Princess vs Royal Carribean for teens and adults entertainment

[I am cruising]

Just wondering how Princess Cruises compare with Royal Carribean?  Never been with Princess but I have heard good things about them 

 

Just wondered what their entertainment is like for adults and also teens - for day and night 

 

What is the best ship for teens?

 

thanks

[skynight]

Princess has very good age related youth centers. Princess' entertainment is all family suitable. There may be some special events for those in the youth centers. Older teens tend to form their own groups and join in at some regular events, such as karaoke, deck parties and so on. In the past entertainment included production shows, guest entertainers such as singers, musicians, comedy, magic. There are live musician sets in mostly every venue each evening including pop/rock, easy listening/ballroom, piano/singer entertainer, jazz, classical, background piano, big band. Tropical cruises have an island group. Hawaii cruises have the Hawaiian Ambassador program. Longer cruises have real, not sales, lectures. There is trivia twice a day mostly every port and sea day. There are other game shows and cruise director activities going on every day. Very few or no pool games. All of this may be adjusted near term during the re-start, but I imagine at some point it will return to mostly the way it was pre-pandemic. The Caribbean Princess has a really nice younger child play pool and lounging area. If you are thinking Alaska Princess runs a top notch Alaska program and cruise.

Princess does not have slides, wave pools, bumper cars, rock walls, or any of that kind of hard scape like you will find at R.C. If that is what you are looking for go with RC. Here is some information to look at:

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/Onboard_Experience/Teen_Guidelines_Registration.pdf

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/youth.jsp

[deliver42]

Depending on the children's age, interests, what hey would like, and depending on which ship you're looing at. I would recommend Royal.

[Ride-The-Waves]

8 hours ago, deliver42 said:

Depending on the children's age, interests, what hey would like, and depending on which ship you're looing at. I would recommend Royal.

Make that the Royal class of ships: Royal, Regal, Majestic, Sky, Enchanted, etc.

[CruiseMrB]

16 minutes ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Make that the Royal class of ships: Royal, Regal, Majestic, Sky, Enchanted, etc.

Maybe not. Post reply is unclear. Personally, I think that kids and teens are Royal Caribbean's bread-and-butter, and their newer megaships are theme-parks. So is their private island Coco Cay - literally. The OP would be well served to consider that. 

 

Princess is great , don't get me wrong. And you can do fine on Princess with kids & teens. But it's not in the same kids & teens league as Royal Caribbean or Disney or even standard Carnival. And Princess isn't trying to be. That fine, too. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by CruiseMrB

[deliver42]

Well said CruiseMrB.

[Treasure Hunter]

Princess is our favorite cruise line and we took our kids with us many times over the years but our grandkids (specifically the 14 and 16 year olds) prefer Royal Caribbean or NCL big new ships for a Caribbean cruise. They love all the toys. We had a great time on the Pacific Princess in Iceland and Norway on the tours with them. And Princess in Alaska is the best by far. But Sea days in the Caribbean were boring and the Princess private islands are poor in comparison to Royal Caribbean and NCL.

[mjmalino]

I think it depends on the kids. My kids (now 22 and 21) have always enjoyed Princess. My younger son especially really found people in the kids/teen centers, but had a harder time once he aged out, but he is much more reserved and has a hard time putting himself out there when not in an organized group. My older one on the first day of the cruise would sit outside the teen center with Cards against Humanity and meet other teens, then again, my older son LOVES the art auctions.

 

[richsea]

If you’re traveling with teens, Royal Caribbean is definitely a better choice. Adult entertainment is about equal, but Royal has MUCH more for teens, with water slides & rock climbing walls, & even a mall to hang out in.

service & food is about equal. 

Edited May 24, 2021 by richsea

[snoozecrooze]

The type of entertainment you'll find on Princess is one that generally appeals a lot more to adults (I certainly don't mean geriatric, but there will definitely be some who will roll their eyes at the schedule), but that does not mean teens will automatically find any of them boring. Know your teens' preferences, scan the daily planner, and join them if there aren't as many friends to be made on the cruise. The cruise director's staff is huge and are all very young so they will definitely resemble the type of people you might find at a college spirit squad or something of the like -- they're all very amiable and charismatic to all ages alike, so do not take this the wrong way at all. There are many games that are very tongue-in-cheek and even sometimes borderline inappropriate (all designed to help you indulge on the lighter side of things) but it's all in good fun (but definitely nothing like RCL's "The Quest"). There will obviously be much less strenuous or physical activity in nature but you'll certainly find enough activity if you look for it (lots of dance classes, and I don't mean just the ballroom/partner type). There are many "formal" things as well, such as afternoon tea, theater shows (not like "Grease" or "Cats" but still entertaining nonetheless), and relatively stronger adherence to the formal night dress code (but I don't view Princess as stuffy because of this at all,...unless you accidentally stumble onto those people that are found amongst the tales of cruise nightmares). Anyways, from my POV, I really view Princess as a great line to be close with the whole family because the vibe is so much more low-key than RCL and CCL but there are still plenty of opportunities to have great fun in the places you seek! Make of this what you will but I hope you come and give Princess a try and just try to enjoy the vibes!

 

For your last question about which ships are best, I generally say the biggest ships Princess has will be the most "exciting" -- it's an easy sell and they hit those benchmarks, and they generally make the best first impression, especially if you're just doing a quick-and-easy beach jaunt, which these ships were designed for. So this would include Royal, Regal, Majestic, Sky, Enchanted, and (soon to be) Discovery. They have the most up-to-date venues, teen activity centers, theater shows, and more. 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

If your Princess ship has ever pulled alongside an RC ship..... you will see the younguns,

and many adults, drooling over the massive Toys & bells & whistles on the RC ship Next to you.

