Compare food princess vs celebrity

  • Thread starter confusedcruiser
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confusedcruiser

Guest
We took our first cruise on the grand princess 4 years ago and were happy with the food and service in the dining rooms. We just finished an alasks inside passage/land tour on the coral princess and thought the quality of food and level of service in the dining room had major gone done hill. We were generally very happy with every other aspect of the cruise so I am just trying to get comparisons about the food on the different cruise lines. After our first cruise with princess we had absolutely no desire to try another cruise line. However, after our 2nds cruise we have decided to try shop around.
 
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BSeabob

Guest
I have sailed RCL HAL and X. X wins hands down for quality and service as far as I'm concerned. However I would not hesitate to cruise on either of those other lines because of that,
but of course I can not compare to Princess.
I think that all the mainline cruiselines have cut back on the costs and their food has suffered accordingly. Some more than others.
 
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bettygodda

Guest
We have sailed on both cruise lines. I found that the food was equally good on both. I really liked the "anytime" dining on Princess over the regemented time for dinner on Celebrity.
Carnival food is OK, it is tasty but they do not offer the variety of choices that the other cruise lines offer. They have the same choices of salads & breads every night. No variety at all.
 
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cruisebuddy

Guest
I echo BSeabob's comments. I will say that, though my first Princess cruise is in six weeks, the emphasis to me would be Celebrity's SERVICE as well as the food. On a Celebrity cruise once, I ordered the frogs legs appetizer (come on, they taste like chicken) and thoroughly enjoyed them. Later in the cruise I mentioned that I liked them very much to our waiter, and he brought out a huge plate full of legs, even though they were not on the menu that night! Then he brought my entree! Made my cruise! That is service!
 
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travlDR

Guest
Here is my Celebity story! The first night on a Celebrity cruise, Creme Brulee was on the dessert menu. I said to the waiter- that is my very favorite- could I please have 2 of them, in case it doesn't happen to be on the menu again. Well he not only brought me 2, but also one for each person at the table- along with whatever they ordered for dessert. NOW--- it was not on the menu again-- but would you believe he brought Creme Brulee for me AND each person at the table--EVERY night- along, of course, with whatever we ordered for dessert. If that doesn't make you feel special--- you just don't want to be happy!
 
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bearanddollie

Guest
After seven cruises on Celebrity and two on Princess in the last three years, here is my general experience. Celebrity main dining room service has been much better than that on Princess. In the main dining rooms, the food has been about equal. Celebrity's specialty restaurants far outshine those on Princess in every respect. Celebrity offers the excellent Spa Cafe on M Class ships. Princess has no equivalent. In our experience, we've enjoyed the food at the buffet on Princess quite a bit more than that on Celebrity. On the Princess buffets, we've found more variety and flavors. Celebrity'room service for breakfast is much, much better than that of Princess. In fact, Princess offered only a bare bones continental. We preferred the Anytime Dining offered by Princess over the set time seating on Celebrity. That said, since we've always developed a good relationship with our waiters on Celebrity, we are willing to accept the set time dining. While, in my opinion, Celebrity wins on heavy balance, we did enjoy the buffet on Princess.
 
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cruisebuddy

Guest
Thanks for the reminder bearanddollie. We have similar taste, that is for sure. We felt that the buffet on Celebrity was just "ok," and I am hoping for better on Princess. Still, the dining room service on Celebrity is going to be hard to beat.
 
