Two Princess Platinums Try RCI for the First Time Aboard the Mariner

Background

We are in our mid-fifties. This was our tenth cruise: 1 HAL, 3 Celebrity, and 5 Princess. The last three Princess cruises have been within the last 2 years: South Pacific on the Tahitian Princess in May, 2006, eastern Caribbean on the Caribbean Princess in December, 2006, and Caribbean/Bermuda on the Crown Princess in May, 2007.

Our cruise on the Crown in May qualified us for Platinum status. Our Platinum membership cards were delivered to our cabin on the last night of the cruise. The following morning we headed to the special lounge set aside for the exclusive use of Platinum members who are awaiting debarkation. The Princess staff member at the door refused us entry claiming that we were not entitled to this perk until our next cruise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing since I could see that the room was virtually empty and there I was holding the membership cards in my hand. She steadfastly refused to let us in and I decided on the spot that we would try something different for our next cruise.

Having never sailed RCI, and in search of something new, we cruised the western Caribbean on the Mariner of the Seas on December 2.

For those interested, I thought I'd share our thoughts on the differences that we perceived between this cruise and our past experiences on Princess. Most of the comparisons will be against our most recent Princess sailing, on the Crown. Keep in mind that these are only our own terribly subjective, personal impressions. I’m sure our opinions will be 180 degrees different than other folks. Your mileage may vary, but here is a hodgepodge list of various aspects of our cruise:

For the following list, a “+” means that we thought that that particular cruise line was distinctly better. A “++” means we thought that that cruise line was significantly superior.

Getting Around the Ship: Mariner+

On Princess ships, it seems that I can still get lost on the last night of the cruise. The Mariner, with its centrally located, all-in-one-place Promenade is a snap to navigate. For instance, on the Crown, the Internet room is in an obscure alcove kind of room that I always had trouble finding; on the Mariner it’s an open area right off the elevators. Once I visited it the first time it was easy to find it the next time around.

Cabin/Cabin Layout: Mariner

We have had both inside and balcony cabins on Princess (never an outside). We had an inside on the Mariner. I found the Mariner cabin, with its sofa and crafty use of storage space (wire shelves in the closet, hooks on the wall, abundant cabinets), preferable to anything we have experienced on Princess.

The bed and bedding were heavenly.

Entertainment: Mariner++

The Ice Show was spectacular. The Platters were good. Bobby Arvon was really good. The production show (Front Row) with the Mariner singers and dancers was very good. The 70’s dance party on the Promenade was a hoot. Quest was a blast to watch. The Mariner orchestra was superb. For us, no Princess cruise offered as consistently satisfying a lineup.

Theatre: Mariner++

The Princess Theatre on the Crown was far too small for the number of passengers who wanted to attend a show. To assure ourselves a seat we had to be there well before the show started. With fixed seating dinner, sometimes this was impossible. On the Mariner, the Savoy Theatre is incredibly spacious and finding a seat, even right before the show, was never once a problem. In addition, the Savoy itself, with its clever and engaging art deco motif is, architecturally speaking, really impressive.

Ballroom Dancing: Princess+

We are avid ballroom dancers. We like to foxtrot, cha-cha, waltz, rumba, east and west coast swing, hustle, tango. You name it and we’ll dance it. This was our biggest letdown on the Mariner. The dance floors (Ellington’s, Bolero’s) are laughably tiny. Ellington’s is a half-moon shaped sliver completely unsuitable for anything but some swaying in place. It’s not wood and it’s hard to turn on. The Bolero’s floor is maxed out if more than four couples are dancing.

The band in Bolero’s, Latin Rumba, was quite enjoyable. The band in Ellington’s, The Mariner Quartet, was not.

On Princess, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Explorers Lounge, and Club Fusion can accommodate more dancers and are much more fun. The Jackie Harrison Trio and the Music Box Duo on the Crown were talented combos that played great ballroom dance numbers specifically for ballroom dancers. By contrast, The Mariner Quartet merely played songs. Period.

