Trivia. Formal Night was really not enforced and few actually went formal, many shorts and t-shirts, very few tuxes and formal gowns. Princess seems to be much more laxed and less formal than Celebrity. Very limited choices on the room service menu, especially the breakfast menu. Celebrity had three times the choices for all types of meals and snacks for room service.

Celebrity Cruise disappointments: Seems like you could never get a deck chair, as they only had a couple of swimming pools. Limited deck space to walk around, most of the area was inside the ship. Many of the bars are in the open, not in rooms like Princess, making it not so personal, seems like you have many people always walking by. I really can not think of many more disappointments with Celebrity, departed on time, arrived back in port on time. Ice Cream was limited on the Celebrity ships and seemed to run out, closed the ice cream bar early by 7:00 PM they seem to run out of ice cream both hard and soft.

Overall, I enjoyed both cruises, but feel Celebrity is a much better cruiseline and offers many more options than Princess. Think in the future I will try Holland (sister to Princess Lines), or go back to Celebrity.

Look, these are my own feeling and based on how I was treated and what was received by both cruise lines. You may not agree, but again these are my impressions. So for my own choice, I like Celebrity.

So I was part of the group on the "Concerts at Seas" Rock and Roll Cruise on the Caribbean Princess that departed Bayport Houston on 18 Jan, returning on 25 Jan 2014.

Background,

In the past I have had 2 cruises with Celebrity, well over 23 Cruises serving on US Coast Guard Cutters in the North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, and had a job where I went on fishing boats installing Loran C equipment for extended fishing on Georges Bank in the Atlantic, so I know my way around ships both military and commercial.

But I want to focus this on the Cruise on Princess Lines as to the Cruise on Celebrity. Let me make it clear, we enjoyed our cruise with Princess Lines, and found everybody on the crew friendly and efficient, but just want to provide you my personal feeling on the two cruise lines.....

Positives:

Specifically about the Caribbean Princess, a very nice ship. I loved the fact that Princess ships have so many pools, deck chairs, and especially smaller bars, and several dinning rooms that you can attend while at sea.

We found the ship to be very clean, fairly well maintained, and our cabin girl (Mary Ann) was very prompt and kept the room very clean. We certainly lucked out, regarding our weather and sea conditions, although the ship was late leaving by three hours due to a scrub down for the Noro Virus, we still managed to board quickly by 3:30 PM, and ship was underway leaving dockside by 6:20 PM. We made all three port of calls, and I found booking and paying for the excursions easy, as you paid once on board the ship, so you did not have to pay in advance. Love the Ice Cream and Pizza bars. We celebrated our 20th Anniversary, they provided two balloons, a card, and a sticker on the cabin door. Liked the little international café that served soup, light meals, and deserts.

Now about the Celebrity Cruises: We book the Aqua Class, which has many different options, that includes something like the Serenity Area, that is included, and my review is based on the Aqua Class, that Princess does not have. Celebrities Aqua Class provides only that class with your own Dinning room called BLU. Aqua Class cost includes the following, every day a bowl of fresh fruit, bottled water, fresh flowers, hors d'oeuvres, and also, day you leave port a cold bottle of champagne on ice in your room, room scent, many spa items in the bath, bigger shower with six to eight shower heads. plush terry cloth robs, and slippers, and larger staterooms than Princess staterooms, and much larger bathrooms and showers. We celebrate our anniversary on Celebrity, they provided a cake and bottle of Champagne with card, with chocolate covered strawberries, no additional cost. Celebrity Captain was out an about the floor during the evenings, meeting the passengers, very available as well as the executive officer. Immediately when you board Celebrity you are handed a glass of Champagne or Orange juice, and once in the dinning room before you leave the port you can purchase a special mixed drink, both with liquor or without, and keep the glass. Layout of the ship was much easier to remember and get around, not as many pools, but had larger putting green on real grass. When you return from a day in port Celebrity has set up as you board a tent that contains cold water, fruit juice, and cold washcloths. Although trivial, towels made into animals several times during the cruise, a novelty, but still nice to see and experience. On board TV, you could order many movies in your room, more selection of programing, including more news and weather channels. Although you paid $15.00 per head, you had a very nice afternoon tea. More people engaged in Formal Night than what I witnessed on the Caribbean Princess. Prices for onboard activities much cheaper, including mix drinks, wine, and specialty restaurants, were cheaper. Two toot bags, one for each person, plus little flashlights, and couple other free things. A set of binoculars in the room for your use. Much more on the room service menu to choose from, especially the breakfast menu. Everyplace on the ship you had hand wash stations to clean your hands, only seen them in the dinning areas on the Princess ship. Celebrity had many more waiters, both in the common areas and on the deck.

