P&O vs RCI

[38anchor]

Been on 2 Royal Caribbean cruises (Just off Mariner at the weekend) and have always had a great time.

 

Would love to stick with RCI (or even Celebrity), but due to many circumstances (too long to list) it looks like we may be looking to book Azura for January 2011.

 

Can anyone give me any comparisons, both positive and negative.

 

I already know that the alcohol policy is better on P&O (thumbs up), but how about other things, ie food, entertainment, ships layout etc.

 

Thanks

[LibraLass41]

Been on 2 Royal Caribbean cruises (Just off Mariner at the weekend) and have always had a great time.

 

Would love to stick with RCI (or even Celebrity), but due to many circumstances (too long to list) it looks like we may be looking to book Azura for January 2011.

 

Can anyone give me any comparisons, both positive and negative.

 

I already know that the alcohol policy is better on P&O (thumbs up), but how about other things, ie food, entertainment, ships layout etc.

 

Thanks

 

I've been onboard all the present P&O fleet recently, cruised on the all except Artemis which I just spent the day on. I have sailed on Equinox so sampled Celebrity for a few days and spent the day on RCI, so have a fair idea of the 3 cruiselines...

The food is of similar quality and choice, all ships have speciality restaurants to try. Cabins similar, although on 5* Celebrity Equinox all cabins had large 32" flat screen tv's and lovely bathrooms. But balcony sizes seemed the same as P&O.

The main difference is p&o is aimed at the British cruiser, sailing from Southampton so will be mostly Brit passengers, infact I have never so far met any other nationalites on a ex-Southampton cruise. The food menus and entertainment are aimed to satisfy brits, there are £'s currency onboard and UK elec sockets.

On the US ships the Casinos were much bigger than P&O, the food portions short on veg but big on meat, with fantastic steaks, entertainment more 'American' with unknown entertainers which I've read some didn't enjoy as the US sence of humour is different from the UK.

 

P&o Ships seem to be more formal than the US ships on formal nights, so say, with people on US ships tending to change after dinner , when on p&o passengers tend to stay in their formal wear all evening.

 

Drinks cheaper on p&o as no added 'service charge', shuttle buses in the main are free from port when they can be chargeable on RCI/Celebrity.

 

Hope that helps a bit. This is only my thoughts and opinion.

 

Gerry has sailed on both lines, and hopefully will be along soon to add his opinions.

 

Azura looks a fine ship, I expect you will enjoy her.

[Elaine0138]

Having sailed on both lines I mush prefer RCI it will be a long time before we consider P&O again.

 

People say drinks are dearer on RCI but our bar bill was around the same on both lines. We didn't like the food choices in the MDR and the buffet leaves a lot to be desired.

The only thing was good was the cooked english breakfast, on P&O

The spa on P&O isn't as good as the Elemis ones on other lines

Entertainment like most lines varied from the good to the bad

P&O is no more formal than RCI.

[Suebiker]

Been on 2 Royal Caribbean cruises (Just off Mariner at the weekend) and have always had a great time.

 

Would love to stick with RCI (or even Celebrity), but due to many circumstances (too long to list) it looks like we may be looking to book Azura for January 2011.

 

Can anyone give me any comparisons, both positive and negative.

 

I already know that the alcohol policy is better on P&O (thumbs up), but how about other things, ie food, entertainment, ships layout etc.

 

Thanks

 

Hi there - we have done about 3 cruises with P and O and 1 with RCI. I think the two cruise lines are very different. RCI seemed very glamourous and younger and livelier than P and O . With lots of activities onboard. However I felt the food and service were not quite as good as P and O. We found P and O more relaxing. P and O ships are stunning too but less glitsy.

 

Food - buffet is slightly better on RCI. Main dining room - better on P and O ( 5 courses instead of 3, more choice on the menu and 2 types of veg and potato served daily with your main course.

 

Service - we thought it was better on P and O. Particularly drink service

 

Drink Prices - cheaper on P and O and bottles of spirits available to buy for use in your cabin at very good prices too!

 

Laundrettes - RCI - laundry service only - very expensive. P and O - self service laundrette - a godsend.

 

Shuttle buses - mainly free on P and O with the odd exception . RCI charged at most ports.

 

Entertaintment - I must admit I alway thought P and O's entertainment let it down until our last cruise on Ventura - where I was very impressed. RCI was very similar in quality apart from the ice show which was exceptional.

 

Will you enjoy P and O - all you can do is try it. We fancied a change which was why we tried RCI but it wasn't for us and now we will stick with P and O as the product suits us very well. Just go with an open mind.

 

Sue

[Elaine0138]

On RCI just ask the waiter for more vegetables and they will bring them every night

[LibraLass41]

Elaine

re comment'The spa on P&O isn't as good as the Elemis ones on other lines ''

 

Have you cruised on Arcadia?

 

I agree the spa's on the pando older ships aren't as good, but Arcadia has the best spa and hydropool of the pando fleet...

[Suebiker]

On RCI just ask the waiter for more vegetables and they will bring them every night

 

Hi we did ask for veg - we got carrots and broccolli every night for 14 nights!!!!!!

 

Sue

[sotonjoe]

I've been onboard all the present P&O fleet recently, cruised on the all except Artemis which I just spent the day on. I have sailed on Equinox so sampled Celebrity for a few days and spent the day on RCI, so have a fair idea of the 3 cruiselines...

