Princess v. Celebrity

[miched]

Both cruise lines have clean cabins, and ships. I don't think there is much of a difference in food. Always something that is appealing.

 

Princess as MUTS, Movies under Stars that is shown on a large LED screen in the pool area. It is a nice relaxing way to watch a movie as you lay on the lounge chairs, with pillows and blankets If needed.

 

Both have terriible coffee. If you want a decent cup of coffee you ahve to buy one from the coffee shop. Princess offers a coffee card, Celebrity has a package.

 

Princess may have better entertainment.

 

Celebrity has a stricter no smoking policy. If you smoke you may not like it.

 

Celebrity is more relaxing and a little quiter. The officers and staff are more visible, friendlier and interact more with the passengers. Capt Stubing is no longer on Princess.

 

No matter what you chose you should enjoy it. The advantage that Pricncess has in this case is that it is a longer cruise.

 

Happy cruising. 🚢🚢🇺🇸🌅

[OCruisers]

We also have and do cruise and like both Princess and Celebrity ... but we would pick Emerald Princess in a heartbeat. Love that ship! Some of our very best cruises have been on her. :)

LuLu

[Rogueperson]

 

 

 

Both have terriible coffee. If you want a decent cup of coffee you ahve to buy one from the coffee shop. Princess offers a coffee card, Celebrity has a package.

 

 

 

I think all cruise lines have the same instant coffee thing. Princess does give you free brewed coffee with the coffee card. Do they still do that?

 

The trick is to drink the coffee when it's hot. Let it cool too long and it becomes nasty.

 

 

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[jammen]

My daughter and I are looking at Feb. cruises with a travel agent. There is an Emerald Princess 7-nite Caribbean and a Celebrity Constellation 5-nite that we're considering. The Celebrity is a bit cheaper but only a couple of ports. I would prefer the Princess but have read some rather bad reviews in these forums regarding food, entertainment and cabins.This is our first cruise so we are being rather picky. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

If the Princess is cheaper for a 7 day, I would take this one. I'm sure you will have a good time. I never had any issues with Princess.

Have a great cruise. :)

[zodiac1]

We are Elite on Celebrity and just completed our first Princess Cruise last month. The food was as good or even better. The cabins were the same quality and entertainment was equal. The major difference for us was the Princess smoking policy. They allow smoking in the casino and also have a cigar lounge across from the casino. Both of these locations are near the Princess Theater and the Piazza. Cigarette and cigar smoke would drift into the theater and the Piazza. We won't be sailing Princess again until they change their smoking policy! If you are OK with smoke fumes, then give Princess a try.

[wallie5446]

Never had anything but porcelain plates anywhere:confused:

 

Well ... they aren't plastic ... but far from being true porcelain ...

 

If this keeps the cost down where we can afford to book, who cares?

[bachcruise]

For years we have thought that the food on X was superior to that on Princess. This was not so on our Century cruise earlier this month.

 

 

My experience exactly. While I found the food to be good overall on my recent Century cruise, it was very inconsistent and service in the MDR was terrible. We actually ate dinner in the buffet several nights because of it. The buffet wasn't great either but at least we could serve ourselves. My recent Princess cruises were better in every aspect. Never thought I'd be saying this because I've always been a big fan of Celebrity.

 

 

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[RDC1]

Hi,

 

IMHO you recognize the difference between Princess and Celebrity, whereas Celebrity is clearly the premium line.

 

Celebrity offers more nicities:

-fresh made items at the buffet, cooked to order

-porcelain plates

-sommeliers im main dining room

-lobster, frog legs and oysters at the formal nights

-piano or string quartett live in MDR

 

I also really liked Princess, but IHMO the standards are best comparable to those of Royal Caribbean - maybe this helps if you have experienced them...

 

Not sure when you were last on a Celebrity ship, but there was not live music in the MDR on the Solstice. there used to be but apparently not any more. There string quartets have been reduce to a string trio when you can find them around the ship (but not in the MDR). Other things have changed as well. MDR service was not any better than Princess. Found the dining room on the Solstice to be very noisy.

 

We sail. both Princess and Celebrity. Tended to favor Celebrity a few years ago, now favor Princess.

