Will we like Celebrity?

[sabookkeeper]

We have only cruised on Princess and are now looking at possibly trying Celebrity.

1. We like walking outside on the promenade deck on Princess ships, do the Solstice class ships have an outside deck to walk on?

2. We do not drink so we purchase the Ultimate Soda Card for $8.00/day and we get unlimited soda products, smoothies and virgin cocktails? Anything like this available?

 

How does Celebrity compair to Princess overall?

[Esprit]

If you have been used to Caribe deck balcony cabins then you will miss those on Celebrity. No laundry rooms either and of course no movies under the stars.

 

Our most recent cruises have only been on Constellation and Solstice so we are newbies to Celebrity. Others will give you more informed opinions

 

 

The Soda package is called the non alcoholic package on Celebrity. We had both premium packages for non and the alcohol and they were great value.

 

 

Depending on the intinerary you may find the entertainment not quite as lively with Celebrity but the food is just as good.

 

 

You wont be disappointed with Celebrity but I am still a big fan of Princess particularly as we cruise with our young adult kids.

[Fixit2010]

Having done both.

 

Princess is a 4 star line and Celebrity is a 5 star line. There is a noticeable difference in the way you are treated and the level of service.

In my humble opinion I would say the clientèle on celebrity are a little more refined than I found on princess.

 

If you are from NW London you are bound to know someone from a similar background. Infact on the Solstice last December there were a good 200+ passengers from an area no wider than Hendon to Stanmore.

 

The S class ships are new, clean, glass and chrome giving them a fresh crisp look and feel and the MDR at night is probably the best looking dining room I have seen.

 

The only think I miss on Celebrity is a convenience store that has potato chips, chocolate, candy etc. (see what I did there, I spoke American)

 

 

You can get the all inclusive drinks package

 

There is a prom deck but is does not go all the way around. Just a couple of hundred meters either side, on s-class ships

 

I would say you will find X an improvement over P

[sabookkeeper]

Having done both.

 

Princess is a 4 star line and Celebrity is a 5 star line. There is a noticeable difference in the way you are treated and the level of service.

In my humble opinion I would say the clientèle on celebrity are a little more refined than I found on princess.

 

If you are from NW London you are bound to know someone from a similar background. Infact on the Solstice last December there were a good 200+ passengers from an area no wider than Hendon to Stanmore.

 

The S class ships are new, clean, glass and chrome giving them a fresh crisp look and feel and the MDR at night is probably the best looking dining room I have seen.

 

The only think I miss on Celebrity is a convenience store that has potato chips, chocolate, candy etc. (see what I did there, I spoke American)

 

 

You can get the all inclusive drinks package

 

There is a prom deck but is does not go all the way around. Just a couple of hundred meters either side, on s-class ships

 

I would say you will find X an improvement over P

We are actually from Windsor, Ontario Canada.

 

We like Princess, but we find this year that they have increased their balcony prices significantly since last year. So we thought maybe it was time to try something else. We don't mind going "more refined", we just don't want it to be less than what we are getting on Princess.

[buddymum]

We have only cruised on Princess and are now looking at possibly trying Celebrity.

1. We like walking outside on the promenade deck on Princess ships, do the Solstice class ships have an outside deck to walk on?

2. We do not drink so we purchase the Ultimate Soda Card for $8.00/day and we get unlimited soda products, smoothies and virgin cocktails? Anything like this available?

 

How does Celebrity compair to Princess overall?

 

we too started our cruise holidays with princess (Hawaii and Panama canal) last july we cruised to alaska with celebrity and have another celebrity cruise booked to the med. Personally we don,t think there is much difference between the 2 lines. They both look after guests very well. We think that celebrity just edge princess on food.

They both have soda packages. There is no full round the ship promonade decks on solstice only part.

[Archaegeo]

The lawn on the S class is fantastic, too many people dont appreciate it for what it is.

 

But going up there, grabbing a pitcher of sangria (fresh made, its like a 15 min wait) and then playing lawn games, just a fantastic relaxing day.

 

Also, the food, imho, on the X line is better than P, though the chef's table on P was fantastic, wish X did those, RCL does.

 

Finally, the service, without exception, is beyond belief on X. P is good, but on X, its like they love going out of their way if you have a need or desire.

[gelo7]

Yes!!!

