Princess to Oceania.... What will be different?

while "O" ships are sleepy at night.

Are the bar(s) still open though. I'm usually up till at least until 0100.

Are the bar(s) still open though. I'm usually up till at least until 0100.

Who knows, nobody here stays up that late;)

Who knows, nobody here stays up that late;)

Just need to drive down the average age of the pax..... and get that party started. :)

I sailed on the Riviera in the Mediterranean in late October. I will board the Emerald Princess for a Cape Horn cruise in 4 weeks on Feb. 14. I am already expecting to be underwhelmed by the food on Princess, to be constantly comparing it to the excellent Riviera food we enjoyed. I chose Princess for this itinerary because O is not doing 14 day Cape Horn Santiago to BA cruises this season, only longer ones.

I also just booked Princess for Alaska 2019 because I wanted to do a 7 day one way cruise and Oceania does not offer those.

I can report back on the differences when I return from the Cape Horn cruise in March about very recent experiences on both lines.

Just need to drive down the average age of the pax..... and get that party started. :)

As Kathy Bates famously said in Fried Green Tomatoes:

We are older than you and we have more money and better insurance.......get over it :rolleyes:

I may have missed it in reviewing this thread, but a major difference that I found, is during the seating process for dinner. If you prefer traditional seating with a fixed time for dinner every evening then Princess will accommodate you. If you prefer open or anytime seating where you choose your time and companions each evening, then watch out. As you approach the dining room, do you see a table stacked high with buzzer devices so your host or hostess can direct you to sit and cool your heels for 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. You are obviously on Princess and you will never find that on Oceania. Other than the declining quality and selection of the food on Princess, it's a major reason why I've told my TA that I no longer am interested in Princess cruises after 8 cruises with them.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. Thanks especially for pointing out that the Riviera and Marina are larger ships (with capacity of 1,250 passengers) as opposed to the Insignia (which is the one which does the round-the-world cruises) with a capacity of 684 passengers.

JimandStan...how true!!

I am just back from a 2 week Cape Horn cruise on Emerald Princess and can note some differences with my Oct. 2017 Riviera cruise. Emerald Princess was completely full at over 3000 passengers.

1. Anytime dining: we never had a wait for anytime dining. It may have been because half of the ship were South Americans and they eat dinner very late and were always there before 6:30.

2. Princess buffet: vile, inedible, cold food. Very difficult to find a table to sit at as the waitstaff does not clear the dirty dishes fast enough. We had 2 breakfasts here due to early schedules and vowed to avoid the Horizon Court at all costs.

3. Coffee: I had purchased a coffee card on eBay for $21 vs regular price onboard of $31 which gets 15 specialty coffees and unlimited brewed coffee. I would go to the International cafe in the morning, order cappuccino, and take it into the MDR for breakfast. Included coffee on O is great.

4. Cabin layout: had a verandah cabin on Princess, OV on O. I like the walk in closet behind the wall in the Princess cabin as it blocks the light from the bathroom.

5. Food quality: Princess food was edible, acceptable. It didn't even come close to O food, which was amazing. We ate one night in the steakhouse,$29 pp charge, and that was the best meal out of 14 days.

6.Trivia: Princess has no prizes, not even a keychain, for winners of trivia. There were 4 quiz times a day on the sea days and trivia was always packed. Even without prizes it was fun and challenging, but it's nice to end up with O t shirts purchased with trivia winnings.

Overall, the cruise on Emerald Princess was a good one, weather was spectacular for all the ports. But this ship is just too big for us. I will still go to Alaska in 2019 with princess, but on the Coral Princess with 2000 pax. If O did Alaska as a one way I would book with them, but they don't.

If anyone wants to know more about comparing Princess to Oceania just ask.

My DW and I love Oceania. we have done 3 10 day cruises with them. Food is the best. 4 specialty restaurants on the Marina and the Riviera. So we do each one once. Pumpkin soup in the French restaurant is to die for. Lobster mac and cheese in the Steak restaurant is fabulous. The buffet is second to none. First of all, you do not serve yourself. There is an attendant at each food station and will serve you. There is a grill in the buffet that offers Steak, lobster, and huge prawns. Just go up and say 1 steak and 2 lobsters. All none alcoholic beverages are included. Oceania allows you to bring alcohol for consumption in your room. We bring 1 Jack and 1 vodka. Our cocktail parties on our balcony are world class. Wifi is free. They just treat you like the old days. Very special. Spend a little more and get the treatment and gastro delights you deserve.

2017 Baltic

2016 Adriatic

2015 Tahiti

and 20+ other cruises

... They just treat you like the old days. Very special. Spend a little more and get the treatment and gastro delights you deserve.

I couldn’t agree more! I was sold several years ago after doing a transatlantic on Regatta. I have been trying to convince DH we need to cruise O instead of RCL, HAL, X, Princess, etc... ever since. Finally last August we cruised Insignia and after having just one dinner in the terrace cafe he said, “now I get it!” It didn’t take much convincing to book again for this year!

