IOS 10/4/15 A Comparative Review

[Toddy709]

Just wanted to post my review here if anyone has questions or comments:

 

Just for background info: I've cruised Disney once, Princess eight or nine times, and had one booked on Celebrity but had to cancel. I've read enough on CC to know these are very comparable cruise lines, and I knew there would be some things that I preferred on Princess and other things I liked better on RCL. There will be many comparisons in my review, but overall, I thought both lines came out about even. This was a girls' cruise and there were five of us sailing together in three cabins.

 

Embarkation:

 

Was extremely fast and efficient. I do prefer being able to go straight to the cabin to drop off carry-on bags on Princess, but knew that I wouldn't be able to do that on IOS so I was prepared. We were on the ship early enough that the Windjammer wasn't a zoo yet, so we had a nice lunch.

 

Ship:

 

I liked the size of the theater; we were always able to get good seats, which is difficult on Princess. I personally wasn't a fan of the Promenade. I'm just not into that atmosphere and at night it was ridiculously crowded and hard to make your way through. I much prefer the atrium and the International Cafe on Princess. I had read an IOS review from a cruise just before ours and it mentioned the difficulty in getting a drink now with so many people getting the drink packages. I never found this to be a problem at all. Granted, there weren't many servers walking the pool decks, but I didn't mind going to the bar myself and never found it overly crowded.

 

Cabins:

 

We had inside cabins on Deck 8 aft. Our room steward was perfectly nice and polite, but nothing "over and above". My cabin mate had to cancel last minute due to a death in the family so I asked the steward to change my bed configuration from twins to queen which he did promptly. However, this ended up being a mistake because it's very difficult to get around the edge of the bed between the sofa on one side and the mini fridge on the other. I do prefer the layout of Princess inside cabins without the sofa and having the dressing space between the closet and the bathroom. The bathroom was adequate. I liked IOS's shower doors better than Princess' shower curtain, and that IOS's shower has shelves to hold your shampoo, soap, etc. I do wish both lines would install a foot rest in the shower to make shaving easier!! I did miss my Princess eucalyptus lotion that I am extremely fond of!! Princess' beds are notoriously uncomfortable for most people, so IOS wins in the more comfortable bed department. The interactive TV drove me insane. Frequently the remote control was very unresponsive... I had to be standing in just the right position to use it, and then many times when I would go to check my Seapass account the system was down. I did order from room service once and it was very prompt.

 

Pool Areas:

 

I love the adult only pool on Princess that is on the very back of the ship and thought I would miss that great aft view, but I found IOS's adult pool and pool deck to be much nicer and roomier. I loved the cantilevered hot tubs, too! I thought checking out pool towels would be annoying when, in actuality, it turned out to be nice because you could exchange wet towels for dry at any time. I greatly appreciated that more than once I saw a deck hand show up almost immediately to tell kids that got in the adult pool that they had to leave. I also liked the self-serve ice cream on IOS.

 

Food:

 

For the most part, I found the food in the dining room to be very comparable to what I've had on Princess. Our wait staff, Sylnette and Luciane, was amazing!! One thing IOS does do better is the formal night lobster tail. Princess serves their tiny, little lobster tail with prawns and it's hard to even tell which is which. My lobster tail on IOS was a good size and very tasty as well. However, Princess wins big on burgers and especially pizza on the pool deck. I liked the layout of the Windjammer better but, as with Princess, it is standard buffet food. I did order the spinach dip from room service once, and it was pretty bad... it was your standard spinach dip with what looked to be a slice of Kraft American cheese melted on top, but it was delivered very promptly.

 

Entertainment:

 

This is where I really expected IOS to come out on top. However, we saw two different comedians that were only average at best. We did see an acrobatic team that was outstanding. We enjoyed the game shows. Sadly, we missed the ice skating which I understand is really good. I don't want to give Princess the "win" on this category because I might very well have missed something that would give IOS the advantage.

 

I'm not a big fan of the Western Caribbean, so the ship was definitely my destination on this cruise and I enjoyed it very much. I will definitely be adding RCI to my list of cruise lines to look at for future cruises.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Toddy709
Posted on wrong board

[caribill]

Thanks for your report.

 

In the entertainment category it appears you did not see a IOS production show.

 

You gave your thoughts about the inside on the Promenade deck. Any thoughts about the outside?

[Steelers0854]

Just wanted to post my review here if anyone has questions or comments:

 

Just for background info: I've cruised Disney once, Princess eight or nine times, and had one booked on Celebrity but had to cancel.

 

 

DW and I have been on 6 Princess and 1 NCL cruise and we just booked our first Disney cruise. We are huge Disney fans despite not having kids, I was curious to hear your thoughts on Disney vs princess?

[goofy559]

DW and I have been on 6 Princess and 1 NCL cruise and we just booked our first Disney cruise. We are huge Disney fans despite not having kids, I was curious to hear your thoughts on Disney vs princess?

I have to say that Disney wins in many categories - customer service for sure. I also love their private Island. Mdr food is a toss up, but I prefer Disney specialty dining - especially Remy. Disney production shows are Broadway quality but Disney themed. Adult area on Disney is quite nice. Love the split bath on Disney. I've sailed all 4 disneybships, and the smallest and biggest in the princess fleet, so my experience is fairly broad. Happy to answer any questions

[Toddy709]

Thanks for your report.

 

In the entertainment category it appears you did not see a IOS production show.

 

You gave your thoughts about the inside on the Promenade deck. Any thoughts about the outside?

 

Didn't see the any production show, but I've not been a fan of them on Princess. That's why I didn't rate the entertainment category.

 

I never made it to the outside promenade deck, although I love sitting out there and reading on Princess.

[Toddy709]

DW and I have been on 6 Princess and 1 NCL cruise and we just booked our first Disney cruise. We are huge Disney fans despite not having kids, I was curious to hear your thoughts on Disney vs princess?

 

I didn't make comparisons with Disney because I LOVE all things Disney and making a comparison would have been biased.

 

Disney was our first cruise and I loved the food and the split bath in the cabins; those were two of the things that stick out in my mind. The only reason we haven't been back on Disney is we no longer cruise with kids, so in our minds we can't really justify the much higher cruise fare to go for adults only.

 

However, once grands enter the picture, I'll be very excited to introduce them to all things Disney!!

[Steelers0854]

Thanks for the info, I don't want to hijack the thread but it's good to hear about the differences.

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for the review. FYI, the Royal/Regal showers are a bit larger and have a shelf/narrow seat to put your leg. :)

[dcrow72]

I have not sailed Disney but my 20 something kids have a few times and they have sailed Princess as well. They will take Disney over anything else hands down. I personally cannot justify the cost difference so I will continue to sail PRincess.

[Retiring cajun]

Toddy709, what ship were you on? Did you find cruise fares to be similar?