Celebrity vs. Princess

[RosiePosie1013]

:rolleyes: We are contemplating 2 southern caribbean cruises in March: Celebrity Summit or Crown Princess. We've been on Celebrity 7 times, RCCL 10, but never Princess. Are a bit nervous/unsure about making the switch.

If any of you have been on both lines, please let me know your thoughts.

My husband & I are in our late 40's and our top priorities are the food/service and nice accomodations. We're not late night party people and can take or leave the shows.

[ECCruise]

:rolleyes: We are contemplating 2 southern caribbean cruises in March: Celebrity Summit or Crown Princess. We've been on Celebrity 7 times, RCCL 10, but never Princess. Are a bit nervous/unsure about making the switch.

If any of you have been on both lines, please let me know your thoughts.

My husband & I are in our late 40's and our top priorities are the food/service and nice accomodations. We're not late night party people and can take or leave the shows.

 

We've done both lines recently (20 days on Celebrity and 40 days on Princess in the last year or so).

 

Food and service: Traditionally, Celebrity was MUCH better here. In regards to service, they still are ahead of Princess. As for food, we've been impressed with Princess recently. Maybe a tick behind Celebrity in quality but moving ahead in selection and innovation. Crab legs on many cruises. Twin lobster tails on lobster night. The "anytime" steak is twin filets (on X it is a sirloin steak).

 

Cabins: Normal balcony cabins are larger and better equipped on Celebrity and include a couch. You will need to move to a mini-suite (which is wonderful) on Crown Princess to get extra space and a couch.

 

Passenger load: Although we've never felt crowded on a Grand Class Princess ship, the space ratio is just better on the Summit.

 

We would sail either if all factors were right, including itinerary and pricing.

[junglejane]

We like both lines and have cruises booked for 2008 on the Celebrity Summit and the Golden Princess. One question: are you familiar with Princess' Anytime Dining? If you are booking a cruise for this coming March, it is unlikely you will get Traditional Dining, because it will almost certainly be all filled up. We like Anytime Dining fine, but some people don't like it at all. So if you think you would be happier with Traditional Dining, you should probably stick with Celebrity.

 

--Junglejane

[RosiePosie1013]

Thanks for the info, ECCruiser.

have you been on the Summit recently? We've been on both Millenium in 2001 and Constellation 3 times. Have read on some posts the the Summit is in need of some work/attention/refurbishment and is supposed to go into drydock in the future.

How did you like the anytime dining on Princess? Did not like it on NCL, but understand that Princess also offers traditional set-time dining.

From the specs, it looked like Princess' balcony cabins might be larger than Celebrity CC class.

Celebrity is our favorite, so we're a bit hesitant to try Princess.

Also, Crown Princess is much larger - maybe too large for our taste.

Have been on RCCL Adventure & Explorer and the increase in # of passengers is very noticeable.

Any further insight would be greatly appreciated.

[RosiePosie1013]

Thanks for the head's up on the dining, Jungle Jane.

I would say that would definitely be a deciding factor if we could not

get the traditional dining, which we prefer. It's nice to get to know your waiter so they know your preference, etc. Plus I think you get better service that way. I'll see what dining is still available, but if we were able to get traditional dining, which ship would you suggest, based on my inquiries???

[shofer]

After 6 cruises with Celebrity, we were making a lot of comparisons. This was our first cruise w/Princess on the Coral Princess.

 

The bathrooms on Celebrity were bigger with shower stalls that were more rectangular in shape and height adjustable shower heads. Celebrity also had dispensers on the walls in the shower with shampoo and conditioner. Princess had all the bath amenities in cardboard containers on the vanity. We had 3 sets of towels in the bathroom on Celebrity but only 2 sets on Princess.

 

The room was lovely. I was surprised at how spacious it seemed. There was a very large, open closet with lots of hangers and a cupboard which contained the safe and shelves for our clothes. There were drawers in the nightstands and in the desk. There was bottled water to purchase in the room and an ice bucket in the small fridge but no pitcher of ice water changed twice daily like on Celebrity. The trash baskets had plastic liners on X but not on Princess which made you hesitate to throw anything messy in the container.

 

Celebrity had robes in the room. We had to ask for them on Princess. We have since discovered you can request them online prior to departure.

 

The freshwater pools were great with plenty of deck chairs. Celebrity has saltwater pools. Celebrity also has unlimited pool towels out on deck. On Princess the pool towels placed in your room doubled as your beach towels. Beach towels were separate on X and were bigger and thicker.

