My Thoughts Celebrity VS Princess

[kelmac]

The more we cruise, the less we like Princess. We give them a try every few years, but have never been impressed. Nothing bad, just don't care for the food, the alternative restaurants, and the crowded buffet. Their ships have wonderful deck spaces and the crews do a good job, but I would much rather cruise other lines.

 

Celebrity is still are go to line! We prefer Cunard, NCL (w/the UDP & UBP), Royal Caribbean and HAL. Oceania and Azamara are wonderful, but too expensive as of late.

 

Once again, we will give Princess another try in a couple of years, and hope things are more to our liking.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[CruiseTimeAgain2]

My wife and I have compared cruises between both also and found Celeberity a better value when all is added in. The one thing I do miss from Princess is the Sancuary. We loved this even though you had to pay extra.

[Iamcruzin]

We share the same thoughts. I can't afford to sale on Celebrity without an included drink package. Even soft drinks, water and coffee are double of what Princess charges. I don't need to purchase a drink package on Princess as the cocktail prices on board are less than what I pay at home.

[roxievegas]

I know that we can only experience for ourselves which we like better. We have done 6 celebrity cruises for over 65 nights and have an Alaska 7 night next year. We are now concentrating on places we want to go, so Hawaii/Tahiti with Princess for 28 nights in March 2018 pecked our interest. We have a deposit and will wait for closer to sail date and final payment before we commit. I am hoping that we won't be disappointed - it will be on the Emerald Princess.

[OzKiwiJJ]

Princess is very inconsistent and random with needing to sign for each drink with the drink package.

Some places on the ship we had to sign but not in other places.

Never in the places we went frequently.

 

If you're getting a drink at a bar or lounge where they have a terminal where they can swipe your card then you shouldn't have to sign, however in the dining rooms, buffet, and speciality restaurants you usually have to sign as they don't have the terminals there.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We like both Celebrity and Princess.

 

Princess has better entertainment, both shows and musicians in lounges and bars. Also most of the bars and lounges are nicer - most of the Celebrity ones are either around the atrium or in the busy thoroughfare to the speciality restaurants. I think the food is slightly better on Princess - there seems to be more variety than on Celebrity, especially appetisers. Princess has the Sanctuary which, although it costs extra, is a wonderful place to relax totally especially on itineraries with lots of sea days.

 

Celebrity has nicer cabins, bathrooms and balconies. Solstice has the Sky Lounge which is wonderful when leaving ports in cooler weather. Celebrity has sommeliers. Celebrity has Cafe Bacia which has a nicer ambience than Princess's International Cafes.

 

Celebrity isn't in our region year-round like Princess so we're tending to do more Princess cruises. On Princess we often book an inside cabin and spend some of the difference on the Sanctuary.

[GUT2407]

I'd have to say that we prefer Princess.

 

Love the fact that there are no tips added on, what we pay is all we HAVE to pay.

 

Love $Aus v $US.

 

It maybe that we started with Princess and it just felt right, not sure.

 

A few things we though Celebrity did better (only had one Celebrity cruise so far, number two is booked so can't say what is on all ships and what was just on Century yet)

 

Home made Ice cream in a lot of varieties for free

 

Aqua Spa cafe, Mrs Gut is at least vegetarian, prefers vegan and loves her weird juices.

 

The sandwich bar on Celebrity was great, some days, particularly on a longer cruise you just want a Sanger.

 

The premium non alcoholic package including bottled water, was great.

 

The sofa, which with Princess now requires a mini suit, in the balcony cabin was appreciated.

 

Princess is likely to remain our first choice but will almost certainly go Celebrity again, in fact have one booked for next year.

[chemmo]

We love Celebrity's suite packages and have not been temped recently to look elsewhere.

 

However, owing to recent health issues, we have had to cancel our Autumn X cruise but should be OK for a Caribbean cruise early 2017...

 

Problem is all the cruises I fancy in the early spring don't have RS or PH left....I know some may become available nearer the time so we could wait...or we could consider trying another line.

