Princess vs Celebrity, my personal opinions....

[Ebvette]

So I was part of the group on the "Concerts at Seas" Rock and Roll Cruise on the Caribbean Princess that departed Bayport Houston on 18 Jan, returning on 25 Jan 2014. Thought I would compare my own experiences between Celebrity and Princess lines. Not bad mouthing any of the cruise lines, just expressing my impressions and experiences between the two.

 

Background,

 

In the past I have had 2 cruises with Celebrity, well over 23 Cruises serving on US Coast Guard Cutters in the North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, and had a job where I went on fishing boats installing Loran C equipment for extended fishing on Georges Bank in the Atlantic, so I know my way around ships both military and commercial.

 

But I want to focus this on the Cruise on Princess Lines as to the Cruise on Celebrity. Let me make it clear, we enjoyed our cruise with Princess Lines, and found everybody on the crew friendly and efficient, but just want to provide you my personal feeling on the two cruise lines.....

 

Positives:

 

Specifically about the Caribbean Princess, a very nice ship. I loved the fact that Princess ships have so many pools, deck chairs, and especially smaller bars, and several dinning rooms that you can attend while at sea.

We found the ship to be very clean, fairly well maintained, and our cabin girl (Mary Ann) was very prompt and kept the room very clean. We certainly lucked out, regarding our weather and sea conditions, although the ship was late leaving by three hours due to a scrub down for the Noro Virus, we still managed to board quickly by 3:30 PM, and ship was underway leaving dockside by 6:20 PM. We made all three port of calls, and I found booking and paying for the excursions easy, as you paid once on board the ship, so you did not have to pay in advance. Love the Ice Cream and Pizza bars. We celebrated our 20th Anniversary, they provided two balloons, a card, and a sticker on the cabin door. Liked the little international café that served soup, light meals, and deserts.

 

Now about the Celebrity Cruises: We book the Aqua Class, which has many different options, that includes something like the Serenity Area, that is included, and my review is based on the Aqua Class, that Princess does not have. Celebrities Aqua Class provides only that class with your own Dinning room called BLU. Aqua Class cost includes the following, every day a bowl of fresh fruit, bottled water, fresh flowers, hors d'oeuvres, and also, day you leave port a cold bottle of champagne on ice in your room, room scent, many spa items in the bath, bigger shower with six to eight shower heads. plush terry cloth robs, and slippers, and larger staterooms than Princess staterooms, and much larger bathrooms and showers. We celebrate our anniversary on Celebrity, they provided a cake and bottle of Champagne with card, with chocolate covered strawberries, no additional cost. Celebrity Captain was out an about the floor during the evenings, meeting the passengers, very available as well as the executive officer. Immediately when you board Celebrity you are handed a glass of Champagne or Orange juice, and once in the dinning room before you leave the port you can purchase a special mixed drink, both with liquor or without, and keep the glass. Layout of the ship was much easier to remember and get around, not as many pools, but had larger putting green on real grass. When you return from a day in port Celebrity has set up as you board a tent that contains cold water, fruit juice, and cold washcloths. Although trivial, towels made into animals several times during the cruise, a novelty, but still nice to see and experience. On board TV, you could order many movies in your room, more selection of programing, including more news and weather channels. Although you paid $15.00 per head, you had a very nice afternoon tea. More people engaged in Formal Night than what I witnessed on the Caribbean Princess. Prices for onboard activities much cheaper, including mix drinks, wine, and specialty restaurants, were cheaper. Two toot bags, one for each person, plus little flashlights, and couple other free things. A set of binoculars in the room for your use. Much more on the room service menu to choose from, especially the breakfast menu. Everyplace on the ship you had hand wash stations to clean your hands, only seen them in the dinning areas on the Princess ship. Celebrity had many more waiters, both in the common areas and on the deck.

