Princess vs Royal Caribbean - JMO

I intended to do a marvelous section by section comparison, but as I set out to write it, I kept finding myself finding similarities rather than differences.

All embarkation ports are pretty much the same. Some operate a little more efficiently than others, but infitesimally so. We had no problems in Red Hook, the new cruise terminal in Brooklyn that Princess and Cunard are using. We had to wait about half an hour before boarding, but we had found CC buddies, so we didn't really notice the passage of time.

Photographers were a SHADE less annoying on Princess. They had that damned Pirate with the Parrot, but instead of pestering you at your dining room table, he pestered you as you left the dining room. The good news: Nancy and I strangled the parrot, and made them take our picture like that. There was a Princess photographer IN Dunns River Falls when we got to the top!

Anytime dining - I tried it, I liked it, but I chalk that up to the company. I would have been perfectly happy in traditional dining. They were sticklers about checking to be sure that you weren't a traditional dining escapee eating in the anytime dining rooms. Since I was traveling without my kids (now 18 & 20), the time flexibility was nice, but my kids and I like to bond with our tablemates. Instead, I bonded with my CC group.

Pool games - not my cup of tea, but they exist on both lines, despite the claims by some Princess cheerleaders that Princess doesn't have such low class entertainment.

Daily activities - nod to Princess here. Maybe I just missed them all in the RC Cruise Compass, but there seemed to be WAY more of the trivia game, game show type stuff on Princess. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more. I did Passenger Feud, Jeopardy, Princess Price is Almost Right, two or three trivia contests a day, Spelling Bee@Sea. I met LOTS of nice people and had a blast doing them. Princess PopStar may be hokey, but it's FUN, and Nancy was fantastic!

Food quality - incredibly subjective. I'll break it down into two areas:

Buffet - RC, hands down. The Windjammer is just head and shoulders above Horizon Court for navigability. On the Crown Princess, it is broken up into about four totally separate areas, which were NOT serving the same food. It was very hard to walk around and see what was being served in an area, and people GLARED at you like you were trying to butt into line AND deprive them of required nourishment. The salad bar DID have quality and varied ingredients, but it was hard to locate WHICH of the areas had the "good" one, and the dressings were sub-standard.

Dining Rooms - edge to Princess. On RC, I rarely can't find something I like, but also rarely find myself in a quandary over which of several to select. On Princess, I often ordered THREE first courses because they all looked "that good", and I was only disappointed twice. (out of seven nights) A couple of times, I ordered "part" of a second main course, and both were incredibly delicious. On lobster night, I instinctively order two. <sigh> It turned out that an order WAS two, so I had FOUR lobster tails. They were SO much larger and better than any lobster tails I have had on RC. (not as good as fresh Maine lobster of course, but that's not what we're comparing) Then Simon brought more - they HAD to get rid of them. This was the cruise with the list, and they weren't going to have passengers for at least 4 days, and who knows when the next lobster night was going to be? I would say that two main courses out of a total of 9 were just ok. One was my own fault - Nik TOLD me not to get it, but I ignored him.

Service - with few exceptions, I have always encountered superlative service on a cruise. It's why I cruise. The crew of the Crown Princess was very good. I'd call this category a draw, with a slight edge to Royal Caribbean. Our own cabin steward was of the top rank, but I encountered a few rude bar servers and a couple of stick-up-the-butt CD staff members. I also encountered some indifferent pool attendants, who openly refused to do their job, and a grill guy who neglected to make my burger. Ok, I take it back. Royal Caribbean wins in the service category.

Cabin - point to Royal Caribbean. We were in a BB cabin, which in square footage is close to a Category E. The storage space and utilization of available space is so far superior on Royal Caribbean, it's a slam dunk. We visited in a mini-suite, and I feel that the JS on RC is superior to this layout also. (though I like the two flat-panel TVs in the Princess mini-suite)

Balcony - you have to choose your balcony very carefully on a Princess ship, because some of them are TOTALLY exposed to the decks above. It's much more of an issue of covered/non-covered. Point to Royal Caribbean.

