My take on Celebrity Eclipse vs Royal Princess

[cruisestitch]

My take on comparing Celebrity Eclipse to Royal Princess. Note that I don’t mention lots of things that others consider important, like MUTS, and Sanctuary, and Spa.

 

Staterooms, Celebrity is a clear winner as to size, Princess for storage and closet space. Beds and pillows were equally comfortable.

 

Balcony, no question, Celebrity wins. Celebrity also wins if you don’t want a balcony, just a window, since Princess has no staterooms like that

 

Bathrooms, again, with no question, Celebrity wins. The bathroom on Royal Princess was tiny. The amenities were minimal, only a “shampoo/conditioner” combo, shower gel, and a bar of soap on Princess. No lotion. No QTips or cotton buds. And Princess had the scratchiest towels I’ve ever used. Believe it or not, I’ll be bringing my own towels from home on my next cruise.

 

Elevators, what was Princess thinking? The midship elevators are airless, cramped and inefficient. The lack of midship stairs means that even if you only need to go up one level to your stateroom, you must take an elevator or walk clear to the ends of the ship to find stairs. No contest here, Celebrity wins.

 

Free food venues, Princess wins here, with special notice of Alfredos for sit-down table service, and to International Cafe for 24 hour offerings.

 

Room service breakfast, Celebrity wins, with its hot food offerings. Princess only has continental breakfast.

 

Casino, Celebrity has no smoking ever, Princess has limited smoking sometimes. Celebrity wins.

 

Loyalty program, Celebrity wins here, too, with its laundry, cappuccino, internet, breakfast hours and cocktails hours for Elites.

 

Climate control. The Royal Princess public rooms were uncomfortably warm, even hot at times. Except for the ones that were freezing.

 

Public restrooms. Princess has no attendants and only paper towels. Celebrity’s public restrooms are much nicer, and you get a cloth towel. Celebrity wins.

 

Library. The Royal Princess library was small and not well stocked. Celebrity’s selections might be catch-as-catch-can but the space on Eclipse is large and comfortable and the variety of books is huge, also there is a leave-a-book-take-a-book area.

 

Sky Lounge. Royal Princess doesn’t have one. As a matter of fact, it lacks areas with views of the seas. No place like Cafe al Bacio, for instance. Celebrity is the clear winner here.

 

Kiosks to check your on-board account. Great idea Princess! Nothing like them on Celebrity.

 

Comfort of chairs in Public Areas -- Princess has Celebrity beat here -- the chairs in the various bars on Celebrity are too low, too deep, too hard, just basically uncomfortable. Never found an uncomfortable chair in any Princess lounge or restaurant.

 

Sommaliers in the dining room -- none on Princess. As a matter of fact, the wine list was uninspired. Wines were generally cheaper on than on Celebrity, but there was much more choice on Eclipse.

 

Sauna -- Celebrity has them, Royal Princess doesn’t

 

Level of background music -- Royal Princess was delightful, Celebrity Eclipse music was loud, with heavy beats, thump, thump, thump, sometimes unpleasant, occasionally even painful. Royal Princess clearly wins here, and this is a big one for me.

 

In-room TV -- Celebrity has more Celebrity advertising stations, but also more live stations to watch, including CNN. Princess has more on-demand stations, including shows from Food Network and HGTV, also lots of old Love Boat reruns. Tie.

 

I Lounge and Internet-- Celebrity Eclipse has a large, comfortable, well-lit room. Royal Princess internet lounge is smaller and has fewer machines. But Princess wins with its ease of logging on once you establish an account, and also for its Intranet system.

 

Buffet -- Princess has tables set with napkins and cutlery, and serves you coffee, ice water and juice, with plenty of staff to keep tables cleaned and ready for next customers. On Celebrity you have to juggle your napkin and silverware as well as your drinks and plates, and its hard to find empty, cleaned tables at peak times. Princess wins this one.

 

Public announcements -- Celebrity’s “no announcement policy” is superior. On Princess, there were announcements for art auctions and other events. Each ship had a Captain’s Daily Update and a Cruise Director’s update, but on Celebrity, that’s pretty much where it ends. Celebrity is quieter.

 

Ballroom dancing -- Royal Princess had a decent dance floor in the atrium, and the band played all kinds of music, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes in the evening. The atrium is much more suited to dancing than Celebrity's Atrium, which interferes with the work of Guest Relations. If ballroom dancing is important to you, give Royal Princess a go.

 

I came on Royal Princess because of Perry Grant, and I have three more cruises booked there. As long as he stays with Princess, so will I. He’s in Crooners, not a great place for him but I go where he goes, as do the other fans.

