Just returned from Grand Princess-comparisons w/Celeb.

[Vernokenn@aol.com]

My wife and I just returned from a 7-day cruise on the Grand Princess visiting Princess Cay(Bahamas), Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, return to Ft. Lauderdale. We had a mini-suite with balcony. The ship was impressive: elegantly furnished with woods, granite tables, marble and onyx all over. Our cabin ws half again as large as our CC cabin on Summit. These are the only points in favor of Princess. The clientele seemed a cut below what we have seen on Celebrity. Several late night adult comedian shows and a wet t-shirt contest should tell you something. Service was spotty. Mostly fine, but with pooled tips, some staff could slack and not pay the penalty. Poor adherence to dress codes and smoking rules. Lifeboat drill did not include going from the muster station to the lifeboats. With the exception of a few really good dishes, Princess food is inferior. No wine stewards. No champagne greeting on boarding or being shown to your stateroom. No cold towels to greet you upon return from a hot shore excursion. Tipping is pooled and automatically added to your account. No waiters to carry trays in the cafeteria. I did like the Personal Choice dining arrangements whereby if you missed your dinner seating, you could still have the same menu served by waiters in another dining room. The juices served at breakfast werepretty bad: orange juice may have been Tang. The production shows were better than Celebrity, but there were only two on a 7-day trip. One was repeated the last night, and the theater had only movies one night. The main dining room was claustrophobic: low ceilings. The lounges were very nicely appointed but far too dark. All in all, we had a good time on Princess, but longed for the features Celebrity offers. I might go again on Princess, but only if the itinerary is not matched by Celebrity. Celebrity is still our preferred cruise line despite our not having received a reply to a reasonable letter written to the Celebrity president about 2 months ago after some problems with our treatment on our Infinity cruise of the Panama Canal and South America.

 

 

Vern

 

Gen. C.H. Muir 1947

Gen. Harry Taylor 1947

Adriatica Esperia 1971

Ital. Line Michelangelo 1973

Chandris The Victoria 1985

Chandris Britannis 1986

Norwegian Coastal Voyages 1989

Epirotiki Oceanos 1990

Renaissance R-2 1999

Celebrity Galaxy 2000

Celebrity Century 2001 P.Deilmann Konigstein 2001

Vantage River Odyssey 2002

Celebrity Summit 2002

Viking Star 2003

Celebrity Infinity 2004

Grand Princess 2004

 

[satchiesmom]

Vern, thanks for the comparison. It came at just the right time for us because we were thinking of booking a Princess cruise for next fall. The points you brought up were great, they are all things that would concern us. I thing we'll just stay with X

 

until Century 1/22/05<BR

 

 

[JNLROSE]

Vern,

 

Thanks for the review. We have some friends booked on a Princess cruise & they want all of us to look at a Princess for Europe in 2005, but I think I am going to stick to my "Millie" guns here! Appreciate the info!

 

Rosie

 

E-mail me <a href="mailto:JNLROSE@AOL.COM">here</a href>

 

CELEBRITY MERCURY HERE I COME!!!

 

[Rustynail]

Vern,

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. I'm also trying out Princess (Carribean)after a wonderful experience on the Century last December.

 

So far I've cruised on Carnival (Legend) and Celebrity (Century) and learned that for me it's not a good idea to try and compare ships while on board. I believe every ship has it's good points and it's bad and it's left up to our own personal tastes to decide what's best for us as an individuals.

 

If the Carribean Princess even comes close to the wonderful experince we had on the other two ships it will be a terrific vacation.

 

Happy cruisin'

 

Dan

 

 

CARRIBEAN PRINCESS JAN 2005

 

CARNIVAL'S LEGEND JAN 2003

CELEBRITY'S CENTURY DEC 2003

 

[argosy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I believe every ship has it's good points and it's bad and it's left up to our own personal tastes to decide what's best for us as an individuals.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Yeah, I have to second that. I liked Celebrity's Millennium, but for me:

 

a cold towels upon my return from port was nice, but what I would like even more is a more approachable, congenial staff upon my return. They were too aloof for my taste, and rather rude if you didn't know how to put your card in that boarding machine. It didn't happen to me, but I saw it happen for others...repeatedly.

 

champagne greeting was a nice touch, yes. Being escorted to my room is a little much, in my opinion. I'd rather just find it myself. But for inexperienced cruisers I guess it's important. On Princess, though you are not escorted all the way to your room, there are staff members stationed in stairways and halls to direct you, as an usher would.

