Need help picking Mediterranean cruise (Emerald Princess vs. Celebrity Summit)

[junglejane]

We’re looking for help deciding between two Mediterannean cruises, both are between Barcelona and Venice. One is the 7-11-08 sailing of the Emerald Princess and the other is the 7-10-08 sailing of the Celebrity Summit. By way of background, DH and I are 45 and 49 and will be traveling with our daughters, who will be 7 and 11. This will be our sixth cruise and the kids’ fifth, but for all of us it will be our first time in Europe.

 

I’ve tried to come up with a list of considerations. Here’s what I have so far:

 

Itinerary: Both cruises start and end in Barcelona/Venice. Both stop at Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Athens (Piraeus?), Livorno, and Marseille/Villefranche. The differences seem to be that Celebrity has one more sea day and stops in Santorini and Dubrovnik, whereas Princess stops in Mikonos, Istanbul and Kusadasi. We don’t know enough about these stops to decide which itinerary would be better.

 

Dining: We love the Anytime Dining on Princess, but we thought the food was better on Celebrity. [i know this is highly subjective, but that’s our opinion based on the Infinity vs. Diamond Princess.] If we pick Celebrity, we would presumably have early traditional dining, so I’m wondering if that’s an issue with getting back from shore excursions. Also I’m a little nervous about traditional dining because I’m worried about being seated with tablemates who don’t like kids. Our kids are experienced cruisers and behave well, but I realize that some people just don’t want to be seated with kids. I can respect that, but I don’t want to be stuck in an uncomfortable situation. [On our Infinity cruise we were with a family group so this was not an issue.]

 

Pod problems?: How much should I worry about pod problems with the Summit? When we took the Infinity to Alaska, the itinerary was rearranged at the last minute due to pod problems, and the cruise shortly after ours was cancelled so the ship could go into dry dock. How much weight should I give this concern?

 

I’d appreciate any feedback on the issues I’ve mentioned plus suggestions about what else I should consider in deciding between these two cruises. What else should I take into account? This cruise will cost much more than any previous cruise, so I’m trying to make the best choice. I know I can count on CruiseCritic for great information.

 

Thanks, Junglejane

[rebeccalouise]

Naturally on Princess, you are going to get people telling you to do Princess.

I have sailed Sapphire, which is similar to Emerald, Crown and Diamond. I have sailed the Millenium Class ships Constellation and Millenium (and had a great time- no pod problems). You have been on both lines- so I think you know what to expect as far as the ship designs go.

 

I am doing Millenium this year (Western Med)- same itinerary that you are thinking of doing on Summit. I'll write a review on the Celebrity board afterward.

 

As for kids at dinner. I have sailed as a single parent on Celebrity three times. Each time, my tablemates were other parents and kids. It worked out great. As for Celebrity- every nite the kids can eat with the other children in the buffet ($ 6 fee) in the buffet at 6PM and then go off to the Fun Factory afterward. So, your kids might enjoy this more than sitting thru courses at the table. Depends on the kids and their attention spans.

 

Princess does offer a kids dinner once or twice on the cruises but not every night.

 

I doubt you will have a bad time on either cruise- since you seem to like both lines. Sea days are nice because the European cruises are quite port intensive and you might like the downtime or not (maybe you like being off the ship each day).

[junglejane]

Thanks for your quick response, Rebeccalouise. That's reassuring about the traditional dining. Our kids actually enjoy the dining room. The older one is turning into quite a foodie, and refused to go to the Princess kids dinner because it "wasn't gourmet." The younger one just likes to eat filet mignon or beef tenderloin at every opportunity. She doesn't like the other courses though. On the Infinity I'd have them bring her entree early, and then I'd run her up to the Fun Factory between courses.

 

We do enjoy both lines but give the edge to Celebrity for food. Since we're booked on the Golden Princess for March 2008, I'm thinking that the Summit might be a nice change. But on the other hand I've always wanted to go to Istanbul! It's hard to decide.

