What's your #2...?

[tulips*n*truffles]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I've been looking quite a bit tonight, and while I'm disappointed in some of the itineraries, I'm super happy with the price. :-) I do understand "you get what you pay for"...but I'm mostly happy about seeing the world with a smaller price tag. I'm not letting go of my Princess booking just yet - but I can't say I'm not disappointed in the insane increases this season...or what seem to be insane. Gave me a good reason to check out some other cruise lines, I guess....

 

Thanks again for the help. I really appreciate your opinions!

[taxgal]

Like many have already said, we find RCI and Princess are similar in price and quality. Princess better food, RCI generally better adventure activities...having said all that, Princess is our 2, Celebrity is our #1, even thought 3 of last 4 were with Princess.:rolleyes:

[Toto2Kansas]

Just remember, TA's are still allowed to discount Princess cruises. So, don't ever go by the book price. Check around with some discount TA's and you can get a much better price that way. Best of luck!

[cpj]

Just remember, TA's are still allowed to discount Princess cruises. So, don't ever go by the book price. Check around with some discount TA's and you can get a much better price that way. Best of luck!

You are very correct in your statement about TA but some people do not want to see a travel agent make a commission. They would rather give there money to the cruise lines. I have friends like that and I always end up with a way better deal and we cruise with them a lot.

[lilfish7]

I've sailed RCI twice and Princess once and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed Princess. We're sailing RCI again in October, so this will be a true test on which line fits us best!

 

I wish Princess offered more "shorter" cruises.

[Toto2Kansas]

You are very correct in your statement about TA but some people do not want to see a travel agent make a commission. They would rather give there money to the cruise lines. I have friends like that and I always end up with a way better deal and we cruise with them a lot.

 

But the discount partially comes from the TA discounting their commission. lol Oh well, at least you got the better price booking through a TA. :) That is like cutting off your nose to spite your face (as my grandmother used to say).

[cherrypop]

Out of all the ones we have been on our favorite was the 2 Cruises we did on Carnival from Hawaii to Vancouver, by far the food was the best. We found Holland to have the worst food. RCCL was our second favorite. We sailed on Princess almost 4 years ago and are going to again this October. You can cruise on one ship on a particular cruise line and not like it then cruise on the same cruise line different ship and love it. Bottom line is we all have such different tastes and have different experiences only you can be the judge and take what people think with a grain of salt.

[cruiserbryce]

we have always enjoyed RC...we have actually cruised more with them than Princess because the fares are usually cheaper

[melbur]

Our #2 is actually Princess. Our #1 is Royal Caribbean

 

Ditto

Overall cruise experience has been better with RCI - ie food, entertainment, etc., but always enjoy Princess also.

[Oi]

I've cruised on Royal and Carnival. Loved them both for different reasons. I had my first princess cruise a few years ago and am getting ready to go on my 2nd this May. That being said, I have to say I would cruise Royal again, I think my carnival days are over, but that was fun when I was younger. I think Royal and Princess are comprable in many ways, both have thier pros. I would not really put one first or second. I think they are both wonderful, but I'm very excited to be on Princess this year!

[psklak]

our cruising history is 3 Carnival cruises in the 80's. No problems, good food, nice cabins, good service. Alaska on Princess in 1990. That was it - no more changes - found the line we loved! Another Princess cruise in 1997. Loved it! Preference confirmed. Will NEVER sail on any other line.

Then came Europe. Princess didn't offer the ports we wanted. After much consideration and a TA recommendation, we went RCL. What a mistake! Ports were fabulous, but food, cabins, and especially service were a nightmare. We still had a great time because "we are on a cruise to Europe".

Always better than being home.

 

Well, back to Princess for 2 more cruises in the early 2000's. Again - fabulous time. Then in 2007, Princess again did not offer what we wanted. Decided to give Carnival another try. Wow!!!! We were surprised at how fabulous and adult and sophisticated the ship was. Cabin, food and service was great.

 

In between , in 2004 and 2008 we have done family vacations on Disney. Great ship but probably wouldn't do it unless extended family involved.

 

So, after this extremely long history - I still believe Princess offers the best value for the money. Probably wouldn't go on RCL again (would have to be the best offer ever received), but Carnival was pleasantly surprising. If given a choice and everything else equal, would go with Princess - but - Carnival certainly gets that 2nd look.

[michigan tim]

I can't comment on the Princess experience until a few more weeks, but we've done a couple RCLs (also Costa, Carnival and NCL). From strictly a marketting standpoint, and from looking at the Princess customers when at various ports of call, I'd say that RCL is more family oriented/targetted and would guess the average age to be 10-15 years younger on RCL (at least in the Caribbean market).

[Infi]

Celebrity, without a doubt. However, most of the time their itineraries are inferior to Princess, or the pricetag is higher. Only once have I found a comparable Celebrity cruise to be cheaper than Princess. They hold their prices, and since TAs can only discount in form of OBC (or some other incentive), the prices are often intimidating - sticker shock. But, I believe you get what you pay for, and if Celebrity had the itinerary I wanted, I would happily pay extra for it.

 

As for Princess, prices seem to start high and then adjust to demand from there. Maybe wait a few months if you're looking at a just released itinerary. By then TAs will have bought group space (lowering the price) or prices will have gone down. Just don't wait too long! :)

[stace11]

I just booked my first Princess cruise and I'm looking forward to experiencing something different. Obviously a lot of people are very loyal to Princess, so that says something. I've been a loyal Celebrity cruiser and have found some excellent deals over the years. We were interested in a British Isles itinerary, which Celebrity isn't offering next year, so we went with Princess. We had a bit of sticker shock at the prices, but we really love the itinerary so we booked an obstructed oceanview room and we'll deal with the smaller cabin than we are used to. This obstructed oceanview is several hundred dollars more than the Sky Suite on Celebrity Solstice we sailed in last fall on an itinerary that was one day longer than the Princess cruise we booked. :eek: It gets down to supply and demand, so we'll manage.

[Druke I]

Well, for itineraries, I still like Princess.

 

Overall, I do like Oceania Cruise Lines very much. Excellent food, great dress code, and nice small ships. Some of their itineraries however are too port-inrtensive for me.

[Cruzin-K]

[quote name='DonnaK']Our #2 is actually Princess. Our #1 is Royal Caribbean[/quote]

Me too. I haven't sailed on Princess yet, but they had the BEST itineraries for Europe in 2011. RCI just didn't have anything comparable. I tried Carnival twice but just didn't have good experiences so at this point, I doubt I'll try Carnival again.

[geoherb]

In terms of numbers, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are tied for our number 2 cruise line. We've been on three of each. But our last Royal Caribbean cruise was 1999--and we haven't been drawn to their huge new ships. We've sailed with Holland America twice and had a great time on both.

Princess is winning us back with great service, good food, and our Platinum perks. We're halfway to Elite, having finished our 8th cruise last weekend. But if I find a cruise on Celebrity or HAL that is much better priced for our timeframe, we'll be on it instead.

[billet]

As a line Princess is my #2 and Cunard my #1. For itineraries Princess is #1.