P&O Australia cruise after Royal or Princess? Can anyone give me a comparison?

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

There are some very valuable opinions on this thread, thank you so much everyone. It makes my decision a lot easier - as we (hopefully) have many more years to cruise, I will be patient and save for cruises that are exactly what we are looking for.

 

All of you who have cruises booked, whether on P&O or other lines, I hope you have a wonderful time, how could you not - you'll be on a cruise!!!

 

Dont forget to look at those cruises overseas. There are some really inexpensive Mexico cruises on Carnival which your kids would love. Even with paying the airfare, they are comparable if not cheaper than doing a 7 dayer out to the islands on P & O.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Dont forget to look at those cruises overseas. There are some really inexpensive Mexico cruises on Carnival which your kids would love. Even with paying the airfare' date=' they are comparable if not cheaper than doing a 7 dayer out to the islands on P & O.[/color']

 

 

You have hit the nail right on the head there...

Some of our best deals have been on overseas cruises, even paying the airfare and overnight hotel.

It makes it very hard when you come back and look at the local prices.

All you can say is...

"They have to be joking":eek:

[Ausgirl]

Dont forget to look at those cruises overseas. There are some really inexpensive Mexico cruises on Carnival which your kids would love. Even with paying the airfare' date=' they are comparable if not cheaper than doing a 7 dayer out to the islands on P & O.[/quote']

 

Eileen and David, fantastic suggestion. Wow - even with airfare?? I will definitely be looking into that - how could you possible compare a 7 night on Carnival or RC to Mexico, including airfare, with 7 nights on P&O. My kids are all teenagers (the youngest almost), and they would absolutely love that. Not something I ever thought of looking at. I guess airfares would depend on what time of year we looked at going. Even if it worked out a little more, still worthwhile.

 

Guess what I'll be spending my weekend doing.... can see my hubby rolling his eyes now......

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Check out the airfares on V Australia. We just went on them to LA and they were fantastic. Your teenagers will love it. Lots of games, movies and TV shows. The food is good and there is free drinks and snacks all night long. We took the 10.30pm flight and it arrived at LAX at 4.30pm the same day. You could do some sightseeing, stay overnight (the hotels are pretty reasonable there too) and get on the ship the next day. It would be a holiday your kids would love if they haven't been to USA before. Good learning curve for them and there are lots of kids on the Carnival cruises and they will meet some new american friends. Just think how much they will love you for it! You might even get some free jobs done around the house. :eek::D

[villauk]

We have cruised on the Sun Princess and think she is gorgeous. The ship is glamourous, the staff, food and entertainment are good. With mainly Aussie passengers she is still relaxed and not snobbish. I wouldn't worry about the occasional negative comment. If someone looks hard enough for things to complain about, they will surely find something.:D I have read negative things about Cunard ships also. :D

Thanks, Aus Traveller. Hearing positive comments is such a good feeling when you're unsure you're making the right decision:).

[silverwillow]

Guess what I'll be spending my weekend doing.... can see my hubby rolling his eyes now......

:D lol had to laugh at that comment as my dh walks in at night and asks what cruise I have planned now hehe.

 

I have been looking at the States too but I keep adding to the scenario with oh well we are all the way over there we should also do Disneyland and oh I would love a cruise up to Alaska as well, ohhhhhhhhh I always wanted to do the Panama Canal lol and by the time I am done in my little daydream I have spent about $30,000.

 

To all you experienced travellers what is a reasonable time frame to do the States in? I don't think travelling all that way with a four year old for a week would be very relaxing. Would two weeks be feasible?

 

Oh it's good to hear nice things about the Sun Princess, I did spot a 14 night out of Singapore back to Fremantle that sounds great.

[sherri3802]

Any observations on what the differences are or if P&O is as good (or nearly as good)?

 

We have done a cruise on Rhapsody and loved it, and if we were to do another cruise next year it may have to be in June/July next year but the only ships around at that time of year (in Australia) are the P&O ones - Pacific Dawn, Sun and Jewel.

