Princess cruisers try out Carnival, thoughts and a comparison

DW and I are Princess fans, have been since our very first cruise. DINKS in our 30s we consider ourself old souls and our pace of life fits very well into the Princess Escape Completely mentality. Since we hit Platinum on Princess we have tried to branch out and try other cruise lines, mostly just for fun and to experience the variety out there. We just got back from my first and DWs second (albeit it has been over a decade since her last) Carnival Cruise.

I will say we were a little hesitant before embarking on this adventure, and if our family hadn't called us and said they wanted to do a cruise out of LA on Carnival we would have never gone. But we knew we would have a good time regardless of the cruiseline we just didnt know if it would be for us int he end of the day.

Here is the link to my live from, so you can feel free to read all the details if you like, I wanted to take a minute to point out some differences between Carnival and Princess for those considering exploring other options. Some of these things could just be unique to the ship, the Carnival Miracle, but this being my only experience to draw from Ill discuss everything.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2521332

On carnival your rooms are not ready til after 1:30 unless you have loyalty status or pay for priority boarding which comes with your room being ready upon boarding. This same benefit (called faster to the fun) also gives you access to a shorter line at guest service, priority disembarkation and priority tendering. It was $70 for a week cruise and covered everyone in the same cabin. Cabins were about the same as Princess although we felt they had more storage space. And the best part of the bathroom was the fact that the shower curtain didnt try to assault you at every turn, there was enough room in the shower to maneuver! Be prepared to request twice a day service on Carnival as your cabin steward will ask you if you want once or twice a day service, we asked for twice and had no issues with it, once our cabin steward finally emerged (you can read about this in the live from).

Comedy is a focus, and they bring on some great acts, always felt on Princess it was a passing thought, although we did not like the main show entertainers, they were not great singers. The Carnival Steakhouse is better than the Crown Grill, even if you are limited there to 2 appetizers (or an appetizer and a salad) and specifically 1 entree, I felt the service and and food were both of a higher caliber than the Crown Grill.

Food overall on board was about the same, but Princess wins hands down on service. DW wanted me to be sure to mention she loved the fact that on Carnival they have a soft serve ice cream and yogurt machine on board that was self serve, she loved that. From the bars to the cabin stewards and the dining staff, Princess was much better than Carnival. We felt the bar staff were generally disengaged and not even remotely friendly. Dining room staff was also equally disinterested with one exception on our trip.

There are obvious demographic differences between the lines. Carnival had significantly more children, younger families and younger kids (16 and under). But their presence (other than at the pools and some of the shows) wasn't really felt as much as we thought it would be.

If the AIBP is your thing Carnival has a much better program, including drinks with a total cost of up to $50 each. Carnival also has better bars on board than Princess, particularly liked the Alchemy Bar (think Crooners but with more variety and bartenders eager to be creative if you like) and the Red Frog Pub (felt like i was on a Hawaiian island) on board our ship.

This was probably just specific to the Long Beach port, but we had the best disembarkation ever. Gone were the paper customs forms, it was all a verbal declaration. I handed them my passport, they made sure it was me and I walked right through, that was it. We had purchased under our allowance so its was as easy as can be and made disembarkation very very fast.

We wouldn't have any issues doing another Carnival cruise depending on the circumstances, but it certainly wouldn't be our first choice.

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like it was a positive experience.

Interesting comparison, thanks.

I wonder why no paper declaration. You'd think that it would be a universal thing one way or the other since it's the Feds.

Thanks for posting. A lot of people poo-poo Carnival as being a party boat but comparing ships or 7 day to 7 day cruises, they really are more alike than not. I agree with many of your points.

I've sailed enough on Princess to hit elite and on Carnival, I'll make Platinium after next cruise. I'll gladly cruise on either.

I haven't been on Carnival since 1986. However, it was the cruise line that got me hooked and I do consider it when booking a cruise. I know at times Princess gets knocked for it's 50 shades of beige decor but the the picture you posted of the Carnival atrium and theatre made me sea sick. There is just too much going on with textures and patterns. I would hate to be there during a rough sea day. Thank you for the balanced review.

Thank you for the review. It looks like you enjoyed your Carnival cruise. You posted a lot of good info.

The only thing that made me go "eek" was that Atrium. I love Princess' Atriums. So beautiful.

I think it is good to venture out so nice to read you enjoyed your cruise.