A Princess/HAL Cruiser’s Celebrity Experience

[Pam in CA]

Let me preface this by using the usual caveats. This “review” includes my impressions based on my experience. Someone two cabins away could have a completely different experience. Also, there’s no such thing as a perfect cruise. I have never taken one. “Stuff” happens. I guess I’m known as a Princess supporter but many forget that I’m also a 3-star Mariner on HAL, and if called for, I’ll criticize Princess as roundly as any other cruise line. When asked for my top three cruises, the two best have been on HAL. I try not to let one bad entrée or experience affect my cruise but rather, I try to base my opinions on facts wherever possible.

 

The start of our cruise was inauspicious, to say the least. I traveled with my sister, Nancy, from southern CA to Newark. Because we wanted to use AA air miles, AA doesn’t have any direct flights between either LAX or Orange County (SNA) to Newark (EWR), so we booked from SNA, which is only about 15-20 minutes from home with a change in DFW. We had a 6:45am flight (you can imagine what time we got up in the morning to get there to check in over an hour ahead of time) and the plane was all set to push away from the gate when the Captain came on the PA to say that the plane had a brake leak, they were unloading the luggage, and we needed to deplane and find another flight. Ugh! We managed to get on the next flight from SNA to DFW which left 45 minutes later and made our original flight from DFW to EWR. We’re again ready to push away from the gate when the Captain came on the PA to say there appeared to be a fuel leak on the wing. This time, we were able to stay on the plane… but it was 95 degrees in Dallas and we sat there for two hours with no A/C. Everyone was sweating. We finally made it to EWR only about an hour late as the pilot was able to re-route to a more direct flight. We figure what else could go wrong? Well, we were at baggage claim, waiting for our luggage, and waiting, and waiting. No luggage. Went to report it and they found our luggage! It had just left SNA on it’s way to Chicago and would arrive at 11:05pm. I could come back and pick it up or they would deliver it to our hotel, the Newark Marriott at the airport. We chose to have it delivered. Woke up at 7:30am… no luggage. I called AA and the luggage was still in Chicago and they didn’t know when it would be in Newark. They hoped to deliver it to the ship before it sailed but no promises. My sister is freaking out at this point but I’m a bit more philosophical and figure this is out of my control and will make the best of it, even if our luggage doesn’t arrive until we get to Bermuda. I posted on the roll call and people were already offering to lend us clothes. So nice! We go down to breakfast and then met my friend, Cheryl and her husband, to share a van to the ship at about 11am. I’m literally walking out the hotel door when my cell phone rings. It’s AA to say that our luggage was sitting in Found Luggage at the EWR AA terminal. Yay!! The driver makes a quick detour and I get our luggage. Phew!

 

Embarkation on the Celebrity Summit was very fast and easy. Check in was almost immediate and boarding started at about Noon. Unlike Princess and HAL, Celebrity still has you wait in a lounge or the buffet until after 1pm before your cabin is ready. We had delicious sandwiches (the sandwich bar in the buffet was excellent, as good as HAL) and hung around with some Cruise Critic folks until we could go to our cabin.

 

First impression of the cabin: small and cramped. I’d booked a 2C balcony cabin and it was the last balcony on the forward bump out section. Yes, it had an oversized chair and a good-sized table but there was literally no space between anything. The cabin was so narrow that the distance between the end of the bed and the cabin wall was 14”. Get out your tape measure now. J If I pulled out the chair to the desk, I had to move the table so it was up against and overhanging the chair. If I wanted to use the chair, I had to move the table and desk chair. FYI, it was not a mini-sofa or anything resembling that; it was a chair. Photos below.

 

The biggest surprise about the cabin was that it reeked of stale smoke. Say what? I asked my cabin steward to please see that the soft goods were cleaned but he told me that I didn’t smell anything and no one had smoked in the cabin, the burn mark on the sink notwithstanding. He refused to consider that it smelled of stale smoke. I had a floral air freshener and sprayed absolutely everything. The cabin smelled floral for the rest of the cruise but at least it didn’t smell of smoke.

 

My sister and I had connecting cabins and we really liked being able to open the door and chat back and forth, closing it when we wanted privacy. The balcony was small, but adequate, and I liked the chairs better than I’ve had on Princess or HAL. They were the type with wide plastic straps, and were larger and more comfortable. I didn’t take a photo. The balcony size was the equivalent of a Lido/Aloha/Baja balcony on Grand-class Princess ships.