Almost every night on Princess there was themed dance music: 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, disco, etc., either in the Explorers Lounge, Club Fusion, Skywalkers disco or all three. Absolutely nothing of the sort took place on the Mariner during the entire week. I couldn’t believe that we could go a whole week on a cruise without ever once rocking to some 50’s or 60’s music. But no band on the Mariner, nor the DJ in the disco, ever played any of that kind of music. Nor did we ever do a single waltz or a foxtrot on the Mariner, whereas we danced those dances to our hearts’ content on Princess.

I chatted with the Mariner’s cruise director, Drew. He said RCI cut the show band from all ships. The Lotus Lounge on the Mariner, which has the best dance floor on the ship, never had a scheduled dance event all week long. That’s where the show band used to play. But the Lotus Lounge has been given over entirely to karaoke. It is the only venue on the ship where karaoke can be held and, per Drew, the passengers will not tolerate missing a night of karaoke.

Princess had dance contests (Ballroom Blitz). And dance lessons almost everyday.

The Mariner disco featured contemporary and hip-hop selections and the Gen X’ers were out there in force groin-grinding the night away, but music-wise and dance-wise, the boomers were totally blown off.

Much to our chagrin, dancing seemed like an afterthought on the Mariner.What are they thinking?

Gyms/Fitness: Even

Both Princess and the Mariner had top-notch facilities. The Crown did have individual TV’s on the treadmills, whereas the Mariner had shared community sets. But the water fountain in the Crown dispensed foul-tasting, warm water, perhaps to encourage you to buy the bottled water. On the Mariner, plenty of cold water came out of the fountain; it certainly seemed better tasting then the water from the sink in our cabin.

Cabin Service: Even

We have always had fine cabin service on Princess. It was equally good on the Mariner. But, on the other hand, we’ve never had towel animals on any Princess cruise.

Dining Service: Even

The waitstaff has been top-notch on every Princess cruise. Ditto for Mariner. We did have a dedicated cocktail waitress on the Mariner. This resulted in more timely service than on Princess where the assistant waiter fetches drink orders in addition to his/her other duties.

We tried Anytime Dining on the first night on the Crown. We didn’t like the (15 minute) wait for a table and found the service to be haphazard and rushed. We switched back to traditional fixed dining the following evening and we’re happy we did. So lack of freestyle dining on the Mariner was a not an issue for us.

Dinner: Mariner

We find the quality of the dinners on Princess to range from good to excellent. Way back when, our first Princess cruises featured sorbet and pasta samplers between courses. Those niceties, of course, are long gone. But the trend on Princess seems to be a constant reduction of portion sizes. Quite a few times when the main course was served on our last few Princess cruises I’d be thinking, “Is that all I get?”

We thought that on the Mariner both the quality and the quantity of the dinner food surpassed Princess.

Buffet Setup: Princess

I know that people complain about the layout of the buffet on Princess, but we found the setup of the Windjammer on the Mariner to be worse. People jostle, jockey, and move helter-skelter among the stations. And there seems to be no coherence to where items on the Mariner are placed: the cream cheese is nowhere near the bagels, there is no butter near the toast, the milk is not next to the cold cereal, etc. This leads to a lot of unnecessary traffic all over the place.

Also, there were several times on the Mariner where we had to hunt and hunt for a seat. This had never happened to us on any Princess cruise.

Buffet Food: Princess

We found the food selection or the food quality in the Windjammer on the Mariner to be satisfactory, but nothing more. There were no instant favorites that we looked forward to having everyday.

Barely warm hamburger patties in a tray on a steam table is pretty lame. And adding a slice of cold cheddar on top does not make it a cheeseburger. Contrast this to hot made-to-order burgers, hot dogs, and brats straight from the poolside grill on Princess.

On the first day of the cruise I saw one of the servers refilling the cookie tray at the dessert station. Aha, I thought, oatmeal raisin cookies fresh from the oven. Instead, the cookies were the flavorless, hard, crunchy variety...think mass produced cookies you might find in a vending machine at a highway rest stop.

