Princess vs. Royal Caribbean

[skarletohara]

Our last 4 trips have been with Princess and now we are contemplating

 

another cruise in the next few months. Of course our first choice is Princess,

but we were kind of thinking of going on RCCL if we go to the Caribbean.

 

 

I was on RCcL back in '92 but I know they have some big ships now.

 

For those of you who have Princess and RCCL experience, would you please

list the pros and cons? We're having a devil of a time making up our minds..

[Toto2Kansas]

This past spring we sailed with RCI for the first time in several years. Admittedly it was on one of their smaller ships (Legend of the Seas). We had sailed on this same ship twice before totallying over 30 days. We were really looking forward to it after the last few years having sailed on Princess at least three times a year.

Now, since we had sailed on this same ship twice before, we figured we knew what we were getting into. I hate to say it but we were so disappointed in it. The service was great, but the food was no where as good as we remembered and in no way compared to the standards we have found on each Princess ship we sailed on since our last RCI cruise.

I have to say that others have told me that the larger and newer RCI ships are much better, but from experience, I can tell you that after 14 days on the Legend of the Seas, we are definitely heading right back to Princess.

[vmom]

We sailed on the Navigator of the seas-western route last year. We're sailing on the CB-western route in less than 2 weeks, so I should be able to give you a good comparison after we get back.

 

When comparing lines, you have to compare similiar type ships...such as comparing the Princess grand typs ships with the RCCL's voyager line. You really cannot in all fairness compare an older smaller RCCL ship with one of the grand ships from Princess such as the CB.

Frankly we loved out experience on the Navigator of the Seas, and I am sure we will love our cruise on the CB. We recieved outstanding service on the NOS and the food was very good. Not every dish is equally good, but on the whole we were satisified. We enjoyed the entertainment, with some of it being just great, and others not really to our taste, but trying new things for me is what makes cruising so much fun. the NOS offered alot of different choices in entertainment and activities, so you could always find something to your taste. The ice show was alot of fun and much better than I expected. If you dont have young children I would not cruise while school is out because it is a line that attracts alot of families. Just don't go the the port talks...what a sham!...but I think that is true on most ships.

 

I think one of the fun things about trying out a new ship is the new experience each ship brings with something of a different way of doing things.

[Toto2Kansas]

Many of our Princess cruises have been on the Sun Class ships, which are our favorite, so that is what my comparison is based on. Guess I should have stated that in my original post.

[Geema]

We've been on 5 Princess cruises and 3 RCI. Most recently we were on the Radiance of the Seas in January. I'd say both cruiselines are very similar.

Service was excellent on both, as was the entertainment similar. I do think Princess does a better job giving you a choice each night in different venues for their entertainment.

 

I also give Princess an edge on food. On Princess (at least in January

04) we had the same breakfast menu in the dining room with different specials each morning. On the Radiance, we had the same breakfast and lunch menus each day in the dining room. They also closed the dining room on the Radiance while in port. We prefer eating in the dining room over the buffet style, so this was disappointing to us, but not a big deal.

 

Now, movies in the room may not be a big deal for most, but my husband likes to watch movies - yes, even while on a cruise. Princess usually has on-going movies each day in the room on a few channels that he can watch when he comes back to the room during the day in between activities. RCI has only the Pay for View movie and will have a movie that was played in their theater the day before that you can watch in your room. They have several oldie but goodie tv shows playing and the usual news programs, but that's it.

That was disappointing to my husband - especially the pay for view movies that weren't even recent movies. Again, this was disappointing, but it wouldn't stop us from going on RCI for another cruise.

 

We've never been on the Voyager class ships with the promenade and ice skating rink and that will probably be what we'd sail on for our next cruise on RCI.

[Coral]

On Princess I have sailed the Sun class, Coral class and Grand class and on RCCL I have sailed the Radiance class and Voyager class - Princess wins for me hands down.

 

Princess is definitely my choice - it just felt classier to me. RCCL seems loud and crowded to me.

 

I prefer the fresh water pools on Princess and I give the edge to Princess for food (and for accomodating picky eaters). While my room steward and waiters on RCCL have been equal to Princess - the other staff, I prefer on Princess.

 

RCCL has some beautiful ships but when I am on them, I wish I was on Princess.

[nednrom]

We have sailed both on the Grand Princess and the Explorer of the Seas which is RCCLs Voyager class ships. I find both class ships and cruise lines to be comparable. The service is dependent on the people and purely luck of the draw. You will have some waiters, room attendants, bartenders that are beyond excellent and some that are awful on every ship working side by side. The entertainment is about the same. Everyone mentions food...that's really not that important to me. I've always found something quite tasty to eat in the formal dining room at night and elsewhere during the day. I don't go on the cruise to simply eat. The Voyager class ships of RCCL has a lot of other unique activities such as rock climbing, ice skating rink and an ice skating show that is not found on any cruise line which attracts more families with younger kids.

