Princess vs Carnival rate comparison

Don't get me wrong - I have 3 Carnival cruises booked and 1 Princess. We will continue to sail Carnival as it is good bang for the buck but if even up, I will be choosing Princess.

 

 

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I hope you will see this as an honest question. Are you saying you find Princes superior to Carnival, but not enough to pay more for it?

I hope you will see this as an honest question. Are you saying you find Princes superior to Carnival, but not enough to pay more for it?

No offense taken. We prefer Princess - for me it is Target and Carnival is Walmart. I think it is classy yet basically relaxed and fits most closely with what I envision a cruise experience to ideally be.

That said, we vacation with our two boys and try to take them 2 weeks a year, take a week for DH and me as well as an adult long weekend. When we travel we either get an inside and balcony if cruising or at least a 2 bedroom set up on land; we just can't do 4 of us in one room - my oldest is PigPen.

So yes, in some ways it comes down to budgeting. I was willing to pay $800 more for the week on Mex Riv for the experience. We are east coast Caribbean people and will likely only do this trip once. Just like we used Princess for Alaska. So I guess the short answer is yes, I like it more and will pay for that at times.

But it also has to do with destinations and time. Princess only has one or two ship in the Caribbean most of the time. We cruise largely for ports so Carnival often wins on availability. Also Princess tends to run 10+ day trips and that doesn't work for Spring Break and for family reasons can't easily be gone around Christmas for more than a week. And summers are out because PigPen has a job - thank heavens!

So for now, Carnival often fits better when doing the cost benefit analysis. I predict that will change when we retire and can make much longer and farther journeys. In the meantime I am Thrilled Princess clearly won out for Dec '18!

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No offense taken.

 

we just can't do 4 of us in one room - my oldest is PigPen.

 

So for now, Carnival often fits better when doing the cost benefit analysis. I predict that will change when we retire and can make much longer and farther journeys. In the meantime I am Thrilled Princess clearly won out for Dec '18!

 

 

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Thanks for the response, and not taking it personally. Was thinking about Princess and/or one of the new NCL ships for next year, and curious about the cost of Princess. Your answer makes sense to me, it's not a cost value issue, it's just the cost level fitting in the family budget (especially with 4 on dates when school is out)

Sharing with 4 people is tough with or without PigPen, and hang in there you may not need to make it all the way to retirement. Once they are grown (out of college with a job) it will change. We now vacation as a couple most times, and when we are joined by the kid, he and fiancee pay their own way. Oh, it is also a big day when you are not tied to the school schedule. Although we are waiting until retirement to do the longer cruises like Panama Canal, and the Princess one that goes around the tip of South America.

Enjoy the cruise.

I too, am "Diamond" on Carnival, but I too am starting to tire of the constant cutbacks, and poor substitutes for entertainment aboard. I've sailed 'em all at one time or the other, and since I sail SOLO a lot, it can get expensive very quickly. Princess is starting to call me again, with Celebrity a close second. Used to sail NCL a lot, but since they went to ALL Your Time dining, I've stopped booking them, as the dining experience is one of the things I look forward to. RCL is normally just too expensive, and I feel like I'm paying for all that stuff that I NEVER do,,,like the Wave Rider, the Zip Line, etc. etc. (I prefer the smaller ships, in any case.)

"SKY"

Love the Princess pools and outdoor decks. Most of the ships have at least 3 freshwater pools including one that is adult only. I think the space ratio in public areas is better on Princess making it less crowded.

Don't care for Princess cabin layout for inside and outside cabins. They do have some very nice balconies. There are ones aft and one deck that are large.

Thanks for the response, and not taking it personally. Was thinking about Princess and/or one of the new NCL ships for next year, and curious about the cost of Princess. Your answer makes sense to me, it's not a cost value issue, it's just the cost level fitting in the family budget (especially with 4 on dates when school is out)

 

Sharing with 4 people is tough with or without PigPen, and hang in there you may not need to make it all the way to retirement. Once they are grown (out of college with a job) it will change. We now vacation as a couple most times, and when we are joined by the kid, he and fiancee pay their own way. Oh, it is also a big day when you are not tied to the school schedule. Although we are waiting until retirement to do the longer cruises like Panama Canal, and the Princess one that goes around the tip of South America.

