Princess or X which one is right for us?

[NOSaints1]

To give you a little info on us, we're in our mid 30s, no kids. Only have gone on 3 Carnival cruise and one upcoming RC cruise, we like dining, entertainment, my DW likes the Spa, were not into dressing up.

 

Some places we would be interested in visiting is Alaska, Pacific Coastal, Canada New England, my questions are does Celebrity do Pacific Coastal? How does Celebrity compare to Princess for Alaska. Are the pools crowded on sea days, what's the average age of the cruiser on either X or Princess and what cruiseline might be the best fit for us.

[Kamloops50]

To give you a little info on us, we're in our mid 30s, no kids. Only have gone on 3 Carnival cruise and one upcoming RC cruise, we like dining, entertainment, my DW likes the Spa, were not into dressing up.

 

Some places we would be interested in visiting is Alaska, Pacific Coastal, Canada New England, my questions are does Celebrity do Pacific Coastal? How does Celebrity compare to Princess for Alaska. Are the pools crowded on sea days, what's the average age of the cruiser on either X or Princess and what cruiseline might be the best fit for us.

 

The average of both of then is in the 50's. Celebrity doesn't do coastal's except to re-position their ships. Princess has at least two or three ships that do coastal's . My preference is Princess , we are going on our first X cruise in 10 days. We have had people suggest X to us .

Edited September 2, 2015 by Kamloops50

[Cruise Junky]

Alaska and pacific coastal do Princess. We prefer the S class ships of Celebrity to the Grand class of Princess but both are very good. Dress code is the same on both. Some Princess ships have covered pools, I think all celebrity ships do.

[riclop]

We did 1 X cruise and that was enough for us , very boring.

[ggprincess2004]

For Alaska choose Princess. They simply have it down. No one does it better.

 

As for the rest, some itineraries are going to be available on one line or the other, and actually the two lines are pretty similar. I think it comes down to personal preference so my recommendation is to give them both a try and see which one you like better.

[OCruisers]

Both Princess and Celebrity are both nice cruise lines.

Princess, while in no way is a party ship, it's is way less boring than X! :D

 

LuLu

[Colo Cruiser]

To give you a little info on us, we're in our mid 30s, no kids. Only have gone on 3 Carnival cruise and one upcoming RC cruise, we like dining, entertainment, my DW likes the Spa, were not into dressing up.

 

Some places we would be interested in visiting is Alaska, Pacific Coastal, Canada New England, my questions are does Celebrity do Pacific Coastal? How does Celebrity compare to Princess for Alaska. Are the pools crowded on sea days, what's the average age of the cruiser on either X or Princess and what cruiseline might be the best fit for us.

 

 

Lots of recent Celebrity comparison threads....

 

Here is one......

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2252427&highlight=celebrity

[GUT2407]

To give you a little info on us, we're in our mid 30s, no kids. Only have gone on 3 Carnival cruise and one upcoming RC cruise, we like dining, entertainment, my DW likes the Spa, were not into dressing up.

 

Some places we would be interested in visiting is Alaska, Pacific Coastal, Canada New England, my questions are does Celebrity do Pacific Coastal? How does Celebrity compare to Princess for Alaska. Are the pools crowded on sea days, what's the average age of the cruiser on either X or Princess and what cruiseline might be the best fit for us.

 

 

At 30 Celebrity may be a better ft than Princess, they tend to have a bit more nightlife.

[Working 2 Cruise]

At 30 Celebrity may be a better ft than Princess, they tend to have a bit more nightlife.

 

That's not what I heard!

[GUT2407]

That's not what I heard!

 

 

Not sure what you heard, but its what I've experienced.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...Celebrity doesn't do coastal's except to re-position their ships...

 

They actually do one or two "one-off" coastals every year. In fact, there is a 9-night San Francisco R/T leaving this week. There is also an 11-night San Diego R/T scheduled for next year.

[Coral]

For Alaska, you will want to do Princess. They can go to Glacier Bay and Celebrity can not.

[Josy1953]

At 30 Celebrity may be a better ft than Princess, they tend to have a bit more nightlife.

 

We were on the Eclipse in June and it certainly did not have more nightlife than Princess though we did find that their shows tended to be better that Princess. If I was in my 30s I would definitely choose Princess over Celebrity unless Celebrity was going somewhere that I particularly wanted to visit but I couldn't get to on Princess.

[perditax]

To give you a little info on us, we're in our mid 30s, no kids. Only have gone on 3 Carnival cruise and one upcoming RC cruise, we like dining, entertainment, my DW likes the Spa, were not into dressing up.