--Junglejane

[chasetf]

My own choice probably would be Princess mainly because we have had good experiences on our Med and British Isles cruises. I would also worry about the pod problems impacting the X cruise.

 

Another consideration might be how long each of the port stays are. Rome (Civitavecchia) and Livorno (Florence) require a lenghty bus ride, and the more port time you have, the more visit time goes with it.

 

Personally, looking at the difference in the itineraries..... We have been to Santorini, Mikonos, and Kusadasi. Each is worth visiting. Santorini and Mikonos you can do on your own. Kusadasi main appeal is Ephesus which is well worth the time and effort. I would not have much interest in Instanbul, but definitely would want to see Dubrovnik (I have seen my brothers pictures and it is beautiful)

[cusyl]

We did the Grand Princess Venice to Barcelona. It was perfect for us as it went to the ports we wanted. The Med cruises are very port intensive.

Also, liked the size of the ship.

[Pia1913]

Just a comment on the diningroom/kids issue. Don't expect to be welcomed at an adults table with your children. Doesn't matter how well behaved your kids are; others at table will "B****" and won't wait to find out. Stay with Princess and personal choice.

[cynbar]

I love both Princess and Celebrity, have sailed on the Crown (sister to Emerald) and Infinity (sister to Constellation) and have had great cruises on both. You really can't go wrong!! However, the anytime dining seems like a great feature on the port-intensive Med cruises, ecpecially since some of the stops will be full day affairs. Rome is quite a distance from the port, and I would hate to have to cut my day a little short to get back for early seating (you can also eat in the alternative, of course, but then you miss the DR dinner!.)

[barbels]

You probably won't be seated with other diners on Celebrity- so that shouldn't be a problem. I also don't think you need to worry about making it back for early seating every night. On our Galaxy cruise last August we often ate in casual dining upstairs because we were too tired to make the dining room and there were many good choices- love that sushi. There were also 3 special buffets at night during the cruise.

 

I love Istanbul and Kusadasi but I really think the Princess itinerary may be too site intensive. Sometimes you just need a break from all those ruins. I'm an ancient ruins buff but the Acropolis, Forum, Pompei and Ephesus on one trip might cause column overload.

 

I agree with BruinSteve on the Celebrity board about Villefranche over Marseilles. It's a wonderful little seaside town right next to the most exclusive real estate on the Riviera (Cap St Jean Ferrat) and really well sited for trips to Nice and/or Monte Carlo as well.

 

I'm an X fan who is planning an August trip on the Crown Princess so I saw your post there too. I'd go with the Milly.

[rebeccalouise]

Thanks for your quick response, Rebeccalouise. That's reassuring about the traditional dining. Our kids actually enjoy the dining room. The older one is turning into quite a foodie, and refused to go to the Princess kids dinner because it "wasn't gourmet." The younger one just likes to eat filet mignon or beef tenderloin at every opportunity. She doesn't like the other courses though. On the Infinity I'd have them bring her entree early, and then I'd run her up to the Fun Factory between courses.

 

We do enjoy both lines but give the edge to Celebrity for food. Since we're booked on the Golden Princess for March 2008, I'm thinking that the Summit might be a nice change. But on the other hand I've always wanted to go to Istanbul! It's hard to decide.

--Junglejane

 

My son would sometimes come to dinner but only for about 30 minutes, then he would get bored and I'd run him upstairs to the Fun Factory. My tablemates on the last cruise always dined with their daughter, who were 18 and 9 and just lovely. My experience with Celebrity has been really positive but I can see that you really like the Princess itinerary better. I'd go with your first instincts because at the end of the day, I don't know if the ship is going to matter as much on a European cruise.

[rebeccalouise]

Just a comment on the diningroom/kids issue. Don't expect to be welcomed at an adults table with your children. Doesn't matter how well behaved your kids are; others at table will "B****" and won't wait to find out. Stay with Princess and personal choice.

