Princess is 'where I belong'

After taking 3 previous cruises with Princess we took Splendour of the Seas. It was like getting hamburger when you expected steak. The food and the presentation of the food was very poor. The food in the buffet was not very appealing. The service on the ship was very bad. On Princess the room steward was always around and when he saw you coming he would greet you by name and open your door with his key. We were in a suite and we were lucky if we ever saw our room steward. By the pool deck I watched as passengers had to take the rope off the pool chairs on the 2nd level and carry them to their spot. This happened as some of the crew just walked by them (I have pictures). The cleanliness of the ship was lacking. I saw stains on chairs, carpet, etc. that I never saw on Princess. One day we did not have access to our balcony from 8 till 4 as they were cleaning all the balconies with a pressure washer. After they finished there was chipped paint lying all over the floor of the balcony. It was never cleaned up. Hopefully this is not the norm for Royal Caribbean. I did voice my concerns on the survery at the end of the cruise. All in all a day on a cruise is much better than a day at work but next time I think I'll do it on Princess.

I am sorry your experience with Rccl was not the best. It is always a let down when you plan for a cruise get excited and them things are not as you expected. I give you thumbs up for at least trying rccl now you know that you enjoy princess better! I will be comparing the two in the future as i have a princess cruise in the works for this summer it will be interesting comparing princess to carnival and RCCL i have herd nothing but good things about princess. good luck next time

So glad you found your niche. ;)

Kudos to you for trying before deciding! I'm thinking of trying RC for my next cruise if I can find a good price. DH and I are possibly looking at Alaska next summer, and that might be a good time to try something else new.:)

I guess you have to weight what's more important, food/room stewards etc or nightlife/fun. On Princess it is DEAD after 10, maybe you'll find 10 other people up on the whole ship. Pool games are few and far between, and there are no bands ever by the pool or any fun exciting parties. Everything is very proper and sedate. If you're over 100 you'll love Princess.

Please give RCI another try but this time, book a newer ship....totally different experience...just got off Rhapsody and while we had a wonderful cruise, I will stick to the newer Radiance and Voyager class ships. JMO

At least you tried RC.........sorry you chose the Splendour, one of the older ships...I too hope you will try another RC ship.

I recently just had my first Princess cruise on the Caribbean Princess....while it was nice, there were many things I didn't like about my experience......but you know what.......I'm going to give them another try in the future on a different ship........I won't rate Princess on one experience.

I'll have to second what debandbill said. Definitely try one of the newer Voyager class ships before making any snap judgements. I'm also trying out Princess next fall (price was a major factor along with the group I'm traveling with) but I will not let one trip override my decision(s).

But for now, Mariner of the Seas has everything I look for on a cruise ship. Great activities aboard, decent food, and one of the newest ships afloat. Princess has a tough act to follow, but I will keep an open mind and give a fair comparison. Like others have said I've heard almost nothing but positive comments about Princess. I'll just have to experience it firsthand.

Sparky0210,

I have been on RC and Princess, I like both and I disagree with you. My husband and I were in our 30's (actually 34 and 39) when we took a cruise on Grand Princess in 2000. There was an entertainment show every night, band by the pool all day on sea days, and we had 2 pool parties at night on a 7 night cruise. We also played miniture golf, played in the virtual arcade, and went to the nightclub after 10. I guess everyone's experience is different -- ours was not anywhere near yours on Princess.

At least you tried RC.........sorry you chose the Splendour, one of the older ships...I too hope you will try another RC ship.

 

I recently just had my first Princess cruise on the Caribbean Princess....while it was nice, there were many things I didn't like about my experience......but you know what.......I'm going to give them another try in the future on a different ship........I won't rate Princess on one experience.

Isn't the Carribean Princess one of the older and smaller Princess Ships? Some people seem to prefer the bigger and newer, while some prefer the smaller more intimate ships. Also cost is a factor to a lot of people. We paid about $2600 each on the Sun Princess to Alaska for a Balcony cabin , 7 nights cruising, 3 days on land and airfare for a total of 10 days.

On our recent trip on the legend, we paid $1199 each for an 11 night cruise to Hawaii, outside cabin and airfare back to San Francisco.

The Caribbean Princess is their newest ship, only about 9 months old........Grand Class........3,150 passengers.......I did not like many features of this ship........don't think the RC board is necessarily the place to go over these, but have discussed them on the Princess boards.........still it wasn't a bad cruise, but don't think this is the true Princess experience I kept hearing about.

I'm trying out Princess (Carribean Princess) for the first time next month. This will by our third cruise on three different lines. So far we have found that each offer a completely different experience to which we have found many things we liked and some things we haven't admired as much.

Many people stick to one cruise line for one reason or another but we like to have a little variety and explore the good and bad with each and every cruise line (we hope we can try out every line ;) ) .

Up next will most likely be RCCL regardless of many bad reviews I've read recently particularly focused on the quality of the food. To us, food is only one aspect of the overall experience. We rate the entire cruise on our own QCL (Quality of Cruise Life) which includes everything that makes a cruise special.

Cruising is great so enjoy.....................

Up next will most likely be RCCL regardless of many bad reviews I've read recently particularly focused on the quality of the food. To us, food is only one aspect of the overall experience. We rate the entire cruise on our own QCL (Quality of Cruise Life) which includes everything that makes a cruise special.

