Comparison of Royal Caribean, Carnival, Princess

We recently completed our 14th cruise – 11 on RC,2 on Carnival & latest one our first on Princess, all in just 6 years. Forrecent comparison we cruised Legend OTS in Nov, Carnival Legend over New Year& just returned from Around Australia on Sun Princess. So thought I wouldshare our experiences & thoughts for fellow cc posters.

We have cruised Australia, NZ, Pacific Islands, Alaska, repofrom Singapore & Vancouver to Sydney via Hawaii.

First up, I have often read and heard suggested that thesetype of ‘mass-market’ cruiselines are more similar than different, and that hasbeen our experience. There are differences, but not to the extent that somewould contend, and based on our experiences, we would not hesitate to cruisewith any of these three cruiselines again – in fact we have enjoyed each andevery cruise.

We are not big on décor as some seem to be, but all thoseurns on Carnival were a bit weird.

On all our cruises, we have found the crew members weencountered to be fantastic, always keen to make us happy. Any minor issue hasalways been quickly addressed. Really we could not say one line was better thananother in this regard. We are still friends with a number of crew we have metin our travels.

We found food offerings to be overall similar on all 3 lines.Some dishes were better on some at times, but we are happy to eat on any ofthem. We always do the MDR for dinner, enjoying the dining experience, andmostly the various buffets/cafes for breakfast, lunch & snacks – all good.

We have always found our cabins and bathrooms to be fine,and similar on all 3. We have had insides, oceanviews & balconies. Whilst some ship layouts may suit us better than others, once you get used to them, they are all ok.

Activities eg music around the various venues, trivia, noveltyevents etc we found to be similar on all 3, as we did for pools etc. Similarfor internet, shore excursions, tendering etc.

All cruises have their fair share of whingers and whiners,you know the ‘I cruise to whinge’ mob, & the entitled PIA’s, so nodifferences there.

All that said there are differences.

The theatre shows on Royal & Princess we found to bebetter than on Carnival. I think the live orchestra is part of this. Having ‘piped’music for the production shows & guest performers is not the sameexperience.

Coffee – always a point discussed re cruises J RC has the worst ‘free’coffee. The self-serve ‘machine’ coffee on Carnival is passable. I found thefree coffee on Princess to be pretty good. The ‘pay-for’ coffee on all ships Ifound to be ok.

There was definitely an older demographic on the Princesscruise & it was a long cruise which would have been a factor. We found thatthe ship was dead from around 10:30pm, and much of the evening entertainmentwas programmed around the early dining time, which meant we as late [7:45pm]diners missed things we would have liked to have seen. Sorry, but havingdinner, and lining up for reserved seating at 5:30 is not for us J

The ‘Happy Hours’ on Princess were not to our liking. Havingbuy 1 get another for $1 from 3-4 & 9-10 meant that during these times thebar was packed (no seats) as the punters poured down their daily quota andstocked up extras for later, and at other times the bars were mostly empty. Ithink this could be done better.

Having to pay for cookies & cake at the coffee shop onCarnival seems a bit petty – Princess & RC with their free offerings isbetter.

Was surprised that Princess didn’t offer brunch in the diningroom on sea days, something that we enjoyed on Carnival.

To sum up, we would be happy to travel on all 3 lines forthe right itinerary & price, and know we would have a great time. At thisstage in our lives, late 50’s, we would aim to avoid school holidays and ourpreference would be first for Royal (benefits for C&A status do come intothis), second for Carnival & third for Princess.

I trust I haven’t offended anyone, and am happyto answer any questions.

No Mr Walker; you haven't offended. I have seen the similar things myself. The only thing I would bring up is; its true that Carnival shows are a bit luckluster but after the shows you have the Punchliner comedy club. Which brings it up to the others in overall entertainment value. I have notice in the 5 cruises i have done with them, it seems to be more popular now then in the past. I love a Pizza at midnight after a belly laugh... Thank You

Thanks, Mr Walker. I think your comments are very fair.

Regarding quality of food - I'm beginning to think that it very much depend on the executive chef at the time. So far our MDR experience has been:

Sun Princess Dec 2014 - excellent

Dawn Princess Aug 2015 - disappointing

Golden Princess Apr 2016 - good

Sun Princess Aug 2016 - very good

Celebrity Solstice Dec 2015 - average

Celebrity Solstice Feb 2015 - excellent

Carnival Legend Nov 2016 - excellent

Rhapsody of the Seas Mar 2015 - very good with four exceptional dishes

You should have been on the Sun Princess PNG cruise we went on last August. Crooners was party central every night until the music stopped. It was a hoot! One of the mostly lively partygoers was an 80 yo woman. :D

We always choose late dining and the only Princess cruise that seemed to have a lack of entertainment for late diners was Golden, which was the only Princess ship we'd been on that had anytime dining at the time. I've noticed a similar issue on Celebrity.

