Princess vs Carnival

[Hav2cruise]

Can anyone who has been on both tell me the differanse PLEASE.

 

It is about a 1000.00 dollers cheaper for the 3 of us to go Carnival. Is it worth it?

 

Thank you

 

Tom

[Coral]

You may want to say what ships you are considering.

[cruisercathy]

Hav2...I will let you know in August....My family are die hard Carnival fans...ages 14 to 80. The only reason we are doing Princess this summer is we wanted to leave out of NY and we don;t care for the Legend itinerary. We picked the Crown for our first Princess got a great deal and also an upgrade so I will let you know..........

[Hav2cruise]

West carib.

Star vs Triumph

 

Thanks

[BigDoug]

$1,000 is a lot of money. I wouldn't hesitate to book either cruise line but I definitely shop for value. Save the money and book the Triumph.

[Charliesmom]

I have sailed on both Princess and Carnival. It all depends on what is important to you.

 

We have been on the Carnival Victory and the Carnival Miracle, which is smaller than the Victory. We have been on the Golden Princess and the Sun, Dawn and Sea Princesses which are older and smaller than the Star or the Triumph. We are about to take a cruise on the Island Princess.

 

If you are young and you like lots of action, then Carnival is for you. If you are older and like life a bit on the sedate side, then Princess is for you.

 

The food on the Victory was so bad my husband lost 2 pounds on a 3 night cruise. The food on the Miracle was great. That said, though, I could not get a hot piece of toast nor an English muffin. I had to get my toast off the buffet line (cold) and they didn't have Engish muffins. The Miracle had a great deli which made terrific sandwiches and their outdoor grill had terrific hamburgers. The Victory had wonderful French fries - about the only good thing to eat on the ship. Princess food is uniformly very good - sometimes it is even excellent.

 

The dining experience on Princess is elegant and refined. On Carnival, they have games and the waiters dance and there is lots of hoopla at dinner.

 

We thought the Victory had a better gym than Princess ships and we thought that the production shows were better. However, when we were on the Miracle, the noise level was so high we were driven from the pool and from the show one night. They turn all of their sound systems up to very high levels and leave them there. We had to ask many times to have the sound lowered and even then it was barely tolerable to us.

 

On the Miracle, my husband asked for a Campari and soda and the drink waitress couldn't bring it to us. When we made a HUGE fuss about it, she brought a can of soda and a shot of campari and we got charged for a mixed drink AND a can of soda.

 

In general, I think that Princess works harder to resolve problems you might encounter.

 

Would we travel on Carnival again? Yes, if we were with our grandchildren. They have slides into the pools that the kids love and the general ambience is great for kids. The staff on Carnival treat children very well (I think those on Princess do, too). They seem to genuinely enjoy children.

 

Roberta

[Seal]

I have only taken the Carnival Pride--took the Diamond Princess for the same Mexican Riviera Cruise

 

I think that Carnival is great for families--meaning a lot of children--they seem to have a good program for the children--which if the parents are going to watch them, is a goiod place

 

We had children yelling, running and they were having a great time in the halls--prior to & 7 am--Parents not to be found

 

Since I don't travel with children I would never go on Carnival again--probably would not sail Carnival under any circumstance

 

I did really like the pizza (late at night) on Carnival

 

Princess is soooo much better

 

Nancy:)

[Coolcruise02]

We had a GREAT time on Carnival and Princess. Just go knowing it is going to be an older crowd on Princess. We found on Princess it was dead after 9:30, but it is great if you want the ship to yourself! :)

[serene56]

After one Royal Caribbean and a few Carnival we want to try Pirncess for their anytime dining. The price difference is a lot more then what we would usually pay on Carnival. Our price difference is 600. for the same week on a carnival.

[Len3]

After cruising with NCL, RCCL, Princess and Carnival - even our kids (`12 and 15) said never again on Carnival.

[custompcsys]

Have one Carnival and one Princess cruise under my belt....have 2 more Princess cruises booked and no Carnival cruises. Basically discovered that Princess is "where I belong" :) Thank goodness I had read about the towel animals on CC before the Carnival cruise, or I would have thought there was some critter on my bed :rolleyes:

 

To me, Princess is much more relaxing and upscale and will be my choice from now on. I do, however, agree with the folks who say that if you're looking for partying and nightlife, have kids or are going with a younger crowd, Carnival might be the way to go. Am I sorry I booked the Carnival cruise? Not in the least..the price was too good to pass up. Do I think Princess is worth paying more for? Absolutely...but that's just me.