 

Enjoy the cruise.

You sound a lot like us...DH can really only take a week at a time or people start having apoplexy at work. So the 10+ have to wait. Also since our retirement plans include a sailboat in the Caribbean, I think we are leaning toward hitting the rest of the USA and Canada - so we have a lot of land vacations in the works over the next few years. We have seen and done pretty much every port Carnival offers with regularity, and the more exotic Princess are too long...me thinks cruising is going on the back burner after December 2018...

As for choosing between NCL and Princess, while I have never cruise NCL, I have read A LOT on these boards and worked really hard to discern the differences. IMHO it appears that the majority prefer the food on Princess (we are not buffet people - we travel to relax and that includes NOT fetching my on food); I don't notice any discernible difference between the food on Princess and Carnival - I like some dishes better on each line. I have not tried the new Sabatini's menu but comparing the old to Cucina, Sabatini's wins hands down, despite the higher price - that comparison is apples and oranges. I think the Carnival Steakhouse gets the nod over Crown Grill though.

I also get the sense that NCL may do a little more "nickel and diming" with a few shows (Cirque) and activities (bowling) that you pay for. But the biggest difference I sense is that NCL is more casual with the freesytle dining and bold coloring; Princess is going to be a little more classic with true formal evenings and natural hues.

Lastly, NCL, RCI and Carnival are all each company's entry level cruise line...Princess appears to be classified the next notch up.

Again...this is all my impression from tons of reading. There is no need for anyone to chime in and tell me I am wrong as it is just my opinion and I am offering for what it is worth. Maybe someday we will try NCL but there are benefits to staying with one or two cruiselines, especially when they are Carnival and Princess because one has the Caribbean fully covered and the other the rest of the world. Hope my thoughts are helpful.

Carnival cruiser but we took Princess to Alaska in 2015. Loved the way we were treated. Only thing that bothered us was most were older.

 

We are in our 50s and it seemed the average age was about 70 at least.

 

 

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Can't for the life of me understand why this would "bother" you.:confused:

We've sailed on several different lines, mostly Carnival, and now that we have more time we look for itinerary cruises. so we do Carnival when we just want to relax and maybe even not get off the ship, cause we've seen everywhere that they go. Then when we want a longer cruise for a special occasion we use the other lines. We have a Princess booked for our anniversary next year because it goes to the British isles. We've been there before but it has 5 new stops for us to see on this cruise. Other than price and maybe room size I don't find a lot of difference in the lines, the age thing is evident on the higher price cruises but a cruise is what you make of it not the other passengers.

Other than the price, (which isn't always higher) one of the main reasons I don't sail Princess more often is that they don't sail out of Port Canaveral, or Tampa. Ft. Lauderdale really isn't that far (about 4 hours for me) but it's just so much easier to sail out of Tampa, or Port Canaveral. Guess I'm spoiled. LOL

"SKY"

There's an odd dynamic on the different boards.

Carnival...

OMG there was a horrible smell for one second! and a single lightbulb was out! My vacation was ruined!

Princess...

there were buckets catching water in several places onboard throughout the cruise oh well

Seems like Princess can sail ships that are (seemingly) falling apart.

Buffet on Princess is far superior to that on Carnival. And has no lines.

I have a Princess cruise coming up in November and then back to the Carnival Pride in January. I'm having difficulty pulling the trigger on another Princess cruise. Out of all of the cruise lines we've tried, Carnival seems to suit us the best.

And you guarantee that there will be no classless clientele on any Princess ship, how?

No guarantee offered. But in my experience Princess seems to have many less people lacking class such as those men wearing tank tops and sweaty baseball caps in the MDR at dinner, and people trying to max their 15 drinks on Cheers "because they paid for them!" ....regardless of whether they should. Or even worse - stealing by sharing Cheers and trying to justify it.

 

In reading both the Carnival and Princess boards I find that Princess has less people trying to share the drink package or wondering exactly how casual they can dress on elegant evening.

