RCCL Versus Princess review

[i-m-ed]

I have been on 5 RCL and 1 Celebrity Cruise and am a Platinum Level but I have been seriously considering Princess. Princess' itineraries are very seductive.

FWIW, on our last cruise, FOS, we ate with a TA and she said the only reason she was on RCL was because she was given a substantial discount else she would have went on Princess. She said that we would be crazy not to try Princess at least once.

[roe2ship]

[quote name='Sandytoes']Princess provide complimentary robes during your cruise. You do not need to ask for them. They are placed in your cabin on the first day of arrival.
[COLOR=red][I]They are?? Not on my cruises, I always had to ask, perhaps you had suites??[/I][/COLOR]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Places that needed to be repainted. Tiles on floor cracked.
Toilet badly stained, marked, and would not flush at times...:eek:
Brown water coming out of sink.

And here's a picture of the adult pool. Which we never went in.
Notice the brown stain around the edge.



[IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u265/CPcruise/1fe487ab.jpg[/IMG][/quote]
This is an adult pool? Isn't it a hot tub/whirlpool? Hard not to see the brown stain, this is very disappointing.

[Tatka]

[quote name='Sandytoes'][SIZE=-1]Princess provide complimentary robes during your cruise. You do not need to ask for them. They are placed in your cabin on the first day of arrival. It's a little extra touch provided to their guest.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Where as, RC does not.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Having a robe was not a major issue for me. Since I provide my own.[/SIZE][/quote]

I love Princess, but robes are not provided automatically.. We had to ask for them. I liked phone greeting.. was really surprised.

I wonder if you can get robes on request on RCCL? (We will sail in inside cabin)

[negc]

[quote name='Tatka']

I wonder if you can get robes on request on RCCL? (We will sail in inside cabin)[/quote]
You frequently can if there are enough available. As to that higher membership level that gets you a robe automatically, it is platinum which you attain when you have five cruise credits, which can be done in two or three cruises depending on their length or your accommodations.:) Women passengers might not care for Princess' practice of putting their names outside their cabins.
:(

[CGTNORMANDIE]

I have only been on Princess twice...the STAR and the CARIBBEAN PRINCESS. My experience was much like the OP's except in reverse. I seriously doubt if I will ever cruise Princess again as we did not like the Anytime Dining or the food or the service...and we found both ships to be strictly mass market. "Each to his own".

[i-m-ed]

One minor thing I noticed on our FOS cruise last year was that the phone system / Voicemail was never updated. When you would call a room it showed the name of what I assume was a previous guest rather than the name of the present occupant. Very minor for sure but if RCL doesn't plan on updating the phones why not just turn the caller ID off.

[onthewaves]

[quote name='negc']You frequently can if there are enough available. As to that higher membership level that gets you a robe automatically, it is platinum which you attain when you have five cruise credits, which can be done in two or three cruises depending on their length or your accommodations.:) Women passengers might not care for Princess' practice of putting their names outside their cabins.
:([/QUOTE]
negc,

If you're sailing in an oceanview cabin on RCI and want a robe, do you just ask your cabin steward for one? If there are enough available, will you be charged anyway?

[Chip and Dale]

We sailed Serenade out of San Juan in Feb. DH convinced me to try another cruise after we vowed never to cruise again when we returned from a cruise on the Star Princess the previous Feb. I am very pleased that I was convinced, the RCI experience was so good that we booked a B2B on the Legend in 2008.

First let me state that DH and I are Canadian. Our country is bilingual. If you have flown on a CAD plane, driven our highways, seen practically anything in print you would see English and French. I don't want to open up a can of worms, but I keep seeing posts about Spanish entertainment and announcements on ships sailing out of San Juan. We heard a few announcements in both languages, but none of the experiences that people seem to mention on this board about ships out of San Juan. Can someone enlighten me here....notice I said enlighten and not flame...thank you.
Dee

[Tatka]

[quote name='CGTNORMANDIE']I have only been on Princess twice...the STAR and the CARIBBEAN PRINCESS. My experience was much like the OP's except in reverse. I seriously doubt if I will ever cruise Princess again as we did not like the Anytime Dining or the food or the service...and we found both ships to be strictly mass market. "Each to his own".[/quote]

I thought, you liked Princess. :o

Is RCI less mass market?