 

Tipping is pooled and added to your account on Princess...yes. I found that to be a plus. I actually had better service on Princess than Celebrity, as far as room steward and dining room waitstaff.

 

I wholeheartedly agree that the dining rooms on Princess are nowhere near as impressive as Celebrity's. Princess dining rooms are nice, but can't compare to Celebrity.

 

I find the wet t-shirt contest hard to believe. The cruise director on the Golden told us these were definitely NOT a Princess activity. There were other activities a Celebrity fan might not like, but if a wet t-shirt contest took place, then this is a very recent change.

 

As for dress codes, I think that varies from ship to ship when it comes to comparing Celebrity and Princess. I know we saw worse "violations" on Millennium than we saw on the Golden Princess, hands down. For example, on formal night on Millennium, a father and son wore black biker logo t-shirts underneath white jackets. Very weird, and they were not turned away.

 

For me, the slight edge Celebrity has over Princess is the food in both dining rooms and buffet. It is not a huge difference, but it is there. Also, the low ceilinged dining rooms on Princess can't compare to Celebrity's.

 

But that is about it.

[Bookit]

My thanks to the original poster!

 

New to our area (Houston/Port of Galveston) this coming fall will be the Grand Princess and Galaxy. Having never been on Princess or Celebrity, we chose to cruise on Galaxy -- your comments have helped me to believe that (for us) we made the right choice.

 

Bookit

[Princess-of-Quite-alot]

Before I traveled on Princess, I was told how great the food was. Although it was good, I was not overly impressed..and I eat most anything! Regarding the orange juice, you can ask the waiter for "fresh squeezed" OJ....and it is really good! You can also ask for a freshly made caesar salad, and it is a bit better as well. After hearing all the hype on Celebrity's food..I am eager to sample the goods! I will go with an open mind, but have a sneaking suspicion that I am gonna love her!!! The added touches that Celebrity offers as far as the wet towels and champagne....these would be more appreciated by me after never having it on other cruiselines. Carrying my tray and escorting to room is not such a deal to me. Hey..is it May yet???

 

Celebrity Century 5/8/04 -Western Caribbean

 

Carnival Ecstasy 2/04 - Baja

Tahitian Princess 2/03- French Polynesia

Sea Princess 7/02 - Alaska

Carnival Ecstasy 5/02 - Baja

Royal Caribbean Monarch 10/00 - Southern Caribbean

Carnival Elation 10/99 - Mexican Riviera

Royal Caribbean Monarch 1/97 - Southern Caribbean

[8-2-much]

We credit Princess for bringing us back to cruising, after a long hiatus post our Celebrity cruise. Why? Because Princess is less pretentious. That's not to say it's less classy or luxurious.

 

I also find it nearly-impossible to believe the wet t-shirt contest, given the activities you will find in the "Princess Patter." On our X cruise many years ago, there was very little entertainment, except for Karaoke and Newlywed Game. Please tell me how that's high-brow?

 

We love to cruise, and are giving X a try again (VERY much looking forward to it, and hope to put X back into the vacation rotation). But it is very much a personal choice of how people feel about their cruising experience.

 

I have been reading a lot of put-downs of the Princess Personal Choice and food. To those who prefer to eat at the very same time with the very same people every night- you have the choice to do so. For those of us who like meeting new people and don't want to schedule our evening activities around dinner, we have nothing but great things to say about being able to dine when we want to at the identical setting the fixed-seating diners have. The food on Princess is great - is it better/worse than X? Who really cares. We dine out a lot at home, and appreciate a fine meal, and our "refined" palates didn't really taste a difference worth mentioning.

 

I hope that our upcoming X experience leaves us with the same "gotta-book-another-cruise-on-this-line" feeling that Princess does. We didn't have it the last time we sailed on X nearly 10 years ago, and were cured of the cruising bug for 7 years! On the other hand, we sailed Princess 3 times in 2 years. Go figure!

[JNLROSE]

This is why these boards are so great, you get a lot of different opinions, ideas & choices!

 

I hope you come back to enjoying Celebrity!

 

Rosie

 

E-mail me <a href="mailto:JNLROSE@AOL.COM">here</a href>

 

CELEBRITY MERCURY HERE I COME!!!

 

[nealberk]

Interesting take on Celebrity to Princess. We had some friends who just got back from a Princess cruise and they loved it. Between Vern and Argosy we have an interesting review!

