Who has cruised......

[Caribensun]

One Celebrity cruise in AQ new ship, liked the amenties and bathroom better than Princess balcony or mini suite. keep reading Princess fans, all the way to the bottom....The bathroom amenities were better in my opinion than Princess suites and plush fluffy towels and a larger shower with the glass door, loved the body jets. We loved the adults only covered pool, warmer than Princess pools. We could hear everything in our neighbors room, on Princess quiet room. Not impressed with Celeb suites-even Penthouse, especially the balcony. Liked there afternoon buffet in dining room and gym nice and not as ice cold as Princess keeps theirs. Liked their buffet, not impressed with their select dining. Celeb has a nice locker room in the spa. Celeb deck space for sunning -the worst. Love Princess complete promenade deck for walking. Only one good show on Celeb. Much dressier on Celeb and you still get snobbed at by crew when you are one of the best dressesd. Might cruise it again, but overall no complaints on Princess esepecially since no-smoking policy will be taking effect. I love the rooms, more space and larger balcony. On Princess we feel like we have the ship to ourselves, on "X" not.

Princess makes you feel like you have completely escaped, have a place to relax, unwind and free to enjoy your cruise the way you want and treated like a..Princess. No flames please just an opinion. You will be happy whatever line you take, afterall it is a cruise.

[kath00]

We cruise Celebrity (and RCCL) when we want a change of pace. Too many PRincess cruises and they all start to look identical and taste identical. So we break it up and it works great.

 

The "elite" hours on X and RCCL are far superior to Princess' in that there is an open bar with all sorts of mixed drinks for free and much better canapes (IMHO). They also have a loyalty ambassador who really helps you with everything.

 

It becomes a wonderful social scene to hang out in the lounge before dinner with the people you meet on the cruise. Having a bar set up in your room with a few of little bottles of Vodka (on Princess) doesn't even come close to this perk.

[Ontario Cruiser]

We have cruised on Princess, HAL & Celebrity many times. We find them all good and pick according to itinerary and pricing. When we go HAL there are three of us and third person has been free on all the trips we have booked. Leaving for the Westerdam tomorrow. We are booked on the Grand Princess in January and we were on Celebrity Summit last February (elite lost of perks).

Ontario Cruiser

[FoghornLeghorn]

I loved the Princess cruises I've been on, and have another one booked.

 

I always get a balcony on Princess, which doesn't have a sofa/loveseat...at least on the ships I've been on. You have to go up to a Mini Suite to get that.

 

Question: Does Celebrity have sofas/loveseats in their balcony cabins?? and are their balconies comparable in price to Princess?

[sp2]

We have enjoyed our Princess cruises and our Celebrity Solstice class cruises equally. I think we personally would give the edge to Princess because we love the private island Princess Cays day. But the Solstice class ships are absolutely stunning. We also enjoy the lack of announcements on Celebrity, the adults only solarium pool area,and the availability of drink packages on Celebrity. Also the abundance of towels available at the pool areas. We also thought the cabins on the Solstice class ships were very well laid out, especially the bathrooms (shower doors vs. shower curtains on Princess). All just little things, and as I said, we still love Princess but it is nice to have other options. In reading some of the recent Ruby Princess TA reviews, it sounds like the shows are still the same ones we saw in November 2009 on the Ruby! Hope they plan to change things up when we sail on her in Jan 2012!

Happy Cruising!

[sp2]

FoghornLeghorn - the Solstice class ships do have a small sofa in the balcony cabins. I think in some cases it is a sofabed.

[sp2]

...and we have found the cost of Caribbean cruises similar on both Celebrity and Princess!

[FoghornLeghorn]

thanks SP2!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

They have some pretty ships....

[sammamishcruiser]

We have cruised on both lines. Much the same. However, if you want to go to a show on Princess you have to get there at least half and hour to 45 min before the show, just NOT enough seats for everyone. On Celebrity walk in 10 min before and you will find many seats. The cabins are much smaller on Princess, we really had to squeeze by at the end of the bed (we are NOT large people) you also have to ask for bathrobes. Celebrity has couches in all their cabins, insides, too.

We do LOVE the Atrium area on Princess ships, very pretty. Food was about the same, do love the bread better on Princess.

The service is far better on Celebrity than Princess IMHO. seems like we just thought of something and Poof, it was done or appeared.

I would sail on Princess again (actually looking for 2013!) if we found the right cruise and price. Love that Princess is going the no smoking way!! BTW, prices are much higher on Princess than Celebrity. Compared our 17 day Panama Canal Cruise (2012) to a 14 day Princess Canal cruise, about $1,000 more PER! for fewer days!! For our cabin category, cc aft.:eek:

 

whatever you choose, enjoy your cruise!

Melody:D

[sp2]

One other difference comes to mind - we preferred the casual dining on Celebrity to the Horizon Court on Princess. On the Solstice class ships it seemed much bigger, and was set up as various "stations" rather than the cafeteria-style lines on Princess. There seemed to be a lot more variety of food and lots of available seating. We find the Horizon Court to be a zoo sometimes, and tend to avoid it. Celebrity seemed to have better casual dining options.

Have fun which ever line you choose!:)

[robtulipe]

Question: Does Celebrity have sofas/loveseats in their balcony cabins?? and are their balconies comparable in price to Princess?

Constellation class ships balconiy cabins have loveseat/sofabed .

We've been always been able to get balconies at lower per day prices on Celebrity than on Princess for comparable cruises but then we tend to book late in order to get sell off prices.