 

My experience has been really great with Celebrity and traditional seating. I have sailed three times as a single parent and have always been seated with other families. That's how they assign seating. They try to make sure to seat kids with kids. On every cruise, the kids at the table were well behaved. If they got bored, we just took them up to the Fun Factory. I am not discouraging Princess tough. On a European cruise, it is probably easier to do anytime dining and not having to have a set schedule.

The advantage to the traditional dining is that you meet some nice people this way and get to know your wait staff. By the end of a 12 day cruise, you have made some nice new friends to e-mail and your server knows your likes and dislikes. All ships have alternate dining options too. You don't have to go to the main diningroom at night if you are too tired to get dressed up.

[JLC@SD]

Dubrovnick would do it for me..........if it were not for that pod problem....;)

 

Here is Dubrovnick

[wtevrfltsurbt]

To the OP:

I would NEVER alter my dining arrangements because of concern over what other pax would think of my children-who BTW probably have better manners than they do!:rolleyes: I would simply request a "4 top" table seating assignment and have the table to ourselves! :D The only way for the next generation to fall in love with cruising is to expose them to it!

[rebeccalouise]

Ill-mannered children appear to be the exception and not the rule.

 

If people don't want to sail with a ship full of kids- avoid summer, Easter, Christmas, Presidents weekend, and short cruises.

 

Longer and more expensive cruises tend to deter families with small kids. But there are always some on board. In my experience, the kids are well-behaved though.

[junglejane]

Thanks everybody for the responses so far. Keep them coming! DH and I are going to ponder this issue over the weekend and probably decide on Monday. It's great to be able to get all this feedback from CC'ers.

--Junglejane

[junglejane]

I love Istanbul and Kusadasi but I really think the Princess itinerary may be too site intensive. Sometimes you just need a break from all those ruins. I'm an ancient ruins buff but the Acropolis, Forum, Pompei and Ephesus on one trip might cause column overload.

 

 

DH and I got a nice chuckle out of this! I do think this cruise is too port intensive. If we go with Princess we might need to declare one day to be a vacation from our vacation and stay on the ship!

 

--Junglejane

[vacationhappy]

Hi Junglejane -

 

We did the Greek Isle itinerary last year and booked the Emerald for July 2008 - Barcelona to Venice. Princess is our lineof choice but we have also cruised other lines.

 

Just this past week I also booked RCI Legend of the Seas for July 22, 2008. So, now I have two cruises booked and we are trying to decide which one we are going to do. We are traveling with out two children, ages 13 and 15 at the time of sailing. I thought I would share my thoughts.

 

Here is what we are thinking - the Barcelona-Venice route is interesting. We are particularly interested in Barcelona and Istanbul for we have been to many of the other ports on our last cruise. On our last Med cruise, our port stops in Turkey were cancelled due to world events a the time. Although we were very disappointed, we were exhausted and needed the break. I think the itinerary on the Emerald has a couple of problems, half day in Mykonos and half day in Kusadasi. The ship leaves Mykonos at 2:00PM and Mykonos doesn't even wake-up until 10:00AM - even when ships are in port. We really needed a beach day after touring the previous three days. So, I think Mykonos is a wasted day because Mykonos is a beach island and there isn't enough time to do anything other than walk around the port town.

 

There is also just a half day in Kusadasi which really limits our ability to see anything other than Epheseus. There will be no time to see the beaches or even shop at the bazaar. Also, there is a chance that the ship will not stop in Istanbul or Kusadasi if there is any unrest.

 

So for us, the itinerary just seems a little "choppy" and not ideal.

