Royal Class / Grand Class (v Celebrity Solstice)

[Shadow9612]

The majority of my cruising experience has been with Celebrity S class ships, non-suite level, concierge class. Even with the declining service and value for non-suite guests on X, I still love my cruise experience with them.

 

I am though, considering other cruise lines due to the decline in X. Since I have limited time off, when I go on a cruise, I don't want to be disappointed. Catch 22

 

I have been on 2 Princess cruises, both Grand Class ships (one over 10 years ago, and then 3 years ago).

 

On some recent threads I've noticed people saying celebrity and princess are quite comparable, which surprised me. My limited experience on Princess suggests otherwise - IMO, Celebrity is superior.

 

However, I'm wondering if this may not be the case if I was comparing the princess Royal class ships to celebrity solstice....Would I be happier and enjoy more?

 

I find the layout of Celebrity S class ships much more logical and maneuverable. I could never remember how to get from 'A' to 'B' on Princess.

 

I also find the Ocienview Cafe (buffet) experience much more pleasant - the X layout was superior to Princess (I don't enjoy the "enter here" / "exit there" line-up style...).

 

Then there were minor little things that struck me as 'odd' on Princess (e.g. shampoo bottles on the floor of the shower with no tops??).

 

3 years ago, I tried the Ruby princess, but was so disappointed - not because the cruise was 'bad', but because I was comparing it to X, which I had just gotten off of the same day.

 

I would value any input or suggestions -should I give Princess Royal class a chance?

 

Also, is it improper CC etiquette to post this on both the princess and celebrity boards? For now I only posted in Princess, but would really like to hear from people like me - who are happy with X, want something to change, but don't want to be disappointed.

 

Thank you.

[jeromep]

I can't speak to etiquette, but if you post a question about Princess to the Princess boards you will get a mostly positive view of Princess from those here, myself included. If you post the same question on the Celebrity threads, you will probably get a more positive view of X than of Princess.

 

Royal class ships are big, quite a bit larger than the Grand class and its derivatives, and there are a number of sub-classes of the Grand class which do impact how they "feel" when you are on board. The Royal class ships aren't nearly as big as various Behemoths of the Seas over at RCCL, so in this instance big is defined from a Princess perspective, not from an industry overall perspective.

 

Princess is changing the layout of the buffets on the Royal Class ships, and the general consensus is that the layout has better flow and easier navigation. I avoid buffets on cruises, they are nothing more than great vehicles to spread Noro, so whether a buffet has stations or directional in-and-out, doesn't really matter to me. Princess does a great job of having plated and served food available from other locations on board, so the need for a buffet, in my eyes, is very limited.

 

I haven't had a negative experience with bathroom service items on Princess. I've never seen open topped shampoo bottles on the floor of showers, so I can only attribute that to a one-off issue. Regular cabin showers on the Royal class are more generous than on previous ships, but if you want to avoid small showers and small bathrooms you would be advised to book a mini-suite or larger.

 

The Royal class ships are generally well laid out and the Piazza is at least twice the size of the Grand class ships, however there are no stairs located with the central bank of elevators past deck 7, so logjams do occur in that general area of the ship, especially during dinner hours. However, I've never had issues knowing how to get around on a Grand class ship, they are remarkably similar, so the important thing to remember is that locations on board are either forward, center or aft and on a particular deck. Pick the forward, center, or aft stairway or elevator and when you get off the deck for the place you want to be, you will not be far away. You sometimes end up walking "through" a venue to get to another location on a particular deck, mostly because there are limitations in terms of how much space you can give to something that is nothing more than a hallway and space you really need to provide to a venue, this is especially the case for the casino.

 

As you said, the reason you were disappointed on the Ruby was because you were comparing it to X on an ongoing basis. If you find yourself unable to take Princess at face value and not always compare to X, I don't think you'll ever enjoy Princess. If you can give it another try and keep an open mind, I think you'll really enjoy your next Princess cruise.

[Cruise Raider]

I write this with some reservation as I have not sailed on the Royal class of ships on Princess. However, we sail extensively and mostly on Princess followed by Celebrity.

Celebrity is, by far, our favorite line while Princess offers a very decent product. We sail on Princess a lot more because of their west coast itineraries but if Celebrity sailed more from the west coast, we'd probably sail on them much more often.

 

So, don't think you will be absolutely disappointed with Princess but in comparison to Celebrity, it is just too hard to beat in my opinion.

[Candycrusher]

After cruising 70+ cruises, I feel it is not possible to choose a cruise based on the "name" of the cruise line.....they ships are all different and change constantly. I have met people on back to back cruises who had a fabulous experience one week, and a totally different experience the following week. I have not been on a Princess cruise for 12 years, with the grand being the last and not liking it. Jus got off the Regal and love it! The Royal class is the way to go at this time if you are considering a Princess, IMO. Sorry to say, my least favorite cruise experience was on the Celebrity Eclipse. I have been on other Celebrities and will not do another one.