 

 

Disappointments:

 

For the Princess Cruise, never saw the captain, executive officer, or any other high ranking officer the entire cruise. No champagne at all, none when you board, nothing in your room, nothing at all. Paid more for my balcony state room that I did for the Celebrity balcony state room with the extra Aqua Class. Food was fair, not bad, nothing to brag about. Stateroom was small, bath was a closet, closet was decent, and storage was decent. Balcony was good size. Bed mattress, felt the springs, so I assume mattress was well worn. No extras, one tot bag was provided. The shops had limited sizes on clothes, for example I wanted to buy a Princess Cruise polo shirt, only had sizes small and medium in men's, asked if they will be getting larger sizes, told no. Clothes seemed to be very overpriced, especially anything related to Princess Line Logo. Other stores had good stock, good brands. Drinks and wine seemed to be very very expensive, I don't recall paying as much on the Celebrity Line for mixed drinks or glass of wine. Price of cruise was very high compared to Celebrity, and seemed like you got less. Photographs that were taken was VERY expensive at $25/ 8X10/photo...only bought a couple because of the price. When you return back to the ship from being out on a day in port, no greeting by crew, no smile, just show me IDs. I could only find ice tea in the buffet top deck, nothing in bars, as I don't drink liquor, I had to settle for either tap water, or orange juice, OJ was not fresh but from a concentrate mixed by bartender. Had to ask for ice in my room several times. Sent laundry out on two occasions, both time had to call to get it sent to room, arrived late by several hours. TV was in corner on top of high shelve with limited visibility from the bed, remote never seemed to work right. Too much Trivia. Formal Night was really not enforced and few actually went formal, many shorts and t-shirts, very few tuxes and formal gowns. Princess seems to be much more laxed and less formal than Celebrity. Very limited choices on the room service menu, especially the breakfast menu. Celebrity had three times the choices for all types of meals and snacks for room service.

 

Celebrity Cruise disappointments: Seems like you could never get a deck chair, as they only had a couple of swimming pools. Limited deck space to walk around, most of the area was inside the ship. Many of the bars are in the open, not in rooms like Princess, making it not so personal, seems like you have many people always walking by. I really can not think of many more disappointments with Celebrity, departed on time, arrived back in port on time. Ice Cream was limited on the Celebrity ships and seemed to run out, closed the ice cream bar early by 7:00 PM they seem to run out of ice cream both hard and soft.

 

Overall, I enjoyed both cruises, but feel Celebrity is a much better cruiseline and offers many more options than Princess. Think in the future I will try Holland (sister to Princess Lines), or go back to Celebrity.

 

Look, these are my own feeling and based on how I was treated and what was received by both cruise lines. You may not agree, but again these are my impressions. So for my own choice, I like Celebrity.

[avalon1025]

Thanks for the honest review, and I agree with many of your points. Nothing in this price point really beats Aqua Class on the Solstice class ships, its a fantastic value and feels like an upgraded experience even on a mass market ship. My last 5 cruises on Celebrity have been in AQ and loved every one.

 

Never loved Princess, althrough Elite on them, I find myself very bored with their ships and experience. I know people love them, but its often for the reasons I dislike them: Every ship looks exactly the same in decor (80's pastels), the food is the same, its a beige and bland cruise, nothing to upset anyone and in the end just comes out all blah (to me)

Edited January 30, 2014 by avalon1025

[kelmac]

Hey Mac,

 

(I'm a Mac too) I would agree with you on almost every point! We just did a November cruise on the Golden Princess (mini-suite) and a December cruise on Celebrity Century (inside cabin).

Cabins are not a big deal to us, and the Golden mini-suite was pretty large, but brown on brown, with a touch of ugly. Our inside cabin was great, but the A/C is not the best on deck 12 of the Century.

Princess felt crowded; food was so so; dining rooms small and many servers just standing around; never saw any officers; room steward was great; felt like one of the herd.

Celebrity feels less crowded; food was excellent everywhere; dining room was open and modern; better service; officers where everywhere and approachable; Celebrity has a way of making us feel special on every cruise; we made our ninth visit to the Captain's table.

