Adventure of the Seas compared to Princess ships

I’m thinking of trying out RCI Adventure of the Seas for a 6 day Caribbean Cruise. With family who are first time cruisers.

How does the RCI cruise experience compare to Princess?

We are looking to book either an Oceanview or Balcony for 3 single female adults. 2 twins, and sofa bed.

Questions:

Condition of ship and staterooms?

Variety in Buffet?

Variety in MDR?

Traditional or anytime dining experience?

Entertainment?

Dress Code (sorry to ask)?

Quality and value of RCI shore excursions?

Thanks for your opinions.

With regard to variety in the buffet, we were on Adventure for two weeks back in March and went to the buffet ffor most dinners. Each night was a different theme, such as British, Mexican, etc. Note that even when they had a theme, there were some non-theme selections, i.e., grilled pork chops, grilled chicken breasts, etc.

Comments below

Questions:

Condition of ship and staterooms?

Both will be good but cabins are larger on Royal. I don't think a standard balcony or ocean-view on Princess has a sofa. For three adults, Royal probably has better rooms.

 

Variety in Buffet?

Windjammer is good but too crowded for breakfast and lunch. Very nice at night though. We like Horizon Court on Princess much better because of the lesser crowds and the option for outdoor dining. Casual dining options are much better on Princess. Between their pizza, poolside grille and International Cafe, we don't often use the buffet for lunch.

 

Variety in MDR?

 

Both lines are pretty comparable, although I like the large open dining room on Royal better.

 

Traditional or anytime dining experience?

 

MTD on Royal is much better run than on Princess. Princess allows Traditional Diners to use Anytime Dining and Royal does not...helps eliminate wait times.

 

 

Entertainment?

Royal is much better and theater is larger and more comfortable.

 

Dress Code (sorry to ask)?

 

Suggested dress is probably similar. Royal cruisers tend to dress more casually than Princess cruisers.

 

Quality and value of RCI shore excursions?

No experience here...

Comments below

Thank you. Appreciate your input.

We will book RCI Adventure of the Seas for a 6 day Caribbean cruise. One Balcony room for the three adult female companions. And Balcony for the two of us.

King

With regard to variety in the buffet, we were on Adventure for two weeks back in March and went to the buffet ffor most dinners. Each night was a different theme, such as British, Mexican, etc. Note that even when they had a theme, there were some non-theme selections, i.e., grilled pork chops, grilled chicken breasts, etc.

Thank you!

We are going to give Adventure of the Seas for a short 6 day Caribbean cruise.

King

Adventure was the first ship we ever cruised on, so she has a special place for us, and we will be cruising on her again next January (for the fourth time). That class of ship is a good size--large enough to have some nice facilities, but not so large as to be overwhelming. So it will be good for your first-time cruisers.

Regarding shore excursions, I think Royal is about average when it comes to selecting tour operators. We've gone on several ship's tours and many that we have booked ourselves, and usually the ones we've booked are more reasonably priced and better. It depends on the port. We are more careful in certain ports where getting back to the ship with a private operator may be questionable, and for that reason we will book a tour through the ship. Sometimes Royal will not have availability for prebooking (online) or will cancel tours prior to the cruise. You should know that often you can book them on board if you go to the shore excursion desk on boarding day. They may have openings or additional offerings then.

Have sailed on princess multiple times and many RC ships, not the Adventure which I will be on in a few weeks. However, found princess slipping- not very clean- food blah, entertainment fair- Royal has excellent entertainment, and we prefer the dining options-including speciality restaurants. The cabins on Adventure have been refurbished, another plus . We will probably not sail on princess again and stick to Celebrity and Royal.

Enjoy your cruise.