Yes the evening entertainment is much more low key, but the better food and service more than makeup for it, in our opinion.

I'm elite on Princess with 2 Oceania cruises, aboard the Regatta and the Marina. I have 2 more Oceania cruises booked. Other than the size of the ships, biggest difference between the 2 cruiseline is food and entertainment. The food is much better on Oceania with the only foods better on Princess being the pizza, more variety of sausages, and some pastas (with greater quality and choices on Oceania, very few eat pasta on Oceania). The wine prices are much lower on Princess, but greater variety on Oceania. As for entertainment, if you must be entertained by the cruiseline, Oceania is not for you. The swimming pool is a salt water pool as opposed to fresh water on Princess. Promenade deck is better on the non-Royal class Princess ships. There is usually a zumba class on Princess. What draws me to Oceania is the food and the itineraries. What draws me to Princess is the food and itineraries for a mass market line, but I've done all the itineraries that interest me and that's why I had to move on from Princess.

I have over 400 days on Princess including around 70 days on their R class ships. The layout of their R class and Oceania R class are very close - a few cabin changes. The décor is different and Princess uses the hall outside the casino for photos.

Princess has photographers and art auctions which O does not. O has a slightly better staff to passenger ratio - when you subtract staff like photographers and auction people the ratio is even better

Princess on their small ships only has fixed time dinner in the same size dining room as Oceania.

In the buffet on Princess for most items you serve yourself and on O almost all items are served to you.

The grill area on Princess has less options.

Princess charges extra for more items than O does such as special coffees and soft drinks as well as speciality restaurants.

Princess gratuity charge for both beverages and daily fee is less than O.

Entertainment on the small ships is about the same. O has shuffle board and mini golf.

On 14 day or more cruises on both lines there will be very few children - we did 14 days on the small Princess ship over this past Christmas and New years and there was only 12 children.

I remember in 1 of the ports in S/E Asia on the small Princess ship we docked well out of town as the Captain said only very small ships like Seabourn get to dock in town but when on the small O ship we docked in town saving around 2 hours transport each way.

In the last couple weeks Princess has been eliminating their "happy hour" - they say something will replace it but don't say what or when.

O has a better loyalty program despite recent announcements of some cutbacks.

We just did Marina in Tahiti, our first O adventure. Very enjoyable but we didn't think the food deserves all the praise it gets, it's very good but certainly not 5 star. We had two situations in speciality restaurants where the service was very inattentive to stay the least and in the Grand Dining room where the server was surly. In complete contrast we had outstanding service all the rest of the time, there was something going on with the servers in those other three situations that all of us noticed. Our cabin steward was awesome and the bedding was the best of any ship we've ever been on. I think we've grown spoiled on river cruise ships in Europe.

Just need to drive down the average age of the pax..... and get that party started. :)

Wirchlich.. O ist nicht vie kind. Sie konnen spass haben um abendessen essen.

Spater...

Say what?

Just found this thread and love all that we are hearing about O.:)

34 cruises - 400 days on Princess and after the next 2 booked Princess cruises it is off to O and I doubt we'll ever return to Princess for all of the reasons stated.

Say what?

Really .. O is not like child. You can have fun eating dinner.

Cruise junky.. is this the translation? That's what I was questioning:)

Cruise junky.. is this the translation? That's what I was questioning:)

Yes, I think so ;)

For us if we are going on a family cruise, we will choose Princess (or more preferably Celebrity if they have a better itinerary) over Oceania every time. We were on a Australia/NZ family cruise on the Diamond Princess a few years ago and had a great time. There were so many things to do on sea days, to include game shows and lectures, and their evening shows were very enjoyable, of which they had two different ones we attended every night. But you also can't ignore the price. For the price of an Oceania veranda cabin you can get a club mini-suite on a Princess ship.

BUT, if we are just going by ourselves, we will choose Oceania over Princess every time. We just need to remember to bring 2-3 seasons on Star Trek to keep us entertained on sea days as O really doesn't offer that many things to do other than trivia and a lecture or two. But, that's OK. As long as they continue to have a Terrace Café on the back of their ships with a good variety of tasty dishes and desserts to choose from, we're happy! :p:p

So appreciate this thread. We do love Princess and have hit Elite. But due to itinerary, we are trying Cunard (Queen Victoria) next year and put a deposit in the new Virgin cruise for 2020 when they launch (Virgin Air has become our preferred airline). We also enjoyed the Yacht Club on MSC very much. I think Oceania might be next. Need to do a spreadsheet to compare perks and costs! Thanks, all, for your insightful comments.

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FYI - I don't know the actual percentage, but not every cabin on O has a butler. Without one, IMO, the cabin stewards are more or less like cabin stewards on most other cruise lines.

Butlers serve you in Penthouse suites and above. J