Princess vs Celebrity... any thoughts?

[auntdot]

Hi,

 

I'm hoping to get some help making a decision on South America. We are thinking of Buenos Aires to Valparaiso (including Falklands) and have been looking at Celebrity Infinity or Star Princess.

 

The itineraries are similar, although Celebrity specifically says Chilean Fjords whereas Princess says 'at sea'. Celebrity is a 14 day vs 12 day on Princess. Is one month better than another? Jan? Feb? Mar?

 

Celebrity usually has a naturalist on board to describe the natural beauty - does Princess? Infinity has had pod problems in the past but I'm not aware of anything like that on Princess.

 

So I am really asking for others to share experiences to help us weigh the pros and cons of each cruise ship.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Dot

[dabear]

While generally it is a matter of opinion, you should review the profiles of each cruise line to see which is more appealing to you. We've been on both and prefer X, better food, service and smaller ship than P , which has better entertainment. Conde Nast recently rated ships and again Infinity was higher rated.

[Dutch88]

We went through this same dilemma and decided on Princess mainly because of the anytime dining (Celebrity has set dining time/people). The price was a little better, the ship a little newer and we thought 14 days was a little too long. We've cruised with both lines before and find them more similar than not. I believe there was a recent Infinity S.A. review on these boards and they found it was not up to Celebrity standards anyhow. As for when to go, I wish we could have made ours earlier (we leave March 18, 2008) as it sounds like most of the penguins are gone by then! :( One more thing -- I've read here that if you want to save the reciprocity tax/fee in Chile (~$135 U.S. / person for Canadians), start in Buenos Aires rather than Santiago.

 

Good luck!

[batoryfirst]

Dutch 88,

 

What do you mean the penquins are gone? We are going February 1, 2009.

Will they be there at that time? I really want to see them.

 

Nancy

[greatam]

Dutch 88,

 

What do you mean the penquins are gone? We are going February 1, 2009.

Will they be there at that time? I really want to see them.

 

Nancy

 

You should be fine. Some will have left, but most will still be around. The penguins are generally pretty well gone by March.

 

The normal penguin season in SA: they come to land to breed in October (early Spring in SA). Chicks are born in mid November-mid December. They spend about 5 weeks in their burrow. They are taken care of by their parents for 2-2.5 months. They generally spend 5 months on land and 7 months at sea.

[auntdot]

Thanks for the opinions. In the end we have decided on Princess for the itinerary, and also no 'pods' on their ships. We would hate to go all that way and have a mechanical problem cause disruption as it did on <illenium in Europe! :eek:

 

As for the penguins - we can only hope they get a late start - and maybe are slow learners!! Then the 5 mos on land will have them there until the end of March!!

:D

[batoryfirst]

greatam,

 

Thanks for the penguin info. I had no knowledge of any of that.

I'll pass all that on to my group that we're traveling with and they'll think I'm just too smart.

 

Nancy

[dileep]

We have done South America on the Millennium (similar to Infinity) and The Mediterranean on Star Princess. Celebrity has better service and the Infinity is a better ship.If you chose Star Princess you will still have a nice time. Just slightly lower level of service and confort, but still acceptable.Princess prices may be slightly lower and their ship excursion seem to be less expensive than Celebrity.

[Coastaljen]

Ugh... I had no idea about the propulsion problems........ EE gad.

 

Princess was cheaper, but I liked Celebrity's itinerary. I may rethink it before final payment is due. Eight problems in eight years?????

[MaduroJim]

There are several posts regarding the pod problem on Celebrity, but I have to say that sailing on both the Summit and the Constellation, we never had any issues - and the FV cabin on those ships is one of best sailing experiences at sea (for those who like big balconies).

 

As someone suggested earlier, I'd check out the reviews for the ships you're considering, and treat them like scores at the Olympics - throw out the best and the worst scores, and you'll be able to come to a good conclusion about which one to take.

[Coastaljen]

Holland is my all-time favorite, but quite expensive.

 

I won't cruise NCL again. This trip with them will be the last, and I only booked it because it was the only way to cruise Hawaii without cruising for days at sea.

 

I can't eliminate too many lines or I won't have anywhere to go. :-)

 

I think I will risk it. The price dropped yesterday putting it in line with Princess and EVEN NCL! I was thrilled. I had sucked up the price difference to avoid NCL at any cost, but now it is comparable. While I have other issues with NCL (I won't go there, but I don't care for how they run their company.), I know there have been a number of threads about some of their ships doing the same thing you mentioned with Celebrity. They don't inform customers until after final payment or at that time that they will be limping along and changing the itinerary. I guess that isn't that unusual in the cruiseline industry.

 

I will watch before final payment to see if there are issues. That is only 90 days from departure. I can always switch then if I haven't bought an airline ticket. Honestly I travel all I can, so I am bound to hit a snag at some point with a cruiseline.