[ndavis7515]

I have sailed on NCL, Princess Carnival, & HAL. I think that HAL & Princess had better up keep on their ships. Our tile was peeling off the wall in our shower on the Carnival Destiny. NCL had to paint the name of the ship we were on while we were in port because people claimed that the letters were peeling off.

 

That was just an example of one thing about the 4 lines.

 

It always depends on you. What matters most to you. You make your cruise. The staff is there to guide you if you need it.

 

My friend is an ice cream aholic and she was happy with the 24 hour soft serve on Carnival, but we preferred the food on Princess. Our itineraries were similar & the shore excursions offered were the same on both lines.

 

I won more $$ in the casino on Carnival.

 

I have cruised with my friend (both of us in 50's), with my husband, with my son & his family, so we were looking for different things on different cruises. All in all I would cruise on either one of them again.

 

We had fun on all of them.

 

All in all

[Upandadam]

West carib.

Star vs Triumph

 

Thanks

 

We did the Western Caribbean on the Triumph 3 months ago and loved it. We did The Western on the Grand Princess 3 weeks ago and although we loved it too, found the Triumph to be a much nicer ship in excellent condition and a better itineray. The lines are more alike than they are different and so much depends on the character of the individual cruise and passenegrs itself. But, we lilke the Triumph so much we've booked another cruise on it.

[CruiseFever]

They're both popular ships.

 

Comparing really depends on what you want to compare. If you want to compare the easy stuff; how many pools each has, size of the cabins, etc...the stuff not open to interpretation, personal feelings or the like, I've got a list (see below).

 

But what you really want to know is if its worth the extra bucks for the experience of the Star over the experience of the Triumph. Thats the question that only you can answer based on what you've read here and will read elsewhere. Personally I wouldn't hessitate for a second to vote for the Star.

 

I like to look at it like this: If you were my very best friend in the world and money had nothing to do with it, which one would I tell you to sail on and feel most confident in recommending.

 

Princess always wins, mainly because of the high level of consistency they achieve on each sailing. I've never recommended Princess to someone who didn't have a great time and come back wanting more.

 

Like many of the above though I've sailed the other lines and hope some day to have sailed on all the ships on all the lines. I doubt that I'm going to find a cruise that was not an experience....more often than not a profound experience. I've never been able to quite put my finger on that part but it's like I feel "changed" after each one..for the better I think.

 

Thats a really long way to get to the answer of: Depends on you. I like to know and associate with people onboard who are having an infectious time of their lives. They're there on every sailing. Nothing will stand in their way of having a good time...whatever that means to them.

 

If you're one of those people with a good, positive outlook you can make the Triumph work for you. I still like to say that what I had to work at to make happen on Carnival, Princess just does every day.

 

Here, though are some easy to compare features,etc

 

• Princess Grand Class ships have Skywalkers- a nightclub that blows away anything Carnival ever thought of having
  
• Princess does a better job of breaking up huge, open deck space into smaller more intimate areas
  
• Carnival has FunVision, an in-cabin interactive system that lets you view your shipboard charge account, buy shore excursions and watch pay-per-view movies
  
• Princess has better, sometimes excellent food. Carnival just hired their own celebrity chef though
  
• You can buy cartons of cigarettes on Princess and they hold them until the end of the cruise, on Carnival you can have them when you buy them
  
• You can buy bottles of booze on Carnival and they hold them until the end of the cruise, on Princess you can order bottles from room service and have them right now
  
• Carnival has an incorrect reputation for being a big drunken party all the time (not any more), Princess has an incorrect reputation for catering to boring old people (oh my no)
  
• It used to be that Carnival had a better kids program and Princess' was good but inconsistent from ship to ship. I'd go dead even on them now
  
• Pricing is competitive, comparing numbers to numbers Carnival will come out less expensive but Princess is a better value
  
• Princess ships all seem to have a similar layout and decor, each Carnival ship has a different theme
  
• Princess rules embarkation, Carnival is trying but still not there
  
• Carnival has the reputation for the best shows..ya got me, I never go
  
• Princess sails to more places
  
• Carnival management is totally accessible, good luck emailing somebody important at Princess
  
• Princess employs more muted tones and promotes a subdued but semi-elegant ambiance, Carnival is very glitzy, Vegas style with lots of neon
  
• Carnival knows exactly who they are: The Fun Ships...and that's not just a slogan. Princess is not as clearly defined but I think they like it that way. They do a good job at what they do in a way that ....oh to heck with it....Princess is better. There, you made me say it.

