Solstice class after Ruby Princess - how many steps down?

[jarz85]

FACT - This person will indeed cruise celebrity then spend the next 6 months bashing the ship on this forum. No doubt it will be 'inferior' than the precious ruby princess. I'm just glad the NCL boards might finally get some peace lol

[dkjretired]

Sounds good but I believe CC is a better source for rankings.

 

 

 

We'll see, madam.

 

Sorry, CC is excellent at many things but the rankings involve too small a base and can be easily skewed. About ten years ago, one of the cruise ships did not have a good ranking from CC. The people on that cruise lines board got upset and requested the members of that board rank the ship whether they were on it or not. The ship within a week had the top ranking in its category...I have seen this done a few times...

[jackdiamond]

We have cruised both classes; and, in our humble opinion, S class is superior to the Emerald class. Also, the Emerald class is five stars, while the S class is 5.5 stars.

[Mr. Luckytoo]

You are right.

No repetition. The only exception is the QM2.

"The thing I am still scratching my head about" are frightening lists of cruises with the same and the only cruise line.

The Ruby Princess is a glorious page of our cruise book but we'll never open it again.

More Princess in the future? Sure. But not sooner than their new flagship enters the fleet.

There is no hidden agenda behind my research.

I am simply trying to arrange a pleasant ~10-nt cruise for my co-travellers on a ship that will not disappoint them after the Ruby Princess.

I believe the closest candidate is a Solstice class ship.

But the same thing here. Our cruise on the Silhouette will be the first and the last cruise on a Solstice class ship regardless how beautiful/awful it will turn out to be.

Happy cruising!

 

Having sailed on the Equinox and the Carribean Princess in 2009 along with Golden Princess and Epic in 2010 I hope I can provide you with my insight.

 

We are both familiar with the deficiencies concerning the Epic, so I won't rehash. The color schemes on the S-Class resemble those of the Epic. Like the Epic cabins those on the S-class ships are 'modern' and user friendly. The bedding on S-Class was superior to that of the Princess ships.

 

The buffet on the Princess ships - I found disappointing and analgous to caffeterian food. The arrangement on the Princess ships made for bottlenecks and difficult to navigate. However we did like the outdoor areas in the back of the ship. The S-Class ships buffet region was more open and easier to navigate. In my opinion edge goes to S-Class.

 

As for MDR food I really felt that both were equilavent. The specialty restaurants on Princess were fantastic. On Celebrity we did not partake of the specialty dining on our 11-night cruise. On our upcoming cruise we are trying to decide between CC or AQ (I'll likely do AQ to dine in Blu).

 

As for entertainment - on the Equinox cruise the cirque-like show made an impression on me, simply because I did not expect it and felt it was well done. Imagine the Cirque Dreams of the Epic - without the loud incessant dialogue. The other production shows were typical of cruise ship's - not great and not bad.

 

By far the biggest advantage for me is the non-smoking casino on Celebrity. Since I spend 2 hours a night in the casino and I'm a non-smoker this is a major issue to me.

 

Having sailed on the Carribean Princess, Crown Princess and Golden Princess I would say that should you decide to select the S-Class ship your party would NOT be disappointed. Yes the cabin may be smaller than on Princess it is NOTHING like the sardine cabins on Epic.

 

And while the S-Class is more modern, like the Epic, it is NOTHING like a floating hotel. It still has the feeling of a cruise ship. Hope this helps.

[MiamiSpartan]

Princess is a step down from Celebrity...

Not sure where you are doing research....

[cynbar]

We were on the Eclipse the week of 1/15, have sailed both Celebrity and Princess several times. We had a lovely cruise, but frankly, it wasn't any better than the Princess cruises we have taken. Celebrity has its devoted followers, so does Princess, so does NCL, and so on. It doesn"t necessarily mean that they have lower standards than Celebrity cruisers, although you would get that impression from reading the posts here. We will sail Celebrity again if the price/itinerary/cabin selection fits our needs, but I didn't see anything on Eclipse that would make me give up considering other lines.

[emcee207]

I'm begging you all......let this lame thread die a natural death:cool:

[arpster]

Princess is a step down from Celebrity...

Not sure where you are doing research....

 

 

I'd say a step across rather than down..