 

 

If anyone could shed some light I would really appreciate it.

 

Ask me after September :D

as I am going on Pacific Dawn, after only one other cruise-last year on Sun Princess.

I think a big part of the cruise experience is the weather and the destinations. Both worked out well for us-beautiful sunny days, smooth seas and so on.

On the Sun Princess, I spoke to a man who had been on P&O the previous year and said Princess was better-it included the steak option at dinner for no extra price. That seemed his biggest gripe against P&O.LOL

My princess impressions

-fairly good ship-some worn pieces, especially in Horizon court, but staff tried to keep things clean-there was constant varnishing, window cleaning, banister cleaning etc going on throughout the cruise.

Cabins cleaned twice a day, chocs left on pillow each night. pillows-friends complained and had theirs changed, me, I can sleep on anything and anywhere. Cabins quite small but adequate.

Dinner at night in restaurant-cloth tablecloths and flowers, excellent wait staff with good sense of humour, table swept of crumbs between courses. 4 courses served. I didn't find all of these as amazing as most people seem to and as my friends all did. The meals were probably pretty good, but they lacked something and I couldn't pin point what, but I think I missed eg a roast and vegies, or a special dessert like sticky date pudding or hot apple pie and icecream. Just depends on what you like, I guess.

They cater wonderfully for people with special needs eg coeliac. Could not have been better.

Library-beautiful room, crummy book selection IMO. Nothing much for a nice light read. Where were the Dick Francis, the Patricia Cornwall novels etc?

Computers-when i win lotto i will give them a try, but till then they are too expensive for me.

other passengers.-good. Mostly aussies. Well, maybe just about all, and most were from Melb when we sailed.:) Would have liked to meet a bigger cross section, but felt comfortable with the people on board.

My daughter did a P&O cruise where one of the women complained that there was a 'lower class of people' on with her, compared to the cruise she had done before to Antarctica. My daughtew found her a rather snooty and complaining type. I guess I must be one of those lower class of people but I enjoyed the group on our cruise.:p

 

 

Would I go princess again? Sure would, but like variety-different ship lay outs to explore and so on.

[Aus Traveller]

On the Sun Princess, I spoke to a man who had been on P&O the previous year and said Princess was better-it included the steak option at dinner for no extra price. That seemed his biggest gripe against P&O.LOL

My princess impressions

-fairly good ship-some worn pieces, especially in Horizon court, but staff tried to keep things clean-there was constant varnishing, window cleaning, banister cleaning etc going on throughout the cruise.

Cabins cleaned twice a day, chocs left on pillow each night. pillows-friends complained and had theirs changed, me, I can sleep on anything and anywhere. Cabins quite small but adequate.

Dinner at night in restaurant-cloth tablecloths and flowers, excellent wait staff with good sense of humour, table swept of crumbs between courses. 4 courses served. I didn't find all of these as amazing as most people seem to and as my friends all did. The meals were probably pretty good, but they lacked something and I couldn't pin point what, but I think I missed eg a roast and vegies, or a special dessert like sticky date pudding or hot apple pie and icecream. Just depends on what you like, I guess.

They cater wonderfully for people with special needs eg coeliac. Could not have been better.

Library-beautiful room, crummy book selection IMO. Nothing much for a nice light read. Where were the Dick Francis, the Patricia Cornwall novels etc? quote]

 

 

Your comments about Princess are fairly accurate for P & O. Probably the ones that do not apply to P & O are - choc on pillow; table swept of crumbs between courses (but that probably depends on the waiter) and four courses served - now 3 on P & O.

 

The man who complained that he couldn't get steak on P & O should go now. The new menu that started about a year ago has superb a lunch selection. We feel it is better than the dinner menu. It is very extensive and includes steak and superb desserts. I can't decide on my favourite dessert so have to work my way through starting at the top, always with icecream as an accompaniment. There are around 10 or so desserts available, so I don't have to repeat too soon!!

 

Regarding books in the Library - Get in quickly at the start of the cruise before the good books are taken out!!