 

We also notice that per drink costs for specialty coffee, and most alcoholic drinks are lower on Princess than Celebrity. Drinks plans don't pencil out for us.

Edited September 19, 2014 by RDC1

[SeagoingMom]

Assuming you are flying to either cruise, I presume that you understand the differences in getting to the ports. The Princess cruise sails out of Bayport, which is 30 or 40 minutes from Houston-Hobby (the closest airport.) You must find a way to get from the airport to the cruise port. A Princess transfer is available, and there are private car services which you must prearrange. Both are a little pricy. Hotels close to the airport have free shuttles to the hotel but will not take you to the port. Hotels near the port often have free shuttles to the port, but will not pick you up from the airport.

 

Sailing out of Fort Lauderdale is an easier proposition. The airport is only a few minutes from the cruise port and taxis or shuttles are easily found, going to and from the port. Many local hotels have free shuttles from the airport and free or low cost shuttles to the port.

[MoyCoy]

To answer your question, take the princess cruise for the fact that you have 2 more days than the Celebrity cruise.

 

Other than that, these two cruise lines are very similar.

 

Food, I have to give the nod to Celebrity. Celebrity food has always been a notch above many other cruise line's i've been on. That being said, I've never really had a bad meal on any cruise ship, and Princess is a notch better than the other lines i've been on.

 

Entertainment. They're pretty much dead even here. It would be hard for me to choose.

 

Service: Again, dead even. I've only been on 1 princess cruise, but the room steward astounded me with his attentiveness and service. What's worst, I was a single occupant in a room, so my room means he was only getting 1/2 of the normal tip (I gave him a great bonus). Why? This particular cruise, my glasses fell apart. I have one of those pairs where the len is held to the frame by a fishwire. That wire slipped out of its casing and just needed to be reinserted, but needed some kind of precision tool to do so. I came back to my room, with his tools left on my desk as he attempted to fix it for me...without prompting. Ultimately, he failed, and fortunately, my eyesight is not that bad where I still enjoyed myself without my glasses, but very impressed nonetheless. I took it back to the store, and they fixed it in 5 minutes. Specialized tools.

 

Ship amenities. I found Celebrity to have better amenities, but I found Princess to have a better atmosphere onboard. There is an old world romantic feel to their ships.

 

If both cruises are absolutely equal. price, itinerary, length, dates. I would have a tough choice and probably end up going eenie meenie minie mo just to choose.

 

I normally sail Celebrity ,but enjoyed a 4 day cruise with my kids last March on Princess Sapphire . It was my first Princess cruise. I still prefer Celebrity, but will sail Princess in the future because they service the West Coast.

 

I don't think I got a full feel of the ships vibe because we were unable to stay out past 8 due to my toddlers bedtimes. Can you go in to detail about the atmosphere of Princess compared to Celebrity please. We are boarding the Grand Sunday without children for a 1 day. I wonder if my experience will be different.:rolleyes:

[MoyCoy]

We are Elite on Celebrity and just completed our first Princess Cruise last month. The food was as good or even better. The cabins were the same quality and entertainment was equal. The major difference for us was the Princess smoking policy. They allow smoking in the casino and also have a cigar lounge across from the casino. Both of these locations are near the Princess Theater and the Piazza. Cigarette and cigar smoke would drift into the theater and the Piazza. We won't be sailing Princess again until they change their smoking policy! If you are OK with smoke fumes, then give Princess a try.

 

I sailed Princess for the first time too in March. I agree with you assessment. I did miss having the option of having dinner from the MDR delivered to your stateroom though;) But I loved the expanded FREE movie options on the telly. My Husband and I are big movie buffs. We are still on the fence about MUTS though. I did like that Princess offered more activities (even though we experienced only a few)

[MoyCoy]

Not sure when you were last on a Celebrity ship, but there was not live music in the MDR on the Solstice. there used to be but apparently not any more. There string quartets have been reduce to a string trio when you can find them around the ship (but not in the MDR). Other things have changed as well. MDR service was not any better than Princess. Found the dining room on the Solstice to be very noisy.

 

We sail. both Princess and Celebrity. Tended to favor Celebrity a few years ago, now favor Princess.

 

We also notice that per drink costs for specialty coffee, and most alcoholic drinks are lower on Princess than Celebrity. Drinks plans don't pencil out for us.

