Celebrity vs Princess

[Gracie115]

5 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

We sail both but more partial to Celebrity for many of the same reasons mentioned already.

 

However one unique reason is that we like to pre book our room and  Celebrity is the only one of the two that can guarentee my room.  Princess says they will and when you show up, find that you are assigned to a different room that feels like a downgrade (even though they try to convince you it’s an upgrade)

wow...... have never heard about this and thankfully has never happened to us on Princess

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

It doesn’t happen very often. The one time they moved our cabin was on my 50th and they upgraded us to a suite. You can mark “do not upgrade”. We’ve sailed 35 times with Princess and never moved other than the above. 

[PTC DAWG]

Biggest difference is about the time I get ready to play some craps, they cut off my drinks…not acceptable. 🙂

[chisoxfan]

On 4/18/2024 at 3:59 PM, Tomcruise92 said:

How I see it, Celebrity is now significantly more expensive than Princess, and not significantly better. There are strengths to each line, but they are overall similar. Princess packages are also awesome in my opinion.

That is a very broad generalization..... that said I fully agree. Princess has tried to do some interesting things with their drink packages and medallion system where I can't help but feel X is stepping backwards (infinite balconies). X has played with ammenities and pricing until one can't even keep track of what to expect (speaking largely of Retreat). We did book a suite on Sun and I was so disappointed at how Princess 'immediately' revamped this 'class' so early on but hopefully they will figure it out- not sure X has completely. 

[Tomcruise92]

28 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

That is a very broad generalization..... that said I fully agree. Princess has tried to do some interesting things with their drink packages and medallion system where I can't help but feel X is stepping backwards (infinite balconies). X has played with ammenities and pricing until one can't even keep track of what to expect (speaking largely of Retreat). We did book a suite on Sun and I was so disappointed at how Princess 'immediately' revamped this 'class' so early on but hopefully they will figure it out- not sure X has completely. 

I don't disagree with you, I was generalising 😂.

Of course both lines I think are very good solid products. I find the base prices are often similar but once the packages are added (and Celebrity gratuity etc), it just seems to come out more costly to sail X than Princess. 

I also quite enjoy the Princess 'quirks' (Love Boat, gameshows etc). I personally find the two lines very similar. 

That said, I'd love to try the retreat or new Sun suite... Maybe one day! 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I just booked Princess over Celebrity, though it was a close call as far as itinerary and price.  It came down to the most recent reviews from both lines, and a comparison of the breakfast buffet.  That's not going represent all dining venues of course, but I found the difference significant enough.  Celebrity had the edge of us preferring their decor and being a day longer, but we also didn't enjoy our last sailing with a lukewarm temp buffet, and an extreme shortage of vegetables throughout the ship.
 

 

 

 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I would choose Celebrity over Princess every time. With that said I have 4 cruises booked and I have 2 with each. 

[asctony]

51 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I would choose Celebrity over Princess every time. With that said I have 4 cruises booked and I have 2 with each. 

I am just in reverse! Princess over Celebrity. Yes, we also have 2 each. Beyond B2B and Sun B2B this year.

Happy Cruising!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

3 hours ago, asctony said:

I am just in reverse! Princess over Celebrity. Yes, we also have 2 each. Beyond B2B and Sun B2B this year.

Happy Cruising!

That’s what makes cruising great!  There’s something for everyone!!  😝

[asctony]

Just now, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

That’s what makes cruising great!  There’s something for everyone!!  😝

You are totally correct!

Happy Cruising!

[NMTraveller]

Does Princess have you sign the numerous $2 upcharge slips for a glass of wine?

 

On Celebrity this was getting a bit tiresome ...

Edited April 28 by NMTraveller

[swjumbo]

If you have a drink package with Princess you don't sign for anything but you've got to check your bill daily as the extra few bucks here and these certainly mount up.

There aren't as many suite perks with Princess compared to Celebrity but there's a definite difference in price.

There appears to be a huge difference between their loyalty schemes and we feel the perks with Celebrity are much better.

Staff on both are amazing but it seems that the Princess crew get less time to themselves and therefore are a tad more tired. 

 

[Cruise till you drop]

9 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Does Princess have you sign the numerous $2 upcharge slips for a glass of wine?

 

On Celebrity this was getting a bit tiresome ...

We are Celebrity over Princess people but you hit the nail on the head.  This has to be our biggest pet peeve on Celebrity

[NMTraveller]

I am starting to lean towards Princess.

 

Does Princess have kids running through the hallways at night?  This was happening on Millie during a Christmas cruise.  The Millie staffing was also an issue.  Instead of booking another cruise,  I ended up booking a land vacation for next year as the resorts handily outperformed Millie in both food and service.

 

 

[Eno]

Just back from Princess and was surprised by the number of kids. Was definitely a problem in the dining rooms with kids screaming. Nothing against kids as we brought our daughter with us when she was young but surprised at the number in the specialty restaurants that were running around. I had cruise ducks and gave the kids at one table a couple of them….. it helped for a couple of mins. 

[jbcallender]

• We were on Regal Plrincess a few weeks ago for a seven-day in a higher level suite.  We sailed Celebrity Millenium last August in a higher level suite, an SH as I remember.  I think we prefer the Celebrity experience by far.  For meals, there was only a separate section in the main dining room, not a separate restaurant like Luminae. The Concierge lounge was small and in a very difficult location.  There was no Retreat or similar on Princess.  The suite itself was nice with comparable bedding and amenities.  No butler or shared butler.  There was virtually no recognition of suite guests throughout the ship.  I was not impressed with the Princess buffet.  Celebrity did a much better job on the buffet.  We are not suite "snobs" by any means, I'm comparing the two experiences.  Celebrity won that round.  I will say the the Medallion on Princess is pretty nifty.  One cute thing, it was our anniversary weekm which I put in my profile.   Every time we  walked by a shipboard display, it sensed who we were and displayed "Happy Anniversay" and our names.  Very nice touch.

