Compare - Princess v. Carnival

[trishalyn78]

We have always cruised Carnival (3 times now), but we have booked an Alaskan cruise for May, 2001 on Princess. (I kind of feel like I'm cheating on Carnival - we love them SO much!)

 

If you have cruised both Princess and Carnival, how do the two compare?

 

THANK YOU!

 

:D

[trishalyn78]

P.S. We will be on the "Golden Princess"

[UpcountryTravelers]

We've done several of both. Princess is definitely upscale, better decor and quality aboard. Just upscale and quality all around; food, shows, etc. Carnival is the "Fun Ship" and if you're into partying, etc., it's the way to go. Princess puts on a wonderful Alaska cruise, especially with the rail cars and lodges they OWN when you do the shore tour portion. (You are, aren't you?) Princess does a lot less of the constant announcements and hard sell that Carnival does.

 

Princess is our favorite unless we are taking the grandkids on short tours.

[Essiesmom]

I did not find the food on Princess to be superior to Carnival, and the beds will be rock hard compared to the wonderful Carnival/HAL/Cunard beds. You will have great enrichment lecturers. EM

[runnerodb83]

Here's what you wont get on Princess vs Carnival

-better food (in most cases, non specialty)

-far superior service

-nonstop activities

-fun an interesting rooms and venues (most on princess are tasteful, but not carnival or NCL)

 

Here's what you will get on Princess vs Carnival

-more extensive buffet, think less "stations" with food you could easily find around home and more food that you would say "gee, never had that, looks really good". Liken it to what a buffet should be (princess) vs a cafeteria (carnival, sorry, just calling it like i see it!)

-more "ocean going" experience

-much better pool areas

-a bit more drab interiors

-more musicians, and on piazza equipped ships you'll get performers, with a wine bar, and a cafe serving gratis specialties

-slightly more modern interiors, dependent on which ships you are going on

[LaidBack]

runnerod, if you mean by "drab interiors," no flashing neon lights or colors like an explosion in a paint store, Princess certainly can't hold a candle to Carnival.

[califgary]

runnerod, if you mean by "drab interiors," no flashing neon lights or colors like an explosion in a paint store, Princess certainly can't hold a candle to Carnival.

 

I can relate to this! The one and only Carnival cruise we took was like a psychodelic episode - the brightest lights (neon), colors (glow in the dark practically) in public rooms and staterooms - very loud people as well and it seemed many on board took this time on the cruise to be rude, loud, and drunk most of the time. I do admit I thought the food had more excitement to it probably because of the younger crowd and they can take spicier food.

[julia]

Although Princess is our line of choice, Carnival has them beat on food quality. I realize that food is very subjective (and I'm not comparing just "taste"), but the type/cuts of meat, quality of ingredients, and overall presentation go to Carnival.

 

Carnival has larger cabins.

Princess has MUCH nicer ship decor.

Princess has better pools.

Princess has a calmer atmosphere (but still fun).

Service is good on both lines.

Carnival seems to have better entertainment & night life (good bands).

Princess's buffet's have better layout.

Balcony doors on Princess slide closed quietly.

Balcony doors on Carnival slam closed (and slam and slam....) :(

Princess has nicer self-serve laundries.

Carnival tends to be less expensive.

[runnerodb83]

runnerod, if you mean by "drab interiors," no flashing neon lights or colors like an explosion in a paint store, Princess certainly can't hold a candle to Carnival.

 

I really enjoy Princess cruises for a variety of reasons. Their interior decor, in my opinion, is uncreative and well, drab in many public rooms. I look for areas that are inviting as well as interesting. The piazza looks good, Wheelhouse bar is good, pool areas are good, specialty restaurants are good. Don't care for Princess Theater, Club Fusion, Explorers lounge (really can't stand the ambiance in there). I dont know, these are my opinion and don't want to offend anyone. To be honest, In the past 5 years, the NCL ships I've been on have great interiors, a hybrid of Carnival and Princess. Pride of America, for instance, cant help but make you patriotic. Each stairwell has a mural of a different american city, the main atrium is decorated like the capital rotunda, and one of the dining rooms feels like you are having dinner in the whitehouse. I could go on. The NCL Star is great too. My 2cents.

 

Don't even get me started on the names of some of the public rooms on some RCL ships...

[jetwet1]

They are both good lines, as others have said, Carnival has better food and beds (oh how I hate the Princess beds), however Princess offers a more upscale environment.

 

I am Platinum with both lines and honestly, I would not hesitate to book a cruise on either, mostly it would depend on who we were traveling with and where we were heading, for Alaska it would be Princess.

[Laurie S.]