[cruisetrail]

We have only cruised on Princess and are now looking at possibly trying Celebrity.

1. We like walking outside on the promenade deck on Princess ships, do the Solstice class ships have an outside deck to walk on?

2. We do not drink so we purchase the Ultimate Soda Card for $8.00/day and we get unlimited soda products, smoothies and virgin cocktails? Anything like this available?

 

How does Celebrity compair to Princess overall?

 

Just back from Celebrity Eclipse - the best ship in Celebrity fleet.

 

My comparison (X=Celbrity, P=Princess)

 

Cabins

X - cabins look more contemporary

P - balconies are not obstructed with life boats; there is a whole deck of mini suites; minis are much more affordable than sky suites on X

==Equal==

 

Public rooms

X - overall more space, stunning atrium with glass elevators

==X wins==

 

Layout

X- two banks of elevators

P - three banks of elevators

==P wins==

 

Theatre

X - better design

==X wins==

 

Entertainment

X - Imbalanced: cheesy choreography, good voices, cheap costumes, annoying CD, absolutely fantastic guest performer (pianist), unique hot glass show

P - Well balanced entertainment program

==Equal thanks to X guest performer==

 

Promenade Deck

X - Total failure. Major design flaw. Two corridors behind life boats on both sides of the ship with a couple of open spaces.

 

 

 

 

 

P - Unique wrap-around bow to stern promenade deck.

 

==P wins==

 

Sun/Pool decks

X - Inadequate space, overly congested on sea days, 1/3 of the ship has been eaten up by grass lawns, three pools (one covered)

P - Four pools, plenty of space

==P wins==

 

Main Restaurant

Great menus, excellent service on both

==Equal==

 

Lido Buffet, Additional Options

X - Worst croissants/pastries for breakfast I have ever seen on a cruise ship, food quality otherwise - good but nothing to remember

P - very good, variety of tasty food, excellent desserts, poor coffee, International Cafe + Pub Lunch were much better than similar "atrium type" venues on X

==P wins==

 

Afternoon tea

X - a few trays of appropriate food in the lido buffet

P - a proper afternoon tea in a restaurant setting free of charge ($25 on X one time a cruise with added champagne)

==P wins==

 

Extra charge Restaurants

X - Murano is a true value ($40), Qsine was more fun than food (not worth $40)

P - both were good

==X wins==

 

Service

Excellent and equal on both.

______________________________________________________________

 

Overall - Princess wins.

 

If a ship has no promenade deck - it's not a ship.

Another thing we did not like - congested pool decks.

We understand that Celebrity wanted to be "unlike any other" with their grass loans. But we have plenty of grass at home. We cruise to get away of it.

 

We had a nice sampling cruise on the Celebrity Eclipse but we won't cruise again on this class of ships just because there are better options.

[sabookkeeper]

Thank you for all your information. We have decided to go ahead and book on the Silhouette for February 2013. We'll keep an open mind and hopefully enjoy it as much as our Princess cruises.

[cruisetrail]

Thank you for all your information. We have decided to go ahead and book on the Silhouette for February 2013. We'll keep an open mind and hopefully enjoy it as much as our Princess cruises.

 

The Eclipse is a better ship.

Enjoy your cruise.

[CruisenLexie]

We have been on approximately 20 cruises between Royal, Holland America, Princess and Celebrity. We just ended our second 14 day cruise with Celebrity, this time on the Constellation, and we booked the Eclipse for 2013 while we were on board.

 

We like all these lines. My mom is an active 75 and I am 53. We had a great time on the Constellation. It is an older crowd than on Princess. I think on Princess you see more guests in their 40's and 50's and up than you do on Celebrity. Of course that may well be because this was a 14 day cruise and not a 7. They may have a younger crowd on the 7 day cruises. I usually note a little older crowd on the longer cruises. We had a handfull of children and I don't recall many older children or teens.

 

If you like Princess food you should like Celebrity food. My only complaint with the Celebrity dinner menu is they do not have a pasta dish on the set dinner menu. Actually on Princess I ate fettuccine at least half of the time at dinner. On Celebrity I only resorted to the set menu once. That may speak better of Celebrity's menu. The only pay dining we went to was the Bistro on 5 which has crepes, panini's, soup and salads. It was $5 per person and we went 3 times. We ate breakfast in the dining room and lunch in the dining room when it was offered on sea days. Others days we ate at the Bistro or the buffet. On port days the buffet was very nice. My mom really enjoyed the egg, chicken and tuna salad sandwiches which were made fresh. I enjoyed the pizza and salads but they had many things to choose from and some things changed every day. You have lemonade, ice tea, coffee and tea in the buffet and maybe a juice in the afternoon but definately in the morning.