[The Big Booper]

[quote name='Sandytoes'][SIZE=-1]~~~~~~~~~~~~~[/SIZE]

Places that needed to be repainted. Tiles on floor cracked.
Toilet badly stained, marked, and would not flush at times...:eek:
Brown water coming out of sink.

And here's a picture of the adult pool. Which we never went in.
Notice the brown stain around the edge.



[IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u265/CPcruise/1fe487ab.jpg[/IMG][/quote]

Is the brown stain on the water line at the back of the pool? If so, that is pretty gross, like tub scum.

You would think, with the army of worker bees always buzzing around these ships cleaning and polishing, that something like that would have been taken care of.

[The Big Booper]

[quote name='Chip and Dale']We sailed Serenade out of San Juan in Feb. DH convinced me to try another cruise after we vowed never to cruise again when we returned from a cruise on the Star Princess the previous Feb. I am very pleased that I was convinced, the RCI experience was so good that we booked a B2B on the Legend in 2008.

First let me state that DH and I are Canadian. Our country is bilingual. If you have flown on a CAD plane, driven our highways, seen practically anything in print you would see English and French. I don't want to open up a can of worms, but I keep seeing posts about Spanish entertainment and announcements on ships sailing out of San Juan. We heard a few announcements in both languages, but none of the experiences that people seem to mention on this board about ships out of San Juan. Can someone enlighten me here....notice I said enlighten and not flame...thank you.
Dee[/quote]

The Spanish language influence is far stronger on AOS than SOS. And it is even more pronounced in the Summer when people from the continental US and Canada don't want to fly down paying high airfares to San Juan to cruise in the very hot and humid tropics. RCI has to fill the ships so they practically give it away with special rates to people living in PR. Which means Spanish becomes the leading language on the ship.

You sailed the Serenade in February so those two factors didn't influence your trip. We did the AOS in August 2002 and had a mix of 1) 900 traveling in a group who kept to themselves 2) 1100 Spanish speaking people from PR , 3) 1200 mostly Englsh speaking from the US and 4) a sprinkling of 200 from various European countries.

Needless to say, passenger activities were poorly attended, even The Quest and Love and Marriage. There were trivia games where I played against DW as the only participants!

Never again on the AOS, especially in the summer. If we go Southern again, we go on the SOS.

[negc]

[quote name='onthewaves']negc,

If you're sailing in an oceanview cabin on RCI and want a robe, do you just ask your cabin steward for one? If there are enough available, will you be charged anyway?[/quote]
There is no charge for the robes unless you intend to keep them, just as with Princess.

[Merion_Mom]

First of all, thank you for taking the time and effort to write your post.

I, too, have noted a few inaccuracies. I absolutely agree that you are entitled to your opinion, but facts and opinions are two different areas.


[quote name='Sandytoes'][B][U][FONT=Arial]Embarkment Day

[/FONT][/U][/B] [COLOR=Navy][B][FONT=Arial]Royal Caribbean[/FONT][/B][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] just a handful of crew members welcoming you onboard. You are not allowed to bring any liquor onboard.

[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy] [B][FONT=Arial]Princess[/FONT][/B][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] has staff members on every deck level, including cabin decks waiting outside the elevators, directing you to your rooms. Cabin Stewards are near your cabin as you arrive. Introducing themselves. You are hounded to buy soda cards. You are allowed to bring wine onboard.[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]
I appreciate that this has been your experience. My one Princess experience was opposite of yours, in two interesting ways: There were few (if any?) Princess crew greeting or directing us to our cabin. We did not meet our steward immediately. HOWEVER, no one was in our face trying to sell us a soda card!

[quote][COLOR=Navy]

[B][U][FONT=Arial]Ships[/FONT][/U][/B]

[/COLOR][COLOR=Navy][B][FONT=Arial]RCCL[/FONT][/B][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] Large glitzy promenade with more detail located on one deck. Each deck is tastefully decorated and comfortable. Decks are detail decorated. Never felt crowded.[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy]
[/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] No laundry rooms. Lacked of public restrooms which were not easy to find.
Patter easier to read.[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy]
[/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy]Ship was worn, not well maintained. Family friendly. Offering more sports activities. Bingo $20 and has only one winner during game, lasting less than 15 minutes. Compass has small writing, difficult to read. Captain had a great sense of humor, making jokes throughout the sailing.