I found the food to be much better on Carnival compared to Princess, although it's hard to compare the larger Spirit to the dinky Royal Princess. The buffet was the most noticeable, very good on Carnival, very poor on Princess. My friend and I were very disappointed in the Royal in terms of the food and treatment from the staff. The mattresses were much better, but we were in the Owner's Suite. Of course, it didn't help that they gave him a child's rollaway bed to sleep on!

 

We took the cruise for the itinerary and knew there wouldn't be many activities on a small ship. But, we didn't think it would be as boring as it was! We're not giving up on Princess yet, but I do have to say their customer service is horrible.

[julia]

I found the food to be much better on Carnival compared to Princess, although it's hard to compare the larger Spirit to the dinky Royal Princess. The buffet was the most noticeable, very good on Carnival, very poor on Princess. My friend and I were very disappointed in the Royal in terms of the food and treatment from the staff. The mattresses were much better, but we were in the Owner's Suite. Of course, it didn't help that they gave him a child's rollaway bed to sleep on!

 

We took the cruise for the itinerary and knew there wouldn't be many activities on a small ship. But, we didn't think it would be as boring as it was! We're not giving up on Princess yet, but I do have to say their customer service is horrible.

 

Yes, that would be comparing apples to oranges. They are totally different ships!

[WisCruiser2]

Isn't Princess owned by Carnival? Every line has its fans - and detractors. We haven't been on Carnival, so can't compare (although our daughters have liked it), but we did do our Alaska cruisetour with Princess and throroughly enjoyed it. We felt that Princess took very good care of us.

[runnerodb83]

Isn't Princess owned by Carnival? Every line has its fans - and detractors. We haven't been on Carnival, so can't compare (although our daughters have liked it), but we did do our Alaska cruisetour with Princess and throroughly enjoyed it. We felt that Princess took very good care of us.

 

Yes, Carnival owns Princess, HAL, Cunard...among others...

 

Some on this board would comment that the way Princess runs their ships has changed since they were "Carnivalized" and I would agree. Some for the better, some for the worse.

[KruzPrincess]

I think Carnival Corp learned a lot when they bought up these other cruise lines and started seeing how they ran their ships. Carnival Cruise line started adding a lot of amenities that you found on the other cruise lines. Before the change, the difference between the cruise lines was huge. I'd been on a Carnival cruise where the food was almost inedible. Later, I took a Carnival cruise where it was pretty good. I think they keep trying to get better. I do think the new Carnival ships offer a better experience than the old ships. Maybe that's true with many cruise lines. Anyway, as for Princess, I like them better. I like the classy, old world decor of the newest ships. The Golden isn't one of the newest, but the decor will be more understated. I like the food better on Princess. They have great pizza and I love their evening buffet. I always get good service on Princess. I hope you enjoy your cruise and have a great experience.

[julia]

Isn't Princess owned by Carnival?

 

Princess is owned by Carnival Corporation.

 

The Carnival Corporation owns:

Carnival

Princess

Holland America

Costa

Cunard

Seabourn

P&O

Aida

Ibero

[Clutterlady]

I found the food to be much better on Carnival compared to Princess, although it's hard to compare the larger Spirit to the dinky Royal Princess. The buffet was the most noticeable, very good on Carnival, very poor on Princess. My friend and I were very disappointed in the Royal in terms of the food and treatment from the staff. The mattresses were much better, but we were in the Owner's Suite. Of course, it didn't help that they gave him a child's rollaway bed to sleep on!

 

We took the cruise for the itinerary and knew there wouldn't be many activities on a small ship. But, we didn't think it would be as boring as it was! We're not giving up on Princess yet, but I do have to say their customer service is horrible.

 

Laurie, don't think it's a fair comparison. Can't compare a smaller Princess ship to the larger ships. Although we have only done one Carnival cruise, we did enjoy ourselves and had a great time. Cannot compare the food and serivce whiche we thought Princess won hands down. Now the beds, well, Carnival won there. Would I do another Carnival cruise, probably, but Princess is still in first place:)

[Laurie S.]

In many ways it is a fair comparison. I would expect food to be better on a smaller ship due to the smaller number of passengers. Also, I had a suite on both ships. I will say the service from the room steward was better on Royal. Still, neither line comes close to the service that HAL provides on their ships. It is unbelievable that any ship would provide a child's size rollaway bed for an adult in a room that costs $10K. Furthermore, one night we did a night dive and had to miss dinner. When we tried to order room service around 9 pm we were told that all they could provide were cookies! It very clearly stated that hot food was available until midnight. Very poor service, IMHO.

 

Yes, they had activities on Royal that we wanted to try, but each time we went to one, no one was participating. It was the most boring cruise either one of us have experienced. Thank god, we took that cruise for the ability to go diving and that part was wonderful. And, no, we did not do the ship excursions.

