Princess v Royal Caribbean

[Jo and Rob]

We had our first ever cruise in February on the Crown Princess and absolutely loved it. We are considering Royal Caribbean in the Med next Summer and wondered how they compare.

 

We loved the free room service, the Anytime dining, the formal nights, the shows, the beautiful Piazza, the International cafe (24h pastries and desserts) you get the picture, we loved cruising!

 

Our next cruise will be with our children who will be 9 and 6 in August 2011 so information on the kids clubs would also be appreciated.

 

Many thanks in advance

[DonnaK]

We are avid Royal Caribbean fans who enjoy cruising on Princess too. We feel that while there are some things that we like better on Princess, there are other things that Royal Caribbean does better. It all balances out to an equivalent crusing experience.

 

To be comparable to the Crown, you'd have to make sure you are sailing on one of Royal Caribbean's newer ships, such as Voyager, Radiance or Freedom classes. Their older ships, while lovely, wouldn't be as innovative, and therefore wouldn't be fair to compare to the Crown.

 

RCI has free room service except for the wee hours of the morning when there is a small surcharge. The shows are equivalent. The royal promenade would "replace" the piazza. They offer My Time Dining on all ships. Formal nights would be the same. Etc.

 

The kids club on RCI is wonderful. Your kids will never be bored or lacking for activity!

[BobT172]

Our grandkids (9 & 11) where with us on the Ruby Princess last year. Whatever the kids program was, they loved it....they could not wait to get back to the kids center after they were with us...

[bigeagle12]

Here is just a quick comparision (our opinion) of the 2 and we would not hesitate to take either cruise line (Note: our recent expereince on RCCL is on the Voyager class ships):

 

Embarkation - equal

Disembarkation - advantage Princess

Muster Drill - adavantage Princess

Food - slight advantage to Princess - little better quality and more variety

Dining Room (service) - equal

Dining Room (decor) - advantage Royal

Cabins - advantage Princess - bigger closet - better layout

Entertainment - equal

Ship (Promenade vs Atrium) - advantage Royal

Casino - advantage Royal

Service (Dining Room) - equal

Service (Windjammer vs Caribe) - advantage Royal

Service (cabin) - equal

Johnny Rockets vs Trident Grill - advantage Princess (free)

Movies Under the Stars (MUTS) - advantage Princess

Promenade Cafe vs International Cafe - advantage Princess

Pizza - advantage Princess

Bars/Lounges - advantage Princess

Onboard Activities - advantage Royal

[satxdiver]

I agree with Bigeagle's assessment. On RCI ships the muster drill is on the outside promenade in the heat/cold with your life jacket on while standing packed like sardines with your fellow pax many of whom could use at least a little deodorant or bath! You will be standing shoulder to shoulder literally and in close packed rows while they take roll and stand there looking at you. You are supposed to wear your life preserver to the drill using the stairs. An accident waiting to happen.

 

In contrast on the Princess you are required to bring your life preserver with you to the muster which is held inside the ship at various locations depending on where your stateroom is located. They will explain how to put the life preserver on and you may put it on if you wish but it is not required. The whole procedure is about 1/2 the time as RCL and you are not packed in like sardines or standing in long rows. This is a much more civil way of doing it.

 

The royal promenade to me is all show and glitz. The pizza tastes like cardboard. JR charges $4.95 each and the room service charge in the early morning hours is $3.95. If you like rock climbing walls, ice skating or inline skating while at sea, you will enjoy the RCL larger ships. However be aware that times to use these is very limited! I will say that the WJ (RCL buffet) is better arranged and easier to use than the HC on the larger ships.

 

RCL closes and locks the WJ between meals and at night. Princess leaves the HC open 24 hours with food always being offered and the tables are available for reading, playing cards, etc., all the time. It can be very quiet in there between major meal times.

[ferry_gal]

We are avid Royal Caribbean fans who enjoy cruising on Princess too. We feel that while there are some things that we like better on Princess, there are other things that Royal Caribbean does better. It all balances out to an equivalent crusing experience.