[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]All I can say here is that you weren't looking very hard for the bathrooms. There are restrooms outside the entrances on all three decks to the three-story dining room (a major beautiful feature of RC's Voyager class and Freedom class ships). Ditto for the two levels of the theatre. I'm not sure how you missed them.

As for the Cruise Compass and the Princess Patters - I am sitting here looking at one of each, and the print size doesn't look different to me. I DO notice that the Princess paper has MANY more advertisements for sales and merchandise than Royal Caribbean's.


[quote][COLOR=Navy][B][FONT=Arial]Princess[/FONT][/B][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] ships have a more "classy" feel to it. Far more elegant.[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy]
[/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy]You never got the feeling that any particular area of the ship was overcrowded.[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy]
[/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] On each deck there are laundry rooms with washers, dryers, and a row of ironing boards with irons. Public bathrooms are easily accessible near dining area and theatre.
Bingo offers more chances to win prizes. More activities during the day.
[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]
I hate Bingo, but I will say this: Princess has more prizes, but they are small, almost laughable. Royal Caribbean has much larger prizes and jackpots. I still won't play any more on either!

[quote][COLOR=Navy][B][U][FONT=Arial]Cabin[/FONT][/U][/B]
[/COLOR][COLOR=Navy][B][FONT=Arial]RC[/FONT][/B][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] if you want a bathrobe, you have to buy one, unless you book a suite or have higher member status. . Small drawers for storing clothes.[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy]
[/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy]Bathroom shower was larger, with a tubular shower door and had racks to place shampoo, shaver, etc.Water temp. was easy to set. Light brown water coming out of sink. Toilet was well worn, difficulty flushing.
On balcony there’s a small side table with two uncomfortable chairs. Balcony doors were completely sound proof, as well as the cabin. Unable to hear announcements in cabin, had to stand in hallway to listen.
Cabin had a sofa and table. If you were sitting at desk, it made it difficult to pass.

[/COLOR][/FONT][COLOR=Navy][B][FONT=Arial]Princess[/FONT][/B][/COLOR] [FONT=Arial][COLOR=Navy] cabins offer you a free bathrobe. More space for storage. Plus, egg-crate foam mattress support, if needed. Shower has a curtain, no racks to place toiletries. Balconies are bigger, with comfortable chairs and table. No towel animals. Can request to have sitting chair removed, allowing more room to move about the cabin.[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]This has pretty much been covered. You can ask for the robe on Royal Caribbean, and you may get one, if there are any available. Otherwise, it's automatic once you reach Platinum status. (five cruise credits)

No egg crate necessary any more, since the brand new bedding is fabulous. But we needed one on the sofabed last week, and got it *almost before asking*.

Balconies vary in size, depending on category. Did you state which type of cabin you had on the Adventure? If so, I missed it.

[quote][COLOR=Navy]

[B][U][FONT=Arial]Horizon Court vs. Windjammer[/FONT][/U][/B]

[/COLOR][COLOR=Navy] [B][FONT=Arial]Royal Caribbean’s[/B] [/color][/font]Windjammer had nothing spectacular to offer. Basic food. They have an outstanding omelet station. Food was always cold. Pancakes hard. Wait staff comes and serves you juice and coffee immediately. You have to pay extra for fresh squeezed OJ. Buffet area closes early, making it difficult to get a small bite to eat or a drink.[/quote]I am sorry - what do you define as early? My experience has been that you can get breakfast until 11 A.M. :confused:

[quote][COLOR=Navy][B][U][FONT=Arial]Dining[/FONT][/color][/U][/B]

[B][FONT=Arial]Princess[/FONT][/B] offers Personal Choice you can reserve a table anytime you choose and with what waiter you want. Wait staff remembers what your likes and dislikes are. I would go Personal Choice over Traditional anytime. Food is more delicious, with unique presentation. Higher quality of food. Lobsters are larger and tastier and the King Crab Legs are perfectly prepared. Princess has more to offer on menus, plus the dessert menus have a larger variety to choose from. Several dining options are available. Free hamburgers and hot dogs and a pizza station near pool area. Jeans and shorts were never seen in dining area or public spaces. Everyone is elegantly dressed. The liquor on Princess is far cheaper than RCCL.[/quote]I wasn't going to comment on the dining section of your comparison, but I changed my mind.

