New to Princess

[tortoni]

We have sailed NCL and RCI before and are considering Princess for a summer cruise with our kids, my sister's family. This is intended as a familiy vacation. We hope for lots of fun, good food and activities for the kids. There will be nine of us altogether. Any recommendations? Comparative views of Princess and the other cruise lines would be appreciated.

TF

[Aquarian]

I've sailed with NCl and RCCL also but love Princess. We just like the way Princess does everything. Their food is better and their staff is terrific. They have beautiful but not glitzy ships. Their entertainment is comparable to both of the lines you have sailed on. About the only thing you would miss would be the midnight buffet as Princess doesn't have them. I don't think you would be disappointed in Princess.

[brucejr]

And on Princess there is NO reason to miss the midnight buffet as there is good food available 24/7 as opposed to the good looking/bland tasting midnight buffet food I have experienced on passed cruises on RCI.

To compare Princess to RCI, Princess was just over all better, especially the food and here there Horizon Court was WAY better than the Windjammer buffet in terms of quality and variety. Similar kids programs, but since Princess won't over crowd a ship with kids, the programs aren't over crowded either, unlike RCI which doesn't limit the number of kids on each ship.

The things that RCI has going for it are on the Voyager class ships, all the busy activities, rock climbing, rollerblading, ice skating and such. But their pools are saltwater and closed at night where as Princess ships pools are fresh water and open all night.

If the intinerary was the same, I'd easily choose Princess over RCI again.

<font color="FF6600">
if there's a way to construe my post as non-argumentative, please do so.</font>
Cruise photos on my [url="http://www.brobertson.org/"]Home page [/url]<font color="990066">
Spring Break was on the Grand Princess </font>21, March 2004
So when is the next cruise?

[catmand]

tortoni....have to add, think you will be just fine with a family cruise on Princess. Just got off a Celebrity cruise and loved it but there were a number of things we missed and many of those would fit a family cruise IMHO.

As has been mentioned 24 hour pools and 24 food. No one likes to do laundry on vacation BUT with kids and packing Princess does have laundry rooms, washers, dryers, irons and boards on almost every deck. The entertainment choices it was Princess hands down.

We would sail either line at the drop of a hat or anything else you may care to drop, I am sure you will have a great time on any Princess ship.

Star Princess 9/03 Alaska
Celebrity Mercury 3/04 Mexico
Next: Sapphire Princess 10/2/04
Mercury Cruise Pic's 3/13/04
[url="http://community.webshots.com/user/catmand100"]http://community.webshots.com/user/catmand100[/url]

[CruiseFever]

Tortoni- We just did our first Princess cruise last month on the Golden and were quite impressed. Impressed enough to change some future cruise plans and book two more Princess cruises this year.

Here's more on that:

[url="http://www.lifeiscruising.com/golden_princess1"]http://www.lifeiscruising.com/golden_princess1[/url]

Happy Cruising

Chris

[url="http://www.LifeIsCruising.com"]www.LifeIsCruising.com[/url]

Next up:
Caribbean Princess 06/26/04
Star Princess 10/24/04
Carnival Victory 12/19/04
Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

[ambullmom]

I just got off of my first cruise with Princess. The staff on Princess can not be beat. I have sailed on RCCL twice on Voyager class ships. From now on my heart belongs to Princess. You will not be disappointed.

[DUBIDUB2]

If your kids are over 13 I would say RCCL. I just posted a list of differences that effected us.

I was told many times that princess food was better but for us there was little in it. Not sure if that's because they are now owned by Carnival.

For us, it's RCCL next time but these things are getting too close to call now. You won't be unhappy whatever you choose, I'm sure.