We liked the breads, rolls, and baked goods on Princess much better. I never saw a croissant (a Princess favorite of mine) on the Mariner.

There is no toaster in the Windjammer on the Mariner. The staff makes the toast and English muffins and bagels and puts them in trays where they quickly cool to room temperature. On Princess, the toaster is tortoise slow, but at least the bread can be done to your darkness/lightness preference.

The pizza on the Mariner is atrocious. It resembles what you’d get if you bought the cheapest Acme brand frozen pizza at your local supermarket and heated it in a microwave.

Food Availability: Princess+

On Princess we’d often head up to the buffet late at night after working up an appetite in the casino or the disco. While the offerings were not extensive, they were at least varied: cold cuts, sandwiches, french fries, rolls, fruits, salads, etc.

On the Mariner we found the Café Promenade to be very disappointing. The limited menu never changes. The lousy pizza and lousy cookies are offered here as well, along with an assortment of canapés, finger sandwiches, and a small number of dessert items. Very meager late-night noshing on the Mariner.

Deck Party: Princess

On Princess the Cruise Director hosts the party. And there is more of an effort to involve all the attendees with fun games and dancing. On the Mariner the deck party consists of some of the cruise staff (the CD is conspicuously absent) encouraging people to dance and leading some line dances.

Both have a nice food spread at the party.

Shops on Board: Princess

We found the variety and quality of the merchandise (jewelry, apparel) to be better on Princess. On Princess, when my DW says, “I think I’ll browse the shops”, it's my signal to commence a satisfying afternoon siesta. On the Mariner, she was done in minutes.

Casino: Princess

We enjoy playing Blackjack and we visit the casino nightly when we cruise. While the Mariner casino has plenty of elbow room in the slot machine area, the table games area is jammed with too many people and too many tables in too small of a space. Getting side-by-side seats at a blackjack table usually involved lengthy waits.

On the Mariner, the non-smoking tables (which are the last to open and first to close) were at the far end of the casino where it was freezing cold all week. Even the dealers complained.

In contrast, the Crown Princess entire casino is open and airy and wonderfully designed.

On Princess, if the pit bosses saw people milling around trying to get a seat at a table, they would open a new table. On the Mariner they seemed content to let passengers just stand around rather than call any dealers off of their breaks.

One plus for the Mariner: we made a respectable chunk of change. I figure it's gotta be the ship.

Poker: Even

The Mariner had live dealers for no-limit Texas Hold ‘em ($2-$5 blinds). I never saw a limit game being held. There was always action at the poker tables from the start of the cruise to the end.

The Crown had a dealer-less electronic video version of poker (Texas Hold ‘em) where players played against one another while seated around a table (with a large screen as the table top). There were only limit games ($2-$4, I if remember). Interest was strong at the beginning of the cruise, but petered out at the end.

Bingo: Princess+

Mariner at $35 for five games is much more expensive. Princess was $20. On Princess every bingo featured five separate games. On Mariner, about half the time there was but a single game for $20. Prizes are equally chintzy on both.

By the way, on the Mariner they still use cards with punch out numbers. On Princess, some bean counter must have figured out that they could make extra money selling bingo markers if they switched to the markable cards as that’s what they did.

Miscellaneous Better on Princess:

1. Pizza! As the grandson of Italian immigrants and as a former resident of the New Yawk metropolitan area, I have high standards for pizza. And Princess exceeds them. They make a truly exceptional pie with hand-tossed dough, great sauce, and nice cheese in real pizza ovens. Mouth-watering good. We always make a point of tipping the Princess pizza dudes at the end of the cruise.

2. Better quality chocolate on your pillow at night.

3. Better (and more) toiletry items in the bathroom. On the Mariner you get shampoo in a dispenser in the shower and that’s it. No conditioner, no hand/body lotion.