 

Alternatively, I found the Legend itinerary very interesting - Positano, and overnight in Livorno ans well as Venice, Naples, and two stops in Croatia as well as a couple of sea days. I was able to book a JR Aft Suite with an extended balcony for less than an Aloha balcony. The ship is older however we found that for a Med cruise the ship serves as a floating transportation/hotel versus being the destination. This itinerary offers a lot of touring but breaks (sea days) in between. For us, the overnights give us the best of a land and cruise vacation. We don't have to rush back from Florence to catch the ship and we can have dinner in Venice....there is nothing like taking a sunset gondola ride and then heading off to dinner is an open air square listening to the street performers sing opera or play the cello. We won't see Barcelona or Istanbul if we chose this itinerary, but I am hoping Princess will fix the itinerary for future cruises so that it makes more sense.

 

We are still wrestling with this decision but I thought I would share our thought process.

[simbacat]

You may want to check into some of the intineraries offered by Princess on their 'new' small ship, Royal. (Read a 'Boards/news' posting here about it)

Its got all the regular Princess dining options, plus the steak place and Italian place, and I believe a pizza parlor. Only about 700 passengers.

We're set to sail from Venice on 6/25 and stop at Ravenna, Split, Kotor, Corfu, Malta, Corsica, Monte Carlo, Portofino, Sorrento, and end at Rome.

Hopefully most of these smaller ports will not be as crowded and more unique. Good luck!

[Host Caroline]

Having cruised on Celebrity and Princess I would pick Princess on this itinerary because I think their onboard kids program is better and definitely for the "Anytime Dining" option... for me that will be what seals our choice for Europe next year i.e. it will be Princess or NCL.

 

Med cruise tours/port days can be and some do run close to dinner time esp. long Rome and Florence days.. if I've had a long day I'd like option to eat when I want to in dining room and have a relaxing dinner or have many of the same menu items upstairs when I wanted to in the Horizon Court.. On this itinerary I honestly don't think the ship itself is as important but the dining factor is always part of the decision on port intensive cruises. IMHO only with children the flexibility in dining would be a huge plus and it has nothing to do w/ tablemates, behavior etc...

[terrierjohn]

No mention yet of either of these points, so I assume that prices are comparable. However we did Millenium in Feb. and it is showing it's age especially in the staterooms, I realise that Summit is slighltly newer but Emerald is brand new and that would swing it for me. Add to that anytime dining and I think it would have to be Princess.

[Island Gem]

Hi Junglejane -

 

We did the Greek Isle itinerary last year and booked the Emerald for July 2008 - Barcelona to Venice. Princess is our lineof choice but we have also cruised other lines.

 

Just this past week I also booked RCI Legend of the Seas for July 22, 2008. So, now I have two cruises booked and we are trying to decide which one we are going to do. We are traveling with out two children, ages 13 and 15 at the time of sailing. I thought I would share my thoughts.

 

Here is what we are thinking - the Barcelona-Venice route is interesting. We are particularly interested in Barcelona and Istanbul for we have been to many of the other ports on our last cruise. On our last Med cruise, our port stops in Turkey were cancelled due to world events a the time. Although we were very disappointed, we were exhausted and needed the break. I think the itinerary on the Emerald has a couple of problems, half day in Mykonos and half day in Kusadasi. The ship leaves Mykonos at 2:00PM and Mykonos doesn't even wake-up until 10:00AM - even when ships are in port. We really needed a beach day after touring the previous three days. So, I think Mykonos is a wasted day because Mykonos is a beach island and there isn't enough time to do anything other than walk around the port town.

 

There is also just a half day in Kusadasi which really limits our ability to see anything other than Epheseus. There will be no time to see the beaches or even shop at the bazaar. Also, there is a chance that the ship will not stop in Istanbul or Kusadasi if there is any unrest.

 

So for us, the itinerary just seems a little "choppy" and not ideal.

 

Alternatively, I found the Legend itinerary very interesting - Positano, and overnight in Livorno ans well as Venice, Naples, and two stops in Croatia as well as a couple of sea days. I was able to book a JR Aft Suite with an extended balcony for less than an Aloha balcony. The ship is older however we found that for a Med cruise the ship serves as a floating transportation/hotel versus being the destination. This itinerary offers a lot of touring but breaks (sea days) in between. For us, the overnights give us the best of a land and cruise vacation. We don't have to rush back from Florence to catch the ship and we can have dinner in Venice....there is nothing like taking a sunset gondola ride and then heading off to dinner is an open air square listening to the street performers sing opera or play the cello. We won't see Barcelona or Istanbul if we chose this itinerary, but I am hoping Princess will fix the itinerary for future cruises so that it makes more sense.