Oh please. I've been on 5 Princess cruises and 7 Carnivals and depending on the time of year and length of sailing the clientele is virtually interchangeable. And that is in a good way. The vast majority people on both cruise lines are very respectable, very nice and very unselfish.

For all of your anecdotal "guy in the baseball cap" misrepresentations, I can point to sweaty, lotioned women with no swimsuit coverups in the Princess Horizon Court.

For all of your Carnival Cheers maximizers, I can point to drunken sots on Princess who "don't know when to say when" with their unlimited drink package and have sat by the pool many times with couples who've shared and sneaked drinks on the Princess plan.

The reason you see a lot of Cheers questions on the Carnival boards vs the others is due to the unique restrictions with Cheers vs the other cruise lines, so people have questions. Go to the NCL board and look at all of the posts about their so-called Free At Sea UBP Unlimited Beverage Program with the $99 service charge. Are the NCL cruisers now a bunch of dipsomaniacal drunks, too?

Carnival attracts a high percentage of 1st time cruisers, many taking some of CCL's shorter 3/4/5 cruises to test the waters so of course there are going to be a higher percentage of newbie questions skewed to appropriate dress, drink packages and the like. All they are are newbie questions yet you make these people out to be classless. Clueless? Yes. It's their 1st time on a cruise. Classless? Please.

Cruise Critic represents 1% to 2% of the millions of people who cruise every year and is rarely representative of the actual day to day onboard experience.

Rant over.

Buffet on Princess is far superior to that on Carnival. And has no lines.

Our January Ruby 10 day cruise had the oddest three day rotation not abcabcabc but AAABBBCCCA. Seriously, the exact same foods, three days in a row.

Other dining differences

Carnival is strict about who is ATD, Princess (depends on the MD) allows assigned diners into the ATD room. Our cards were never checked in 8 cruises.

Oh please. I've been on 5 Princess cruises and 7 Carnivals and depending on the time of year and length of sailing the clientele is virtually interchangeable. And that is in a good way. The vast majority people on both cruise lines are very respectable, very nice and very unselfish.

 

 

 

 

 

For all of your anecdotal "guy in the baseball cap" misrepresentations, I can point to sweaty, lotioned women with no swimsuit coverups in the Princess Horizon Court.

 

 

 

For all of your Carnival Cheers maximizers, I can point to drunken sots on Princess who "don't know when to say when" with their unlimited drink package and have sat by the pool many times with couples who've shared and sneaked drinks on the Princess plan.

 

 

 

The reason you see a lot of Cheers questions on the Carnival boards vs the others is due to the unique restrictions with Cheers vs the other cruise lines, so people have questions. Go to the NCL board and look at all of the posts about their so-called Free At Sea UBP Unlimited Beverage Program with the $99 service charge. Are the NCL cruisers now a bunch of dipsomaniacal drunks, too?

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival attracts a high percentage of 1st time cruisers, many taking some of CCL's shorter 3/4/5 cruises to test the waters so of course there are going to be a higher percentage of newbie questions skewed to appropriate dress, drink packages and the like. All they are are newbie questions yet you make these people out to be classless. Clueless? Yes. It's their 1st time on a cruise. Classless? Please.

 

 

 

 

 

Cruise Critic represents 1% to 2% of the millions of people who cruise every year and is rarely representative of the actual day to day onboard experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Rant over.

No need to rant. I was only relating MY experience. I agree that most passengers are similar and behave appropriately. And I did not say that Princess did not have people that I have described as classless - simply that there appear to be fewer because I have not seen it - at least not to the objectionable degree I sometimes observe on Carnival, and this board for that matter.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. As am I.

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Our January Ruby 10 day cruise had the oddest three day rotation not abcabcabc but AAABBBCCCA. Seriously, the exact same foods, three days in a row.

 

Other dining differences

Carnival is strict about who is ATD, Princess (depends on the MD) allows assigned diners into the ATD room. Our cards were never checked in 8 cruises.

That is odd. Have now been on four 14-17 day cruises on Princess and have not seen them do that. Lot more choices on buffet and they do keep food hotter.

We do traditional dining and on three of our cruises had no problem doing anytime once or twice on each cruise.

That is odd. Have now been on four 14-17 day cruises on Princess and have not seen them do that. Lot more choices on buffet and they do keep food hotter.

