Freedom OTS vs. Royal Princess in the Med?

My wife and I are hopefully taking another cruise this summer, but can't deside on wich ship to go with. Royal Caribbean Freedom Of The Seas or Royal Princess.

Princess:

Barcelona

Cartagena (ES)

Gibraltar

Marseille

Genoa

Livorno (Florens/Pisa)

Civitavecchia

RCCL:

Barcelona

Marseille

Villefranche

La Spezia (Florens/Pisa)

Civitavecchia

Neapel

Barcelona

The stops and the price is very similar.

We have cruised on RCCL several times and on Freedom back in February. We do like RCCL, but we also have done one cruise with Celebrity and really liked it. From what I have understand Princess and Celebrity are similar, something between RCCL and Celebrity.

I'm 36 and my wife is 25, we are not party animals but at the same time we usualy don't see the Broadway shows on RCCL, we don't do bingo and so on. Then the "Love and Marriage show", the trivias, the Quest and stuff like that are more of our cup of tea.

If RCCL is a bit too loud, Celebrity is a bit too slow. We like both but would like to mix them into the perfect cruise line for us.

With this in mind, would Princess be the better pick for us?

IMO the smaller the ship the better, at least in the Med.

Well they are similar in size and I don't mind the bigger ships. In February we did one cruise on Navigator OTS and we didn't like the ship, the same day we got off the Navigator we got on the Freedom. Since we knew that the Freedom class is just a bigger version of the Voyager class our expectations was low. But I must say that the Freedom class is A LOT better then the Voyager class.

Speaking just of the ships, I was very disappointed with Regal Princess (Royal's sister). No wrap around promenade deck...in fact, almost no promenade deck at all. Plus, there isn't one single lounge inside the ship that looks out to sea. Also, standard rooms are much smaller (no couch) and balconies are pathetic. You can get a larger balcony but if a standard balcony room is what you want, this is what you get:

But that said, new experiences are always a good thing. Since you know RCI and the Freedom, maybe its time to give something new a try. Entertainment is very much like RCI's older ships. All the same game shows exist and the main theater shows are cruise line basic singers/dancers. There's also live music in the Piazza and by the pool.

One down side is that Princess ends in Rome and we are going to Mallorca for 9 days after the cruise. Flying from Barcelona is cheaper and easier then flying from Rome, but the difference isn't that bad.

I have been on both ships. Just based on the ship I would go with Royal Princess, hands down. Now if you are looking for a larger balcony. Do mid ship on deck 8. The are considered obstructed, BUT not really. The obstruction is that when you are at the balcony rail and look straight down, there is a sitting area on the deck below. Check the deck plan and take one that has the bigger balcony. If you are booking on Princess's web site. To find these balcony you must click on "inside cabins". I know it sounds crazy, but that is where they have them listed.

Food is subjective, but Royal Princess has one of the best buffet around. There is lots of food around the ship, even late at night. Decent food, not just a sandwich. Can you tell I like to eat.

BTW if you were ever in the military, you will get OBC too. Just send in the forms to Princess.

BTW if you were ever in the military, you will get OBC too. Just send in the forms to Princess.

Like almost every man in my age, I have done my mandantory military service. But I don't think that it will matter since I'm Swedish. ☺

Like almost every man in my age, I have done my mandantory military service. But I don't think that it will matter since I'm Swedish. ☺

Unfortunately not.