We usually cruise Celebrity but I thought I was becoming too parochial so I thought we should give Princess a try. Big mistake. This cruise demonstrated to us to us that Princess does not afford good value. Well, at least the Grand Princess doesn't. I'm going to compare our Grand Princess to Celebrity, not to tout Celebrity, but to give a basis of comparison. In the last 12 months we have been on Equinox (11 nites), Constellation (16 nites), and Reflection (7 nites). The grades I give for Constellation are a composite grade for the 3 Celebrity cruises.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Celebrity--A Princess--D

When your board Celebrity the first person you meet is a smiling crew member that has a hand-held jug of Purel that squirts some in EVERYONES hands. The immediate impression is "hey, Celebrity is really serious about keeping everyone healthy while aboard". Throughout the voyage similar smiling crew where strategically placed at the entry of all food venues and the theater, and returning from ashore. The Grand Princess only had machine Purel dispensers. Unfortunately, many passengers ignored them. Anyway, after the Purel greeting on Celebrity, you get a glass of bubbly which leaves the impression "hey, I'm really on vacation after all!" Princess does not have any festive greeting. Read more