Ok...so I just returned from my first Princess cruise.....

[flagger]

Can you imagine paying all that money for an aqua theater suite, and having that racket going nonstop all day:eek:

Well just note, it can be hard to enjoy an Aqua Theatre suite with people climbing up and down the rock wall just off your balcony all day.

[TXFrank]

Interesting and informative assessment. From my personal experience on both lines, I would agree with some things, not so much on others. The one thing that totally surprises me based on what I have seen and what I have read (almost universally) from others, it that the OP says the coffee was better on Princess. Even the Princess die-hards often comment about how bad the coffee is -- some think it is intentional to push folks to the pay coffee card. While I did not avoid the Princess coffee on my 3 or so cruises, I do think RCCI is far superior.

[depplep]

Not having been on Princess I can't comment on their coffee, but Seattle's Best is the worst coffee I've ever had (ok, slight exaggeration), but I really wish Royal would change coffee. I vote for Dunkin' Donuts.

[cynt]

I've cruised both along with Carnival and I agree with some of your comments. I loved MUTS! I went during Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and to see my Cowboys on big screen at sea was UNBELIEVABLE!!!

 

Princess also needs to work on there tea. Texans know their tea and Princess should just use LIPTON. LOL!!!

 

The ceiling in the Princess bathrooms were low because you step up to the bathroom. I thought that was weird. I enjoyed the space in the Princess bathtub while showering compared to the cylinder on RCCL.

 

I missed the Royal Promenade on the RCCL ships. It's just something about it that I enjoy.

 

All in all they are comparable with slight differences on each. I will more than likely cruise both again while I save up to try one of the luxury cruise liners.

[Michael Kays]

I will give you a different perspective. I have never been on RCI, but did sail the Caribbean Princess last year and have cruised with Carnival 3 times. I will be sailing on the Liberty in April. I will agree with a lot that has already been mention above. I think that Princess Ships are chopped up. Every area seems to have an idea of a divider to separate one area from the other. I had a balcony room, the size was comfortable. Some balconies are uncover, be careful. I love MUTS, didn't watch during the day. I love the International Café, great location. The Princess crowd tends to be more mature (Nice word for older), which I like because of the peace and quiet. Princess Ship's lack the WOW factor, in the Atrium or Royal Promenade, and in the MDR's. Buffet design on Princess was not the best. I did like the 4 digit code for the safe. While on-board I tend to have nothing on me except my ship card. I really enjoyed my cruise with Princess, but this year I wanted a more lively cruise with more to do on-board that is why I choose the Liberty.

 

I just got off the Liberty and found it very chopped up and gawdy. We tend to prefer Princess for its openess and ease of access..we always get aft cabins and getting from stem to stern is not an issue on Princess..within the cabin areas there is a direct route on both RCL and Princess but up into the Promonade and shopping areas is was terrible on Liberty. We also found Liberty very gawdy and confining especially in the pool areas. But, in retrospect, we have sailed on the Spirit a year ago and was pleasantly pleased with its layout.

Overall the Liberty cabin we were in, cat 9a 7440 aft wrap was incredible, with an astounding 50' balcony, service was good, as was main seating venue. The buffet areas were like a cafeteria, I did not like them at all..good was so so.

We sailed Carnival because we got tired of the typical Mexican Riviera out of Long Breach, and Carnival offered a different itienrary out of San diego.

Bottom line is we are going back to Princess..jmho..

[chopper825]

We have just tried RCL for the first time on the Explorer and we are going back to Princess. Some of the what the OP said I agree with. The buffet area on the Explorer is set up much better than Princess but I never had to look for a seat on Princess (Crown and Star), but was always hawking people in the Windjammer to get a seat.

 

What I missed the most was the outside eating area on Princess. I love the outside grill and pizza by the pool and all the tables outside. We really missed the grill by the pool and the outside area for eating on the Explorer was very limited. And I hate that RCL reserves seats for the suite guests that sit empty half the day while you are looking all over for a seat. I also like having the choice of many different pools in many different locations.

 

I found Princess to have much more a variety of entertainment in the evenings. Never had to look for something to do at night. We did on the Explorer. Also, the CD on both of our Princess cruises were much more involved than on the Explorer.

