Help us decide!

We are trying to decide which cruise to take. They are all being offered at great prices, but for different type of cabins. The interiors on the Royal Princess are super cheap. The balconies on Celebrity are VERY well priced, especially after the freebies (drink package and onboard credit) are factored in. The price difference of interior guarantee on Princess to balcony on Celebrity is about $370pp-$600pp depending on the category ($600 increase for sunset aft balcony). We've always cruised inside and been fine. Which one would you take and why? Better ship? Better ports? Better lines? Better cabins? Thank you in advance for your help!

1) Celebrity Reflection March 23 (10 day) Interior guarantee, Balcony (1A), or Sunset Balcony (SV aft balcony)

Ports: St Johns-Antigua, Bridgetown-Barbados, Castries-St. Lucia, Phillipsburg-St. Maarten (overnight)

2) Royal Princess March 10 (10 day) Interior guarantee or balcony guarantee

Ports: Princess Cays, St. Thomas, Martinique, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba

3) Royal Princess March 20 (10 days) Interior guarantee or balcony guarantee

Ports: Princess Cays, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts

An overnight call at St Maarten is all but unthinkable. Beyond the beaches nearest the port and a few patched up square blocks of downtown the island is still a wrath of devastation according to most reports. Have you checked the Celebrity board to see if any previously scheduled overnights there actually took place?

And a word of warning of the "freebie" drink package on Celebrity: you will have their Classic Beverage Package but there are so many drinks priced above its limit that you may feel compelled to purchase an upsell to their Premium Beverage Package. Better factor that into the price just to be safe.

As to the Princess itineraries: both include Princess Cays which is enough to move one to the top of the list. For March 10 Martinique is a replacement for Dominica (direct hits by two hurricanes) which is a small demerit that is erased by the calls at two of the three ABC islands. The March 20 sailing I have done several times; while in no hurry to return to St Kitts the other islands are more than worthy.

As for pricing, at least on Royal Princess you may find that selecting your own cabin several categories higher than the minimum guarantee would not be that costly. Note there are Obstructed View Balconys on Royal and the minimum guarantee category may include those (though I stayed in one on Emerald deck with no complaints).

I can only speak to the itineraries and pricing as while I was just on Royal Princess in November my only Celebrity cruise was on an older M-class ship. I found that ship's overall layout, facilites and decor well lacking compared to Princess, though my OV cabin was spacious. But lots of Princess regulars are fans of the newer larger X ships; expect some to be chiming in.

The biggest difference you'll find is that Celebrity is very "cheap" on their beverage packages. The term "unlimited" is used a lot, but in reality they limit by doing slow refills on non-alcoholic beverages and having many of their alcoholic beverages prices beyond the normal package. So it amounts to "free" and "unlimited," but you won't really get either unless you opt for beverage choices within the package.

We've cruised both lines and enjoyed them both. Currently I have more seniority on Princess, so tend to look there first. There are a couple things I miss on Celebrity, but overall Princess gets a slight nod from me...all else being equal.

I answered on one of your other threads on the subject.

I would go with Celebrity balcony 100%!! However I think it depends if the classic beverage package has value for you. Contrary to some other opinions, I found much was included and only paid an extra 1-2$ twice during our 9 day cruise. On top of many wines and beer available, standard frozen drinks were included and the liquor used was fine for us (I think the basics like Bacardi, Smirnoff... not grey goose). We had martinis and other drinks as well. My husband liked that canned drinks were given by the pool, buffet so he could have Fanta included. Sounds silly but on Princess I could not get a diet Sprite with our soda package as they did not have it as a fountain drink and this really annoyed me. The BEST though is that specialty coffees are included and are fabulous!!! Frozen drinks, lattes and more including the very fancy Affigato which is espresso with gelato served in a martini glass, OMG! As well, on port days the waiters brought water bottles to our table in the buffet area so that we could take them off the ship.Truly felt worth it for us,

On another note, I have no problem with insides, but have found that when we've sailed in a balcony we have really enjoyed waking up to the sea breeze and sunlight coming in, having a coffee in the morning and having a nice glass of wine pre dinner on our balcony. We certainly felt this added to our cruise relaxation and added a bit of luxury to our vacation.

I would go with Princess. I would not want a over night in St. Maarten now. I just got off Regal on Sunday, we were the first cruise ship to dock in St. Maaarten since the hurricanes. The island was really hit hard.

My choice would be number 2, since we just did that itinerary over New Year's on Regal Princess.

We LOVED Bonaire and like Curacao quite well too, first time for both. Grenada was also very interesting, almost like a mini-Hawaii with the steep hills and volcanic terrain.

However, you can never go seriously wrong with a Caribbean cruise in March!

Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate it! NOW, I've complicated things by throwing the Mediterranean into the mix! :o:confused:

Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate it! NOW, I've complicated things by throwing the Mediterranean into the mix! :o:confused:

The Mediterranean would win out for us.:D

We are trying to decide which cruise to take. They are all being offered at great prices, but for different type of cabins. The interiors on the Royal Princess are super cheap. The balconies on Celebrity are VERY well priced, especially after the freebies (drink package and onboard credit) are factored in. The price difference of interior guarantee on Princess to balcony on Celebrity is about $370pp-$600pp depending on the category ($600 increase for sunset aft balcony). We've always cruised inside and been fine. Which one would you take and why? Better ship? Better ports? Better lines? Better cabins? Thank you in advance for your help!

 

1) Celebrity Reflection March 23 (10 day) Interior guarantee, Balcony (1A), or Sunset Balcony (SV aft balcony)

Ports: St Johns-Antigua, Bridgetown-Barbados, Castries-St. Lucia, Phillipsburg-St. Maarten (overnight)

 

2) Royal Princess March 10 (10 day) Interior guarantee or balcony guarantee

Ports: Princess Cays, St. Thomas, Martinique, Grenada, Bonaire, Aruba

 

3) Royal Princess March 20 (10 days) Interior guarantee or balcony guarantee

Ports: Princess Cays, St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Kitts

Why gty??

Royal princess mar 20th. Love those islands.

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Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate it! NOW, I've complicated things by throwing the Mediterranean into the mix! :o:confused:

Quite frankly, the Caribbean kind of leaves us cold as we are not swimmers, divers or beach people. But when you throw in the Mediterranean I vote YES on that.

I love the Caribbean and will be on a Caribbean cruise in 2 weeks. I love the Mediteranian even more. So Mediteranian would be my choice.

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