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 Princess boards.

 

Gavin

[Giorgi-one]

I have been on Celebrity (obviously not Solstice) and Princess. Crown Princess is a beautiful ship and we thought the food was very good. I belive a full suite on Princess is way nicer than a Sky suite on Celebrity. We usually do a minisuite on Princess - try to get the last one on the Emerald Deck with the larger balcony. I think Celebrity might be a little older crowd but it also depends on itineray and time of year. Princess has personal choice dining but most people observe formal nights - not like NCL which is much more casual. You cannot go wrong on either ship. It's just a matter of how fantastic it will be!

[jt1120]

We are in our mid-40's and took our first Princess cruise last fall. You can check my review of the Emerald Princess if you wish in the reviews section. Long story short, we prefer =X= to Princess due mainly to many inconsistencies we found with Princess. Sometimes food was good, sometimes it was almost leftover quality. Sometimes the activities were good, sometimes they were non-existent. With =X=, we know what we're in for and they meet or exceed our expectations every time.

 

Knowing that you are younger, you may prefer Princess to =X=, but keep this in mind: the Solstice is a brand new ship, and the hype leading up to the launch of this ship has been incredible. If it was me, I'd book the Solstice in a heartbeat.

 

Now I totally confused you, I know.

[jackdiamond]

In my opinion, Celebrity M or Solstice class is superior.

[ellbon]

i have sailed on 14 princess cruises but am movi g on. the food is just ok. the shows do not change enough. i stayed because of the ports. they have differenr ports on B2B.

 

I am booked on Solstice and down to 182 days.. yea!!

[HollyK]

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 Princess boards.

 

Gavin

 

 

As you've previously sailed with and enjoyed Princess, I'd be inclined to do it again and get the full suite considering your age level. I wouldn't call Celebrity staid and stuffy at all but it may be just a little quieter an atmosphere than you might choose to have.

 

Sky Suites on Solstice don't appear to be as 'special' as they are say on Mercury. Those 'special decks' available on Millie class seem to have largely disappeared on Solstice class. And food - to my mind - is pretty similar though perhaps a touch more sophisticated on Celeb.

 

Either line I'm sure you would not be unhappy on but, for me, the deciding factor (unless you are doing a TA with a lot of sea days) would be which itinerary appealed the most. If you are *port peeps* who like to disembark and explore, that would be the most important factor as most other things are relatively if not absolutely the same in my experience.

 

HTH :)

[gavinfromlondon]

Many thanks for all the comments so far

[bugsy1968]

I just sailed with Princess last summer on the Crown Princess and while the ship is nice, I found it to be very crowded and the ship is quite confusing too. I agree with the previous posts. The food on Princess was ok, with some meals being quite good, but many just being ok. My biggest issue with Princess was the service. I found it to be poor and inconsistent. The passenger to crew ratio is much higher with Celebrity so if service is a concern, I would lean towards Celebrity.

[usha]

We've been on Golden & Caribbean Princess, and while we did enjoy those cruises, we thought that the service was only so-so, and that the ships were incredibly crowded. If we wanted to see a show, we had to get there 45 minutes early, just to get a seat. It was almost impossible to find deck chairs anywhere on sea days, and disembarkation was an absolute ZOO, with mooing and groaning and everything.:eek:

 

We've been on 21 Celebrity cruises, and never felt crowded, even when the ship was booked solid. I would say the service on Celebrity is much, much better than Princess, and the food was more consistently good. If you want to see a show, You'll find seats available even a few minutes before the show starts!

Princess is nice, but I think Celebrity is much nicer.:)

[stomsf]

We've been on Golden & Caribbean Princess, and while we did enjoy those cruises, we thought that the service was only so-so, and that the ships were incredibly crowded. If we wanted to see a show, we had to get there 45 minutes early, just to get a seat. It was almost impossible to find deck chairs anywhere on sea days, and disembarkation was an absolute ZOO, with mooing and groaning and everything.:eek:

 

We've been on 21 Celebrity cruises, and never felt crowded, even when the ship was booked solid. I would say the service on Celebrity is much, much better than Princess, and the food was more consistently good. If you want to see a show, You'll find seats available even a few minutes before the show starts!

 

Princess is nice, but I think Celebrity is much nicer.:)

 

Totally agree with Usha above. We had taken a little break from Celebrity to try Princess for the past two years, and we're coming back. We booked full suites on Princess and have ranged from FV cabins to Royal Suites on Celebrity.