 

We are still wrestling with this decision but I thought I would share our thought process.

 

I've also booked the Emerald for next June's Grand Mediterranean, the Venice to Barcelona itinerary. As of now the stop in Mykonos is from 12 - 7 p.m.

[Pia1913]

You may want to check into some of the intineraries offered by Princess on their 'new' small ship, Royal. (Read a 'Boards/news' posting here about it)

Its got all the regular Princess dining options, plus the steak place and Italian place, and I believe a pizza parlor. Only about 700 passengers.

 

Royal will not have personal choice dining; there is only one diningroom and it's traditional only. As for pizza, if this ship is the same as the Pacific, there's a pizza window in the buffet area. You can get pizza at night when a portion of the alternate restaurant becomes a bistro and it's Italian night. They do 3 nights Italian, 3 nights American/continental. This too is if they follow the same regime as the Pacific.

 

The Royal will have more passengers than the Pacific or Tahitian (approximate capacity of 710 vs. 650) inasmuch as there are no minis at all.

 

Pia

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

My DW and I did the Venice to Barcelona cruise last year on the Grand and it was really grand!! We found the iteneray to be very much to our liking.

 

One of the posters states that there is insufficient time in Kusadasi and Mykonos while another states there are insufficient sea days. We found that the half days at these ports added to the sea time, which was a good compromise.

 

When we were in Kusadasi, we took an excursion to Ephesus, the home of the Virgin Mary and St. John's church. We had plenty of time to visit all of these places and were able to spend a wonderful afternoon cruising the Med. As to missing out on the shopping in Kusadasi - so what? The next day we were in Istanbul, which has one of the best bazaars in the world.

 

We would do this cruise again. I am sure you will enjoy whichever cruise you choose.

[rebeccalouise]

Having cruised on Celebrity and Princess I would pick Princess on this itinerary because I think their onboard kids program is better and definitely for the "Anytime Dining" option... for me that will be what seals our choice for Europe next year i.e. it will be Princess or NCL.

 

Med cruise tours/port days can be and some do run close to dinner time esp. long Rome and Florence days.. if I've had a long day I'd like option to eat when I want to in dining room and have a relaxing dinner or have many of the same menu items upstairs when I wanted to in the Horizon Court.. On this itinerary I honestly don't think the ship itself is as important but the dining factor is always part of the decision on port intensive cruises. IMHO only with children the flexibility in dining would be a huge plus and it has nothing to do w/ tablemates, behavior etc...

 

Why do you think the kids onboard program is better? Just curious.

[junglejane]

Why do you think the kids onboard program is better? Just curious.

 

Rebeccalouise -- I realize your question was directed to Host Caroline but I'll just throw in my 2 cents. My younger daughter has been equally happy in the Celebrity and Princess kids programs. But my older daughter (who was 9 when we were on the Infinity and will be 11 for the Med cruise) didn't like Celebrity's Fun Factory as much because it was more directed than the Princess program. E.g., "now you will do crafts", "next you will do games" etc. She said they wouldn't let her "opt out" of activities she didn't want to do.

 

On the other hand, I read your posts on my thread on the Celebrity board (BTW, thanks very much for your responses, including answering my question about port days). I agree that more kids does not necessarily mean a better kids program. This time if we go on the Summit, I'll be sure to talk to the youth staff about letting my older daughter skip activities she doesn't like. I don't think it will be that much of an issue on a Mediterranean cruise anyway, because she'll probably stick with us most of the time. While on the ship, she likes activities like shows, trivia, afternoon tea, swimming, etc.

 

--Junglejane