4. Movies. Better, more well-known, movies and, of course, Princess’ Movies Under the Stars. On the Mariner, I was surprised to find so many movies I had never heard of being shown.

5. The format/layout of the Patter vs. the Compass.

Miscellaneous Better on Mariner:

1. The Photo Gallery on Mariner is organized by cabin number. What a great idea! No more wearisome perusing of hundreds of pictures to find your own.

2. Only the Compass seems to show up in the mailbox thing outside your cabin. On Princess there is a nonstop paper stream, more often then not spa promotions and jewelry sales, that goes straight into the wastepaper basket.

3. Elevator service.

4. Coffee.

5. Johnny Rockets! Tremendous.

Conclusion

Is it really possible to have a bad time on a cruise? Not for us. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. The lack of adequate dancing facilities geared to our likes gives us pause, but, all in all, a great cruise that's makes us want to sail on RCI again.

thanks for the review!:)

What an excellent well thought out review. As a newbie cruiser (Jan 09) it was very interesting to read what is the norm on two different cruise lines.

Thanks

That was the best review I have ever read. Thanks for the honesty.

Thank you for taking the time to post such a detailed review. My DH and I are heading to our first RCI cruise in 3 weeks -- we've only sailed Princess before. I enjoyed reading your comparisons on the two lines. It seems the same things come up again and again on these boards when it comes to positives and negatives -- at least now I feel I know what to expect.

Thanks again!

We too are fans (newbies) of ballroom and were a little disappointed on our Navigator cruise last January because of the lack of good dance areas or music. Thanks for the heads-up about Princess. We might try them next time just for that reason. Good review.

Background

We are in our mid-fifties. This was our tenth cruise: 1 HAL, 3 Celebrity, and 5 Princess. The last three Princess cruises have been within the last 2 years: South Pacific on the Tahitian Princess in May, 2006, eastern Caribbean on the Caribbean Princess in December, 2006, and Caribbean/Bermuda on the Crown Princess in May, 2007.

 

Our cruise on the Crown in May qualified us for Platinum status. Our Platinum membership cards were delivered to our cabin on the last night of the cruise. The following morning we headed to the special lounge set aside for the exclusive use of Platinum members who are awaiting debarkation. The Princess staff member at the door refused us entry claiming that we were not entitled to this perk until our next cruise. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing since I could see that the room was virtually empty and there I was holding the membership cards in my hand. She steadfastly refused to let us in and I decided on the spot that we would try something different for our next cruise.

 

Having never sailed RCI, and in search of something new, we cruised the western Caribbean on the Mariner of the Seas on December 2.

 

For those interested, I thought I'd share our thoughts on the differences that we perceived between this cruise and our past experiences on Princess. Most of the comparisons will be against our most recent Princess sailing, on the Crown. Keep in mind that these are only our own terribly subjective, personal impressions. I’m sure our opinions will be 180 degrees different than other folks. Your mileage may vary, but here is a hodgepodge list of various aspects of our cruise:

 

For the following list, a “+” means that we thought that that particular cruise line was distinctly better. A “++” means we thought that that cruise line was significantly superior.

 

Getting Around the Ship: Mariner+

On Princess ships, it seems that I can still get lost on the last night of the cruise. The Mariner, with its centrally located, all-in-one-place Promenade is a snap to navigate. For instance, on the Crown, the Internet room is in an obscure alcove kind of room that I always had trouble finding; on the Mariner it’s an open area right off the elevators. Once I visited it the first time it was easy to find it the next time around.

 

Cabin/Cabin Layout: Mariner

We have had both inside and balcony cabins on Princess (never an outside). We had an inside on the Mariner. I found the Mariner cabin, with its sofa and crafty use of storage space (wire shelves in the closet, hooks on the wall, abundant cabinets), preferable to anything we have experienced on Princess.

 

The bed and bedding were heavenly.

