How is Princess different from other cruiselines/

[libby10205]

We are going on our first cruise with Princess. What can we expect? How is it different from other lines like RCCL, NCL, Carnival, HAL, Celebrity etc.

[Wormy53]

fresh-water pools

anytime dining

big ship with small ship feel

British Officers

Italian chefs

varied itineraries

best bang for our buck

:D:D:D

[royalcruz]

I've been on the Caribbean Princess (CB) twice, and here are my observations:

 

vs RCCL: Princess isn't as wild, passengers are generally a little older than RCCL but there are all age groups represented

 

vs Carnival: Princess isn't as wild or noisy, the piano bar is more open and has a piano player for hours every night, passengers are a little older than Carnival but there are all age groups represented

 

vs HAL: Princess is more fun/active, has more evening activities, passengers stay up later, passengers are generally younger than on HAL

 

vs Celebrity: Princess is similar to Celebrity, but the specialty dining on Princess isn't nearly as classy as Millenium class specialty restaurants, Princess staff doesn't escort you to your cabin with a glass of champagne upon entering the ship, passenger age group is similar

 

vs NCL: I have no idea, I've never tried it!

 

General differences: Princess has 24 hr buffets. Princess has MUTS. Princess seems to have fewer production shows, but has other acts instead. I understand that Princess is no longer offering a new show/act each night. My only issue with Princess is that the theatre often runs out of seats 15 minutes before showtime. Otherwise it's a great line with great value.

[kooljamming]

We are going on our first cruise with Princess. What can we expect? How is it different from other lines like RCCL, NCL, Carnival, HAL, Celebrity etc.

 

Positives

afternoon tea

beautiful ships

lots of lectures

great evening entertainment

beautiful/stunning pools

no announcement in cabin

good food in the buffet

liberal wine policy

get what you pay for and more

 

Negatives:

quite/sedated feel at times

may or maybe get traditional dining at booking

food was so-so in MDR (too much sauce)

limited pool activities/music

poorly designed buffet area

less energetic vibe

Free drinks (lemonade only available in buffet by a server)

Passenger Contract - unlike Carnival and RCCL they can change the intinerary BEFORE sailing without giving the option to cancel w/o penalty

 

Other: older crowd, not a lot of Caribbean workers,

 

Lacks the wow factor of RCCL, without the Vegas/fun feel of Carnival.

Overall had a great time of each line for different reason.

 

Good Luck!

[libby10205]

Thank you. We are looking forward to experiencing it all for ourselves.

[regnig]

AND, with rare exception, NO towel animals! :D:D

[hubofhockey]

AND, with rare exception, NO towel animals! :D:D

 

We got towel animals every night (with chocolates for eyes). :cool: Towel animals probably depend on whether you have children with you.

[libby10205]

 

AND, with rare exception, NO towel animals! :D:D

 

 

Now if we weren't already booked, that could have been a deal breaker.

[trisonik]

Just off Valor 06/28/09-07/05/09. This is our 5th Carnival Cruise and possibly our last Cruise with Carnival. I do like cruises and for the most part enjoy Carnival ships. This is the first time we have cruised during the sunmmer. We are in our early and late 40's.

 

I realize that we took a cruise in the summer, and on a holiday week (July 4th). I realize Carnival bills themselves as 'the fun ships' and does offer some of the cheapest Caribbean Cruises.

 

This was by far the most kids on a cruise I have ever seen.

The cruise director said there was 1463 kids on our cruise, after he asked us how our cruise was and my husband told him of the kids running in the halls, he suggested we try Princess, as Princess had less kids and Carnival Alaska cruises have less kids.

 

My question is does Princess have less Kids than Carnival?

 

Do Carnival Alaska cruises have less kids?

[hubofhockey]

My question is does Princess have less Kids than Carnival?

 

 

 

Yes, Carnival has many more kids and is more kid friendly. It's not even close. Kids can have a good time on Princess. But Carnival is geared more to kids.

[flamomo]

That's one more reason I have no interest in cruising on Carnival.

