Input for a prospective Princess cruiser

[Jeremiah1212]

After sampling most of the major lines and ultimately sticking primarily to Royal Caribbean, Princess has just never been on my radar for some reason. But I think that may be changing. However I need some advice!

 

After our recent cruise on NCL Escape we knew we wanted to try something a bit more upscale and maybe go back to a smaller ship. From my signature, you can tell I love the small-ish Radiance class on RC. Big ship features but you still feel like you're at sea in a perfect sized package.

 

So after being packed like sardines into the Escape, I ran off and booked a Celebrity trip for next winter basically in search of an anti-NCL experience. We had a great cruise, but won't be booking that ship again. I cruised Celebrity several years ago with a larger group, so my memory is starting to fade in regard to what I did and didn't like. I had glance over the Celebrity/Princess comparison thread that was recently posted but didn't have time to dig in too deep.

 

The more I look at the two, I think the Royal Princess may be a better fit than Celebrity. Please correct me if I'm wrong or share your thoughts...but here's what I have gathered so far.

• Princess has more casual dining options...something we missed on Celebrity. We enjoyed the food and venues and upscale feel and would participate in formal night on Princess, but I want more casual options in case we don't feel like getting dressed up.
  
• More overall and more diverse dining options in general on Princess
  
• More night time activities. We felt like eating and drinking was all we did on Celebrity during the evening. Fun, but got old. Lounge-type singer entertainment doesn't do much for me.
  
• Slightly younger overall crowd
  
• First impression seems like I would favor the Princess ship layout
  

 

So am I on target with my assumptions? It seems like a lot of Celebrity and Princess fans go back and forth between the two lines but I just have a feeling that Princess may be the better option for us. Thanks in advance!

[Pam in CA]

The Royal Princess has IMHO the best buffet at sea. We're not "dinner in the buffet people" but on the Royal, ate dinner there every night on a 17-night cruise. Tables are set and covered with tablecloths, waitstaff take your drink requests (from iced tea to something stronger) and the lighting is dimmed. There are several meat entree options as well as salad bar and so much else. An entire dessert display.

 

The Royal also has an expanded menu Alfredo's (free) where you can get the best pizza at sea, salads, calzones, etc. The International Cafe is open 24/7 (free) with everything from cookies and pastries to salads, sandwiches, etc. And this is not including the Grill or the Pizza near the pool. Lots of options to eat if you don't feel like getting dressed up or want to stay in shorts. Plus the reasonable priced restaurants Sabatini's, Crown Grill, Crab Shack or Fondue.

 

Princess offers a wide variety of activities during the day and entertainment in the evening. The focus isn't so much on one big production show but there will be comedians, a piano bar, night club, etc. The Royal has an in-cabin entertainment system with hundreds of movies and shows on demand. No fee. Plus there's Movies Under the Stars.

 

The Royal is now one of my favorite ships and I'm on her again in April.

[Jeremiah1212]

The Royal Princess has IMHO the best buffet at sea. We're not "dinner in the buffet people" but on the Royal, ate dinner there every night on a 17-night cruise. Tables are set and covered with tablecloths, waitstaff take your drink requests (from iced tea to something stronger) and the lighting is dimmed. There are several meat entree options as well as salad bar and so much else. An entire dessert display.

 

The Royal also has an expanded menu Alfredo's (free) where you can get the best pizza at sea, salads, calzones, etc. The International Cafe is open 24/7 (free) with everything from cookies and pastries to salads, sandwiches, etc. And this is not including the Grill or the Pizza near the pool. Lots of options to eat if you don't feel like getting dressed up or want to stay in shorts. Plus the reasonable priced restaurants Sabatini's, Crown Grill, Crab Shack or Fondue.

 

Princess offers a wide variety of activities during the day and entertainment in the evening. The focus isn't so much on one big production show but there will be comedians, a piano bar, night club, etc. The Royal has an in-cabin entertainment system with hundreds of movies and shows on demand. No fee. Plus there's Movies Under the Stars.

 

The Royal is now one of my favorite ships and I'm on her again in April.

 

The more I look at the dining options, the more appealing it's becoming. Celebrity's specialty dinners are expensive!

[OCruisers]

The more I look at the dining options, the more appealing it's becoming. Celebrity's specialty dinners are expensive!

 

Agree with Pam on this. On Royal Princess you'll find more restaurants at no additional charge and reasonable priced Specialty restaurants.