 

Princess doesn't have as good of food, IMHO, and the service is definitely not up to X standards.

 

However, with respect to room and benefits, a full suite on Princess exceeds the Sky Suite offering on Celebrity. Once again, just my humble opinion. Happy cruising!

[Denny01]

We have used both - just got off a Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess. We liked the ship a good deal, and loved the ports.

 

We've sailed Celebrity a good deal, and stay with Celebrity unless there is a specific reason (ports/friends/special deal), and as you can see below, we prefer Celebrity, although Princess was nice.

 

Main differences between them from my biased POV:

Dining: Celebrity was better quality and selection set dining and at the buffet. Celebrity seemed to have more options and changed their breakfast and lunch buffet avail more. Princess buffet seemed to be more crowded and Celebrity usually had someone there to take my wife's tray. No trays on Princess. We did opt for the Any-time on the Priness which gave us a little more flexibility, but if you didn't make sure you had reservations, you'd get stuck in a long line. Dining Service again goes to Celebrity - just a bit better.

Stateroom: This is about a Balcony, not a suite. The Princess SR was larger and more storage - a full hanging closet, but the Celebrity had a larger bathroom, but smaller storage capacity. The Princess shower was tiny, and I'm not a big guy! With a Suite, probably not an issue.

 

The common areas in Princess were very well-kept as was Celebrity, and I enjoyed both lines. I give Celebrity a but of a cut above because they have more and smaller venues that assist in relaxing and talking with a group of friends.

 

The mini-suite balcony on Princess had room for a table and chairs - our travel mates got mini-suites.

 

As for the age-mix, agree it depends on the cruise and length a bit. I found them about equal. We are seeing more Europeans, Canadians and Auzzies and that made it a lot of fun. I'm 60 but my wife accuses me of acting like a kid. We enjoy late-night dancing, and the 14-day Panama Canal on Princess was sparse on an evening crowd.

 

Overall, we liked Princess, but prefer Celebrity.

 

Denny

[librarycin]

As you've previously sailed with and enjoyed Princess, I'd be inclined to do it again and get the full suite considering your age level. I wouldn't call Celebrity staid and stuffy at all but it may be just a little quieter an atmosphere than you might choose to have.

 

I've never sailed with Princess, but considering your age and that you "like a bit of life"... My two cruises have been with Celebrity. I am 35 years old, and don't drink, so I don't consider myself a "party animal" either. But I do like to dance, and the nightclubs are pretty much deserted at night from what I've seen. The disco night had a few people, but the even-fewer people dancing were couples, so I didn't feel comfortable joining them (I was on my own and would have joined in if there were other women dancing together, for instance). The 80's night only had me and some other people I'd met (who I specifically asked if they wanted to come), who were dancing and even fewer people overall than disco night.

 

I'm not sure if that's the "life" you were thinking of, but I just wanted to forewarn you... Really - I loved my Celebrity cruises, but this was probably the one disappointment...

 

Have fun, whatever you decide!

[excitedofharpenden]

Gavin, I can't compare Celebrity and Princess as I haven't been on Princess, but just a couple of points.

 

Although there is no mention of a table and chairs on the website for a SS on Solstice and it's hard to tell as the ship isn't yet complete, I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a table and chairs on the balcony. The balconies on Solstice and Equinox appear to be about twice the depth of the standard size balconies on other X ships and I'd think there was plenty of space out there for them.

 

As far as the "party atmosphere" goes, I've been on Caribbean cruises where there was plenty of life around the ship late on and other destinations (Alaska a couple of weeks ago being one) where the ship seemed to shut down at 11pm. It depends on the destination, time of year and demographics along with the ship in question. Solstice is going to be new and I would guess things maybe livelier.

 

Phil

[librarycin]

 

As far as the "party atmosphere" goes, I've been on Caribbean cruises where there was plenty of life around the ship late on and other destinations (Alaska a couple of weeks ago being one) where the ship seemed to shut down at 11pm. It depends on the destination, time of year and demographics along with the ship in question.

 

Well, I guess my problem then, is that I'm not interested in the same destinations as the younger, livelier group...sigh :confused: My cruises were to Alaska and just a few weeks ago - Scotland/Ireland... I just don't have a desire to go to the hot/beach type destinations. I guess I get to dance alone or not-at-all... :( Ok -enough feeling sorry for myself!