 

 

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[KruzeKrazy!]

A year + ago bimmer09 wrote a fantastically informative comparison of Princess and X (in particular the Silouette). He did a comparison of each of the primary ships' areas/experiences including nice photos.

[Shadow9612]

A year + ago bimmer09 wrote a fantastically informative comparison of Princess and X (in particular the Silouette). He did a comparison of each of the primary ships' areas/experiences including nice photos.

Found it - thank you! It is remarkable and I'm only on page 6 of 86 !

[KruzeKrazy!]

Found it - thank you! It is remarkable and I'm only on page 6 of 86 !

It's a great read (all of his threads are) and includes lots of helpful comments from other knowledgeable and interested posters. Enjoy!

[Shadow9612]

I can't speak to etiquette, but if you post a question about Princess to the Princess boards you will get a mostly positive view of Princess from those here, myself included. If you post the same question on the Celebrity threads, you will probably get a more positive view of X than of Princess.

 

Royal class ships are big, quite a bit larger than the Grand class and its derivatives, and there are a number of sub-classes of the Grand class which do impact how they "feel" when you are on board. The Royal class ships aren't nearly as big as various Behemoths of the Seas over at RCCL, so in this instance big is defined from a Princess perspective, not from an industry overall perspective.

 

Princess is changing the layout of the buffets on the Royal Class ships, and the general consensus is that the layout has better flow and easier navigation. I avoid buffets on cruises, they are nothing more than great vehicles to spread Noro, so whether a buffet has stations or directional in-and-out, doesn't really matter to me. Princess does a great job of having plated and served food available from other locations on board, so the need for a buffet, in my eyes, is very limited.

 

I haven't had a negative experience with bathroom service items on Princess. I've never seen open topped shampoo bottles on the floor of showers, so I can only attribute that to a one-off issue. Regular cabin showers on the Royal class are more generous than on previous ships, but if you want to avoid small showers and small bathrooms you would be advised to book a mini-suite or larger.

 

The Royal class ships are generally well laid out and the Piazza is at least twice the size of the Grand class ships, however there are no stairs located with the central bank of elevators past deck 7, so logjams do occur in that general area of the ship, especially during dinner hours. However, I've never had issues knowing how to get around on a Grand class ship, they are remarkably similar, so the important thing to remember is that locations on board are either forward, center or aft and on a particular deck. Pick the forward, center, or aft stairway or elevator and when you get off the deck for the place you want to be, you will not be far away. You sometimes end up walking "through" a venue to get to another location on a particular deck, mostly because there are limitations in terms of how much space you can give to something that is nothing more than a hallway and space you really need to provide to a venue, this is especially the case for the casino.

 

As you said, the reason you were disappointed on the Ruby was because you were comparing it to X on an ongoing basis. If you find yourself unable to take Princess at face value and not always compare to X, I don't think you'll ever enjoy Princess. If you can give it another try and keep an open mind, I think you'll really enjoy your next Princess cruise.

@jeromep: I was re-reading this thread and realized I never thanked you for this wonderful summary! Thank you :)

[BarbinMich]

. . .

On some recent threads I've noticed people saying celebrity and princess are quite comparable, which surprised me. My limited experience on Princess suggests otherwise - IMO, Celebrity is superior.

I find the layout of Celebrity S class ships much more logical and maneuverable. I could never remember how to get from 'A' to 'B' on Princess.

. . .

I also find the Ocienview Cafe (buffet) experience much more pleasant - the X layout was superior to Princess (I don't enjoy the "enter here" / "exit there" line-up style...).

. . .

 

Two years ago we "returned" to Celebrity after having done quite a few cruises on Princess after "abandoning" X for quite a few years.

 

We were on the Eclipse, but presumably all their new ships are similar. Generally, I found most of the ship somewhat claustrophobic on the public decks--walkway areas seemed much narrower than one finds on the Royal-class Princess ships (and on the Grand-class, for that matter). For example on Deck 4, the walkway to the theater is quite narrow and there is only one way to get there. Further aft on that deck it always seemed quite congested around Cellar Masters (on starboard side of elevator bank) and walking through the Martini Bar/Crush on the aft side of the elevators was also difficult, esp. at night. The area around the pools also was very limited and crowded. I also found the balcony cabin we had inferior: the desk was minuscule, especially with a tea service sitting on it (assume it's only there for cruises departing from Southampton). The "couch" was a full-twin size bed and thus awkward for sitting (at least for shorter people) and took up a lot of room. The closet had sliding doors and opened into the cabin--quite awkward since it's very close to the bed.