[crishsapig]

If you guys haven't sailed the Mercury you don't know what your missing! I don't know about other X ships but the Merc is a jewel! Rosie - your going to love her as I have said countless times. I cannot imagine not getting our fix twice a year now Oh, by the way, I beleive you Vern about the wet t-shirt contest. I can't beleive you guys that posted otherwise would basically call Vern a lier. Kinda rude ~ Christine

 

My motto: "What happens on the ship, stays on the ship!" (wink :-)

 

October 19, 2003 on the Mercury

 

 

March 13, 2004 on the Mercury

 

 

October 13, 2004 on the Mercury

[Lois R]

hey Rosie...I agree with Christine...you are going to love sailing on the Mercury.

Now, 4 of my tablemates had previously sailed Princess ....Hi Phil, Marti, Ken and Lisa .

I know they enjoyed Celebrity but they had also enjoyed things on Princess as well!

And I think all 4 would do either one again!!

 

Next up...HORIZON Sept 18th to Bermuda!

 

See My Century and Mercury Pictures at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/lovescruising

[argosy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Oh, by the way, I beleive you Vern about the wet t-shirt contest. I can't beleive you guys that posted otherwise would basically call Vern a lier. Kinda rude <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

give me a break. I never called anyone a liar. I said if that was true, then something has changed VERY recently. Get over it.

[kathyRW]

Vern,

 

I took the exact same cruise (Western Caribbean on the Grand) last October and loved it! The Grand Princess was really Grand, the service and food were excellent - far better than the HAL cruise I took the year prior. I like being given good service but not hovered over and Princess hit the perfect balance for me. I don't drink, so I didn't miss the wine steward. I loved the Personal Choice dining on Princess - I will miss that convenience on X and I wish they would give us that option. I don't advocate abandoning fixed dining, just that I like the choice of picking the time I go to the dining room. Princess managed to give their pax the choice and please everyone. And the dining room service we received was wonderful, even with Personal Choice.

 

It will be interesting to compare with X once I complete my October 04 Mexican Riviera cruise on Mercury. I am looking forward to a smaller and more intimate ship (Mercury versus the Grand).

 

Kathy

 

Celeb. Mercury SF/Cabo 10/04

Grand Princess W.Carib 10/03

Carnival Ecstasy Mexico 4/03

HAL Zaandam Alaska 9/02

[JustCruisin&apos;]

For those who have cruised on both X and Princess, did you find the Princess to be more expensive?

 

Disney Wonder - 12/99

Celebrity Mercury - 3/01

Carnival Victory - 1/03

Carnival Legend - 3/04

 

3/28 Carnival Legend

[argosy]

I think that would depend on itinerary and a multitude of other things. For me personally, we did a 7 day Eastern Carribbean on Princess, then did a 7 day Eastern Carribeean on Celebrity. Celebrity was slightly more expensive, overall...but not a significant amount, and there were other factors to consider as well.

 

Oh...and for the record, I did some researching around, about the wet t-shirt contests. Apparently Princess DOES have them...for male contestants in the over 60 category, and it's after midnight. So I stand corrected. However, mentioning a wet t-shirt contest in a review, without specifying who is IN the wet t-shirts, probably causes most readers to believe that it's some kind of a raunchy sex show. The men in wet t-shirts is funny (to me) and is nothing like the other image. But I can understand if even the male version is offensive to some.

 

[This message was edited by argosy on 04-14-04 at 02:19 PM.]

[8-2-much]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by argosy:

I did some researching around, about the wet t-shirt contests. Apparently Princess DOES have them...for male contestants in the over 60 category, and it's after midnight. So I stand corrected. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

LOL. I, too, stand corrected! Sounds like these contests could be pretty amusing, in a "Newlywed Game" kind of way.

[lssteele]

Having had a daughter who worked for Princess for seven years and that being the only cruise line we have been on, I'm anxious to spend time on the Galaxy in Nov. We have done a full transit of the Panama Canal and loved every minute of the cruise...well, maybe not every minute, the hurricane off of Cabo wasn't very much fun. But I'm trying to go with an open mind on Celebrity..and an open pocketbook...we were always free on Princess

 

Panama Canal on the Galaxy

[Rustynail]

Great input from everyone. As I mentioned in my previous post I loved both my Carnival and Celebrity experience and look forward to expanding my horizon with a mix of newer and older ships, different cruiselines, trying out a variety of cabins (so far inside and oceanview- balcony coming up on Princess) and as many variations a cruise experience can yeild.

 

Some folks cruise for the first time, fall in love with a ship or line and never sail anything else and that's fine.

