This was my first cruise on Celebrity Cruise Lines. My wife (37) and I (45) have previously taken two "normal" cruises going to Alaska and the Western Caribbean on Princess and an adventure cruise to Antarctica on a Russian Icebreaker with Quark Expeditions.

Originally, we were going to book a similar trip with Princess. Two days before we booked, however (which was in October for a February cruise), they bumped their rates up by 40%. I had my travel agent call Princess, but they wouldn't budge. We had heard good things about Celebrity (but we like to be loyal) - so decided that with Celebrity being slightly cheaper, we would try them. So, we booked the 11-day Caribbean Cruise with the Celebrity Equinox, the newest solstice class ship.

Booking excursions is a little different on Celebrity (we tend to book before we leave home to be sure we get what we want). Princess doesn't bill you until your cruise, whereas you pay when you book with Celebrity (not a big deal - just different). Besides that, pre-cruise information was pretty similar and not that different. Read more