Celebrity cruisers who also cruise with Princess, what should not be missed on our first Princess cruise?

[maggipie]

2 hours ago, miched said:

What did you miss?   Not sailing on a Celebrity cruise

 

Why ask this in the Celebrity forum?

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

Your addition wins least helpful comment.

 

I know what I will be missing with Eclipse being cancelled on me; I was looking forward to Spicy MangoTinis from Sushi on Five, Mint Cookies from Slush, more laundry opportunities than we could possibly use on a 7 day cruise, and enjoying the unique happiness that is the Martini Bar. (Ugh, sounds like we just drink and get clothes dirty when we cruise ... but it's not limited to that!)

 

I was soliciting suggestions from cruisers who appreciate Celebrity as much as I do, who have the experience with Princess that I don't, to allow more insightful comparisons, than what would be offered from pure Princess aficionados ... so best forum for that is this one, as you can see from all those above who gave excellent advice.

 

Happy cruising to you too

[chamima]

I think everyone has already said most of the things we like about Princess but I wanted to let you know that all of the food at the International Cafe (which is open 24 HOURS a day) and Alfredos is no extra charge.

I agree that there is much more and more varied entertainment on Princess.

I also find the crew happier and more personable.

 

The one thing I miss most on Princess is the indoor pool for inclement days but you are sailing on the one ship that has one!

 

I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

PS - If you find out the ingredients for those two drinks above I'm sure you'll find a bartender who will be happy to make them for you. 😉

Edited February 14, 2022 by chamima

[5:00_Somewhere]

13 hours ago, XBARBSX said:

Just got off the Majestic a couple of weeks ago.  As most said Alfredos is great.  One thing no one mentioned is The Bistro le Mer,  French restaurant,  it is amazing.  Not all Princess ships have it but it is well worth the upcharge.  The filet mignon was the best meal I have had in a long time, because of the sauce.  Also they had a Florentine with cheese thingy that was simply awesome, especially if you like cheese!!   I was with a group of 9 and they all loved the dinner. 

 

I'm glad you mentioned that. We tried le Mer on the Sky a couple years ago but were not impressed. The food quality was not great, nor was the service, and we did not like all the noise from the entertainment going on in the Piazza below. But, we always give new places (it was very new at the time) one or two more tries before making a final decision. I would be surprised if the quality and service did not improve, although I don't know what could be done about the noise. I considered asking for an al fresco table to help alleviate the noise issue. 

 

[jagoffee]

Some of these suggestions might be not be available depending on the ship, but most are.

1.  Try the Fish and Chips available for lunch in one of the lounges.  It is 

available on one or two days.

2.  Enjoy the piano player everyday.

3.  If the ship is near capacity arrive early for the Main show as Princess has smaller main theaters.

4. If you have the drink package canned soda is not included. (Fountain only).  Milkshakes were included for us.

5. The laundromat was a nice feature.  They have an iron.

6. Check out Princess’s secondary shows/entertainment in smaller venues every evening.

7.  Check out the Champaign waterfall on the first formal night.  
8.  Consider the Pop up speciality dining in the buffet area on select evenings. (Crab legs) 

9.  The Wine bars is a nice location to enjoy a glass of wine and free appetizers.  They also serve the wine in better glasses.  
10.  Fettuccine Alfredo is available in the everyday menu which is a popular feature for my DW.

11.  Have the “kids” check out the young adult club.  Our Grandson meet some really nice people on our Alaska cruise.

 

Although we cruise more frequently with Celebrity, we often cruise with Princess. Our Princess cruises are usually based on the better itinerary.  Several in the French Polynesia area.  Alaska because of the pre cruise package and Glacier Bay.
 

Enjoy your cruise and try to not compare Princess to other cruise lines while on board as she has her own special features.

