Long time Carnival cruiser looking to switch to Princess

[cubfan63]

Some people coming from Carnival are disappointed by no towel animals on Princess. Set your expectations accordingly.

 

Some other very random comments:

 

Unlike Carnival, the alway available menu has shrimp cocktail nightly.

 

Although Carnival has 24-hour pizza, many find Princess's pizza to be the best pizza amongst cruise lines.

 

You don't have to dress formally on formal night in a specialty restaurant on Princess. For Carnival, this is not the case in my experience.

 

One of the dining rooms is open on embarkation day for lunch on Princess. Carnival only has the buffet open for lunch.

Edited January 24, 2014 by cubfan63

[bassmaster150]

I will second the pizza statement...it is REALLY GOOD!!!

[own]

When I was on Ruby last month, I really enjoyed the live music. Are these about equal on both lines?

[COMBOY]

I'm wondering what the main differences we may expect between the two lines. Things we take for granted on Carnival that are different, that sort of stuff. Anyone willing to offer thoughts?

 

Sure, having sailed on 30+ with every major line all I can tell you is to just go and try Princess. We don't know you and tell what you might like or not like because many things are way too subjective. Comparing Princess to Carnival is like comparing apples to oranges. There both offer good products, but they are very different in atmosphere, on board decor, entertainment, passenger demographics etc. You might go on Princess and hate it or just prefer Carnival better in terms of pricing. Who knows? To me there really isn't a bad cruise; just different. They both offer the same things...but just in a different way. Carnival is the "Fun Ships" and Princess "The Love Boats." Actually Carnival owns Princess. Can you go on Princess with an open mind and the adventure to try something new or different? Look, you make the cruise what you want out of it. Last year I went on a Carnival cruise with friends. I hadn't been on Carnival in a quite a while. I like RCI, Princess and Celebrity. Before the cruise I read a lot of the reviews here on CC and some were simply awful about the Carnival ship. So, I went anyway with an open mind and you know it wasn't as bad as some of the reviewers wrote. In many cases it was pretty good. So, I've learn to take every review with grain of salt. The only way you are going to know if you like Princess is to try it for yourself. If you end up not like Princess then go back to Carnival. You really don't have much too lose.

[golfb4cruzing]

As a previous pizza shop owner, I second the great pizza on Princess. We made our own dough and had stone ovens. I spent a lot of time, too much according to wife, talking with the pizza staff about their process. Excellent product.

[SadieN]

On average Carnival's cabins are larger than the comparable cabin on Princess.

 

Princess does have some perks for booking a suite.

[Cruisin' Chick]

My first six cruises were on Carnival ships (last one in 2002), and then we got offered a "friends and family" discount for a Princess cruise by someone who worked for my hubby at the time (his gf worked at Princess).

 

We realized we felt it was a better fit for us, and went on four more Princess cruises since then. We liked that we didn't feel we were in a Vegas casino (all those flashing lights and garish decor) whenever we left our cabin. We like that every cabin has a mini-fridge (never had one in all of our Carnival cruises).

 

There's far less PAs. Usually just the announcement from the bridge at noon (which I try to always listen to), emergency announcements. Some CDs might do more ones about activities, but I could do without the "last chance bingo" or "you must go to the art auction" ones, and there are usually less on Princess.

 

Not interested in the crazy pool games either. Carnival's tended to be over the top, IMO, with the lip sync ones (each contestant would get a banana to use as a microphone and it seemed they always used that "Dude looks like a lady" song, and the stuff-a-bikini-with-ping-pong-balls contests.

 

Not a foodie, so we usually stick with the MDR (we like that Princess still has traditional dining, which I guess Carnival has kept, too), the Horizon Court (the buffet -- my hubby likes the made-to-order omelets at breakfast), the outdoors grill (we'll often get a grilled chicken sandwich there; there's also a pizzeria too), and of course, the International Cafe. The IC is now on most Princess ships and isn't an enclosed eatery, but a set of display cases for light meals, snacks and desserts, available 24/7. The only charges are for specialty coffees/drinks and gelato on those ships that have that (for example the Golden, Grand and some others don't have gelato).

[browneyedwoman]

Much more subdued than Carnival...Where Carnival is disco, Princess is showtunes. Hal is light jazz.

 

If Carnival was "disco", I wouldn't mind it. It was all the rap music that I didn't like. We really liked almost everything else.

[serene56]

I can drink carnival coffee. princess I can not. I buy fresh brewed at international cafe.

 

Carnival I can mix iced tea with lemonade on princess I can't drink their iced tea..but their soda card is very affordable..nothing like carnival charges.

 

No 24 hour pizza or self serve soft iced cream.

[Iamcruzin]

Gosh, is there no newlywed game on princess? I thought there was, but it must have been on another cruise line.

