Celebrity fan tries Princess

[Mississippian]

I've never cruised on Celebrity, although I have an Adriatic cruise booked this summer. I've cruised on Princess eight times, and my brother about the same. He insists the food is better on Celebrity.

 

Princess used to have a cheese course available every night. No more. They now have the same lousy cheese offering every night. My understanding is that Celebrity does offer a cheese course, even if the quality of the cheese isn't very high.

 

Princess has essentially pulled escargot from the menu. It's might be available as a secret item, or available for a single night, but I've been told "NO" in no uncertain terms when I've asked for escargot. Celebrity has it on the menu every night, from what I can tell.

 

I think part of what is going on here is that familiarity breeds contempt. But in addition, the new world of specialty restaurants is serving cruisers wishes, in that many people want a few outstanding meals and don't care so much about the rest. In any event, I'd love to hear from some regular Princess cruises on this.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

 

Thanks for posting review. Interesting parallel as I will be returning to Princess after a 12 year absence (when I sail on the Solstice in 2018) and what will be 10 in a row on Princess.....:):):)

 

Bob

[reedprincess]

I've never cruised on Celebrity, although I have an Adriatic cruise booked this summer. I've cruised on Princess eight times, and my brother about the same. He insists the food is better on Celebrity.

Princess used to have a cheese course available every night. No more. They now have the same lousy cheese offering every night. My understanding is that Celebrity does offer a cheese course, even if the quality of the cheese isn't very high.

Princess has essentially pulled escargot from the menu. It's might be available as a secret item, or available for a single night, but I've been told "NO" in no uncertain terms when I've asked for escargot. Celebrity has it on the menu every night, from what I can tell.

 

I think part of what is going on here is that familiarity breeds contempt. But in addition, the new world of specialty restaurants is serving cruisers wishes, in that many people want a few outstanding meals and don't care so much about the rest. In any event, I'd love to hear from some regular Princess cruises on this.

Princess does still have their cheese plate option at dessert, just as Celebrity does. Cheese offerings vary by night, usually some kind of hard cheese, some kind of softer cheese and some kind of blue/smelly cheese, along with some fruit (usually grapes) and crackers or bread. After just completing 14 nights on Celebrity Eclipse (disembarked April 3), their cheese plate was virtually exactly the same as what we had on Princess as recent as January - 3 types of cheese, some fruit - red grapes every night, but with an alternating dried fruit, either cranberry or apricot, and 4 crackers, each different.. Essentially, same course on Princess and Celebrity...

Interesting item of comparison. As I do the cheese plate every night, and husband does fruit plate every night (again, exactly the same fruits on Princess and Celebrity - slice pineapple, slice cantaloupe, slice honeydew and slice watermelon, garnished with sprig of mint and one sliced strawberry or slice kiwi), it's a comparison we can appreciate! Lol..

Celebrity does have escargot on the "always" available menu. Princess's availability varies by length of cruise, you usually have to order it ahead of time for the next night... Short Princess cruises usually don't have escargot available while longer ones do...

That's been our most recent experience, both this year, less than three months apart..

[Mississippian]

Princess does still have their cheese plate option at dessert, just as Celebrity does. Cheese offerings vary by night....

On the last three or four Princess cruises I've been on, the cheese offerings did not vary by night. There were "two" on the aways available cheese plate, and they were always the same.

[reedprincess]

On the last three or four Princess cruises I've been on, the cheese offerings did not vary by night. There were "two" on the aways available cheese plate, and they were always the same.

 

Interesting, as my 6 Princess cruises last year all had three cheese pieces, of different types, and varied by night. Usually first served with hard french-type bread, but served with crackers every night after I asked.... The cheese offerings at the International Cafe changed daily to. Granted, we're only taking some few types of cheese here - cheddar, gouda, pepper jack, blue, swiss, port wine cheddar, etc., not a huge full blown cheese selection.

Celebrity had similar offerings each night, three types, along with cheese selection in buffet of about 4 types where you slice and serve your own with some chutneys, dried fruits and saltines...

[Onasunnyafternoon]

Very useful review thank you. Might try princess this year! Getting a bit bored of celebrity now.

[Moonlitherial]

After the stories of our latest cruise my in-laws are considering a cruise of their own but because they want to do Hawaii my research is driving me to recommend Princess over Celebrity. This particularly since they're also talking about Alaska as a second destination. I love the fact that I've been able to read multiple comparisons here of both lines so I'm fairly comfortable setting their expectations. I wouldn't have been able to do that without the time and effort that people like the OP and others have put into their comparisons and reviews.

 

Since we can only manage a cruise every year or two, we're going to stick with only Celebrity for now unless this Hawaii cruise turns out to be the family cruise my father-in-law is pulling for and then I guess I'm planning a Princess cruise :)

[Mississippian]

Here is a recent thread in which other Princess passengers also experienced the same-two-cheeses-every-night issue on Princess. They used to have a halfway decent cheese course, and they would identify the three cheeses on the menu. Now it's just brie and gouda every night, no variation.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2161058&highlight=cheese

[reedprincess]

Here is a recent thread in which other Princess passengers also experienced the same-two-cheeses-every-night issue on Princess. They used to have a halfway decent cheese course, and they would identify the three cheeses on the menu. Now it's just brie and gouda every night, no variation.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2161058&highlight=cheese

Recent? That thread is one year and two months old... All 6 of my Princess cruises last year (and through mid-Jan this year) were post the last date of that thread, on 4 different ships, and I had three different cheeses on my cheese plate that varied over the course of the cruise... As I only have my experience to go by, that is what it was - the two cheese course between Celebrity Eclipse ending April 3 and my Princess cruises were virtually interchangeable... Three cheese for both, fruit on both, etc.. If you've experienced different, then sorry for your experience, but mine has been as stated.