 

LuLu

[satxdiver]

Sabatini's (Italian) and the Crown Grill (steak) are $25/each. The Crab Shack which is not every night like the first two is $20/each. All the rest are free. On non-formal nights jeans and a shirt with collar is all you need for the MDR just no shorts or tshirts. Formal night the bare minimum for males is a pair of dockers and a button long sleeved shirt. Ties are not required. The food IMO is better than RCCL but that is subjective.

 

At night Crooners (piano bar) with a pianist that plays what the pax request, Wheelhouse will have a band, Club 6 (disco open until the wee hours), Vista lounge with different activities and the piaza with its evening activities many times with musicians. The theater has production shows, comedians, magicians, singers etc so that the program is varied from night to night. The mega-screen on the lido deck over the pool will show full length movies at night. The TV in the stateroom has a selection of movies 24x7.

[floridalover5623]

You can't go wrong with choosing the Royal for all the things you're looking for. It's buffet wins hands down over the older ships in selection & quality although some people don't see the difference in comparison.

As satxdiver mentioned the DR doesn't require strict formal dress but simply a dressy causal outfit will suffice.

[Croptop]

After our recent cruise on NCL Escape we knew we wanted to try something a bit more upscale and maybe go back to a smaller ship. From my signature, you can tell I love the small-ish Radiance class on RC. Big ship features but you still feel like you're at sea in a perfect sized package.

 

Caveat: I haven't actually sailed on the Royal yet. I'm booked on her sister ship, the Regal, next year. So I'm basing my response on having cruised other, older Princess ships.

 

I agree with pretty much everything that others have posted so far. I think you might enjoy all that a Princess ship has to offer. My only pause is your statement above about preferring "small-ish... class [ships]".

 

The Royal is the largest ship in the Princess fleet carrying approximately 500 more passengers than the Grand-class ships. I'm not saying that this is bad; merely pointing it out based on your stated preference.

 

Having said that, I do think you should give Princess a try.

[RocketMan275]

Can't compare Princess and Celebrity. Had a Celebrity cruise booked but cancelled in favor of another Princess cruise. Frankly, Celebrity has a slightly more formal vibe that we found offsetting.

 

We've cruised Regal and Caribbean Princess and have future cruises booked on both. Pam and others are correct in that the Regal/Royal ships have the best buffet at sea. We find it more than an adequate substitute for the MDR. On our last Regal cruise we didn't go to the MDR a single time. We did a couple of specialty restaurants and the rest in the buffet.

 

There are a few drawbacks from Regal/Royal. There is no walk around promenade and the balconies with a few exceptions are very small. Other than that the ships are beautiful.

 

suggest you might want to go to youtube and watch some of the videos on Regal/Royal.

[cruiseintoheaven]

What Pam said in post # 2! [emoji4]

[Jeremiah1212]

Caveat: I haven't actually sailed on the Royal yet. I'm booked on her sister ship, the Regal, next year. So I'm basing my response on having cruised other, older Princess ships.

 

I agree with pretty much everything that others have posted so far. I think you might enjoy all that a Princess ship has to offer. My only pause is your statement above about preferring "small-ish... class [ships]".

 

 

After coming off of the Escape, anything has to feel less crowded than that. The public spaces of that ship are just a mess. It's definitely bigger than favorite to date, Brilliance of the Seas, but I'm fine with that. Brilliance also only does 5 day runs which isn't long enough for me. I need a solid week to unwind.

 

My plan for the 10 day on Royal over the 7 day on Regal was nixed by my better half, so I actually did book Regal this morning instead. I think vacation days are meant to be used to the max...but that feeling isn't mutual :cool:

 

Can't compare Princess and Celebrity. Had a Celebrity cruise booked but cancelled in favor of another Princess cruise. Frankly, Celebrity has a slightly more formal vibe that we found offsetting.

 

That's my biggest reservation. There was just something about it I was not totally sold on, other than the price. It was quite attractive with their perks included. However I will say (no offense to anyone) that reading the Celebrity boards here is not exactly enjoyable reading. Just my honest opinion. The passenger mix back in 2010 when I last sailed them and the impression you get from reading the boards are quite different. I think the true mix is even more different now with the younger clientele they are trying to pull in. It's just a different experience.

 

I'm much more comfortable with the decision to book Regal over Celebrity!