[cruiserbryce]

the anytime dining option has been nice and we have felt the food has been better than it was on Carnival and RC

[libby10205]

1463 kids.....wow.... i can't even imagine. When we cruise on Carnival it is usually during school season so have never encountered sooooooo many.

[wizard-of-roz]

We cruise at least 2 times a year. If I want to "jack-up" my noise and people encounter ratio......I book a Carnival cruise.

I prefer the entertainment on Carnival to Princess....(Princess has cut back on their Princess Theatre gala productions.) I don't like this.....since, the shows were definitely part of our cruise experience enjoyment. However, it's not enough of a reason to only book on Carnival.

 

Carnival cruising takes a certain "mindset".....either you're bringing children or you're looking for a more "lively", "noisey" experience for yourselves. And, being over 45......I realize that I may retreat back to my stateroom if the ambiance and noise are too much but sometimes the hallways and your neighbors can be a bit too much for the couple who is just looking for a relaxing vacation experience! :rolleyes:

Sometimes, it's just fun for a one week cruise to "kick-it-up" a bit and endure the Carnival experience, if, for no other reasom than just for the fun of it!!!!!! ;)

[georoc01]

Just off Valor 06/28/09-07/05/09. This is our 5th Carnival Cruise and possibly our last Cruise with Carnival. I do like cruises and for the most part enjoy Carnival ships. This is the first time we have cruised during the sunmmer. We are in our early and late 40's.

 

I realize that we took a cruise in the summer, and on a holiday week (July 4th). I realize Carnival bills themselves as 'the fun ships' and does offer some of the cheapest Caribbean Cruises.

 

This was by far the most kids on a cruise I have ever seen.

The cruise director said there was 1463 kids on our cruise, after he asked us how our cruise was and my husband told him of the kids running in the halls, he suggested we try Princess, as Princess had less kids and Carnival Alaska cruises have less kids.

 

My question is does Princess have less Kids than Carnival?

 

Do Carnival Alaska cruises have less kids?

 

 

I think in general that may be true but there are no absolutes. I was on a Christmas Cruise on the Star Princess with 1000 kids back in 2006. So I am thinking that timing may be part of the reason for the large numbers of children on the boat.

[andygoblue]

My question is does Princess have less Kids than Carnival?

 

Do Carnival Alaska cruises have less kids?

 

1400+ seems like a lot of kids. Our last two Spring Break cruises on Princess with our kids each had about 900 under the age of 18.

[mom2tcdx2]

Truly I can't say I noticed a big difference between Carnival and Princess, I have not done the others. My thoughts are

Carnival had more shows, lots of trivia games - truly I thought Princess had more different type of activities than Carnival did - Princess had food, drink demonstrations, horse racing, survivor at the pool, playstation tournaments on the large tv screen. Found more to do actually on Princess than I did Carnival. Carnival had better shows, Princess had better comedians.

As for the buffet, my sister's husband gives a thumbs up to Princess, he refused to eat anything on the Carnival buffet as he stated it was too hard to get to any items. He preferred the layout, and they also had some sort of food snacks there 24 hours a day. Room Service also has better food options on Princess.

Took my children in the off season (May and November) neither wanted to stay in the kids area, they much preferred the shows and pools. Neither cruise had towel animals.

Carnival has flashier ships, while Princess is more elegant.

However I would sail on either line again, and by my signature have cruises scheduled on both.

[Labmom3]

We were on Princess cruise out of NYC June 20th. 500 kids on board (200 of them teens). You didn't really see all of the kids and would have never known that many were on board. The teen center was open from 9AM till 3AM because of the large number of teens and their desire to keep them busy and out of trouble. We were told in the beginning that we were responsible for our kids behaviour.

 

We have been on Carnival (last summer) and Princess this summer both out of NYC and we feel that Princess is so much better for us!! I think you have to find the cruise line that suits you and your family. There were more activities that we found enjoyable on Princess and we felt Carnival was more of a party boat with a college type atmosphere. I did see a few people on the cruise who looked like they would have enjoyed Carnival more. You just have to find the line that fits you.