 

The bathroom was a bit larger than a Princess bathroom (HAL bathrooms are definitely larger, particularly if they have a tub/shower) and the shower was as narrow as on Princess but a bit longer so there’s more room. Storage was good in the bathroom.

 

Storage in the cabin was one 2-door wardrobe with two rods, so that my formal dress hung “funny” for the length of the cruise. Another wardrobe had six narrow, shallow drawers, the safe and above that, the life jackets. The small desk had two very small triangularly-shaped shelves on each side. Overall, more storage than my HAL cabin in April, a lot less than in any Princess (other than the Ocean and Pacific) cabin. There was no mini-frig although there appeared to be a locked frig with a price list above it. Since it was locked, I couldn’t use it. Perhaps they expected me to ask for it to be unlocked but none of that made sense. The desk top was quite small and about 1/3 of it had a tray with the ice bucket, ice water pitcher and glasses. There were floor-to-ceiling mirrors on the wall opposite the bed. Because there was no room at the end of the bed, there was no way to get a full-length view when I was dressing.

 

I don’t know what it is with me, cruise ships and toilets. Ack! My sister’s and my toilets worked only sporadically for the first three days, most of the time not working for hours and hours. I called each time to report it and was told that they were having vacuum pump problems affecting 60 cabins on decks 6 through 9. I never received any acknowledgement of any inconvenience. There was no apology, no “I’m sorry”, no update on repair progress. Once I’d reported it, total silence. IMHO, not very classy or responsive.

 

The mid-ship elevators were on the starboard side of the ship, opposite from where we were located. Our primary access to these elevators was with a “cut through” corridor and throughout the cruise, every time we walked this, there was a scooter parked so you always had to watch how you walked past. I’ve never seen any cruise ship allow scooters parked in a primary corridor throughout a cruise. If a wheelchair or other scooter needed to get past, they couldn’t. To me, it’s a fire hazard and in an emergency, presented a problem. Also, someone stored a wheelchair outside my cabin door throughout the cruise. Again, I’ve never seen this on any other cruise line.

 

The Waterfall Buffet had good food in stations, somewhat like HAL. Everything is prepared and served and very little can be taken without waiting in a line. The salad bar was just OK, not as good as HAL and definitely not as good as on Princess. The Asian lunch selections were usually very good. The omelet station in the morning was good, but very slow. It seemed as though one person was cooking and also re-stocking everything, so he couldn’t keep two pans going at once very often. As said, the sandwich bar was excellent. Service in the buffet was practically non-existent. I’m used to Princess where you sit down and almost immediately, someone stops by to ask if you want coffee, tea, or juice in the morning (or there are carts with someone moving continuously through serving) or soda in the afternoon. I had pre-paid for a soda card and hardly used it because it was almost impossible to get a soda at lunch or during the afternoon. A very, very picky thing that bothered me in the buffet is that I like ketchup with scrambled eggs or an omelet. The only ketchup available was little packets like you’d find at McD’s. It doesn’t taste the same from the packet and your fingers get all messy if you try to open it. That just seemed cheap to me.

 

The Summit has the Cova Café which is like the Patisserie on the older Princess ships. Nothing like the Princess International Café so if you wanted food during the day, the choices were room service (which I never used), the Grill, or the buffet. There was a Spa food area but I am not much into bean sprouts and didn’t really check it out other than to see that there wasn’t much offered. That’s probably a personal preference showing its ugly face. J We were right near the forward elevators so it was a very long walk if we wanted to get anything to eat. I don’t think I’ll ever book a cabin towards the forward again. Again, a personal preference.

 

We had late traditional dining at 8:30pm at a table for eight. Great dinner companions and overall, the food was quite good. Some of it was excellent with a few misses. I liked that they have French Onion Soup and Escargots always available. Their Caesar salad was excellent, better than Princess and HAL, and they had a really good shrimp cocktail always available. Also always available is a lobster bisque but we were disappointed that it didn’t include any lobster chunks; it was just a broth. Tasty but seemed to be missing something. Our waitstaff was excellent… among the best I’ve had. As good as some I’ve had on Princess, far better than any I’ve had on HAL. As said, there were some misses but by the time I’d had my appetizer and salad or soup, I didn’t want much of an entrée. Desserts were overall, excellent.

 

Before dinner every night, we went to the Rendevouz lounge near the dining room for a drink. Excellent bar service and the singer was superb. Best I’ve ever heard on any cruise. Clear, beautiful, in-tune voice, and charming young woman.