[RickSue]

We went on the Grand Princess in 2002 and loved it so much we knew we had to cruise again. We wanted to take our kids and had to buy two cabins so we went with Carnival in 2004 because it was so much cheaper. The kids had a BLAST on Carnival but Mom and Dad would choose Princess (and probably are going March 2007 on the Diamond). Anyway, we had a VERY loud cabin next to us - security called almost every night and not just by us. They were young and drunk and hollering in the hallways and had multiple cabins. Of course, the kids weren't bothered as much as my husband and I were and that's great. The whole atmosphere of the Carnival ship was so much different from the Princess ship. Princess had a more refined type of passenger and Carnival had the partiers. Lots of drunks all the time roaming the ship and being loud. That's not our style. It's a matter of personal preference I guess but I prefer Princess hands down. OH, - Grandma and Grandpa went on both trips with us and they prefered Princess also, and didn't have loud drunks next to them.

[Tom O.]

I think that the product that Princess delivers is a little better than what Carnival delivers. But that doesn't justify a big price difference. The reason I pay more for Princess is that I want to travel with a different crowd than what Carnival attracts. I like a quiet relaxing atmosphere. I want to avoid the people who enjoy partying into the wee hours. I am more of a sit on my balcony and read a book type person. I go to bed early and get up to see the sunrise.

There is nothing wrong with people who like to party, it is just that they are better off on their ship and I am better off on mine.

Carnival also has lots of families. I like children, but it can get crazy when the children to adults ration is high.

There are, of course, all types of people on both Princess and Carnival. But there definitely is a difference between the average passenger from each line. Once I stayed on Catalina Island for a week, everyday a different cruise ship would arrive and the streets would go from empty to full of people. I couldn't help notice how different each crowd was, depending on which ship they got off. The Princess and RCI ships were both pretty refined, mostly older crowds. The Carnival crowd was different, they were young. There were lots young men walking around without their shirts on. The bars filled up and there were drunks everywhere.

Is there anything wrong with this? No the Carnival people have fun their way and Princess people have fun their own way. They just don't mix very well.

[atlcple2]

After one Royal Caribbean and a few Carnival we want to try Pirncess for their anytime dining. The price difference is a lot more then what we would usually pay on Carnival. Our price difference is 600. for the same week on a carnival.

 

I personally would go on Carnival. We have been on the Fantasy, Pride & Spirit and one on the Caribbean Princess last September. From my experience (and this is just my opinion), I would go on Carnival. We found the ages of the passengers much older on Princess and the food had a lot to be desired. Loved the Anytime Dining, but the food was very bland in the dining room. The buffet was okay...lots of good deserts, but main courses weren't all that great. I do think that Princess caters more to couples, which was very nice...if you have a balcony. They only offer champagne breakfasts if you have a balcony. Service was very good. However, there was NO night life at all on the ship. The food was the deciding factor for us. Carnival has a much younger crowd for the most part, lots of night life and just more laid back than Princess. For the $600 difference, I would go on Carnival, hands down. ~~~Waiting to be Flamed~~~ LOL

[kristikae]

I completely agree with Scarlet/Bruce

 

Carnival's food was so much better. We also had better wait staff on Carnival than we did on Princess.

 

We were a large group so the nightlife was there for us, at least in Skywalkers.

 

As far as the passenger demographic, it was virtually the same on both cruises. I was expecting a lot from Princess because I'd heard so often that it was "a step above" Carnival but I found that to be completely untrue.

 

Personally, I couldn't justify the price difference.