Disappointments:

For the Princess Cruise, never saw the captain, executive officer, or any other high ranking officer the entire cruise. No champagne at all, none when you board, nothing in your room, nothing at all. Paid more for my balcony state room that I did for the Celebrity balcony state room with the extra Aqua Class. Food was fair, not bad, nothing to brag about. Stateroom was small, bath was a closet, closet was decent, and storage was decent. Balcony was good size. Bed mattress, felt the springs, so I assume mattress was well worn. No extras, one tot bag was provided. The shops had limited sizes on clothes, for example I wanted to buy a Princess Cruise polo shirt, only had sizes small and medium in men's, asked if they will be getting larger sizes, told no. Clothes seemed to be very overpriced, especially anything related to Princess Line Logo. Other stores had good stock, good brands. Drinks and wine seemed to be very very expensive, I don't recall paying as much on the Celebrity Line for mixed drinks or glass of wine. Price of cruise was very high compared to Celebrity, and seemed like you got less. Photographs that were taken was VERY expensive at $25/ 8X10/photo...only bought a couple because of the price. When you return back to the ship from being out on a day in port, no greeting by crew, no smile, just show me IDs. I could only find ice tea in the buffet top deck, nothing in bars, as I don't drink liquor, I had to settle for either tap water, or orange juice, OJ was not fresh but from a concentrate mixed by bartender. Had to ask for ice in my room several times. Sent laundry out on two occasions, both time had to call to get it sent to room, arrived late by several hours. TV was in corner on top of high shelve with limited visibility from the bed, remote never seemed to work right. Too much Trivia. Formal Night was really not enforced and few actually went formal, many shorts and t-shirts, very few tuxes and formal gowns. Princess seems to be much more laxed and less formal than Celebrity. Very limited choices on the room service menu, especially the breakfast menu. Celebrity had three times the choices for all types of meals and snacks for room service.

Celebrity Cruise disappointments: Seems like you could never get a deck chair, as they only had a couple of swimming pools. Limited deck space to walk around, most of the area was inside the ship. Many of the bars are in the open, not in rooms like Princess, making it not so personal, seems like you have many people always walking by. I really can not think of many more disappointments with Celebrity, departed on time, arrived back in port on time. Ice Cream was limited on the Celebrity ships and seemed to run out, closed the ice cream bar early by 7:00 PM they seem to run out of ice cream both hard and soft.

Overall, I enjoyed both cruises, but feel Celebrity is a much better cruiseline and offers many more options than Princess. Think in the future I will try Holland (sister to Princess Lines), or go back to Celebrity.

Look, these are my own feeling and based on how I was treated and what was received by both cruise lines. You may not agree, but again these are my impressions.

Sitting in terminal, waiting to board. Sanitizing ship. Weather is clear, no

visibility issues, warm in the 60's. Terminal is about full, open up tent outside.got about another hour to go.

For all those who plan to cruise this one, here is the latest weather projections per port...

HOUSTON:

Thurs: Sunny, Hi 69, Low 43, Chance Rain 0%, winds SSW at 12 mph

Fri: Partly Cloudy, Hi 58, Low 33, Chance of Rain 10%, winds N at 11 mph

Sat: Mostly Sunny, Hi 61, Low 43, Chance of Rain 0%, winds ESE at 7 mph

AT SEA:

SUNDAY - Seas Calm with Swell coming from the SW 2-3 Feet, Partly cloudy to Mostly Sunny, temps (in our project course) 68-71 Degrees.