 

I AGREE the noise on my Solstice cruise last year is the exact reason why I booked Aqua class this year . I did find dinning in the smaller MDR much more enjoyable;)

[Toddy709]

My last ten or so cruises have been on Princess. Needless to say, I'm a Princess fan. My next cruise is on Celebrity. I know that I will miss some of the things I like on Princess, and I'm also very confident that I will find some things I like better on Celebrity.

 

If this is your first cruise, you have nothing to compare it to, so I'm sure which ever line you choose, you will love.

 

The deciding factor for me would be the number of days. There is too much work, such as packing, traveling to the port, etc. for me to ever consider a cruise of less than 7 days!!

[miched]

I think all cruise lines have the same instant coffee thing. Princess does give you free brewed coffee with the coffee card. Do they still do that?

 

The trick is to drink the coffee when it's hot. Let it cool too long and it becomes nasty.

 

 

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Ig has been 2 years since I have been on Princess. I think the coffee punch card was around $30 for 14 espresso based drinks, don't really remember the exact price or amount of drinks but somewhere close to it. With the card you could get unlimited regular brewed coffee as long as you still had drink punches left. The card never expired and could be used on other cruises. Problem was passengers would continue to use the card and never use up the last punch to continue getting the free coffee. To stop this Princess now dates the card and the free coffee is only for the cruise that it was purchased on. The punches for the other drinks don't expire. More than one person can use the punches but only one is allowed to use it for free coffee, and that was also abused.

 

There are 2 sizes of reg coffee, small and large. We ordered a large for $1.99 and was given a small for $1.50. We tried to correct it and was told that you get free refills. We never purchased the coffee card.

 

Again this was 2 years ago. My numbers are probably off but close enough to give you an idea of how it works, but like many things it may have also changed.

 

I am sure that someone with more knowledge or up to date info will provide the correct numbers to make it more exact.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[BosoxI]

Never been on a cruise of any kind. I'm 74, in good health, and my daughter is 45. I mainly want to have a comfortable cabin, so we're looking at balcony cabins. I don't want to get sick so I want a clean ship and good food. The dining experience is important. As for entertainment, I'm more into relaxing, swimming, seeing movies and maybe a good show of some kind, no casinos. My daughter would probably enjoy dancing. She also likes snorkeling. I like sightseeing. I'm on a pretty tight budget but I do want to have a few drinks every now and then.

 

If the dining experience is paramount, I'd go with Princess. But that's my taste, which might not be yours. I don't think you can go wrong with either line. Six of one, half dozen of the other. I've been on more than 20 Princess cruises and 16 Celebrity voyages. It now comes down to itinerary and cost for me, as the plusses and minuses even out in all other respects.

Edited September 19, 2014 by BosoxI

[TomTN]

Both cruise lines have clean cabins, and ships. I don't think there is much of a difference in food. Always something that is appealing.

 

Princess as MUTS, Movies under Stars that is shown on a large LED screen in the pool area. It is a nice relaxing way to watch a movie as you lay on the lounge chairs, with pillows and blankets If needed. Worst thing ever on a cruise.:(

 

Both have terriible coffee. Amen If you want a decent cup of coffee you ahve to buy one from the coffee shop. Princess offers a coffee card, Celebrity has a package.

 

Princess may have better entertainment.

 

Celebrity has a stricter no smoking policy. If you smoke you may not like it. If you do not smoke it makes the cruise more enjoyable. I hate when my clothes like smoke.

 

Celebrity is more relaxing and a little quiter. The officers and staff are more visible, friendlier and interact more with the passengers. Capt Stubing is no longer on Princess.

 

No matter what you chose you should enjoy it. The advantage that Pricncess has in this case is that it is a longer cruise. And they have better pizza.:)

 

Happy cruising.

 

Good comparison.

[aikensbest]

We have cruised on ..and enjoyed...both lines Neither is way ahead of the other in customer service, food, entertainment, etc.

Being non smokers we enjoy the no smoking atmosphere in the casino on celebrity. However we definitely no not like Celebrity requesting payment for tours in advance of sailing, nor the request for prepayment of tips for anytime dining. Neither is necessary. We also miss the self service laundry on Princess when sailing Celebrity. I think the biggest negative we have with Celebrity, is if you get OBC, or specials offered you can only accept one. Not true with Princess. Princess also offers OBC for military service guaranteed and wonderful internet pkgs after a few cruises.