 

I went to a couple of lectures that were excellent. One was Valerie Neal, a curator with the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, who gave five talks about the US Space Program, the Shuttle, the Space Station, etc. She was terrific. I’m sorry I missed a couple of her lectures but they were on port days. http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=40

 

My sister and I didn’t go to any shows or entertainment so I don’t have any comments or opinions. There was a private Cruise Critic Bridge Tour that I went to, that was good. Pretty much what I’ve seen before on other ships and river boats. I didn’t go to the Cruise Critic galley tour. At the beginning of the cruise, there was a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, very nicely set up by Laura S and Cecilia (Admin). They had a lot of CC goodies to give out. I won a bag. J

 

One thing I was concerned about before going was the cost of drinks. I’d read that drinks were more expensive on Celebrity, i.e., $10-$12 for a martini vs. $7-8. We debated getting a drink card and decided to wait until we boarded the ship. It worked out fine. A small martini is $6 and is slightly smaller than a Princess or HAL martini. The large martini was $10 and was double the size. The small one was enough for me although I did have a large one a couple of nights. My sister usually has two martinis before dinner on cruises and she had one large one.

 

Bermuda was lovely, and the weather was perfect. Upper 70s and sunny. If I were to go to Bermuda again on a cruise, I think I’d take a ship that goes to both Hamilton and the Royal Navy Dockyard. We were at the Dockyard along with the Norwegian Gem and when I went to Hamilton, I was jealous of those on the Veendam who walked off the gangway right onto Front Street in Hamilton.

 

Overall, the Summit was a nice ship. She’s going into dry dock and getting many upgrades, additional dining, lounge changes, etc. The one thing that my sister and I really didn’t like was all the smoking permitted in lounges and outdoor areas, including the aft outdoor eating area outside the buffet. There was a lot of bleed of smoke throughout the lounges so our impression is that we smelled smoke a heck of a lot more than on any Princess or HAL ship over the past few years. The mid-ship elevators on deck 10 are right next to the doors opening to the smoking side of the pool so that every time the doors opened, smoke bled into the area. I don’t want to get into a smoking debate but my opinion is that not allowing smoking in cabins means there are far more smokers on deck and in allowed areas. Unfortunately, some of those allowed areas are lounges. I think I’d rather risk having a smoker near my cabin on Princess or HAL than be assailed by smoke while trying to enjoy a lounge or eat outside, which is pretty much a constant (as least, that was my impression.)

 

It was great seeing my friend, Cheryl, and meeting her husband. I’ve known Cheryl for years (we worked together) and hadn’t seen her for six years. It was also great meeting Laura S, Cecelia, Caroline, Michell and the other Cruise Critic people.

 

Would we cruise Celebrity again? Probably not. There was no “Wow!” In our limited experience, nothing was better than Princess or HAL, including the food or service. There were some excellent things but not enough to sway us to cruise Celebrity vs. Princess or HAL. (Don’t ask me about the entertainment or the pool areas, I wasn’t there.) The small cabin, smoking in lounges and the handling of the toilet problem turned us off somewhat. We liked the connecting cabin of which there are few on Princess. If there was a unique itinerary or a great group of people going on a cruise, I’d probably consider it. If I did, I’d do a heck of a lot more cabin research. But for a similar itinerary, I’ll stick with what I know and am comfortable with.

 

 

Taken from my sister's cabin so it appears roomier than it really was. You can see how cramped everything was. Not a spare inch between anything.

 

 

 

 

[IECalCruiser]

Pam, Thanks for the review. Think I will stay with Princess. Glad you got your luggage!

[Shogun]

Hi Pam

 

Welcome back,

 

Thank you for your thoughts, one reason we have not cruised Celebrity, is price, from what you have said why pay more than Princess for a services that is no better, and smoke would be an issue for us.

 

After the excellant service we got on the Ruby it will take a lot to get us to move from Princess, so do not expect I will be on a Celebrity ship any time soon.

 

 

yours Shogun

[dfields1814]

Is this Pam in CA a first time poster? What does she know about cruising??

 

Just Kidding.

 

I always admire and respect Pam's postings. I feel she is fair, honest and knowledgeable. This review is no different. I think she did great job on the review of this cruise.

 

Pam.. sorry to hear about your pets.

 

Great job .. thanks for the excellent review.

[pris993]

Thanks for your review - interesting comments. Appreciate a review like yours that goes into a lot of detail. Does help folks consider what they like and whether a ship or line will meet their expectations.

 

We have cruised Princess, Celebrity and HAL. Like you we are elite on Princess, 3 star on Hal, plus we are elite on Celebrity.

