Princess vs. Celebrity Baltic cruise

[caribgirl40]

We had a great experience with Celebrity in Alaska and we are now planning a Baltic cruise with our 10 and 12 year old boys for the Summer of 2012. The Princess itinerary is lovely, but we are hesitant to jump "brands". Any opinions or experiences that would convince me this is a good switch? Many thanks in advance for any opinions. So many options...

[eetonaee]

We had a great experience with Celebrity in Alaska and we are now planning a Baltic cruise with our 10 and 12 year old boys for the Summer of 2012. The Princess itinerary is lovely, but we are hesitant to jump "brands". Any opinions or experiences that would convince me this is a good switch? Many thanks in advance for any opinions. So many options...

 

 

My opinion for what its worth.

 

A Baltic cruise is port intensive with many full day tours with early starts. Even in the summer the weather may not be conducive to lying by the pool or suntanning on upper decks.

 

I believe that the choice of ship or brand is secondary to the itinerary and the length of time in each port.

 

If you are budget concious a lower priced cruise will give you more flexibility in choosing the all important land excursions.

 

Like others on this board I recommend private tour operators so a particular lines excursions should also not be a consideration.

 

Celebrity might offer a premium experience in the Caribbean or Alaska but when you get back to your room after a full day touring St. Petersburg with a 6:00am wake up call for the second day the difference will be of little consequence.

[Talisker92]

We took a Baltic cruise last year on Princess and enjoyed it thoroughly. Make sure you select a cruise that goes to Oslo.It is a shame to miss Frogner Park and the Veigeland sculptures.

The story and pictures of our cruise are on our website http://www.stevekathytravels.com

[cruisemom42]

I don't know how the itineraries compare now, but when we did our Baltics cruise, the Princess itinerary (10 days) started and ended in Copenhagen, which we really liked because we wanted to spend a couple of extra days there anyway. The Celebrity cruises all started/ended in England making for a longer cruise (12 days) and a crossing of the North Sea, which may be rough. Personally I didn't feel paying for 2 extra days aboard to cross the North Sea was worth it.....

 

We chose Princess and my son, who was 13 at the time, enjoyed it. There were not a lot of kids onboard but as others have said, the itinerary is very intense so not a lot of time for shipboard activities anyway.

[Tinious]

If smoking (or not) is an issue for you, be sure to compare both cruise lines smoking policies as they are quite different.

[Infi]

You will probably find Celebrity and Princess pretty comparable. Some things X does better, some things Princess does better. Like others have mentioned, on a port-intensive itinerary like this, it's likely you'll be concentrating on the ship less. European cruises usually mean full days of touring and returning to the ship very tired.

 

We had a similar decision this year for our Baltic cruise. We like Celebrity very much, but ended up going with Princess because the itinerary was better. Princess' Baltic cruises were all RT Copenhagen with more ports, Celebrity's Baltic cruises left from either Southampton or Amsterdam and included more time at sea and fewer ports. If I'm traveling that far, I would like to see as many ports as I can, and the Princess itinerary gave me that. Good luck with your choice.

[Stelladoro]

We thoroughly enjoyed our Celebrity cruises, but will sail Princess for the first time next month in the Baltic, due to itinerary and price. We'll have 2 sea days instead of 4 and get to visit 2 additional ports, especially Oslo. Since this is a port intensive cruise, we prefer to spend the extra cash on excursions, rather than on the ship.

Enjoy the Baltic, whatever ship you choose!

[teacherman]

I suggest that you choose a ship which enters and exits Stockholm through the archipelago of islands. It is about a 3 hour experience and VERY beautiful. Many ships dock in another town and require a bus or train ride to get into Stockholm. I feel the ability for a ship to dock in downtown Stockholm is a big plus on a Baltic cruise. I agree about not paying for extra sea days. Better to use that money to enjoy a couple extra excursions or days in port pre-cruise.

[Essiesmom]

I would suggest an itinerary that visits both Oslo and Stockholm. With your kids in mind, I would concentrate on things that interest them, such as the viking ship museum and Fram in Oslo. there are other museums in that area of town and all can be accessed from a ferry near where the ship docks. In Stockholm, your boys would be blown away by the Vasa Museum. EM

[Phamer55]

I concur with what most have said here - you should pick Princess because of the superior itinerary. I had wanted to go with Celebrity, on the Constellation, for our Scandinavia/Baltic cruise next year, just because I wanted to try out their brand. However, I just couldn't do it because the Emerald Princess itinerary is superior in my opinion. I did not want to miss out on Oslo, and I prefer only have 2 seas as opposed to 4. Plus, I want to visit both Amsterdam and Copenhagen (you can connect between the two on an overnight sleeper train) as part of a land trip, and if I picked the Constellation, it would kind of be a waste to visit Copenhagen as a port-of-call if I was going there anyway. Princess delivers a nice onboard product too. I think I'll save Celebrity for a Caribbean or Bermuda cruise instead.

[junglejane]

I agree with the recommendation to make your choice based on the itinerary. For a port intensive cruise like this, itinerary is far more important than the minor differences between the two lines. We like both lines very much, and picked our upcoming Celebrity Med cruise based on the itinerary (i.e., Princess didn't have a June cruise from Rome that went to Istanbul).

[DOUGLASH]

i did star princess a few years ago in the Baltics and enjoyed it Definetely spend extra dys in Denmark.. We hit bad weather and missed Helsinki which was a bummer and we docked outside of Stockholm and by the time we shuttled in we were very rushed and really could have used more time. Regardless of cruiseline, not sure cruising is the most ideal way to enjoy Europe as you only get a taste of these European treasures.

[SJ27]

I suggest that you choose a ship which enters and exits Stockholm through the archipelago of islands. It is about a 3 hour experience and VERY beautiful. Many ships dock in another town and require a bus or train ride to get into Stockholm.

 

I am already booked on the Princess Baltic cruise (1st cruise), newbie question, how do you find out where your ship docks for each port stop? My itinerary only seems to have the embark/disembark ports for the start & end of the cruise.