Edited May 4 by jbcallender

[jbcallender]

On 4/23/2024 at 2:06 AM, beshears said:

I don't know if I will get any feed back here, but I thought I would ask, since it is in regard to Celebrity and Princess. Actually we just got off the Regal Princess in February, and for the most part, very enjoyable. I really didn't think I would like the medallion (I'm an OLD lady), but my family showed me how to use it, and twice it came in handy very unexpectedly. We did pay for the Premier package which is $80 I believe. My problem was I did NOT use it to my full advantage, but that was MY fault. I don't know if any of you who have been on Celebrity has done the Ascent ship, but if you did, I would like some feed back on this ship, as we have thought about doing this ship.

We were on Regal a few weeks ago and I think the Medallion is a very nice feature that other lines could learn from.

[Eno]

Agreed with the Medallion, it was my husband's birthday and was a nice touch with the display when we walked by.  Wasn't happy with the Princess breakfast or lunch buffet, usually made a salad for lunch.  Did love the Catch by Rudy for specialty dinners.

[asctony]

3 minutes ago, Eno said:

Agreed with the Medallion, it was my husband's birthday and was a nice touch with the display when we walked by.  Wasn't happy with the Princess breakfast or lunch buffet, usually made a salad for lunch.  Did love the Catch by Rudy for specialty dinners.

What ship were you on? 

What was wrong with the breakfast & lunch buffet?

TIA

[Random Cruizer]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:22 PM, NMTraveller said:

Does Princess have you sign the numerous $2 upcharge slips for a glass of wine?

 

On Celebrity this was getting a bit tiresome ...

 

No lie, that! When I cruised in 2022, all the drinks I ordered were part of my package, then on my cruise in 2023, I was signing those darn slips left and right! Very annoying! I'm going on a Princess cruise this summer primarily to get Glacier Bay in Alaska, so I'll get my chance to actually compare.

[doghog]

17 hours ago, Eno said:

Just back from Princess and was surprised by the number of kids. Was definitely a problem in the dining rooms with kids screaming. Nothing against kids as we brought our daughter with us when she was young but surprised at the number in the specialty restaurants that were running around. I had cruise ducks and gave the kids at one table a couple of them….. it helped for a couple of mins. 

We were on the Enchanted 27 March - 6 April. We ate in the Amalfi MDR every evening at 6:PM. We didn't see or hear any kids or even see any as we were entering or leaving the MDR. I had heard (?) there was less than 200 kids onboard. I know there were some as I saw the gym staff kick young kids out of the gym. Kudos to the staff. 

[doghog]

11 hours ago, jbcallender said:

• We were on Regal Plrincess a few weeks ago for a seven-day in a higher level suite.  We sailed Celebrity Millenium last August in a higher level suite, an SH as I remember.  I think we prefer the Celebrity experience by far.  For meals, there was only a separate section in the main dining room, not a separate restaurant like Luminae. The Concierge lounge was small and in a very difficult location.  There was no Retreat or similar on Princess.  The suite itself was nice with comparable bedding and amenities.  No butler or shared butler.  There was virtually no recognition of suite guests throughout the ship.  I was not impressed with the Princess buffet.  Celebrity did a much better job on the buffet.  We are not suite "snobs" by any means, I'm comparing the two experiences.  Celebrity won that round.  I will say the the Medallion on Princess is pretty nifty.  One cute thing, it was our anniversary weekm which I put in my profile.   Every time we  walked by a shipboard display, it sensed who we were and displayed "Happy Anniversay" and our names.  Very nice touch.

Our first exposure to the medallions was on our recent Enchanted cruise. 27 March - April 6.  Was skeptical about them pre cruise. During the cruise, great. And we didn't even use the medallions to their fullest capability. Post cruise, wish Celebrity and RC would go with this technology.

[Eno]

Didn't hate the breakfast and lunch buffet just didn't compare to Celebrity.  Breakfast had the standard scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit...etc.  Only put out a few pancakes or waffles and was always told to come back.  Lunch had fish and chips daily (we sailed out of Southampton) did have some things change like roast pork or beef.  It was just Ok.  Did like that we could go to Alfredo's for lunch but it did get busy later in the cruise but if you expected to wait 1 hour it was still good. 

[lahlah57]

On 4/17/2024 at 11:33 AM, Oxo said:

It is a good thing that there is more than one cruise line. That allows us to have a choice.

When comparing cruise lines many people use different criteria.

When I pick a cruise, I have no favorite and I am not a cheerleader for a specific line.

Some people find fault or complain about trivial the things. 

This is a real funny subject. LOL

 

So true.....I have no faves either.

I am looking for the best deal all around.....even itinerary is not a #1 issue.

Every cruiseline has it stuff that is not cared for.

The only cruiseline I somewhat avoid is one that would attract lots of kids.

But in my ballpark we go on cruises that aren't in summer vacay or holiday times!

[NMTraveller]

In my last cruise search, I found out that the E class is taking over some itineraries.  Which is nice if you are in a suite,  but rather pricey.  It is looking like my next cruise will be on Princess.