Princess v P&O

[Thomo93]

Hi

 

Thinking of booking our first Princess Cruise onboard Emerald for this summer. We have only sailed with P&O Oceana before and wondered if anyone has any experience of both lines to compare ie service, entertainment and drinks prices etc?

 

Any advice would be great!

 

Thanks!!!

[riclop]

Its totally different experience.

[Kenswing]

Its totally different experience.

 

Could you please explain what the differences are?

[pompeynanny]

Not sure if you are from the UK or not.

We are, and have cruised both Princess and P&O. We much prefer Princess. We find P&O are much too rigid and inflexible. Princess have a "If we can do it, you can have it" attitude whilst P&O have a "You must have what we tell you" attitude.

We find the staff much friendlier on Princess.

The facilities and ships are similar but there is a more British feel to P&O. The drinks on P&O are cheaper and they have tea/coffee making facilities in the cabins.

You will never know which you prefer unless you try as everyone has their own personal taste. Good luck if you choose Princess - we are off the Venice on the Emerald in June.

[MandE-UK]

Not sure if you are from the UK or not.

We are, and have cruised both Princess and P&O. We much prefer Princess. We find P&O are much too rigid and inflexible. Princess have a "If we can do it, you can have it" attitude whilst P&O have a "You must have what we tell you" attitude.

We find the staff much friendlier on Princess.

The facilities and ships are similar but there is a more British feel to P&O. The drinks on P&O are cheaper and they have tea/coffee making facilities in the cabins.

You will never know which you prefer unless you try as everyone has their own personal taste. Good luck if you choose Princess - we are off the Venice on the Emerald in June.

I would agree with this post. The staff on Princess are far more friendly and accommodating than P&O. We are now Elite on Princess and would not use P&O again unless it was a lot cheaper had a much better itinerary. It is down to personal choice though. We enjoy the more international fellow cruisers on Princess than the purely British passengers on P&O.

[CROSBY]

We are British and have sailed both lines. my personal views only:

 

P&O - Seems to have an older crowd. More couples

Food more 'British' in that there were lots more vegetables and varieties of them. Breakfast was better (in my opinion)

Mostly British passengers, not very international.

Understands the British tea obsession.

More formal in dress and service

Ships seem darker

Drinks cheaper.

Speciality restaurants better.

Service fine but quite formal and subdued.

 

Princess - mixed ages generally and families.

Food very good - soup and salads paricularly. Found breakfast a bit heavy in the dining rooms. Meat heavy.

Staff very helpful and good quality service.

Ships bright and shiny.

Well organized and friendly. Can Do attitude.

Passengers mostly American, some Australian and International.

 

This is only MY observations.

[bobtheclog]

Hi,

I to agree with most of the comments, Princess does have a nice cross section of world wide passengers, against mainly British on PO. Its all down to the itinery as far as I am concerned, I don't like embarking a ship in USA if I can help it, which Princess have many, but I must say Princess do seem to give a little better service, and so they should because the gratuities are double what Po are, £3.50 against £8 ($11). Anyway you will enjoy either,

Happy cruising.

[caber]

We have sailed on both and like both but do tend to stick with Princess at the moment. We are elite on Princess, partly due to our P&O cruises and the perks are much better. The food is equal quality.

 

P&O is geared to British taste, especially in entertainment. The production shows are similar but Princess has had some comedians geared mainly to the US audience, which just went over our heads.

 

Drinks are more expensive on Princess, especially with the 15% gratuity added to each drink.

[antsp]

Do benefits still cross over to p and o. I know there used to be.

[KandMB]

We are first time Princess-cruisers and also wondered what the differences would be. Are there tea and coffee making facilities in the cabins on Emerald Princess?

 

 

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[Woobstr112G]

I'm a loyal Princess cruiser from the USA. I have been thinking of trying a P/O cruise in the future. I think it would. Be interesting to experience something different. I am particularly interested in the new Britanni's layout and how it compares to the Royal/Regal.....:):):)

 

Bob

[terrierjohn]

I'm a loyal Princess cruiser from the USA. I have been thinking of trying a P/O cruise in the future. I think it would. Be interesting to experience something different. I am particularly interested in the new Britanni's layout and how it compares to the Royal/Regal.....:):):)

 

Bob

Bob, Britannia has only just been floated out and does not come into service until March/April next year, so you will need to wait for a definitive comparison.

The deck plans are now available on the P&O website so you can peruse those to see what looks different. However I imagine there will be far more similarities than differences, the main difference will be the decor which will be a lot less glitzy than the its Princess sisters.

Edited February 18, 2014 by terrierjohn

[janny444]

Last year we did exactly the same cruise itinerary...one on the Crown Princess...one on the Ventura....both same size and layout BUT absolutely no comparison in quality...ambiance...service...food...etc.

Princess wins hands down every time...

 

As already stated Princess can't do enough for you and always with a smile. P&O some were very pleasant and helpful but quite a few weren't....they certainly needed "training" in customer service....a thank you from them would be nice...a smile ..that helps...being acknowledged always comes across well. When we having coffee in the atrium once a waiter came over...handed menu...waited ...I ordered...he brought coffee back...I said thank you...absolutely no reply from him...in fact not one word did he speak....not even a smile. Yes he could speak English because I heard him chatting with his colleagues...in English.

 

I know the service charge is more on Princess but I would rather pay more and have pleasant...no trouble madam....service than pay for non existent customer service.

 

I could go on on as to why Princess is soooo much better because on every level it is and it would take too long to say.

 

As for drink prices...can be a bit deceiving because it is in dollars but my G&T including service charge worked out about 10p more than on P&O

 

I won't say that I won't go on P&O again but it would have to be considerably cheaper than a Princess cruise.

 

If you have been on a P&O cruise you can add your cruise points to your Princess cruise but you can't transfer your Princess points to P&O.

[caber]

We are first time Princess-cruisers and also wondered what the differences would be. Are there tea and coffee making facilities in the cabins on Emerald Princess?

 

 

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No there aren`t. You can always call room service anytime or order breakfast in you cabin the night before.

[h3rjp]

I would totally agree with everything said here. Princess food and service are much better.

 

However I found the decor much nicer on p&o, I loved having the ability to make a cup of decent tea when I rolled out of bed in the morning and I thought the drink prices were far more reasonable.

 

That said the dress code was annoying, as you couldn't just nip to the buffet after 6:30pm wearing shorts (I just wanted a pre-dinner snack) and the staff verged from ok to downright rude.

 

That all said the fly cruise price I got for my January Ventura sailing was less than half the price than anything I could find with princess; plus P&O really know how to organise seamless fly cruise options (didn't even have to enter the airport building at Barbados). If the 2 lines were the same price, it would be princess. However, I wouldn't rule out a cruise on either.

 

 

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[bobtheclog]

As I said on my recent comment, yes Princess do give excellent pleasant service, and having been on more than 50+ cruises, but they are not paid to give poor service, they are getting double the gratuities that PO charge. I expect good service where ever I go, and most of the time it is good on PO. I off on a long cruise very soon on Princess, and very much looking forward to it, but the gratuities are over $850, when if with Po it would be $300(£200) that a big difference. To this day I still cant understand why the difference when they are the same company.

Just remember this, you pay your money for good service , that should be a given.

[berlingo]

We love both P&O and Princess. For us travelling with two teenagers Princess just has the edge. This is mainly down to the International cafe and the slightly more lively atmosphere. The food and entertainment is less British so not quite to our tastes but it is still great! For our money we would happily SAIL confidently on either line.

 

Happy sailing!

 

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