Shops - just like the malls of 21st century America, close your eyes, and you wouldn't know which ship or cruiseline you were on.

Casino - at first, the Princess casino looked just as big, but it's not. There were very few (relatively speaking) quarter slots. It felt odd to have to battle for the few machines. It SEEMED smokier to me, also, than the casinos on Royal Caribbean. Perhaps RC has better venting systems? I don't know.

Bars - Princess bartenders pour very carefully, using measuring glasses. You give them a look and flash cash, you can get a double, but you'll be charged the price of a double. On Royal Caribbean, that little maneuver will almost always get you plenty of free liquor. Disappointing, and BIG edge to Royal Caribbean.

MUTS - you can keep it. I think it's bad enough that there ARE movies on a ship. Heck, if you can't find something BETTER to do on a ship than watch a movie........... At least RC keeps it hidden away in an interior space. Or your cabin.

Adult pool areas - point to Royal Caribbean. I just think that the Solarium area is far nicer than the Terrace Pool on the Crown Princess.

Lotus Spa Pool - RC has nothing like it - it has a swim-against-the-current feature - point to Princess.

Spa - see comment for "Shops" above.

Pizza - Royal Caribbean's pizza sucks. Princess' is edible. Point to Princess.

Loungers - A chair hog is a chair hog is a chair hog. I think that they may have been a little worse on Princess, but once you get past a certain point, I'm not sure that it matters. The lounge chairs themselves are a little nicer, but the Crown Princess is only a month old. They were WAY too close together, however. Literally right up against one another. You had to "mount" it in order to lie down.

Wine - Princess' policy is much more civilized - they let you bring on wine at your pleasure. But their corkage fee is FIFTEEN DOLLARS. (half a point to Royal Caribbean) Their wine list, however, is a better list at a lower markup than RC. Point to Princess.

Beds - brand new, but not "special" on Princess. I hate the narrower-than-a-twin bed. I usually have it made up as a queen and share with my daughter, but Nancy and I decided to keep the beds apart. NOT COMFORTABLE AT ALL. Ok, the comforter is soft, but doesn't stay on the little bitty bed, and it was sometimes too warm to have it on anyway.

Bathroom - except for storage, almost a draw. I'll give the edge to Royal Caribbean, though, for having detachable shower heads for spraying body parts more easily. Princess had fixed shower heads - and shower curtains, though curved outwards for less stick'um. Oh, Princess had little paper/cardboard shampoo, conditioner and lotion - beats the icky dispensers on RC, but I always take my own anyway.

Over the door hanging shoebag - edge to RC - we had to fiddle with it to get the bathroom door to close - no such problem on Royal Caribbean.

Safe - we didn't speak to anyone who DIDN'T have trouble with their safe, including us. Never had a problem with a Royal Caribbean safe. Point to RC.

Entertainment - each night's entertainment was different, some performances were better than others, so that a ranking of specific acts would be an intermingling of the cruiselines. I will say that Princess repeats the production shows, but that may be a factor of the nine-night cruise, as opposed to the week-long cruise. I will give Princess the edge with its own dancers, but edge to RC's singers. There is nothing like the International Crew Show on RC, and I loved this on Princess. On any given night, there were more "performance" options on Princess than on RC. I liked that. Edge to Princess.

Late Night - I found far more Night Owls, like myself, on RC than on Princess. It "closed down" much earlier. Point to Royal Caribbean.

Ship's Excursions - We did two through Princess, and both were good. The ones that I have taken through RC were good, too. The ones that we schedule on our own are always better. We only use ship's excursions when there are no viable private options.

