Should a past Princess/Celebrity run away and join the Carnival?

[Seayalater]

I'll post this on CC Carnival thread too, but my fellow Princess cruisers, would a past Celebrity, Princess cruiser find quiet and good food on a Carnival cruise?

I see their itinerary has Carnival Pride doing year-round Mexican Riviera sailings.

[sue d. miller]

You won't find the exact same expierience, but you won't know till you try it. You may love it, and you may want to return, but variety is the spice of life!! :)

[laurieb]

Sue, I commend you for your answer. I have never sailed on Carnival, but did have rooms reserved on the Miracle before we switched gears and went back to the Tahitian Princess. I don't like change, but you never know until you try. If the itinerary fits, try it.

[CruiseFever]

I'll post this on CC Carnival thread too, but my fellow Princess cruisers, would a past Celebrity, Princess cruiser find quiet and good food on a Carnival cruise?

I see their itinerary has Carnival Pride doing year-round Mexican Riviera sailings.

 

Absolutely you can. We did a bunch of times.

 

To me, the big differences is that you'll have to work at it a little bit to make it happen for you on Carnival but the savings can be substantial and the experience fabulous.

[uwbadger]

We've sailed Carnival, Princess & RCCL and have found something that makes each cruiseline special. Although we have never been on the Pride, we have been on the Spirit twice and have our third cruise booked on her next March for an 8 day "exotic" Mexican Riviera cruise. I think one of the great things about cruising is trying different lines -- heck, we are even trying Disney next summer and after having been in port with the Oosterdam up in Alaska, that ship is even peaking my interest!

 

Between the Pride, Diamond, Sapphire (out of SF), Spirit and the Oosterdam, I think any of those ships would be a wonderful way to see the Mexican Riviera.

[mrmac]

I think the Spirit Class ships (including Pride) are Carnival's best. We're booked on the Pride twice in the next year. A little different than Princess and Celebrity (my two favorites) but pretty darn good! Though still a good value, Pride must be Carnival's most profitable ship. It's usually $200/person more than other Carnival ships for the same week.

[Seayalater]

Chris I'm interested in this remark you made: please elaborate

"you'll have to work at it a little bit to make it happen for you on Carnival but the savings can be substantial and the experience fabulous."

 

Maria

[dimonzr4me]

Go for it and have fun, Princess is our favorite line followed by Carnival, we have also been on HAL. We are always willing to try a different line and end up coming back to Princess!

[CruiseFever]

Chris I'm interested in this remark you made: please elaborate

"you'll have to work at it a little bit to make it happen for you on Carnival but the savings can be substantial and the experience fabulous."

 

Maria

 

On Carnival I always book an all the way aft cabin, looking out over the wake of the ship. I think there's less foot traffic there and it's quieter. Additionally, on Carnival, I tip our room steward and dining room staff right up front and I think that makes a difference too.

 

Just some little things that can help make our Carnival cruise the quiet, relaxing one we want+

[Seayalater]

thanks Chris

the pre tipping sounds like good incentive!

[pg.]

Chris could we call pretipping on Carnival a bit of a bribe, as in, "please give us decent service, and don't look so miserable"?

 

I say this because we have cruised twice with Carnival and then twice with Princess, and I really got the feeling that the staff on Carnival aren't very happy, rarely saw anyone smile, or say hello, like they do on Princess.

[CruiseFever]

Chris could we call pretipping on Carnival a bit of a bribe, as in, "please give us decent service, and don't look so miserable"?

 

I say this because we have cruised twice with Carnival and then twice with Princess, and I really got the feeling that the staff on Carnival aren't very happy, rarely saw anyone smile, or say hello, like they do on Princess.

 

 

I think there may be some truth to that. But in the same breath I need to note that on our most recent Carnival cruise, last December, everyone was quite friendly indeed. Make no mistake about it though, it IS a bribe. I had become so accustomed to that up-front bribe and gladly paid it that I was taken aback on our first Princess cruise. By the time we got to our cabin on embarkation day and the time rolled around to meet our cabin steward and fork over the bribe I just couldn't do it. I think it would have been an insult, not appropriate at all. End of the cruise is another matter but even then I did not feel like they were there with thier hand out.

 

As far as happy goes while I heard mixed stories about the happiness of the Carnival crew, I got the real impression that the Princess crew really enjoyed what they were doing. That could very well be in many cases the influence and direction of the Cruise Director who happened to be Graham Seymour on both our Golden and Caribbean Princess cruise. Several of the crew that we got to know just couldn't say enough good things aboutg him.

 

Princess crew does indeed win the contest on who says hello the most. (IMHO) Not that the Carnival crew is surly or something, they're not..but they don't go out of their way with as great a consistency.

[sue d. miller]

I do pre tip the cabin steward and the waiters. Dickie has been known to be a twit with the naps, and the filled coffee cup!!!! :eek: :mad: So I tell them I am happy to be there, and to just ignore him, and this is for any inconvenience he may cause!!! LOL!! :eek: :D I do it in front of him, so he isn't as bad as he could be, and all goes well!!! ;)

[kkorman]

Never have done the pretipping.

 

I think the biggest difference between the two (CCL and Princess) has been service. I have been really disappointed with it on Carnival and have not had any better than that on Princess. While it can at times be challenging to find a quiet spot on Carnival, if you stick to the Spirit class ships, it is a little easier as the space ratio is down compared to the Conquest and Destiny class vessels.