 

When we book on Celebrity we always book a CC or AQ class cabin. The CC cabins are larger and if you book a cabin on the bump the balcony is larger. Our next cruise on Celebrity will be on the Eciplse in a AQ class because we decided we wanted to try the new Blu diningroom just for AQ class. We found the MDR on the Equinox too noisy and crowded. We did find the buffet on the larger - newer Celebrity ships very good, better than either Princess or HAL. But at the same time one of the best cruises we ever had was a Celebrity cruise on the Century that was booked at the last minute, no balcony cabins available - we had an ocean view and had a terrific time because the staff were so great.

 

Princess has the best perks for repeat passengers. We enjoy the 3 piece combos and dancing on Celebrity and HAL. All in all, all three lines seem very similar, we select based on itinerary and costs between the three.

 

We just returned from our first Cunard cruise on the Queen Victoria. We enjoyed it so much we booked another on Cunard. Loved the dancing, food and service was the best we had on any line and we received the most OBC on both our first Cunard trip and the subsequent one we booked. The Queen Victoria and HAL ships are very similar in design. When we book the QV again, we cancelled a cruise on HAL for the same itinerary because the OV had a better price and a OBC. It was a no brainer, simply a better deal.

 

For us variety is the spice of live. We have had some fantastic cruises on all lines. We also had a few less than perfect cruises, I guess that comes with the territory. No line is perfect. We have our favorite lines: Princess , HAL, Celebrity and now have added Cunard to the list. This increased our options.

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks Pam for a great review. We are booked on a Celebrity cruise on Solstice for March, 2013. It will be our first time on Celebrity though we have cruised with Azamara. We are also Elite on Princess and 3 star Mariners on HAL so it will be an interesting experience.

 

I was sent photos from a friend of those balcony cabins and couldn't believe how close the bed was to the desk. I am hoping our cabin is larger as we have booked Concierge Class. It not, then we will be fine as we are only onboard for 12 days cruising from Auckland to Sydney.

 

I do take notice of your comments which are very fair.

 

Jennie

[Coral]

While it has been many years since I have been on Celebrity - I thought the "hype" about it being better then other mainstream lines was not warranted. We had pretty bad room steward and wait staff which didn't help the situation.

 

I found the atrium underwhelming (there was a big staircase). We would often return to the ship at 3 or so from being in the islands and the buffet was closed. All that was offered was room service for food.

 

They did have a really cool thallossopy (sp?) pool which I loved.

[sunsetbeachgal]

HI Pam,

 

Thanks for your review!

 

I was under the impression (mistakenly I guess) that Celebrity was 100% non-smoking?

 

And what a small cabin...to save money on Princess we have booked obstructed outside or inside cabins, and I don't remember being in anything as small as your pictures!

 

Thinking of you with your pet issues and hoping that your cat has no lasting effects from being without the medication...

[Toddy709]

Hi Pam,

 

I was waiting for your review because you always seem so fair and balanced in your opinions! I've looked at Celebrity often because of their smoking policy and that part of the review was disappointing, although probably not enough to keep me from sailing Celebrity if the price/itinerary/group was unbeatable!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this. I, too, hope your cat is okay.

[tntfox]

Pam - Thanks for the great review! I was seriously considering looking into Celebrity; now, not so much, with smoking in the public areas AND cabin size being the major issues.

 

Glad you got your luggage in time ;)

[RaMar]

Pam: Thanls for the review; always enjoy reading your posts.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Thanks for the review.

 

On our last Princess sailing there was a scooter left in the hallway every day and we were completely surprised by it.

[junglejane]

Hi Pam. It was very interesting to read your feedback. I am a bit surprised about the smoking issue because Celebrity is definitely supposed to have more restrictive smoking policies than Princess. We've never had smoking-related problems on either line, knock on wood.

 

We are currently onboard the Equinox docked at Mykonos. The Solstice-clsas ships definitely have the Wow factor you found missing on the Summit. After we come back we'll post our own review/comments. Anyway, welcome back and happy cruising to all!

[Toto2Kansas]

Thanks Pam, for writing your review so quickly. We tried Celebrity several years ago, twice. We too thought the hype meant it would be so much better than Princess. First time was about what you encountered, so we tried Celebrity a second time thinking maybe the first time was just a fluke. We found the same on the second cruise with them, and immediately headed back to princess. ;) It seems your experience was very similary to ours. Welcome Home! (and hope your kitty does well this week).

