Difference Between Princess and Carnival

[serene56]

Hi everyone:) My fiance are planning an Eastern Caribean cruise wedding next Feb 2012 and have narrowed down our choices to the Ruby Princess, Carnival Glory and RC Freedom of the Seas! Carnival is the cheapest and we like the idea of keeping the costs low for our guests.My parents love to have a good time, but they are concerned with Carnival because of its reputation of being a party ship and more of a budget cruise line. Having no real cruise experience, is it worth paying a little more for a nicer ship? Our worry is that if we decide to not go with Carnival and a more expensive ship, will the ship then be full of older clientele and not be fun, especially around the pool and night time? We will be a group split between 20-30 year olds and 50-60 year olds so we need a ship that will satisfy all. We want nice and classy but still fun! Also, the Royal Caribean ship look amazing but during a 7 day cruise they only stop at 3 ports vs 4. Is it better to have more port stops? Im thinking so, but the price is good and the ship gets good reviews so were not sure what to pick! Help lolo! Thanks in advance for any advice:p

 

 

what week are you looking at? We have sailed during Valentines week.

Presidents week will be higher and full of kids.

The week before VAlentines week is Superbowl week.

 

Port vs sea days-- depends on the person- We prefer sea days- too many port days we need a vacation from our vacation.

 

Last cruise in February our option was Carnival Pride for 3 of us in a extended balcony for 1477. OR Ruby Princess - two of us in a regular BB balcony cabin for 2300.00 Huge difference in price.

 

I like cruising-- so i go with cheap- take the 7, 8 or 9 day cruise and I think you will all be fine

[Procruizer]

Ive been on both. I prefer carnival, but would not hesitate to go on princess again. i will say beds are better on carnival. entertainment carnival is better. pools are better on princess. cabins bigger on carnival. service was same to me. food i thought better on carnival. ships more elegant on princess.

[Svanny]

First, let me say I have never been on Carnival.

I have sailed RCL & Disney (and will be on Princess for the first time in July. :))

 

I will say, when I was in port on the ships I was on, we were "parked" right next to the Carnival Cruise ships each time.

 

Lots of noise, music and (seemingly drunken) people yelling to the other ships parked next to them by people offering "glad" tidings.

 

NONE of this is a bad thing for a fun cruise. I'm just saying this is the type of atmosphere I witnessed from the Carnival crowd.

[UpcountryTravelers]

"older clientele and not be fun" ??? Obviously you haven't met us and our friends on Princess!! :^)

[SunshinyLees]

Hi!! Thanks so much for the replies! Upcountrytravelers, I would love to meet you, I completely agree, people of all ages are fun!! Wow you should see my Dad, he's always up dancing late and volunteering for the Kareoke competitions lol! I more of less meant, will there still be lots of people up after 10pm with some sort of nightlife for those that wish to stay up late or is that not the case on Princess ships in the Caribean? Just looking for some opinions before we make a decision and I really appreciate everyones feedback, this site is great!! We are also considering RC! Has anyone been on the Freedom of the Seas ship?

Serene, we are thinking of doing the 7 day cruise leaving Feb 26th for a week or leaving the 12th of feb for a week. Are those good weeks?

Thanks again for the replies:)

[btrojanoski]

OK, we will depart on our 26th cruise in two weeks, our 20th on Princess with 2 on Carnival, 2 on RCCL, 1 on Cunard and 1 on Celebrity..... so you might think we would be big Princess cheerleaders.

 

Firstly we have never had a bad cruise....period. All these lines compete for the same passenger profile. We can't afford Crystal or the other top line cruise lines so we go with the competittive mass market cruise lines.

 

We enjoyed both of the Carnival cruises that we took and would go on Carnival again if the price and itinerary was right. We do believe, however, that Princess provides more value for the same price...but its very close. And Celebrity and RCCL are very close in product to Princess a well so if the itinerary is right, they are good too.

 

We persist with Princess because we have reached the Elite level and the Elite perks, particularly the free laundry and internet, are better than we have seen with other lines.

 

Enjoy your choice but don`t sweat the decision too much....you will enjoy the cruise.

 

Barry

[Jolimont]

Hi everyone:) My fiance are planning an Eastern Caribean cruise wedding next Feb 2012 and have narrowed down our choices to the Ruby Princess, Carnival Glory and RC Freedom of the Seas! Carnival is the cheapest and we like the idea of keeping the costs low for our guests.My parents love to have a good time, but they are concerned with Carnival because of its reputation of being a party ship and more of a budget cruise line. Having no real cruise experience, is it worth paying a little more for a nicer ship? Our worry is that if we decide to not go with Carnival and a more expensive ship, will the ship then be full of older clientele and not be fun, especially around the pool and night time? We will be a group split between 20-30 year olds and 50-60 year olds so we need a ship that will satisfy all. We want nice and classy but still fun! Also, the Royal Caribean ship look amazing but during a 7 day cruise they only stop at 3 ports vs 4. Is it better to have more port stops? Im thinking so, but the price is good and the ship gets good reviews so were not sure what to pick! Help lolo! Thanks in advance for any advice:p

Princess is classy indeed, and that's where I'd like to go for my 50th wedding anniversary, not my honeymoon! There are people who like to party on Carnival and RCI, that's because they stay up past 10pm, and yes they do enjoy a couple of drinks while on a cruise because it's not against doctor's orders. Are you getting my drift?

[beshears]

Someone may have already mentioned this, but when I replied I was in a hurry:(, and didn't have time to mention this.

 

Yes, Carnival has got a BAD name of a "party" ship. Personally I think that is wrong. We do not drink, and I think a person can have "great time," if you want to call that partying. The only time I seen where someone may mention they thought Carnival was a party ship, was when we were coming back from one of the ports, and some people were feeling a little GOOD, if you get my drift? I only seen this the one time, and I have been on Carnival several times.

 

I do know that Princess will let people bring wine on the ship, if you wish.

 

Princess is an elegant looking ship, but then I like Carnivals colors/decorations too, actually I think they are beter than Princess, at least compared to the Princess Sapphire.

[hubofhockey]

Just wanted to say that we've been on 2 Princess cruises and never had cold wet towels offered to us when coming back on ship.

 

I guess we were lucky in the Caribbean (Spring) and in the Med (Summer). We're two for two. :cool: I assumed it was standard. Oops.

 

For the post above mine, be careful on the shorter 3-4 day cruises as those cruises are still populated by the party crowd.

 

On the whole, I think Princess attracts more of the baby boomer crowd as well as people in their mid to late 40s and Carnival's crowd skews a bit younger. As a result, the entertainment on Princess is a bit more sophisticated and geared to the its passenger base. Both lines do a great job of serving their passenger base well.

[YumYumSweetiePie]

I went on a cruise about a month ago on Carnival....they confiscated everyone's alcohol from embarkation. I was surprised because their previous policy allowed it, guess not anymore....seems like everyone else was also surprised because when I went to collect the alcohol at the end of the cruise the list of people who had their alcohol taken was VERY, VERY long. Also, if bottles taken on-board were open in any way they threw the alcohol and did not reimburse you or anything.

[oskidunker]

We are still in the process of trying all the various lines to establish our own opinions. After our last Carnival cruise in January, we canceled the four upcoming Carnival cruises we had booked and will never sail on Carnival again.

ApolloBeach... what happened on your Carnival cruise to cause you to dump them?