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bearanddollie

Guest
To elaborate at bit on previous comment, we thought that buffet on Grand Princess excelled in variety, flavors, and number of dishes offered. We did go to a main dining room for a sit down meal and some conversation, but we didn't eat too much there. We saved room for a trip to the Horizon Court buffet where we could sample many items including almost all of the main courses that were offered in the main dining room. We would arrive at the buffet about 7:30pm or 8pm. It wasn't crowded at all. We had our choice of seating. Just to make my posting more complete, I'll mention a few logistical differences between the Celebrity buffet and the Princess buffet. On Celebrity there are often three identical buffet stations at which passengers line up for service. On Princess there is a maximum of two with passengers going any way they wish. Celebrity features trays and chinaware. Princess goes without trays and uses lighter weight plasticware. On Celebrity many white gloved waiters are ready to carry your tray to a table. Princess has some waiters to help, but you have to look around a bit for them. We found the waitstaff on the Princess buffet very (very)nice. I think they are "dedicated" staff; that is, they don't work in the main dining rooms, they service just the buffets. Celebrity seems to have more maitre d's on duty at the buffet. They also service the main dining room as do the waiters on duty. Princess did have two very, very nice and sincere maitre d's circulatiing to ask if "all food service was excellent". That gave us a chance to tell our story of our adverse experience in the Sterling Steakhouse. The maitre d' who listened to our story attentively, took notes, and later told us that he had investigated, found our story justified and took action to correct.
We strongly prefer the specialty restaurant on Celebrity M class to those offered on Princess Grand Class. We are glad that we tried the Princess specialty restaurants once each (Sterling Steakhouse and Sabatini's).
 
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confusedcruiser

Guest
Thank you for all of you inputs. It is very helpful. We came to the conclusion that the food in the horizon court buffet was very similar to the food in the formal dining rooms. Since it was Alaska and the scenery was gorgeous from the horizon court we ended up eating there instead of the formal dining room after the first couple of nights. We do enjoy eating in the formal dining room and celebrity sounds like the next cruise line that we are going to try.
 
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bearanddollie

Guest
In previous postings, I neglected to mention that on each of our seven Celebrity cruises, the last of which we took in Jan, 2007, there was one Grand Midnight Buffet in the main dining room. Some of the cruises, if not all, featured a chocolate lovers' buffet and a cruise theme buffet poolside. Cova Cafe featured complimentary morning pasteries and cakes, cookies, and sandwiches for afternoon tea. On the last formal night, waiters marched into the main dining room with Baked Alaska. In contrast, on one of our two Princess cruises, the last formal night was equally as festive including excellent Baked Alaska. We did not have a grand midnight buffet or any other special buffet on our two Princess cruises. On Princess, I like the fact that a daily tea in a main dining room was offered for which one did not have to dress. It was very easy to "drop in" for tea on Princess. On your Celebrity cruise, if a Grand Midnight Buffet is presented, don't miss it. The Grand Buffets that we experienced were opened for photos about an hour before they were opened for the eating.
 
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Conniemc

Guest
I agree that the buffet on Celebrity isn't so hot. Personally, I never eat it..it always resembles last nights dinner leftovers. HOWEVER..when you have a fresh pasta station right next door...who needs a buffet?? The pasta station RULES. I pretty much lunch there every day. So many options of shapes and sauces and toppings..you can't run out of ideas. And I always ask at the hamburger counter, what day(s) homemade ribs are. They only have them once or twice for a 10-14 day cruise...you don't want to miss them! Magnificent.
:chef
 
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cruisebuddy

Guest
Please allow me to retract my earlier post, now having returned from a 10-day aboard the Emerald Princess. Celebrity's food is MUCH better! On the EP, the breakfast buffet was horrible, lunch buffet was not that bad, dinner buffet was not that bad, and the dining room was spotty. Some days the dining room was better than others. Oh, and the pizza by the pool deck was the worst ever. We wanted to try Princess, and even though the service was good, we'll be looking to book something somewhere else between now and our Solstice voyage.
 
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Conniemc

Guest
Actually, being a Jersey Girl..I wouldn't touch the pizza on Celebrity either! :)P) If it's not REAL pizza, (NY style) I'll skip it. I usually eat things on a cruise I don't have in my own home.

I like the layouts of the Princess ships, but I've just heard too many negatives when compared to M class. Thanks for another validation.
;)
Sure wish the Solstice had better interinaries!!! Are you listening RCCL? I'll be interested in hearing from the first cruisers about how a 3000 passenger ship compares overall regarding service, ambience, etc. to my regular 2000 passenger sailings. I'm not crazy about the "mega ship" revolution.
B)-
 
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