[sammiedawg]

Pam, great review, balanced, good comparisons. We tried the Celebrity Century 6 years ago, very disappointing and totally agree with someone's comment X does not live up to the hype. Our issues were smoking ( everywhere except dining room) and a shabby cabin, the ship was 8-9 years old but looked like it had never been updated, dirty, worn shabby upholstery, carpet, beddings. Bathroom was disgusting. I posted my comments and nearly got thrown off the boards, the X loyalists went bonkers but everything I wrote was totally true. The ship did not go into drydock for another 18 months. HAL or Princess both do a great job with upkeep and keeping things looking new, X was most deficient in this regard. The cabin was like being in an aging, airport Holiday Inn room.

 

I learned that unless you have Concierge level cabins, the service is average, our room steward was indifferent but he did his basic job. Our dining room waiters were terrific, food was good at that time. They had nice pool service regarding towels.

 

We vote with our feet and have no plans to sail X again. But I hear the newest ships are quite nice.

There was talk about a family reunion on X because it sails from the northeast and many could drive to the port. I will attend if they choose X but I hope they pick something else.

[denims]

Thanks for the good review Pam!

You made a great point when you said, "that not allowing smoking in cabins means there are far more smokers on deck and in allowed areas."

We have sailed Celebrity a half a dozen times, and my wife and I would always walk on the opposite side of the ship away from the smoking area. We'd forget occasionally and die from the fumes!

[UpcountryTravelers]

Thanks for the review. We were considering trying Celebrity, but now not so enthused. We do love Princess.

 

But I do have one question: You said "I’m used to Princess where you sit down and almost immediately, someone stops by to ask if you want coffee, tea, or juice in the morning (or there are carts with someone moving continuously through serving) or soda in the afternoon."

 

What ship was that on? That has not been my experience on the last 3 Princess cruises. You go get your own coffee or tea at the beverage stations in the buffet area.

[WeBeGone]

Thanks for your review. We've been on the Century (yawn) and the Equinox, which really did have the wow factor, but will stick with princess. Sure hope your cat is OK and look forward to seeing you in Feb.

[LindaM]

I am not surprised at you impression of Celebrity. To me, they are on par with HAL and Princess. I would choose them if they had the itinerary I wanted. But, I would not want to pay more. Maybe at one time they were a step above, but not since we initially sailed them 7 years ago. We prefer the food on HAL and Princess.

[Raamo]

Thanks Pam, great information about Celebrity - doubt we'll ever try them but good to know!

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thank you so much Pam! Your review was really helpful. I do believe I will be sticking with Princess although HAL seems to be beckoning as well...

[aloisia]

I always enjoy reading your posts & your opinions/views are bang on with mine.

We are trying HAL to Bermuda soon. We love Princess but from your previous posts, I'm sure HAL will be nice.

[captainron]

That review has undoubtedly kept me in the Princess traffic lane for cruises and as such, I will be merrily on my way on the Crown around the UK, Eire, France etc in August.

 

Ciao for now!!!

[sp2]

Thank you for the review.

 

In fairness, before giving up on Celebrity I think folks need to try the Solstice class ships before comparing the older Celebrity ships to newer Princess ships. Not a fair comparison.

 

Also, the comments above regarding smoking are interesting. We found little smoking onboard either the Solstice or the Equinox except in a few small areas. Virtually NO smoking inside in any lounges, casino, etc; only in a few designated spots outside. Not even everywhere outside was allowed. We saw smokers light up outside on the "wrong" side of the ship and they were asked to move by the staff. It has been our personal experience that there is far more smoking on Princess allowed in far more areas than on the new Solstice class ships. For example, the casino, certain areas of lounges, etc smoking is allowed on Princess. Comments on the Celebrity boards have led me to believe that most of their fans are ardent non-smokers.

 

Every cruise experience is different, as you said. Thanks again for sharing your experience!:)

[Coral]

But I do have one question: You said "I’m used to Princess where you sit down and almost immediately, someone stops by to ask if you want coffee, tea, or juice in the morning (or there are carts with someone moving continuously through serving) or soda in the afternoon."

 

What ship was that on? That has not been my experience on the last 3 Princess cruises. You go get your own coffee or tea at the beverage stations in the buffet area.

 

While not Pam - this is a more recent action the past 2-3 years. It looks like your last cruise was in Feb 2009 so it may not have been implemented yet.

 

While we found Pam's comments to be true, we ran into problems on the Crown that we couldn't find a table to even sit down on but on the Sapphire recently - we had no problems finding tables and they do greet you right away with drink offerings.