 

We like to cruise so we choose itenerary first, cruise line second. You can't go wrong with either cruise line. Whatever you choose, enjoy!

[maestra]

We just got off the CB last Saturday. We loved the ship and our stateroom. Thought the service in the PC dining area was lousy. I also loved the fresh water pools. BUT having done 5 cruises on Royal Caribbean, I think I'll go back to them for the next cruise. We've done Adventure of the Seas and Explorer. Loved the ice shows. The shows at night are much better. Just my opinion.

[jimneycrkit]

We went on the new Jewel of the Seas last year after sailing with Princess a few times. We thought the ship was nice but a bit too over done and gawdy . We like the sedate colors on Princess. The drinks were more expensive. I missed the buffet being open 24 hours as I am a very early riser and often like a bite at 5am . Having to wait until some days 7 am to get any food was a pain. The hours kept changing everyday. I thought their buffett was quite nice and the food sufficient. The dining room food however was not as good as Princess. Infact i would almost always order the same type of food that I would eat on princess and it couldn't compare. I have never not eaten rack of lamb but this time it was ruined. Service was poor all over the ship from the dining room to our room steward whom we never saw and often our room was not made up unitl 3 pm. The shows were okay. Not into rock walls and don't swim in cruise ship pools but did like the enclosed atrium on the Jewel .

I have often noticed though on this board and others that people that tend to sail RCCL or Celebrity like them better than Princess if they try it and vise a versa. If you like Princess then you may not like the others. Thats why there are so many lines. We know now that RCCL is not for us but we may try Celebrity in future but for the price Princess is a good choice. We are trying the QM2 next. Our favorite is Crystal but Princess is second with Disney a close third.

[PescadoAmarillo]

We cruise both lines and like both lines, although we have never been on the Explorer class of ship on RCCL and, frankly don't know if we would like that size of ship as much. We have been on the Sun and Grand classes on Princess.

 

We describe Princess as "user-friendly"...24 hour buffet, 24 hour pools and hot tubs, self serve laundries, reasonably priced soda cards and PC dining. However, their dining room service is (we think) considerably worse than RCCL, but we also have had personal choice dining on 4 of our 5 Princess cruises. PC dining on our 30 night Sapphire cruise was very good...but then, the waitstaff in PC dining kind of got to know us and our likes/dislikes on that long of a cruise.

 

We find the food quality and menu selections about equal on RCCL and Princess.

 

The Grand class of Princess ship just never seems to be able to get their act together with tender ports. Either because of the number of passengers or the tender process, it always seems to take a very long time (sometimes as long as 3 hours, regularly 60-90 minutes) to get off the ship.

 

We think RCCL does a great job with their kids club, as we were on a Spring Break cruise this year and, with over 700 kids on board, never had a single bad experience. People we've talked with on both cruises refer to RCCL as more "family friendly", but we are a couple without kids, and still really love their cruises.

 

Just don't go on one cruise line and do the constant comparisons to another during your cruise, as I did when I got on the Celebrity Galaxy in December just one week after spending a month on Princess. I kept thinking, "Princess doesn't do it this way, the Sapphire Princess was so much prettier, etc. However, after a couple of days of being bowled over by Celebrity's food and service, I was saying, "Celebrity does this or that so much better". In the end, I realized that the cruise lines are simply all very different, and they are all excellent in their own ways. In fact, the ships within a cruise line also vary, and change over time depending on the staff on board. We like all the cruise lines we've been on (except NCL...not so much), and would cruise any of them again in a heartbeat.

[ssapiers]

Never been on Princess (1st will be 4/06 to Hawaii). But been on the small RCCL ships,as well as the Radiance and Voyager class ships (living in Miami helped a lot.) We never had any problem with RCCL or for that matter NCL although we stop NCL when a friend started to work for RCL. Never had the problem with tendering like the previous poster but it seemed we were docked on the larger ships. The problem was getting back on board.

 

Bill

[susancruzs]

I like them both but give the edge to Princess. I do like the Radiance class ships though, I thought Brilliance of the Seas was an ideal size ship, big but not huge or overwhelming.

 

I really like fresh water pools, buffet area being open all the time for snacks, and just the general atmosphere on Princess suits me the best.

 

It really a personal thing, everyone has their preferences, I've sailed 6 lines and I pretty much stay with Princess or RCI. NCL, Carnival, Celebrity and Costa I probably won't sail again unless a group of people were going that I know then I might.

