Princess vs. Royal Carribean (multi-generational trip)

[DavidNYC]

Hi all  - looking to book a Europe cruise summer of 23 which will include us, twins about to turn 14 and my parents.  I've loved the huge Royal Carribbean ships with the multiple entertainment options, activities, etc.  My parents definitely prefer the smaller ships.  As a compromise - was looking at the Enchanted Princess which has a great itinerary that works for us and while still large - isn't Symphony of the Seas (the other option with a similar itinerary). 

 

Main concern is how the kids will be on the trip.  I know Princess isn't as know for the kids programs as RCI but have heard that the newer Princess ships do a pretty good job and that we're likely to get at least a decent number of kids in their age range on a summer vacation Spain/France/Italy itinerary.  Thoughts?

 

Other concern is whether those who have sailed both the newer RCI and Princess ships feel let down at all by on board activities / entertainment on Princess compared to RCI?  It's hard to put any weight into reviews from the past year due to Covid and not sure how similar Enchantment is to the earlier similar ships.

 

But any thoughts would be appreciated.  I definitely myself lean towards RCI but perhaps it's a matter of getting a 5lb steak vs. a 3lb steak - one may have more but either offer more than enough for all generations.

[Astro Flyer]

Princess provides my best cruise experience for the price paid; RCI is similarly priced but for a multi generational group they have been a better option.

[nocl]

Personally we cruise mostly on Princess, but when we schedule a multigenerational trip we go with RCL.  While in the summer in the Med there will be other children their age on board. However, not nearly the same amount of things to do onboard.

 

Fortunately for your choice most Med cruises tend to be very destination focused with pretty long tours on shore, with very limited number of sea days.  So in most cases they probably will not have that much spare time on the ship to miss the features of RCL.

[fishin' musician]

Family / kids = RCL.

[ksp819]

I would definitely go more towards RCL for a trip with any kids but as was mentioned earlier, a European cruise is very port intensive so there isn’t much time to hang around the ship.  When I took my kids on a Mediterranean cruise many nights we came back to the cabin and they crashed and asked to order room service 😂. Either way your family will have a wonderful time!

[cruisequeen4ever]

The Enchanted should have the new Discovery Channel Kids Clubs, which look so fun I wish I could go! Sure there will be fewer teens, but the teens who are onboard general band together and have fun, it seems. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

While I tend to agree that when you include the kids then RCL will definitely offer more that will appeal to them.  But...(and this is strictly my opinion) I wouldn't want to tailor the cruise options *strictly* towards the kids.  Cruising is not cheap...everyone should get a portion of the pleasure!  If that means that the kids *might* not have "maximum" opportunities...

[nini]

I have often read that Princess ships have wonderful programs for the onboard youth. IMHO, it may boil down to having a comfortable ( and pleased) older generation and content 14 year olds (on Princess) versus unhappy older parents and very happy teens (on RCL). We love Princess and have not wanted to experience RCL, due to the fact that we do not cruise to have a water park, Sea World, or rock climbing wall on our ship. But, many do as they want to have these experiences. 

 

When we plan our 50th wedding anniversary with kids and grandkids, I know that Princess will be enjoyed by all.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Ancient history...(2018).  We did a Caribbean cruise with son, DIL and grandkids on Oasis of the Seas.  Grandkids LOVED it. If you've never done one of these mega-ships it is quite amazing to see all of the crazy features that a ship such as this has available.  Given that time frame, of course the ship was packed.  If you actually wanted to *do* any of those features you had long lines to stand in.  It just reminded me of being at an amusement park such as Disney World.  They even had a system for a couple of the features where you reserve a spot and come back at a certain time!  (Ice skating, rock wall)

 

This may be exactly what some people are looking for...we'll probably never do such a huge ship again.