 

OH, and finally,

 

Pizza -- nuff’ said -- Princess

Waffles -- nuff’said -- Celebrity

[need2cruisesoon]

So overall winner....Celebrity?

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Thank you for that fascinating comparison.

[eandj]

Great comparison. I can totally agree with your viewpoint. Which in the end has us looking at both lines for cruise choices. We know each has pluses and minuses but are similar enough we know we won't be disappointed in a whole lot.

[neverbeenhere]

In this case... no snarkiness intended. A commentary on the relative completeness of the comparison and actually a semi-serious question.

[richstowe]

Very interesting comparison OP and yet if I read you correctly, none of this really matters to you . "I came on Royal Princess because of Perry Grant, and I have three more cruises booked there. As long as he stays with Princess, so will I. " Watched a couple of his U Tube videos and while I'm not a fan , I am very impressed by the loyalty he earns from his fans.

[TeaBag]

Great comparison Cruisestitch. By the way, how was Perry? We were very disappointed that he was not on the Eclipse TA. We knew this before we sailed but not before we booked.

[Oxo]

Loyalty program, Celebrity wins here, too, with its laundry, cappuccino, internet, breakfast hours and cocktails hours for Elites.

 

Kiosks to check your on-board account. Great idea Princess! Nothing like them on Celebrity.

 

Fantastic review and very valid. The only two that I disagree with are listed above. There is no comparison with the Loyalty program as Princess wins here. Princess provides free laundry and dry cleaning for Elite and Internet is many more minutes on Princess compare to X. Yes, cocktail hour (5-7pm free or 3 coupons) much better on X than the Princess - cabin set up or their $5 per drink.

Celebrity has in-cabin TV to check your on-board account whereas Princess does not. That is much more convenient than Princess. Princess Kiosks are OK, but rather have the in-cabin TV capability.

Thanks for your review as it was very details and non-basis. You were very honest!

[wallie5446]

Very interesting comparison OP and yet if I read you correctly, none of this really matters to you . "I came on Royal Princess because of Perry Grant, and I have three more cruises booked there. As long as he stays with Princess, so will I. " Watched a couple of his U Tube videos and while I'm not a fan , I am very impressed by the loyalty he earns from his fans.

 

I agree, this is what I was left with after reading. In the end, no Perry, no Princess.

[ShakeDaddy]

Quite right comparison. Congrats Celebrity. Loved IT !!!

Edited October 25, 2015 by ShakeDaddy

[chemmo]

Sincere thanks for taking the time to do a comparison.

 

Having been loyal Royals for years we tried Celebrity after a cruise that was very disappointing. Loved the rooms and the suite perks and are now very Celebrity loyal but also aware there are other lines out there we have not tried.

 

Reviews, like yours, factual but giving a flair of the onboard ambience, certainly give food for thought.

[upwarduk]

Great comparison Cruisestitch.

 

Thank you for the comparison.

One comment however, you are comparing Elite+ perks on Celebrity, with no perks (?) on Princess.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your comparison.

 

Keith

[cruisestitch]

As to the loyalty program, I was trying to look at the two programs overall, not just my status with each. There doesn't seem to be any breakfast with mimosas, bloody mary's etc. on Princess, while for Elites and above on Celebrity there is. I haven't seen the evening event on Princess yet, but I understand from those Perry fans who were higher level Princess cruisers that Celebrity's is better. That part may or may not be true.

 

And those midship elevators on Royal Princess -- what I can't figure out is why they aren't connected together. There are three separate circuits. One circuit connects four elevators, while each "panoramic" elevator is on its own circuit. What happened is that people would press all three sets of buttons, and then of course take the first elevator that came along. Then the other elevators would stop on that floor, but of course the people were already gone. It was very inefficient and with no stairs there was no other option if you were midship.

 

I forgot one other thing I noted -- there were no daily newspapers as on Celebrity -- not talking about the Patter, what I missed was the news from home, which was available in US, Canadian, British, and other editions.

[jeno]

Great comparison. I had a friend ask me about the difference and I will send her this review.

I think that the Royal is a very poor design. The weird elevator situation, very small cabins and minuscule balconies make it very unlikely I will choose Royal or a Regal again if I have a choice. I usually cruise Celebrity now, but for Princess I like the the Ruby or Emerald Princess.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Good comparison. We (I) have toyed with trying a Princess cruise and after your comparison I have decided to stick with Celebrity.