 

I thought the food on Celebrity was more upscale. I was surprised to see plain white rice served with some of our entrees. We liked that the alternative selections were printed on the menu and you did have your option of white rice, French fries or baked potato with your entrée On Celebrity you have to depend upon your waiter to mention them to you and he usually only does it once at the beginning of the cruise.

 

I LOVED the dessert soufflés on Princess. Some other differences we noticed was that hot cocoa was free on Celebrity whereas you pay for it as a specialty drink on Princess. Of course it is served in a tall glass with whipped cream and sprinkles on top. You also had to pay for ice cream when you finally found the counter by the Spa pool. I had read somewhere that it was free at certain times in the buffet but we never found it.

 

The service is more formal on X. If my DH chose not to order an appetizer or soup, they brought his salad out while we were eating the other items. On X, he would be served the same course with everyone else. The bus boy acted as your wine steward, no sommelier making suggestions. The wine list on X is much more extensive.

 

You also had to pay for ice cream when you finally found the counter by the Spa pool. I had read somewhere that it was free at certain times in the buffet but we never found it.

 

Karl liked the dispensers for the hot beverages which came out very hot. This made for a nice cup of tea. The cups were also bigger than on Celebrity which offers a barely 4 ounce cup. Princess had a decent sized cup for coffee or tea.

 

Celebrity does have nice trays with cloth placemats in the buffet and waiters to carry it for you instead of just large platters that you have to juggle with your drink.

 

They also have a sandwich station all during lunch but Princess only had it from 3-4 PM in the buffet. I didn’t see it as a food option in the Princess Patter. Maybe it was only for those coming back from a late shore excursion.

The pizza on the Coral Princess was very good with an excellent crust.

 

I do have to hand it to Princess for the continuous buffet even if I don’t see the need for it to be 24 hours. Celebrity would shut down breakfast an hour before lunch where on Princess they would close one side of the buffet to get ready for lunch and continue serving breakfast on the alternate side until lunch was up and running. We never tried the buffet for dinner as we really liked the dining room experience for that meal.

 

Shore excursions: Princess really shines on this part of the experience. The shore excursions were many and varied, with some unusual choices. You could be as active or sedentary as you liked. Celebrity’s excursions are rather humdrum with more of an emphasis on shopping.

 

Although, when coming back from shore excursions on Celebrity there is a tent set up on the dock for passengers where you could get a drink of cold water and/or fruit punch and a cold cloth for your fevered brow when you are returning to the ship.. There was nothing like that on Princess.

 

The production shows were terrific on Coral Princess and most of the entertainment was pretty good. But the theater only had a capacity of 600 on a ship with 1980 passengers. The sightlines were excellent but this was not set up as a "show lounge" like the Universe Lounge. If you were not sitting on the aisle, you could forget about that after-dinner drink as the theater was stadium seating and the poor drink servers would have to crawl over several people to serve you. Because we had early seating and the age demographic of this cruise was leaning into the high 80's we found ourselves racing to the theater if we wanted to get 4 seats together. We also had early seating and later in the cruise we just went to the second show and found seating more available.

 

Celebrity’s theater will hold half the passengers and is set up as a “show lounge” with loveseat style seating and small tables to hold your beverages.

All in all it was a very nice cruise. Princess did a nice job with the shore excursions and the rooms. The ship was lovely and comfortable, except for the theater which was too small.

 

We liked it well enough to book the Grand Princess for Feb '08 for our first family cruise. We are taking our DD/SIL, DS/DIL on their first cruise. Celebrity did not offer a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise in this time frame.

[RosiePosie1013]

Thanks for all the information, Shofer.

I'm just not clear on which ship/line you would chose,

if given a choice since you liked and disliked things on

both!! Please let me know!! I'm concerned about what I've

been hearing about the condition of the Summit as of late.

[bigblueeyes]

After one princess cruise never again.:(Rude staff, terrible food, charge for ice cream if you mss it during lunch. The carpets on the Golden Princess was dirty. The staff never said hello. Anytime dining is a joke. You can make a reservation only if you know about it in advance. Giving me a beeper...I am not going to Cheese Cake factory, or Friday's. Wanting to charge me for a glass of apple juice at dinner. Outrageous. My husband was told never to come back to the excursion desk after having a disasterous experience with equipment breaking down, when he asked for a refund. No one in authority on the ship ever contacted us. It was left in corporate's hands. After 2 letters sent to corporate they finally refunded $59 dollars to our credit card.

all this for such a pittance. Good luck if you go Princess.

Bigblueeyes

[shofer]

RosePosie,

We have actually been on the Summit twice, in 2002 and 2006 and loved her both times. Have never been on Crown Princess. I was just giving general comparisons between the 2 lines. All these ships have some wear and tear on them. Imagine your living room if 2000+ people tramped through it every week! But some people are nitpickers and frankly, I have never been one to run the white glove over every surface.