Everyone dressed elegantly? No jeans or shorts? HA! (let's leave it at that)

Again, I thank you for starting this thread. It seems to be a question that many cruisers ask: How does one cruise line compare to another? It is good to have threads like this every now and then. :)

[laprofesora]

[quote name='karena1']I also am surprised by the comparisons. We were on a B2B on Crown in April, and without a doubt much prefer RCI to Princess. Thought the buffet was closed in, not spacious like Windjammer, and it definitly was not open 24 hours. It was never open before 6 or 7 am. They did have a great seafood buffet on the day of sailaway in the Caribe cafe, not the Horizon Court. Fruit on the first day was spoiled, so never ate it again the entire 2 weeks. Overall we think RCI buffet is much better.

Don't get me wrong - we had a great cruise on Crown, but I don't think the comparisons are at all accurate to a Voyager class ship. From the staff, to the room (although I will say Princess had a lot of storage), to the atmosphere, gym, layout of the ship, all of it, I just think RCI has the better ships.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I just can't believe you could find so many things that much different. For us, we will continue to cruise with Royal.[/QUOTE]
Last two cruises on Princess were very disappointing. One was to the Mexican Riviera about two years ago. The food has declined. Yes they may have their buffets open twenty four hours a day however they do no midnight buffets or pass around snacks to speak of. They nickel and dime for everything and their entertainment is just average based heavily on country and western themes. No sophistication. The Crown is a beautiful ship however very few places to sit on the decks that are shaded from the sun. Class as a cruise used to be no longer exists at least not on The Crown. Very nasty college students who lived to drink. Food average. Adventure of the Seas and Explorer both have incredible facilities. The staff was great on Explorer about a month ago. The food at night in the main dining room was a little above average. The food probably was slightly better on Princess at the buffet. Forget Class Shmass. Go to have fun on either line. Celebrity does things with slightly more class. As people refuse to dress up on most of these lines service and food are going down. As far as the comment abourt RCCL catering to a Puerto Rican Crowd. Great those guys really know how to have fun. That comment stinks and smacked of prejudice. I love cruises where I can meet people from all over the world. San Juan is beautiful. Too bad the stop on Explorer was so brief. You want to see class try a European Cruise. They are longer and usually have fewer kids. Explorer had more than eight hundred kids on board and they were sweet and polite. Adventure of the Seas went deep Southern Caribbean and allowed us to see Curacoa for the first time. My impressions after my seventeenth cruise. Have done Celebrity,Princess, Royal Caribbean and Renaissance. Have been to Alaska twice, the Caribbean several times, Russia and Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Estonia Twice. Have done the coast of Spain. Egypt, Turkey, Greece and I will tell you each cruise is different. Have seen Venice from the top of the Grand Princess and was able to be eye level with the Sculptures on top of the buildings. Saw Monte Carlo, Florence, Capri, Sorrento, and Paris. I bet I would not have seen a lot of these places if it were not for cruising.

[Desert Cruizers]

With so many Cruise lines and various degrees of service, we all may at one time incounter a cruise that didn't go as well as it should. The greatest thing about a cruise for all of us, is we have so many choices to suit our needs. For reasons we don't know why, on one cruise, it will not go well for some. It may not have anything to do with expectations. Ok I'm done. :)

[Cruising89143]

[quote name='karena1']I also am surprised by the comparisons. We were on a B2B on Crown in April, and without a doubt much prefer RCI to Princess. Thought the buffet was closed in, not spacious like Windjammer, and it definitly was not open 24 hours. It was never open before 6 or 7 am. They did have a great seafood buffet on the day of sailaway in the Caribe cafe, not the Horizon Court. Fruit on the first day was spoiled, so never ate it again the entire 2 weeks. Overall we think RCI buffet is much better.

Don't get me wrong - we had a great cruise on Crown, but I don't think the comparisons are at all accurate to a Voyager class ship. From the staff, to the room (although I will say Princess had a lot of storage), to the atmosphere, gym, layout of the ship, all of it, I just think RCI has the better ships.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I just can't believe you could find so many things that much different. For us, we will continue to cruise with Royal.[/quote]

I want to try Princess down the road sometime but to read what is posted on the Princess board by some of the faithful you would think that Princess is somehow a premium line. I look at them as mass market just like RCI. Actually when I look at the passenger to space ratio of the Caribbean/Crown class of ships, they are horrible compared to the Voyager or Freedom class ships. I guess having so many choices to pick from makes it good for us all.

