Princess vs Royal Caribbean - JMO

[friend of Eeyore]

Great comparisons-Marion Mom.

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e. Towels for pool. RC, most good resorts have a towel pick up and drop off area on the pool deck. Towels are also left in your stateroom for excursions. The most aggrivating thing on Princess is they leave you two towels in your room and when they get wet, tough luck until the next day. Also, you go to beach, come back on the ship and want fresh towels-good luck. I finally wised up and told my cabin attendent that I want 4-6 towels in my room every day. That seemd to work.

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Overall, I like them both and will be back on both.

 

On the Crown, when I took a towel in the morning, and got it wet, there was usually a fresh towel in the closet from when he had made the bed up. On at least one morning, without asking, he placed 4 towels in there for us. (Think it might have been Grand Cayman, where we were snorkling. Useful that day.) If you do usually use two in a day, I would probably advise asking the steward to put extras in your room each day. I did note that after one port day, they had a towel drop-off where we came in. I hadn't noticed it the other port days, but they certainly weren't counting towels - no way for them to do so.

 

I haven't tried RCI, but am going back to Princess for now. It seemed to be my "cup of tea" - even with the tilt.

[caviargal]

Interesting comments about the Century. We were aboard 11-23 and the ship was very well renovated IMO. I also thought the bedding was poor, especially since it was new. And the rooms felt small with the rounded corner bedding; we were in a Concierge class cabin.

 

We did not use the buffet as I prefer almost anything else. We had breakfast and lunch daily in Aqua Spa Cafe which is my favorite dining spot at sea. I prefer to eat healthy at home and on vacation and this is always a delight. Murano was outstanding as well.

 

I cannot comment on Coral Princess as I have never cruised her.

 

My recent RCI cruise aboard Jewel of the Seas had dinner menus that were very mundane (we opted every night for specialty dining) and the buffet was very loud and crowded. For lunch, we chose to eat off the ship and for breakfast, we chose the continental breakfast in the Concierge Lounge. We never visited the dining room and only used the buffet aat embarkation.

 

It is all matter of preference but I prefer to be served, and I like to dine in peace and quiet, which pretty much means specialty restaurants every night on all ships except X and perhaps HAL.

[barto]

I have been on two cruises. My first was on the Adventure of the Seas in 2002. My second was on Star Princess last March. I aboslutely loved both cruises and would not hesitate to book on either line again.

 

Edge to RCI

-Promenade area-I thought it was spectacular.

-Alternate Food Selection-I really liked the little deli with fresh sandwiches and Johnny Rockets for burgers and onion rings. I also like being able to order room service on the tv.

-I like being able to go to the bow of the ship to watch the sunset, on Star this was reserved for the staff.

 

Edge to Princess

-Explorer's Nightclub at the back of the ship was really cool.

-Price-we are booked on CB this March as it was a great deal.

-Wine policy-we are avid wine drinkers and loved being able to bring bottles on board.

 

As another poster commented I may be biased towards RCI since it was my first cruise and everything was new to me, however, I love both and am definitely hooked on cruising!

 

Shannon

 

P.S. On AOS we had towel animals every night, maybe it depends on the room steward.

[molemaui]

On the Crown, when I took a towel in the morning, and got it wet, there was usually a fresh towel in the closet from when he had made the bed up. On at least one morning, without asking, he placed 4 towels in there for us. (Think it might have been Grand Cayman, where we were snorkling. Useful that day.) If you do usually use two in a day, I would probably advise asking the steward to put extras in your room each day. I did note that after one port day, they had a towel drop-off where we came in. I hadn't noticed it the other port days, but they certainly weren't counting towels - no way for them to do so.

 

It took me a couple days to figure that out. I've been used to towels being given out on the pool deck and more intuitive cabin stewards. Once I asked, however, I got what I needed.