 

I wish Celebrity would design their ships with a complete wrap around promenade deck!!! Other than that, we prefer Celebrity's modern, open designs. The S-class of ships are the best design of any ship I've sailed on.

 

Princess, HAL and NCL have some great itineraries, but I'm not going to be sailing on any of their ships in the near future. Perhaps, we will give them a try down the road?? Azamara, Oceania, Celebrity and Cunard would be a pretty good rotation. Maybe an occasional Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I did an 8 night Celebrity cruise in May and then a 10 night Princess cruise in July. I had such a great time on both vessels, that I honestly can't remember which one I had more fun on! They were both great and there were more similarities than differences.

 

Princess: I LOVE the pools, hot tubs and MUTS and Princess excels here.

 

Staterooms are more attractive on Celebrity. Closet space is better on Princess. Beds are better on Celebrity

 

Musician in lounges- Princess

 

Entertainment I would give a slight edge to Princess. Loved the crew show on Princess! It was fabulous. Kudos to the entertainment staff.

 

Games and trivia- Princess was better for this but Celebrity isn't far behind.

 

Library- Princess

 

Food- tough call here. I don't like the MDR on Celebrity-too big and noisy. More intimate MDR venues on Princess. Specialty restaurants are good on both.

 

Buffet- definitely Celebrity, hands down. More selection, better set up and free juice and punch.

 

Service- definitely Celebrity. The champagne and friendly faces upon boarding really sets the stage for sophisticated ambiance.

 

Overall coming away feeling like a valued customer- Celebrity

[smtcan]

We are Elite+ with Celebrity and it is our line of choice. We have not tried Aqua class, so cannot comment on that. We have cruised twice with Princess, and in August will be cruising the Baltic on Royal Princess. The choice of cruise line was made by our travel companions. When we saw an offer from Princess to sail on their 5 day Ruby Caribbean itineraries and have the full cruise price as a credit against a future sailing it seemed too good to miss. We booked two five days B2B.

 

We did not have very high expectations but were pleasantly surprised. We had a comfortable stateroom with a huge balcony (more than twice the size of the tiny bathroom). Service was equally as good as Celebrity, but the food was a notch or two lower, although desserts were outstanding.

 

We were surprised to have cool towels and iced water offered when we boarded at ports. We loved lunch at the International cafe, which had salads and pastries as well as special coffees and teas. The coffee card suited us well. We had room service breakfast most mornings and a highlight was the Ultimate Balcony Dinner where for $100 per couple we were served a delicious dinner on our balcony, with a cocktail each, a bottle of wine (or a half bottle of champagne) a floral arrangement and an 8x10 photo of the occasion. We enjoyed that so much that we have gifted our son and his wife the same experience on the Baltic Cruise.

 

We did not like the buffet set up, which was confusing and led to long waits, or the plastic plates used there. We really felt a lack of day time activities since we had five sea days but this may have been a feature of short cruises. We enjoyed Movies under the Stars at night, but did not like the noise it created all day when concerts were played. The evening entertainment was somewhat disappointing. There was no stage band, just canned music tracks.

 

All in all, we were satisfied with our cruise and look forward to the Royal experience in the summer, even more now that we have just over half the cost of that cruise in our accounts as credits. Celebrity will still be our first choice and we are just in the process of choosing another cruise before the Canadian Dollar drops any more.

 

Sheila

[TomTN]

Hey Mac,

 

(I'm a Mac too) I would agree with you on almost every point! We just did a November cruise on the Golden Princess (mini-suite) and a December cruise on Celebrity Century (inside cabin).

Cabins are not a big deal to us, and the Golden mini-suite was pretty large, but brown on brown, with a touch of ugly. Our inside cabin was great, but the A/C is not the best on deck 12 of the Century.