 

 

 

We do traditional dining and on three of our cruises had no problem doing anytime once or twice on each cruise.

SillyJilly was on the cruise with us. She was not happy. Not too sure who was unhappier, Mom or her. We all hope that that rotation was a one time aberration.

Oh please. I've been on 5 Princess cruises and 7 Carnivals and depending on the time of year and length of sailing the clientele is virtually interchangeable. And that is in a good way. The vast majority people on both cruise lines are very respectable, very nice and very unselfish.

 

 

For all of your anecdotal "guy in the baseball cap" misrepresentations, I can point to sweaty, lotioned women with no swimsuit coverups in the Princess Horizon Court.

 

For all of your Carnival Cheers maximizers, I can point to drunken sots on Princess who "don't know when to say when" with their unlimited drink package and have sat by the pool many times with couples who've shared and sneaked drinks on the Princess plan.

 

The reason you see a lot of Cheers questions on the Carnival boards vs the others is due to the unique restrictions with Cheers vs the other cruise lines, so people have questions. Go to the NCL board and look at all of the posts about their so-called Free At Sea UBP Unlimited Beverage Program with the $99 service charge. Are the NCL cruisers now a bunch of dipsomaniacal drunks, too?

 

 

Carnival attracts a high percentage of 1st time cruisers, many taking some of CCL's shorter 3/4/5 cruises to test the waters so of course there are going to be a higher percentage of newbie questions skewed to appropriate dress, drink packages and the like. All they are are newbie questions yet you make these people out to be classless. Clueless? Yes. It's their 1st time on a cruise. Classless? Please.

 

 

Cruise Critic represents 1% to 2% of the millions of people who cruise every year and is rarely representative of the actual day to day onboard experience.

 

 

Rant over.

You are correct in much of what you are saying, however I just came back from a short cruise from south Florida , I have been on a ton of them.. this is the first time the lido deck looked and felt like I was in a scene from shawshank redemption / prison yard ...

No guarantee offered. But in my experience Princess seems to have many less people lacking class such as those men wearing tank tops and sweaty baseball caps in the MDR at dinner, and people trying to max their 15 drinks on Cheers "because they paid for them!" ....regardless of whether they should. Or even worse - stealing by sharing Cheers and trying to justify it.

 

In reading both the Carnival and Princess boards I find that Princess has less people trying to share the drink package or wondering exactly how casual they can dress on elegant evening.

There is a difference in mindset that I sense and experience when dealing with Princess. It's not stuffy but simply classic without being opulent or 5 star.

 

Don't get me wrong - I have 3 Carnival cruises booked and 1 Princess. We will continue to sail Carnival as it is good bang for the buck but if even up, I will be choosing Princess.

 

 

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This is what I call "the race to the bottom". Its like...........people know what the rules are, and DELIBERATELY want to do the opposite. These fools know what Elegant Night entails....so why go to the MDR? Once, I was in the hallway and speaking with my neighbor about how her cruise was going. She was dressed in shorts and a silky tshirt. She seemed to feel that the fabric of the shirt lent it a dressier air, and was perfectly fine for elegant night. She also said that her family chose not to dress up because it would add so much to their luggage.

Night before debarking.........six suitcases outside of her door..........hmmm.

SillyJilly was on the cruise with us. She was not happy. Not too sure who was unhappier, Mom or her. We all hope that that rotation was a one time aberration.

Our next Princess cruise is in two weeks out of Southampton and we shall see but not worried

If you have cruised Princess as you say, then you know they do not allow children without adults on first 3 rows.

I am not disputing your comment.

MY experience was different.

BUT we were on Princess Regal. March 2016. I had encounters at least twice with young teens, sent down to "save" seats on the First Three Rows.

I usually go by myself. My husband is a casino donor. And goes to bed early. I like to sit on the front rows on the left side, close to an exit & usually a ramp. I try to get there at least half an hour early. I take a paperback book with me to read.

I have RA. New meds are miracles. No crutches or scooter anymore, but I am careful in crowds. The handicapped area is often full of the Handicapped and their relatives who are not handicapped. And they need It more than I do, so I have never complained. And a seat on rows close to the stage, left side, which I can get up from at the end of the show and leave before the audience does, works very well. Not One Fall Yet.