 

Entertainment: Mariner++

The Ice Show was spectacular. The Platters were good. Bobby Arvon was really good. The production show (Front Row) with the Mariner singers and dancers was very good. The 70’s dance party on the Promenade was a hoot. Quest was a blast to watch. The Mariner orchestra was superb. For us, no Princess cruise offered as consistently satisfying a lineup.

 

Theatre: Mariner++

The Princess Theatre on the Crown was far too small for the number of passengers who wanted to attend a show. To assure ourselves a seat we had to be there well before the show started. With fixed seating dinner, sometimes this was impossible. On the Mariner, the Savoy Theatre is incredibly spacious and finding a seat, even right before the show, was never once a problem. In addition, the Savoy itself, with its clever and engaging art deco motif is, architecturally speaking, really impressive.

 

Ballroom Dancing: Princess+

We are avid ballroom dancers. We like to foxtrot, cha-cha, waltz, rumba, east and west coast swing, hustle, tango. You name it and we’ll dance it. This was our biggest letdown on the Mariner. The dance floors (Ellington’s, Bolero’s) are laughably tiny. Ellington’s is a half-moon shaped sliver completely unsuitable for anything but some swaying in place. It’s not wood and it’s hard to turn on. The Bolero’s floor is maxed out if more than four couples are dancing.

 

The band in Bolero’s, Latin Rumba, was quite enjoyable. The band in Ellington’s, The Mariner Quartet, was not.

 

On Princess, the Wheelhouse Bar, the Explorers Lounge, and Club Fusion can accommodate more dancers and are much more fun. The Jackie Harrison Trio and the Music Box Duo on the Crown were talented combos that played great ballroom dance numbers specifically for ballroom dancers. By contrast, The Mariner Quartet merely played songs. Period.

 

Almost every night on Princess there was themed dance music: 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, disco, etc., either in the Explorers Lounge, Club Fusion, Skywalkers disco or all three. Absolutely nothing of the sort took place on the Mariner during the entire week. I couldn’t believe that we could go a whole week on a cruise without ever once rocking to some 50’s or 60’s music. But no band on the Mariner, nor the DJ in the disco, ever played any of that kind of music. Nor did we ever do a single waltz or a foxtrot on the Mariner, whereas we danced those dances to our hearts’ content on Princess.

 

I chatted with the Mariner’s cruise director, Drew. He said RCI cut the show band from all ships. The Lotus Lounge on the Mariner, which has the best dance floor on the ship, never had a scheduled dance event all week long. That’s where the show band used to play. But the Lotus Lounge has been given over entirely to karaoke. It is the only venue on the ship where karaoke can be held and, per Drew, the passengers will not tolerate missing a night of karaoke.

 

Princess had dance contests (Ballroom Blitz). And dance lessons almost everyday.

 

The Mariner disco featured contemporary and hip-hop selections and the Gen X’ers were out there in force groin-grinding the night away, but music-wise and dance-wise, the boomers were totally blown off.

 

Much to our chagrin, dancing seemed like an afterthought on the Mariner.What are they thinking?

 

Gyms/Fitness: Even

Both Princess and the Mariner had top-notch facilities. The Crown did have individual TV’s on the treadmills, whereas the Mariner had shared community sets. But the water fountain in the Crown dispensed foul-tasting, warm water, perhaps to encourage you to buy the bottled water. On the Mariner, plenty of cold water came out of the fountain; it certainly seemed better tasting then the water from the sink in our cabin.

 

Cabin Service: Even

We have always had fine cabin service on Princess. It was equally good on the Mariner. But, on the other hand, we’ve never had towel animals on any Princess cruise.

 

Dining Service: Even

The waitstaff has been top-notch on every Princess cruise. Ditto for Mariner. We did have a dedicated cocktail waitress on the Mariner. This resulted in more timely service than on Princess where the assistant waiter fetches drink orders in addition to his/her other duties.

 

We tried Anytime Dining on the first night on the Crown. We didn’t like the (15 minute) wait for a table and found the service to be haphazard and rushed. We switched back to traditional fixed dining the following evening and we’re happy we did. So lack of freestyle dining on the Mariner was a not an issue for us.