 

I have just been searching on Princess. Are there any two room suites or are their PH and OS all they have? How do they compare size wise to RS and PH on X? Our adult son will be joining us on this cruise so this is important to us.

 

I couldn't find a list of suite amenities - is there one? Is there a lounge, butlers?

[jagoffee]

If you're getting a drink at a bar or lounge where they have a terminal where they can swipe your card then you shouldn't have to sign, however in the dining rooms, buffet, and speciality restaurants you usually have to sign as they don't have the terminals there.

 

Princess may have improved their process, but we I had the Princess package shortly after it was released you had to sign a different receipt for each person. I do recall it was even more complicated in the MDR. It is good to hear that they fixed it in the bars.

[Gran2five]

We are Elite on Celebrity and therefore choose them over Princess most of the time. Agree with some that speciality dining on Celebrity is superior to that of Princess.

 

Our last cruise - spring TA on Equinox was exceptional in that the crew were the friendliest we have ever met. Food, service, entertainment the best.

 

We have however sailed on Princess and have no complaints. We think that Princess has better itineraries and were it not for being Elite, we would choose them more often.

[BosoxI]

Signing a receipt is small fish for me but I do like to get a receipt so I can track my expenses. Celebrity is much better at providing one without my asking than Princess. A small but annoying thing.

 

I do like the Princess dining rooms which are more restaurant like compared to the barn known as the MDR on Celebrity. Also, Princess has head waiters galore should there be a need. I have never seen one on X

[susieg]

Princess may have improved their process, but we I had the Princess package shortly after it was released you had to sign a different receipt for each person. I do recall it was even more complicated in the MDR. It is good to hear that they fixed it in the bars.

 

On our Princess cruise in July, our entire table in the MDR had the drink package. They put all drinks on one slip each night and asked one of us to sign for all. They alternated who was asked to sign, so that part was barely noticeable. We never had to sign a slip in any bars. It was my first time to have the drink package and I loved it.

[Gracie115]

We found the MDR experience on Princess much below that of X. Maybe it would have been different if we had assigned dining times but in the "select dining" area it was woefully inefficient....beepers handed out.....seated in completely different sections every night.....waited the entire meal for a glass of wine....it was disappointing....

 

We enjoyed the cruise and would try Princess again, but feel they are much more on par with Royal than Celebrity....

[DancerOT]

Thank you for all of the balanced thoughts and comments! I tried Princess several years ago on the Princess Sun and felt fairly disappointed in the product. On the bright side, our room steward was one of the best I have ever had (definitely top three), however others in our group weren't so lucky. On the other side, there was a definite sewage smell throughout the ship and the staff kept denying it (everyone was commenting on it). I often felt like I was nickle and dimed throughout. Did I have a good time? Absolutely!! I was on vacation! However, it turned me off of Princess. However, much of the comments on this thread have made me think I ought to give them another try if the price and itinerary are right.

 

However, our next cruise on X was for a great price for a balcony and included three perks - beverage package, tips, and lots of onboard credit (we hit the lottery just right!). Additionally, being that I am elite on X, I know I can book an inside when a great price comes along and not worry about not having a drink package.

[karena1]

We are now cruising both. We are D+ on Royal but with the perks on Celebrity and Princess we are going with who gives us the best bang for the buck.

 

We have a Regal Princess booked for Dec. Balcony was exactly the same as Celebrity and Royal. With Celebrity/Princess we get the free bev pkg, Royal would have to pay for that.

 

Really wanted to try Regal so decided to go for that this year. But did Silhouette in Dec last year and absolutely loved it.

 

So we look at all 3 line, we only do the Caribbean, so just look for the best prices and go from there. Doing Summit over Adventure next April for the same reason. Price for the cruise was exactly the same, Royal - no pkg, Summit pkg included and goes to our 5 favorite islands so was a no brainer to Celebrity over Royal.

 

short 3/4 nights we do Royal as there really are no other choices. But for longer cruises we check and shop b/t the 3 lines.

Edited August 14, 2016 by karena1

[cynbar]

We love Celebrity's suite packages and have not been temped recently to look elsewhere.

