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

[basenji56]

2 hours ago, hoadred said:

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!

The production shows on Celebrity are their weakest link. They need to pay for shows and ditch the in house production plan. Their shows are just a bunch of songs strung together with no real plot. 

[Jacob Cavalier]

Jamielogical, it was just a standard balcony cabin on the same floor as the fitness suite . I didn’t notice the lack of a couch. Can’t remember if there was one or not .Apologies.

[maggipie]

Follow up, FWIW- returned from our cruise .... with Covid  😞  and ironically, our quarantine cabin was a deluxe balcony with a couch (even adjoining, but Covid spared DH and DS) ... this is the epitome of a "be careful what you wish for" lesson.

 

For those who have found this thread because you are using CC for research as I often do, here are my takeaways from Princess vs Celebrity (with consideration to post pandemic having some influence on certain aspects).

 

More alike than different, staff everywhere always friendly and helpful.

 

We found food to be better on Celebrity, though we did appreciate the pizza in Alfredo's Pizzeria. Our only SD was Crown Grill, we could not do Bistro Sur La Mer because of quarantine (though you can actually order from specialty restaurants to your room with your app ... retrospectively, guess I should have), and Harmony didn't have anything super appealing.

 

No cold towels in the gym (are they still there post pandemic?).

 

Shower curtains do not cling (whew!)

 

Balconies small (for our BB category anyway, though opening up the divider made for a nice long balcony).

 

Self laundry turned out to be a big plus even though this was a short 7 day cruise. On Celebrity, we have 5 free bags of laundry amongst us, soon 6 when DS turns 18, but it was very nice to have everything back in ~2 hours, if you are a clean clothes freak like me (since this was a staycation cruise, I wasn't missing much to make that trip to the laundromat).

 

All other points in prior posts are more or less true; capacity on our cruise was ~1850, so theater wasn't crazy crowded, no fistfights! MUTS wasn't fun because it was too cold (timing!), even bundled up in blankets. Vines was great, enjoyed some nice tapas there. 24 hour IC wasn't utilized; DS just ordered burgers and fries with the app when he got hungry after dinner. And thanks to you CC folks, it wasn't often, since when he was really hungry, he knew to ask the waiter for double entrees at dinner ($10 charge only in SD).

 

The medallion IS nice to unlock your cabin door as you approach but I think the biggest plus about Princess is being able to order food and drinks with the Medallion app, delivered to wherever you are, most appreciated when DD and I were stuck in quarantine the last 2 days of the cruise (but it was also handy when my drink was forgotten at dinner earlier in the cruise, I just ordered another on my app). Thanks again to chamima for your special drink recipe, and I was happy to discover both the Flamingo and French Martini, consoling especially after our family was split up.

 

My appreciation again to all fellow Celebrity cruisers who contributed your 2 cents on Princess faves! (As now we've got FCC for the next Princess cruise ... )

[Mark_K]

2 hours ago, maggipie said:

Self laundry turned out to be a big plus even though this was a short 7 day cruise. On Celebrity, we have 5 free bags of laundry amongst us, soon 6 when DS turns 18, but it was very nice to have everything back in ~2 hours, if you are a clean clothes freak like me (since this was a staycation cruise, I wasn't missing much to make that trip to the laundromat).

Maybe it was the cruise we were on, or that the ship was full, but we had ~2 hour wait just to get an open machine.

[SSAtlantic]

Sorry to hear you and DD were sent to quarantine. I have been following numerous threads on the Princess boards from other ships. Quarantine passengers are reporting very poor service during quarantine. How was service on the Majestic quarantine deck?

Hope you are both feeling better soon. 

[chamima]

Thanks for reporting back. Most people don't.

But SO SORRY to hear you got Covid!!!!

I think the cruiselines gave in to perceived pressure and dropped the indoor masking prematurely.

I hope you had/have a mild case and recover quickly!

[klfhngr]

On 2/12/2022 at 11:04 PM, maggipie said:

Eclipse California Coastal cancelled, so our family of 4, cruising Celebrity almost exclusively the last ~2 decades, after considering the additional $2K+ airfare (hmm ... where are the "$299 flights" 🤔) for a redeye to board Reflection for a same date Caribbean itinerary, decided to keep with our original staycation plans, and now will be boarding Majestic Princess instead.

 

Very disappointed initially since we were so eager for our first restart cruise post Covid (with the lucky coincidental kids' spring break 2022 this year), but now we are looking forward to this relaxing/non port intensive itinerary to introduce us to a new line. We're easy to please and open to anything. Any recommendations from fellow cruisers who love both Celebrity and Princess, on what your favorite unique-to-Princess things are? 

 

I already have MUTS as #1, and #2, a Toasted Almond Martini, delivered, via the Medallion app 😊

 

TIA!

I've done many Carnival and RCL cruises, 1 NCL, 1 X (another next month) and 2 Princess. I will never cruise Princess again! Ships were boring, staff did NOT want to be there, some staff straight out rude. As a matter of fact, 99.9% or our group said never again (group of 15 and 20). Carnival treated us better! Anyhow, my 2 cents!

[maggipie]

19 hours ago, SSAtlantic said:

Sorry to hear you and DD were sent to quarantine. I have been following numerous threads on the Princess boards from other ships. Quarantine passengers are reporting very poor service during quarantine. How was service on the Majestic quarantine deck?

Hope you are both feeling better soon. 

 

I'd rather we not have been sent there, but it wasn't as scary as some of the other threads I read!