Cash - HUGE edge to Royal Caribbean. You can walk into the Casino and get cash any time that you want it at no charge. It just goes on your SeaPass as an "entertainment" charge, and you even get points on your credit card, if that's what you are using to cover your onboard account! If you want to do that on Princess, there's a 3% fee. Yuck. I had to bring quantities of cash on board with me.

Gratuities - Princess automatically charges your account $10 each day. I think that this is fair, and eliminates the deadbeats. You are always free to give some cash to people who deserve it. I was apprehensive about the level of service since they know that they'll get their gratuities no matter what, but my fears turned out to be groundless. I hate to see the staff get stiffed, so I wouldn't mind RC adopting this model.

Purser's Desk - I know that various people have reported conflicts or dissatisfaction on RC, but my contacts have always been pleasant, and I have often struck up friendships with these people. Princess people were more business-like and not "warm". Not a complaint - an observation. I felt like I did get a few 'eye-rolls' when it took a few trips to get something resolved. (the ship's computer filters were blocking my posts to Cruise Critic!!!!!) Point to Royal Caribbean.

Venues - it FELT like there were more "places" - lounges, bars, hangouts - on the Crown Princess, even than on a Voyager class ship. Edge to Princess.

Main Theatre - not nearly large enough on Princess. There were OFTEN people standing in the aisles, and even then, people were turned away. BIG point to Royal Caribbean.

Smoking - I have almost never encountered a person smoking on a Royal Caribbean ship where s/he was not supposed to smoke. I know, I know - YOU have. But I haven't. I saw someone almost every day on the Crown Princess. (no, NOT the same person each time - it just happened about once a day!)

Tenders - Crown Princess uses its own lifeboats in Grand Cayman. That was ok, except that ours lost its engines. We almost didn't make it back to the ship. Took about 40 minutes, instead of about ten minutes. Bad omen. Brand new ship. Point to Royal Caribbean, for never putting us through that.

Elevators - most of the time, they came MUCH faster on Princess. Point to Princess. We usually walked, unless going MANY floors or wearing HEELS.

Fellow Passengers - pretty equivalent, type-wise. Fewer young people, PARTICULARLY *really* little ones, on Princess.

Specialty restaurants - we never got to Sabatini's - had reservations for final night - but everyone we knew who went to the Crown Grill RAVED about it. I think that CG is $25 and has some items that have an upcharge from THAT, and Sabatini's is $20. I'm sure that this would have been a draw.

All in all, I have to join the general chorus that says that Princess and Royal Caribbean are far more alike than they are different. I would happily cruise either again. I also know that my kids would have been somewhat less pleased. The age for beer and wine on RC is 18, and my daughter has been accustomed to that freedom. My son is looking forward to it. (I know that RC is in the process of altering this) On Princess, they strictly enforce 21 for any alcohol AND for the casino. For now, I am very happy with my perks on RC for being Diamond.

I am sure that I left out something hugely important, so ask away.

WOW - very thorough! Thank you for your comparisons!

Thanks for what seemed to be a very fair and thorough review. I enjoyed reading it!

Blanaced, fair and DEAD on. I have nothing to add here Carol. You are, imo, correct.

Thank you. I love Royal and I'm taking my first Princess cruise on the Grand in November. This is a good point of reference for me. I always thought that they were probably more similar than different.

Thanks, Carol! As a new cruiser, these comparisons are very helpful. After the Crown, I have 2 RCI cruises booked. Looking forward to trying them all. ;)

Karen

Baltimore

Hi Carol, I sailed RCI'S VOS last year (9nights) & Crown end of June, while I agree with mostly everything you say I just wanted to add my comments on a few...while the service was very good on Crown, RCI was amazing, I just liked the extra singing crew members that mady you smile, no matter where I would be walking I found if you weren't smiling (which is odd) any givin crew had something up their sleeve to humor you.

