Silhouette vs. Princess Regal or Emerald

[Madio]

We are planning a Xmas cruise and are debating between these 3 ships. Have only cruised Princess before, but have heard Celebrity food is better. Is that true? Confused about the extra charges in restos, and for which areas. Want to have a good time w/o feeling nickel and dimed to death. Sounds like Silhouette has re-appropriated previously free areas and made them exclusive…if so, how much has this impacted the overall experience? We would probably only eat in specialty rests one or two nights.

[sunshine nana]

We have been on all three. All are great. There is no problem with the new suite class restaurant if you are not in a suite. You won't notice. Go with the best itinerary, cabin and price.

[chamima]

We've sailed on the Celebrity Eclipse, Solstice and Equinox (which are like the Silhouette), the Royal (sister to Regal) and the Emerald.

We like different things on each ship.

The indoor Solarium pool on Celebrity is great for inclement weather (and is free).

The specialty restaurants on Celebrity are a lot more expensive ($45-50 vs. $25) as are the drinks and specialty coffees.

We don't eat meat but people who do say it's better on Celebrity. Pastas and desserts better on Princess.

 

That said, all 3 are great. If price and itinerary were similar I'd go with the Regal.

We LOVED Alfredos and all of the action in the Piazza.

The buffet is huge and has so many options.

Tons of varied entertainment all day and evening.

If you are getting a balcony cabin do some research because most are very small but not all of them.

[cynbar]

Celebrity food used to be a step up on Princess, but I don't think it is anymore. We cruise both lines and enjoy them both. Silhouette has a more modern feel, Princess is warmer in decor and more traditional. Celebrity seems to have gone to a class system for dining --- suite passengers have a separate dining room, Aqua Class cruisers eat in Blu, and the rest eat in the MDR either in Traditional or Select. Part of the MDR was taken away to form the new suite room, which some reports say has led to longer lines for Select diners. Celebrity has several specialty restaurants but they run $45-$50 pp, more expensive than Princess. Anyway, it depends on if you are put off by all of this. But if not, give Celebrity a try , they put out a great product. We find it a little bring to always sail the same line, too many similarities from cruise to cruise.

[royalcruz]

I've been on all 3 and would choose Silhouette, in fact I have. :)

You should try it just to see how you feel about it. Celebrity is very classy without being pretentious or expensive. The specialty dining is more expensive, but Murano is better than any experience I've had on Princess, and Qsine is fun and creative. I've heard some excellent jazz bands in Ensemble. The pool loungers are really comfortable, as they are all padded. Celebrity ships are large, but still feel intimate. Yes, there are extras you can pay for, but you won't find the staff pushing the upsell too much.

 

I loved the buffet on Regal. It was really hard to find a deck chair in the shade around the pool; we had to go out at 8:30 AM, and even then we couldn't get one sometimes. There is a nice adult pool area, but it's usually too windy there. Some of the shows on Regal are spectacular. The balconies are really shallow, but you can find some that are bigger. The wine bar is really nice. The ship is oddly designed, all chopped up, so it's disorienting.

 

Emerald is a really nice ship. I like the MUTS area a lot.

[lespetites]

We are planning a Xmas cruise and are debating between these 3 ships. Have only cruised Princess before, but have heard Celebrity food is better. Is that true? Confused about the extra charges in restos, and for which areas. Want to have a good time w/o feeling nickel and dimed to death. Sounds like Silhouette has re-appropriated previously free areas and made them exclusive…if so, how much has this impacted the overall experience? We would probably only eat in specialty rests one or two nights.

Hi, my husband and I have sailed both, we prefer the Silhouette.. Princess ships are lovely but I look at them as decorated tastefully, but like a Las Vegas casino.. Lots of gold and brass and tile etc.. The Silhouette is more like the Ritz Carleton.. more low key warm and with lots of art and open rooms aboard.. The reg balcony rooms are configured differently and I prefer Celebrity's configuration better... I don't need all that room for a dressing area...as Princess has.. The Silhouette cabin uses the Princess dressing room area as living space so you can have a sofa for more comfortable seating..They both have the same hang space. Also I think Celebrity's balcony is a little bigger.

On the Silhouette you can't believe how beautiful the top deck with the lawn and sunset bar is to have an afternoon drink or to just go up to seat and enjoy the view or to read... We also have rented one of the cabanas on occasion and have enjoyed that experience immensely. You get an iPad to play around with and full steward service and snacks ... for about 8 hrs.. very relaxing.

 

As far as the specialty dining is concerned you don't need to eat in any of them to have a wonderful meal... Celebrity is better in the MDR than Princess... We were on a 10 day Princess cruise and only ate in the MDR twice.. The first formal night because we thought it would be special because it was formal night and it was not.. Then we tried it 4 days later and it wasn't any better so we alternated between the steak house and Sabatino's...both are very nice and the food was delicious but the menu is limited and we were starting to repeat what we ordered. We usually eat in the MDR on Celebrity and go to the speciality restaurants on occasion but have always had a fantastic meal... The menus are less limited and more diverse than Princess... but they are more expensive so we only do it for special occasions because the MDR is quite good..ps ( Celebrity makes the very very best creme brullee) if you like that sort of thing. I agree with another post that said Princess ships were confusing.. its up, down over etc.. and there are more closed in public rooms than open spaces like on the Silhouette most of the public rooms are open and not closed in by walls. We have been on a number of Princess cruises because we live in So Calif. and enjoy going for a quick 7 or 10 day cruise without flying.. (we did fly when we went on the Regal) If we want something special and don't mind flying we choose Celebrity or Azamara.. One other thing... both ships are close to the same size.. Regal....1082 ft by 126 and the Silhouette 1047 ft by 121, but the Regal carries 3600 passengers while the Silhouette carries 2886... That's 700 passengers difference.. if that means anything to you... Sorry this was so long.. All in all I don't think you will have a bad time on either ship.. I just think you might like to try something different and would like the new experience of the Silhouette... Good cruising whichever one you choose...

Edited June 26, 2015 by lespetites
bad wording

[Grandma Gilly]

I haven't sailed on Celebrity for a few years although have one upcoming next April. Sailed on Emerald Princess last May. The food was awful. I've never experienced such bad cuisine ever.

Edited June 26, 2015 by Grandma Gilly

[We're The Groupnors]

We have sailed Silhouette and Emerald, and like both ships and lines, but have been sticking with Celebrity lately as we like the ships better, and think the food and service are both a serious notch up on Celebrity. If the price and itinerary were better on Princess we would go with them, but if those two items are similar we would choose Celebrity.