 

As far as the age group, I think it depends on the time of year. On our last cruise two weeks ago on the Explorer, my husband and I in our early 50's were about the youngest couple on board. There were more wheelchairs and jazzies than I have ever seen on any cruise. (57 we were told) We have found on our Princess cruises that we are about the average age of passengers. Not too many kids which we prefer because our kids are grown.

 

Food, service and cabins I would say are equal.

 

All that aside, because of the horrendous embarkation problem we encountered in Bayonne and RCL lack of compensation for missing an entire first day, we are back to Princess hands down. If RCL had handled that situation differently, I would probably try them again as everything else was great.

[Mack2]

I took my family on a cruise aboard the Grand Princess 3 years ago... I found the cruise to be not unlike RCI's experience.

Food wasn't that much different than RCI, service wasn't that much different than RCI.

 

The one thing that stood out in my memory was the average age of the typical Princess passenger. The Princess crowd was a little bit older than RCI's crowd.

 

That being said, we did encounter a miserable human being on Princess.

Synopsis of what happened:

My eldest son is legally blind, juvenile macular degeneration.

We sat in the 2nd row of the juggling comedian show... and this one older guy made a comment about Princess's policy that children not sit in the first 6 rows of a show.

When my wife informed him that we had permission because our son is partially sighted with macular degeneration, he retorted with a lecture on how he had macular degeneration, and how we should teach our son to "deal with it" rather than teach him to break rules.

 

My wife was in tears.

It kinda soured my opinion of Princess... I'm a pharmacist.. I sometimes have to deal with unhappy old folks... why would I want to go somewhere where I may have to deal with unhappy people on vacation?

[kath00]

Wow, that guy must have had a death wish. IT would have been a burial at sea.

 

If it was my child they would have talked about like that, I would have literally and repeatedly kicked him in the you know what until he was no longer breathing.

 

Some people obviously missed the sensitivity gene when they were born. :rolleyes: Sorry to hear you had to put up with something like that!

 

Katherine

[pscruzinboyz]

Thank you for the review -- I read it with interest. We are doing the opposite of what you did. We have sailed Princess 3x and loved all 3 sailings but could not pass up a chance to try the Mariner (Voyager class) right out of our home port of LAX. We are going next month and cannot wait to make a similar comparison.

 

Katherine

 

Katherine,

 

The Mariner is a Beaut and she is my favorite ship. Have fun!

There is a lot to explore and see. Don't forget to check out the Bow of the ship off of Deck 5 that will lead you to deck 6 and the bow. Going South is always great but coming home...hang On...Only sometimes, In Dec...It was perfect weather all the way home, you just never know! :)

 

Mike

[NancyIL]

I just got off the Liberty and found it very chopped up and gawdy. We tend to prefer Princess for its openess and ease of access..we always get aft cabins and getting from stem to stern is not an issue on Princess..within the cabin areas there is a direct route on both RCL and Princess but up into the Promonade and shopping areas is was terrible on Liberty. We also found Liberty very gawdy and confining especially in the pool areas. But, in retrospect, we have sailed on the Spirit a year ago and was pleasantly pleased with its layout.

Overall the Liberty cabin we were in, cat 9a 7440 aft wrap was incredible, with an astounding 50' balcony, service was good, as was main seating venue. The buffet areas were like a cafeteria, I did not like them at all..good was so so.

We sailed Carnival because we got tired of the typical Mexican Riviera out of Long Breach, and Carnival offered a different itienrary out of San diego.

Bottom line is we are going back to Princess..jmho..

 

You sailed on Carnival Liberty, and I think the person you quoted is going to sail on Liberty of the Seas - an RCI ship.

[Cruising89143]

I'm going on Oasis in a few weeks. And I am thankful that so far, they are not constantly broadcasting on the screens in the aqua theater. I guess they showed a sporting event or something once or twice. But I am appalled at the people saying "they should play movies on there during the day".

 

Can you imagine paying all that money for an aqua theater suite, and having that racket going nonstop all day:eek:

 

We had an ATS on the Oasis a few weeks ago and the noise was not bad. Yes they do use the rock climbing wall but again not bad. The biggest issue was the soot.

[Cruising89143]

OP, you asked about Pt. Everglades. Up until two weeks ago I would have agreed with you as this being one of the worst ports but with what was done for the new Oasis terminal, it changed my mind but only for that specific terminal.