The thing that bothered me about the entertainment (on Crown) is there were repeats, the night they repeated Motor City there wasn't any other show, although I loved it, been there done that! We had to stand for the Crew show(wearing high heals it isn't fun) I always came right before a show on RCI (never a problem) I also thought things like the newlywed game (our new friends were picked), The questions just weren't funny, they answered them & that was it... the crew didn't edge on the contestant's, I remember being on the floor with RCI, they just knew what to say for the xtra spark.

The Piazza entertainment was amazing, but each entertainer only did 1 act, every act was a repeat, I saw the same show it like 4 times!!!! I felt they didn't spread there shows on different nights, 1 night there were 3 shows (1 time only) 7:30,8:30 & 9:30, trying to figure out a time to eat was tough cause we wanted to see all 3, so we went to anytime dinner & they were upset with us because we were Traditional (but that would have meant missing a show)...specialty dinners,wish we could have tried them but couldn't get a resv...& always saw empty tables???

The only late night owls up with me were the older teens, I think everyone went to bed early on our sailing too:( Casino, I liked it but wished there were more enjoying it as well, no yelling of winners or any of that kind of excitement...I do like an upbeat casino, on the VOS it was a show in itself:)

I did like Princess, I can't imagine EVER not having fun on a cruise, but now comparing it to RCI, I think my next 1 will be the Explorer (since we don't fly that's the best choice for next spring)

Susan

Susan: We have sailed on the Explorer twice and have three more booked on her! ;)

(first two we had to fly to Miami; next three: Bayonne, baybeeeeeeeeee!)

quick question Carol...I heard the VOS & EOS are similar...curious what your views are! Thanks!!!

Carol, as of July 24th, drinking age on RCI (no more parental waivers) is 21.

New Princess wine policy puts them on par with RCI for that and is disappointing but not surprising (one bottle per person to be allowed on at embarkation).

Also, FYI, RCI is getting ready to implement youth security throughout the fleet. Were there issues on Crown with teens/kids in adult areas?

thanks

CG

Carol, as of July 24th, drinking age on RCI (no more parental waivers) is 21.

Wow really? I hadn't heard that. Good to know. I know someone who will be very disappointed. Thanks CG.

I've only cruised twice before, once on the Caribbean Princess and the other with Voyager of the Sea. And I also feel that both are quite similar, however, I am more of a fan of Princess for some reasons.

First, I like that Princess uses fresh water in the pools. On VOS, the salt water in the pools really bothered my eyes and made it difficult for me to enjoy just lounging in the pools. Especially since I'm a contact lens wearer.

I also liked Princess because of the amount of movies they offer. So if you like that sort of thing, its a bonus.

I think there was more closet space on Princess than RCI, but less stateroom floor space. Bathrooms to me about the same.

I thought the food was about the same. And service too, albeit, I do think the service was 'warmer' on RCI. I do wish Princess made the towel animals though. I always look forward to that on RCI.

Quick question, don't remember what the avg drink costs were on RCI but I remember princess being around $5-6 or so per drink. Being from NY, I'm used to $10-15 per drink and was surprised to see how cheap they were on the ship. Is this the normal price range on cruise ships for drinks, or am I completely jaded since I'm in NY? Just curious....

Wow really? I hadn't heard that. Good to know. I know someone who will be very disappointed. Thanks CG.

My RCI DSM told me this last week on a con call when I was reviewing my group next month on SOS. I had to break the news to some passengers who will not make the cut.

Not sure how I feel about the drinking age (where there's a will, there's a way :)) but I think the new security is a good idea.

Merion thanks for your opinion. I agree with you 100%.

Caviargirl where did you hear the age is being changed? Last I heard it was a rumor and nothing was in writing. My DD will be disappointed.

Merion thanks for your opinion. I agree with you 100%.

 

Caviargirl where did you hear the age is being changed? Last I heard it was a rumor and nothing was in writing. My DD will be disappointed.

I am a TA and my RCI rep made me aware of this last week as it affects a group I have on board.

