Question about Princess / Carnival

[TechKnowBabble]

I have never sailed with Princess and was considering doing so in the future, however I have heard that Carnival bought Princess, which I was not aware of. Carnival has a horrible reputation with a number of our friends and I would really hesistate to try Princess cruise if is the same level of service and atmosphere. When did Carnival buy Princess? And if it's been a while, has anyone noticed changes in Princess' service or quality? Thanks for your assistance.

[cherylandtk]

Well, that is a can of worms type question. Carnival bought Princess about 4-5 years ago or so. Since then, there have been many changes in all major cruiselines, partly due to 9/11, partly due to other factors. And I do think that you would have experienced those differences on RCI as well, if you had taken cruises back in the 80's or 90's with them. Carnival's former drunken party boat reputation has been much improved and with good reason. Some folks think Princess's overall style has changed, others not. Many new types of onboard experiences have been introduced, such as Personal Choice dining. I personally don't see this as being Carnival's influence, but I do see this as Princess way of trying to attract more cruisers with more options. But, I happen to prefer the traditional dining experience, which I can still get on Princess. There will be many other opinions, which I am sure will be posted, but my generalization would be that cruiseline changes are more due to the current market than the ownership.

[City_Woman]

I can say that our experience with Carnival has been nothing but wonderful and we will have stayed with Carnival for our 7th cruise, but wanted a change to longer without the hassle of back to back.

 

I understand from our travel agent that we will love Princess. I'm sure we will. Frankly, there's nothing to not love about cruising!

 

I have an expression: There are 100 flavours of ice cream because not everyone likes vanilla.

 

If everyone really loved just one cruiseline we wouldn't have the choice we have.

 

Enjoy your experience!

 

CityWoman

[jff50]

I have never sailed with Princess and was considering doing so in the future, however I have heard that Carnival bought Princess, which I was not aware of. Carnival has a horrible reputation with a number of our friends and I would really hesistate to try Princess cruise if is the same level of service and atmosphere. When did Carnival buy Princess? And if it's been a while, has anyone noticed changes in Princess' service or quality? Thanks for your assistance.

 

I have never been on Carnival, but I understand that it has changed for the better. I have been on 16 Princess cruises and 2 Celebrity cruises. I think that Princess does a fabulous job of balancing service, flexibility, casual/formal, and fun. I prefer Princess but would not hesitate to cruise with Celebrity. I'm on the Summit to Hawaii in January because I was able to get a great deal that I couldn't match on the Island Princess--if the prices were the same I would have taken Princess.

[madelinerose]

TechKnow....Hi, fellow Baltimorean. We have cruised only once, on the Miracle from Baltimore, last year and had a fabulous time! From the wonderful cuisine to the hilarious CD, Carnival was great. The only aspect of the cruise we disliked was the "hoopla" after dinner with the waiters dancing on tables, etc., so we simply left the diningroom before the hoopla began during the remainder of our dinners there. The Miracle was immaculate and we enjoyed the "upgraded" linens and duvets that Princess has just recently implemented. No, we do not participate in belly-flop or hairy chest contests, etc., but, just like any other situation in life, you can avoid what doesn't interest you. We found the quality of our cruise to be 100%, from the waitstaff to the 24/7 smiles from the crew members.

 

I have no idea what ship/s your friends have cruised on Carnival or what their dissatisfactions are, but I can only say that Carnival more than exceeded our expectations and the antiquated "party ship" connotation did not exist.

 

We have booked the new Crown Princess for next September and are very much looking forward to the Princess experience. ;)

 

I have never sailed with Princess and was considering doing so in the future, however I have heard that Carnival bought Princess, which I was not aware of. Carnival has a horrible reputation with a number of our friends and I would really hesistate to try Princess cruise if is the same level of service and atmosphere. When did Carnival buy Princess? And if it's been a while, has anyone noticed changes in Princess' service or quality? Thanks for your assistance.

