Princess vs RCL

[evert9]

I've just booked my first Princess cruise on the Caribbean Princess sailing 8/19. I've been on RCL, Disney, Carnival and soon to be Celebrity this fall. How do you compare Princess to RCL? What do you like best about it?

 

Any good inside tips about Princess that you want to share?

[livsea2]

We've been on Princess three previous cruises and are Platinum on RCCL. I would say the biggest difference is anytime dining. We love it. The Princess "cheerleaders" will tell you the food is superior. If so, I haven't found the right ship yet because we find it about par with RCCL. The entertainment is about equal as well.

They have automatic tipping on Princess which I will tell you, sacrifices service levels. We were scloded once, for beeping our steward during his break. I couldn't find him and the card in the cabin said beep at any time at this number........ and it was 4p.m. not middle of the night or anything. Don't get me started on the waitstaff. You'd never see that on a ship where they were serving you for a tip at the end of the week. Although with the any time dining I don't know how they would handle tipping, maybe auto tip for dining and tip the room steward directly? I guess that would get confusing.

All in all there are some better things on Princess and some better on RCCL ships but when you sum it all up they're very comparable. I like the food stations in the buffet they have on Princess too. You will enjoy it. We switch back and forth depending on which cruise strikes our fancy. (watch the flames begin from the zombie pricessonians who believe their cruise line is better than any other no questions asked!) Anyway, ENJOY YOUR CRUISE!

[East Coaster]

You are going to love the Caribbean Princess! We have only been on 2 Princess cruises, the CP and the Golden. We have also been on 4 RC sailings. In comparison both lines were good but my DH and I loved the anytime dining. As we don't want to be rushed especially on a cruise we could do our thing on an island then come back and get ready for dinner at our leisure. We never encountered problems getting seated and we were with a party of 8 and cruised Thanksgiving week.

We did find the food choices more to our liking on the CP. The fettucini al fredo and the love boat chocolate cake was just yummy. I'm not one for chocolate but it was very good. We only went to the dining room for dinner and did breakfast and lunch at the buffet / pizza station / grill.

Regarding the tips, we found it easier to have them automatically put on our account which RC does, too. We have been lucky with staff as we have yet to encounter problems.

We had balcony rooms on the Caribe deck and found the size larger than RC ships which we loved.

livsea2 was right, both lines are comparable. Its what you make of a cruise. The CP is a great ship and you will enjoy it.

[ddpe]

I just got off the Radiance and cruised recently on the Golden Princess as well. Here are my opinions.

 

Cabin: Princess is a much better design with the open closet and desk on the far side of bed. Cabin larger for category. Bed much more comfortable. I became frustrated in the RCI cabin due to space and design. Had many aches and pains from RCCL bed.

 

Food: Princess wins in dining room, RCCL in lunch buffet. The food in the dining room on RCCL was pretty much just there - got to eat it. There were actually some great dishes on Princess in the dining room. RCCL was really pretty good in the lunch buffet while Princess was bland. RCCL is better with beverages, both alcoholic and free drinks. Princess only has water and iced tea, RCI has in addition lemonade and punch. The bar tenders on RCCL actually really knew how to make drinks. Often on the Golden the drinks were disappointing. Also drinks much more available on RCI and bar tenders much more friendly.

 

Service: I found cabin service equal but dining room service better on RCCL. The dining room attendents on Princess could be borderline rude. RCCL, nothing but smiles and effort.

 

Entertainment: Golden Princess was a hands down winner from the comedians, game shows, caribbean party, and bingo. Better secondary "non-smoking" show lounge. RCCL's secondary entertainment venue had terrible sight lines, seeting, and was smoking. Princess gets a big thumbs up in this category. RCCL seemed to have better after 10 pm entertainment which did not interest us.

 

Ship cleanliness: I give Golden Princess a slight edge over the Radiance. There were a lot of finger prints and smudges all over the ship I never noticed on the Golden.

 

Shore excursions - RCCL wins here with TV booking and a larger choice of interesting excursions like the 2 man bubble sub in Grand Cayman.

 

I did enjoy my tablemates tremendously on RCCL at the traditional dining. It was a joy each night that I looked forward to, but the entertainment and food were just better on Princess so I think I will go back to Princess.

 

I think it just depends on what is important to you. Unfortunately, it is almost like the weakness on one is a strength on the other so you can't get a perfect world, but have to chose what is most important to you.

 

Also, very much enjoyed the engineer's talk on the Radiance. I don't recall this being offered on the Golden.