Princess felt crowded; food was so so; dining rooms small and many servers just standing around; never saw any officers; room steward was great; felt like one of the herd.

Celebrity feels less crowded; food was excellent everywhere; dining room was open and modern; better service; officers where everywhere and approachable; Celebrity has a way of making us feel special on every cruise; we made our ninth visit to the Captain's table.

 

I wish Celebrity would design their ships with a complete wrap around promenade deck!!! Other than that, we prefer Celebrity's modern, open designs. The S-class of ships are the best design of any ship I've sailed on.

 

Princess, HAL and NCL have some great itineraries, but I'm not going to be sailing on any of their ships in the near future. Perhaps, we will give them a try down the road?? Azamara, Oceania, Celebrity and Cunard would be a pretty good rotation. Maybe an occasional Royal Caribbean cruise.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Come on, "Brown on Brown with a touch of ugly". I thought their decor was beige?

 

Yep, It seems like everyone who experiences a Promenade Deck like the ones on HAL loves them. They are relaxing, and provide a great place to get in that daily walk.

Edited January 30, 2014 by TomBeckCruise

[KKB]

After 5 Princess cruises we will be trying Celebrity for the first time. Princess was our first cruise (the one that got us "hooked"!), so will always be near & dear...

We did prefer Princess to RCCL's Mariner of the Seas but Allure of the Seas is our fav ship of all.

Looking forward to Celebrity--and we have "splurged" for AQ. We have always had good meals in all MDRs, but GREAT meals in specialty restaurants (except Princess...it was fine, just not worth the extra $)

As with all the lines we've traveled, it appears each has some things we like better than others...and things we like less.

But almost any cruise is better than working! (yep, even had noro on DCL & severe seasickness on NYEve last year...)

5 weeks to go! WOO HOO!

[kelmac]

Come on, "Brown on Brown with a touch of ugly". I thought their decor was beige?

 

Yep, It seems like everyone who experiences a Promenade Deck like the ones on HAL loves them. They are relaxing, and provide a great place to get in that daily walk.

 

LOL!:) That would be ugly beige! The Queen Mary 2, now that's a promenade deck!! HAL's are pretty good too!!

 

Kel

[CathyCruises]

We sailed Princess (Sapphire) with DH's family who have never cruised before. I was so disappointed in the ship, felt very closed in, the décor was awful/tacky, the public rooms so separated--I was very unhappy.

 

It's S class or equivalent for me from here on.

 

OTOH we did sail Tahitian Princess and I liked that, thought it was perfect for that itinerary.

[Waihekean]

I did an 8 night Celebrity cruise in May and then a 10 night Princess cruise in July. I had such a great time on both vessels, that I honestly can't remember which one I had more fun on! They were both great and there were more similarities than differences.

Princess: I LOVE the pools, hot tubs and MUTS and Princess excels here.

Staterooms are more attractive on Celebrity. Closet space is better on Princess. Beds are better on Celebrity

Musician in lounges- Princess

Entertainment I would give a slight edge to Princess. Loved the crew show on Princess! It was fabulous. Kudos to the entertainment staff.

Games and trivia- Princess was better for this but Celebrity isn't far behind. Library- Princess

Food- tough call here. I don't like the MDR on Celebrity-too big and noisy. More intimate MDR venues on Princess. Specialty restaurants are good on both.

Buffet- definitely Celebrity, hands down. More selection, better set up and free juice and punch.

Service- definitely Celebrity. The champagne and friendly faces upon boarding really sets the stage for sophisticated ambiance.

Overall coming away feeling like a valued customer- Celebrity

======================================================

This is so close to what my opinions would be.

First cruise was on Dawn Princess, so dear to our heart. Liked the MDR better on Princess due to the more intimate atmosphere and so far with Celebrity I have requested 3x to be seated a a table for 8, but every time ended up at a table for 2 in a stink spot. Find pools and bars are a lot better on Princess.