 

But,overall, you will find Summit in very good shape. We have 6 Celebrity cruises in our past and were always impressed with how diligent they were in cleaning & sprucing up the ship. I'm sure if you put a thread out there about the shape Summit is in, you will get many and varied responses.

 

All things equal, I would choose your cruise based on the itinerary/ports you want to see. We were apprehensive over Princess but found the experience to be very nice. I have friends who will not try another cruiseline but Princess. I would give the edge to Celebrity for all the reasons I outlined before but it couldn't have been too bad since we are sailing Princess again in February.

 

As far as anytime dining, we are waitlisted for early right now, but will probably try anytime since 6:00 is too early for our "kids" and spouses and 8:30 is too late for us. So we will give it a try and see how it all shakes out. We're all pretty mellow so if we have to wait and have a drink in the bar while waiting, so be it.

[jt1120]

We just got off the Emerald Princess, so allow me to weigh in on this topic. One word: Celebrity! The ships are nicer (the EP's theater was a joke - horrible, narrow seats), the staffs are about equal, though the C ships are cleaner, cabins are about equal. The big difference comes in the food: Celebrity is MUCH better. The breakfast buffet on the EP was the worst I have ever encountered, and the dining room food was not as good. That's why we're already booked for two more C cruises in 2008, and, though we will try Princess again, I'm not in a hurry.

[jt1120]

One other thing about the Princess buffets, they had three different locations on the EP, but there was never a time that all three were open (read: lines!)

[dileep]

We have done 3 Celebrity cruises, all on Millenium Class ships and 2 were in Concirge Class. We just returned from the Star Princess. So this comparison may be slightly unfair. Here are some random comparisons:

 

We noticed right off that there was no welcoming champagne (or sparkling wine to be more precise) on Princess. But our luggage arrived much faster!

 

We were on the Caribe deck on Princess which has extra large balconies. on X the large balconies are only on limited staterooms in the aft section.

 

Our room on Princess was about the same size as the standard X balcony but smaller than CC.

 

In general, the food on X was slightly better but not enough to matter.

 

The Star had 2 specialty restaurants one for Steak and the other Italian. We liked the specialty restaurant on X better.

 

We hardly had any wait for tenders on Princess.

 

Corkage fee for wine was $15 on Princess vs $25 on X.

 

The X ships were easier to maneuver since all elevators went to all floors and you could get from front to back on all decks.

 

The Princess casino was at one end and we hardly ever had to walk through it.

 

The elevators on Princess seemed to have longer wait.

 

Princess shore excursions did not seem as expensive but that is hard to judge since we were in different regions.

 

Princess did have a crab night and lobster night.

 

Having laundry facilities on princess was a big plus.

 

We liked the breakfast buffet set up on X better with the omelette bar convenient. X also had free ice cream.

 

We had originally booked a 14 night Barcelona to venice cruise on X but changed to a 12 day Princess cruise (with just 1 sea day) from Rome to venice. Why? We liked the itinerary better and were curious about princess. We had talked to people who had one both and some preferred one and thers were the opposite. We also found that since Princess allows TAs to discount, our fare was much lower than X.

 

Star also had a nice area on deck 15 in front of the ship for photo enthusiasts.

 

Bottom Line: I like the service on X better, but for a better itinerary I would have no problem using Princess again! For the same itinerary the choice would be harder. Slightly better service vs lower price.

[Cathrine the Great]

:rolleyes: We are contemplating 2 southern caribbean cruises in March: Celebrity Summit or Crown Princess. We've been on Celebrity 7 times, RCCL 10, but never Princess. Are a bit nervous/unsure about making the switch.

If any of you have been on both lines, please let me know your thoughts.

My husband & I are in our late 40's and our top priorities are the food/service and nice accomodations. We're not late night party people and can take or leave the shows.

 

RosiePosie:

 

We have sailed both lines many times and enjoyed them both. The food in the dining room on Celebrity was a little bit better but after the departure of the head Chef the food is at best now on a par with Princess. The Princess Buffet is much better. The small things like a welcome champagne when you first board is a nice touch that Celebrity does. The Crown Princess is a much newer ship then the Summit, so if condition is important to you, the Crown has the edge by quite a large margin in that department. The service has always been top notch on either cruise line on all of my cruises.

 

No comparison would be completely honest if it did mention the possible mechanical issues with the Summit discussed in a thread at the top of this forum. All things considered, I would recommend the Crown Princess over the Summit. I would definitely give Princess a try and then you can make your own comparisons of what each cruise line has to offer. Since there will be biased opinions on this board as well as the Princess board, I would post the same question on the Princess board and then you can sift through all of the responses.

