Princess or RCCL?

[resordanis]

Hi,

Just wanting to know if someone is out there that might be able to tell us which is the best line to travel on. We are interested in the Diamond Princess - Singapore to Sydney cruise in November in a Mini Suite. We have only cruised on Royal Caribbean before and not sure about the differences.

Any help would be appreciated.:D

[Debsta]

Hi,

Just wanting to know if someone is out there that might be able to tell us which is the best line to travel on. We are interested in the Diamond Princess - Singapore to Sydney cruise in November in a Mini Suite. We have only cruised on Royal Caribbean before and not sure about the differences.

Any help would be appreciated.:D

 

Great cruise....do it! :D You will love the Diamond! There's also a rollcall thread already running which will become very very active, many of the folks have done the run before too.

[CruiseAdict218]

I say go for Princess, you will have a good time, I loved Princess, while yes I havent been on that ship, but regardless you will love it

[resordanis]

Thanks for the positive feedback. With Princess can you take wine on board for personal consumption? The price on the Diamond looks good and for a similar night cruise on RCCL it is about $600pp more (not same destinations, just nights.) For this reason it is making us look at Princess or even Celebrity. Any feedback is appreciated. Cheryle

[rkmw]

go for the Diamond its 5 star and every port you go to you are allowed 2 bottles of wine to drink in your cabin

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Hi Cheryle ,

 

Both lines are great and you'll have a wonderful time on either of them.

I have sailed both and enjoyed both.

I tend to prefer Princess now as I really enjoy the Dining experiences they offer , and I think the standard of service has a slight edge.

We have done the Singapore or Bangkok / Sydney cruise twice now and it was fabulous. I was slighty apprehensive about the size of the ship at the start, but after cruising on her have no worries on that score now.

In fact I felt we had more room and space than on Sun or Dawn Princess.

It was also the first time I had tried Anytime Dining , and now would not like to go back to Traditional Dining.

I should also add that my thoughts are slightly biased as I have achieved Elite in the Captains Circle, and the perks that go with that , tend to drag me back to Princess , but we are also looking at a cruise later on on Radiance of the Seas.

I think its good to move around and check other lines out.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

go for the Diamond its 5 star and every port you go to you are allowed 2 bottles of wine to drink in your cabin

 

 

Thats 2 bottles each......:):)

On the cruise in question the first Australian port is Darwin,

and the liquor stores have learned to stock up

and put extra staff on duty

when a Princess ship calls.....:D:D

[Guest012]

We cruised on RCCL's 1st cruise Hnl - Syd back in 2007 and everything was brilliant from the ship to the food to the entertainment ..we could fault nothing and found the crew to be the friendliest and happiest we have ever encountered.....we have since cruised twice more with RCCL locally and with their adaptation to the market here felt they had unfortunately taken the edge off what we regarded as an excellent cruiseline....however we still rate them way above both P&O and Princess Australia......now the Diamond Princess is a different story ..wow what a ship and maintaining their Princess U.S standards makes them in our opinion a cut above all our local operators.......we did the Bangkok to Sydney cruise in 2009 and once again have no complaint about anything we are platinum cruisers so made good use of all the little extra's they offer:D........ she sure is a big girl but is so easy to get around and there is plenty of space for everyone we never felt crowded in.....the cabins are spacious even the inside ones, the food both in the restaurants and horizon court was yummy with plenty of choice, the ship entertainers were okay, the international guest artists were tops the australian one's the same standard as what they use locally...thankgoodness the shows aren't mandatory......the shore tours we did were reasonably priced and well worth doing...especially the Ho Chi Minh city tour.....we needed the security of knowing that no matter what the ship will always wait for their own tours;) last but not least we had the bestest bunch of cc'ers you could ever wish to meet, our masquerade party at sailaway was the most fun we have had in years, and we are looking forward to catching up again with some of them on this years Singapore to Sydney Diamond Princess cruise.....i am sure you will not be disappointed with either the ship or the ports hope to see you on our rollcall for November....cheers Shiona

[resordanis]

THANKYOU to you all for the feedback. I feel slightly better now about Diamond. We have only cruised on Rhapsody and absolutely love that ship and have booked a Radiance relocation cruise for next year. We are currently having a dispute with RCCL re our new C&A society level and for this reason we are questioning whether we should be so loyal. After my conversation this morning with the RCCL C&A desk in Miami this morning, it prompted us to look at other lines and I have been amazed at the prices offered for this particular cruise and also Celebrity!. Being able to take wine on board is also a bonus (instead of smuggling!!!!) They appear on the surface to be so much cheaper comparing nights! We love Asia and travel there at least once a year, but my husband would love to return to Vietnam a country he has not been to since the 60's, so this cruise could be a small sample for him. I love the size of Diamond Princess so I think we will definately consider. Now the hard part finding a travel agent that will give us the price we want to pay!

Finally, do Princess have a refundable deposit (similar to RCCL) or once you pay the deposit, you lose if you cancel!

Thanks again for the feedback. I have seen a good price on a Mini suite so will start there and work backwards if the prices tomorrow when I ring are not the same!:) Cheryle

Sorry, another questions, is there a better deck? or one which we should avoid. I think at this stage the cheapest mini suite seems to be Dolphin deck - is this okay? Thanks

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Finally, do Princess have a refundable deposit (similar to RCCL) or once you pay the deposit, you lose if you cancel!

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

 

Refundable deposits is a whole new ball game. Check the Princess web site for their policy.

I think if you cancel before 120 days of sailing , there is a full refund, and then a sliding scale as sailing date gets closer .

However... do check it out with your TA when you book as many are now witholding the first $200 as their fee if you cancel. A good TA will spell this out for you at the time of booking. Our TA even prints out a doc explaining where everyone stands if you have to cancel.

[Dizziedi]

Hi Cheryle, as you know we just had a dispute with Carnival/Princess over our suite on the Sun Princess and we were just outside the cut-off and they would not refund our deposit. That's what you get for loyalty from Princess. The mini-suites on the Diamond are not as good as the aft mini-suites on the Dawn and Sun Princess IMO but the ship overall is fabulous.

 

As for the grog, as stated by others, no problem on Princess or Celebrity taking wine on board. We have always found that once you get back on board in other Ports, they turn a blind eye to beer (in moderation) as well. Very civil.

 

Cheers

Di