 

Dinner: Mariner

We find the quality of the dinners on Princess to range from good to excellent. Way back when, our first Princess cruises featured sorbet and pasta samplers between courses. Those niceties, of course, are long gone. But the trend on Princess seems to be a constant reduction of portion sizes. Quite a few times when the main course was served on our last few Princess cruises I’d be thinking, “Is that all I get?”

 

We thought that on the Mariner both the quality and the quantity of the dinner food surpassed Princess.

 

Buffet Setup: Princess

I know that people complain about the layout of the buffet on Princess, but we found the setup of the Windjammer on the Mariner to be worse. People jostle, jockey, and move helter-skelter among the stations. And there seems to be no coherence to where items on the Mariner are placed: the cream cheese is nowhere near the bagels, there is no butter near the toast, the milk is not next to the cold cereal, etc. This leads to a lot of unnecessary traffic all over the place.

 

Also, there were several times on the Mariner where we had to hunt and hunt for a seat. This had never happened to us on any Princess cruise.

 

Buffet Food: Princess

We found the food selection or the food quality in the Windjammer on the Mariner to be satisfactory, but nothing more. There were no instant favorites that we looked forward to having everyday.

 

Barely warm hamburger patties in a tray on a steam table is pretty lame. And adding a slice of cold cheddar on top does not make it a cheeseburger. Contrast this to hot made-to-order burgers, hot dogs, and brats straight from the poolside grill on Princess.

 

On the first day of the cruise I saw one of the servers refilling the cookie tray at the dessert station. Aha, I thought, oatmeal raisin cookies fresh from the oven. Instead, the cookies were the flavorless, hard, crunchy variety...think mass produced cookies you might find in a vending machine at a highway rest stop.

 

We liked the breads, rolls, and baked goods on Princess much better. I never saw a croissant (a Princess favorite of mine) on the Mariner.

 

There is no toaster in the Windjammer on the Mariner. The staff makes the toast and English muffins and bagels and puts them in trays where they quickly cool to room temperature. On Princess, the toaster is tortoise slow, but at least the bread can be done to your darkness/lightness preference.

 

The pizza on the Mariner is atrocious. It resembles what you’d get if you bought the cheapest Acme brand frozen pizza at your local supermarket and heated it in a microwave.

 

Food Availability: Princess+

On Princess we’d often head up to the buffet late at night after working up an appetite in the casino or the disco. While the offerings were not extensive, they were at least varied: cold cuts, sandwiches, french fries, rolls, fruits, salads, etc.

 

On the Mariner we found the Café Promenade to be very disappointing. The limited menu never changes. The lousy pizza and lousy cookies are offered here as well, along with an assortment of canapés, finger sandwiches, and a small number of dessert items. Very meager late-night noshing on the Mariner.

 

Deck Party: Princess

On Princess the Cruise Director hosts the party. And there is more of an effort to involve all the attendees with fun games and dancing. On the Mariner the deck party consists of some of the cruise staff (the CD is conspicuously absent) encouraging people to dance and leading some line dances.

 

Both have a nice food spread at the party.

 

Shops on Board: Princess

We found the variety and quality of the merchandise (jewelry, apparel) to be better on Princess. On Princess, when my DW says, “I think I’ll browse the shops”, it's my signal to commence a satisfying afternoon siesta. On the Mariner, she was done in minutes.

 

Casino: Princess

We enjoy playing Blackjack and we visit the casino nightly when we cruise. While the Mariner casino has plenty of elbow room in the slot machine area, the table games area is jammed with too many people and too many tables in too small of a space. Getting side-by-side seats at a blackjack table usually involved lengthy waits.

 

On the Mariner, the non-smoking tables (which are the last to open and first to close) were at the far end of the casino where it was freezing cold all week. Even the dealers complained.

 

In contrast, the Crown Princess entire casino is open and airy and wonderfully designed.