[The_Big_M]

To all you experienced travellers what is a reasonable time frame to do the States in? I don't think travelling all that way with a four year old for a week would be very relaxing. Would two weeks be feasible?

 

I'd say 2 weeks is a reasonable period of time, but suggest you concentrate on an area rather than try to do it all. If you're comfortable with it, it's then also easier to drive than fly around. You said "do the States" but I wouldn't suggest trying to go to say, LA, NY and Miami in one 2 week trip for example. It's better to focus on say just west coast, or north east, or Florida, than just spend a lot of your time and money (and likely aggravation from shuffling the little one everywhere) in transit between destinations.

 

Depending what you want to do, you can easily fill up two weeks just in the West coast, or alternatively Alaska (though probably less interesting for the young one).

[Sandielle]

Aust T, on P&O, we had the crumbs swept off our table all the time! (DH kept remarking on the neat little 'thingy' they did it with. - Think he would have souvenired one if he could have - but he didn't!)

 

There was always steak at dinner time too and there WERE four courses:

Soup/entree

Pasta

Main

Dessert

Also they would bring you something that was not on the menu if you wished.

and would always bring you icecream and/or cream if you wanted it and it was not part of the dessert.

 

Certainly no chocolates on the pillow - but that's the last think I wanted after all the other food. We didn't even get to try the served afternoon teas as we couldn't fit them in.

The lunch menu was excellent - too many choices - I agree it was the best.

[sherri3802]

Oh and talking of food, I forgot to add that Sun Princess had the most excellent afternoon tea.

The waiters were all dressed up, long gloves, the whole works.:)

Served some savoury things, then little sweet things, scones, etc

 

We were put with a big table of about 15 and one of my friends, who is a bit zany, had us laughing all through it. It sure was not a 'formal' afternoon.

But we only went once, because to be honest, there is just too much food to fit into a day.

 

I am starting to get excited by the descriptions of the P & O lunch though and those 'superb desserts'.

Sun Princess at lunchtimes had small slices and jelly cups and I have to admit, they had lots of healthy options with fruit, but just once I would have liked to see something totally decadent. Jelly doesn't do it for me. I wish it did, it is low kj.:D

I also wish i could get as excited by the gym facilities on board as I do by the eating places.:o

The sun princess seemed to have a nice ocean outlook for people who exercised, by the way. Not that i actually went in there but I did pass it on the way to the hot tubs.:)

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

We were just over in the States for 28 days. We spent a week in Anaheim after the cruise. If you were to do a 7 day Carnival Cruise for example and then spend another week in LA to do all the touristy things you can knock over a fair bit in that time.

 

Here is what we did in the week in Anaheim -

 

Sun - Arrived in Long Beach off Coral Princess. Went shopping in afternoon for groceries. (Our 2bed unit had full kitchen - I would suggest that if you want to save money. We had breakfast there but always ate out for lunch and dinner)

 

Mon - Disneyland

 

Tue - Took surfliner train down to San Diego (fantastic train ride) and went to San Diego Zoo.

 

Wed - Universal Studios

 

Thur - Flew to Las Vegas and stayed the night at the Flamingo Hotel on the strip. Went shopping in the outlet malls - the clothes are sooooo cheap - everything is cheap. You have to do this!!!!!!

 

Fri - Still in Las Vegas - Flew back in early evening.

 

Sat - Had a 'quiet' day - just went to the movies and relaxed

 

Sun - Went back to Disneyland (we had a 2 day hopper pass) and flew out that evening.

 

It is amazing what you can achieve in a week this forward planning. One week on the cruise, one week in LA. 2 weeks is a good time for you all and your kids and you will have a ball.

[Ausgirl]

I'm pretty convinced now that we won't look at doing a P&O cruise when we can get better value for money elsewhere, so thank you all for your great advice and insights!!

