Princess vs Carnival.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

2 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I wouldn't have guessed that since it seems to me like...at least on Regal Princess...they have less stuff for kids. Which ship was it?

Discovery Princess. He enjoyed our Lido deck cabin's proximity to pizza and cookies. Also, our cabin was forward-facing with a huge balcony (but cheaper as it was categorized as "obstructed" due to the metal rail), which was really cool.  😂 He swam in the pool one day and enjoyed that. He didn't miss the slides.

[Saint Greg]

47 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

 

I agree with this. We have sailed both Princess and Carnival this year. The Princess ship was much cleaner overall. The Carnival ship (Breeze, so not even one of the oldest ones) was in shabbier shape than it should have been for its age and there were lots of stains/trash/food residue.

 

That's disappointing about Breeze. It's been five years since I was on Breeze and I remember it being nice back then. But Regal Princess is I believe about the same age....10 years old...and it seemed new. The only thing I would say that made it seem not new was no USB ports in the rooms. But when I walked in the the theater or princess live..I felt like those seats could've been brand new.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

1 minute ago, Saint Greg said:

 

That's disappointing about Breeze. It's been five years since I was on Breeze and I remember it being nice back then. But Regal Princess is I believe about the same age....10 years old...and it seemed new. The only thing I would say that made it seem not new was no USB ports in the rooms. But when I walked in the the theater or princess live..I felt like those seats could've been brand new.

I was very surprised and disappointed, since I'd heard good things beforehand. I've sailed on RCL's Adventure and Allure in the past year, which are both older than Breeze, and they were lovely. There's no excuse for Carnival letting it get that way when other lines are able to maintain their ships. I think maybe they are also using cheaper materials/furnishings to start with, and they aren't holding up as well over time.

[Saint Greg]

6 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Discovery Princess. He enjoyed our Lido deck cabin's proximity to pizza and cookies. Also, our cabin was forward-facing with a huge balcony (but cheaper as it was categorized as "obstructed" due to the metal rail), which was really cool.  😂 He swam in the pool one day and enjoyed that. He didn't miss the slides.

 

Interesting. When I was that age I definitely would've wanted the water slides.

[DallasGuy75219]

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

That's disappointing about Breeze. It's been five years since I was on Breeze and I remember it being nice back then.

 

2 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

I was very surprised and disappointed, since I'd heard good things beforehand. 

Last month Valor was in pretty ragged shape in some areas. I'll see if Glory is equally ragged next month.

 

Seems like Carnival is deferring as much maintenance and replacement as possible to save cash flow and pay down their COVID-era debt.  Used to be that a 20 year old Carnival ship didn't show much more wear and tear than a 5 year old ship, but now I guess anything much older than Vista class is showing its age.

[marci4tony]

Thank you Greg - you have been around, seen so much.  Some of us look forward to your live adventures - some take your advise as well.  Your direction has been most outstanding over the years, and appreciate your candor in comparisons.

[Saint Greg]

11 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

Last month Valor was in pretty ragged shape in some areas. I'll see if Glory is equally ragged next month.

 

Seems like Carnival is deferring as much maintenance and replacement as possible to save cash flow and pay down their COVID-era debt.  Used to be that a 20 year old Carnival ship didn't show much more wear and tear than a 5 year old ship, but now I guess anything much older than Vista class is showing its age.

I guess I mostly cruise on the newer ships. I was on Spendor 18 months ago and didn’t notice any problems with it. I was on Glory for the sailabration last year and remember seeing them replace all of the wood on one of the lido staircases. I’ll be on Spirit in a couple months so I’ll see how that is.

 

[bethfelk]

I enjoy both a lot and currently have Princess booked for next month and Carnival for March. Overall though I think I enjoy Princess a little more. I think it's a good mix of still fun but also a little bit of classy and very relaxing vibe. It does feel more upscale, even though prices are comparable in many cases. Princess Plus is a really great deal and knocks Cheers or any other line's packages out of the park.

 

One area Carnival is definitely better at is deck food, Guys Burger and Blue Iguana are something I miss a lot on Princess. However Princess deck pizza was AWESOME (and I say this being gluten free too, I was very impressed by their gluten free crust). I also wish Princess had more trivia and games scheduled throughout the day, although recent reports from the Regal seem like there's a lot more going on than on our Ruby cruise last year. Especially music Trivia I really wish Princess had more.

 

Medallion is really nice and preferable to a card imo. Love being able to wear it on a watchband and not think about it. The app and delivery experience is not perfect but pretty good imo. 

