Princess compared to Celebrity

[C4HCG]

Hi - looking for some guidance. We are new to cruising, 4 cruises since 2019, all on the Celebrity Equinox in the Caribbean. Love the ship and booked again for next September. However we really want to cruise Hawaii and the Celebrity itineraries don’t really appeal so were thinking maybe try Princess (assuming they do Hawaii) and wondered how the ships and experience compare. We like the older age group Celebrity attract, the peaceful atmosphere with none of the fairground type attractions, good food and drink. All help gratefully received.

[deultgen]

We like Equinox as well.  At the same time, we regularly sail Princess.  We also appreciate the relaxed atmosphere in a place like the Solarium on Celebrity, excellent food, especially in Blu, and creative drinks.  Our problem (or just reality) recently is the COST.  We have found Celebrity to be priced FAR MORE for the similar/same cruise.  

 

My own advice and in my opinion you can have a very similar experience, considering what you say you appreciate, if you:

     Book the Princess cruise

     Do a YouTube search for "Princess cruise Sanctuary" and see if that is the type of area you would like.  I bet it is.

     Book the Sanctuary a number of afternoons while on your cruise

     Regularly book specialty restaurants on your cruise.  They are pretty good (depending on the ship) and FAR less expensive than Celebrity.

 

 

[milolii]

Aloha, The best cruise to visit Hawaii is actually the NCL Pride of America 7 day voyage.  It departs Honolulu on Oahu every Saturday and visits overnight on Maui, the Big Island (Hilo &  Kona) and overnight on Kauai.  NCL also offers a lava sail by if lava is visible during your cruise.  Most of the Princess cruises  depart from a California port and are 14 days with about 10 of them at sea. NCL POA- no sea days.  
 

NCL Pride of America is not one of the fleet’s big ships with all the bells and whistles.  The focus is the Islands, with most guests off ship all day. The food on Princess is better and there is usually Hawaii programs on board the Princess ships while at sea. The best NCL food is actually in its pay restaurants. 

 

NCL would require flights (probably more than one booking for you) to Honolulu, Princess would require a flight to San Diego, Los Angles or San Francisco, with many non stop flights available daily from LHR.

 

I haven’t sailed Celebrity, but thinking I might try it. 
 

Enjoy 

[C4HCG]

Thanks for the responses, appreciated 

[iamaqt2]

The biggest and most glaring difference between Celebrity and Princess IMO is in the MDR.  Celebrity has dedicated wine stewards who quickly learn your favorite wine and rarely leave your glass empty. And their servers aren't harried by this task.  Princess expects your servers to take your wine or beverage order and bring it back all while trying to get food orders taken and delivered to multiple tables.  It might be 20-30 minutes before that glass of wine shows up. 

I find the quality of food on Celebrity to also be slightly better.  

For the night owls Celebrity also offers more evening activities after 9 pm than Princess.  My personal favorite is the Silent Disco.

But Princess has better enrichment lectures and the 24 hour International Cafe. 

[BettyCruiser]

While Celebrity and Princess are very similar, a notable difference is that Princess has indoor smoking areas, specifically the casino. Princess does usually offer a non-smoking casino on formal nights. Another point, my experience is that formal night on Princess is more formal than evening chic on Celebrity. 

 

If you like the Princess Hawaii itineraries give them a try.

Edited December 11, 2022 by BettyCruiser

[sunsetme]

Equinox has better service, food and entertainment.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

58 minutes ago, milolii said:

Aloha, The best cruise to visit Hawaii is actually the NCL Pride of America 7 day voyage.

 

I COMPLETELY disagree on the POA. I think it is the worst way to visit Hawaii via a cruise. The ship is below average.

 

I'd either to the 15 or 16 day round trip from the mainland or the 9-12 day one way cruises to and from the mainland.

 

Curious why the Celebrity itineraries do not appeal?

 

I've done the 15 day round trip several times and it is one of my favorite itineraries.

 

I like Princess a little better than Celebrity, but I think the MDR on Celebrity is a bit better.

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

I COMPLETELY disagree on the POA. I think it is the worst way to visit Hawaii via a cruise. The ship is below average.

 

I'd either to the 15 or 16 day round trip from the mainland or the 9-12 day one way cruises to and from the mainland.

 

Curious why the Celebrity itineraries do not appeal?

 

I've done the 15 day round trip several times and it is one of my favorite itineraries.

 

I like Princess a little better than Celebrity, but I think the MDR on Celebrity is a bit better.

Completely agree.  Flights are long and very expensive for a seven day cruise.  POA is very dated.  I personally prefer Celebrity all around, but Princess also does an excellent Hawaiian cruise for less money.

[JoRoy218]

We did the Hawaii cruise on the Grand Princess out of SF. Loved it! No complaints whatsoever! 