 

On the positive side: loved the theater and it's balcony; loved the lawn (we were on a Med cruise and as we left Gib. they served wine and hors d'oeuvres there while a string duo played--a wonderful sailaway experience); loved the Oceanview Cafe where we ate most of our meals.

Edited March 27, 2017 by BarbinMich

[sjaak]

We're Celebrity adapts too, but because we got a little tired of the same menus over and over again we decided it was time to give Princess another try. Only cruised with them once on Grand Princess several years ago.

 

We just got off Royal Princess on March 20 after being on board for 20 days. Overall we had a great cruise.

 

Entertainment on P is far superior than on C.

The large seating capacity around the coffee cafe is just great. At Cafe Al Bacio on C its always very crowded.

The Piazza (atrium) on P is better used than on C. Unfortunately my husband developed severe spine problems and walking was very painfull so we spent most of our evenings in one of the bars and lounges around the piazza. That's just the place to be and you won't be bored.

Quality of the food is comparable.

Balcony cabin comparable, both have positives and negatives.

 

We found the layout of the ship was not very logic. Having spend quite some evenings at Bellini we kept seeing people walking into the corners just in front of the casino and Club 6. That must meen lots of people miss the logic.

What I really, really disliked was the lack of public restrooms. Stand in line is not what I want when staying on a luxurious cruiseship!

Balcony is really tiny, but okay it fitted the two of us.

Layout of buffetrestaurant on C is far superior.

Theaterseating is cramped, knees to seat in front of you. And no place to put your drink.

 

Crown Grill on P very good, but Murano on C is a nicer an quieter place to be. P should have made Crown Grill a closed restaurant. Now there is too much noise from the bar located right in front of the restaurant.

 

I think service is getting less everywhere. Only one roomattendant where he/she used to have an assistent. Less people in the diningroom, no sommeliers in diningroom. I think thats inevidable.

 

After this cruise we came to the conclusion that we still prefer C.

Will we sail with P again? Absolutely, they deliver a fine product. We already booked Royal again, 20 days in the Med 😄

 

Any specific questions? Feel free to ask.

 

 

Please keep in mind that English is not my native language. I appologize for any mistakes. 🤗

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[KruzeKrazy!]

sjaak -

 

Your English is far superior to what many of us could do in whatever your native language is! No apologies needed!

[Shadow9612]

Is smoking still allowed in the casino on Princess, or are some ships non-smoking?

 

I believe there was a smoking section years ago, but being sensitive to smoke, I couldn't even spend time in the casino despite the separate area.

[reedprincess]

Is smoking still allowed in the casino on Princess, or are some ships non-smoking?

 

I believe there was a smoking section years ago, but being sensitive to smoke, I couldn't even spend time in the casino despite the separate area.

Unfortunately, smoking is still allowed in portion of the casino on most all ships - not positive about those based in Australia though. They have nonsmoking nights, particularly Formal nights, but you can still smell the lingering smoke...

Hopefully they'll move in the Celebrity direction with no indoor smoking including casino....but they haven't yet.

[vermonter16]

DH and I are contemplating booking a Princess cruise and would book Celebrity if more itinerary options were available. We LOVE the Solstice Class ships. We've sailed a few times on Carnival, I've recently sailed a couple times on RCL but just don't think DH would be happy with RCL. They are OK but the only other options out there seem to be 'for us' Holland America and NCL. So, for itinerary, etc it looks like Princess may be the choice. So, a thread like this is really helpful. There are certain things I've liked on the lines we have sailed but so far Celebrity Solstice Class ships are our favorite so far so it's great to hear about the differences and similarities and what people like and don't like about each. Thanks!

[shepp]

Celebrity is, by far, our favorite line while Princess offers a very decent product. We sail on Princess a lot more because of their west coast itineraries but if Celebrity sailed more from the west coast, we'd probably sail on them much more often.

 

Amen to that. Celebrity has much more of public presence in San Francisco - billboards, newspaper ads, film festival sponsorships, etc. - than Princess but their sailings from here (or from any California port) are nonexistent. Maybe I'm lazy and spoiled, but if I can cruise Princess to Hawaii from Pier 27, a couple of miles away from my home, instead of flying to Vancouver a day early, paying for a flight and a hotel, and getting on a Celebrity ship, it's no contest.

[4cats4me]

We like both cruise lines . If you're comparing to Solstice, go on the Regal or Royal. The ships are beautiful, but in a different way. No covered pools though. More entertainment than X, cheaper drinks, better drinks.

The buffets on the Regal Royal blow away the Solstice class buffets. I'm very serious. We loved the Solstice class buffets after having been on Princess for years, winner hands down is the Regal Royal buffets. That said, our next cruise will be on the Equinox.

 

 

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