jerseygrl

Hi all....my fiance and I need some help in choosing a cruise line for our second cruise in March 2012. Our first cruise was done on Caribbean Princess and we are not sure if we should stay with Princess where we had such an amazing time and wonderful service and really do not have a complaint or should we try another cruise line for our 2nd cruise? We were also taking a look at the Celebrity Solstice class? Both itineraries head to the eastern caribbean, however Princess (Ruby) has 2 days at sea where Celebrity has 3. We are looking into a 7 day cruise. We love water excursions involving snorkeling, beach, swimming, and just relaxing on the beach. We love visits to the gym, spa, and pool during sea days. We are both 30 years old and although enjoy a fun night out, dont need a party ship. We enjoy great food, wine, and relaxation. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

qwovadis

cruisecritic.com check recent honest reviews on your ships there

Celebrity a bit more upscale for me than Princess the original

"love boats" have done both like the food vibe on Celebrity

a bit more... more kids on Princess if that makes a diff...

Had a good time on both though would choose the newest ship

with the best reviews...

qwovadis

currently finding best deals on priceline.com vacationstogo.com

Happy Deciding!

wanderlust1215

I highly recommend celebrity (have not been on Princess) But have been on Celebrity,Costa, Windstar, Carnival and Disney. I love their ships and the ambiance on board is slightly upscale but not stuffy. Food is great, bars are great...looking forward to our next sail with them at some point!

Eschew

Have been on both cruise lines and ships. You can't go wrong on either. I pick cruise based on itenary rather than cruise line. What are the ports? How long are they in port? That may make a difference.

The 2 sea day is better than the 3 sea days. We cruise to see places and for us, the ship funcyions as a floating hotel. If Princess Cay is the added stop, it is always a relaxing day there on the beach.

Celebrity and Princess are quite similar on the type of passengers they attarct so you won't be on a party boat. Both are more low key and "resort" like as compare to "theme park" for certain cruise lines. I also find that Celebrity tends to "push" liquor a bit harder and Princess tends to be more subtle in their sell. On our last Celebrity cruise, they were hocking liquer for morning coffee at 8 a.m. by the breakfast buffet.

Here is a consideration if you enjoy cruising and plan to take a few more crusies in the future: the loyalty program. As an example: you will get a "gold" card rather than a blue cruise card if you go on Princess again. that tells the crew that you are a repeat "preferred" customer. Once you have cruised with them 5 times, you will get some priviledges such as free inetrnet on board, special access and preferred lines for embark and disembark etc. Every cruise lines has their own loyalty programs so you may want to check them out if you are going to cruise more frequently.

My DW likes cruising on the same cruise lines as it gives her the consistency and famililarity. The ship's layout, service, facilties and amenities etc. She would roughly know where eveything should be. She also prefer certain cabin layouts such as closet space, drawers, location of hair dryer etc.

You would have never guessed but the in cabin shampoo & soap etc made a difference for her as well. As an example, for Princess ships, she doesn't pack shampoos. She actually like their Lotus Spa stuff. For RCL, she packs shampoo and body wash. For whatever reasons, she always wanted to go back to the same cruise line despite the fact that I found the difference minimal between certain cruise lines and ships.

One more thing to consider: I find the wine prices slightly more expensive on Celebrity than on Princess for similar items. Same goes for specailty coffees which we drink lots.
The food is slightly better with Celebrity but our expereince last trip on Celebrity showed signs of decline, i.e. cheaping out. Fare has not gone up (until recently) but the cost has gone up so I can understand the cut back.

Good luck!

jerseygrl

Thanks everyone for your advice!!!

Eschew: Thank you for all your info. Our first and only cruise was picked because of the itinerary and we were set on cruising on princess again especially to start saving points, but people told us to look into other companies. Both itineraries are eastern caribbean and yes one stop for princess is princess cays and we liked the idea of the beach for the day. Celebrity does have 3 days at sea and we did feel 2 days would be better than 3. I think you just helped us feel very confident about going with princess again. Thanks again!!

Eschew

If you like latte, ice caps etc, buy yourself a coffee card. Go to the International cafe and ask for one if you can't find people selling it. For $24, you will get 15 special coffees as well free brewed coffee and special teas. (The coffee at the buffet is not nice at all but the brewed coffee at the International Cafe is much better)

For Princess Cay, we usally don't book any water sport equipment until we get ashore. The beaches are quite nice but depending how many ships are there, the chairs maybe at a premium. Also, there maybe line ups tendering back.

Snokerling is so so compare to more famous isalnds. The "band" (Glenn Miller & the Rum RUnners) plays throughout the day at various intervals. I bought their CD and play it every once in a while to keep me in the Carinbbean mood.