Thanks Ghost who walks.

Different lines here, but similar feelings.

Princess

P&O

Celebrity

Cunard.

NCL at the end of this year.

All very similar.

I think food quality has dropped across the board, but prices had dropped, big time in real terms.

Look at it this way

2004 Princess to Tasmania $1799

2017 Princess to Tasmania $1,499, and $300 OBC.

In the same time minimum adult wage has gone from $12.50 to $18 an hour. So applying that inflation rate my 2004 cruise should now be about $2700, so the price now is almost half where inflation should have put it.

Thanks mr walker.

It appears individual Princess ships do have flexibility on happy hours.

It's good when they use it.

Recently on Diamond, the 2nd HH was shifted to coincide with specific shows in different locations at different times.

This worked very well.

You should have been on the Sun Princess PNG cruise we went on last August. Crooners was party central every night until the music stopped. It was a hoot! One of the mostly lively partygoers was an 80 yo woman. :D

 

We always choose late dining and the only Princess cruise that seemed to have a lack of entertainment for late diners was Golden, which was the only Princess ship we'd been on that had anytime dining at the time. I've noticed a similar issue on Celebrity.

Yes we found Mauritzio (sp?) in Crooners very good, but the venue itself we found less than ideal - guess we preferred the layouts and location of Schooner on RC & Piano Bar on Carnival.

With the timing on entertainment to co-ordinate with dining, on other lines there was most nights an early theatre show for late diners, and events like quest, marriage game & others were then timed for 10 or 10:30, but on Sun, these were at 8:45 or 9, when late dining was on, & our nightly show was at 9:45.

Forgot to add that we really enjoyed the International Café, both during the day and night - much better than the RC or Carnival 'equivalents'.

Thanks Mr Walker, good comparisons.

I agree with others that one cruiseline can differ from cruise to cruise with regards to food and passengers onboard etc.

Although Princess is our preferred we have certain ships within that line that we prefer.

Just did Carnival for the first time, have a Royal cruise booked for next year......and even thinking of depositing on P&O:eek:, it's been 7 years since the last one, but really like the itinerary and want to try the old HAL ship.

Jury is still out on the Majestic, we cancelled the Ovation as the really large ships don't appeal to us.....but will probably give Majestic a try on a shorter itinerary to see if we would like it for a longer repositioning cruise if it is coming here yearly.

Try em all I say;p

Thanks Mr Walker, good comparisons.

 

I agree with others that one cruiseline can differ from cruise to cruise with regards to food and passengers onboard etc.

Although Princess is our preferred we have certain ships within that line that we prefer.

Just did Carnival for the first time, have a Royal cruise booked for next year......and even thinking of depositing on P&O:eek:, it's been 7 years since the last one, but really like the itinerary and want to try the old HAL ship.

Jury is still out on the Majestic, we cancelled the Ovation as the really large ships don't appeal to us.....but will probably give Majestic a try on a shorter itinerary to see if we would like it for a longer repositioning cruise if it is coming here yearly.

 

Try em all I say;p

Cheznandy - which is the HAL shop that's coming to P & O?

Sent from my SM-N910U using Forums mobile app

Cheznandy - which is the HAL shop that's coming to P & O?

 

Sent from my SM-N910U using Forums mobile app

Hi Phoenixx, I was referring to the PacificEden/Aria, which were the original HAL Statendam and Ryndam.

I like the size and design of the ships and would like to cruise on either, just concerned that the P&O product that I enjoyed years ago will not be the same!!!

If we book it will be for the itinerary and smaller ship.

I cruised on Aria last year and was pleasantly surprised at the turnaround in P&O from old. Loved the Blue Room for the jazz every night. I was on a B2B 9 days followed by 4 day. First cruise had fabulous group of jazz musicians, second leg was not so good with a blues group. Food was just so/so.......I believe the head chef was on his last cruise, so that could have been the reason. As I "eat to live" as opposed to " live to eat", it was not a big deal to me. I have cruised many times (more than 40), and have tried most lines. Have yet to have a cruise that I did not like.

I have only cruised on Rhapsody of the Seas and Ocean Princess, both of which were unique.

Rhapsody of the Seas was on its inaugural cruise from Hawaii to Australia, which I now understand was a charter. It was a memorable cruise, full of fun loving Aussies, with one Kiwi. We weeded out the American foods (grits and sweet breakfasts) and had to get restocked twice for real tea, whilst we ignored the flavoured teas!

Ocean Princess was one of two small classy Princess ships, with beautiful big libraries. Small enough for the piano player to play any song requested and to include your name in a song, if you were late for a session. My favourite eating venue was outside at the back. Plus scones and jam afternoon tea delivered from a trolley, by a man in a suit, to each person sitting on wooden loungers on the deck.

Pacific Princess is on my wish list.