[ginak1112]

One thing that Princess has that we love is the mini-suite. Celebrity doesn't really have a similar product. On Regal (Royal would be identical) there is a lovely sitting area and the cabin has 2 flat screen tvs, one by the bed and one by the sofa. There is a curtain to divide the room. It was just my husband and myself but we enjoyed the extra space. It was nice for someone who wakes a bit earlier and can let the other sleep while enjoying coffee and a little tv or going out on the balcony without letting light into the entire cabin. They always run specials on them and we paid only $799 for a Caribbean cruise which was comparable to Celebrity's veranda cabin that week.

 

We also enjoyed the constant live music all over the ship on Princess. We only found music in on Celebrity from early evening on. The Crown steakhouse is also very good with a very reasonable cover charge.

[ginak1112]

And one more thing that we loved was that the tv had a dvr so we could stop our movie/show and resume it at our leisure. We always have the problem of missing the beginning or ending of a movie so it was great to have that option.

[woody14h]

Excellent comparison. We cruised Princess years ago and did enjoy it. friendly staff etc. However, Celebrity and HAL provided all the service and amenities we needed and now enjoy these 2. I would not discount another cruise on Princess but nothing has appealed to me yet.

[beachseeker]

Our last cruise was on the Eclipse and was our best cruise overall. That said, we have cruised on Princess several times and many of the cons that the OP mentioned I think are unique to Royal and Regal. In comparing lower end suites on both cruise lines I give the nod to Princess. Our favorite Princess ship was the Coral. We prefer a smaller cruise ship.

[Oxo]

Good comparison. We (I) have toyed with trying a Princess cruise and after your comparison I have decided to stick with Celebrity.

 

JMHO! We cruised both X and Princess this year. In fact Eclipse and Regal both. We are Elite+ on X and Elite on Princess. There is no 1 factor that would prevent us from cruising either one. Ships are totally different and both are beautiful. For us to cruise just one cruise line would be to much of the same. For example: All S-Class ships are almost totally alike. Just like the Regal and Royal are totally alike.

Try Princess' Regal or Royal and see for yourself. It is a change in many ways.

[Oxo]

Great comparison. I had a friend ask me about the difference and I will send her this review.

I think that the Royal is a very poor design. The weird elevator situation, very small cabins and minuscule balconies make it very unlikely I will choose Royal or a Regal again if I have a choice. I usually cruise Celebrity now, but for Princess I like the the Ruby or Emerald Princess.

 

We have been on both the Regal and Royal and continue to book both ships. I really don't understand why people are so against the weird elevator situation. That was never a problem for us. Yes, the balconies are smaller, however, depends on the location of the cabin. We like the new Royal and Regal. We like the Plaza much better than the X S-Class ships as the S-Class ships have very small and crowded Plaza. We have been on all of the Princess ships just as we have been on all the X ships. They both offer some pluses and minuses.

[coldcdn]

My wife and I cruised on Royal and Eclipse last year as part of multiple B2B cruises. I took notes and was going to post a similar review, so appreciate the time taken in this thread to post such a comprehensive comparison.

 

Before I give my review, I'll note that my wife and I are 46 and 45 year old professionals from Canada, but she has a mobility disability so that factors greatly into our vacations and is why cruises work so well for us. That being said, it also factors greatly into our review of cruise ships (as you'll note below).

 

Staterooms: Princess has better storage and closet space, but Celebrity has better doors (both entrance and balcony). The entrance doors on the Princess ship were ridiculously narrow, so if you're a larger person, which we're not, take this into consideration! We preferred the Princess beds for comfort, but the Celebrity beds for their rounded, space saving design. Overall we preferred the Celebrity staterooms to Princess, but the latter had some excellent features we appreciated.

 

Balcony: Celebrity has excellent balconies, but we found the outrage expressed by some about Princess balconies was largely unfounded. Ours was fine.

 

Dining: If you're just comparing the main dining rooms, there is no question the overall food is better in the Princess MDR. They also have a better selection and overall food quality (e.g. lobster). However, if you add the specialty restaurants and the buffet, Celebrity wins hands down. Granted the specialty restaurants on Celebrity are more expensive but at least you can get a table (for all 7 nights we were not able to get a reservation at the Crown Grill, despite trying all different methods to get one). The food and service is also fabulous at the Celebrity specialty restaurants. As for the buffet, while the selection is quite good on Princess, the design and layout is absolutely the worse (similar to HAL's Eurodam). There is little space and it always feels crowded. Overall for design, food quality and ease of use, Celebrity's buffet is far superior. Overall dining may be a toss-up, but if you're a foodie or like ambiance, then Celebrity wins.