[mjmalino]

My kids are now 23 and 22 and we have been cruising since they were 7 and 8. All but one have been on Princess, and most of the cruises my in-laws have joined us as well. Princess seems to have something for everyone in our family. My kids really loved the kids camps (even before they were revamped) and my younger son had a blast in the teen center whereas my older one, once he hit about 16 used it to find others his age to hang out at the pool and such with. 

[bmc alabama]

One very important thing to consider.  Royal will have limited "included" dining options late at night.  We just got back from a cruise on Oasis and the only thing you could get after the buffet closed at 9pm was Pizza.  RCCL does not have poolside grills, etc.  Also, I got the feeling that RCCL "pushes" you into the paid food options by doing this.  The "free" soft serve closed at 5:30pm, but you could get "uncharge" ice cream  until 10pm.  They also had a sports bar place that was open later, but again, charged for things like wings, chicken tenders, and fries...  On the other hand, I have always felt like there was something available all the time on Princess and IMHO, the included Princess food is superior (full disclosure, we did not try any specialty dining on Oasis as we don't generally do uncharge dining...)

 

Along those lines, the RCCL "Cafe Promenade" pales in comparison to the Princess International Cafe...  (BTW, Whoever is in charge of desserts/pastries on RCCL should be fired...)

 

One thing we really didn't like was where we have mostly cruised DCL and Princess (and our last cruise with Virgin) where there is a large selection of on demand movies in the stateroom which we like to wind down to late at night.  On RCCL, on demand movies are $11.99 a pop...

[Itchy&Scratchy]

we've cruised with both our kiddo and my 70+ yo parents on Regal Princess and Harmony of the Seas. They just love cruising and don't care one bit which cruise line or ship it is. I do all the bookings and planning.  We've also sailed with both cruise lines without my parents, but with the kiddo. DS has been cruising with us since he was 3 (he is turning 11 in a couple of months).

 

Our kid does not do kid's club*, so without RCI's activities he is bored to death during the day and usually defaults to either playing on his tablet or watching free on-demand movies on Princess ships. He joins us for all of the entertainment options. I must say, both activities and entertainment are way better on RCI ships. Food is way better on Princess ships (at least for adults. DS loves RCI food options more). Princess ships and activities are geared more towards older, more relaxed crowd.

 

On a European itinerary, which is very port heavy, it probably won't make much of a difference which ship you are on, because you will spend immeasurably more time off the ship. In the Caribbean, we'd choose RCI.

 

*Our friends who have both kids and parents the same age as ours, LOVE PRINCESS. They've tried RCI a couple of times and it was a no-go for them, mostly, because of the food. Their kids love the kid's club on Princess ships, but as they got older, I found out it was because Princess kid's club for that age allowed unlimited video gaming, which their kids literally did from morning till night. I am sure my kid would love that now.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

6 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Along those lines, the RCCL "Cafe Promenade" pales in comparison to the Princess International Cafe...  (BTW, Whoever is in charge of desserts/pastries on RCCL should be fired...)

we loved the Park Cafe on Harmony. The desserts in the Cafe, MDR and WJ weren't bad at all, better than average. Yes, it's no Regal Princess food, but it was good.

 

 

 

 

This peach strawberry shortcake was HEAVENLY (yes, I know it doesn't look like a traditional shortcake):

 

[spunks]

We have over 500 nights on Princess and over 400 cruise points on RCCL. We are in our mid 70's . If we were taking another family cruise it would definitely be RCCL. The odyssey which will be in the Med in 2023 has rock climbing, bumper cars, a parachute simulator and lots of other things that young folks would love. The young adults would love that also. For that matter, even at our age, we did all that. The shows were the best we ever saw. On the flip side, Princess has so much better TV in the rooms and it is not even close.

 

It is true that Princess has things for young kids, but teenagers, not so much.

 

We like both lines. Princess has always had the best pizza on the high seas. We like trivia better on RCCL. RCCL is more likely to have organized bridge games these days.....bottom line....you can not go wrong with either choice. The older folks will like either. The teenagers....no question...RCCL.

