Celebrity fan tries Princess

[spearmint]

I posted this on the Princess board, but thought I would put it here as well, and for the same reason. Celebrity posters have helped me many times in the past, and I like to return the favour when possible. Re-reading this as a write-up of our impressions of Regal Princess, I realized that I also had some comparisons made re: Celebrity, so I decided to post here, too. This write-up actually was a response to a poster who had written about the March 27-April 3 sailing.

 

We were back-to-back with this cruise and the previous week. This was our first time on Princess --- after a recommendation from my sister regarding Regal --- and it won't be our last.

 

We are long time Celebrity cruisers (20), including Century, Millennium, Summit Constellation, Solstice, Eclipse and Silhouette, with a few on Royal Caribbean (3) including Allure of the Seas.

 

The M-class ships were our favourite until Regal. She is the loveliest ship we have been on, as far as the interior public spaces are concerned (with the exception of the theatre). The sparkling Piazza's (three decks high) surrounding bars, lunch venues, shops etc. are well designed, with a fairly large dance area (no more dancing in the tiny area at the bottom of a staircase with the band in the elevator well, and a small seating/bar area for patrons as on S-class). The Specialty Restaurants and bars are also nicely done. The overall atmosphere is more warm wood , (like the M-class) and elegant lighting and muted colour tones, rather than cool, and plastic (like the S-class).

 

The exception is the theatre. The decor is just OK (not in keeping with the rest of the elegant decor), but reminds me of airplane seats crowded together. Both the C-and M-class theatres have banquettes with the small tables for drinks and are my favourite style. S-class has theatre seating with a pitiful cup holder per seat which I did not particularly like. But, Regal seats are lower-backed, closer together with no cup holders. (This does not particularly bother me, as I stopped using bar service in the theatre once the small tables disappeared. Since we had 3-4 drinks per night, and attended almost all shows, we saved some bucks.) Some shows were totally packed. The only time I was as really impressed with singers, dancers and shows was once on Millennium which was the only Celebrity ship which employed this group from Britain...Q-day?...But the group from Regal is up there with those Brits.

 

All personnel that we met or who looked after us personally, were great and they have that in common with all our other cruises. The waiters etc. in the cafe area were even more friendly than on other cafes on other ships, I would say, and that is saying something. Public bathrooms are smaller and perhaps less in number(?) than Celebrity and they have no dedicated personnel keeping them neat, especially during night time activities. I found this quite notable in neatness and cleanliness.

 

The cabin was a little smaller than the other ships, (there was no love seat but there was an extra chair, which needed to be moved out of the way to get out to the balcony or to sit at the vanity table) and the balcony was definitely smaller. The bathroom is smaller than most others, and I was surprised that the small shower still used a curtain (I got used to the curved glass doors on the S-class and RCCL ships, I guess).

 

I found that the food was better than that on Celebrity both in choice and in quality. Celebrity's choices on the menu were unappealing for the most part as they have been for many of our last cruises however I survived nicely on the everyday menu. (We began cruising on Celebrity when they used the Michel Roux menus which were fabulous, but since then, from the Jaques van Staaden menus to (no ones?) present menus the choices and executions have severely declined) Finally, on Silhouette, November past, the everyday chicken breast was a pitiful excuse for a piece of meat and the everyday sirloin looked like a boiled, bent NY cut without a shred of taste. So the stage was set to follow my sister's recommendation about Regal. Some of he choices were more to my liking but still I used the everyday menu a lot. My wife, who is not as fussy as I found an improvement as well. When she began using the everyday menu on Celebrity last November, I knew that it wasn't just I who found a change for the worse. (Interestingly, my sister took Constellation for the first time, while we were cruising, and found the food just fine. She had tried Equinox last year and was unimpressed.)