 

Thanks for your review. I like trying other lines but Princess does not interest me at all. IMHO the ships are ugly from the exterior and I know that you can't see it once on board but I have also seen photos of the interiors and they look boring and cramped and nothing that says "wow".

[momzcruzing]

Of 25 cruises most have been with RCCL but we have done 5 with Princess. I think both lines offer a very similiar experience and we have enjoyed all of them very much.

 

We were on the Sun Princess in Dec and the Princess singers & dancers were the best that I have ever seen! Really exceptional.

 

I completely agree that the buffet on all Princess ships is crowded and makes you long for the Windjammer, tho food is fairly similiar. Anytime dining on Sapphire Princess was amazing and the 4 restaurant choices a refreshing change--with no pre-paid tips required.

 

Do like bringing wine aboard Princess and have taken full advantage of that option.

 

The coffee on the Sun Princess was Horrible tho in the coffee bars where the lattes are made you can ask for a regular cup of brewed coffee--it is excellent and FREE! I am looking forward to being on Mariner this month and enjoying the Seattles Best.

 

All in all they are so similiar that I will continue to choose based on price and destination.

[kath00]

Katherine,

 

The Mariner is a Beaut and she is my favorite ship. Have fun!

There is a lot to explore and see. Don't forget to check out the Bow of the ship off of Deck 5 that will lead you to deck 6 and the bow. Going South is always great but coming home...hang On...Only sometimes, In Dec...It was perfect weather all the way home, you just never know! :)

 

Mike

 

Thanks for the tip, Mike. We have a little "to do" list for the ship that I already started based on what I was reading about the Mariner on CC. We'll add the bow to the list. ;) Katherine

[Michael Kays]

You sailed on Carnival Liberty, and I think the person you quoted is going to sail on Liberty of the Seas - an RCI ship.

 

my bad soory and thanks for the clarification~

[Michael Kays]

I took my family on a cruise aboard the Grand Princess 3 years ago... I found the cruise to be not unlike RCI's experience.

Food wasn't that much different than RCI, service wasn't that much different than RCI.

 

The one thing that stood out in my memory was the average age of the typical Princess passenger. The Princess crowd was a little bit older than RCI's crowd.

 

That being said, we did encounter a miserable human being on Princess.

Synopsis of what happened:

My eldest son is legally blind, juvenile macular degeneration.

We sat in the 2nd row of the juggling comedian show... and this one older guy made a comment about Princess's policy that children not sit in the first 6 rows of a show.

When my wife informed him that we had permission because our son is partially sighted with macular degeneration, he retorted with a lecture on how he had macular degeneration, and how we should teach our son to "deal with it" rather than teach him to break rules.

 

My wife was in tears.

It kinda soured my opinion of Princess... I'm a pharmacist.. I sometimes have to deal with unhappy old folks... why would I want to go somewhere where I may have to deal with unhappy people on vacation?

 

you let one person, a passenger, idiot beahvior skew your impression of the cruise line? sorry to hear about your run in with that idiot but he did not represent the cruise line..

[GottaLuvCruising]

Thanks for reminding me of the entertainment! We thought the shows and entertainment were excellent! They had a few comedians onboard who performed different acts during the week. They had three different production shows performed during the week as well. We did have difficulty getting into one of the shows even 45 minutes prior to it starting because the seating was already full. There was a piano bar, a nightclub, an Irish pub and a couple other places where you could see karoake, etc. The Piazza (a scaled down version of RCL's Centrum) had acts/musicians playing for most of the afternoon/evening....pianists, string quartets, a brass band, magicians, etc.

 

I have to say...out of all the cruises we've taken, for nightly entertainment I would have to give the edge to Carnival. When we sailed on the Inspiration, each night they had different music playing in all their bars/clubs....LIVE entertainment....they had many venues and one place might have jazz while others had blues or rock & roll or swing and then there was a piano bar as well. You never were at a loss for something that you could enjoy!

 

One other thing I forgot to mention in regard to Princess is they have a program called Scholarship @ Sea...they have guest lecturers onboard and had discussions on the history of the islands we were visiting as well as art history and a discussion about pirates in the Caribbean. They also had book club and film club meetings onboard as well.