 

Enjoy your cruise, whatever you decide to do.

[dileep]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=12566105&posted=1#post12566105

[Brad1185]

Dont forget that Princess charges for pizza, $3 through rs. and $1 each for sushi. On some Princess ships there are extra charges for snacks.

[jt1120]

Princess does not charge for pizza. It's horrible pizza, so they HAVE to give it away.

 

OK, that was mean, but trust me, their pizza is horrible.

[klo]

I started cruising on Princess many years ago and probably have sailed on their different ships nearly 10 times. I've also cruised on Celebrity the past four years. The last Princess cruise I took was last year on the Diamond Princess and after taking Celebrity the past few years, I was sad to say that Princess has declined in service and food since Carnival purchased the line.

 

It was too mass market and lacked the personalized service that the line once had. We've decided to stay with Celebrity as much as we can given the food is better and there are just nicer touches with Celebrity.

 

Now Princess has better itineraries overall than Celebrity but with the new ships (Azamara line and Solstice class) I think Celebrity's will improve.

 

I'm off on a Panama Canal trip on Celebrity soon - didn't like the itinerary but I chose the line and the ship. You can tell my bias.

[rucruizin]

I haven't sailed Celebrity YET, but I can tell you that I wasn't satisfied with food, or service on either of my Princess cruises.

 

Carnival purchasing Princess can only be a positive move. I much prefer the food on Carnival, and have had most excellent service from all our staff on Carnival.

 

I would sail HAL again, before I'd sail Princess...

[greydog]

We've done over 10 X trips in last 6 years and have really been happy with the food - disappointments rare. We tried Regal Princess last Spring - ship was fine but main DR food was uneven but improved towards end of trip to OK.

 

SIL just off Caribbean Princess last week and said food was nothing special, bland (she's done 5 X trips). She heard from a couple Princess frequenters on that trip that said the food quality was down from their past experience.

[Brad1185]

Its a new thing with Princess, horrible as it is, $3 for pizza through rs.

 

I agree, not worth it if it was included, who would pay the $3 fee.

[dileep]

Dont forget that Princess charges for pizza, $3 through rs. and $1 each for sushi. On some Princess ships there are extra charges for snacks.

 

Pizza was free on the Star Princess in the Med.

[Clutterlady]

Pizza was free on the Star Princess in the Med.

 

Yummy free pizza all day long on Princess. The $3 charge is for a whole pizza delivered to your cabin. Free sushi in the Horizon Court:)

 

The International Cafe has wonderful free food, small extra charge for some speciality items only.

[BrooklynGirl2]

We sailed the Crown Princess this past summer and I thought their pizza was vastly better than X pizza.

 

We like both lines but X has abandoned us during the summer as there are no cruises from the northeast ports. After 4 X cruises we tried Princess with some trepidation and found that we LOVED our cruise. The ship was new and spotlessly clean. We enjoyed MUTS (movies under the stars). We found the selection at the Princess buffet to be much better than X and lunch in the dining room was WAY better than Celebrity's lunch offerings.

 

The only place I would say Celebrity beats Princess is in the dining room service. While ours was fine it was just not as personal as we received on X and it was less formal. The food, while different, was no better or worse than X. The pastas were really delicious on Princess and I enjoyed Beef Wellington on one formal night. The ice cream was better on Princess but the soups were better on X. The chocolate chip cookies were scrumptious in the Princess buffet area.

 

There was also more variety of entertainment on Princess and at least on our cruise a younger demographic more 40's and 50's instead of 60's and 70's but of course that changes with itinerary and cruise length.

 

We enjoyed the Piazza atmosphere on the Crown and the International Cafe was a treat.

 

All in all we would sail either line depending on itinerary and price. We liked Princess so much we booked the Caribbean Princess for next June.

[operafan]

After one princess cruise never again.:(Rude staff, terrible food, charge for ice cream if you mss it during lunch. The carpets on the Golden Princess was dirty. The staff never said hello. Anytime dining is a joke. Good luck if you go Princess.

Bigblueeyes

 

 

Ditto for us but substitute the Grand Princess. Never again on Princess!

[Joywrk]

I have sailed with Pricess 4 times and have been completely satisfied in all respects. It compares very favorably with RCL.Our last cruise was on Tahitian Princess, which was wonderful and we are booked for Christams on Crown Princess. We love anytime dining and would always choose it. I think my point is that it all depends on personal preferences. We will try Celebrity next fall and I'm sure it will be wonderful as well.