What Will I find Different between Royal Caribbean and Princess?

Just so I have an idea of what to expect, I'm posting this on both boards.

I will be taking my first non Royal cruise next year and I'm wondering about how each group of passengers see the other cruise line.

As you can see from my signature I have experienced Sovereign, Vision, and Freedom classes of RCL ships. My upcoming Princess cruise will be on Coral Princess. On RCL we have stayed in Outside, balcony and Jr. Suites and on the Princess cruises we are booked into a Mini Suite.

I don't expect huge differences between the two but I'm curious as to how fans of each compare the two.

I believe one difference is that Princess will sell you bar setups for your stateroom.

1.Laundry room on Princess

2.Better Pizza on Princess

3.Staff not as friendly on Princess.

4.On Princess a Mini-Suite is about equal to a Cat D Balcony on RCI.

5.Food is better on Princess IMO.

One thing I was wondering about - looking at the cabin diagrams on the Princess website the cabins look really small compared to the Royal Caribbean diagrams yet their sq ft for each cabin is posted as substantially larger? Which is it are they including the hallway in front of the cabin?

One thing I was wondering about - looking at the cabin diagrams on the Princess website the cabins look really small compared to the Royal Caribbean diagrams yet their sq ft for each cabin is posted as substantially larger? Which is it are they including the hallway in front of the cabin?

Don't know for sure about Princess, but some cruise lines include the balcony in the square footage. Royal always lists the internal room size separate from the balcony.

I like both lines, Princess is more of what I would call classic cruising more fancy... Where as I do prefer things like the flow rider rock wall etc on RCL. We were on the Royal Princess and I was less than impressed with the set up (just plain poor design) of the ship I wont bother with that ship again. I actually preferred the Caribbean Princess over the Royal Princess. 2 years ago we did a smaller Princess ship which I cant remember which one it was to the Mexican Riviera and that one was also great. As for food I feel MDR are about the same but prefer the selection in the buffet on RCL.

One thing I was wondering about - looking at the cabin diagrams on the Princess website the cabins look really small compared to the Royal Caribbean diagrams yet their sq ft for each cabin is posted as substantially larger? Which is it are they including the hallway in front of the cabin?

1. If you are being given a lift to port, consider calling Princess to ask for the Bon Voyage Experience for your friends/family. For a nominal fee they can come aboard at embarkation for lunch in MDR, free glass of wine, boarding photo, and if they book in the future their BVE cost becomes a cruise credit. We will be doing our second BVE on Princess and am looking forward to it.

You MIGHT be able to do a BVE ahead of time yourself and apply that as a credit towards your booked cruise, but check with Princess.

Edit: With BVE you get on the ship first; behind wedding parties but ahead of "suites and elites" by a solid 30 minutes.

2. Dining information PDF. Hope this helps

http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/food_dining/Dining_Options_2014.pdf

3. If you can find a credit, Princess will stack them. Military discount, shareholder, stuff from T/A, doesn't really matter.

4. Princess's movies under the stars are on padded loungers with blankets and they walk around and bring you snacks. Not pool chairs with towels like RCI.

The International Café has great chicken salad. Don't miss it

There free cuppa is not what you would call the best if you like coffee. If they are doing coffee cards, and you want good coffee, get one

IMO: Princess has better food in all areas.

Stacking discounts is great on Princess plus the military OBC can be obtained for all passengers if qualifying. You do not prepay gratuities on Princess for anytime dining or any tours.

Overall, I think Princess food is a little better and the coffee card a good item if you like brewed coffee.

I like the Bermuda cruises at RCCL, none for Princess.

Ability to bring wine on Princess. We have taken bottled water on both lines.

We had to wait a few days on RCCL for a gift OBC that was given to us even though we had the email confirm. With Princess there when we sailed. Just a pain more than a problem. Maybe it was just ours, not sure.

For the most part I have found better deals on Princess cruises on cost per day. (of course just my experience. Last summer 629 pp for 14 day AK RT Vancouver as well as quite a few 499 pp for our 3 Canada/NE) We just search for really good prices and then take the cruise and along with OBC that Princess offers for military and stock holders, usually prices can't be compared.

Ability to bring wine on Princess. We have taken bottled water on both lines.

You can bring 2 bottles of win per stateroom on RCI

We did a partial transit of the Panama Canal and I loved everything about the trip. The ship is pretty and easy to navigate. It never felt crowded at all. The staff is simply wonderful - best we've had to date in our limited cruising experience. Coral was our first Princess cruise and I was afraid sailing on her first would spoil me for the rest of the fleet. And after sailing on the Crown, I think I was right. Not awful but not the same as the Coral. Enjoy!!

Keep the posts coming, hanging on every word, after 24 RC cruises we're going on our first Princess cruise in 60 days.

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I like both lines for different reasons. Royal is great when travelling with my family and grandkids. When travelling without them I prefer Princess.Just my opinion. But whichever has the best deal is where I will be.

You can bring 2 bottles of wine on Princess, also.

Seems you're going on Coral Princess! Wonderful ship! She's very long but narrow (built for going through the Panama Canal) with a great space to passenger ratio. We love the layout of that ship!

On Princess you can book shore excursions in advance but are not charged for them until you are on the ship (On board account).

We much prefer the food on Princess; however, RCCL does have some great specialty restaurants.

You can go immediately to your cabin as soon as you board the ship on embarkation day on Princess.

Look forward to having a great time on Coral! :)

LuLu

Been on both lines numerous times and love them both

Well it looks like your getting all kinds of answers, which you wanted, right? :)

We just did RCCL the end of April. I hadn't done any RCCL ships since they lost our luggage for almost four days. :( Anyway, because of the time/location we did The Freedom of the Seas. It was a good ship, but comparing it COST wise, and food, I would say Princess for us.

While there are differences of course...the major one to me was that after sailing many many years with RCI when I did try PCL's newly refurbished Sapphire Princess I wanted so much to like it but it was hard to put my finger on exactly what was wrong....something just seemed "off"...I guess I like the familure feeling RCI gives me..glad I tried but it just reinforced my loyalty to RCI.

We also like both but we are D+ with Royal and only Platinum with Princess so the perks that Royal offers have a big influence on our choice. At the moment we are like 7-8 RC cruises to every 1-2 Princess cruises.

I really like the themed my time dining that Princess has.

We find that prices are similar although Princess has very good last minute deals...

On Princess you don't have to pay for your excursions up front (they are paid at end of the cruise). RCI wants their money up front

Liek both but find Princess a bit more stuffy (crew and staff) and their ships just seem bland.

Not a single thing wrong with Princess, but prefer RCI

Two main differences for me is I found Princess to be a little stuffy... Just an older crowd that is. Didn't like their cabins either. Seemed so much smaller. The bed took up the whole room. Didn't also like that depending on where your balcony was you could have people looking down on you. This was the Caribbean Princess. Beautiful ship though. Just like Royal better.

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We've sailed mostly RC but tried Princess this Spring for a 3-day from Canada to SF. Had a Mini-Suite. Liked the big balcony but with no cover it got a bit cool sailing under the Golden Gate. Liked the two TV setup. I could watch one while my wife slept. Food was good throughout. The layout of the ship reminded me of a Vision Class ship. Had a Centrum area rather than a promenade. The look of the ship reminded us of RC. Lots of wood, marble and art. Overall we enjoyed Princess and will likely sail with them again. They are the best cruise line for cruises departing and entering California.