[cruisin_diva]

shut down at around 9:30pm!!! I'm single and in my late 20's. I'm going with a group of mostly youngish people 22-40. Why oh why did they choose Princess? I almost feel like crying or cancelling my trip. Do you think they will tell us that we have to be quiet past 11pm? Like no music past a certain time? *shedding an imaginary tear* I hope I don't have to cancel. I'm going on the Star Princess, btw.

[Tom O.]

"Shutdown at 9:30" I think is an exageration. There is still plenty of nightlife. There are late shows, late comedy acts and there is the disco. It is just not a rowdy nightlife.

[Upandadam]

shut down at around 9:30pm!!! I'm single and in my late 20's. I'm going with a group of mostly youngish people 22-40. Why oh why did they choose Princess? I almost feel like crying or cancelling my trip. Do you think they will tell us that we have to be quiet past 11pm? Like no music past a certain time? *shedding an imaginary tear* I hope I don't have to cancel. I'm going on the Star Princess, btw.

 

lol. Princess isn't quite a geriatric crowd. That disco on the top of the world is full of nightlife too. I just don't care for DJ's which in my experience is what they have up there. Much prefer live music, which for some reason we've always found superior on Carnival. You'll have a great time though. The crowd is generally a little bit older on Princess, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to party and stay up late. They(we) just pay for it the next day!!!!

[aggieastrosfan]

I like them both for different reasons. For that price difference, it'd be the Triumph for me, hands down.

 

Night life on a ship is what you make of it. On my first trip on the Grand, our group of 10 or so closed down Skywalkers every night at 2-3 am, and we were not a quiet group. So what that we were the only ones left a night or two (not many!)? We had a ball, and got to know a lot of the cruise staff up there. That's still the cruise to be topped for me; most fun I ever had.

 

I'll definitely cruise Princess again, though I don't expect the "magic" of the first one. Next up, though, is a return to Carnival. :) And I hear the Voyager is coming to Galveston next year...

[quepaquete]

shut down at around 9:30pm!!! I'm single and in my late 20's. I'm going with a group of mostly youngish people 22-40. Why oh why did they choose Princess? I almost feel like crying or cancelling my trip. Do you think they will tell us that we have to be quiet past 11pm? Like no music past a certain time? *shedding an imaginary tear* I hope I don't have to cancel. I'm going on the Star Princess, btw.

 

Don't have to cancel! I have been on several Princess cruises from the small Tahitian Princes to the Caribbean Princess and some in between. I think you have to consider the time of year and the place where you are traveling. I was on the the Star Princess on a Mexican Riviera and the party was on all night, same on the Caribbean Princess. I was on the Dawn Princes out of Puerto Rico where half of the passenger where from Puerto Rico and the the night club and all the places with music where crowded all night -boy, those Puerto Ricans really know how to party!!:) That is why we went back to Puerto Rico and spend three night in San Juan.

However, on a Panama Canal cruise on the long departed Royal Princess and on the Tahitian Princes, there was no much going on after 11:00 PM. On a cruise on the mediterranean on the Star there were some busy nights and others not so busy depending on the ports of call. The nights before sea days the night club was busy, busy.

When we were on the Caribbean Princess there were three or four groups of graduates celebrating their prom and the party was on all the time.

Keep a good atittud and have fun no matter what cruise line you choose!!

[cruzr4vr]

My husband and I will be taking our second Princess cruise in 4 days - the last being in 2000 but I can tell you from experience that we will never, ever cruise on Carnival again. Too many bad experiences including an errant charge for $1500 for a sapphire ring that I never bought and an extremely rude stores manager who was refusing to refund the charge until the sales person proved to him (by going through all the rings) that I hadn't purchase the ugliest ring in the world from them. Never ever again Carnival..and we like to party and play.

[dlon]

I agree with Jorge. I've been on 2 Carnival and 1 Princess cruise. I picked Princess because I was going with my mother(70's) and thought Princess would be calmer for her.Boy was I wrong! On the Carnival Miracle my 17 and 18 year old complained of nothing to do at night.None of the pools were open late. On Princess they are open 24 hours. The wildest deck parties were on Princess and I couldn't keep up with the crowd: my mother did though! The cruise was from NY to PR and I agree. The passengers were GREAT. I'm going on another Princess in Jan. Can't wait.dlon