 

 

[luv4cruises]

We mainly cruise on Celebrity, Princess, Holland, snd Royal Caribbean- newer ships whenever possible.   I love the Piazza on the Royal class Princess ships.I love MUTS, the entertainment and activities, the food- much better Italian selections, better pizza, and creamy homemade ice cream!   Sadly the standard balconies are too small, but the wall to wall open closets in the dressing area next to the bathroom are a big plus..  I believe you will enjoy the change. Bon Voyage! 

[JamieLogical]

Thank you so much for posting this! I have been sailing Celebrity a lot recently, but have our first Princess sailing booked for December (Panama Canal), so this comparison was very helpful!

[cnkgirl]

I cruise both cruise lines but I do prefer celebrity but I also do princess often as well. When the new medallion app works properly it’s wonderful you can get food and drinks delivered right to your seat. Also make sure you go check out Alfredo‘s and the noodle bar on the pool deck.

[happy cruzer]

So the one downer about Princess is that the lower category cabins are smaller and only have one chair provided.

 

Now the good stuff. The cabin will have a large closet "between" the bedroom and bath. Agree that the International Cafe and Vines are a great spot.  Really enjoyed lunches in that spot.  Fresh water pools are nice. When we sailed there was only one drink package on Princess and it covered alot; never thought about needing to upgrade.

 

The medallion worked very well for opening the cabin door 🙂

[AZ Ocean Lover]

We are Elite on Princess and working on it with Celebrity.  We were on the Majestic in August and while I’m not a big fan of of the bigger ships (on either line), the Majestic is amazing.  Most of the best things have been mentioned but here is my list of the pros and cons:

 

Cons:  No true promenade.  There is a walking course but it’s small and in inclement weather or high wind access was cut off.

 

it’s a big ship.  We sailed with my sister who has walking difficulties and it was difficult for her to get around.

 

Indoor pool.  It’s nice to have one but it felt kind of old school.  Not very pretty and very heavy chlorine smell.

 

Pros:  International cafe

           Alfredo’s    
           Sur le mar - excellent meal.  It’s fairly open so the ambiance is not as        
                 relaxing as other Speciality restaurants.  
            Conservatory - lovely place to sit and enjoy the view (was amazing

                 for Alaska).

            Medallion - this could go under Pro and Con.  While it was so frustrating pre-cruise it was great while on the cruise.   As others have mentioned you can order food or drinks and they are brought to you wherever you are (including your cabin).  Drinks are listed on the app so you can take your time to see everything available before you decide.  Our cruise was only about half full so things arrived quickly.  This might not work as well with a full ship.

 

             Piazza - great place to sit and people watch.  
 

Have fun.  You won’t be disappointed.  We wouldn’t hesitate to sail either line.

 

[smbt1]

On 2/13/2022 at 10:12 AM, kimlovesfl said:

We've only sailed these 2 lines. The Horizon Court (buffet) has theme nights; German night is our favorite. The IC is good too. I LOVE the big, beautiful atriums on the Royal class ships. Not sure if the Majestic has a Crooner's; if it does, check it out. Lively entertainment at a piano bar. Pizza at Alfredo's is excellent. An odd thing- I find Princess has excellent soups. Like, top notch and some of the best I've had. 

No Crooners on Majestic, space is used for a Specialty French restaurant. There is also a Chinese Specialty restaurant that is not found on other Princess ships.

 

Majestic is unique compared to other Royal class. It was built for the Chinese Market.  As such it has the Hollywood Pool and Conservatory (an indoor heated  pool on Deck 16 with a forward viewing lounge area.  

[smbt1]

15 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Some of these suggestions might be not be available depending on the ship, but most are.

1.  Try the Fish and Chips available for lunch in one of the lounges.  It is 

available on one or two days.

