Princess compared to RCI

[baldercash]

You'd have no worries at all regarding diet. The GF is veg, and as I said before, we found the food on Princess to be somewhat superior to that of the food on RCI. Additionally, we didn't notice any difference in ceiling heights between the two lines in the MDR or anywhere else...but again, we're comparing RCI Freedom Class VS. Princess Grand Class only.

 

On our last cruise I attended a seminar held by the Head Chief he stated you cannot sit down 5 chiefs let alone 5 passengers and expect to get a consistent review on any dish.

As an example he stated his top complaint about the ships food was it is too salty. The 2nd most common complaint was the food was not salty enough. Older people think it salty younger too bland.

So comments on food are personal and not of much worth.

However when we last sailed I was shocked to see that Princess was offering Mac & Cheese and a Hamburger as mains which I would not consider high quality or superior foods.

The Chief also stated that the new RCL menus had been designed with an increase in product cost.

RCL uses brewed coffee through out the ship some may not like it but it is real. The Chief got into the reasons for the inconsistency of taste.

Princess has switched to coffee syrup as a cost cutting at most venues.

[dasi11]

We just sailed on the West Coast (Sapphire Princess) a couple weeks ago. I LOVED the ship. We've done three RCCL cruises and 2 Princess cruises now. Like them both, but I thought our Princess cruise was just top notch. Very elegant, very classy, and service was great. They had great dining options and ship was just fantastic. I personally love swimming and their heated freshwater pools were extremely clean, sparkling, and the perfect temperature (loved that it wasn't salty!).

 

 

 

We didn't take our kids on our recent Princess cruise, but I was very impressed with the Sapphire's children's area. they had very nice covered outdoor play areas that looked great. I don't think I would say the RCCL camps are far better though. Again, didn't bring my kids this time, but the facilities looked great on Princess.

 

While the kids area may be beautiful, the kids sit and watch TV for most of their camp time. I never see them watching TV until after 10pm on RCCL. I have 3 kids and the kids said the camp was terrible and they did nothing for the kids.... it was baby sitting not activities.

[vmom]

I have cruised both RCCL and Princess. If I had younger children I think RCCL is a better choice as it has more active activity choices.

 

Otherwise for adults, they are very similar. One line does some things a bit better where as the other line does something else a bit better. Both give a quality product.

[Gaynors]

Did both Princess (Grand) and RCI (Freedom) in the last six months and we thought the Freedom was better overall. However, as mentioned above Princess pizza is WAY better (personal taste of course.;)), Princess offers really nice toiletries in all rooms not just suites (hate that nasty shower dispenser stuff on RCI), Princess has the buffet opening 24/7 (at least a portion of it) so no looking for a light snack after 9 pm and finding the Windjammer closed.

 

We had better service on RCI both wait staff and room staff (but that could be just luck). Enjoyed the Dreamworks characters and movies that Princess doesn't offer. Princess offered an excellent itinerary (please take note RCI) southern caribbean out of FLL - we went to Aruba, Curacao, and Princess Cays - 7 days.

 

RCI loyalty program is better than Princess...

 

with all that said I'm sure we'll sail Princess again (usually their prices are better than RCI) and they do offer so interesting itineraries.

 

It is definitely worth trying :)

[OCruisers]

Really feel almost all who enjoy cruising on RCCL, will enjoy Princess as well! :)

 

LuLu

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[CleoPat]

Just got off a Princess cruise and will never go again. Haven't been on RCI in a couple of years, so I don't know if quality has gone down or not since then.

 

The low ceilings in the MDR made me feel closed in. Very poor service in Anytime Dining. The food was not on par with RCI. Ordered a steak one night and couldn't even get the knife to cut it. I was offered another "sharper" knife. That didn't cut either. Had to order someting else.

 

The shows were not as good as RCI and very short.

 

I was on Caribbean Princess which is an older ship so I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I missed RCI's Solarium.

 

I don't cruise for pizza.