 

Different strokes for different folks. The common denominator is that we all love cruise.

 

 

 

Rusty

 

 

CARRIBEAN PRINCESS JAN 2005

 

CARNIVAL'S LEGEND JAN 2003

CELEBRITY'S CENTURY DEC 2003

 

[Dr Oink]

We have sailed on both Princess and Celebrity and find they are more similar than different.

 

We sailed on the Grand twice and neither cruise was among our favorites. For some unknown reason, the staff on the Grand are short, terse and in some cases just plain rude! (Both times! ) However, we had excellent service across the board on both the Sea and Coral Princess.

 

That said, Celebrity definitely wins in the service category for us. The main points I don't like about Celebrity is their short pool/spa hours and their rigid dress code. Last year on our 10 day Summit cruise, we had 3 formal nights and 2 informal. That's just way too much dressing up for me! I mean, does the food taste better if you're wear a tux or suit, or formal gown, pantyhose and heels? I think not! If anything it's worse because comfort is being sacrificed.

 

However, even though those are minuses in my book, I still prefer Celebrity overall. I just wish they would add some different itineraries and/or or ships to the fleet. Oink!

 

Celebrity Summit 7 Day - May '04

Coral Princess 10 Day - Feb '04

Grand Princess 7 Day - Nov '03

Celebrity Summit 10 Day - Apr '03

Sea Princess 7 Day - Nov '02

Grand Princess 7 Day - Dec '01

Celebrity Galaxy 7 Day - Apr '01

Carnival Ecstasy 3 Day - July '00

Celebrity Mercury 7 Day - Feb '00

Carnival Ecstasy 3 Day - Dec '98

 

 

[Vernokenn@aol.com]

The wet t-shirt contest was a late night feature and was for men. I might have mentioned this , but I thought it was funny to omit that detail. Not salacious at all. However the adult comedy shows I mentioned were for real. I agree with the responder about the need for Celebrity to come up with something new in the way of itineraries. I am very tired of Caribbean islands. We have taken several European river cruises in the past few years, and they are a nice adventure and diffferent experience. Will be on a 80 passemger yacht next fall--looks like a millionaire's private yacht. It is named Harmony-G and we will be sailing the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia out of Venice on an Elderhostel Adventures Afloat program.

 

 

Vern

 

Gen. C.H. Muir 1947

Gen. Harry Taylor 1947

Adriatica Esperia 1971

Ital. Line Michelangelo 1973

Chandris The Victoria 1985

Chandris Britannis 1986

Norwegian Coastal Voyages 1989

Epirotiki Oceanos 1990

Renaissance R-2 1999

Celebrity Galaxy 2000

Celebrity Century 2001 P.Deilmann Konigstein 2001

Vantage River Odyssey 2002

Celebrity Summit 2002

Viking Star 2003

Celebrity Infinity 2004

Grand Princess 2004

 

[MGL]

I have been on The Grand Princess and the Star Princess and just recently in December had a wonderful 10 night cruise on the Summit. I had the most wonderful time on all three cruises. As far as the smoking and the dress codes go, most cruises I have been on it has been totally respectable. In fact on the Summit there seemed to be more designated smoking areas and walking through one side of the Rendezvous Lounge could be hazardous to your health. Service on both ships was exceptional and I preferred the food on Princess. But this is all just a matter of taste. They are both fine middle class ships.

[marco]

We've been on many,, but for the past 3-4 years we have sailed only on Princess/Celebrity/HAL and between the 3, there are more similarities than differences. We like all three and timing/itinerary/departure city/price dictate which it will be be.

[Host Karen]

We haven't sailed Celebrity yet, but we have sailed Princess and the Grand specifically. I'm not certain comparing that ship to the Summit and her sister ships is fair. We thought the Grand was a huge step down in comparison to Princess' sun class ships (Sea, Dawn, Sun). The ship's layout was poor, service fair, food fair, and entertainment so-so. The best thing about our cruise was our mini-suite and the people we met.

 

Our experiences on the Dawn and Ocean (which is no longer part of the Princess fleet) were wonderful. The service was excellent, the food was good, the decor and layout was lovely, and the entertainment was varied. We agreed we would avoid the Grand class ships in the future, but we would like to sail Princess again.

 

Karen

 

Read my 2/6/04 Brilliance review

 

Infinity in...

 

Brilliance 6/05

Infinity 12/04

Brilliance 2/04

Adventure 11/03

Brilliance 2/03

Grand Princess 3/02

Dawn Princess 11/01

Ocean Princess 5/00