 

I think entertainment is one of the biggest things that RCL needs to pay attention to....mostly their games. I've been cruising with them for over a decade and yet you see the SAME games now that they had over a decade ago. :confused: I can't believe they aren't innovative enough in that regard.....that was one of the reasons we wanted to try another line...the boredom with the same activities was starting to set in. :rolleyes:

 

I, too, was curious about your opinion / experience with Princess shows. We also LOVE them and find both the shows and guest entertainers (mostly comedians) to be a higher caliber than what we've seen on other lines. For this reason, Princess is at the top of our list.

 

However, our desire for more freedom to cruise smoke-free (particularly our stateroom and balcony) forces us to look elsewhere. I suspect that Princess is experiencing an influx of smokers abandoning Celebrity. We do like Celebrity, but find it a bit stuffy. So our most recent and next cruises are with Royal Caribbean (inside stateroom). The next one we plan to book is a Cloud 9 Spa balcony stateroom with Carnival. As options improve, we hope to return to Princess.

[The Lorax and Tagalong]

After doing several RC cruises, we also thought we would try princess once. Mostly because of itineray choice. So in December we went on the princess Ruby. Beautiful ship, but the layout is SO poor. Ever hear the saying: You can't get there from here"? No continuity to the ship at all. We were late for dinner the first 3 nights, because they had the dining room hidden!!

 

We also did not like the Big screen by the pool. I was trying to get away from that. We are not big TV watchers to begin and it was so loud. One thing we missed, even though there were 4 pools, was the solarium that RC has.

 

Even though we are around the 50 age, we were by far the youngest on the ship. There were a multitude of scooters, and the drivers didnt care who was in there way. We witnessed several people actually being hit by them.

 

So we are back to RC on the Jewel of the Seas in December.

[dfishner]

We were on the Caribbean Princess just before it was redone. I would agree with the OP on their comments. Thought Horizon court was poorly designed and to chopped up we went there once and never again. It was to conjested.

 

We had a good experience with Princess someone on here wrote that Princess does not have the wow factor and agree the ship is a bit sedated then a RCL ship. We enjoyed the activities more on Princess for us there seemed to be more things we were interested in doing.

 

We loved Sabatinis the italian restaurant that was an incredible experience as was the Chef special dinner which was awesome, We did not care for the entertainment in the lounges but the production shows were good.

 

These two lines are more similar then different and we would do another princess cruise we did have a good time and for us it was a nice change of pace

[Seatravelers]

We have been on only 1 Princess cruise and doubt we will go back. The layout is absolutely ridiculous, never knew where I was or how to get back there, so chopped up. Not a good feeling having to constantly plan your comings and goings from your cabin. We had a mini-suite which was definitely much smaller than a JS on RCL. The bathroom floor was tiled with small tiles and on 1st night after shower the tiles came up and stuck to our feet, eew. We informed the cabin steward and he said he told them about it on the last cruise and will again, nothing happened. I insisted he keep clean towels down on the floor then at all times. Also, hated that the balcony was not covered, we probably only spent 10 min on it, don't like that concept at all. We did anytime dining which was going to the best dining room and making a standing reservation for every night we planned to dine there at the same table with the same waiter, so much for anytime dining. We were shocked by how long some people had to wait for a table and to say there was a lot of unhappy campers in the lobby waiting would be accurate. Service in general, imho, not up to RCL level. Do not think we will venture onto Princess again especially since we are hearing it is being more and more Carnivalized every day. Just my opinion. Happy Sailing!

[beachnative]

Most of our cruises have been with RCCL but we have sailed on Princess' Grand, Caribbean, and Coral. The Coral was perfect for Alaska with her forward and aft facing public balconies. My wife and I like the innovations incorporated into the RCCL vessels and are looking forward to sailing on the Oasis. Being "diamond" we enjoy the perks the RCCL offers. We have two future cruises booked with RCCL and would book our summer 2011 cruise with them IF they offered the itinerary we want, however (from the 2009 and 2010 sailings) it appears that it may only be offered on Princess (I have written to RCCL and asked them to consider that itinerary). The balconies on Princess' Caribe decks are huge and a real draw for us...as is their "Ultimate Balcony Dinner". Celebrity's no-smoking on balconies policy is causing me to examine their itineraries.