 

On Princess, if the pit bosses saw people milling around trying to get a seat at a table, they would open a new table. On the Mariner they seemed content to let passengers just stand around rather than call any dealers off of their breaks.

 

One plus for the Mariner: we made a respectable chunk of change. I figure it's gotta be the ship.

 

Poker: Even

The Mariner had live dealers for no-limit Texas Hold ‘em ($2-$5 blinds). I never saw a limit game being held. There was always action at the poker tables from the start of the cruise to the end.

 

The Crown had a dealer-less electronic video version of poker (Texas Hold ‘em) where players played against one another while seated around a table (with a large screen as the table top). There were only limit games ($2-$4, I if remember). Interest was strong at the beginning of the cruise, but petered out at the end.

 

Bingo: Princess+

Mariner at $35 for five games is much more expensive. Princess was $20. On Princess every bingo featured five separate games. On Mariner, about half the time there was but a single game for $20. Prizes are equally chintzy on both.

 

By the way, on the Mariner they still use cards with punch out numbers. On Princess, some bean counter must have figured out that they could make extra money selling bingo markers if they switched to the markable cards as that’s what they did.

 

Miscellaneous Better on Princess:

1. Pizza! As the grandson of Italian immigrants and as a former resident of the New Yawk metropolitan area, I have high standards for pizza. And Princess exceeds them. They make a truly exceptional pie with hand-tossed dough, great sauce, and nice cheese in real pizza ovens. Mouth-watering good. We always make a point of tipping the Princess pizza dudes at the end of the cruise.

2. Better quality chocolate on your pillow at night.

3. Better (and more) toiletry items in the bathroom. On the Mariner you get shampoo in a dispenser in the shower and that’s it. No conditioner, no hand/body lotion.

4. Movies. Better, more well-known, movies and, of course, Princess’ Movies Under the Stars. On the Mariner, I was surprised to find so many movies I had never heard of being shown.

5. The format/layout of the Patter vs. the Compass.

 

Miscellaneous Better on Mariner:

1. The Photo Gallery on Mariner is organized by cabin number. What a great idea! No more wearisome perusing of hundreds of pictures to find your own.

2. Only the Compass seems to show up in the mailbox thing outside your cabin. On Princess there is a nonstop paper stream, more often then not spa promotions and jewelry sales, that goes straight into the wastepaper basket.

3. Elevator service.

4. Coffee.

5. Johnny Rockets! Tremendous.

 

Conclusion

Is it really possible to have a bad time on a cruise? Not for us. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. The lack of adequate dancing facilities geared to our likes gives us pause, but, all in all, a great cruise that's makes us want to sail on RCI again.

absolutely stunning review and comparison. Thanks.

It was interesting to read your opinions about the two. As an Elite Princess member and an RCI Diamond member, I always have a hard time chosing between the two cruise lines. They both do some things really well.

I'm not loyal to any one brand, but I've found these two cruise lines to be the most similar. I just wish I could mould the two cruise lines into one, taking only the best things from each one.

What a great honest, candid review of the two ships. I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for posting.

As a new cruiser with my first cruise on the Mariner in Oct 08 and my next cruise not decided yet I am soooo impressed with your review!!!!:)

I am sometimes shocked at the arguments on this board due to extreme loyalty to one cruise line. All I really want is a great cruise.

Your review was so refreshing to read...you gave your thoughts but backed that up with concrete examples. BEST review/comparison I have read so far on this board.

Thankyou so much.....

Excellent review, and an honest comparison of 2 lines.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

Thanks for a thoughtful review. I am also Platinum on Princess, and now Diamond on RCI. One thing I must point out is that the food in the Promenade Cafe is not the same every day. The sandwiches are varied, tho' ham and cheese is usually available. I love the shrimp salad sandwiches, which, sadly, are only served once on a 7 night cruise. Desserts and pastries are also varied. I LOVE the cookies. Only once in a great while have I gotten a dry, crunchy cookie. Both the oatmeal-raisin and the coconut cookies are usually soft and chewy. Oh my, now I want a cookie!