 

Drink packages. Celebrity has multiple packages. These are the prices for our Feb 2012 2-week cruise on the Constellation. Bottled water package (still and sparkling bottled water including Evian, Perrier and Pellegrino)$12/day + 15% gratuity. Soda Package (Coke fountain and can products) $7/day + gratuity. Classic Non-Alcoholic (fountain and can soda, juices, premium teas and coffee and non-premium botle water) $14/day + gratuity. Premium Non-Alcoholic (fountain and can soda, juices, premium teas and coffee, non-alcoholic speciality coffees, Evian, Panna, Perrier, and Pellagrino, REd Bull, Vitamin Water, all non-alcholic cocktails and non-alcoholic frozen drinks) $18/day + gratuity. Classic Package (fountain and can soda, juices, premium teas and coffee, smoothies, frozen drinks, non-premium bottled water and beers up to $5, wine by the glass, cocktails and spirits up to $8) $18/day + gratuity. Premium Package (fountain and can soda, juices, premium teas and coffee, all speciality coffees, smoothies, Evian, Perrier, and Pellagrino, Red Bull, Vitamin Water, all non-alcholic cocktails. Beers, wibne by the glass, cocktails, frozen drinks and spirits up to $12. If a drink is over $12 the difference wil be charged to your onborad account) $54/day + gratuity.

 

To give you an idea on price, Amaretto & Diet Coke was $8.05 including gratuity. Cans of soda were $2 + gratuity. Hard cider was $5 + gratuity. O'Doules $5 + gratuity. Fuzzy Navel $6 + gratuity. Drink of the day $8.50 + gratuity.

 

Our ship had activities all day. Exercise classes, X-box activities, Wii activities, Trivia, dance classes, computer classes, bingo (held in the cinema which is not a large venue so there apparently were not many players but it started at $20 to play which was a far better price than we had seen on Princess and Royal lately), cooking demonstrations, ice carving, spa seminars, speakers (psychologist and someone else speaking on nature/waters/coral reefs, etc), casino activities, excellent wine class, champaign class, multiple entertainers, theater production shows seemed to be a big hit, comedians, and more.

 

Our ship had noro in January/February but it was cleaned up by the time we came aboard 2/23. The cruise before us delayed boarding by a few hours to deep clean and they did it again before our cruise although we were on board by about noon however access to the cabins was delayed till about 3. There was Purell everywhere on board and while we may have had a few cases the ship did an excellent job at keeping us healthy.

 

Service was excellent, staff was excellent as was management. I only hope our next experience on the Eclipse goes as well.

[PROCRUISE]

We have only cruised on Princess and are now looking at possibly trying Celebrity.

1. We like walking outside on the promenade deck on Princess ships, do the Solstice class ships have an outside deck to walk on?

2. We do not drink so we purchase the Ultimate Soda Card for $8.00/day and we get unlimited soda products, smoothies and virgin cocktails? Anything like this available?

 

How does Celebrity compair to Princess overall?

 

Just my 2 cents worth. As you can see, we've been on X twice and will be on The X Millennium out of Singapore next January. We just gave Princess a first try last month. We liked both cruise lines and the only edge I can give to either is the MDR food on X was better.

 

Otherwise, I think you'll enjoy your cruise with X. We go on every cruise with an open mind and therefore, have never been on a bad one! :)

[USVI-4-me]

Cruisetrail did a comprehensive and accurate post noting many of the differences in S-Class and Princess but Princess has different ships. Some Princess ships have better designs than others; for ex. we love the Grand Class ships and the Emerald Princess group. We like the Coral Princess design; but not as much as the others. The Dawn, Sea, Ocean, .... Princess don't compare as well to Celebrity if you compare to M-Class with the long promenade and the T-Pool.

 

But the thread is comparing the S-Class ships to Princess (in general), and I think Princess is heads above the Equinox in design, decor, entertainment, 24 hour buffet service, International cafe option, promenade, Solarium pool area, and more. Equinox just doesn't measure up to the Emerald, the Grand class, or the Coral class ships. That's my opinion.