[liverpoollad]

Excellent comparison Celebrity v Princess Thank you.

 

We have been on 3 times on Celebrity & 2 Princess, found both about equal, but if I had to pick one it would be Celebrity.

 

We will on the Equinox in May & may possibly changing views on our favourite line.

I think that cruising in it's entirety is subjective & this brings me to wondering will I be sailing differently from either of these in the future as our last two cruises were on the Allure of the Seas & NCL Epic. We enjoyed both of these as they had excellent entertainment programme. I am in my seventies & I like the non-stop entertainment on both these ships & wonder if the Celebrity & Princess may be too sedate for me now.

 

Of course the food is important, but have found as others have that over the years it has been downgraded & feel that all are getting to be of the same standard. The Allure of the Seas stood out for us as it had four dining places, without charge, & Epic three.

The most boring ship we have been on was the Azamara Quest, super ship & food but as someone else has mentioned regarding HAL, the ship after 10.30pm was like the Mary Celeste.

 

Staff on all ships we have found excellent with exception of QE2 ( our cabin steward never spoke or smiled)

 

For us our choice of a favourite will be down to entertainment.

Cheers.

[liverpoollad]

Whoops!! Regarding my last post we were on the Anthem of the Seas not Allure.

[Mississippian]

Recent? That thread is one year and two months old... All 6 of my Princess cruises last year (and through mid-Jan this year) were post the last date of that thread, on 4 different ships, and I had three different cheeses on my cheese plate that varied over the course of the cruise... As I only have my experience to go by, that is what it was - the two cheese course between Celebrity Eclipse ending April 3 and my Princess cruises were virtually interchangeable... Three cheese for both, fruit on both, etc.. If you've experienced different, then sorry for your experience, but mine has been as stated.

Thank you for the update, reedprincess. Were the cheese named on the menu so you could know what you are getting? For a while they took the cheese completely off the menu but would provide it when asked. But the waiter could never identify the cheese, and so you never knew what they would bring out.

[reedprincess]

Thank you for the update, reedprincess. Were the cheese named on the menu so you could know what you are getting? For a while they took the cheese completely off the menu but would provide it when asked. But the waiter could never identify the cheese, and so you never knew what they would bring out.

Nope, it wasn't listed which cheese would be each night, just like it's not on Celebrity. "a selection of domestic and imported cheeses with accompaniments" or similar wording on both menus... Enjoyable, not spectacular, and by no means a gourmet cheese course but served the purpose on both lines.

[trbarton]

Thanks for your review. I'm traveling on the Sumit in October, Canada/New England, my first time with Celebrity so I'm interested to see what Celebrity has compared to Princess.

 

Here's one item not discussed. When crushing on Princess if you have prior military service, and have at least 100 shares of Carnival Corp stock you get additional OBC based on the length of your cruise. It's $250 each for a 14 day or longer cruise and on my South American cruise on the Crown in January 2017 I will have $725 in OBC with T/A and Princess credits along with military & stock credits. Something I did not find on Celebrity but they had the cruise that I wanted.

 

For my October cruise, in an inside stateroom, the only credit is from my T/A, $200. The same 14 day cruise with Princess would give me at least $500 in OBC plus whatever Princess offers.

 

Tom😎

[reedprincess]

Thanks for your review. I'm traveling on the Sumit in October, Canada/New England, my first time with Celebrity so I'm interested to see what Celebrity has compared to Princess.

 

Here's one item not discussed. When crushing on Princess if you have prior military service, and have at least 100 shares of Carnival Corp stock you get additional OBC based on the length of your cruise. It's $250 each for a 14 day or longer cruise and on my South American cruise on the Crown in January 2017 I will have $725 in OBC with T/A and Princess credits along with military & stock credits. Something I did not find on Celebrity but they had the cruise that I wanted.

 

For my October cruise, in an inside stateroom, the only credit is from my T/A, $200. The same 14 day cruise with Princess would give me at least $500 in OBC plus whatever Princess offers.

 

Tom😎

Yeah, that's one of the great things about Carnival brands - they allow one to stack credit. So you can get shareholder credit, military credit, TA credits, etc, it's great. Unlike RCI brands, which only allow one type of credit to be applied, so if you use your Captain's Club level discount, you can't apply your shareholder credit, and so on.

For my next Princess cruise, we have $1,000 for our 20 night sailing, between shareholder, what Princess was offering and our TA offers....not too shabby. Lol..

Edited April 14, 2016 by reedprincess

[joanne2]

Yeah, that's one of the great things about Carnival brands - they allow one to stack credit. So you can get shareholder credit, military credit, TA credits, etc, it's great. Unlike RCI brands, which only allow one type of credit to be applied, so if you use your Captain's Club level discount, you can't apply your shareholder credit, and so on.

For my next Princess cruise, we have $1,000 for our 20 night sailing, between shareholder, what Princess was offering and our TA offers....not too shabby. Lol..

 

Celebrity does allow you to combine shareholder OBC with TA OBC, but with nothing else.

[LewesBeach]

Thx for posting. It's interesting how it seems that you get used to something, then it gets old or boring, and you end up trying something new. We are princess Elite and after several less than stellar cruises, we are trying a 7 Day Caribbean on the Celebrity Reflection in January. I'll miss the free laundry & the fettuccini but I'm sure there will be other things to like. The adventure of a new line will be worth it.

Berni