[pellanor]

Another difference is no fixed dining on Princess. How much this matters will vary depending on your personality, but we love to share table with fellow cruises. This is rarely an option on my Crown Princess cruise last week. We made reservations for shared table and was sat at our own two-top every night. Different from Greg's experience, there was a line to enter into the dining room 3 of 5 nights for me, with waits up to 15 minutes even with reservation. Maybe it's the time I chose or the dining room I chose, but I prefer Carnival's table reservation system when you're notified in the app when a table is ready.

 

On another note, all the table tops had tablecloths, which I greatly prefer to Carnival's no table tops.

[Sailor75]

Doesn't this all seem redundant, which is better and why? It's obviously depends on the person and what they like. Why keep asking this?

[jimbo5544]

15 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

Last month Valor was in pretty ragged shape in some areas. I'll see if Glory is equally ragged next month.

 

Seems like Carnival is deferring as much maintenance and replacement as possible to save cash flow and pay down their COVID-era debt.  Used to be that a 20 year old Carnival ship didn't show much more wear and tear than a 5 year old ship, but now I guess anything much older than Vista class is showing its age.

Used to be there was far fewer 20 year old Carnival ships.  At some point (and we love them) it becomes lipstick on a pig, there is only so much you can do with something running 24/52/365 year after year after year.  Lastly, when they were 28Bill in the hole from being shut down (not of their own accord) for 19 months, the reality is the reality, you have to pay the piper at some time.

[pe4all]

I would love to try Princess, as they sail from Port Everglades, which is 3 miles from our vacation condo,  Really miss that CCL stopped sailing from PE.  Princess's price-point is way higher than CCL, checking literally the same sailing dates/itinerary.  Wish they would have sister-line rates or status match - I would then definitely jump on a Princess cruise to try.

Edited November 30, 2023 by pe4all

[Saint Greg]

14 hours ago, bethfelk said:

 Princess Plus is a really great deal and knocks Cheers or any other line's packages out of the park.

 

I think the NCL upgrade is comparable. Of course you already get unlimited drinks with free at sea. The NCL upgrade removes the price limit on them, gives you WiFi, specialty coffee, and more specialty dining. No gratuities though. I think it was cheap enough to make up for the gratuities. I want to say my NCL upgrade was 300 and Princess plus was 400. Anyway…I’m booking NCL Encore as my first 2025 cruise.

 

[TiredTrucker]

22 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Discovery Princess. He enjoyed our Lido deck cabin's proximity to pizza and cookies. Also, our cabin was forward-facing with a huge balcony (but cheaper as it was categorized as "obstructed" due to the metal rail), which was really cool.  😂 He swam in the pool one day and enjoyed that. He didn't miss the slides.

 

Was this an Alaska cruise? How was the wind on the forward balcony? Care to share the room #?

[TiredTrucker]

12 hours ago, Sailor75 said:

Doesn't this all seem redundant, which is better and why? It's obviously depends on the person and what they like. Why keep asking this?

 

You might not find it useful but I do, so personally I'm glad it's asked routinely and thankful that others still share their insights.

[TravelGirlinDallas]

28 minutes ago, TiredTrucker said:

 

Was this an Alaska cruise? How was the wind on the forward balcony? Care to share the room #?

No, it was a CA Coastal cruise out of LA. We were in cabin L101 on Discovery Princess. It was windy, but not too bad. We loved it and would definitely book that cabin again.

[bethfelk]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

I think the NCL upgrade is comparable. Of course you already get unlimited drinks with free at sea. The NCL upgrade removes the price limit on them, gives you WiFi, specialty coffee, and more specialty dining. No gratuities though. I think it was cheap enough to make up for the gratuities. I want to say my NCL upgrade was 300 and Princess plus was 400. Anyway…I’m booking NCL Encore as my first 2025 cruise.

 

In my experience the service charge/gratuities on drinks being already included in the plus rate makes princess the better deal unless NCL base Free at Sea rate is really cheap for a particular sailing. I was recently test pricing an NCL cruise and I thought it was a great deal until it tacked on another $400 ($200 each for 2 people) for bar gratuities at the last minute. 

[Saint Greg]

3 minutes ago, bethfelk said:

In my experience the service charge/gratuities on drinks being already included in the plus rate makes princess the better deal unless NCL base Free at Sea rate is really cheap for a particular sailing. I was recently test pricing an NCL cruise and I thought it was a great deal until it tacked on another $400 ($200 each for 2 people) for bar gratuities at the last minute. 