Edited December 11, 2022 by JoRoy218

[richsea]

We’ve cruised Celebrity over 25 sailings, but have pretty much switched to Princess the past 7 years or so, due mostly to Celebrity’s pricing. We find the lines more similar than different. One thing I would caution you about Princess are their standard balcony rooms, which do not have a couch or loveseat, leaving no place to sit other than a desk chair or the bed. I think Princess is the only mass market line without a couch. If this is important to you, try a deluxe balcony on one of the Royal Class ships, which do have a loveseat.

[cruisequeen4ever]

All of your priorities are a match with Princess. We consider the food to be far superior on Princess to Celebrity. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

37 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

All of your priorities are a match with Princess. We consider the food to be far superior on Princess to Celebrity. 

Respectfully disagree.  Do think any food comparison for quality, ambiance and service needs to be today as things are often changing.  The number of crew and passengers will vary greatly.  Too few crew and too many passengers makes for a challenging cruise.  It is also impossible to predict.

[Ramblergirl]

2 hours ago, richsea said:

One thing I would caution you about Princess are their standard balcony rooms, which do not have a couch or loveseat, leaving no place to sit other than a desk chair or the bed. I think Princess is the only mass market line without a couch.

I totally agree with the above.  The std balcony state rooms in Princess are smaller. You need to book Princess  Mini-Suite to get the same floor space and facilities than in standard Celebrity balcony cabin.  

[LibertyBella]

Okay, I have sailed all three, and I find Princess and Celebrity more similar than different, rather upscale, sophisticated and more adult-oriented. I like the itineraries and service on both lines. I will be testing out the new Princess medallion experience this upcoming year. I have also sailed Holland America and Cunard, and find them all in the same vein--a bit more formal and traditional, very much my favorite style of cruising. 

 

I think cruising the Hawaii islands is a WONDERFUL experience.  You get a taste of each island, and can think about what you might want to come back and visit for a longer time. The first time I went was on American Hawaii cruises (historic ships), and we had a memorable time stopping in each island and watching lava flow into the ocean from our porthole.

 

I more recently took NCL PoA with family (children to seniors), and found the modern ship with single cabins, diverse restaurants, etc, and a casual style very appealing, although ordinarily that would not be my personal first choice.  Stopping every day and touring makes for a busy schedule, but if one has the energy and interest there is so much to see and learn!

 

Going to Hawaii in some ways is more about the islands than the cruise itself, and that is what it should be!  Hope you will be able to find a cruise that suits your budget and schedule and enjoy!

[pris993]

We are elite on both Princess and Celebrity.  

 

We always book a mini suite on Princess, which does have a sofa by the way, and CC class on Celebrity.  We started booking Celebrity in the early 1990s, actually preferred the older ships to their newer ships.  Feel the same way about Princess, like Grand class over Royal class, that being said, the newer Celebrity ships and the Royal class on Princess are very similar.   One main difference is Princess does not have the lounge over the bow of their ships, wish Princess had this feature.  

 

We prefer Princess over Celebrity because Princess has always gone way out of the way to please passengers in the MDR, allowing for off menu orders, ordered one night in advance.  We have cruised 9 different lines over the years, by far Princess has always done a better job and consistently in meeting our meal need requests.  Celebrity, HAL, and Cunard which we have cruised in the past 10 years, not as well.   The personal attention of staff on board Princess for us just came off as more attention.  

 

We do like the Crown Grill on Princess, it is a steak house.  We did eat at Blu on one cruise on Celebrity, while not a steak house, similar. On Princess we only pay for the Grill when we go. 

 

We are doing a 15 day on the Royal Princess to Hawaii out of San Francisco this December this year.  We did a 12 day some years ago on Celebrity, where we flew to Hawaii, went around the islands and then went to Vancouver.  At the time this was a welcome choice since we wanted to do a cruise around Hawaii and wanted to visit Vancouver.   Not sure what Celebrity is doing these days.  Princess also has cruises out of LA to Hawaii.   Believe HAL does cruises to Hawaii out of San Diego.  

 

I see another response here recommends NCL.  I did only 3 cruises on NCL over the years.  We went to Egypt a few years back on an NCL ship that use to be in Hawaii.  We got a very good deal because of political unrest in Egypt at the time.  When we went, we knew NCL was no way comparable to Princess or Celebrity.   We went with our eyes open, first day on board, we went to the MDR for lunch and dinner.  That was the last day, the remainder of the 11-day cruise we enjoyed the buffet which was adequate for us, did salads and sandwiches, which we made ourselves from the salad bar which was pretty good.  The hot food items even on the buffet were more like comfort foods which did not appeal to us.  We decided to skip the MDR because, no set seating and we had to ask 3 times for everything at both lunch and dinner that first day.  Even had to ask 3 times for the check for the drinks before we left.  Staff would say yes and disappear.  Not the service we were used to on Princess, Celebrity, Hal or Cunard.   Food was not that impressive either.  The one bright spot was the cabin was comfortable and more comparable to what we were used to booking.   Would we ever cruise NCL again, maybe if we found a great deal.  Considering what we paid, we felt we got our money's worth.   

