RC vs Princess

[piano58]

Have always sailed on Princess. We loved it! Was wondering what the RC was like compared to Princess. Inside cabins? Do they have couches? Princess does not. Food? Entertainment? Does RC have a bar with slow dance music?

We are middle age couple. Not into rock climbing, surf riding or ice skating.

Would we still like RC? I have friends who loved Freedom of the Seas.

RC prices are usually higher than Princess. So that is why we have not tried it yet. Prefer carribean cruises because we live in Fl and will not have to have an airline flight.

[KSCPA]

We have been on 2 cruises with princess---this will be first one with RC----My TA told me RC is trying its best to match what Princess does....Enchantment of the Sea is the boat we are taking----they have added a movie screen on deck 9 apparently---as of 12/15/12. So it appears they must be trying to duplicate Princess style....sorry I cant help ya----Im in the same BOAT!!! LOL

[royalcruz]

Most inside cabins have couches. We just had a chair in an adjoining cabin on Enchantment, so now we avoid adjoining cabins. Food is different but comparable. RC entertainment has a higher energy to it than Princess. Some RC ships have slow dance music in the bars. There are lots of middle age people on both lines who have a great time.

[fishin' musician]

The biggest difference to me is the atmosphere. RCL is louder, more rah rah, get that party started... lots of charged up announcements. Princess is more tranquil/relaxed. RCL has it all over Princess in production shows and family activities. Food is too subjective to really comment on, but DW says Princess deserts are the best. I think you'll find similar lounge music on both brands.

 

For me if you have kids in tow, RCL wins hands down. If not, it comes down to your preference in vibe/atmosphere.

[Tyler80]

Charged up announcements?

[mrsfuzzmo]

The biggest difference to me is the atmosphere. RCL is louder' date=' more rah rah, get that party started... lots of charged up announcements. Princess is more tranquil/relaxed. RCL has it all over Princess in production shows and family activities. Food is too subjective to really comment on, but DW says Princess deserts are the best. I think you'll find similar lounge music on both brands.

 

For me if you have kids in tow, RCL wins hands down. If not, it comes down to your preference in vibe/atmosphere.[/quote']

 

I agree. After numerous RCI, Carnival, NCL, and Disney cruises we took a Princess Cruise last spring (April on the Ruby). While it nice, good food, clean, etc, we found it to be really boring compared to the other lines. I missed the towel animals, dancing waiters, pool games and the like. We are in our mid 40s and early 50s and found Princess to be VERY subdued for our taste. We are not crazy partiers, but we like the different lounge venues of the other ships. All of the lounges on the Princess ship seemed like they were an old man's study, complete with library books, dark leather chairs, low coffee tables. While one lounge like that is nice, they all seemed similar. I like the variety of RCI so that if I wanted to hit the "leather lounge" and relax, I could, but i also had a choice of the comedy clubs, piano bars, Karaoke bar, champagne bar, sports bar and the like. So I guess you will see MUCH more variety on the RCI ships vs. Princess. That may be to your liking, it may not.

[tispwisp]

It really depends what your tastes are. I am in my mid 40's and DH is his mid 50's. We are not loyal to any line and have tried several. We don't do the rock climbing, surfing, or ice skating either, but we love to watch other people doing it. (although I will admit that I did try the zipline on the Allure last month! :) )

 

While we have never had a bad cruise and will no doubt sail Princess again in the future, for the time being Royal Caribbean and Celebrity fit our cruising preference.

 

Hands down - the entertainment is better on Royal Caribbean. I think 90% of the people will agree with that. Food is subjective. We just got back from a B2B cruise: Allure of the Seas/Ruby Princess and to our shocking surprise, we like the food better on the Allure. Go figure! The Princess food tasted a little bland to us. Missed all the dessert soufflés they used to have. :(

 

No cruise is a bad cruise. We loved ALL our cruises and the best cruise is the next one!

[austinlw]

My wife and have cruised Princess 4 times (including a very recent one), RCI 3 times, Carnival once (not likely to return), and Celebrity once (very likely to return). Our last 2 cruises have been on Princess. We find Princess to be very pleasant, relaxing, consistent (predictable), with very good service and food, and good itineraries. That being said, we have really had more fun on Royal Caribbean ships (on the ships themselves as opposed to the ports). I'm not a big party kinda guy. I'm not into cruise directors yelling at me to get on the dance floor, put my hands up, yell for the red team or blue team, etc. Hence that's part of why I didn't care too much for Carnival (although I thought the service and food were generally pretty good for the price we paid). But we have found that Royal Caribbean, for us anyway, was a nice happy medium between Carnival and Princess. Very good service that seems more genuine and personal to us. We have enjoyed the waiters singing O Sole Mio on Italian night (as opposed to doing the Macarena on Carnival or the Baked Alaska parade on Princess). We get a smile out of the towel animals. We like the layout of RC ships with the big open dining rooms, ample windows, and theaters that are large enough and multi-leveled so that you don't have to get to a show 15-20 minutes early to get a good seat. Seems to us that they coordinate their evening meal and show times better so that you can easily go from one activity to another. And we find "The Quest" a lot more entertaining than the champagne tower on Princess. So after 2 Princess cruises in a row, we are ready to return next winter to a Royal Caribbean cruise - both for the variety and because we have had great times on the 3 cruises we've taken with them.