I did not make a scene. I said "Saving seats is not allowed" and then found another seat. Some Adult told that child or teen to save them. Sometimes Adults are saving seats, mostly on Carnival, and they are nasty. My one gripe with Carnival.

AND I did note both incidents in my review in the Poll Princess sends in e-mails after the cruise. ONLY gripe I have ever had with Princess.

Never happens on HAL.

Seats are available.

People seem to be more willing to follow the rules.

More quick to see why you need to sit near the exit or ramp.

Never nasty.

Other than the price, (which isn't always higher) one of the main reasons I don't sail Princess more often is that they don't sail out of Port Canaveral, or Tampa. Ft. Lauderdale really isn't that far (about 4 hours for me) but it's just so much easier to sail out of Tampa, or Port Canaveral. Guess I'm spoiled. LOL

 

"SKY"

Totally agree. Port Canaveral is a 3 1/2 hour drive from out home. We do not get up at dawn. We have time to put the Dog in the Vet's for boarding. Eat Breakfast. Take the country roads through Florida Interior..............and get there by lunch. We are Platinum so our cabin is ready.

No Airline tickets

No Motel Costs

If we have auto mishap ....still time to catch the boat unless it is very serious, and we would not be worried about catching it then. .( we had a light go on during last drive to Fort Lauderdale. We had just had car checked out. We stopped three times, had pressure in tires checked. O.K. . Nothing wrong. We would get back in car, and half an hour later, Light...pressure light came back on. Finally we stopped. Moved one big bag , Husband's, to back seat. end of light of light coming on.

. Scared us to death. NEVER AGAIN. We fly. Or we go to Tampa. ( also 3 hour drive) or Port Canaveral.

JAX Port is an hour's drive from our house. We are looking at the Seven Day on the Elation for 2018.

Totally agree. Port Canaveral is a 3 1/2 hour drive from out home. We do not get up at dawn. We have time to put the Dog in the Vet's for boarding. Eat Breakfast. Take the country roads through Florida Interior..............and get there by lunch. We are Platinum so our cabin is ready.

 

No Airline tickets

No Motel Costs

If we have auto mishap ....still time to catch the boat unless it is very serious, and we would not be worried about catching it then. .( we had a light go on during last drive to Fort Lauderdale. We had just had car checked out. We stopped three times, had pressure in tires checked. O.K. . Nothing wrong. We would get back in car, and half an hour later, Light...pressure light came back on. Finally we stopped. Moved one big bag , Husband's, to back seat. end of light of light coming on.

. Scared us to death. NEVER AGAIN. We fly. Or we go to Tampa. ( also 3 hour drive) or Port Canaveral.

 

JAX Port is an hour's drive from our house. We are looking at the Seven Day on the Elation for 2018.

We also prefer to drive but will make sure we get to the port a day early just in case. Wonder why placement of a bag would cause a light to go on?

Buffet on Princess is far superior to that on Carnival. And has no lines.

I'll agree to that if only talking about Royal/Regal. That class of ships has the best buffet I've ever seen on a cruise ship.

But my experience on Ruby and Caribbean were totally opposite. All the food is in 1 tiny little section and it was normal for the line to stretch 20-30 feet beyond the serving area.

That said, I do think Carnival has the worst selection and quality of buffet food out of the 6 lines I've sailed.

We booked our Princess Panama Canal cruise for less $$ (about $200 PP) in a better cabin (aft balcony) with prepaid gratuities and a $250 (military) OBC each. The cruise is also a day longer. That is with Princess, not a TA.

 

Not all Princess cruises will yield the same results. We got an awesome deal!

Asking for DH (he's retired mil) is that $250 OBC for military the norm? He said sometime ago that Princess USED to offer $250 as standard for mil but that they seemed to have dropped it to $100 now. So do you know if your $250 OBC was standard or part of a special? Oh and how many days was that cruise, maybe that makes a diff....

Anyways we have sailed CCL and RCI and he has also done the X once but neither of us has ever sailed Princess and have been looking... but always with best price in mind.