Sea Princess Questions

[JacintaH]

Hello all

 

I am seeing a lot of familiar names still posting here so I hope you are all happy and healthy with great plans for cruises coming up.

 

We have cruised with Celebrity in the past but have noticed that the local itineraries for Celebrity remain largely unchanged which is a bit of a bore. I stumbled across an interesting cruise on Sea Princess to PNG for Feb 2018 which is very tempting.

 

Can anyone provide insight on how the Sea Princess experience measures up. I've read the recent reviews and any negatives that have been highlighted appear to be a result of isolated issues.

 

I appreciate that Sea Princess is much smaller than the more prominent Celebrity ships and that is fine because our favourite was Celebrity Century.

 

Any tips or tricks for a newbie to the brand?

 

Thanks

 

Jacinta

[Aus Traveller]

Although the Celebrity Century looks a bit more glamourous and I feel the cabins/bathrooms are a bit better than on the Sea Princess, I would prefer to cruise on the Sea P. The cruise to PNG on the Sea P in September is currently available at a good price.

 

Tips? Hard to say. You probably already know that the Sea P operates in AUD and tips are not expected. You won't get a glass of bubbly to welcome you on board as we did on the Celebrity Century. You can take a bottle of wine each at the embarkation port and often it is also allowed at later ports.

[lyndarra]

We have cruised on both X Century (now gone to China) and Sea Princess. Both are very similar.

We prefer Celebrity over Princess mainly for the food quality and level of service. Celebrity were that much better in most things. Sea Princess had the worst MDR meals and service we have experienced in 9 cruises. However there were a couple of things we liked about Princess. The pizzas were great and the variety of free on demand movies.

Having said that, we would cruise Princess again if the itinerary suited us.

[JacintaH]

Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciate your ideas.

[Aus Traveller]

We have cruised on both X Century (now gone to China) and Sea Princess. Both are very similar.

We prefer Celebrity over Princess mainly for the food quality and level of service. Celebrity were that much better in most things. Sea Princess had the worst MDR meals and service we have experienced in 9 cruises. However there were a couple of things we liked about Princess. The pizzas were great and the variety of free on demand movies.

Having said that, we would cruise Princess again if the itinerary suited us.

We found the level of service on Celebrity not to be as good as Princess. One example is no service in the buffet area. I asked about coffee and was told "Over there". Service in the MDR was comparable.

 

Our cabin steward on the Celebrity Century drove us mad. He barged into our room probably four times a day when we were there - often in the bathroom, or in our night wear. There was no "Do not disturb" sign. I can only think that the steward thought he would impress us and get a bigger tip. He only got the auto tip. We considered complaining about him, but we didn't because we don't like to do that and get someone into trouble.

 

We were surprised that we would have had to pay for movies on the stateroom TV, whereas on Princess they are free.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Aus Traveller

[PJOZ]

We've cruised on both (though only a short one on Sea Princess) my thoughts would be:

 

Cabins, bathrooms and balconies: Century much better, MUCH smaller on Sea Princess than the Century.

Food: Century better but Sea Princess still very good, a few misses in the MDR but lots of hits as well and buffet and room service great, though limited for breakfast if you don't want to pay extra.

Movies: Sea Princess better, great free movies on your TV and loved Movies Under the Stars

Pools: Sea Princess better as more pools and really liked that they were not salty.

 

Princess@sea was great (you can send messages and check the daily planner and your account from your phone for free) they might have something similar on Celebrity now it is a while since we've cruised with them.

 

Overall I preferred the Century but still liked the Sea Princess. Think it would be worth it for the new itinerary.

[lyndarra]

We've cruised on both (though only a short one on Sea Princess) my thoughts would be:

 

Cabins, bathrooms and balconies: Century much better, MUCH smaller on Sea Princess than the Century.

Food: Century better but Sea Princess still very good, a few misses in the MDR but lots of hits as well and buffet and room service great, though limited for breakfast if you don't want to pay extra.

Movies: Sea Princess better, great free movies on your TV and loved Movies Under the Stars

Pools: Sea Princess better as more pools and really liked that they were not salty.

 

Princess@sea was great (you can send messages and check the daily planner and your account from your phone for free) they might have something similar on Celebrity now it is a while since we've cruised with them.

 

Overall I preferred the Century but still liked the Sea Princess. Think it would be worth it for the new itinerary.

I believe the OP was comparing Sea Princess with Celebrity in general as Century is now gone. That said Celebrity in Australia is Solstice. Solstice is miles ahead of Sea Princess and we have cruised on Solstice as recent as July last year (and two other Celebrity ships as well, Millennium and Infinity). All, in our experience, better than Sea Princess.

[MicCanberra]

I cannot comment on the Sea Princess itself, but IMO, itinerary, and timing come first and pricing (the total cruise spend, not just the up front fare) third before I even consider which cruise line or ship.

Therefore if Princess delivers on the first three better than X, go with it and know that the cruise is what you make of it.:D

[The_Big_M]

In this case I'd rate Century over Sun Princess. Sea is my least favourite of the 3 sisters, in part because of the bad smell that lingers in a fair amount of the stairwells/foyers.

 

I'd agree that itinerary, price and timing are major drivers for me though, so it wouldn't be a show stopper.

 

That said, aside from the rest they both suffer from slow lifts so have quite a few things in common!