Help? Celebrity or Princess

[Island_Guy]

We originally booked a Carribean cruise in January on the Century. I just found out that I have to have surgery that week, so I have to change our reservations....

 

My wife is thinking that she might prefer taking a Princess cruise instead. It is slightly cheaper for an outside cabin.

 

We are new to cruising (this will be our second cruise), and I am not sure of the difference between the 2 lines.

 

We are early 50s, pretty active. We enjoyed the solitude of our first cruise on MSC, which I have to say is going to be hard to beat. We don't, however, have to be "doing something" all the time. We rarely went to the shows, preferring to walk the deck. Loved our days on the back of the boat reading, rather than at the pool.

 

Hope that tells you something about us.... What are the experienced cruisers recommendations?

[waltd]

If you like MSC I can't imagine you not liking Princess or Celebrity. You will get many opinions from many different cruisers. I found Princess and Celebrity to be pretty much equal. I liked both of them. I think Celebrity had a slight edge on food in the dining room except for the pasta. Princess had better pasta's. Princess had a better buffett with a wider choice of food. Celebrity had hours so you could not go to the buffet any time you wanted. If you remembered the hours it wasn't a problem. Celebrity had fewer choices to chose from but what they had was excellent. The Celebrity ice cream tasted like ice cream. Princess ice cream, that was free, tasted like ice milk. The service in the dining room on Celebrity was top notch. the shows were about equal on both lines. And a cabin is a cabin, IMHO. Staff on both lines were excellent with a slight edge towards Princess. Celebrity staff was kind of cold at first. Bottom line you cannot go wrong with either. It all boils down to cost for me.

[donnaw]

We do both and enjoy both! Next one up Celebrity but have an open booking on Princess to still apply which will probably be right after we try MSC for the first time. My fav - Celebrity, Dh's fav - Princess. Part of that depends on the ship you are looking at. Princess Grand Class is totally different from Sun Class and we enjoyed the Grand but loved the Sun class. In a very port intensive itinerary, we prefer pc dining on Princess but otherwise much prefer traditional late seating on Celebrity. Princess buffet can't be beat but sushi and dinner on X can't be beat either. Can not think of a make or break so go based on itinerary then price. You should have a great time on either!

[caviargal]

Celebrity ships in general have more space per pax and are more laid back and elegant, IME and IMO. I also really liked MSC and I understand the atmosphere you commented on. I think X is close to the mark. When I boarded Sinfonia, it reminded my a lot of the Infinity on a smaller scale.

[Normandie-BCN]

In which, Celebrity or Princess, people most follow the dress code? That is another important data for my choice.

[OCruisers]

In which, Celebrity or Princess, people most follow the dress code? That is another important data for my choice.

 

On BOTH Princess and Celebrity most folks DO follow the dress code for dinner in the dining room. We enjoy dressing for dinner (even DH loves it but does not like to admit it :rolleyes: ). CELEBRITY is the winner for us on this because almost everyone remains in the "requested dress" for the entire evening on Celebrity cruises!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[cruising with marti]

Celebrity ships in general have more space per pax and are more laid back and elegant, IME and IMO. I also really liked MSC and I understand the atmosphere you commented on. I think X is close to the mark. When I boarded Sinfonia, it reminded my a lot of the Infinity on a smaller scale.

 

After 7 cruises on Celebrity and 7 on Princess, my opinion is that you would enjoy either line.

 

But I would take issue with Celebrity being more laid back and elegant, we have found both lines equal in that regard, all cruises for us are laid back. (and yes we always dress appropriatly):D

 

Phil

[ingrid295]

My wife is thinking that she might prefer taking a Princess cruise instead.

 

We are new to Celebrity also. We took one other Celebrity cruise to Galapagos on Xpedition.

 

If I were making my cruise decision today, I would opt for Princess. It appears that Celebrity tends to change their itineraries after you've booked. I was not prepared for this and am now disappointed with the cruise we booked for November.

 

We switched over to Celebrity because the service was outstanding on the Xpedition; but we're thinking Princess or HAL next.

 

If you don't care about the ports or itinerary, then either one will work. You would be happy on either of these lines if you are flexible about changes.

 

Ingrid.