 

Before we cruised, I perused these boards, read write-ups and asked lots of questions, so I was not unprepared when I boarded. (It is for this reason that I decided to write of our experience on board; to thank people who helped me and hopefully to help someone else.) One of the write-ups mentioned Alfredo's and their veal/ricotta filled ravioli in a cream sauce topped with shredded cheese and baked. So we went there for lunch after we boarded. Oh, my. Was that guy ever right! I went back several times for the same thing. There were lots of nice things on the menu, but (unlike my wife) none appealed to fussy me; but the "Angolotti..." was superb. Another recommendation from these boards was the everyday Fettucine Alfredo in the main dining rooms. It came in an edible basket made from slices of Parmegiano cheese and could be had as an appetizer or as a larger version as a main course, with grilled chicken breast or salmon. That was absolutely wonderful, and was my go-to meal if the daily menu did not appeal. As ususal, I had the warm soups, especially cream-style and they were good. I discovered two items from the main menu that I would recommend. One was a white fish, (barra-mundi?) in a leek and mustard sauce. Wonderful. The other was an appetizer. It is a twice-baked goat cheese souffle in a garlic saboyan sauce. I missed it on week one, but found it on week two and won't ever overlook it again. It is fabulous. One of those mildly flavoured concoctions that gets better with every bite. (Celebrity has one on their specialty menu with a tomato coulis, and while good, has nothing on this one.)

 

This was our first try at anytime dining and I am still not sure. First, we did not know that second seating is at 8:00 (rather then Celebrity's 8:30), and we had decided that, as we like having the same wait staff each night, we would pick a 7:30 time and ask for the same fellows each night for a table for two. On the first night, our waiter and assistant were just super, so we reserved every day and were able to get them. Finally, we were able to get them at our time for the second week without phoning daily to reserve; we kept having to call, the first week.

 

Most of the shows were after dinner shows, designed around the traditional seating times, and we used the second seating time of 10-10:15 to make plans. There were a few offerings, such as the liar's club for example, which were at 9:15 only and thus precluded second seating people. We were able to see the show as we went to the dining room a bit earlier than our reservation, and found that our waiter was free, so ate earlier in order to make the show(s). This gives anytime dining an edge over traditional, I guess. My wife likes the anytime quite well.

 

We did not know that these two cruises coincided with Spring Break weeks, so there were 600-800 kids on board. Since we did not spend time at the pool area on these cruises, the kids were not really evident.

Except.

At night.

In the dance area Piazza.

We were often treated ---- especially but not limited to Formal Nights --- after 10:00 or 11:00 p.m.to kids from 2 (or less) to 7 years old "performing" while Mums, Daddums, Gramps and/or Granny watched adoringly from offside. When the slightly older kids saw how much some of the oldies chuckled over the babies whirling around in their new playground, they just had to get involved, (showing off) especially when adults were up to dance, running in and around us, as if we were traffic cones in race setting. And when some relatives saw how "cute" the little ones were, they sent their own offspring to get some of the acclaim as well. (This is not to say this activity belongs to Princess; it happens often in late night settings if one is unfortunate enough to book at a holiday time as we did last November on Silhouette.) OK. That's my bitch for this time... it did not ruin the cruise for us.

 

We missed the perks that we have garnered over the years with Celebrity, such as free internet, clothes washing and dry cleaning, and I know that these have kept us loyal to the brand until what the brand was offering became so much less than it used to be. The washing machines on Princess were an OK feature that we used once per cruise.

 

We look forward to sailing Royal or Regal Princess again; which is not to say that we won't do RCCL or Celebrity again either, but we now find that we have an alternative, attractive option.

 

Bill

Edited April 10, 2016 by spearmint

[DrivesLikeMario]

I appreciate it since we'll be on the Regal next year. We're more used to Princess than Celebrity, so much of what you say is familiar.

 

I agree that the cabins on Princess are not nearly as nice as Celebrity's in design. I wish you had gotten a deluxe balcony cabin. They have the sofa in them and are more similar in size to Celebrity's CC and AQ cabins on the M Class ships. That would've given you a better comparison. Yes, the balconies are tiny on Princess' new ships. Next time, aim for one of the triangular-shaped balconies around the mid-ship area (like 410, 409, etc.). Both cruise lines do a good job and each excels in different areas.

 

Thanks for your review.

[WpgCruise]

Please share your thoughts on crowding (or lack thereof) flow of people, throughout the ship, and size, number and location of elevators.

 

We too are looking for a Celebrity alternative. The last 2 Celebrity experiences have left us looking for options. We had moved 10 years ago from Princess to Celebrity. We were looking for better service, menus, and larger rooms. For a while we were satisfied, but it's time to move on.

