Ever Sail Princess before

[Dixe Lee]

Princess doesn't "do" shows in the dining room.

OP, You are on the Carnival threads and will get a lot of posts that are not in favor of Princess. Personally, I enjoy Carnival and Princess. Yes, there are differences. Variety is the spice of life. Yes, Princess often costs a bit more. Only you can decide if it is worth it for the itinerary you want. My suggestion, give it a try and make your own decision. Go into it with a positive attitude and open mind and you will have a great time, then you will come out with your own opinion, which is really the only one that counts for you.

 

IMHO, this poster says it THE best. We are sailing first time on Princess in October and this was a deliberate choice because we want to try a different cruiseline. We chose HAL for our Alaska cruise and we had a great cruise, but would probably not sail HAL again because the crowd was generally a lot older than us (and we were both 48 when we sailed on that particular cruise, BTW) and the ship's atmosphere was just a tad to sedate for us, but food was great, cabin was the best we have had, service was excellent. Just a little too quiet of a sailing but the itinerary was the best, we thought, for us and we compared all the cruiselines that sail there. I agree with other posters that you will probably read more negatives about Princess on this board because this is the CCL board. Read a few on the Princess board and see what you think. I will say this in defense of CCL and that is that the posters on this board are by far a LOT nicer than the posters on the Princess board - some of them are downright mean and I truly hope that that is not the case when we actually sail on the Crown Princess in October. I would hate to find that the passengers are of the same "tone" in person that one gets from the postings :eek: I, for one, would not pass up a great itinerary, though, just to continue to sail one particular cruiseline. All lines have good things and bad things about them, just like everything else.

[Glama]

I've sailed on the Caribbean Princess. I didn't find it stuffy, but the crowd was definately a bit older than we've seen on Carnival. I loved the ship, loved the fresh water pools, and loved the food.

 

I would definately consider sailing them again (and believe me, I LOVE Carnival), if the rates and itineraries were interesting. :)

[Guest linsilve]

I have sailed Royal Carribean, Holland America, and my last cruise was Princess. Princess was the best. It was Tahati so a small ship-630 passangers. The crew was wonderful. Couldn't have asked for better. I'd rate it at excellent. Going on anther Princess Cruise in one week. Larger ship to Mexican Riveria. I suggest you give it a try. Linsilverman

[ikelmay]

To the OP - for some balance, it would be worth posting the same question on the Princess page....... it would be interesting to compare responses there.

 

We are just back from the Caribbean Princess after two Carnivals last year (Legend and Miracle) and had a wonderful time on both cruise lines.

 

Go in with an open mind and enjoy yourself - variety IS the spice of life. We can't wait to compare and contrast other lines as well. Different aspects were better on one line or the other, but absolutely nothing that would stop us from taking either one again.

[work4cruising]

I actually just started cruising Carnival again. I really do enjoy princess for a few reasons. I feel the ships are still a little cleaner and fresher. The freshwater pools and hot tubs open late is great. I LOVE anytime dining. It really allows us to not plan our day around food and stay longer on an excursion etc.

 

Carnival is a little more lively, which can be good and bad.. sometimes I felt it was a little too drunk (trashy).

 

Princess has good itineraries, I will give it that especially for the value, if you book early you can even get cheaper than carnival and RCCL. Of course I think RCCL is way overpriced because of their marketing. but.. I digress

 

Give princess a try.. you won't be disappointed, it is just different.

[Terre]

We have sailed on the Star Princess and the Golden Princess. I love the anytime dining on Princess. I think the entertainment is a step up than Carnival's - a little more professional. The food is great (another step up from Carnival), pools are great. The shower in the cabin is quite small and I did go to the spa to shower every evening before dinner. Princess kept your cabin filled with the spa lotion, shampoo and conditioner which is very good and it was also in the spa.

 

The only thing I don't like is the way the buffet is set up on Princess on the Lido deck. It's not designed for a good flow and gets very congested...you're not sure which way to go. I didn't feel that Princess is "stuffy" at all. I loved the Disco and the production shows.

[fig414]

The Caribbean Princess holds over 3000 passengers and it anything but stuffy. Someone here MIGHT say that Princess is stuffy but I defy anyone to say this ship is. It's a mass market ship with a movie screen on the Lido. It may not be as wild as Carnival is, but it's a great cruising experience.

Stuffy? Good grief.................

[Workmom2]

I am not sure if Princess still does this, but when we went the "Love Boat" song was played constantly- I know that is kind of a picky comment, but me husband is not eager to go back because of that one thing:)

Other than that negitive- we have found Princess to be a pretty traditional cruise. Nothing really sticks out negitively.

[jkloni]

We have cruised Carnival 11 times and #12 is next month. Last October 2006 we cruised the repositioning of the Crown Princess - our first Princess cruise - mainly because of itinerary - and the price was $400 pp less then what we would have paid the week before the repositioning cruise to sail on her.

 

I had always wanted to cruise on Princess. My DH was indifferent - he's just glad to be on any ship. Before the cruise we agreed that it would be a bit different, but we'd still enjoy it. By the time the cruise came, my DH was just hoping to get thru the cruise. We went from.....

 

We'll go on the cruise and enjoy it, but won't cruise Princess again,

to

Well this isn't so bad, we're having a better time that we thought,

to

We're having a great time and maybe we could cruise Princess again,

to

Wow. We had a wonderful time and will cruise Princess again!

 

The staff was wonderful to us all over the ship. Our group of 14 was all first time Princess cruisers (past cruisers of Carnival, RCCL & NCL) and it seemed they were so happy to have such a lively bunch on the ship. Even the stuffy people couldn't help but join in with some of our fun.