 

I'm giving Princess another chance by going on Crown Princess next year. Hopefully, a larger ship will be better. At the same time, I found plenty to do on the Maasdam, which also is a smaller sized ship. Basically, I found Royal Princess to be a one-star quality ship. Of course, a lot of that may be due to the fact that it has been sold.

[PhoneGoddess]

They are both good lines, as others have said, Carnival has better food and beds (oh how I hate the Princess beds), however Princess offers a more upscale environment.

 

Everyone has different tastes. I know that a lot of people like the food on Carnival, but I really did not care for it. I also like the beds on Princess, but think that the linens, pillows and comforters on Carnival are much nicer.

[hubofhockey]

Everyone has different tastes. I know that a lot of people like the food on Carnival, but I really did not care for it. I also like the beds on Princess, but think that the linens, pillows and comforters on Carnival are much nicer.

 

I can't even eat buffet breakfasts on Carnival. There is way too much grease. Lunch in there is a madhouse. Carnival does do well with dinners in their MDR and their upcharge steakhouse is a cut above Princess (they actually serve USDA prime and aged beef).

 

The decor in Carnival ships is best described as gaudy, in a very glitzy 1970s Vegas kind of way, full of blinking lights and lots of colors. Princess ships are far from drab and much more refined than the typical Carnival ship. Princess also does a nice job of separating pool areas, dining areas, and entertainment areas around the ship. It makes for a better flow and less crowding. The other major difference is the way the two lines utilize public address systems. You cannot escape the voice of cruise directors on Carnival. They use the PA system to constantly promote daily specials, bingo games, etc. On Princess, guest must still rely on the old fashioned paper copy of Patters. All of these things make for a more relaxed cruise on Princess. There is plenty to do. It's just not in your face.

 

If you have kids, Carnival entertains them much more than Princess does. If it's not waterslides or mini-golf or even the new ropes course on the Magic, there is always something for kids to do on Carnnival ships. The kids clubs are great too. My kids remarked that Princess was not too "kid friendly". They were 10 & 8 at the time. My daughter, who is now turning 13 and looking forward to a summer Med cruise on the Carnival Magic, told me that she thinks she would now like to go back on a Princess cruise. But Carnival still does a great job with kids.

[raisethebar]

Although I am not an expert cruiser-I have been on 5 different cruise lines in our 10 cruises -and our favorite is Princess and without a doubt our least favorite is Carnival-no question about that one. Too many kids running all over the place. Maybe it would be different at different times of the year but in the summer months there is NO WAY I would ever go on Carnival again.

[trinty1]

I think it all depends on who you travel with. If you travel with little ones, Carnival may be the way to go. We have traveled both Carnival and Princess. Needless to say, unless Carnival offers one tremendous sale, we are going with Princess from here on out. True, the beds may not be as soft as a Carnival bed, but they were comfortable on Princess. To me, you get way more closet space, the bathrooms are nice, we had flat screen TV in our inside cabin, the pools were nicer. MUTS offered extra cushiony chairs with cookies and popcorn and they were current movies. The food on Princess is way better than Carnival. Just my $ .02.

[toeknee]

Different strokes for different folks, Not sure if they used a T/A or did due diligence themselves, point is any knowledgeable T/A would know that the majority of pax who prefer Carnival, would not be happy with the more traditional ships such as the Royal

[trishalyn78]

I think it all depends on who you travel with. If you travel with little ones, Carnival may be the way to go. We have traveled both Carnival and Princess. Needless to say, unless Carnival offers one tremendous sale, we are going with Princess from here on out. True, the beds may not be as soft as a Carnival bed, but they were comfortable on Princess. To me, you get way more closet space, the bathrooms are nice, we had flat screen TV in our inside cabin, the pools were nicer. MUTS offered extra cushiony chairs with cookies and popcorn and they were current movies. The food on Princess is way better than Carnival. Just my $ .02.

 

We had a flat screen TV, AWESOME bathrooms and great pools on our last Carnival cruise. We were on the Dream though, which is one of the newest ships, so that may be why. It was gorgeous!

 

We still don't know how it happened, but we eneded up getting a room with TWO bathrooms (on Carnival). I had never seen anything like it before. It was awesome because then we didn't have to "fight" over the shower when we were scrambling to get ready for dinner at the last minute or something. I don't think we could ever get that lucky again!

[trishalyn78]

We are back from our cruise and the verdict is in. . .

We will NEVER cruise Princess again!!!

 

We have many many complaints.

 

Though, on a positive note, Alaska is gorgeous, and we have no complaints about being on land or our excursions, just our Princess cruise ship, which SUCKED!!! :(