 

We're wondering if a move back to Princess might not be in the plans.

 

This class of Princess ship may well be just a bit to big for us, but we sure would appreciate some thoughts from people who haven't been drinking the Princess Kool-Aid, but instead are Celebrity regulars who have recently tried Princess.

Edited April 10, 2016 by WpgCruise

[richsea]

Thanks for you impressions of both lines. While we have not sailed Regal or Royal, we have sailed Emerald, Crown, & Star, & have to agree with your thoughts. IMO, Princess & Celebrity provide a very similar experience,& we do not hesitate to book either one. Food is subjective, & I agree that Celebrity's food now cannot compare with what they offered during the days of Michel Roux, today's choices, while more pedestrian, are still mostly good, & comparable to Princess, except for Princess pasta disges, which are excelllent.

[midwestchick]

Thanks for posting. We will be sailing on Star Princess in October. We booked because of the itinerary.

[pete_coach]

A big thanks for the review and comparisons. We have only done Celebrity cruises and are finding the itineraries limited and Celebrity is getting quite pricey.

Your comparison lessen our apprehension of tryng a different cruise line.

Thanks again.

[sayaguru]

Thank you for your post.

I will be cruising with Celebrity for the first time in October.

I like Princess.

We just got off Hollsnd America, and while I wasn't impressed on my first ?HAL 2 years ago I liked this one. Different ships are different too, within the same line. The only thing I found on my last ?HAL cruise was that everyone went to bed early. It was like a ghost ship at 10pm. Mind you we were the young ones (at 57 and 64) Haha!

It will be interesting to see how I feel about our Celebrity cruise. Really looking forward to it.

[vickila]

Being Elite Plus and Diamond Plus we too have tried Princess. We didn't like the Caribbean Princess but loved, loved, loved the Regal Princess last year out of NY for NE/CAN cruising, and are repeating it again this year. Yes we miss our perks from Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, but the Regal Princess is a beautiful, well run ship and nice new features. We too loved Alfredo's Pizza Parlor and found it a very nice treat. In addition, the International Cafe in the Piazza was a great place for late night snacking with great choices ( cheese and watermelon was our favorite late night snack). The Piazza is beautiful and when something is going on in it such as violins being played, one can see it from many great advantage spots. Yes, the balconies are like the NCL Breakaway (no knee room....you must sit sideways), but the cabins are nice, food and specialty restaurants different, and a nice change of pace. Love the Regal Princess. Vicki

[janetz]

Well done review.

The Royal and Regal are stunning ships. We chose aft to be near the lifts as there are none midship.

Never feeling crowded with the amount of people onboard. There are many areas to retreat to for quiet.

The spa is wonderful with the Enclave and worth every penny.

Surprisingly the food in the buffet was very good and we normally do not go near the buffet.

Food being subjective, I thought the MDR food was excellent and did not need to go elsewhere.

The Regal is doing a NY to FLL repo at the end of October. 10 nights with many sea days and nice ports of call. Wonderful sailing.

Edited April 10, 2016 by janetz

[joanne2]

Thanks so much for posting. We are Celebrity loyalists but tried the Caribbean Princess for a TA last spring. Loved it and are doing Regal TA leaving next week. We'll be back with Celebrity for the Panama Canal in the fall but Princess is a nice alternative. We like their TA's because they offer some different ports. We love their buffets because they have waiter service for coffee, juice, etc. which eliminates the hassle of getting your own coffee and eating cold food or getting your coffee first and having that cold.

[Go-Bucks!]

I'm another one who has done both Celebrity and Princess - enjoy both, but prefer Princess. I had a lovely S1 suite on Infinity but the 1A veranda cabin on Reflection was cramped with little storage. On Princess I always get a minisuite or full suite and really enjoy them.

 

I'm happy with the food and service on both lines. Princess has better loyalty perks and a quicker way to achieve them. Also love having washers/dryers on Princess, especially for long cruises. Both lines have good itineraries, similar prices and similar demographics. Happy travels! :)

[RDC1]

Well done review.