 

The Princess Sanctuary is similar to Celebrity peaceful pool area but on Princess you pay extra for that area.  I never use because I am not really a pool deck cruiser.  With a mini suite I enjoy my balcony instead.  But I must say on the Royal class ships the balcony is more limited, I prefer the balcony on the Grand, Crown and Ruby which have much more space and these ships also have a promenade deck which I like, which both Princess and Celebrity newer ships have done away with this area.  

 

On the Grand, Crown and Ruby, there is an AFT pool which is more quiet area, which I would use if I wanted to take a swim.   Nice bar at the AFT pool area as well on these ships. 

 

Hope this info is helpful to you.  Happy cruising.   

[GUT2407]

I like both lines and have said numerous times that if there was no label I would notice as much difference between two ships from the same line as one ship from each line.

 

In other words in my opinion more alike than different.

[TBfrPH]

the following post by @Taclin01 might give you additional perspectives.  Search  within the Princess forum for: HAL or princess?? We are Celebrity loyalist wanting to try something new! 

Sorry I'm a newbie on CC and don't know how to create a link there for you.

 

For me it's a trade-off between food, live music, and itinerary.  You need to prioritize what is more important to you.  At least the first two of above three things are noticeably different on Princess vs. Celebrity, despite what others may be saying.  In our experience, food on Princess is not great, even in the specialty restaurants, except for Sur La Mer; however, its live music program and venues for dancing are far more available and enjoyable.

[jagoffee]

We mostly cruise on Celebrity, but cruise on Princess if  they have an itinerary we really like.  (Sounds like your situation).  We would not hesitate to cruise with Princess.
Try  it and enjoy the experience.

 I recommend that once you get on the Princess cruise, you do not compare it to your Celebrity experience until after the cruise.  
 

Book it.

[AZjohn]

I always support anyone that wants to try a different cruise line out. 
Variety is the spice of life isn’t it?
 

I Have yet found the perfect cruise line myself but, they all have various things that are better and sometimes worse between them. I tend to just focus on the positives.

 

Give Princess a try. Maybe after that Viking and  Oceania. There are many cruise lines that you likely will have great memories from 🙂 

[Guest ldtr]

5 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Respectfully disagree.  Do think any food comparison for quality, ambiance and service needs to be today as things are often changing.  The number of crew and passengers will vary greatly.  Too few crew and too many passengers makes for a challenging cruise.  It is also impossible to predict.

While I found food on Princess to have dropped off for a while after restart. On my current cruise and another last month the quality of the preparations have returned to what one would have expected pre covid.  It seem like they have gotten their supply chains back in shape when it comes to food.

 

While there are some signs of staff limitation it seems to be more is buffet staff cleaning tables than in kitchen preparation staff or MDR staff.

[C4HCG]

9 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

I COMPLETELY disagree on the POA. I think it is the worst way to visit Hawaii via a cruise. The ship is below average.

 

I'd either to the 15 or 16 day round trip from the mainland or the 9-12 day one way cruises to and from the mainland.

 

Curious why the Celebrity itineraries do not appeal?

 

I've done the 15 day round trip several times and it is one of my favorite itineraries.

 

I like Princess a little better than Celebrity, but I think the MDR on Celebrity is a bit better.

Celebrity itineraries don’t appeal due to the number of sea days which we could cope with but not sure about the climate during June when we’d like to go. Coming from England we need hot weather on hols as generally cold and miserable here!

[C4HCG]

Thanks to everyone for the responses, much appreciated. Conclusion at this point in time is we will try Princess one day but perhaps not for Hawaii. Maybe a land based island hopping holiday would work for us there to avoid the sea days but recognising long flights first to the US then there.

 

thanks again 👍

[Ken the cruiser]

For us the big difference between Princess and Celebrity is itineraries, especially on longer 3-5+ week cruises. Princess definitely offers more unique itineraries than Celebrity. I will also note we only book Club Class or higher cabins on Princess and Aqua or higher on Celebrity. We just like not having to make reservations and we are usually seated where we have the same servers most evenings. But then again we dine early when they first open.

 

As far as entertainment goes, we used to book itineraries with more Port days. But now that I’m 70 and my DW is a few years younger with quite a few days of cruising behind us, we find it’s more about the journey rather than visiting ports every day and entertainment in the evenings and on sea days play a big role. In that area as we like to laugh a lot, both Princess and Celebrity usually shine! 
 

Believe it or not, you will have a lot of fun on those 10 sea days on that Hawaiian  Princess cruise as they usually offer a large variety of things to keep you entertained, from lectures to game shows to a variety of trivia’s to going for walks on their covered promenade, depending on which ship it is.

[Torfamm]

I agree that Celebrity and Princess are more alike than different. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned- Princess has self-service laundry. It is very helpful on long trips