[dsawyer]

There are good things and not so good things about both.

Each of us settle into a favorite cruiseline and please don't feel bad because some don't choose your favorite cruiseline.

The OP said what she felt about the comparison between the two. There are many people who post on Princess who tell us how much better Royal Caribbean is.

To us, they are both pretty similar. We cruise more on Princess because they offer anytime dining and better prices for the cruises we are interested in. I just came off of a cruise on the Enchantment and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Oh dear, now I went and did it - I mentioned that nasty term, "anytime dining". :D

[alexkrn46]

Have been on one Princess cruise.

Robes you had to ask for. The personal choice dining was inpersonal The entertainment was the same except no ice show.

The demographics, I felt like I was on a floating nursing home, I have never seen so many walkers and wheelchairs.

Princess price was cheaper.

[i-m-ed]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']

..............I DO notice that the Princess paper has MANY more advertisements for sales and merchandise than Royal Caribbean's.

...............[/QUOTE]

WOW!! I didn't think that could be possible.

I have become pretty adept at ignoring advertisements so I generally don't see them unless I try.

I have a co-worker that has been on two Princess cruises and Princess is the only line he looked at when he booked his third.

I guess I am just curious because I always feel compelled to try something different.

Unfortunately, we are likely to bag off from cruising for a few years after upcoming cruise. We are now looking at exploring Europe and China because we feel our children are now old enough to appreciate something other than the beach.

[Desert Cruizers]

My DH & I manage a cruise every other year and we really enjoy that. In between we use our RV so by following year we are looking forward to a cruise again. Neither one of us are interested in all the perks, just the ability to totally relax, meet all the wonderful people from all over, and see places we may never see otherwise.

[crusingdave]

I have found the crews to be much friendlier on Royal Caribbean. Also if you should encounter a problem, the customer relations people at Royal Caribbean are more than willing to call you on the phone to resolve the problem rather than having a letter writing contest. Princess customer relations will not speak with your travel agent or you. Also I have saved a great deal of money on Royal Caribbean when they lower the price of the cruise before sailing. They will give you a credit back even after final payment unless it is a happy hour special. Princess will not give any credits back after final payment if the price of the cruise is reduced. Also Princess will not honor any verbal committments from their personnel even if the call is completely documented. No way to do business. Also on Royal Caribbean there are assigned head waiters for every table. Princess there is 1 or 2 maitre's per dining room. No assigned head waiters.

[i-m-ed]

[quote name='crusingdave']......... Princess there is 1 or 2 maitre's per dining room. No assigned head waiters.[/QUOTE]

Out of six cruises our head waiter has only spent time chatting with us once so for me availability of a head waiter means very little.

[Desert Cruizers]

We have been on two Princess Cruises, 2002 & 2006 and one Royal Caribbean Curise 2004. On both Princess cruises, we have had wonderful staff, entertaining CD's. Our Royal Caribbean cruise also had no problems. The service for both lines were wonderful. We have had with both lines, a head waiter, assit waiter. The head Maitre'd did stop by now and then to check our table and make sure everything was going well.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

[quote name='Tatka']I thought, you liked Princess. :o

Is RCI less mass market?[/quote]

HI TATKA!!!:D

I thought Pricess would be a good match for you...but we were not crazy about it. It was not a good fit for us.

YES...RCI is less mass market...the service is much better on most of their ships. Of course service varies from ship to ship...but we are absolutely in love with THE JEWEL OF THE SEAS. This is the perfect ship for us at the present time...and their service seems to be pretty consistent.

ROSS

HI BILL!!!

[Sandytoes]

On Princess cruises the Head Waiter rarely goes to table to table. Only if a request is made by a passenger or from one complaining.

On RC every night the Head Waiter always stopped by each table.

Is it because they have to check up on their Dining room Waiters and
Assistant Waiters?
Or is it because of the discretionary tips?


Having the Head Waiter come to my table each night is no biggy for me.
What matters most is having great food and with excellent service.