 

Cruising is great so enjoy.....................

Absolutely!!! I didn't care much for the food on Splendour, but SOS had prettiest atrium out of my three cruises...and solarium opened 24 hours a day!

I also thought service on Splendour was really good...

I view food as a minor part of a cruise, service and atmosphere are the most important for me. That is one reason why I do not care for NCL. I will not say I will never cruise them again, but they wil not be my first choice. I say the people you are with make or break the vacation, not the venue. I was just in Hawaii with friends and this time I just had an OK time because they were done for the day at 8 PM and the resort we were at had no nightlife so you had to drive for at least 30 minutes for some life.

I did the Alaska Cruise on Dawn Princess. The treatment was wonderful. We were in a balcony on the highest passenger deck, not a suite. From what I read on this board, RCl does not extend the same treatment to their balcony passengers but on to those in suites. We were provided with robes for our use on board, Plaid Deck blankets for use on our balcony, fresh fruit of our choice delivered daily to our room. The room steward seemed like our own private steward, yet she did her job so quietly and unobserved by us.

We're taking the RCI Jewel of the Seas on a Transatlantic in 8/2005 and I plan on enjoying it but I'm prepared to try to drag all of my own amenities with me rather than expecting to receive them from RCI.

When I hear unlikely generalities like this, I don't find a critique as credible.

I cruised on the Splendour earlier this year. Although I don't doubt the

poster had several bad service experiences, it is more helpful to be more specific. My experience was on balance, very good service with some exceptions which I noted when I reviewed. I doubt very seriously in 8 months it turned into a "nightmare ship".

Mitch

as they DID give some specifics..three of them anyway, which I guess colored the whole cruise for them. But c'mon, was there no GOOD service?

The main dining room, the cocktail servers, embarkation...??

Mitch

Wow! We were in an 8A balcony on Carnival and had great terry robes. ;)

I did the Alaska Cruise on Dawn Princess. The treatment was wonderful. We were in a balcony on the highest passenger deck, not a suite. From what I read on this board, RCl does not extend the same treatment to their balcony passengers but on to those in suites. We were provided with robes for our use on board, Plaid Deck blankets for use on our balcony, fresh fruit of our choice delivered daily to our room. The room steward seemed like our own private steward, yet she did her job so quietly and unobserved by us.

 

 

We're taking the RCI Jewel of the Seas on a Transatlantic in 8/2005 and I plan on enjoying it but I'm prepared to try to drag all of my own amenities with me rather than expecting to receive them from RCI.

We've been on Princess 14 times, Royal Caribbean 7 I think ... most recently on Mariner which I liked BUT it's a little too big for me and had way too much "stuff" (rock wall, roller blading etc.) that I wasn't interested in.. just too many people too. I will say that on a very full Caribbean sailing there was never a problem getting a deck chair or a really long line in Windjammer which was refreshing.

I've cruised on nearly every cruise line at least twice and prefer Princess over the others -- it just "fits" well with the style of cruising I like. Friends recently were on Jewel of the Seas and we will probably try a Radiance-class ship with them in '06 -- but don't think I'll ever get to the point that I stick exclusively with one line.. Right now my big "wanna do" is MSC Italian Cruises for their smaller ships and European atmosphere.. maybe I won't love it, but still want to experience it..

I think the reason there are so many different lines out there is because it's not "one size fits all". Maybe Princess just fits you better.

Actually, Princess is one of the many lines who's sister to Carnival Corp.

Something for everyone!!:)

I guess you have to weight what's more important, food/room stewards etc or nightlife/fun. On Princess it is DEAD after 10, maybe you'll find 10 other people up on the whole ship. Pool games are few and far between, and there are no bands ever by the pool or any fun exciting parties. Everything is very proper and sedate. If you're over 100 you'll love Princess.

Sparky0210,

Don't know which princess ship you were on, but in 1999 we were on the Grand Princess and the entainment went on until 1 to 2 am. This food was excellent and so were the activities. I would not hesitate cruising on either RCI or Princess.

msts

I guess you have to weight what's more important, food/room stewards etc or nightlife/fun. On Princess it is DEAD after 10, maybe you'll find 10 other people up on the whole ship. Pool games are few and far between, and there are no bands ever by the pool or any fun exciting parties. Everything is very proper and sedate. If you're over 100 you'll love Princess.

If you think Princess is dead, then you may have chosen the wrong ship for your tastes.

Princess' Sun and Island class ships do tend to attract an older crowd. But the Caribbean Princess definitely does not. Just got off in October and had a great time. Lots of action well into the wee hours....hey where else can you see the Rocky Horror show on the outdoor big screen at midnight? The same is generally true of the Grand and Golden IMO. I like RCCL, but Princess is usually a much better value for us when we book (we went this fall w/ discounts for $349/pp net).

We're going to RCCL on the "new" Sovereign after New Year's because we like the kids program and the shorter itinerary with our neices.

In short, I think it is wrong to label Princess with one tag....the passenger mix is becoming much more segmented according to the type of ship. Just check the Princess boards and you will see this constant debate in many forms. If you want to party, do not overlook Princess' Grand class.

BP