The Royal and Regal are stunning ships. We chose aft to be near the lifts as there are none midship.

Never feeling crowded with the amount of people onboard. There are many areas to retreat to for quiet.

The spa is wonderful with the Enclave and worth every penny.

Surprisingly the food in the buffet was very good and we normally do not go near the buffet.

Food being subjective, I thought the MDR food was excellent and did not need to go elsewhere.

The Regal is doing a NY to FLL repo at the end of October. 10 nights with many sea days and nice ports of call. Wonderful sailing.

 

On the Royal and Regal there are three banks of elevators (lifts). There is not a center (midship) staircase above deck 7, but there are central (midship) elevators.

It is my understanding that the midship staircase will be remodeled to be open to the public after dry dock this year.

Edited April 10, 2016 by RDC1

[janetz]

On the Royal and Regal there are three banks of elevators (lifts). There is not a center (midship) staircase above deck 7, but there are central (midship) elevators.

It is my understanding that the midship staircase will be remodeled to be open to the public after dry dock this year.

 

Ugh, my bad. I meant to say staircase. So many people complain about that but for us it was fine. :)

Edited April 10, 2016 by janetz

[richsea]

Well done review.

The Royal and Regal are stunning ships. We chose aft to be near the lifts as there are none midship.

 

I'm confused about the no lifts comment. According to the deck plan, there are 3 banks of elevators. I have read complaints about no central staircase, but this is the first I've read about no mid ship elevators.

 

 

 

Oops, sorry, I did not see your second post when I posted!

Edited April 10, 2016 by richsea

[Mickey22]

What is the smoking policy on Princess? I like the idea of different ports but love that there is no indoor or balcony smoking on Celebrity.

 

Jane

[reedprincess]

What is the smoking policy on Princess? I like the idea of different ports but love that there is no indoor or balcony smoking on Celebrity.

 

Jane

http://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/experience.jsp. You can read it for yourself. No smoking on balconies, in cabin, and in virtually all indoor areas. Smoking is allowed in casino some nights. There is a cigar bar on most ships, but unless you go in you would not know it was there.

[rjrpar]

The food comments don't surprise me. Just got off the Eclipse a few weeks ago and thought the food quality had really slipped. The meals in the MDR were not good at all, the exception of the desserts.

[GUT2407]

We are pretty much the opposite.

 

Princess fans who tried Celebrity.

 

Princess is probably still our first choice, but won't hesitate to sail Celebrity again.

 

For us though the Aus$ is a big part of that.

[OCruisers]

Bill, thanks for your honest & balanced comparison.

Just goes to show giving a variety of cruise lines a try is a good thing! :)

[spearmint]

A big thanks for the review and comparisons. We have only done Celebrity cruises and are finding the itineraries limited and Celebrity is getting quite pricey.

Your comparison lessen our apprehension of tryng a different cruise line.

Thanks again.

We found the same. Also, we found that the wine menu was a little better priced than Celebrity, but individual glasses not so much. Here's a "buy". When I first ordered a wine in Alfredo's (they get it next door at "Bellini's" for ab out $7-$8) it was fairly puny, I thought; if it were four ounces I would be surprised. Later in the cruise, I found that Korble's (sparkling) was available in small bottles for the same price, $8. But the bottle has 187 ml which is about 6 ounces. A better buy... four of those will make almost a 750 ml bottle which then is $32. Buy the entire bottle for $28.

 

Bill

[spearmint]

]Please share your thoughts on crowding (or lack thereof) flow of people' date=' throughout the ship, and size, number and location of elevators.[/b']

 

We're wondering if a move back to Princess might not be in the plans.

 

This class of Princess ship may well be just a bit to big for us, but we sure would appreciate some thoughts from people who haven't been drinking the Princess Kool-Aid, but instead are Celebrity regulars who have recently tried Princess.