 

However, owing to recent health issues, we have had to cancel our Autumn X cruise but should be OK for a Caribbean cruise early 2017...

 

Problem is all the cruises I fancy in the early spring don't have RS or PH left....I know some may become available nearer the time so we could wait...or we could consider trying another line.

 

I have just been searching on Princess. Are there any two room suites or are their PH and OS all they have? How do they compare size wise to RS and PH on X? Our adult son will be joining us on this cruise so this is important to us.

 

I couldn't find a list of suite amenities - is there one? Is there a lounge, butlers?

 

chemmo, the suite amenities on Princess pale in comparison to Celebrity. There are no butlers in any of the suites, room service brings any meals you order. (you can order off the main DR menu for all 3 meals where other passengers cannot.) No special lounge. No special restaurant, although they are starting a new plan where part of one of the MDRs will be dedicated to suite and "club level" passengers, the latter staying in mini suites where they have paid extra for the dining perk. However, this sounds like it will have the same atmosphere and food as the rest of the passengers get, although service may be better. There is no concierge. Princess had a lovely suite-only breakfast in Sabatini's, one of the specialty restaurants, but I think that may be going away and suites will be able to eat breakfast in the same designated area as dinner . There are no free drinks like you can get in Michael's Club on Celebrity. Despite that, we enjoyed our suite on our recent cruise, Princess had the itinerary we wanted (British Isles) so we were more than willing to roll with the punches on other things.

[jagoffee]

On our Princess cruise in July, our entire table in the MDR had the drink package. They put all drinks on one slip each night and asked one of us to sign for all. They alternated who was asked to sign, so that part was barely noticeable. We never had to sign a slip in any bars. It was my first time to have the drink package and I loved it.

 

I figured they would improve the process over time. Good to hear.

[chemmo]

chemmo, the suite amenities on Princess pale in comparison to Celebrity. There are no butlers in any of the suites, room service brings any meals you order. (you can order off the main DR menu for all 3 meals where other passengers cannot.) No special lounge. No special restaurant, although they are starting a new plan where part of one of the MDRs will be dedicated to suite and "club level" passengers, the latter staying in mini suites where they have paid extra for the dining perk. However, this sounds like it will have the same atmosphere and food as the rest of the passengers get, although service may be better. There is no concierge. Princess had a lovely suite-only breakfast in Sabatini's, one of the specialty restaurants, but I think that may be going away and suites will be able to eat breakfast in the same designated area as dinner . There are no free drinks like you can get in Michael's Club on Celebrity. Despite that, we enjoyed our suite on our recent cruise, Princess had the itinerary we wanted (British Isles) so we were more than willing to roll with the punches on other things.

 

Sincere thanks for your detailed response. I think at some stage we may give Princess a try....if you know what is / is not included then you do know what to expect.

 

I would miss Michael's Club and my afternoon tea I think!

[ISABELLA]

I used to sail Princess only, but stopped about 6 years ago, when quality declined. I was thinking to give another try after people commenting that Princess is close to X, but every time I look at pricing - Princess is more expensive than X for similar cruise, unless it is last minute special...when are pricing better for booking?

[smtcan]

We are Elite + on Celebrity and it is our line of choice. However, we cruise mainly for itinerary and are finding few new and interesting offerings on Celebrity. For this reason we have recently taken several Princess cruises and have been satisfied with them. We have had more excellent meals on Princess, but also more disappointing ones. Celebrity is more consistent. We rarely cruise in the Caribbean and have never had a suite on either line, so we are comparing inside or balcony cabins on both lines. The older Princess ships are similar to M class, although they always seem a little darker and more closed in to me.

 

We have one upcoming Celebrity cruise and nothing booked after that. We will be looking out for a new and exciting destination for 2017, on whichever line can provide it.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I have taken 17 Princess cruises and eight Celebrity cruises. Both lines have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think they are fairly comparable overall. I have cruised aboard both lines over a long period of time (first Princess cruise in 1989 and first Celebrity cruise in 1991). When deciding between these lines, the itinerary has become one of my primary considerations.

 

Chuck