The food is of similar quality and choice, all ships have speciality restaurants to try. Cabins similar, although on 5* Celebrity Equinox all cabins had large 32" flat screen tv's and lovely bathrooms. But balcony sizes seemed the same as P&O.

The main difference is p&o is aimed at the British cruiser, sailing from Southampton so will be mostly Brit passengers, infact I have never so far met any other nationalites on a ex-Southampton cruise. The food menus and entertainment are aimed to satisfy brits, there are £'s currency onboard and UK elec sockets.

On the US ships the Casinos were much bigger than P&O, the food portions short on veg but big on meat, with fantastic steaks, entertainment more 'American' with unknown entertainers which I've read some didn't enjoy as the US sence of humour is different from the UK.

 

P&o Ships seem to be more formal than the US ships on formal nights, so say, with people on US ships tending to change after dinner , when on p&o passengers tend to stay in their formal wear all evening.

 

Drinks cheaper on p&o as no added 'service charge', shuttle buses in the main are free from port when they can be chargeable on RCI/Celebrity.

 

Hope that helps a bit. This is only my thoughts and opinion.

 

Gerry has sailed on both lines, and hopefully will be along soon to add his opinions.

 

Azura looks a fine ship, I expect you will enjoy her.

 

With all due respect, I'm not sure all of those comments re RCI - and I mean the cruises departing Southampton here - are entirely accurate.

 

The Independence of the Seas cruises from Southampton are full of Brits, all other nationalities are in a very slim minority.

 

The Main Dining Room was bringing extra bowls of vegetables to accompany the main courses this summer.

 

British Cruise Directors such as Graham Seymour ensure the humour is certainly not tailored to American tastes.

 

On formal nights this summer, the vast majority of people were doing full formal dress and they were definitely not changing out of it after dinner. I really was surprise by the scale of it actually.

 

Drinks prices overall may have been more expensive but there was certainly no added service charge. RCI discontinued that htis year on all IOS cruises from Southampton. A branded spirit and mixer (e.g. JD & coke) was being sold at $6 which was in the region of £3.50 when I was cruising. These are extremely liberal free poured measures and the drinks are best described as a UK 'triple', e.g. 75ml of alcohol. In real terms (i.e. unit for unit), I can't see P&O beating that. Beer prices were expensive though.

 

Shuttle buses wise, we had several laid on and we were only charged extra in one port.

 

I'm not a RCI regular by any means. I cruised them this year for my first ever cruise. I intend to give P&O or Celebrity a go this year for comparison.

 

I posted a detailed dreview of my summer cruise on IOS in the relevant section of this site if anybody wants to read about a recent experience.

 

Cheers

[38anchor]

Thanks for all your comments. As it happens, we will be looking to sail in the caribbean so I'm not too sure if the 'Southampton' comments are going to be that relevant - we have not sailed RCI from UK either, only out of USA where the majority of passengers do tend to be Americans.

 

This is something that we both quite like, and also the 'international' food options, so hence I am wondering how P&O will compare............

 

Are the P&O Caribbean sailing's full of brits too, or is there more of an international mix?

[LibraLass41]

Soton Joe

Thanks for the update.

[stopgo]

Soton Joe

Thanks for the update.

Hey Sue, just wanted to make sure you knew about the none cruise related topics thread. It's a real blast and everybodys welcome.

[terrierjohn]

Thanks for all your comments. As it happens, we will be looking to sail in the caribbean so I'm not too sure if the 'Southampton' comments are going to be that relevant - we have not sailed RCI from UK either, only out of USA where the majority of passengers do tend to be Americans.

 

This is something that we both quite like, and also the 'international' food options, so hence I am wondering how P&O will compare............

 

Are the P&O Caribbean sailing's full of brits too, or is there more of an international mix?

So far we have only sailed one P&O Caribbean flycruise and it was mainly Brits on board, I do not believe that P&O market their cruises outside of Europe.

But Azura is almost identical to the largest Princess ships, so it's feel will be American style, even if the passengers are not.

[LibraLass41]

Azura is identical to Ventura as well.

[terrierjohn]

Azura is identical to Ventura as well.

Apart from the movie screen and the missing skydome.

[stopgo]

Apart from the movie screen and the missing skydome.

With puns like that T/J, you need to get across to the None Cruise Related Topics thread. Set up a double act with the NorfolkBrits, or should that be a triple act.

[terrierjohn]

With puns like that T/J, you need to get across to the None Cruise Related Topics thread. Set up a double act with the NorfolkBrits, or should that be a triple act.

Oops, I thought my comment was cruise related!:confused:

[jenny wren]

Having sailed two weeks on P and O (Ventura) and two weeks on RCI (Brilliance of the Seas) I think that RCI slightly have the edge...it suited us Brits well (the CD, Gordon somebody, was British and excellent) even though it was a multinational, mainly English speaking, passenger list. The only downside to RCI (other than Independence) we felt, was the price of drinks which did have 15% added (its only IOTS that has had this removed). One other point to remember is that not all RCI ships have kettles in the cabins...but P and O do.

 

It really depends what you want from a cruise....we don't use spas, gyms, etc. so can't comment of those!!