We have enjoyed the ships on both lines, and it still comes down to itinerary.

[Turbofun]

Never been on a cruise of any kind. I'm 74, in good health, and my daughter is 45. I mainly want to have a comfortable cabin, so we're looking at balcony cabins. I don't want to get sick so I want a clean ship and good food. The dining experience is important. As for entertainment, I'm more into relaxing, swimming, seeing movies and maybe a good show of some kind, no casinos. My daughter would probably enjoy dancing. She also likes snorkeling. I like sightseeing. I'm on a pretty tight budget but I do want to have a few drinks every now and then.

 

Why the angst?. You won't know what a cruise entails until you try one, so, just pick the itinerary that most appeals and book it.

 

The lines you ask about?, well, each will have positives and negatives, as do all lines. Until you have directly experienced the lines you won't know.

 

All the reading of reviews you might do will never provide your truth.

 

I'm a bit younger than you at 66 and my wife is 62, we only started cruising just over three years ago and have been on nine and not one bad one, all picked for itinerary. Never either been ill and always been entertained, usually by our table companions at dinner such that the food is not of major concern. A trip to a speciality restaurant could provide a finer experience if that's your desire.

 

You have to appreciate that the major cruise lines are now providing mass market holidays, not the exclusive ones that the past image of cruising implies. For that there are lines that do provide true old style service but that costs.

 

Lastly, try to do solo that which cruise lines do for the prices they charge.

 

Just do it.

Edited September 20, 2014 by Turbofun

[catugirl]

As you have surmised by now, if you ask a bunch of different people their opinions of cruise lines, you will get a bunch of different opinions! So I will put in my two cents worth, too!

 

We love both lines, and it comes down to what qualities are more important to you. We have to give edge to Princess for MDR (food quality, atmosphere--less chaotic, service). The cabins on Celebrity are nicer and have a couch. Princess has Movies Under the Stars, which we enjoyed. Celebrity has more contemporary decor,; whereas, Princess decor is more classic and traditional. We like the entertainment a bit better on Princess, but it's not that much different. The prices of specialty restaurants are less expensive on Princess; however, Celebrity has a larger number of specialty restaurants. Alcohol is less expensive on Princess. Shops on Celebrity are more expensive. Whichever line you choose, you will NOT have a bad cruise. Once you cruise once, you will be hooked like the rest of us!

[catugirl]

Oh, I almost forgot...Princess has self-service laundry facilities, but Celebrity does not. Both lines have full-service laundry and dry cleaning (for a fee). Celebrity has an indoor pool, but Princess does not on most of their ships.

[shipfriend_max]

Not sure when you were last on a Celebrity ship, but there was not live music in the MDR on the Solstice. there used to be but apparently not any more. There string quartets have been reduce to a string trio when you can find them around the ship (but not in the MDR). Other things have changed as well. MDR service was not any better than Princess. Found the dining room on the Solstice to be very noisy.

 

Hi,

 

my last Celebrity cruise was in April 2014 in Summit. They offered all the things I have mentioned.

I must say, that the service in MDR on Summit was better than service on Emerald Princess on MDR - but the latter one was not bad, mostly a matter of waiter you get.

I must say that even the service on Liberty of the Seas (RCI) was better than on Princess.

I really also liked Princess, and I would book them again. But:

Just my opinion: Princess is the RCI with older passengers (50+).

Expect for chocolate on the pillows and bath sets (RCI and X balcony staterooms and above), Princess is not really better and a step above than RCI...

Edited September 20, 2014 by celebrity_fan

[SeagoingMom]

My last ten or so cruises have been on Princess. Needless to say, I'm a Princess fan. My next cruise is on Celebrity. I know that I will miss some of the things I like on Princess, and I'm also very confident that I will find some things I like better on Celebrity.

 

If this is your first cruise, you have nothing to compare it to, so I'm sure which ever line you choose, you will love.

 

The deciding factor for me would be the number of days. There is too much work, such as packing, traveling to the port, etc. for me to ever consider a cruise of less than 7 days!!

May I ask what those things are, specifically? Thanks!