Carvival Dream or Crown Princess

[jilllofalltrades]

What a delimma. We have a group of 12. I researched and researched to find an affordable cruise for everyone. Came up with 5 day out of Mobile on the Elation. Now everyone wants a seven day with a balcony. The itineraries for both the Crown Princess and Carnival Dream are similar. Which would you choose? We have 3 high school seniors and 3 boys ages 12,10 and 6. We want to cruise during spring break so we're stuck with the April 2nd sail date.

[Essiesmom]

With six kids in your group of 12, I would choose Carnival. I have liked Princess and Celebrity because of the enrichment lecturers onboard, but my last Princess cruise was 7 days on Emerald in the Caribbean, no speaker. I also think food is better on Carnival, and beds are much more comfortable. EM

[LRnascarfan]

I'd have to go with Carnival. I've only sailed Carnival and Princess and I liked the food and activities on Carnival much better than Princess.

[muti]

Crown Princess -- no doubt about it.

[mctennismom]

We just returned from a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Dream. (Myself, hubby, daughter-21, son-19) The ship is big and I am not sure bigger is better. We had to wait in line for lunch every day, we had so many sea days that it was difficult to find a spot on deck to lay out, we were scheduled to dock in 4 ports but were only able to make it into 2, weather related I guess (very disappointing) but as a consolation they took us back to our first port of Cozumel!(was not thrilled, but a least got to get off the ship again. There is a lot to do on the ship to entertain the kids, mini golf, water slides, games. We have adult children, so not sure about the camp carnival. The shows at night were good, and we liked the flexability of the any time dining. I have been in contact with some of the local people in Roatan and they are sure not happy with Carnival and what they did to their island when they built their big, expensive port there that apparently they have a very difficult time docking in and apparently their are plans to distroy more of the reef to make the port bigger so that the ships can actually get in! This is our 2nd Carnival cruise and we also did a Disney. Disney in my opnion is much better than Carnival, but you will pay a primium price. I know you can't controll the weather, but when we watched 1 carnival ship dock in Roatan and we had to turn away, something is wrong!

[mizLORInj]

Wow, tough choice. I've sailed both and would go on either again.

I think I'd compare something else (ports I'd prefer?) than the ships or close my eyes and choose! Both are really nice.

Carnival has slightly larger cabins; the regular balcony cabin has a couch; Crown Princess regular balcony cabins do not. Both have outdoor movies. Carnival Dream has waterslides (hmm, might push me toward that ship) and Crown Princess does not.

[dfwhgsfan]

Wow, what a tough decision. I just returned from the Crown and loved it. I sailed on Carnival on my 2 previous cruises and my kids love Carnival. My oldest loved C02, which is for the older kids. I don't know about the kids programs for Princess because we didn't take the kids. We never felt crowded on Princess and I found the food comparable on both ships. I liked the Crown better than I did my 2 ships on Carnival, but those were older ships. I agree with the previous post in saying the beds on Carnival are more comfortable and the cabins are bigger. I would say with that many kids, you almost have to go with Carnival. But beware, you will be swarmed with kids running around like maniacs everywhere.