 

Lots of people in the Horizon Court (cafe/buffet) area mid-morning on sea days. Not so much on port days, of course. Early morning on any day is OK there and on the outside deck aft of the cafe. I often had coffee and sun on the back deck, and then went inside for coffee and to read a book or the Princess Patter (daily). On sea days people still sleep in or get to the pool, so the cafe is not overcrowded until 9-9:30. By the time we would go for actual breakfast at 10:30 or later, it would be quite crowded on sea days especially. Not a pleasant experience.... people just stop dead and two lines are going around them, parents going at their child's pace can be really slow and block movement etc. Once you find seats, one goes while the other stays. The pool loungers area looked crowded but the side areas below the next deck don't have loungers;they have tables and chairs/"couches" and not all of these are taken. Again, port days are the least crowded.

 

There are three elevator locations...fore, midship and aft. We live at the front of the ship and used either the fore or midship elevators. At peak times, it can be a wait for an elevator if cars that come are full. Many times, people would not move for someone to enter, and sometimes people would just push their way in. (One overweight huge-busted woman forced her way onto a newly-stopped, crowded car... and the doors would not close because too much of her was interfering with the electric eye or whatever the safety mechanism is. Finally, a guy from the middle of the bunch got off cursing under his breath and took the stairs. I don't think the boob woman even caught on as to what had happened she had caused.)

 

The fore elevators (4 of them?) take you to the spa, guest relations and Italian specialty restaurant area, which then opens into the Piazza area near Vines or the International Cafe. If you cross that area you pass Gelato or The Piazza bar and will be at the midhip elevators (6 or8 of them) and then the Symphony dining anytime dining room. Alternately, you can go to the midship elevators via the stateroom hallways where there are no people most times. One thing we also found was that the hallways are narrower than on Celebrity ships...and...almost always there are cabin attendant carts scattered throughout. I commented to my wife, that it was a good thing we did not need a wheelchair for her (have had to use one on Celebrity) on this ship as there would not have been room to pass one of the carts without getting out of the chair and folding it up. The aft elevators (4 of them?) come up to the area between the back deck and the Horizon Cafe on deck 16. We did not use them often. I know that they are near the Wheelhouse bar etc. on one of the decks.

 

Bill

[spearmint]

Being Elite Plus and Diamond Plus we too have tried Princess. We didn't like the Caribbean Princess but loved, loved, loved the Regal Princess last year out of NY for NE/CAN cruising, and are repeating it again this year. Yes we miss our perks from Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, but the Regal Princess is a beautiful, well run ship and nice new features. We too loved Alfredo's Pizza Parlor and found it a very nice treat. In addition, the International Cafe in the Piazza was a great place for late night snacking with great choices ( cheese and watermelon was our favorite late night snack). The Piazza is beautiful and when something is going on in it such as violins being played, one can see it from many great advantage spots. Yes, the balconies are like the NCL Breakaway (no knee room....you must sit sideways), but the cabins are nice, food and specialty restaurants different, and a nice change of pace. Love the Regal Princess. Vicki

 

The Piazza deck 5 is the main venue for all music groups on board... the party band (which I already mentioned); the four piece ensemble of violins, viola and cello; the steel drummer; the pianists and the latin band. There was a he-man duo who performed feats of strength as well. They can be heard seen at Gelato, Vines, International cafe, and Piazza bar allondeck 5. Also, Alfredo's, Bellini's, the Seafood bar and Crooner's bar on deck six. Also, most could be found in one of the other venues around the ship, like the Wheelhouse bar. Unlike Celebrity venues, they were not so loud that you cannot hear yourself think.

 

Bill

[royalcruz]

We love the Royal and Regal. Funny thing though, we were recently on Royal and there were poster ads on the ship for sushi at the seafood bar...all of the photos showed maki (sushi rolls). We looked all over the menu and could not find maki, so we asked the server...she said that it is available, but we have to order it the day before! This is at a venue that is often dead, and that only has about a dozen seats! :rolleyes:

Edited April 11, 2016 by royalcruz

[Clarea]

Really enjoy the comparison reviews, thanks much.:)

[markluke]

Good feedback about Princess vs. Celebrity.

 

I suspect for the average cruiser Princess will provide more value, as it sounds as though they invest more in standard items like MDR and buffet food. The ships are bigger so you also get more economy of scale.

 

For the same reasons OP will cruise with Princess I will - unless things change for me - select Celebrity. The Sky Suites give an upmarket experience and Luminae is a great dining location. It's a balance between being suitable enough for kids while also providing mass market luxury.