Help me pick - Southern Carribbean - Carnival Victory or Caribbean Princess

[DrNex]

Hi Team,

 

We are considering two cruises on March 11. One is a cruise on the Carnival Victory, the other is on the Caribbean Princess. Both share the same dates and the itineraries are close but not identical. We need some help in picking. The prices are essentially identical ($549 for lowest oceanview cabin on Princess obstructed view vs. $569 for highest oceanview cabin on Carnival).

 

Carnival Victory was built in 2001, Caribbean Princess in 2004. Reviews for both are close with 4.3 overall for Victory and 4.4 overall for Princess. One thing to note: I am 25 and my travel partner is 23. I have sailed on Carnival, RCI, Holland and Princess before.

 

What really concerns us though is the difference in itineraries, as follows:

 

Victory:

1San Juan, Puerto Rico 10 PM Departure

2Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 7 AM - 5 PM

3 At Sea

4Bridgetown, Barbados 8 AM - 5 PM

5Castries, St. Lucia 8 AM - 5 PM

6Basseterre, St. Kitts 8 AM - 6 PM

7Philipsburg, St. Maarten 7 AM - 5 PM

8San Juan, Puerto Rico Arrival 7 AM

 

As you can see, all ports are from 8 AM to 5 PM or longer. Also, the ports include St. Thomas, Barbados, and St. Kitts.

 

Vs. Caribbean Princess:

 

1San Juan, Puerto Rico Departure 11 PM

2Philipsburg, St. Maarten 10 AM to 6 PM

3Castries, St. Lucia 9 AM To 6 PM

4St. George's, Grenada 7 AM to 2 PM

5Bonaire, Netherlands Special Municipality 12 PM to 7 PM

6Oranjestad, Aruba 7 AM to 5 PM

7 At Sea

8San Juan, Puerto Rico Arrival 6 PM

 

This substitutes Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba. I know Aruba is supposed to be fabulous, but don't know much about the others. Also, the times in port are erratic, and generally shorter than with the Victory (total of 48 hours in port for Victory versus 41 hours in port for Princess). For example, we get hardly any port time in Grenada, especially considering we won't roll off the ship until 10 AM at the earliest.

 

Please help us pick!!!!

[bhawkcruiser]

Aruba would be the deciding factor for me, it is really cool there by far my favorite Island and i have ben to most. I was just in Bonaire two weeks ago and also liked that as well especially if you like to snorkel, it has the clearest water i have ever seen. This is just my opinion and all opinions should be taken with a grain of salt, but Aruba will always be a port in my future cruises.

[cruiseapril]

Hi- Have been to most of the ports. If snorkeling and swimming are favorite activities, Bonaire is a fine snorkeling port and Palm Beach and Eagle Beach in Aruba are good for swimming.

 

In Aruba, there are day passes for the Radisson at Palm Beach.

 

We would prefer the Princess cruise for these ports. (Have been several times.)

 

Suggestion for St. Lucia- be sure to pick a good tour there. Check out the St. Lucia forum.

[Krazy Kruizers]

JMO -- but I like Aruba and Bonaire and would definitely go for Princess.

[sherilyn70]

I don't have any real input about Princess... but I can say that the Victory was a pleasant older ship. No specialty dining on it, rather simple activities and not sure how the nightlife was as we seemed to always be out by 11pm because it is so port intensive.

 

Here are pictures from my February cruise on the Victory. http://sherilyn70.shutterfly.com

[PreciousCruiser]

My best friend & I cruised on The Victory in April, 2010 and absolutely loved it. The Princess intinerary looked good to us too, but we decided on The Victory and did not regret it. Not only did we love the intense itinerary, we truly enjoyed our time on the ship. It was nice to be able to enjoy the nightlife activities. Not sure how that would be on Princess. That might be something for you to consider. With that being said. I would love to visit Aruba, Bonaire & Grenada as well. Decisions, decisions! I'm sure more posters will help you make a decision that will work for you. Also, you might want to read several reviews on both ships to to get more info. Good Luck and enjoy your cruise! :)

[trish1c]

When faced with basically the same choice last Spring, we picked Princess. It was a lovely ship but they close everything early. All the bars except Skywalkers are closed at midnight (or before). It was kind of sleepy & dull. The service was good & so was the food. I now know it is possible to get good pizza at sea. MUTTs was kind of fun but could be loud.

We've never sailed Carnival but you can't really go wrong with either. Flip a coin, unless like us you are late night folks, then pick anything other than Princess.