Princess versus Royal Caribbean

[Peace2U]

I think they were very similar. I like the cabins on Princess better. They have refrigerators and you can get fruit every day if you want. Princess' International Cafe is awesome! I do, however, love RCI's towel animals!

[nfglory1]

IMO I would not hesitate to book with RCI for a cruise. I just got back from Emerald on Sunday and was on AOS 8 months ago. I loved the Emerald cruise and it was a nice ship, but I almost think that RCI wins overall. It is very close and there are positives and negatives about each cruiseline, but you shouldn't be the least bit skepitical about booking with RCI.

[Cruise Raider]

Just to help clarify the things I love about princess include:

1. Quiet, not too flashy

2. Less kids running around

3. Balcony rooms are comfortable

4. Dining is easy, we do both anytime and sit down but mostly we do the anytime dining with Princess.

5. Love the Princess Coffee Card and speciality coffees!

6. Love the quiet pool in the back of Princess ships by the spa - so nice and quiet!!

7. Just love the overall feel of princess!

8. Love MUTS!!

 

I like these things as well on Princess but tried my first RCCL cruise a couple of months ago and loved it as well. I think the ship we sailed on on RCCL had an elegant design, liked the stateroom much better than that on any Princess ship we have sailed. We are sailing on our 10th Princess cruise coming up, so do obviously like it a lot but liked some of the things on RCCL a bit more.

 

My comparisons -- only my opinions but maybe they will help

• Stateroom cabins -- goes to RCCL (D2 balcony on RCCL was nicer than a mini suite on Princess
  
• Ship decor -- goes to Princess by a slight margin
  
• Shows -- equally as good on both
  
• Various activities -- probably goes to Princess with the pool games, survivor, etc.
  
• Food -- probably goes to Princess, especially in the main dining rooms
  
• Buffet design -- definitely goes to RCCL
  
• Pools -- Princess usually has an adults only area and less crowded pools in the front or back of some ships -- RCCL had a great indoor pool area for adults only as well so this is a tie
  
• MUTS, mini golf, rock climbing wall -- well, this probably goes to Princess as nobody ever on the rock climbing wall that we saw and MUTS it so very awesome -- always a crowd (hint -- the milk and cookies in the afternoon....cool touch)
  
• Room stewards -- RCCL all the way on this one!! Enough said, they are just far superior in my experience.
  
• Casino -- RCCL for me on this one -- I don't like the auto transfer on to your card -- too easy to get double charged
  
• Customer service -- always had an extra charge on Princess -- oftentimes taking several visits to the pursers desk to get them removed. We booked an awful tour on RCCL and money returned promptly with only one visit to guest relations!! This one goes to RCCL
  
• Repeat cruisers perks -- our Celebrity status was to be tranferred to our RCCL cruise but never was even though we made a point to notify them of this. Better perks offered to repeat cruisers on Princess --- took advantage of the free internet packages -- definitely goes to Princess on this one
  
• Laundry room -- now, this one goes to Princess even though I try to never do laundry while on a cruise. It is convenient, however, to be able to iron some of the packing wrinkles out of garments and cannot do this on RCCL....so this one goes to Princess.
  

There are items from each line that make each cruise special. Hope my opinions helped a bit. think you might enjoy either one, though, if you love cruising!!

[OCruisers]

While we do favor PRINCESS, both are much more alike than different.

 

:cool: Don't worry ... You'll enjoy a cruise on either!

[HMSDingy]

Although we've cruised more with Princess than RCI, I think they are both comparable. Like the others, we chose our Med cruise with RCI because of the itinerary. Our next cruise with Princess is more of a nostalgic trip back (our second cruise onboard the Emerald) as we've done most of the Caribbean.

[pamssanity]

We did Freedom on RCCL last season- and loved it- the missing shrimp cocktail that you mentioned is there for the asking-the Freedom has so much to offer and is getting refitted to have a lot fo the amenities that Oasis has- so think twicxe before decideing not to go RCCL- we have dine 2 with RCCL, 1 celebrity, one HA and now our second Princess- enjoiy whatever ship you choose.

[Jamietravelstheworld]

I think Princess and Royal Caribbean are fairly similar. My son prefers Princess because they have fresh water pool and Royal Caribbean has salt water. That's petty in my opinion. When deciding between the two for me, it always comes down to itinerary and price, I know I'll have a great time/experience on both.

[DonnaK]

I think Princess and Royal Caribbean are fairly similar. My son prefers Princess because they have fresh water pool and Royal Caribbean has salt water. That's petty in my opinion. When deciding between the two for me, it always comes down to itinerary and price, I know I'll have a great time/experience on both.

 

 

I believe that the newer RCI ships have fresh water pools. (Freedom class and above)