 

Celebrity has great cabins and bathrooms and really like the oversized balconies. Cabin attendants have just been marvellous, but where X really wins with me is that I can book via an American TA. Which means that the balcony fares are half the price from Princess:)

[drarill]

Thanks for your honest and great review. :):):)

[junglejane]

We sailed Princess (Sapphire) with DH's family who have never cruised before. I was so disappointed in the ship, felt very closed in, the décor was awful/tacky, the public rooms so separated--I was very unhappy.

 

It's S class or equivalent for me from here on.

 

OTOH we did sail Tahitian Princess and I liked that, thought it was perfect for that itinerary.

 

It just goes to show that people have different tastes. We loved our cruises on the Equinox and Silhouette and are booked on the Silhouette again for Xmas. We are definitely fans of the S-class ships. But we've also been on the Sapphire Princess 3 times and love that ship as well. We picked our Christmas cruise on the Silhouette for the itinerary. Last time we were in Aqua Class but this time it's too expensive for 4 people so we're in connecting 2C balconies for our family of 4. But I would happily return to the Sapphire Princess for the right itinerary.

[NearEnough]

Have cruised on a few cruise lines, and am about to undertake my first Celebrity cruise in October this year. Am elite with Princess so can't go past the free laundry here. Am looking forward to the Ceebrity cruise. Only have one comment for the original poster - there is no such thing as "too much trivia"!!!:eek:

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Hi I'm Rebecca and I'm a trivia addict:)

[rigs32]

To be fair, you were on a chartered cruise with Princess, weren't you? You were on a Princess ship, but a charter runs very differently than a normal cruise.

 

And of course you paid a lot more because of the extra entertainment. I think a better comparison is one based on the price of a normal Princess cruise cabin.

 

I also do charter cruises and I know I will pay more. I sure expect my money's worth, but that expectation is mainly placed on the charter company, with certain expectations for the host ship.

[Cruise Junky]

Am I reading your review right? Are you saying that you think Celebrity's specialty restaurants are cheaper than Princess?

[Coloradocruiser01]

Although this will be my 1st S Class cruise on Celebrity, I have found the main differences between the two cruise lines to be the level of space per person on the Celebrity ships and the small personal details that make a vacation special. Both cruise lines provide a memorable experience. I can't wait to check out the Reflection!

Edited January 31, 2014 by Coloradocruiser01

[ratacake]

G'Day Nearenough,

 

From one Aussie to another - hope you had a great Australia Day!

 

Also a Trivia lover here, and going on the 30th October cruise.

 

Hope we can get together for a pint! :)

Kind regards,

Ratacake and Rors

[Hlitner]

Found this thread interesting. DW and I have cruised many different lines (14) and are Elite Plus with Celebrity and Elite with Princess. We recently finished a cruise on the Eclipse and our next cruise (in April) is on the Ruby Princess. To be very honest, we have a difficult time comparing the two lines since much depends on the actual ships. We do agree with the comment about the Celebrity S Class ships being one of the best designs of any ship we have cruises (and its more then 65 different ships). We truly hate MUTS which we think should be turned-off during the daytime and take its name "Movies Under the Stars" literally. We really like the Caribe Deck balconies on the Grand Class ships (Princess) and think that Princess Pizza is the best at sea (and better then most pizza on land). But Celebrity does have some of the best ice cream at sea (all made on the ships). Entertainment is hit and miss on both lines although if forced to choose we would probably lean towards Princess.

 

We have cruised in Aqua Class on 3 cruises and do enjoy this style of cruising. Princess does not have anything to compare (nor do any other line) so I guess we will have to just say that Aqua is what it is. But dining in Blu is like being on a more upscale luxury ship where you dine in a small restaurant and go to dinner whenever you please. The extra amenities in the cabin are really no big deal for us...and we should note that many of the Aqua Class Cabins (on S Class ships) are actually in a pretty lousy location directly under the pool deck with a balcony totally covered by the huge superstructure of the pool deck overhang. One must tip their hat to the smart Celebrity folks who figured out a way to charge more money for regular cabins in a lousy location.