 

Some places we would be interested in visiting is Alaska, Pacific Coastal, Canada New England, my questions are does Celebrity do Pacific Coastal? How does Celebrity compare to Princess for Alaska. Are the pools crowded on sea days, what's the average age of the cruiser on either X or Princess and what cruiseline might be the best fit for us.

 

 

Based on your likes/dislikes, one of the newer NCL ships.

[NOSaints1]

I would have no problem doing NCL, but DW says she'll do any other except NCL

[NOSaints1]

Both cruise lines intrigue us, we're not into the party scene, but don't want to be bored to death, one thing I do like about X is the Solarium is free to use, where the Sanctuary cost money, does X have like movie under the stars, but a bonus with my DW is they both serve Diet Coke.

[perditax]

I would have no problem doing NCL, but DW says she'll do any other except NCL

 

Show her pictures of the thermal suite on the Getaway.

 

(Sounds like she has her mind made up, but just thought I'd point it out because you mentioned the spa thing. Also NCL seems to have more entertainment than just about anyone.)

[NOSaints1]

I tried, she's looked at the brochures, idw, I dont want to pick a cruise, having not wanting to go in the first place. I would love to go on the POA to Hawaii.

[perditax]

I tried, she's looked at the brochures, idw, I dont want to pick a cruise, having not wanting to go in the first place. I would love to go on the POA to Hawaii.

 

Aw, sorry. Sounds like you're in an unenviable position. Good luck with whatever you end up on. :)

[NOSaints1]

Thanks, I would have np sailing NCL.

[cynbar]

We sail both Princess and Celebrity, enjoy both and usually choose based on itinerary and maybe price. I think you'll find either one to be on the quiet side, with an older demographic. Both observe the dress code pretty closely, but you can find ways to avoid dressing formally on both lines (the buffet, specialty restaurants or Blu for Aqua Class on Celebrity.) Speaking of Blu, you may want to consider an Aqua Class cabin if you book Celebrity --- you will have free access to the Persian Garden section of the spa, and your assigned dining room will be Blu, which has a "healthier"menu but is smaller with more personalized service and dress is resort casual all the time. I think Princess has more entertainment and I find the food to be better, while Celebrity is quieter, more elegant and dignified. I actually agree with the others that you might look at NCL, which has a livelier vibe with more entertainment, specialty restaurants at a reasonable price, and no dress code. They offer the best suite experience at sea if you can swing that, and their ships are a lot of fun, not tacky at all. But, I understand your concern that you wife would be dead set against it in advance. Anyway, if you are deciding between Princess and Celebrity, look for the itinerary that you want -- the overall experience will be pretty close on both lines. PS --- If for any reason your wife would consider NCL, have her look at the specialty restaurants and consider booking a package (sometimes offered as a perk) where you would choose one almost every night. It's a great experience, much better than the MDR on any of the lines.

Edited September 2, 2015 by cynbar

[Coral]

I actually think you will like your RCCL cruise.

[NOSaints1]

We're going for the ports, but we're not into rock climbing, zip lining, Ice skating and don't like a lot of kids.

[NOSaints1]

What's better Princess Cays or Labadee/Coco Cay and Amber Cove seems nice and will Princess go there?

[YWW]

To give you a little info on us, we're in our mid 30s, no kids. Only have gone on 3 Carnival cruise and one upcoming RC cruise, we like dining, entertainment, my DW likes the Spa, were not into dressing up. Some places we would be interested in visiting is Alaska, Pacific Coastal, Canada New England, my questions are does Celebrity do Pacific Coastal? How does Celebrity compare to Princess for Alaska. Are the pools crowded on sea days, what's the average age of the cruiser on either X or Princess and what cruiseline might be the best fit for us.

 

We did 3 cruises back-to-back this spring with X in between two Princesses. This was our first X cruise. Our conclusion is X seems to offer much better foods in the MDR compared to Princess plus the availability of fulltime wine sommeliers for each of the MDR whereas Princess has no sommeliers. Wine selection on X is considerably better than P. The cabin we had on X seemed to be more spacious and better organized than P. Downside we observed on X included poorer MDR service (took long time to clear out and reset tables) and no laundry facility which may not be an issue if you are doing short cruises of 7 days or less. Our X ship offered cleaning service but very expensive, e.g. $2.50 to clean one handkerchief.

 

Princess ships seem offer better entertainment than X. If you are looking for a more "youthful" crowd, P may be a better choice especially on the mega ships like Royal P or Regal P since they seem to have live dance music and people dancing everywhere compared to a more laid back crowd on X. If you are not a foodie or wine lover, then both will be fine. The ship destination will also play a major factor in the age of the cruisers. The time of year will also determine how many kids will be cruising with the parents or grand parents. For destination like Alaska, Princess does an excellent job. Good luck.