 

My 7-day Encore booking for just me adds in $164 in service charges. I believe $12 of that is for specialty dining....since you get two specialty dinners with that..and a third with the upgrade. Last time I used all three of mine at the steakhouse. So $152 in beverage gratuity for the week.

 

So for $464 I'd get unlimited wifi, unlimited drinks of any value, three specialty (not casual) dinners. I forgot to mention $50 off excursions. I haven't looked at them this cruise but for my Alaska cruise there were even $50 and under excursions and tickets you could get for free. Like the trams in Icy Stait and Juneau. I ended up booking 7 excursions and getting a $350 value there.

 

I think it's a good deal comparable to Princess and all that for the price of just the drink package on Carnival.

[Earthworm Jim]

On 11/28/2023 at 9:29 PM, klfrodo said:

Mercedes vs Kia

Both have tires, engines, steering wheel, seats, & entertainment. Both will get you from point A to point B.

One costs a lot more than the other.

 

I think the difference is much less stark than that comparison. More Buick vs. Chevy.

 

Looking at a comparable 7 night western Carnival cruise to the Princess one I have booked in Feb 2025, I'm seeing:

 

Carnival Venezia balcony starting at $879

Sky Princess balcony starting at $918

 

Not dramatically different, at least for this single example. And if you get the drink packages, Princess actually saves you money there. Carnival is $70 a day with gratuity, and Princess Plus Package is only $60 a day, and they don't charge a gratuity. But it's really even better than that. The Plus package includes your $16 a day staff gratuities too, so you're really only paying $44 a day for drinks. And wifi is included in the package too.

[Earthworm Jim]

5 hours ago, pe4all said:

I would love to try Princess, as they sail from Port Everglades, which is 3 miles from our vacation condo,  Really miss that CCL stopped sailing from PE.  Princess's price-point is way higher than CCL, checking literally the same sailing dates/itinerary.

 

That's odd, because I just checked the prices on the other brand to my March 2024 Carnival cruise and my February 2025 Princess cruise and they were pretty comparable.Maybe there's a much bigger price disparity other times of year, or in different cabin categories. (I looked at cheapest non-obstructed balcony)

[groundloop]

21 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

 

.....I'll see if Glory is equally ragged next month.

 

 

I just got off of Glory 4 days ago, it's in good shape.  

[dallasdan]

I am not a drinker, do the plus packages on either line make sense for a non drinker?  I don't have any issues with Carnival, however, I think my DW wants to try other lines.

 

[Saint Greg]

22 minutes ago, dallasdan said:

I am not a drinker, do the plus packages on either line make sense for a non drinker?  I don't have any issues with Carnival, however, I think my DW wants to try other lines.

 

 

Definitely not on Carnival. Then you're talking about you trying to come up with $450-500 worth of non-alcoholic drinks. If the wife drinks she'd come out better just buying them individually on Carnival.

 

Princess and NCL maybe because you're getting more. WiFi on NCL is pretty expensive and almost makes it worth it. Add in specialty coffee and a specialty dinner and it's probably worth it. 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by Saint Greg

[dallasdan]

11 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

Definitely not on Carnival. Then you're talking about you trying to come up with $450-500 worth of non-alcoholic drinks. If the wife drinks she'd come out better just buying them individually on Carnival.

 

Princess and NCL maybe because you're getting more. WiFi on NCL is pretty expensive and almost makes it worth it. Add in specialty coffee and a specialty dinner and it's probably worth it. 

 

Thanks for the reply.  I really appreciate how thorough you are during your reviews.  I am now considering NCL and Princess because of your reviews.  Carnival should be sending you the free cruise offers because of your influence.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We are platinum on Princess, although it has been years since we sailed them, but will be sailing the Regal on Sunday.  We are Diamond on Carnival and Diamond on NCL.  We have 42 days on Royal but I don’t remember what that tier is called. I think everyone has explained the differences quite well, but here is something to consider when you are somewhat new to cruising and looking for your “right fit”.   Loyalty program.  If you plan to cruise a good deal through the years, do a side by side comparison on each lines perks per category.  I have found that NCLs Latitude program leaves everyone else in the shade.   On top of the items to consider, as others have so well outlined, look at the long haul.

NCL also has an very good Mastercard program.

 

at the end of the day, they are all more alike than different, but it’s the nuances in life that define us all.

 

Happy sailing.