You all just reminded me about the one thing that bothered me a bit. The little kids didn't bother me that much, heck some of them are even really cute. It was more the teenagers. Now, being in my late 20's, I think I've seen a lot at various clubs/bars in NY. However, and I don't know if this is due to the alcohol or not, I was quite disturbed to see 15 yrs old hooking up in the various bars and common areas. Especially in the stairwells. I don't know, maybe the times have changed since I was a teen, but it was only 10 or so yrs ago. Just my opinion of course.

Thanks for the great review. I have thus far only cruised on Princess. My wife has been on Disney and Holland, too. Both of us want to do a RC cruise, mainly be of Freedom of the Seas. (I am simply like a little boy and greatly impressed with big ships.) So your comparison with Princess is helpful. Friends of our have basically come to the same conclusion as you that the two lines are more similiar, with a slight nod toward RC.

Your thorough, insightful review was helpful.

Thanks!

Rich a.k.a.

Merion do you drink coffee?????? Who's is worse?

quick question Carol...I heard the VOS & EOS are similar...curious what your views are! Thanks!!!

Better vibe (totally subjective, I know)

The one "bad" steward we had was on the Voyager.

Promenade (this one is REALLY stupid) - at the Cafe Promenade on VOS, there's this counter thingie that sticks out and obstructs the front of the Cafe and to a lesser extent, traffic on the Promenade. EOS has open space, with tables and chairs that they put out and can move around. It just REALLY improves the flow and the feel and the use of the area.

Yes, the drinking age thing on RCI is changed according to a rep I just spoke to. Heard the rumors and wanted to verify.

There is a lot of similarities between the large ships on RCI.

Merion do you drink coffee?????? Who's is worse?

I'm not a "real" coffee drinker, so I don't have a firm grip on what "good" and "bad" coffee taste like. I had no problem on either, and I add CREAM, so it all tastes good to me.

You all just reminded me about the one thing that bothered me a bit. The little kids didn't bother me that much, heck some of them are even really cute. It was more the teenagers. Now, being in my late 20's, I think I've seen a lot at various clubs/bars in NY. However, and I don't know if this is due to the alcohol or not, I was quite disturbed to see 15 yrs old hooking up in the various bars and common areas. Especially in the stairwells. I don't know, maybe the times have changed since I was a teen, but it was only 10 or so yrs ago. Just my opinion of course.

angelina, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, BUT.............

I am the mother of a (current) 18 year old son and 20 year old daughter. I have taught High School all of my professional life.

Yes, things have changed that much in ten years. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, it is APPALLING.

I grew up in the 70's, so I know what it means to push the limits and shock our parents, but THIS behavior and mode of dress..........:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

One thing that I didn't really mention before, but someone else brought it up.

Yes, far more similar than different.

But Royal Caribbean STILL feels "like home" to me. It's warmer, more genuine.........probably the wrong word for what I mean, but it feels more ME, at least when I'm with my kids.

Thanks Merion Mom...I really came across this behavior more on my last cruise which I guess that teaches me a lesson to cruise during school year spring breaks. I thinks that's partially a reason why I chose to go during late Oct to cruise again, even with the chances of hurricanes. Hoping to minimize it this time around. It did make me wonder if I was just getting prudish at my age, again, I'm only 30 for goodness sakes. Jeez, time sure flies. It also seemed to me that these kids, and they certaintly were NOT 18, how they were getting alcohol. I saw numerous young kids drinking beer again in the common areas like stairwells. I guess if there's a will there's a way.

Hey just noticed you're from Merion, PA. Grew up not to far from you in Montgomery County. And yes, when I go home to visit my folks, I see these same kind of kids roaming the malls, ahhh, i guess times have changed...my mother must be right, I am getting old. ugh....

Good to hear, Carol. We're booked on the 12-day Southern on EOS. ;)

First two cruises: EOS. Third cruise: VOS. It's insane - the ships are SO similar - but I like the Explorer WWWAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY more.