Differences between.....

[wernew2cruising]

Princess and Royal Caribbean.

 

We have been on 2 RCI cruises, both on Rhapsody of the Seas and loved it. Now we are thinking of venturing out and trying a larger ship or even a different cruise line. In looking at itineraries we like Princess.

 

Can someone please tell me some of the differences between these lines.

 

I know the room service breakfast menu on RCI has a full breakfast option...does Princess?

 

How are the room sizes compared to RCI?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Cindy

[Steve Roberts]

We've done Royal Caribbean twice (Freedom & Voyager) and Princess twice (Grand & Pacific). In our case the adults prefer Princess and the kids (we've got 4) prefer RCI. The reason being, RCI is more geared up for families and Princess seems to offer slightly better service (in our opinion). I think "personal service" is the most important aspect of cruising and Princess, in our view, tends to be slightly better.

[Nymue]

As far as we could tell room size was about the same. On Princess the Room Service breakfast menu is very limited unless you are in a suite, however I highly recommend the Champagne Balcony Breakfast on one of your sea days...it's wonderful :D

 

Princess has fresh water pools, something my husband loves. I belive they are the only line with them. One difference I have noticed between the two is that Princess DOES enforce the adults only policy in the adults only pools ;)

 

Princess and Royal Caribbean.

 

I know the room service breakfast menu on RCI has a full breakfast option...does Princess?

 

How are the room sizes compared to RCI?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Cindy

[insag]

As for full breakfast it depends if we have a suite or not regular room on Princess you no full breakfast, as for size of rooms it depends on the ships..

Apples for apples, or oranges for oranges they are both great cruise lines or they would not still be in business...

I like Princess anytime dining it is big thing with me and my DH because we are on vacation no schedules...

Princess seems to me and I'm not the expert to give a little better service now will you find the towel animals in your room at night with no Princess probaly not.

But will you find a room stewart when you get hurt stay outside your room when nobody is with you to make sure that you don't need anything and check to see when you need to go back to medical to get check and walk you down because you can not see with Princess YES.

( we were on the Star over last Thanksgiving and I poked a hole in my pupil of my eye and could not see my hand in front of me)

 

Princess always make sure that I have fruit everyday and a full ice bucket always and when I get on the ship is he there waiting on me to say I need extra pillows and a egg crate yes for Princess (inside at the cheapest cabin or a suite they don't care they are there to make sure you have the best vacation that you have ever had)

Can you tell I'm a Princess fan 7 and counting and hate to hear that one has pulled out of Port and I was not on it...

 

Will be on the Caribbean July 8 and can not wait to start planning another one..It's a shame that we have to go to work so we can afford to go again..

Planning on retiring on a cruise ship and it looks like Princess will be my first choice but that is about 15 years away so we will see what happens with their perk plan..by then...but this subject can open up a whole other thread.. I keep telling my husband I need to go ahead and start cruising every week now so when he gets ready to retire I'll know all the ends and outs, and our goal and plan is crusing the world one week at a time.

 

Tina

[willysgrandma]

Having cruised RCCL and recently doing my first Princess, I'd definitely recommend Princess.

 

We sailed the Crown and we loved the ship - the ship was beautiful, the rooms were great, bedding more comfortable than my bed at home. Entertainment on a par with RCCL, but we loved MUTS.

 

Food IMO was about the same. I felt Princess was a bit of a step above RCCL.

 

Princess did have limited room service but surely don't let a room service menu sway you.

 

We also prefer anytime dining and specfically chose Princess based on that.

 

Princess had great itineraries and we loved the shore excursions offered, as well as the onboard activities. They had ceramic classes, dance lessons, a wonderful library, good internet cafe, a wonderful International Cafe open all day.

 

Getting on and off the ship was also a pleasure in port - I had some issues with our RCCL cruise on the Sovereign with trying to get off the ship for excursions. There were no problems with Princess.

[Nymue]

We also LOVE the way Princess does the muster drill, no standing out in the hot sun :D :p :D Instead you get to sit in a nice air conditioned lounge ;)

[wizard-of-roz]

Princess is definitely more upscale than RCCL......although they are both good lines and offer wonderful service/food and ambiance.......Princess just cuts it closer to 10 than Royal!!!!!

We got used to the room service menu (or, lack thereof!) Grab your coffee/danish/croissant; get ready and move to the Lido or Dining Room for the rest!!!!! It's very doable!!!!! :p

[AmyinGA]

I have cruised on both. Grand and Island on Princess. Voyager on RCCL. When I was on the RCCL ship I started to keep score to see who would win. Overall Princess came out ahead.

 

We prefer the food, entertainment and style of the ship on Princess. We did find that our balcony cabin on RCCL was more of the size of a mini suite on the grand. And RCCL won out in the balcony cabin bathroom too. We also liked the shower door a lot more than the clingy shower curtain on Princess. We liked the bars better on RCCL, but the buffet is better on Princess.

 

It was a close call. If we were trying to decide between two cruises that had similar ports and prices we would pick Princess over RCCL each time.

[envy4u]

Having cruised on both I find the two cruise lines more similar than different. Enjoy your cruise. :D

[wernew2cruising]

Thanks everyone! I will just look at the ports, etc and pick based on that instead of just looking at one cruise line.

 

I can't wait. We have a southern caribbean booked right now and I am trying to find a transatlantic for next year.

 

Any suggestions?

[jnv]

I agree with many of the posts, we have sailed on RCI and Princess, and we love them both - I don't think you can go wrong either way!

[Lewdog]

the ship's decor is more refined on Princess

[sandysav]

Having sailed on both lines (and there was one RCCL we did not like), I would choosed RCCL, we went on Star Princess in January and our group has since renamed it the Poopy princess, we got to smell the lovely black water emissions the entire trip and they could care less that they have 6 very unhappy customers. Good thing about princess, the food was probably best yet.

[tiyana4]

We have sailed on both Princess and RCCL and for us Princess beat RCCL hands down. I am in my mid-thirties and found Princess to be a much more relaxing and upscale atmosphere overall. Even though we sail during peak vacation seasons for kids (Spring Break & pre-Labor Day weekend), Princess had a much better handle on the kids programs. There were over 800 kids on our Princess sailing last August and just a few more on RCCL April '07 and it was overly apparent on RCCL. One thing I can say for RCCL is that after midnight, the adults-only curfew was enforced. Princess needed no such curfew.

 

The food was just a bit better on Princess but unlike RCCL it was always available. After 3:30 pm on RCCL, the buffet closes down until 6:30 pm. All that was available during these times were pizza, hotdogs and burgers. Not my cup of tea seven days in a row (we are late afternoon lunchers and 2nd seating). Would I try RCCL again? Certainly, but I much prefer Princess.