Why Should Devoted Celebrity Cruiser Try Princess?

[98Charlie]

Our loyalty has always been to ourselves. We have used Celebrity, NCL, Princess & Royal Caribbean. Never had a bad cruise.

 

I'm never really surprised at differences of opinions since your cruising experience can vary from week to week on the same ship. Our experience on the two:

• Pricing - We minitor prices for the cruises we want and have found values on both lines. I have a lot of flexability in my schedule so I can take advantage of some of the best pricing. If you are stuck with a single week (like spring break) you may find a siginificant difference.
  
• Staff Friendliness - Equal on both ships. Friendly and outgoing staff that has made us feel "at home" on both.
  
• Regarding the Boards - Maybe I'm not reading the right threads but have never had a problem on either forum with rudeness or "over the top" defense of a single line.
  

 

Charlie

[mountainmare]

We normally cruise HAL and are planning a fall 2006 Med trip. I have been lurking on the Celebrity site because I liked the 2004-2005 Milli Itinerary. I never even thought about Princess!!!

It does seem that if you are planning a very port intensive cruise the itinerary and price is more important than cruise line loyalty.

 

Question for Princess people---

I'll get flamed, but HAL cruisers are a little more cautious when it comes to planning private tours. It seems that Celeb cruisers want to get together and try to find a private guide.

In general-- do you think that Princess travelers are more likely to stick with ship tours or use local guides?

[mr green]

Also a friend of mine did book a Celebrity cruise and was very excited about trying them out. He booked onboard the Century for the Caribbean for a cruise this month. About a month after booking it Celebrity decided to pull the ship out of the Caribean for the summer and send her to Europe. He has had a very difficult time getting his money back on the cancelled cruise. In addition he wasn't happy with the offer that they made him for rebooking. Thus far he has not yet rebooked with Celebrity because of the customer service. I will eventually try Celebrity, but there will have to be a good itinerary at a resonable price and one of their newer ships first before I book.

 

This is my biggest beef with X, customer relations on this line are very poor, and, until this is corrected I don't see how they can even try to claim to be the best of the 'mass market'. john

[houch]

This board was interesting to me! I recently returned from Hawaii cruise on Celebrity Infinity, 4/6/2005. We chose that one because there was only a one way crossing, couldn't take the time to cross the Pacific both ways. It was our first time with Celebrity and also my first time on these boards. I did write a review of the cruise somewhere on these boards.....

I enjoyed meeting the people we would be cruising with on the boards and later on the cruise. I did find them very loyal to Celebrity and every time I make a negative comment about Celebrity, (there were many) they seemed to get defensive. We did have fun with them and still keep in touch with some.

The price for this cruise was compareable to those we have been on with Princess. Tours were more expensive, I think because it was in the US instead of the Caribbean. I did book a couple on line which were cheaper than Celebrity and excellent.

The ship was bland, too dark and "beige", no color and Atriam was bland. Not much brass around but a lot of silver. Artificial flowers all over were old, dusty, and dirty. Otherwise the ship was very clean. Triffic flow throughout the ship was very good except for casino whice was very crowded, had to walk single file and sometimes move the stools to get through. Friendly staff with good service on both. Buffet moved very slow. Plus, I'd rather carry my own tray.... Princess buffet you could go to the area having what you wanted and open 24/7, moved quicker and definitely laid out better. Martini bar was good but at $10 or more a drink I didn't have very many! All of the drinks on Princess are less, even the drinks of the day. I preferred coffee on Princess and they had bigger cups. Princess has had personal choice for some time. I prefer assigned seating so have never tried it, works better for us. Besides, I don't want to pay more for dining since I've already payed for that in the cruise price. Some of Celebrities charged extra. Food on Celebrity...though I didn't have a bad meal, there wasn't the variety I am used to on Princess and the dishes weren't exciting...just so-so. I think the entertainment with the cruise staff was excellent on both...those dancers really put on good shows! Our cabins have been roomier on Princess and the hideabed did block the balcony on Celebrity! No self service laundry on Celebrity either...I bring enough to last but my friend would have liked to wash a few things. The customer service didn't seem to care about our issues or about the issues of others on our board. :(

I have so many negatives because I was led to believe Celebrity was so much better than others. I didn't find that to be true. It sure wasn't a bad cruise as it was on a ship on the ocean.....;) That can't be bad! I wouldn't rule out Celebrity for another cruise, however,all 3 of us do prefer Princess.

We did cruise the Grand Princess 3/04. I thought it might be a bit too big! Traffic flow wasn't as good and you sometimes ended up in "dead ends" especially on our way to dining room, ( you couldn't get there from here). I thought outside pool area was too small for such a big ship. Never used the pool with the cover over it. Also took us longer to find our way around the ship. I preferred the size of Infinity to the Grand. My favorite so far are the Sun, Sea, and Ocean ( not there anymore).

Am looking forward to the Sun in Nov, :cool: Hope you enjoy your cruise.

Carol

[kroozking]

Because it's something different and you won't know if you're missing something or not... that way you'll put the question to rest.

[minke]

This debate is proving interesting for me. I do like the idea of self serv laundry on Princess. we like the ambience & food/service on Celebrity. But I say again we in UK are ripped off by Princess, to illustrate the point today for special offers in june on same day! 14 nights to fjords on sea princess is 370$ more expensive than 14 Celebrity to Baltic. at that price no contest in my opinion! Just have to wait & see how our oct cruise on princess goes.

[sammiedawg]

People who run and post the CC Celebrity boards are incredibly loyal to their line to the point of pouncing on anyone who dares to criticize. We were quite disappointed in our Century cruise last year, the ship was so run down compared to other cruise lines including Princess and HAL. I'm guessing that in the past Celebrity was a cut above other mass market lines and their clientele remembers the good old days. There is also quite a bit of indoctrination on Celebrity regarding the "Excellence". It started with the captain and CD, by the end of the week waiters room stewards maitre D's, wine stewards were bragging about the ship and begging and cajoling us to mark surveys excellent. I actually heard our tablemates, loyal Celebrity cruisers, discuss the "Excellence of Celebrity. " I bit my tongue and did not verbalize to anyone on board what we really thought.