Honest advice comparing P&O & Princess

[Saligo]

We've only sailed on one Princess ship and one P&O ship. They were very different experiences, but both good. The thing that Princess did best for us was their approach to anytime dining - huge tables filled up one at a time giving lots of new people to talk to every evening, and a great response to requests for additional items. There didn't seem to be much finesse in the cuisine though - OK if you just want the big-hitting items like lobster or steak, but something classier like a soufflé, forget it. As far as expense is concerned, we've not noticed Princess being significantly cheaper for ex-UK cruises. Our main criterion is to be able to pay less than £100 per person per night for an outside or balcony cabin, and we haven't found that coming up any more often on Princess than on P&O. On board, P&O definitely has a strong edge when it comes to prices, but more importantly you're not surrounded by an atmosphere in which spending lots of money seems to be almost an end in itself. But P&O ships seem to have very widely differing reputations for friendliness. We've sailed on Aurora twice and will be sailing on it again in October, partly because we have found it to be a happy ship - barely an ounce of pzazz, but comfortable as a favourite pair of slippers. But we've heard people being far less complimentary about the atmosphere on Arcadia and a couple of the other P&O ships. Size comes into it too. For us, Aurora and Oriana are ideal, but that is a very personal matter. Having said all that, itinerary is our number one consideration, and it just happens that for our last three cruise purchases it has been Aurora that has been going to the right places at the right times.

[pjayuk]

My partner and I have been on Ruby Princess, Grand Princess and P&O Azura, all very similar ships in design. On the whole the differences are small. We found alcohol, soda and excursions to be less expensive on P&O. Entertainment in the theatre was better on Princess, but we found the cabin and wait staff to be very good on both lines. We never did formal on Princess, but decided to do it on P&O, there were twice as many formal evenings on P&0 and there were also semi formal evenings also. Regarding football shirts, we saw a lot more on the Grand Princess. Looking forward to our next cruise on the Grand in October.

[Denarius]

I don't understand this negativity towards Ventura we had a two week cruise on her and thought it was wonderful, I didn't see one football shirt, the whole holiday from beginning to end was exceptional in my opinion.

Neither do I. I have sailed with P&O over 20 times, on most of the current fleet and find Ventura to be my favourite. i suspect that Ventura is closer to Princess in atmosphere, formality etc than ships such as Aurora and Oriana, which are more reserved and tend to attract an older passenger.

[daiB]

But P&O ships seem to have very widely differing reputations for friendliness. We've sailed on Aurora twice and will be sailing on it again in October, partly because we have found it to be a happy ship - barely an ounce of pzazz, but comfortable as a favourite pair of slippers. But we've heard people being far less complimentary about the atmosphere on Arcadia and a couple of the other P&O ships. Size comes into it too. For us, Aurora and Oriana are ideal, b:(ut that is a very personal matter. Having said all that, itinerary is our number one consideration, and it just happens that for our last three cruise purchases it has been Aurora that has been going to the right places at the right times.

 

I do not understand this type of comment as we have been on all the ships and found little difference. The difference is usually the cruisers on each particular cruise. The ship itself has little to do with it.

 

If you read enough reviews you will find ones which each ship is friendly and that each ship is not.

 

Not a good way to choose a cruise ship.

 

 

 

Gan canny

 

 

 

Dai

[terrierjohn]

Just for interest, I priced up 2 week cruises out of Southampton with P & O, Princess and RCI for next August. Cheapest interior cabin on P & O Ventura £1349, on Princess £1494 (only 12 nights) and RCI £1606.

 

But of course, these will all fluctuate wildly between now and next August.

Marylizcat, We generally have a balcony so that's the pricing we normally compare, and there are more of them than insides so they are more representative.

The current balcony pricing is Ventura £1949, Crown £1582, Eclipse £1870, IOS £1700, all 14 nts.

Additionally Ventura's launch price for N321, which I assume was your datum point was £2150, with a brochure price of £2400, I know that Celebrity's launch prices were much lower than their current prices, and I guess so were Princess and RCCL.

Which IMO validates my view that P&O, at least for 2013 started out way too high, which is probably why they have introduced Vantage fares and given away so much in OBC to some early bookers.

However I do accept that for insides they seem to offer far better deals than the others.

[audal29]

I have always found the service, entertainment and food far superior on P&O to what I have experienced on Princess.

 

The cabin stewards on P&O are much more friendly and have a very perceptive mind and work the cabin around your routine and are always willing to help where ever they can. Same goes for the dining stewards they get to know your eating habbits and suggest and have sides for your meal ready without you even asking.

 

I have found the cabin stewards on Princess to be extremely rude and want to do things in their time and they have no time management and ability to work around your holiday routine.

 

Having said that I find the Princess ships have better facilities than P&O.

 

I know others see things differently but all I can say is that I have experienced the best P&O have to offer and think it has always been far superior to Princess in many ways. P&O is my preffered line over Princess.

I cannot agree about rude stewards on Princess, I have found they can't do enough for us, even realising we drank g&t and putting a dish of sliced lemons in the fridge for us without us asking.

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Until 2002, P&O were Princess... i.e. P&O Princess Cruises. Today, all new P&O new builds (Oceana, Ventura, Azura and the as of yet unnamed 145,000 GRT ship) are ALL Princess designs. Note that the bow emblem on all Princess ships is still the rising Sun of P&O, and until very recently, so was their house flag.

 

From my experience aboard the Oceana, the former Ocean Princess, I found a lot more similarities than differences. The major difference from my point of view would be that the P&O is basically Princess adapted for Brits and Princess is designed more around an American concept. Other than that, I'd say they're very similar sister companies.

 

I would also say that rude stewards, etc. is something that can be found on all lines (yes, even Crystal), and not a company policy.

 

Please do note that the last time I sailed Princess Cruises was in 2007, but almost nothing in their basic concept has changed since then. I have boycotted Princess due to the way that they price cruises in my region (above 2x what I would pay in the UK, US or Australia... and they're the only line in the world left doing that here).