 

We take Celebrity for the itineraries. We take Princess for the ship designs, decor, cabins, laundry, cheerful crew, pools, 24 hour food availability and lounge/entertainment options. Princess has always given us a flawless cruise vacation while Celebrity falls a bit short. The S-Class cabins have storage above the bed. Princess cabins have huge closets with shelves for storage. But the S-Class beds are better.

 

I'll give a 5 to Princess, a 4 to Celebrity, a 4 to Royal Caribbean. NCL & Costa, are 2 or 3, with HAL a 0 on our scale.

 

Maris

11x on Princess

8x on Celebrity

[Ricks]

we had a great time on the Princess Crown 14 day, Our first taste of Princess, would do another cruise in a second, but the same as you I find that the prices are getting to high and none competitive. We did the Med last year on the Solstice, wow what a ship.... clearly like being in a 5 star hotel.

we will be back to Princess someday, but can't stop getting the deals from celebrity. :D

[nikel]

The Eclipse is a better ship.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

What makes Eclipse better than Silhouette ??:confused:

[cruisetrail]

What makes Eclipse better than Silhouette ??:confused:

 

1. The Silhouette has lost Hot Glass Show.

2. The grass lawn on the Silhouette has been ruined by $$ cabanas.

[nikel]

1. The Silhouette has lost Hot Glass Show.

2. The grass lawn on the Silhouette has been ruined by $$ cabanas.

 

 

So then are you saying it is just deck 15 that makes the difference ?

[jackdiamond]

We have cruised both often. The ratings for Princess range from 4-5 stars, while the Celebrity ratings are 4.5, for the Century, 5 for the M class and 5.5 for the S class.

[Putterdude]

There have been a couple of excellent comparisons made of the two cruise lines. We have sailed principally on Princess but I must say that IMO Celebrity offers an excellent product and perhaps the only place that Princess excels over X in the area of their production shows and evening entertainment. I feel that Celebrity is a little closer to meeting our expectations in cruising and I think a Princess cruiser would be very comfortable on a Celebrity ship.

[boogs]

Celebrity did quite well in CruiseCritic's 2012 Readers Choice awards. The Celebrity Equinox is ranked as the best overall large ship. In the large ship category, all four of Celebrity's ships made the top ten. None of the Princess ships made the top ten. In the mid sized category, three Celebrity ships made the top ten, compared to only one Princess. These rankings are based on review ratings submitted by your fellow CC members.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm

[cruisetrail]

So then are you saying it is just deck 15 that makes the difference ?

 

The Silhouette has a $$ eatery instead of the Hot Glass Show (was free),

$$ cabanas have taken the grass lawn.

This area has been redesigned (hopefully, this wonderful globe survived):

 

 

 

They added one lifeboat (even less open space on promenade deck now).

Completely new lifeboats allowed to return a standard size to one of the balconies on Deck 6 (was a bit smaller on Eclipse).

There may be some changes in solar batteries placement.

This is what I know.

 

I would say that Soltise class reached it's peak with the Eclipse and went downhill with the Silhouette.

The Reflection will have more cabins added ($$$).

[sabookkeeper]

Again, thanks so much for all of your opinions. We did book the Silhouette and are looking forward to cruising with Celebrity.

[sammie1900]

Hi, my cruise in Nov on the Eclipse will be my first on "S" class (my 39th on all--Princess, HAL, Celeb "M"class, RCCL, Delta Steamship, NCL, Sitmar, Royal, & ((USS Nimitz - a Tiger Cruise))). I like to walk about on deck and from your pix it does not look like there is much area to do that. Can you get to the aft for the wake? Someone on another post described the Eclipse as a fancy hotel that swayed, because there are not a lot of windows. I guess I have been spoiled by the older ships, with the deck chairs and the sounds of the ocean. Thank you

[Putterdude]

Again, thanks so much for all of your opinions. We did book the Silhouette and are looking forward to cruising with Celebrity.

 

I am certain that you will be very happy...we have reached the point where we will now choose between value and itinerary and be happy with either.

[KruzPrincess]

Good luck with you Celebrity cruise. I tried Celebrity in 2010 and had a good time. Princess is still my cruise line of choice, but I wouldn't hesitate to sail on Celebrity if it was the right deal.