 

Carnival has 24 hr pizza, calzones, ceasar salad and soft serve ice cream. Princess doesn't. But they did have the Sports Bar that served food until 530am - and that worked for us (you know the 3am munchies after the Dance Club closes). Ice cream was served for part of the afternoon.

 

We were happy with Princess. I guess we are not loyal to any particular cruiseline. I think I like Carnival best. My DH like Royal Caribbean best.

 

Kathy

[Uncle Doug]

We cruised on the Dawn Princess Sept 06 to Alaska. The ship was very nice but we were the youngest at 50 year olds on the cruise. No problem finding a table in the casino after 10 pm as eveyone retired early.

 

The nature guy Michael was great. I bought both of his books and still cannot remember his last name. Never got in the pools due to the time of year. The shows were so so but some Carnival shows are also. The last Carnival cruise the comic was not very funny.

 

The boarding was great in Seattle, the fasest I have ever got on a ship before. We would do again if the price is right, looking at the 16 day transalantic now out of Galveston for next year as we live within an hours drive and would only have air fair one way.

[Wennfred]

I love Carnival, I really do, but I found an itenerary with Princess that I cant find with Carnival. Has any Carnival Loyals every cruised with Princess before? How would you rate Princess, what are the pros and cons? Thank you!

 

I know that what Im about to say, people will say that Princess isn't like this any more but heres my story.

 

Shorty after the Operation Dessert Storm, I sailed on, I think it was the Star Princess, she was a 14 day cruise from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico. Because of the Pursian Gulf War we were able to score this cruise at a killer price.

 

There were only "Count them" 5 youngsters onboard including myself. The Disco was closed at 7:30pm. You can hear Crickets throughout the ship and the food was cooked in a soft manner since most people onboard had Dentures. Even the Shows were like entertainers from Hee Haw, I mean that the catered to the older folks. Most folks came to the shows to sleep :D The best times on this ghost ship was when we were in port. They even had a ceremony for the Elites, I forget if it was a Commodors Award for the guy that had over 50 cruises but it was cool to watch. It would take 15 minutes for some of these cool cats to climb up to the stage to receive their awards. OMG!!! That will be me in the next 50 years :eek:

 

Anyways after this crazy experience on Princess, I have never set foot on another one them ships again.

 

 

Fred

[cruisinbuddy]

A 75 y/o lady we met on the Golden P. said to my then 43 y/o wife on debarkation day, "we're too young for this crowd." Enough said.

[Kurbanfan]

We have sailed on the Star Princess and the Golden Princess. I love the anytime dining on Princess. I think the entertainment is a step up than Carnival's - a little more professional. The food is great (another step up from Carnival), pools are great. The shower in the cabin is quite small and I did go to the spa to shower every evening before dinner. Princess kept your cabin filled with the spa lotion, shampoo and conditioner which is very good and it was also in the spa.

 

 

I hear nothing but good things about Princess too. Well except for a few on here that only tried one of their ships. I don't like a few of Carnival ships. That won't give me reason for putting down the whole cruisline I just won't sail those certain ships again LOL!

We have been on the Star also....not on a cruise, just for lunch with a group of TA's. I thought she looked great! Going on the Crown in December can't wait!

[polly57]

We have been on the Sea Princess, Sapphire Princess and the Coral Princess. I loved the Coral P. Less crowded, fantastic crew, great food, wonderful cruise! I could not say one bad thing about the whole experience. We went to Alaska. Our 3rd time in Alaska and I thought they did it the best. Very informative when we were in the Glacier Bay. If you go on an Alaska cruise try and get an itinerary including Glacier Bay. There is just nothing like it. We were lucky and were there on a sunny day in May. :)

I really liked the pools. I loved being able to swim in the beautiful indoor pool at 6 am. I had the whole place to myself!

I didn't find the staff or passengers STUFFY at all?

I really don't get this whole "loyal to one cruise line". You aren't getting married. I am sure if you don't book their line once they will not crumble. I like to try differnt lines. It gets old taking the same Cruise line to the same place over and over. If you cruise a lot. All the lines have their weaknesses and strong points.

 

I have to agree. Took the Coral Princess to Alaska and it was the best cruise I have ever been on. Extremely informative with a naturalist onboard. Beautiful ship with lots of very nice balcony rooms. The ship was full, but it never seemed crowded. Great crew. Really nice indoor pool and the best food I have every had on ANY cruise ship. That being said it is a quieter atmosphere than Carnival. And Carnival beds are sooooo comfortable, but if I was going back to Alaska I would go back on the Coral Princess.

[june1300]

we tried the Golden Princess whn it was doing its southern caribbean route.

got a great balcony rate at 799 each. it was a trip without our kids! making it even more peaceful.

 

We really enjoyed that trip. the balcony was about 3 times as big as the carnival ones. we had breakfast out there every morning (they even had a more extended breakfast than the continental....great way to start each day), the cabin itsel was smaller than carnival but it was an effeciant use of space so you didnt feel like you were sleeping in the closet.

 

we liked the anytime dining, since you can eat when your hungry & when your ready (though we did miss getting to know a set group of people, it was nice to meet even more people)

 

Love sabitini's, never had ANYTHING like it before, it was like 17 courses, Roses (steakhouse, I think its name was roses) was also very good....they were both worth the extra cost.

 

Thought the ship was beautiful.

 

Downsides..... southern caribbean is port intensive, a different port each day, so we didnt get to enjoy the ship itself too much, left in the AM got back in time for dinner & a bit of relaxing.

 

only complaint for my DH was they only had kareoke 1 or 2 night (not enough for him)

 

now had the kids been on this trip I dont know if I would have had the same opinions.