 

 

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I think Princess is more of a milestone anniversary cruise line. With that said, my wife and I honeymooned on the Crown Princess in 1991. She was a month shy of 22 and I just turned 30. We the youngest on the ship at that time. Most of the passengers on the ship were in their 40's and 50's,our ages now. Looking forward to a 25th celebration on any cruise line.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Iamcruzin

[Mekamax]

We jut took our first Princess after many on CCL, RCL, NCL and Disney and we are hooked! Loved it for all the reasons you mentioned - sick of those things on CCL and the new crowd they are attracting.. The food is much better on Princess and also the pizza dough was being hand tossed and topped as we watched... :D Try it!!

 

If you live near a port try the BVE - Bon Voyage Experience where you board on Embarkation Day first and get lunch in the dining room with wine, a boarding picture and run of the ship till 3pm for $39 pp. This is then put toward your cruise if booked in 3 months... We did this to get a feel of the passengers and crew and was fun!

[serene56]

I can drink carnival coffee. princess I can not. I buy fresh brewed at international cafe.

 

Carnival I can mix iced tea with lemonade on princess I can't drink their iced tea..but their soda card is very affordable..nothing like carnival charges.

 

No 24 hour pizza or self serve soft iced cream.

[Acosmo]

Along with all the comments made, I notice the demographic on Princess is an older, more settled, type of passenger. They aren't rushing around frenetically, taking up the whole hallway until they're right on top of you and realize there are other people on the ship, before moving out of the way.

 

No roaming bands of kids running around the ship unsupervised, like they're at the mall. Fellow passengers are dressed while inside the ship, no bathing suits walking through the Horizon Court. No shouting or running in the hallways late at night, or all day long.

 

We cruised Carnival's newest ship, the Breeze, in November '13, and two months later we sailed Princess' newest ship. The crew members on the Breeze didn't look at us, didn't want to interact, were very introverted and didn't smile. On the Royal Princess it was the exact opposite, they never passed us without looking us in the eye and speaking. From the Officers to the buffet cleaning crew, not one of them passed us without looking up and speaking.

 

I compare Carnival to Ocean City, Maryland, not a bad place but you know you're getting a conglomeration of college-age, young families with kids, groups of 20 some-things who are looking for a good time for a week at the shore.

 

That's not to say Princess is perfect, we had a few chuckles about the encounters we had at dinner with Princess' frequent cruisers either looking down their noses at us for having just 3 Princess cruises and the lowly "gold" card, or telling us what we were missing by never having sailed to Alaska, Panama Canal, or the Med.

 

Overall, we may go back to Carnival here and there due to their many different ports in Florida, but the food, beautiful ships, excellent service, and more relaxed feeling on board is going to draw us back to Princess for the next few cruises.

[OCruisers]

While Princess is our favorite cruise line, we still "sleep around" from time to time on other cruise lines.

 

You'll never know which cruise line is the best fit for you until you give it a try for yourself.

 

Hope you will give Princess a try. :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[SadieN]

Anytime Dining is a bit different on both lines.

 

On Carnival ATD is restricted to Pac assigned to ATD.

On our few Princess cruises (on the Golden) ATD is for those assigned to it AND for those having issues with their assigned dining times.

Princess also takes reservations for ATD.

[DMRick]

I have never heard this. We were told if we had an issue with our assigned time we needed to go to the buffet. Otherwise it makes it too crowded for those who picked anytime dining. Or you could check with the matre d to see if there was anymore room in anytime, but you could only switch once if it was even available. Who on the ship told you you could go to anytime?

Anytime Dining is a bit different on both lines.

 

On Carnival ATD is restricted to Pac assigned to ATD.

On our few Princess cruises (on the Golden) ATD is for those assigned to it AND for those having issues with their assigned dining times.

Princess also takes reservations for ATD.

 

 

 

 

 

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[JimAOk1945]

We have sailed on Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. We have sailed in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter months.

 

We have noticed a good mixture of demographics on all of them.

 

We sailed on different cruise lines to get an idea of their onboard service and enjoy their itineraries.

 

We have another Princess cruise scheduled in December that we are looking forward to.

 

Of the three cruise lines that we have tried so far (we intend to try a few others), we prefer Princess.

Edited February 3, 2014 by JimAOk1945

[SadieN]

I have never heard this. We were told if we had an issue with our assigned time we needed to go to the buffet. Otherwise it makes it too crowded for those who picked anytime dining. Or you could check with the matre d to see if there was anymore room in anytime, but you could only switch once if it was even available. Who on the ship told you you could go to anytime?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The crew on the Golden.

Good to hear it isn't a fleet wide policy.

Like everything else what is true in one ship isn't necessarily true on another.