New to Princess, usually used Celebrity.

[Lolabunny488]

Hi, we have sailed with celebrity in aqua class for the last 4 years and never sailed with princess. We just wondered do they have anything similar to aqua class and do they do anything significant for new years eve. As we are looking at a new year cruise with them, any help would be gratefully appreciated. 

 

many thanks 

[reedprincess]

There's Club Class dining, for which you have to be booked into a Club Class Mini-suite or a full suite, which is as close to Aqua as Princess gets.  And it's not very close.

It's not a different dining room, it's the same MDR, just in a set section with different table cloths and flowers. Sane menu as MDR, with an additional dish or two. "Guaranteed" anytime dining, no waiting. Slightly higher wait staff to guest ratio.  

Doesn't include thermal suite access or diffusers or water in cabin, no special shower heads,  and so forth. 

[Lolabunny488]

Ah ok, thanks so much for that info. 

Is the main dinning of a high standard for food?

[DrivesLikeMario]

For a mass market cruise line, it's good IMO.  Food is very subjective.

[skynight]

1 hour ago, Lolabunny488 said:

Ah ok, thanks so much for that info. 

Is the main dinning of a high standard for food?

We find the MDR's have good food with no need to book specialty restaurants or dining experiences if you don't want to. Specialty restaurants vary by ship. A  Club Class mini suite gets you Club Class dining, a larger cabin, and a few other minor benefits. A full suite gets you a Club Class dining, special breakfast, called mimosa breakfast, every morning except turn around day and some other benefits. You can see full suite benefits on the site:https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/PrincessSuite_eFlyer.pdf

 

Knowing the ship will enable more precise information.

 

 

 

[suec12]

Long time X cruiser here. We tried Princess when a BIL planned a family trip - we have since then taken 2 more Princess cruisers - we sail the regular verandahs on X, not Aqua. I think the food on Princess is fairly similar in quality to the MDR on X - however we do miss the French onion soup and escargot. Seafood is better on Princess (not so much the fish but shrimp and other dishes with seafood). We LOVE the fettuccini alfredo and often get it as a side. We saw very little lamb on the menu and probably the beef items were not quite as good as X, but overall we were satisfied and did not go to any specialty venues. Princess had some kick a$$ deserts!

[RSF Cruiser]

We've been on two New Years Eve cruises and they were a blast! Music in all of the venues and sometimes on deck, too. There was a count down clock with a balloon drop at midnight in the piazza. Everyone was dressed up and the atmosphere was really festive. 

[Lolabunny488]

ah perfect thank you or this information its really helpful. we've done both X and royal at xmas and new year. We are looking at a sailing on the crown princess. 

Thats good to hear about desserts i love mine!!! 

[imapost2003]

Typical X cruiser here as well, newer princess cruiser.  I have found that they have more similarities than differences.  I agree with previous posts about the food.  X has some better beef options, Princess has better seafood options and def better desserts.  I also missed the French onion, which princess' is not as good and only served once on my previous cruise.  Our last 3 X were in Aqua and sadly there is no blu or thermal suite access or any room goodies on Princess.

One more notable thing for me was the service while sailing on princess.  Not that i have dont love the service on Celebrity, but Princess does it better.

The majority of X cruisers carry drink packages, which puts alot of pressure on the already severely understaffed bars and waiters resulting in long lines at the bars and little to no wait staff around the pools.  Absolutely opposite on Princess.  The ship seemed so overly staffed that i often observed bar tenders and waiters standing around chatting.  This was not unwarranted however, as everyone in sight had beverages if desired, with zero line at the bar itself.  And yes, this is including sea days and busy evenings.

[skynight]

Princess is not as class structured as Celebrity.

Edited March 25, 2019 by skynight

[jondfk]

As to the question of New Years, we've done several on Princess and found the ship fully decked out with decorations and balloons.  All of the lounges will be on overdrive with a wide variety of music.  Countdown to midnight.  A very festive atmosphere.  It'll be a formal night and the vast majority of the ship will in fact dress up on this particular occasion (whereas on normal formal nights many pax go to alternate dining or the buffet).  It's hard for me to imagine what more could be done beyond the party Princess throws.