 

Susie

[Murphey]

I haven't heard anything here about cabins??????? Comparisons please. thx

[JPEvans]

I've sailed RCCL(Voyager of the Seas) and Princess(Sapphire), both in the past two months. I like Princess better than RCCL. I found the Sapphire very relaxing. Maybe it's the decor. I never really felt relaxed on the Voyager. The Voyager had 3,500 pax on my cruise. and many of them were collage age young adults. The whole cruise had a "frat" party ambiance. Lots of people walking around with open beer bottles in hand. I also found the ship to be very crowded. On the Sapphire, which had 2,800 pax on my sailing. Did't seem as crowded. Except for the 3 hour embarkation, but other than that, it was fine. As for the cabins. The colors on Sapphire for more pleasant. Voyager the colors reminded me of the 80's which had alot of pinks and turquoise blue. But I had very different cabins. On Voyager I had a balcony. On Sapphire I had an inside. I peaked into a balcony across the hall, and prefered it to my Voyager cabin. I think the food was better on Sapphire. In the cafe, Voyager had the same food for breakfast everyday. On Sapphire, they mixed it up a bit. Also the service in the dining room on Sapphire was more attentive. I always got what I ordered, and my drink preference was always delivered to me shortly after arriving at my table. On the Voyager, I had to ask for a second helping of rolls, and a couple times a course was never served. It could be I lucked out with my waiter on Sapphire vs. my waiter on Voyager. The Dining room it's self on Voyager had more of the "wow" feel to it, being 3 decks tall. The entertainment was equal on both ships. On Sapphire they showed the "big" shows a couple days, which was nice, if you missed it, you can get a second chance. Or if you liked it so, you can see it again. I guess everyone out there has their own preference. But I deceided that Princess is just perfect for me.

[negc]

I haven't heard anything here about cabins??????? Comparisons please. thx

unless you are on one of RCI's older ships (Sovereign, Monarch, Majesty or Nordic Empress), you should find the staterooms on Princess and RCI pretty similar in size etc. We did sail on the Dawn Princess in an outside stateroom with a balcony and found it (especially the bathroom)somewhat smaller than a similar category room on Vision, Radiance or Voyager class ships, but not enough to make us feel uncomfortable or claustrophobic.

Our Dawn Princess cruise to Alaska was wonderful, our Panama Canal less so, but if you enjoy Princess, I think you will also be happy on an RCI cruise. Incidentally, they now keep their pools and jacuzzis open 24 hours.

[nednrom]

I haven't heard anything here about cabins??????? Comparisons please. thx

 

Here are some comparisons of balcony cabins of Grand Princess and Explorer of the Seas: Both cabins were of comparable category.

 

1. EOS cabin seemed to be smaller.

2. EOS had a couch in the cabin whereas Grand only had a lounge chair.

3. EOS shower was enclosed with sliding doors as opposed to a shower curtain

4. EOS balcony was enclosed and very small, only the top half of it glass where the Grand had a much larger open balcony with plenty of sunshine, table to eat breakfast on and all glass to see through.

[cruiserforlife]

My experience pretty much mirrors those of others who have posted to this thread.I wasn't enamored with the whole promanade/rollerblading/rockclimbing wall thing on RCL but that's my fault for booking such a vessel.If I want to go to a mall,I wouldn't have to look too hard to find one.

That being said,RCL does have it's strong points.I will agree that the level of service I received on my lone RCL cruise was slightly superior to my experiences on Princess ships.Very attentive staff,especially in the dining rooms.The entertainment (especially the production "broadway shows") were also in my mind,slightly better that what Princess offers.

The food however,was certainly lacking IMHO,compared to Princess especially in the context of choice.I really didn't find any single meal or any one entree that made me go...wow!Nothing was exciting and everything seemed to need some additional seasoning of some kind.Maybe it was just a bad week aboard the NOS but it wasn't anywhere close to what I have been used to on Princess,not to mention the terrific pizza & calzone that Princess offers...certainly the best at sea!

The cabin accomadations seemed about equal in my estimation.The overall "feel" of RCL's ships seem loud and obnoxious in my mind as well with the brightly colored walls and strange artwork.Princess ships to me have always had a nice blend of color and textures that work well to provide that nice calming/soothing effect I so long for when I cruise.

I am always willing to try something new and will continue to explore my cruise alternatives in the future but for us,we always feel like home when we board a Princess ship.

No cruiseline is perfect but Princess pushes enough hot buttons for us to remain loyal followers and we look forward to our next cruise with them whenever that may be.

[skarletohara]

Thank you so much everyone for responding.

 

You've all answered my questions perfectly!

 

We have decided to book the Sapphire for next March.

 

 

The deciding factor, the 24-hour buffet!!