2.  Enjoy the piano player everyday.

3.  If the ship is near capacity arrive early for the Main show as Princess has smaller main theaters.

4. If you have the drink package canned soda is not included. (Fountain only).  Milkshakes were included for us.

5. The laundromat was a nice feature.  They have an iron.

6. Check out Princess’s secondary shows/entertainment in smaller venues every evening.

7.  Check out the Champaign waterfall on the first formal night.  
8.  Consider the Pop up speciality dining in the buffet area on select evenings. (Crab legs) 

9.  The Wine bars is a nice location to enjoy a glass of wine and free appetizers.  They also serve the wine in better glasses.  
10.  Fettuccine Alfredo is available in the everyday menu which is a popular feature for my DW.

11.  Have the “kids” check out the young adult club.  Our Grandson meet some really nice people on our Alaska cruise.

 

Although we cruise more frequently with Celebrity, we often cruise with Princess. Our Princess cruises are usually based on the better itinerary.  Several in the French Polynesia area.  Alaska because of the pre cruise package and Glacier Bay.
 

Enjoy your cruise and try to not compare Princess to other cruise lines while on board as she has her own special features.

 

 

7.  Check out the Champaign waterfall on the first formal night.  
8.  Consider the Pop up speciality dining in the buffet area on select evenings. (Crab legs) 

 

They have not been doing 7 and 8 on the ships I have been on since the restart due to limited number of passengers and reduced staffing.

[Virgo61]

We're of Italian heritage so we like the Princess pasta offerings, especially the Pasta Arrabiata. The pizza is also very good. I also really like their Margaritas. Entertainment is more varied. Despite all of the former, Celebrity is still our favorite.

 

[Jacob Cavalier]

We have only travelled on one Princess cruise, the rest Celebrity. We thought the Princess staterooms were more spacious and there was more of a variety of things to do during the day. They had for example an on board choir you could join with a daily rehearsal and a performance which was fun. Might have been just that particular cruise but we found the average age older. Otherwise we found Princess and Celebrity comparable. 
Thought excursion booking and organisation better on Celebrity 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

We are the opposite of the OP.  Built up quite a lengthy history with Princess and are now working our way up the Celebrity status ladder. 
 

The one thing that I found about Princess staff (especially bar staff if that is your thing) is that you engage with them more on a “friend” level.  Celebrity staff are more professional but a little less engaging. Please no flaming, they are wonderful!  Some Princess staff really do become friends by the end of the cruise. That can happen on X too but it was more common on Princess. 
 

Just my own thoughts. 

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, Jacob Cavalier said:

We have only travelled on one Princess cruise, the rest Celebrity. We thought the Princess staterooms were more spacious and there was more of a variety of things to do during the day. They had for example an on board choir you could join with a daily rehearsal and a performance which was fun. Might have been just that particular cruise but we found the average age older. Otherwise we found Princess and Celebrity comparable. 
Thought excursion booking and organisation better on Celebrity 

 

What room types were you in? One of the things that has me really hesitant about Princess is that the normal balcony rooms don't have a couch. I've never sailed in a balcony room (all previous sailings were on NCL and Celebrity) without a couch or at least an extra wide chair (Summit). I don't like the idea that I need to sit in bed to watch TV or sit and read inside. Also, I am really worried about the shower curtain versus shower door....

[dreams_of_travel]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

What room types were you in? One of the things that has me really hesitant about Princess is that the normal balcony rooms don't have a couch. I've never sailed in a balcony room (all previous sailings were on NCL and Celebrity) without a couch or at least an extra wide chair (Summit). I don't like the idea that I need to sit in bed to watch TV or sit and read inside. Also, I am really worried about the shower curtain versus shower door....

All excellent points.  I do sometimes miss the couch or wide chair when I'm on Princess. I can see with an inside room that not having a space to relax could be a problem.  I used to always cruise in an inside cabin, but recently, due to Covid, always get a balcony.  Not having a couch/wide chair it isn't a deal breaker for me, but it forces me to get out around the ship instead of being my typical hermit/recluse. There are many nice places to sit, enjoying a book, while still being alone. YMMV.  The shower curtain can be an issue, but on my cruise in January, I was shocked it worked perfectly.  No flooding the bathroom, or clinging annoyingly.   I found the shower door on Celebrity Summit to be a bit annoying to me back in December for some reason, though now I don't remember exactly why.  I do recall it would knock/bang if not properly shut after use.  