 

Hank

[Viva_la_Vida]

I appreciate your explanation of the Aqua Class. I didn't really understand the vast cost difference before, but I get it now. Now if someone could only explain the nuances of Concierge class so well. . .:confused:

 

Great review, thanks again!

[The_Big_M]

I appreciate your explanation of the Aqua Class. I didn't really understand the vast cost difference before, but I get it now. Now if someone could only explain the nuances of Concierge class so well. . .:confused:

 

Great review, thanks again!

 

Aqua class is the next step above Concierge, so Concierge has most of his extras but not all.

 

From his description:

"Aqua Class cost includes the following, every day a bowl of fresh fruit, bottled water, fresh flowers, hors d'oeuvres, and also, day you leave port a cold bottle of champagne on ice in your room, room scent, many spa items in the bath, bigger shower with six to eight shower heads. plush terry cloth robs, and slippers, and larger staterooms than Princess staterooms, and much larger bathrooms and showers"

 

you could say

"Concierge Class cost includes the following, every day a bowl of fresh fruit, fresh flowers, hors d'oeuvres, and also, day you leave port a cold bottle of champagne on ice in your room, plush terry cloth robs, and slippers, and larger staterooms than Princess staterooms, and much larger bathrooms and showers"

 

Which shows that Aqua class has the extra...

"bottled water, room scent, many spa items in the bath, bigger shower with six to eight shower heads."

 

Note that on top, Aqua class also has Blu dining room, as he mentioned separately, and access to the relaxation room in the spa.

[simon stingray]

We truly hate MUTS which we think should be turned-off during the daytime and take its name "Movies Under the Stars" literally.

 

Hank

 

Couldn't agree with you more.

 

On the one Princess cruise we have taken (Crown Princess), this was the thing we disliked the most.

 

Why would anyone want to spend Christmas Day in the Carribbean (sea day) watching a huge TV with the volume so loud, that it was difficult to have a conversation with the rest of the group:confused:

 

Whilst overall we enjoyed our time on Princess, I felt that there were too many small issues we did not like for us to return to Princess anytime soon.

 

I guess we appreciate X more now:)

[sunshine nana]

We have been on both Princess and Celebrity. We think they are both great as far as cabins service and food. We thought entertainment was better on Princess and we really like the size and layout of the mini-suite. Celebrity cabins are smaller unless you pay a lot more for a suite.

What we thought was a big disappointment on Princess had to do with getting off and on the ships at ports. We were really turned off by Princess in St. Petersburg when those with private excursions were lied to repeatedly about being allowed to exit the ship and being held back for way too long.This was in 2009 and I hope it has changed. On our Princess British Isles cruise in 2011, there was only one door open when we returned to the ship on Guernsey and we stood in the hot sun for over an hour. On our most recent Princess cruise into the Panama Canal in 2013, there was a huge delay in exiting the ship, long lines and a lot of confusion as again there was only one exit open. Everyone was on a Princess excursion for the canal stop, so they must have known how many were getting off.

I'm sure we will go on Princess again, but it just seems that on the three cruises mentioned, no one was in charge. Celebrity just seems to be better organized.

[maxsales]

I appreciate your explanation of the Aqua Class. I didn't really understand the vast cost difference before, but I get it now. Now if someone could only explain the nuances of Concierge class so well. . .:confused:

 

Great review, thanks again!

 

Foot stools!:)

[miched]

I am a little confused about each person recieving a tote bag and then the flashlight thing.

 

I have been in AQ many times on different ships and we never got 2 totes or a flashlight must be something new since we sailed in Nov 2013.

 

Other than that a few years ago we were on the Ruby Princess. Nice ship but I like the Celebrity brand much better and I think the OP covered most of the differences. One thing that Princess has in its favor is the coffee card but it is not enough to get me back.

 

 

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