 

The afternoon teas on Sun Princess sound decadent!! On Rhapsody the desserts were fabulous - at the buffet and the dining room, I didnt put on 2 kilos for nothing. From what I read, I think pretty much all cruise lines have awesome food (if you're not crazy fussy about your steak....:)

 

Eileen your trip sounds wonderful - I am so going to be looking into that. 2 weeks would be doable, just have to find when V Australia has cheaper airfares as it seems to range widely depending on the season and as my eldest is in Year 11, school holidays are the only times we can go. It's going to be next year though, but never to early to start planning. We have been to California a few times as my brother lived in LA for a few years, but all pre kids. Also at least LA is reasonably accessible, Miami for a Caribbean cruise would be a mission. What else did you do in your 28 days in the States?

[Aus Traveller]

The afternoon teas on Sun Princess sound decadent!! On Rhapsody the desserts were fabulous - at the buffet and the dining room, I didnt put on 2 kilos for nothing. From what I read, I think pretty much all cruise lines have awesome food (if you're not crazy fussy about your steak....:)

P & O has the same decadent afternoon teas. The only difference I can think of is that the waiters don't wear white gloves, but the same elegant traditional 'afternoon tea' atmosphere prevails. Complete with hot scones, strawberry jam and cream. Yum!! Anyone going on a P & O cruise should go to afternoon tea at least once. They are held every sea day.

[villauk]

We love the Sun Princess. Very nice little ship. If your budget can stretch to a mini suite it is equivalent to a full suite on all the other princess ships.

 

You aren't getting confused with the Pacific Sun - a P & O ship are you? The Pacific Sun is a very old ship and is just about ready to retire. I wouldn't suggest coming all this way to sail on her. Sail on Sun Princess.

Eileen,

We'd love to get a mini suite, but unfortunately they only hold 3 passengers and there will be 4 of us (2 boys aged 8 & 11). There doesn't appear to be much choice for us in the available cabins for 4 persons? We'd read that the quad balcony rooms were very small on Sun Princess, so we're not sure which cabin would be best for us all (it will be a 17 day cruise from Sydney to Perth)? One excellent feature on Princess ships is the launderette, something we don't usually have on any RCI/Celebrity ships. Obviously, it will be a major benefit for us with airline luggage allowances being so strict and with us spending a week prior to the cruise in Melbourne visiting relatives. Glad to hear she's in dry dock, I'm sure MUTS will be a hit with our boys;).

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Eileen,

We'd love to get a mini suite, but unfortunately they only hold 3 passengers and there will be 4 of us (2 boys aged 8 & 11). There doesn't appear to be much choice for us in the available cabins for 4 persons? We'd read that the quad balcony rooms were very small on Sun Princess, so we're not sure which cabin would be best for us all (it will be a 17 day cruise from Sydney to Perth)? One excellent feature on Princess ships is the launderette, something we don't usually have on any RCI/Celebrity ships. Obviously, it will be a major benefit for us with airline luggage allowances being so strict and with us spending a week prior to the cruise in Melbourne visiting relatives. Glad to hear she's in dry dock, I'm sure MUTS will be a hit with our boys;).

 

We were shocked at how small the balcony cabins were on sun princess compared to the newer ships like the coral princess. I would go stir crazy with just my husband let alone two boys as well in that sized cabin for 17 days.

 

The only other thing I can suggest (if the budget stretches that far) is to book two rooms (maybe one outside or balcony and an inside one across the hall) If you book you and one son in one room and your husband and one son in the other room and when you get onboard you can swap around cabins so you and your husband can be together. Everyone does this and it works out well.

 

Good luck with working this out.

[cruisin-m]

It's really to hard to answer, everyone prefers a different cruise line.

 

I think regardless of what line you go with they are all pretty much the same product at the end of the day, some do this better, others do that better but they are all excellent in their own rights.

 

P&O are the best adapted for Australian cruising and have the best entertainment in my opinion, yet at the same time a lot of extras aren't included like the pizzeria etc and some of the luxury.

 

Also, whilst their ships are the oldest I also think they refit their ships FAR better then any other line, an example of this is the dome on Pacfic Dawn.

 

Royal Caribbean and Princess are both excellent in their own ways as well, however, just like P&O you will realise there are certain bits that other lines did alot better.