[bmc alabama]

On 1/12/2022 at 1:58 PM, spunks said:

We have over 500 nights on Princess and over 400 cruise points on RCCL. We are in our mid 70's . If we were taking another family cruise it would definitely be RCCL. The odyssey which will be in the Med in 2023 has rock climbing, bumper cars, a parachute simulator and lots of other things that young folks would love. The young adults would love that also. For that matter, even at our age, we did all that. The shows were the best we ever saw. On the flip side, Princess has so much better TV in the rooms and it is not even close.

 

It is true that Princess has things for young kids, but teenagers, not so much.

 

We like both lines. Princess has always had the best pizza on the high seas. We like trivia better on RCCL. RCCL is more likely to have organized bridge games these days.....bottom line....you can not go wrong with either choice. The older folks will like either. The teenagers....no question...RCCL.

Ironically, our DD, who is 18, likes Princess even with DCL.  Not sure why.  I think it may be because it's a much more manageable number in their group, so they all seem to get to know each other.  As to the shows, yes, Aqua80 was amazing.  Cats... not so much...

 

I agree that for the 10-18 age group, they would like RCCL/Carnival/NCL over something like Princess or Celebrity.  However, we prefer the Princess ships.  Our Oasis cruise had hardly any trivia, whereas our Princess (and Carnival) cruises have had a lot.  Not sure if that was due to COVID or what.  We enjoyed Oasis, just not as much as we do something like Regal Princess.  We are on Mardi Gras in a couple of months, so we will see how that compares.

 

A curve ball in all of this is that we did Virgin's Scarlet Lady back in November and quite honestly, that would be what we would choose over maybe all the others right now...

[Coral]

How many sea days?

 

Europe is all about the ports. I would go with the better European itinerary and let that be the deciding factor.

 

The kids may have more fun on RCCL but I doubt they will be bored to death on Princess for the few sea days that Europe itineraries provide.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Coral

[gerig]

On 1/10/2022 at 6:16 PM, fishin' musician said:

Family / kids = RCL.

I agree with this comment.  I think Royal would be better

[gerig]

On 1/12/2022 at 2:58 PM, spunks said:

We have over 500 nights on Princess and over 400 cruise points on RCCL. We are in our mid 70's . If we were taking another family cruise it would definitely be RCCL. The odyssey which will be in the Med in 2023 has rock climbing, bumper cars, a parachute simulator and lots of other things that young folks would love. The young adults would love that also. For that matter, even at our age, we did all that. The shows were the best we ever saw. On the flip side, Princess has so much better TV in the rooms and it is not even close.

 

It is true that Princess has things for young kids, but teenagers, not so much.

 

We like both lines. Princess has always had the best pizza on the high seas. We like trivia better on RCCL. RCCL is more likely to have organized bridge games these days.....bottom line....you can not go wrong with either choice. The older folks will like either. The teenagers....no question...RCCL.

You summed it up wonderfully.  I totally agree and I also cruise both lines

 

[h-sar]

We have done multi-generational trips on the Regal Princess and Oasis of the Seas. We have also done Princess in the Mediterranean with our kids when they were 14 and 16. In the Caribbean, for a multi-generational trip, I might lean toward Royal Caribbean. However, for a Mediterranean cruise, I would definitely go with Princess.

 

The Med is very port intensive and the kids will be exhausted when you come back. The activities on RCL would be better enjoyed on a Caribbean cruise. As well, princess will fit in better with your parents’ desire for a smaller ship. When we did the Med, we had private tours booked and were always eager to get off the ship as soon as we possibly could. The 2000 greater passenger load on Symphony might result in less ease getting off and on the ship. And I agree with alabama above that you will find a far greater variety of open eating venues on Princess when you board  after a port or even late in the evening. Yes, I agree with all the posters above that Symphony will have much more to offer in terms of activities for the kids; however, best to save them for the Caribbean when the kids can actually enjoy them. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by h-sar

[nini]

7 hours ago, h-sar said:

We have done multi-generational trips on the Regal Princess and Oasis of the Seas. We have also done Princess in the Mediterranean with our kids when they were 14 and 16. In the Caribbean, for a multi-generational trip, I might lean toward Royal Caribbean. However, for a Mediterranean cruise, I would definitely go with Princess.

