IOS 10/4/15 A Comparative Review

[Toddy709]

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.

[dplusd]

However, Princess wins big on burgers and especially pizza on the pool deck.

 

Couldn't agree more. On Princess we never go to the buffet for lunch...The poolside Trident Grill has delicious cooked to order burgers and dogs...and their pizza, is awesome. This is definitely an area I wish Royal would improve.

[Peeker28]

Thanks for your review. I'm going in March for the first time

[molsonschooner]

Nice review. We were on Indy a few weeks ago. Had no issues at all with checking our account on the TV.

[Toddy709]

Nice review. We were on Indy a few weeks ago. Had no issues at all with checking our account on the TV.

 

I wondered if the batteries in the remote were dying, but every time I thought about asking the steward for fresh batteries, the remote would start working fine again. One of our traveling companions had trouble getting their Seapass acct to load, and the other didn't, so it could have been a "timing" issue.

[Toddy709]

Couldn't agree more. On Princess we never go to the buffet for lunch...The poolside Trident Grill has delicious cooked to order burgers and dogs...and their pizza, is awesome. This is definitely an area I wish Royal would improve.

 

They had burgers laid out in the Windjammer every day, but the patties were all stacked in a pan and looked kind of dry so I never even tried one. The condiments did look nice and fresh though. I do prefer the cooked to order at Trident. The Johnny Rockets burgers were really good, but not worth paying extra for... and then to have to pay for a shake in addition... if it had been $7 for a burger AND shake, that would have been more reasonable.

 

And the pizza... no comparison!!!