Very enlightening! We have thought about trying Princess and your posting is very helpful. Well said and well done, thanks Projunior!

Thank you for such a non favored review. The time it took you to not only write it but organize it is awesome. It helps me to know if I take a Princess cruise what to expect. I love how it shows both side strong and weak points! Thank you again!

Great review! I am sorry to hear about the show bands on RCI as they have generally been really good and we love to dance (and not to electronica or rap).

I also like both cruise lines and choose which one I'll sail on based on itinary and embarkation port. Very well done review, Cheers:D

It was interesting to read your opinions about the two. As an Elite Princess member and an RCI Diamond member, I always have a hard time chosing between the two cruise lines. They both do some things really well.

 

I'm not loyal to any one brand, but I've found these two cruise lines to be the most similar. I just wish I could mould the two cruise lines into one, taking only the best things from each one.

What are the levels of membership and how many cruises to reach each one?

What a fabulous review and comparison! We are also Platinum on Princess, and we are Diamond Plus on RCI. Although we have favored RCI for the past couple of years, we always look forward to our Princess outings.

Fl Cruiser64, Princess has Gold, Platinum and Elite levels of their loyalty program. Gold is 1-5 cruises or up to 35 nights; Platinum is 6-15 cruises or up to 150 nights, and Elite is 16+ cruises or 151+ nights (I think I have those numbers correct). You are promoted to the next level based on which you reach first - for example, if you have 5 3-night cruises, you are Platinum. If you have three 12 night cruises, you are also Platinum.

That was SUCH a great review! I got so much information from it. Would that all reviewers would be as organized and calm as you were in your posting! No cheerleading, no bashing, just a good, honest review. I love it!!!!!!

I agree-your Review was Great-thanks for posting! Especially since I am going back on RC in Sept! My last 4 cruises have been with Princess and no complaints, but it's time to step-out-of-the-box again.:)

Thanks for you comprehensive points raised so looking forward I'm a 1st time cruiser and sailing on the Mariner 30th December.

[buffet Setup: Princess[/u][/b][/font][/color]

I know that people complain about the layout of the buffet on Princess, but we found the setup of the Windjammer on the Mariner to be worse. People jostle, jockey, and move helter-skelter among the stations. And there seems to be no coherence to where items on the Mariner are placed: the cream cheese is nowhere near the bagels, there is no butter near the toast, the milk is not next to the cold cereal, etc. This leads to a lot of unnecessary traffic all over the place.

 

Also, there were several times on the Mariner where we had to hunt and hunt for a seat. This had never happened to us on any Princess cruise.

 

Buffet Food: Princess

We found the food selection or the food quality in the Windjammer on the Mariner to be satisfactory, but nothing more. There were no instant favorites that we looked forward to having everyday. .[/font][/color]

This past June I was on the Caribbean Princess. Being an Elite on Princess and a Diamond on RCI I have expereince both lines.

First let me say I enjoyed your review and agree with the vast majority of it except with the buffett's. Although RCI Windjammer has food laid out helter skelter their is room to roam around from station to station. On Princess Horizon Cafe the food area is much to small with everyone pushing and shoving to get to a food item. I also found the selection in the buffet to be much bigger on RCI. In the morning I like smoked salmon which was always availble on RCI while on Princess is was only availble 2-days.

Thanks for your review

Thank you for a great review and your perfect timing. We have always cruised Princess and loved it. We did try Carnival once, but it was not for us. We are trying Royal Caribbean Mariner January 6, 2008. I am looking forward to another wonderful cruise.

Thank you soooo much for your review. After we get these next 2 cruises finished, we thought we'd try RCCL. It's reassuring to know that there are "other" cruise lines than HAL for us. :D

Pat

This is a very nice review. One of the best that I have read on here in a long time. Thanks for taking the time to share.:)