– Isle of Cozumel, Mexico

Arrival 8:00 AM, Monday– Partly cloudy hi-72, low 64, wind NNE 11mph, chance of Rain 0%, Humidity 79%

Depart, 6:00 PM

– Isle of Roatan, Honduras

Arrival 9:00 AM, Tuesday - Mostly to Partly Cloudy. Hi- 79, Low 71. Wind NE at 13 MPH, Humidity 80%,

Depart, 6:00 PM

-Belize _TENDER REQUIRED

Arrival 7:00 AM, Wednesday– Partly Cloudy, Hi 80, Low 65, Wind NW at 9 MPH, Humidity 76%

Depart, 5:00 PM

Appears if it holds, we got great departure as NO FOG is predicted at all and clear sailing will 25-30 mile visibility for Saturday... to far ahead for our return....

Little to no rain at any of the port of calls, and very warm temps, so looks like its going to be a great cruise...planets and stars are lining up in our favor....

FYI...got weather for USCG reports...

THURS - AT Sea,

Calms winds and smooth seas to you...Cheers :)

Let me say that probably every area in the world has their own special foods that are the envy of many. In Portland Maine, that specialty is lobster. Right now hard shell lobster is going for about 8.00 a pound.In summer this price drops to 4.00 a pound.

The thing about lobster is not to over cook it. The traditional way to prepare it is to bring about 3 inches of water to a boil, drop the lobsters in the pot head first (humane handling) and cover the pot. 20 min later and they are done. Serve immediately with melted butter. That's it. Pure heaven!

 

Most ships serve frozen lobster tails (some from Maine and others from????) that are often over cooked and sit for a while before being served. They try, but it's nothing like the real thing. This is changing. Celebrity ships load fresh lobster on board when they dock in Portland as do a few other upscale lines. This is a boost to our economy and a win win for everyone.

 

The point I am trying to make is that the lobster you will eat on Princess and most other mid priced lines is not great so don't get all excited and pay high prices for it. Save your money and come visit Maine.;)

You are so right. I use to work the lobster boats as a teen-ager. My uncle owned a boat and we worked out of the Pine River in Lynn/Saugus Mass area. From what I can tell of the photos looks like they are purchasing tails and knuckles (already shelled lobster from the claws), which can easily be flashed frozen. Bay State Lobster and several other in New England area sell Lobster Knuckles in bulk, lowering the price even lower than market value..... Lobster is best served fresh off pier, and cooked quickly.....with drawn butter on the side. :D

January 18th could not get here any sooner, facing cold about 22 degrees below zero tomorrow with wind chill in the DC area, VERY cold for this part of the country.....come on time need this to pass quickly, very excited about trip....:D

Invest in a circular adjustable Polarizing Filter. You will need to step down the f stop and shoot a little slower speed, but you will capture good color of the water and sand. Other filter such as Neutral Density (ND2) provides good detail in bright sunlight. But it does take practice, most important keep sun behind you. With no filters except you should have UV shooting with sun toward your back set your ISO to 100 and use 1/125 for speed, and f11 you will get good results.

Here you go..

Once again thank you all for your advice, it is greatly appreciated.....

Once again great advice from all of you. I have talked to my Doctor on several occasions, and they advice you are telling me is the same. However, I cannot digest rice yet, bread is out of the question, grilled chicken is a yes, grill fish is a yes, and the most encouraging thing my Doctor told me was Fillet Mignon is really good for me, very lean beef.

Fresh fruit like bananas, apples (no skin), and other foods like scabbled eggs with chees, oatmeal, is all good for me. Funny, Doctor told me Peanutbutter and crackers (can only eat two), are good.

Drinking, I will choose water with fresh fruits, that is fine, some Coffee or Tea is good also. NO Sodas, booze, beer, or wine period.

So I think this will be in hand, just plan to relax after my ordeals with hospitals and doctors etc. and besides me wife and I are celebrating 20 wonder years of marriage....

Thanks everybody....

Good Job...;)

First snow of the season...taken all within 500 yard of my house in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia....

awboater, I agree I do not shoot DX only APS-C (FX) with a Nikon D4 and D800, so my world is different and you do bringup excellent point. Thank you for bringing this up....;)

A lot of great tips, and thank you for your answers and understanding.... so excited about going on this cruise.....again many thanks.