[daydreamer16]

5 hours ago, reedprincess said:

There's Club Class dining, for which you have to be booked into a Club Class Mini-suite or a full suite, which is as close to Aqua as Princess gets.  And it's not very close.

It's not a different dining room, it's the same MDR, just in a set section with different table cloths and flowers. Sane menu as MDR, with an additional dish or two. "Guaranteed" anytime dining, no waiting. Slightly higher wait staff to guest ratio.  

Doesn't include thermal suite access or diffusers or water in cabin, no special shower heads,  and so forth. 

I agree, there's nothing like blu! We are so spoiled that when we sail X we must do aqua. As they say, life is so short!

[Thrak]

4 hours ago, suec12 said:

however we do miss the French onion soup and escargot

 

Sadly, the way to get good French Onion Soup is to book dinner in Crown Grill (or the alternate steak house on some ships). As for escargot, it is usually served in the main dining room on one of the formal nights. I have seen multiple posts here on Cruise Critic where people have been successful in having it served other nights by requesting it a day in advance. It's well worth a try. Make friends with your waiter and ask if this is possible. You may be nicely surprised.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Thrak

[BarbinMich]

21 hours ago, suec12 said:

Long time X cruiser here. We tried Princess when a BIL planned a family trip - we have since then taken 2 more Princess cruisers - we sail the regular verandahs on X, not Aqua. I think the food on Princess is fairly similar in quality to the MDR on X - however we do miss the French onion soup and escargot. Seafood is better on Princess (not so much the fish but shrimp and other dishes with seafood). We LOVE the fettuccini alfredo and often get it as a side. We saw very little lamb on the menu and probably the beef items were not quite as good as X, but overall we were satisfied and did not go to any specialty venues. Princess had some kick a$$ deserts!

We've sailed extensively on Princess, Celebrity and HAL.  Started out on Celebrity before anytime dining existed so had to eat in the MDR.  I love lamb (a regular Sunday roast when growing up) so that was an attraction for me to sail Celebrity.  Last sailed on X on the Eclipse a few years ago and I persuaded DH to eat in MDR the night they had lamb; it's not something he grew up with so he ordered something else <g>.

[deultgen]

We also sail regularly on Celebrity and always in Aqua Class.  Here are my own suggestions:

 

1.  Without knowing exactly which ship and itinerary you are looking at ........ I have found the lines to be very similar.

2.  We love Aqua Class and Blu, yet we can not always take a Celebrity cruise

3.  We have found it can be good for us to book a basic balcony stateroom on Princess

          a.  Then book a Specialty Restaurant most or every night of the cruise.  The price of Specialty Restaurants are quite a bit lower on Princess

          b.  Then once you are on the ship, book the Sanctuary for the entire cruise/and or the Thermal Suite

 

4.  We have found this experience to be close to the Aqua Class at about the same total price 

 

 

[Lolabunny488]

10 minutes ago, deultgen said:

We also sail regularly on Celebrity and always in Aqua Class.  Here are my own suggestions:

 

1.  Without knowing exactly which ship and itinerary you are looking at ........ I have found the lines to be very similar.

2.  We love Aqua Class and Blu, yet we can not always take a Celebrity cruise

3.  We have found it can be good for us to book a basic balcony stateroom on Princess

          a.  Then book a Specialty Restaurant most or every night of the cruise.  The price of Specialty Restaurants are quite a bit lower on Princess

          b.  Then once you are on the ship, book the Sanctuary for the entire cruise/and or the Thermal Suite

 

4.  We have found this experience to be close to the Aqua Class at about the same total price 

 

 

That’s great thank you for this information. We were going on the x reflection at new year for a carribean cruise. Now it’s a 10 night carribean for new year onboard crown princess. I like the idea of paying for the sanctuary for the whole cruise I didn’t realise this was possible.