 

Comparison: we have found that both Princess and RCCL offer fine ships, excellent crews, acceptable food, and enjoyable cruise experiences at reasonable prices. The diamond perks maintain the edge that keeps us returning to RCCL.

[cruzcat]

Sorry to disagree with you about the coffee on Princess. The coffee on RCCL (Seattle's Best) is really pretty good. The worst coffee I've ever had has been on Princess cruises!

[Mack2]

you let one person, a passenger, idiot beahvior skew your impression of the cruise line? sorry to hear about your run in with that idiot but he did not represent the cruise line..

 

I completely agree with you.

In fact, I even tell myself that one individual's behavior shouldn't tarnish my opinion of Princess as a whole.

 

We had a great time on the Grand Princess.

 

What it comes down to is whether I feel that the Princess experience was better than the experiences I've had on other lines.

In my honest opinion... it's about the same as everyone else.

 

I've taken my kids on 5 Royal cruises, 2 Disney, 1 Princess, and 1 Carnival.

Prior to that, I've been cruising aboard Royal's ships since the Song of America, and we did 1 Celebrity aboard the Mercury on it's inaugural year.

 

I've never had the misfortune of meeting an unlikeable fellow cruiser on any other line except Princess. I know unpleasant people are out there... I guess I've been lucky.

 

I wasn't lucky on the Grand. It soured my opinion of... not the cruise line itself... but it's audience. Princess's passengers are a good 20 years older than us, on average. I imagine Holland America to be the same... and you would be hard pressed to find me cruising along the Panama Canal on ANY line, right now.

 

I'm considering Alaska... but only because Disney might be sending a ship up there soon... like 2011 or 2012.

 

edit:

We encountered the unpleasant individual aboard the Grand Princess about two years after our son was diagnosed with juvenile macular degeneration. His vision when he was diagnosed (at age 7) was 20/60... on the Princess cruise, his vision deteriorated (and has mostly stabilized) around 20/200-20/400. It was a rough two years.

Bad timing to meet up with the self-righteous old man.

[petesweet]

Glad to read this review as well. We had considered Princess as well as others this time around. Not sure we're ready to see if the grass is greener yet. Honestly think if we ever change lines it will be for Regent.

 

Interesting comment. I've never looked into Regent, but just today we got an email from a friend who just came back from a Regent cruise (Navigator). Here's what he said:

"Cruise was so-so; food in main facility mediocre at best. For a six-star cruise line, we were disappointed."

 

We went to Alaska on Princess a few years ago. It was before I became a bona fide cruise CRITIC, so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to details. I just enjoyed it for what it was. I do remember, however, that we had the BEST cabin steward we have ever had on any cruise we have been on. (But I still prefer Royal Caribbean for my cruising experience. The traditional dining is what does it for me.)

 

Kathy

[Leafpeeper]

We have only taken 2 Princess cruises and really love both the Crown Princess and Golden Princess. Although we are now Diamond status on RCCL, we would select Princess before RCCL on future cruises. I do wish Princess offered winter cruises from NY or Boston.

 

We loved all the multiple pools on Princess because there were so many different types of pool areas to choose from. We found one in the back of the ship that we had all to ourselves every day.

 

We also preferred the location of the specialty restaurants on Crown Princess. Sabatinni's (Portofinos type) is on the aft of the ship with a gorgeous bar indoors and fantastic deck area outdoors. The steak house was midship great location too compared to RCCL ships.

 

We sailed Explorer of the Seas for the second time in mid January and had alot of problems on that cruise. I kept wondering why Explorer didn't use the Maharajas Lounge for dancing at night. Instead they have a 2 story small gothic disco lounge for dancing with no band.

 

We will opt for Radiance class ships on RCCL in the future because they offer more of what we like--fewer people, better service, no waits for mytime dining, retractable roof over solarium pool (great on rainy, cold, or HOT HOT days). The Radiance ships also have 2 specialty restaurants instead of 1--which amazed me about the Voyager class of ships because they are larger. What we liked most on Jewel of the Seas (Radiance class) was the after area of the ship behind the buffet. It was lovely for a quiet meal under the stars away from all the noise in the buffet.

 

While we were docked on Explorer, the Serenade of the Seas (Radiance class) was docked beside us. DH and I kept repeating how much we prefer that class of ship as we saw all the things we liked.