 

The Med is very port intensive and the kids will be exhausted when you come back. The activities on RCL would be better enjoyed on a Caribbean cruise. As well, princess will fit in better with your parents’ desire for a smaller ship. When we did the Med, we had private tours booked and were always eager to get off the ship as soon as we possibly could. The 2000 greater passenger load on Symphony might result in less ease getting off and on the ship. And I agree with alabama above that you will find a far greater variety of open eating venues on Princess when you board  after a port or even late in the evening. Yes, I agree with all the posters above that Symphony will have much more to offer in terms of activities for the kids; however, best to save them for the Caribbean when the kids can actually enjoy them. 

Excellent points!

[kitkat343]

9 hours ago, Coral said:

How many sea days?

 

Europe is all about the ports. I would go with the better European itinerary and let that be the deciding factor.

 

The kids may have more fun on RCCL but I doubt they will be bored to death on Princess for the few sea days that Europe itineraries provide.

This. absolutely this.  I haven't sailed RCL, and have only had young children on older Princess ships (sailed the coral twice).  Princess is great for young kids, but I'd agree at least the older Princess ships don't seem like they'd be the most exciting ones for teens or older children.  But I sailed the Coral Princess to Alaska and NCL star to the baltics, and there were a ton of families on both cruises, so I'd assume there would be a lot of families on a Princess European cruise during the summer, so a teen would be absolutely fine running all over the ship with their new friends and enjoying unlimited yummy food everywhere.  

 

If you are sailing during the school year with teens on Princess I think it could be tougher but as long as you go while schools are on vacation Princess should be fine.  Europe is all about the ports.  

 

Ideally, talk to the kids and see if there are any ports they'd really like to visit or any activities they'd like to do during the cruise and let them be involved that way but I wouldn't let them sway your choice of cruise line.

Edited January 16, 2022 by kitkat343

[AF-1]

the link below is for Enchanted Princess;  take a look and see if your teens might enjoy this ship?

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/kids-and-teens/

[rj59]

On a European itinerary,  the port days will be intensive enough to keep youth happy. No teen I've ever cruised with would step foot in a ship youth center or participate in its activities, especially since there aren't likely to be many teens on a Princess or HAL ship--on every cruise I've been on the teens form packs on their own to roam the ship and have their dramas--there's even a Royal Caribbean awful teen cruise romance show they show on ship TV. My teen nieces were bored stiff on a short Princess cruise, but they enjoyed a Royal cruise last year before Christmas and there were hundreds of teens on board and a more youthful vibe. They seem more interested in ports and experiences where they can take Instagram photos than in youth clubs or onboard activities, since the cool teen thing now is to travel, take Instagram photos, and read actual books (crazy, huh?). They also enjoyed things like a real Starbucks on Royal, plus the ice show and 24-hour pizza and snacks on the promenade.  So I'd talk to the teens, let them watch some ship tours on YouTube and see if the ship or itinerary is important. I'm Elite level with Princess, but I was incredibly impressed with the Ovation of the Seas going to Alaska--the best shows I've seen, the coolest theater (270), the incredible solarium (free, unlike Princess sanctuaries), the many free dining options, going in a skydiving simulator was an amazing experience, and I actually though their pizza cafe compared well to that of Princess. Another thing I found on European cruises that there are lots of Europeans, so I'd think the kids would enjoy the chance to meet foreign teens too, more likely on Royal--my nieces ended up going for a year abroad to study in Finland and Italy after being exposed to Europe on a Baltic cruise.