Hey, Mac;

 

Semper paratus!

 

Been about a year since we slung posts back and forth about the Triumph and Grandeur. Sorry to hear about your health.

 

I believe that there was a thread sometime early this year about the same topic, you might want to search CC.

 

While I cannot speak for specific foods, etc, I would recommend this:

 

1. Contact the special needs department of the cruise line. They will alert the ship.

 

2. Once onboard, contact guest services to speak to the Maitre 'D or Executive Chef. That will put the Executive Chef and the Chef Tournants in the loop that there will be a need for special cuisine.

 

3. Even on NCL, where there is no traditional dining, you can request the same server every meal, and save on the constant explaining.

 

4. As someone posted, follow your Dr's recommendations, and eat as you would if you were at home.

 

Have a good time on your cruise, I'll be heading back for another 2 month "tanker cruise" in the GOM.

Really nice to hear from you again. actually I am doing great.....lost 65 lbs and going down each day. In no time I will be able to wear my dress blues.

Thanks for you and everybody else recommendations, just wanted to make sure I was not an odd ball, I already contact the cruise line and they told me same what everybody else is, so I know its good info, just plan to have a good time and celebrate life...:D

Go to the Fort, Excellent views, and very interesting.

OK, first I know this is an oddball type topic, but I had Gastro Bypass Surgery on Oct 23rd, and going on Carribean Princess cruise in mid January. Recovered from rare cancer caused by Agent Orange, but left my stomach a mess after taking daily chemo for 4.5 years. Thus the surgery.

So, my question is can people who might have had this offer some advice on what to eat, what I can eat, and just general advise, as most know I can eat very little, and this is very concerning to me....

Please I certainly could use the advise, I will be just off my mushy stage....

HOLY MOLY:eek:!! I am not sure there is enough money you could pay me to attempt that. I may go and search to see if I can find one of the pilot getting on to the ship instead of leaving....either way bravo for them, takes a special person to do that and sooo respect what they do.

Spent long time in USCG jumping ships, especially for boarding and inspection, it does get tricking, but once you do a few time you get the rhythm of the waves and you can time it. Problem is during rough seas, had one of our guys jump and broke arm, leg and some ribs, we had to rescue him from water between boats, very tricky....

Who is the Maitre d'Hotels for the Carribean Princess?

Thank you in advance

We are in the same boat as the OP, we are use to Celebrity, and from what I can tell there will be a big difference from Celebrity to Princess. We thought this time we would try Princess, but as I read more and more I am wondering if my money was well spent.

Don't really want to sound like a snob, but Celebrity offered many more packages on the ship (beverage, etc.) which we found to be very useful, and Princess seems to charge you more for things we were not charged for on Celebrity (we did book Aqua Class both cruises).

Still have very open mind, and plan to enjoy every minute of the cruise, but we are on tight budget, and this will be interesting.

Using the burst mode has its place I any type of photography, but mainly is used for action shots. Bursting just to take a large series of stills is just a waste of memory. I shot a Nikon D4, and rarely use the burst mode unless I am taking photos of jet aircraft, actions sports, or in some case low light. Other than that its just a waste.

Many years ago I was taught in photography school the camera is merely the tool, and the person is the creator of the photograph. The tool only creates what the person controls it to create, and never will the tool take a photo on its on when it wants too.

I live by that rule, and I have to SEE the photo before I take it. BURSTING is over rated, for years I worked as a photographer for the Boston Red Sox, freelance, and never owned a Motordrive unit, they were too expensive the the Nikon F2 and F3s, and yet some of the best action photos I have taken were without a drive unit.

Many sports photographers will tell you the burst mode becomes a crutch, and although used, it not abused by a good sports photographer.

They are great.

 

Sorry -- I am unable to identify the planes.

Top, L-39 Albatross and 2 MIG-17 outboard shot with NIKON D800 with 200-400mm Zoom

Center - MIG-17 shot with a Nikon D800 AF-S NIKKOR 200-400mm f/2.8 ED VR lens

Bottom - F4U Corsair D800 11-24mm f/2.8 ED VR lens

:D