Because of this most of our X cruises have been in balcony or higher cabins and with Princess, insides and ocean views.

Shot below is a 2B balcony on Connie and had similar layouit in 2A and 2B cabins on Summit.

 

[Sincity]

I like the idea of being able to reach Elite quicker and that your credit transfer.

 

We have taken one (1) Celebrity cruise (Alaska cruise tour). Overall, we found the attitude of the Celebrity Millennium crew to be pompous & pretentious.

 

 

 

The Cruise Director on our April '11 Mex Riv cruise on the Sapphire was like that. Didn't like him at all. Wish I remember his name so we can avoid him. Does anyone know the CD's name that was on the Sapphire in April?

[everywhere]

CLIA rates Celebrity as a Premium cruise line and Princess as just a mass- market cruise line. That is the major difference.

[FoghornLeghorn]

Thanks Robtulipe!

[robtulipe]

I like the idea of being able to reach Elite quicker and that your credit transfer.?

 

It's your loyalty program status, Elite or Select, that can be transferred between X and RC. Cruise credits accumulate separately on both cruise lines.

 

The Cruise Director on our April '11 Mex Riv cruise on the Sapphire was like that. Didn't like him at all. Wish I remember his name so we can avoid him. Does anyone know the CD's name that was on the Sapphire in April?

 

Was it Tim Donovan who is currently CD on Sapphire. He is coming over to Emerald for our cruise in 2 1/2 weeks and others on our roll call, who have previously sailed on ships with him as CD, are not too happy he will be in that function for our cruise.

[iancal]

We typically narrow it down to Princess, HAL, and Celebrity.

 

HAL and Celebrity boosters like to refer to their chosen line as 'premium'. I think that they are all mass market cruise lines.....using the 'premium' nomenclature may appeal to some people's ego.

 

We do prefer Celebrity to Princess by a nose. Each ship is different and each cruise is different depending on crew, entertainment, etc. so our evaluation is very subjective and personal.

 

I think some of the largest differences are between ships, and size of ships rather than between cruise lines.

 

Our last few cruises-Med and Carib. have been on Celebrity because their price/itinerary have been the best for us. We notice that Princess does not discount their cruises as much within the cancellation window. Lately, this has been the timeframe where we have booked.

 

I think the debate over which line is better is a waste of time. It is too dependent on personal tastes and the environment on a particular cruise.

[Toddy709]

I think the debate over which line is better is a waste of time. It is too dependent on personal tastes and the environment on a particular cruise.

 

I couldn't agree more. I was with two businessmen recently when they began discussing a particular cruise line they had been on. I said, oh, I can recommend a much nicer, more relaxing cruise line. They looked at me like I had two heads and asked why in the world they would want that. They preferred the party atmosphere.

 

I'm certainly glad we all have different preferences and what makes Princess my favorite cruise line may not be of interest to anyone else, just as what makes Celebrity someone's favorite line might not interest me. It's certainly nice to have choices!!

[lovevacadays]

I believe Celebrity is superior to Princess. The Food and Entertainment are better I.M.O.

 

The Solstice Class Ships are terrific! However, they don't have enough pools for 2850 pax.

 

With that said, I'm leaving on the Crown Princess this coming Saturday. It will probably be

 

my last Princess Cruise. I'm a Princess Platinum member and I did not get a cabin upgrade.

 

I always get a cabin upgrade with Celebrity and HAL.

 

Is not getting a cabin upgrade the reason you won't sail Princess again? Were you not satisfied with the cabin you booked? I guess if you are happy with HAL and Celebrity that's good too.:)

[kath00]

If you were ALWAYS getting an upgrade on Celebrity or HAL for being elite, that means 99% of the rest of the folks sailing would NOT be getting upgrades ever. That's reason for the other 99% to not sail with these lines...

 

Upgrades need to be distributed evenly, both to newbies and to loyal sailers. Frankly, if I never stood the chance to get an upgrade as a non-elite, I wouldn't be interested in sailing with a line. However, I certainly wouldn't expect it at every sailing. That would be totally unfair to everyone else... There is a happy medium.

 

Katherine

[Pam in CA]

With that said, I'm leaving on the Crown Princess this coming Saturday. It will probably be my last Princess Cruise. I'm a Princess Platinum member and I did not get a cabin upgrade.

 

I always get a cabin upgrade with Celebrity and HAL.

I think its great you always get an upgrade on Princess and HAL. You should probably play the lottery, you're so lucky. I got my first upgrade on Princess after over 20 cruises and Elite for several years. I'm a 3-star Mariner on HAL and never been upgraded. On the other hand, I get terrific pricing on both via my TA so I can book the cabin category I want, thus upgrading myself. :) I never expect to be upgraded nor would I make that a criteria for whether I continue to cruise with that line.

[Love.II.Cruise]

I think its great you always get an upgrade on Princess and HAL. You should probably play the lottery, you're so lucky. I got my first upgrade on Princess after over 20 cruises and Elite for several years. I'm a 3-star Mariner on HAL and never been upgraded. On the other hand, I get terrific pricing on both via my TA so I can book the cabin category I want, thus upgrading myself. :) I never expect to be upgraded nor would I make that a criteria for whether I continue to cruise with that line.

 

Agree! We've never had an upgrade on any cruise line (and we have never posted on our reservation that we don't want one). We've sailed Carnival, RCL, Princess, Celebrity, American (old Hawaiian line), and Regent.