[TechKnowBabble]

TechKnow....Hi, fellow Baltimorean. We have cruised only once, on the Miracle from Baltimore, last year and had a fabulous time! From the wonderful cuisine to the hilarious CD, Carnival was great. The only aspect of the cruise we disliked was the "hoopla" after dinner with the waiters dancing on tables, etc., so we simply left the diningroom before the hoopla began during the remainder of our dinners there. The Miracle was immaculate and we enjoyed the "upgraded" linens and duvets that Princess has just recently implemented. No, we do not participate in belly-flop or hairy chest contests, etc., but, just like any other situation in life, you can avoid what doesn't interest you. We found the quality of our cruise to be 100%, from the waitstaff to the 24/7 smiles from the crew members.

 

I have no idea what ship/s your friends have cruised on Carnival or what their dissatisfactions are, but I can only say that Carnival more than exceeded our expectations and the antiquated "party ship" connotation did not exist.

 

We have booked the new Crown Princess for next September and are very much looking forward to the Princess experience. ;)

 

Sounds wonderful. Glad to hear it is a good experience. Although we aren't 'old', I am 36, my bf 28, we aren't into the partying and drinking as much as we were say 5 years ago. We both enjoy a good time but are a little more mellowed. I've always wanted to sail on 'the love boat' but I think my boyfriend is mortified I might ask for Gopher, Capt Steubbing, Julie, Issac, etc. ;) We are thinking of trying to sail out of Baltimore sometime....but we enjoy taking winter time cruises and getting away from the snow and ice. Where are you located? I'd like to talk further. It's always nice to find fellow cruisers in the area :)

[sgriff17]

Im pretty sure Carnival's party boat stereotype went out of style many years ago :) Ive been on 4 CCL and have loved them all. You can party if you want, or see a Vegas show. whatever floats your boat. I'll be going on my first Princess cruise in January, basically just to see what else is out there.

 

I don't think you have a THING to worry about.

[cruising with marti]

The fact that Carnival corp. owns Princess Cruises along with, I might add, Holland America and Cunard ( the Queens) has very little to due with how each of these seperate lines are operated. Each of these lines are operated as seperate enities, each with a targeted demographic.

 

We have sailed many times on Princess as well as Celebrity and RCCL, and have enjoyed each and every one. So book your cruise and sit back and relax, you will have a great time.

 

Phil

[phaelon56]

My first cruise was two years ago. When I did advance research it appeared that for us (late 40's couple) Princess was the best fit for the money. I wanted better than average food and a more mature crowd than a "party cruise" might offer. But I also wanted to avoid a demographic that was heavily skewered toward a much older crowd than us.

 

I've come to believe that much of the Carnival "party cruise" reputation stems from a simple demographic fact: Carnival has traditionally offered more 3 day and 5 day cruises with heavy mass market advertising.

 

Due to their available amount of vacation time and discretionary income this draws a younger crowd with many groups and singles rather than families and couples (there are always exceptions but I'm generalizing here). This is a crowd that tends to party more than families and older couples - whether it's on a cruise or elsewhere (been there - done that :-)

 

My former GF accompanied me on the 7 day Princess cruise. She had been on 3 or 4 Carnival cruises in prior years. She said they were NOT a "party atmosphere" but did describe the lounges and clubs as being livelier - less sedate. She also thought the live musical entertainment in the lounges on Carnival was far superior and that perhaps this accounted for the difference in bar/lounge energy level in the evening.

 

She thought the service was comparabel on both. Her preference had been for traditional dining because of the realtionship you can develop with the waiters but we switched to Perosnal Chice and both loved it for the flexibility.

 

I'm more discernign than she is/was about food. She assessed the two lines as comparable on food (in the dining rooms). The extensive feedback I've read seems ot give princess a slight edge in dining room food quality. I ate only a breakfast and lunch in the buffet and can't offer accurate feedback on buffets.

 

Less subjective is the difference in decor. Princess tends to be more elegant and subdued and carnival leans towards the flashy / glitzy / Vegas gener of decor.

[TechKnowBabble]

Excellent...thank you all for your input. I am always happy to hear good things about ANY cruiseline. I do have a special fondness for Royal Caribbean just because they were my 'first' :)