Compare Princess to Celebrity & NCL

robins · #1 (**permalink**) October 12th, 2005, 08:38 PM

We have been on 12 cruises, most on the other lines mentioned. This winter, we are trying the Grand Princess. How would you who know compare these?

LisaK · #2 (**permalink**) October 13th, 2005, 11:00 AM

Its really hard to compare line to line, each one is different, diverse offering something for everyone,kind of like comparing apples to oranges.
Making a broad-based comparison, IMO i would put Princess squarely in the middle, above NCL and just below Celebrity.

Kuki · #3 (**permalink**) October 13th, 2005, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robins

We have been on 12 cruises, most on the other lines mentioned. This winter, we are trying the Grand Princess. How would you who know compare these?

Those are pretty broad perimaters to get an answer on a message board. Perhaps a few more specific questions might help to generate some responses.

What was it you liked or didn't like about your Celeb and NCL cruises? Maybe we could help compare those areas with Princess.

robins · #4 (**permalink**) October 15th, 2005, 11:45 AM

What we like about Celebrity is the up-scale clientele for a mass-market line, the food and service is quite good. My husband prefers set seatings, although the rest of us like some variety. Doing totally free-style though was not for us. The activities are less varied on Celebrity, and this year's itineraries to the Caribbean for 7 days are quite poor. We are 2 families traveling together with 2 teen-age boys.

Fern · #5 (**permalink**) October 15th, 2005, 06:46 PM

Hi robins,

I posted on your other thread before I read this one!

I don't know exactly what you mean by "up-scale clientele"? On any cruise out of Galveston there will be a lot of us "laid back" Southerners

.

I believe that you can reserve a table for a certain time each night if you want to avoid Anytime Dining. We never did that, so I'm not sure how it works.

There are many activities on the Grand Princess, and I don't think the two boys will have any trouble finding things to do and making new friends.

We found the staff to be very nice and helpful, but they are probably not as "formal" as the staff you had on Celebrity.

Personally, we considered a Celebrity cruise, but decided that it was too up-scale for our tastes

.

CruzNut · #6 (**permalink**) October 15th, 2005, 10:43 PM

Without a doubt for me - Princess first, Celebrity a close second and NCL (not for me cuz only have Free Style Dining and I like Traditional). Pluses for Princess - choice of dining - Traditional or Personal Choice where you can make your reservation each night; Celebrity Traditional only.

Princess fresh water pools (only cruise line that has them) - the rest are salt water.

Princess actual refridgerators which keep drinks and ice cold - Celebrity = mini bars (think, but not sure the same for NCL).

Food - equally good on Princess and Celebrity (been quite a few years since I took NCL) as is the dining room and cabin service.

Kuki · #7 (**permalink**) October 16th, 2005, 10:58 AM

I think you'll find Princess and Celebrity passengers to be pretty similar... though I do understand cruises out of Texas are a bit more "relaxed".

Princess entertainment is very good, with one caveat --- on the Grand Class ships the main showroom is a bit undersized, so getting a seat generally requires arriving a bit early.

I like the premise of "Any Time Dining", but on the Grand and Golden we experienced alot of waiting for tables... and with different service teams, we found good and bad on different evenings.

I give the edge to Celerity in regard to food and service, but there'll be no "suffering" on Princess either