 

Entertainment: No questions that entertainment is better on Princess, as this is definitely not one of Celebrity's strong suits. However, the actual entertainment venues are better on Celebrity. They are easier to find, and used for better applications than on Princess. Also I have to mention accessibility, as the venues on Princess are quite inaccessible, while the ones on Celebrity are all fully accessible. One complaint we have with both cruise lines is their lack of ability to coordinate entertainment in the lounges to work well with a plan for pre-dinner drinks. Finally, the outdoor movies on Princess are fabulous! Great option. So overall, hands down the best entertainment is on Princess.

 

Service: Overall staff friendliness, helpfulness and level of "cheer" goes to Celebrity. However, for those with allergies, the staff on Princess were great and better than Celebrity. Both lines offer good service, but when looked at in every aspect over the entire ship, Celebrity has better overall service.

 

Accessibility: This isn't even close. Celebrity Solstice Class ships are the most accessible afloat. Many reviews point to HAL or some other examples of accessible ships. They are wrong. Period. All public spaces and restrooms on Celebrity ships are fully accessible with automated door openers. That cannot be said on any other major line. If this is an issue for you, choose Celebrity. Full stop.

 

Bars: Celebrity has more selections, better ambiance and in better locations. To clarify, Princess has more actual selections, BUT they are in unusual and not well thought out locations, making them impractical places to enjoy a drink. Celebrity has options for all types of moods or requirements (e.g. sea views, wine lists, pre-dinner entertainment etc). As for a late night, night club-style bar, Princess wins this one for sure. Quasar on Celebrity is really poor!

 

Spa: Princess. Period. The spa on the Royal/Regal Princess are spectacular. Nothing against the spa on the Eclipse, but you simply cannot compare the two. If you're a spa person, look no further and book the Royal/Regal immediately. It feels like a massive, high-end, luxury hotel spa. While I'm not a spa person, I was stunned at how amazing it was (and I've toured top-end spas in many locations around the world).

 

Ship Maintenance/Repair: We were both surprised at the lack of maintenance being carried out on the Royal Princess. We were even more surprised by the sheer amount of rust that was visible on this new ship. This simply does not happen on Celebrity. They have staff working daily to scrub, sand, and paint everywhere, whereas Princess does not seem to have the same commitment. We both commented that this could present a problem going forward as these new ships will appear to age prematurely. We had similar comments about other maintenance throughout the ship. Celebrity seems to focus more on this than Princess.

 

Embarkation: Both were excellent. Fast, friendly and easy. Princess scans your passport as your room card photo, while Celebrity takes a live picture at check-in.

 

Debarkation: Both were excellent and well organized. Worth noting that on both there are no longer the constant and annoying announcements, or long lineups to get off the ship. However, if you do encounter such lineups and delays, don't blame the cruise lines, blame US Customs.

 

Muster Drill Process: Princess wins this one hands down. If you're goal is to get to enjoying your holiday or having a drink then you may like Celebrity. If, however, your priority is on life saving during an emergency, Princess does a good job. You actually have to put on your life jacket properly (what a novel concept!). While I hate these drills, they do have their place and Princess' drill is far superior.

 

Fellow Passengers: This won't be a rating, but more just information. Celebrity attracts a slightly younger and more ethnically diverse demographic (e.g. British, Germans, French, Spaniards, Russians etc). To put it bluntly, it is blatantly obvious that Princess caters to white, english-speaking, North Americans. We happened to overhear three separate accusations of racism being levied against Princess staff, which was shocking. I'll make no comment on this, other than we overheard them.

 

Ship facts: Celebrity Eclipse - 1,047' long, 123' wide, 126,000 tonnes, 3,046 passengers.

Royal Princess - 1,083' long, 126' wide, 142,229 tonnes, 3,560 passengers.

 

 

To conclude, in our personal opinion only, the Celebrity Eclipse (and other Solstice Class ships) are superior to the Royal/Regal Princess. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but taken as a whole, Celebrity wins. One final comment, in terms of feeling crowded, the Royal Princess ship felt crowded in many areas despite being a larger ship. The Celebrity Eclipse never felt crowded in any space. So if personal space is important, factor this in.

[resolute]

Great comparison since I was wondering. Love Perry, but want to continue our points to Elite.

[Andy]

Hi Cruisestitch,

 

Thanks very much for your comparison. It was fascinating. I'm not going to comment further on specifics, only as I'm in the process of posting my own comparison.

 

We booked Royal Princess again for November 20th. It was wonderful seeing you again, and hope we meet up on another Celebrity or Princess cruise. Thanks again for your insights !

Edited October 25, 2015 by Host Andy