It looks like a sailing amusement park.

If my family was younger, we would still be on RC.

 

 

 

[cruisinggran]

I would defiantly  and have taken my grandchildren on Royal Caribbean.

now we like Princess but for teens I would go with Royal Caribbean. 

[I am cruising]

On 5/23/2021 at 1:30 PM, skynight said:

Princess has very good age related youth centers. Princess' entertainment is all family suitable. There may be some special events for those in the youth centers. Older teens tend to form their own groups and join in at some regular events, such as karaoke, deck parties and so on. In the past entertainment included production shows, guest entertainers such as singers, musicians, comedy, magic. There are live musician sets in mostly every venue each evening including pop/rock, easy listening/ballroom, piano/singer entertainer, jazz, classical, background piano, big band. Tropical cruises have an island group. Hawaii cruises have the Hawaiian Ambassador program. Longer cruises have real, not sales, lectures. There is trivia twice a day mostly every port and sea day. There are other game shows and cruise director activities going on every day. Very few or no pool games. All of this may be adjusted near term during the re-start, but I imagine at some point it will return to mostly the way it was pre-pandemic. The Caribbean Princess has a really nice younger child play pool and lounging area. If you are thinking Alaska Princess runs a top notch Alaska program and cruise.

Princess does not have slides, wave pools, bumper cars, rock walls, or any of that kind of hard scape like you will find at R.C. If that is what you are looking for go with RC. Here is some information to look at:

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/Onboard_Experience/Teen_Guidelines_Registration.pdf

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/youth.jsp

thanks so much for the information.... much appreciated and I will have a look at the links attached

[I am cruising]

On 5/23/2021 at 11:11 PM, CruiseMrB said:

Maybe not. Post reply is unclear. Personally, I think that kids and teens are Royal Caribbean's bread-and-butter, and their newer megaships are theme-parks. So is their private island Coco Cay - literally. The OP would be well served to consider that. 

 

Princess is great , don't get me wrong. And you can do fine on Princess with kids & teens. But it's not in the same kids & teens league as Royal Caribbean or Disney or even standard Carnival. And Princess isn't trying to be. That fine, too. 

royal Caribbean I agree are fantastic for the  activities for teens and children. during the day too there is so much to do and for us that is what we need. We will probably just stick with Royal Caribbean... its what we know....

[I am cruising]

On 5/24/2021 at 1:13 AM, Treasure Hunter said:

Princess is our favorite cruise line and we took our kids with us many times over the years but our grandkids (specifically the 14 and 16 year olds) prefer Royal Caribbean or NCL big new ships for a Caribbean cruise. They love all the toys. We had a great time on the Pacific Princess in Iceland and Norway on the tours with them. And Princess in Alaska is the best by far. But Sea days in the Caribbean were boring and the Princess private islands are poor in comparison to Royal Caribbean and NCL.

im getting from here majority prefer Royal Caribbean for teens.... I had thought that....but had thought about trying another line to see... but we will probably just stick with royal for now

[tanyaewa]

Norwegian is awesome for teens too.  They have more impressive shows.  

[richsea]

10 hours ago, tanyaewa said:

Norwegian is awesome for teens too.  They have more impressive shows.  

Agree. But the problem with NCL is everything else, like food & service.

[CrankyOldGuy]

On 5/23/2021 at 2:57 AM, I am cruising said:

Just wondering how Princess Cruises compare with Royal Carribean?  Never been with Princess but I have heard good things about them 

 

Just wondered what their entertainment is like for adults and also teens - for day and night 

 

What is the best ship for teens?

 

thanks

 

As others have mentioned, Royal is much better for teens.  But as far as adults, I am going to assume you are Gen-X or an early Millennial if you have teenagers.   Princess makes little effort to target younger generations and are more geared towards mature clientele, boomers and the silent generation.   You will find the ship mostly goes to sleep at night after 9 or 10pm.   Royal has a much more vibrant night life than Princess. 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

20 hours ago, I am cruising said:

im getting from here majority prefer Royal Caribbean for teens.... I had thought that....but had thought about trying another line to see... but we will probably just stick with royal for now

 

It depends on if you are cruising for the destinations or if you are cruising for the ship.

 

When our kids were teens we wanted them to experience places, so we did cruises in Europe, the South Pacific and Alaska with them and chose cruise lines accordingly.

 

Now our kids are taking their kids to the same places, but land based usually, so we can take them all on cruises for the ship and we really don't care where the ship goes. It could do donuts off Fort Lauderdale for a week for all we care as long as it has ziplines, water slides, go karts, climbing walls, etc.So to that end with our grandkids (10-16) we like NCl (Breakaway class), RCI (Oasis class) and Disney. We are a huge Disney family. DW and I met at Disneyland as cast members and all three of our boys were cast members.

 

That said, the one exception is I'd never do Alaska on the Bliss. I don't want the grandkids ripping around on a race track on top of the ship and missing the fjords, whales, etc.

 

Bottom line is back to my original point. If you want to take you kids for a taste of Greece and Italy, or Spain and Italy, I wouldn't worry about the ship. If what you are looking for is your kids entertained endlessly on ship, then RCI, NCL and Disney are the ones you want.