 

It's a good point that a couple of people made though - it's a new ship, so it's probably going to attract a "livelier" crowd. Once again - enjoy it, whatever you choose to do! :)

[gavinfromlondon]

Thanks to everyone who replied to this, it has been really helpful (and there were far more replies on this board than on the same one I put on the Princess board!)

 

We are erring towards Solstice so going to ring the travel agent today and find out which sky suites are available for the (Greek/ Turkey) cruise we are looking at.

[excitedofharpenden]

Well, I guess my problem then, is that I'm not interested in the same destinations as the younger, livelier group...sigh :confused: My cruises were to Alaska and just a few weeks ago - Scotland/Ireland... I just don't have a desire to go to the hot/beach type destinations. I guess I get to dance alone or not-at-all... :( Ok -enough feeling sorry for myself!

 

There is an advantage to this of course. You can boast at the dubious honour of closing the bar;) We did that a couple of times in Alaska:cool: I honestly don't mind if it's quiet. I probably err on enjoying it less busy anyway.

 

Phil

[ladyjane550]

I have sailed RCCl twice and Princess 3 times. We are now doing Celebrity for the first time in February. Hope all goes well.

[librarycin]

There is an advantage to this of course. You can boast at the dubious honour of closing the bar;) We did that a couple of times in Alaska:cool: I honestly don't mind if it's quiet. I probably err on enjoying it less busy anyway.

 

Phil

 

LOL! This is true...it would just be easier if I even knew one person there! (While I haven't travelled alone on either cruise, I was with friends who weren't always interested in coming dancing with me...sleep was more important for them!! (Though they did come for part of the time, at least, so I do have to thank them for that!))

[micmacmissy]

Obviously people on this board favor Celebrity...we just sailed Celebrity for a second time, but before we booked each cruise I did TONS of research and seriously considered some other lines (mainly HAL, Princess, and Royal).

 

What swayed us to stick with Celebrity is that all of the cruise guides (Frommer's, Fodors, Unofficial Guide, etc) I read consistently rated Celebrity higher than Princess (and the others), especially for food, ships, and service...which are the 3 most important parts of cruising for us.

 

Do your research, I'm sure it will point you in Celebrity's direction!

[Sapphire56]

Hi all

 

My hubby and I are about to book our land and cruise tour on Celebrity Millennium for early June 2009. We are going for a cc cabin but wondered if anyone had any 'best cabin' in that class to recommend, apart from the aft cabins. We are looking at Port side as we will be doing the southbound trip from Seward to VC but as we have not sailed on Millennium before would appreciate any help/advice that you can give.

 

I hope all of you that are going sooner will keep us updated on the service/food onboard.

 

Many thanks.

[micmacmissy]

We are going for a cc cabin but wondered if anyone had any 'best cabin' in that class to recommend, apart from the aft cabins. We are looking at Port side as we will be doing the southbound trip from Seward to VC but as we have not sailed on Millennium before would appreciate any help/advice that you can give.

 

I would suggest the aft CC cabins...they are fantastic. Very quiet, and the balconies are really deep (easily 3 times bigger than regular balcony cabins).

 

If those are booked, try one of the "sweet sixteen" cabins. They're located near the bigger suites, and they also have extra large balconies.

 

We liked the aft because it was super quiet, had a wonderful view of the wake, and the live music wafted down from the back of the ship in the afternoons.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

Having just sailed on Caribbean Princess, I felt that both lines have their strengths and weaknesses. I agree with those who said the Princess ships feel crowded. We felt Caribbean Princess seemed crowded, and getting an elevator was a real adventure. Also, you had to get to the theater at least 30 minutes prior to the show if you wanted to get good seating, and be seated with the rest of your party. We thought the entertainment was somewhat better on Princess, but that could be due to the fact that we have seen just about every Celebrity production show they offer. We enjoyed Movies Under the Stars on Princess, but you do have to get there early for seats as well. I did not particularly care for the layout of the Princess Pool areas. I like Celebrity's layout much better.

 

We feel the food is far superior on Celebrity, though on our last sailing on Constellation in March, everyone in our party thought the food was surprisingly disappointing. I am hopeful we simply caught them on a bad week. The pasta dishes on Princess were outstanding, and we enjoyed the Princess buffets (especially the Seafood Buffet) far better than Celebrity. The Seafood Buffet featured Lobster Claws, Crab Legs, and nice sized Shrimp. What a bonus that was :). I'd love to see Celebrity offer a Seafood Buffet !