[chamima]

6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

What room types were you in? One of the things that has me really hesitant about Princess is that the normal balcony rooms don't have a couch. I've never sailed in a balcony room (all previous sailings were on NCL and Celebrity) without a couch or at least an extra wide chair (Summit). I don't like the idea that I need to sit in bed to watch TV or sit and read inside. Also, I am really worried about the shower curtain versus shower door....

 

We've never missed the couch on Princess. The "couch" on Celebrity is so hard that I almost never sat on it to relax or read a book. It was mostly just an extra long shelf to put things on.

That said, our last cruise on Princess was in a minisuite and I actually did enjoy relaxing on our couch .(Which is a real couch!)

All of the mini suites and deluxe balcony cabins on the newer ships (Royal, Regal, Enchanted, etc.) have couches if that's important for you. The mini suites also all have full bathtubs so that may alleviate the shower curtain issue.

[daydreamer16]

9 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

What room types were you in? One of the things that has me really hesitant about Princess is that the normal balcony rooms don't have a couch. I've never sailed in a balcony room (all previous sailings were on NCL and Celebrity) without a couch or at least an extra wide chair (Summit). I don't like the idea that I need to sit in bed to watch TV or sit and read inside. Also, I am really worried about the shower curtain versus shower door....

I don't miss the couch on a short cruise, especially in warm weather when we're outside. However, I was on a 15 day trans-Atlantic in 2019 & on day 8 my husband came down with the flu. He spent a lot of time in bed so I tried not sitting on the bed. The single chair is not that comfortable. I hate the shower curtain, but there are many things that I like about Princess, so sometimes  you just have to live with it!

[George C]

Agree pizza is very good, entertainment is better but showrooms are small , saw a fistfight about saving seats once. 

[maggipie]

On 2/14/2022 at 5:06 AM, chamima said:

PS - If you find out the ingredients for those two drinks above I'm sure you'll find a bartender who will be happy to make them for you. 😉

 

chamima, thank you for your suggestion of asking my future favorite Princess bartender to make my much missed Spicy MangoTini but it has special mango foam from WCB (thus can't be replicated on E class), but I think a Mint Cookie is definitely doable! 🤩

Edited February 20, 2022 by maggipie

[maggipie]

On 2/14/2022 at 5:54 AM, jagoffee said:

11.  Have the “kids” check out the young adult club.  Our Grandson meet some really nice people on our Alaska cruise.

 

jagoffee, thank you for your detailed list, and especially the idea about the young adult club. Sadly, Covid stole these few young adult cruising years from DD, but DS will finally be permanently banned later this year from all kids programs, so he is young adult eligible very soon. I wonder how many other teenagers out there miss cruising as much as he does?

 

[maggipie]

Many thanks, everyone else, for all the additional tips; pizza and Vines and 24 hour IC (son will love that!) appear most popular! I also like the idea of smaller size plates, though even with Celebrity's "larger" plates, we've done our share of "for the table" when the decision was just too difficult. And good to know about arriving early due to smaller theater size ... I don't want us involved in any fistfights, yikes! With all the virtual meetings that have come about with Covid, you'd think theater offerings could be "live streamed," not the same experience, of course, but better than no experience, or getting a black eye angling for the experience 🤕

 

I will add a few comments for flights (typically we do air ourselves, but with Covid, it was great to have Celebrity Air for the last two cancelled cruises): I agree it is nice on EZ Air to change online directly (vs having to call Celebrity). I also like how I was able to select seats on EZAir, couldn't do that with Celebrity Air. However, because our two Princess cabins couldn't be under one booking, our flights needed to be under two separate reservations.

