RCCL vs Princess

We are planning a family cruise next summer on Freedom out of Port Canaveral.

Have previously only sailed on Ruby Princess ; how do they compare re such as dining venues & options, entertainment, kids activities, etc.

Also any comments on Port Canaveral hotels and transportation?

Thanks

I've never cruised Princess, but we have stayed at the Radisson in Port Canaveral, which is very nice, and have a free shuttle to the ship and back, We are staying there the 2nd time in Dec,2015.

Country Inn & Suites and Residence Inn are also mentioned often.

Hands down, Freedom of the Seas is a better ship and has a lot more variety of activities for the whole family. I love the Royal Promenade and also the Flow Rider.

On RCCL you can't go directly to your cabin when you board the ship like you can on Princess. You'll have to wait for the announcement that the cabins are ready.

Most things are similar to what you experienced on Princess.

LuLu

Qualifications first: Sailed a B2B Caribbean on the Ruby last year in March and we are Elite on Princess - most recently on the Royal Princess. Have been on Eight RCI ships this year, and we are at the Pinnacle Club level.

Ruby has better food and better (meaning faster) service in dining room. Their Trident Grill puts Royal Caribbean's Windjammer to shame if your after dogs, brats or cheese burgers.

The entertainment is better on the Ruby, almost continuous from noon till midnight, an beyond. There seems to be a guitar player, piano player or band playing somewhere on the ship at all times and more intimate venues for this entertainment. Much of Freedom's musical entertainment is in the promenade which is not conducive to just sitting, relaxing and listening. However, the promenade is a hub of activity, day and night. Princess, of course, as a lovely piazza but their promenade is particularly narrow and congested many times throughout the day. Theater entertainment go to Royal Caribbean when it comes to production shows and the headliner shows (comedians, jugglers, singers, magicians, etc are comparable.

With kids, of all ages, the Freedom offers ten fold more activities. From flow rider, ice skating, rock wall, adventure ocean, belly flop, volley ball games (sometimes with the officers/activities staff), small kids private pool and splash area and - well, I'm not a kid anymore so I'm sure I missed some other things.

Although Princess allows one to go directly to your cabin upon boarding on embarkation day, boarding is often delayed until after noon. RCI has early boarding, many times by 10:30 am, so you can get an early start to your cruising experience. Princess has a nice sit down lunch in the dining room on embarkation day, RCI does not.

Overall, we like both lines equally well, but they each have their own flavors. You and your family will thoroughly enjoy the Freedom. DW and I will be on her two more times later this year.

Princess has an older crowd. A little stuffy for me. Not quite as fun and didn't like their cabins. I like having the couch in Royal's cabins.

Beautiful ships though. Took a few Princess cruises but prefer Royal much more.

Kids will love the Freedom!

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Thanks, Tagsalong, and everyone for your reviews. Re dining, Princess has 3 dining rooms , one for fixed, one anytime dining and the third split between fixed & anytime. Is Freedom similar? Princess has two buffet areas which include self serve beverage stations for coffee, ice tea & water. How about Freedom?

Princess... much better food, more relaxed pace

Royal.... lots to do, great for families.

Both offer a quality product. all depends on what you are looking for.

I've been on both and will be again over the next several months.

Royals main dining room is huge - 3 levels. My time dining will be on deck 5 and traditional will be decks 3 and 4

Just had my 1st RCCL cruise. The buffet closed at 8:30pm. I walked around the lido deck one night around 9:00pm. Could not believe how quiet it was.

To be clear, we still had a great cruise this time. The first two days, we were disappointed with the food. But after that, I guess we passed the cruise culture shock. And the main dinning room good became better and better.

Qualifications first: Sailed a B2B Caribbean on the Ruby last year in March and we are Elite on Princess - most recently on the Royal Princess. Have been on Eight RCI ships this year, and we are at the Pinnacle Club level.

 

Ruby has better food and better (meaning faster) service in dining room. Their Trident Grill puts Royal Caribbean's Windjammer to shame if your after dogs, brats or cheese burgers.

 

The entertainment is better on the Ruby, almost continuous from noon till midnight, an beyond. There seems to be a guitar player, piano player or band playing somewhere on the ship at all times and more intimate venues for this entertainment. Much of Freedom's musical entertainment is in the promenade which is not conducive to just sitting, relaxing and listening. However, the promenade is a hub of activity, day and night. Princess, of course, as a lovely piazza but their promenade is particularly narrow and congested many times throughout the day. Theater entertainment go to Royal Caribbean when it comes to production shows and the headliner shows (comedians, jugglers, singers, magicians, etc are comparable.

 

With kids, of all ages, the Freedom offers ten fold more activities. From flow rider, ice skating, rock wall, adventure ocean, belly flop, volley ball games (sometimes with the officers/activities staff), small kids private pool and splash area and - well, I'm not a kid anymore so I'm sure I missed some other things.

 

Although Princess allows one to go directly to your cabin upon boarding on embarkation day, boarding is often delayed until after noon. RCI has early boarding, many times by 10:30 am, so you can get an early start to your cruising experience. Princess has a nice sit down lunch in the dining room on embarkation day, RCI does not.

 

Overall, we like both lines equally well, but they each have their own flavors. You and your family will thoroughly enjoy the Freedom. DW and I will be on her two more times later this year.

Very well written review, and quite concise. I'm also and Elite member with Princess, also Pinnacle Club member with RCCL, and our next cruise will be with Royal Caribbean for a B2B and then back to Princess for a week doing a Pacific Coastal, these coming up in the next couple of months.

One thing that I notice is that the hallways are much narrower on Princess, and the suites are not nearly as nice, or as large.;)

Rick

Very well written review, and quite concise. I'm also and Elite member with Princess, also Pinnacle Club member with RCCL, and our next cruise will be with Royal Caribbean for a B2B and then back to Princess for a week doing a Pacific Coastal, these coming up in the next couple of months.

 

One thing that I notice is that the hallways are much narrower on Princess, and the suites are not nearly as nice, or as large.;)

 

Rick

I also agree pretty much with the nice comparison by Tagsalongs. We did the Freedom in March (with extended family including two children) and are Elite on Princess. We all felt the dining room food was superior on Princess, and the International Cafe, burger grill and pizza on Princess win hands down, no comparison. The Freedom has nice pools (but with of course lots of chair hogs!.) the ice show is great, and the ship layout is very nice. It is a great choice for families. They also have connecting cabins which DD and family love, and which are hard to impossible to come by on most Princess ships.

See also comparing RC and Princess on this RCI board.