Princess -v- Celebrity

[gavinfromlondon]

I am sure this has been asked many times before, so apologies! We are trying to choose between a cruise on the new Celebrity Solstice and the Crown Princess.

 

We have previously cruised on RCCI and Princess and enjoyed our Princess cruise (on Caribbean Princess) alot. At the moment we are erring towards Princess, but any comments gratefully received.

 

We are in our late 20s, not rampant party animals, but do like a bit of life, a variety of bars, entertainment etc and definitely enjoy good food. Atmosphere is important, our worry with Celebrity is we might find it a bit staid and stuffy.

 

We would go for a full suite on Princess (which we've had before) or a sky suite on Celebrity. One comment on the Celebrity sky suites is they dont appear to include table and chairs on the balcony which makes eating breakfast out there alot harder...

 

Anyway, thank you in advance to any responses, I'm also going to post this on the Celebrity boards.

 

Gavin

[woodofpine]

And I have not cruised X in a few years; cruised Crown about 6 months ago.

 

Celebrity is not as "staid" as their image. They just do a more traditional dining and formal night plan. I've cruised... 10 times in the past 7 years (Princess, X, Carnival, HAL) and the 'ROCKIN'-est ship party I've seen was on X (it was New Years... and we did sail through a breathtaking lightening storm torrent on the eve of midnight that drenched the cruise directors and forced the party inside... but it ROCKED! maybe more as a result!)

 

Solstice ought to be a great ship given the planning put into it. X still tries to beat the pack in the dining category. Crown is a nice ship but given the style and priorities you express, I'd give the new Solstice the Go over Crown.

[gavinfromlondon]

Thank you. Does anyone else have any thoughts?

[OhioDogLover]

We have done both also and like both. DH and DS (19) like Princess better. They think there is more stuff to do on Princess. I think Celebrity is a bit more upscale and prefer it. However, we would take either one and usually make our decision based upon ports, schedule, etc. I think Celebrity's food is better, although DH disagrees. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

Ohiodoglover

[PescadoAmarillo]

I prefer Celebrity; my husband prefers Princess, but we love them both and most of our cruises on on these two lines (12 Princess, 11 Celebrity so far).

 

I don't find Celebrity staid at all, but I do find it more upscale than Princess, and believe that the food and service is better. However, it is pretty rigid...traditional dining only, although on the larger ships there are several different casual dinner options, which there didn't used to be. Celebrity's buffet food tends to be kind of strange (lots of combinations of food in one entree, for example), but their fresh made pastas, stir frys, sandwiches and pizzas are incredible, so that when we do eat a lunch or dinner in the buffet, we tend to go that route, and that is much better than anything in Princess's buffet. Princess does better seafood, salads and some desserts (souffles). Celebrity does better beef, ice cream and breadsticks.

 

Celebrity does not offer any kind of self serve laundries, so if you're on a longer cruise, you have to plan on sending out clothes to the laundry. Celebrity's drinks are more expensive (but they have more creative offerings, too), and their wine list is much more extensive and expensive. Soda cards as of today are cheaper on Princess, but the gap is slowly closing.

 

I like Celebrity's entertainment more, at least on the M Class ships, and I would imagine it will be very good on the Solstice Class ships too. If you can swing an AquaSpa suite on the Solstice, with its included dining nightly in BLU, I imagine that will be wonderful. Celebrity's extra charge restaurants are amazing, reportedly the best at sea, and I would expect that BLU will be, also.

 

Given your ages, I would probably recommend Princess, but I have also seen a huge party atmosphere on some Celebrity cruises, particularly 7 nights during Spring Break, but also a New Year's Eve cruise out of TX, and the Rio de Janiero Carnaval cruise in South America....well, any cruise would pale in comparison to that one! :D

 

Bottom line, you can't go wrong with either, but depending on when you intend to travel, you might be among the youngest people on a Celebrity ship.

[KKB]

Clearly I am biased....

 

My folks prefer Celebrity over Princess. (favs in order...Celebrity, RCCL, Princess, then NCL a distant 4th...but they would still cruise them) But my folks are in their 60s.

 

My mom has mentioned there are few under 40 on their Celebrity cruises.

 

Time is a big issue. I think overall you will find a slightly younger crowd on Princess. (it was MUCH younger over spring break than Oct.:p )

 

Celebrity usually has edge over Princess on food, but we have been very happy w/ our food on Princess & Crown gets good reviews (we sale her in Oct.). We like to dance at the club & it was hopping until late on both cruises.

[janotay]

I can only speak to Celebrity as I am anticipating my first Princess cruise in Feb. Celebrity is more sedate. There are not many in your age group. It is a very quiet atmosphere most of the time in public areas. I have sailed the M class four times so obviously we enjoyed them alot, however we are in our 50's not 20's. At age 20 I really think we would have been slightly amused at the older crowd (of which I am one now) and a bit bored. With that said you are going to have a great cruise no matter which you choose. Fun is a state of mind!:D

[OCruisers]

While we've very much enjoyed our Celebrity cruises and like the food better, we'd probably pick Princess because there's more to do -- lots more options for evening entertainment in bars/lounges. :)

[land lover]

X !!!!! and I have crusied P more because of the itineraries but just like the overall feel of X...have a great cruise.