I had never traveled with Princess. I had taken a 12-14 day cruises on Celebrity which I enjoyed. I would say that I am not a demanding passenger. From reading many of the online reviews, it appeared that many would rate Celebrity a step up from Princess. The last cruise on Celebrity was out of NY which was a definite plus for I would be able to take the train in, which I would prefer over flying. The one thing that I wanted to change was the age group I was traveling with. For a 12 day cruise in January I would guess the average age on Celebrity was maybe 65. Most people seemed to be asleep by 10 or 11. I enjoy younger people so I set out to find how I could combine a 12-14 day cruise in January with a younger crowd. I decided to try a back to back on the Caribbean Princess.

I may have found the ideal cruise line for me. The crowd was definitely younger, perhaps more of an average age of 50. The energy was noticeable almost immediately. While Celebrity's service was excellent, I would say Princess was a bit higher. Let me give an example, in the Horizon Court (buffet) you were approached almost immediately to ask what you would like to drink. This included a variety of drinks at no cost. They also appeared to truly enjoy their work. I noticed one women, Dina from the Ukraine was quiet, but as soon as she saw someone needing assistance she would move right into action. The type of service would be like you might receive in a 4-5 star hotel.

I had assigned late seating dining which I felt was one of the highlights of the cruise. As I recall with Celebrity, if you had late dining you would miss the show, not so with Princess. Read more