 

We also enjoyed the Sterling Steakhouse on Princess, it is an excellent specialty restaurant. We thought that Princess's Casino was far better than Celebrity's. They also have rewards programs for frequent play at the Slots, which was a nice touch. I also feel that Princess's Caribbean itineraries are much better than Celebrity.

 

I strongly feel that service, is one area where Celebrity wins hands down. While the service was fairly good on Princess, you always felt their goal was to do what they needed to do, and move on to the next item. It was rarely very personal. On Celebrity, you often get a genuine feeling that the Crew works very hard to make you happy.

 

Would I sail Princess again ? Absolutely. Overall, we had a very good Cruise. I am glad we had a chance to revisit other Cruise options.

[shofer]

After 6 cruises with Celebrity, we were making a lot of comparisons on our first Princess cruise in February, 2007.

 

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.

 

Celebrity had robes in the room. We had to ask for them on Princess.

 

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.

 

We had 3 sets of towels in the bathroom on Celebrity but only 2 sets on Princess.

 

The trash baskets had plastic liners on X but not on Princess which made you hesitate to throw anything messy in the container.

 

But these were comparisons we made among ourselves since our last cruise had been on Celebrity’s Summit to Hawaii. Our cabin steward Anthony was very efficient and took care of any special requests. There were no announcements on Coral Princess as well as X. If you wanted to know what was going on, you looked in the daily paper, the Princess Patter.

 

The freshwater pools on Princess were great with plenty of deck chairs. Only one day did we have to go searching for a place to stretch out in the shade. Celebrity had unlimited pool towels out on deck. On Princess the pool towels that were 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. This was not something you would ever see on Celebrity. I wonder if this is a new development since Carnival bought them? It seemed to cheapen the meal.

We liked that the alternative meal selections on Princess were printed on the menu and you did have your option of white rice, French fries or baked potato with your entree. 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. The salmon in butter sauce was excellent and we all had more than one shrimp cocktail.

 

I LOVED the dessert soufflés. Even if I was stuffed, I managed to choke down a few tastes of those. I just had to try the Princess Love Boat Dream after reading about it and it was almost too pretty to eat.

 

The dining room 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.

 

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.

 

DH 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.

 

Celebrity has better room service menus. You can get a full breakfast from 6 AM-10AM and only continental breakfast starting at 7:30 from Princess. Their other snack and meal choices are better also. You can order room service pizza hot from the oven.

 

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

 

Coming back from shore excursions on Celebrity though, there would a tent set up on the dock for X 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 coming back from excursions. There was nothing like that on Princess.

 

The production shows were terrific on Coral Princess and except for the "banjo guy" most of the entertainment was very good. There was always another show in the Universe Lounge to choose from. 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 70's we found ourselves racing to the theater if we wanted to get 4 seats together. This was a 1/2 hour before the show time. Celebrity's theaters will hold 1/2 the capacity of the ship and has wide aisles and small drink tables w/loveseat-type seating.

 

We did like the Princess dress code of Smart Casual most nights. Since Celebrity has an “informal” night, it requires the men to bring a sports jacket. DH likes to rent the tux for formal nights as is is one less thing to have to put in the suitcase.

 

We had done the automatic tips on our account so there was nothing to be done for that except to say good bye to our waiter and busboy.

 

On Celebrity they gave you a little card to hand to your waiter and busboy indicating that you had added the tips to your account. Here I guess they had to wait to find out if we had stiffed them or not.

 

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 go on the Grand Princess this past February with our 2 children and their spouses for their first cruise. Celebrity did not offer a 7 day Western Caribbean at that time of year.

[RealDeal]

Sapphire: As far as a CC cabin on Millie, try to grab 6143 or 6144...I had 6144 & it was incredible....it's one of the "secret cabins"...tucked among the suites...teak deck, more spacious, etc. Go for it.

 

As far as X vs. Princess, I've been on about 4 Princess cruises and only one X cruise, but so far, the nod goes to X. I just find everything to be a notch higher...service, food, etc. I enjoy Princess and am booked on the Sapphire in November but also on Solstice in February and am looking forward to the Solstice much more so than the Sapphire! I think typically you'll find Princess to be a bit more reasonably priced than X, but there's a reason for that. I still find it enjoyable, but as stated, I feel that X has a bit more to offer.

[madelinerose]

Since you're so young, just viewing the photos of both ships may draw you to the Solstice. The visuals always play a big part in my decision making.

 

Solstice is contemporary...Crown Princess leans toward traditional, imo. ;)