 

To be comparable to the Crown, you'd have to make sure you are sailing on one of Royal Caribbean's newer ships, such as Voyager, Radiance or Freedom classes. Their older ships, while lovely, wouldn't be as innovative, and therefore wouldn't be fair to compare to the Crown.

 

RCI has free room service except for the wee hours of the morning when there is a small surcharge. The shows are equivalent. The royal promenade would "replace" the piazza. They offer My Time Dining on all ships. Formal nights would be the same. Etc.

 

The kids club on RCI is wonderful. Your kids will never be bored or lacking for activity!

 

My husband and I have been on about twice as many Royal Caribbean Cruises (22) as compared to Princess (11). We have found the two lines to be very comparable. A few distinctions are:

 

Food - Advantage Royal Caribbean

Cabins - Advantage Princess

Kids Programs - Advantage Royal

Service - Equal

Muster Drill - Advantage Princess

Entertainment - Advantage Royal

Itineraries - Advantage Princess

Activities - Royal (although we love Movies Under the Stars at Princess)

 

In addition, Princess is much more relaxed about bringing your own liquor on board. Having your own wine in your cabin is no problem on Princess. Royal Caribean is outright obnoxious about no personal liquor on board and charging you $30.00+ US dollars (wine including tip) for a bottle that you can purchase for $5.99 in the States! :eek:

 

Repeat passengers (Diamond and above) get much better benefits on Royal Caribbean than on Princess including free pre-dinner drinks, concierge service, and free internet. While black card holders on Princess get free laundry service there are no laundromats or free laundry services on RCI (definite advantage Princess).

 

Hopefully this helps you in planning your future cruises. Happy sailing! :D

[Coral]

I encourage people to try different lines when they first start cruising.

 

Otherwise, when people cruise the same line 10x and then switch lines, everything the 2nd line does "seems wrong" as people are so set on how the first line does things.

 

This way - you can see what other lines do and then settle on the line that you prefer or you can continue to go between lines on different cruises. It is nice to try different lines if anything to get different menus, experience different ships, etc...

[skyking]

After last years cruise on the Ruby, Princess is our new fav cruise line. I didnt miss the Promenade one bit, nor the rock wall.....In my opinion the food on RCCL has gotten pretty bad, unless you eat at CHOPS every night. The food on Princess was amazing to us, and I would say that the food in the HC was better than the food RCCL serves in the dining room. I cant wait to board the Emerald in 5 more days!!!

[AnotherCruisingKid]

My husband and I have been on about twice as many Royal Caribbean Cruises (22) as compared to Princess (11). We have found the two lines to be very comparable. A few distinctions are:

 

Food - Advantage Royal Caribbean

Cabins - Advantage Princess

Kids Programs - Advantage Royal

Service - Equal

Muster Drill - Advantage Princess

Entertainment - Advantage Royal

Itineraries - Advantage Princess

Activities - Royal (although we love Movies Under the Stars at Princess)

 

In addition, Princess is much more relaxed about bringing your own liquor on board. Having your own wine in your cabin is no problem on Princess. Royal Caribean is outright obnoxious about no personal liquor on board and charging you $30.00+ US dollars (wine including tip) for a bottle that you can purchase for $5.99 in the States! :eek:

 

Repeat passengers (Diamond and above) get much better benefits on Royal Caribbean than on Princess including free pre-dinner drinks, concierge service, and free internet. While black card holders on Princess get free laundry service there are no laundromats or free laundry services on RCI (definite advantage Princess).

 

Hopefully this helps you in planning your future cruises. Happy sailing! :D

I would agree entirely with the above. The food in our opinion is definitely better on RCCL in general. Exceptions would of course be the pizza we have had on Princess which is honestly outstanding.

 

We are always torn which line to use. As such we go back and forth. You really can't go wrong with either one.