 

Speaking of no couch (I did notice that), another booking two cabin issue is that connecting deluxe balconies (with said couches) couldn't be booked, because that category was only available guarantee, but not sure if this was only applicable to this Majestic cruise. So instead of $2K more for connecting mini suites (that was the airfare for our redeye flight to FLL!), some of that money saved on our connecting standard balconies (fistfights for the single chair in our cabin is okay, and fingers crossed the shower curtains will not cling as much as I fear they will cling) will now help fund more meals in the SRs you all recommended so highly.

 

Neither of the above is relevant for those of you who only book single cabins, but that's not our current situation; though I do dream, not only of the day when the kids attain financial independence, but also of a time when DH and I might be the 3rd and 4th pax in their iconic suite 🥳🥳

[chamima]

6 hours ago, maggipie said:

Speaking of no couch (I did notice that), another booking two cabin issue is that connecting deluxe balconies (with said couches) couldn't be booked, because that category was only available guarantee, but not sure if this was only applicable to this Majestic cruise. So instead of $2K more for connecting mini suites (that was the airfare for our redeye flight to FLL!), some of that money saved on our connecting standard balconies (fistfights for the single chair in our cabin is okay, and fingers crossed the shower curtains will not cling as much as I fear they will cling) will now help fund more meals in the SRs you all recommended so highly.

 

Neither of the above is relevant for those of you who only book single cabins, but that's not our current situation; though I do dream, not only of the day when the kids attain financial independence, but also of a time when DH and I might be the 3rd and 4th pax in their iconic suite 🥳🥳

 

I'm sure you will have a wonderful cruise.

(BTW - With almost 40 Princess cruises in our past, I have never witnessed a fight over seats in the theater.)

(And I also love the Mango Tini. We've gone to Sushi on Five for pre dinner drinks just to get that.)

A favorite bartender from a Princess cruise several years ago made me a special drink with a muddled jalapeno  that is almost better. Try muddled jalapeno, 2 oz. vodka, 1 oz. watermelon syrup, 1 oz. passion puree, and top with cranberry. I carry that "recipe" with me now.

 

If you still want those deluxe balcony rooms I would check with guest services when you get on board. In these current times there seem to be many open cabins that are available for upgrades once you are on the ship. Either for free or have an amount in mind that you’re prepared to spend and see what say. 

Bon Voyage!

 

(And good luck on being taken in that iconic suite. We're still waiting for that one. 🤣)

Edited February 20, 2022 by chamima

[happy cruzer]

On 2/17/2022 at 7:44 AM, JamieLogical said:

 

What room types were you in? One of the things that has me really hesitant about Princess is that the normal balcony rooms don't have a couch. I've never sailed in a balcony room (all previous sailings were on NCL and Celebrity) without a couch or at least an extra wide chair (Summit). I don't like the idea that I need to sit in bed to watch TV or sit and read inside. Also, I am really worried about the shower curtain versus shower door....

After having health issues on two different Princess cruises, where we were in cabins that only had the desk chair available;  we don't even consider those cabins any longer so in most cases that rules Princess out for us because the mini-suites are a bit pricey (some posters on the Princess board think the lack of seating is a revenue generator by pushing some up into the mini-suites 🙂; this was heavily discussed when they removed the barrel chair from cabins ).  As far as I know, Princess is the only line with this lack of seating in balcony cabins, and only one or two lines have lack of seating in their outside and inside categories. 

 

But if the seating works for you, then look forward to the positives as mentioned in this thread.  We all look for different things.

[hoadred]

The biggest standout for me compared to Celebrity was the quality of the production shows. I find most Celebrity shows (on S and M class ships anyway) very weak while I will not forget Princess shows like “Rock Opera” and “Fiera”  anytime soon. The medallion concept is amazing - your cabin door unlocks as you approach it. Enjoy!

Edited February 20, 2022 by hoadred
Clarity