Princess vs RC

[Jahla Jahla]

I would like to be corrected if I am wrong.

 

We have only sailed on Grand Princess. Is this a good Princess ship to assume the rest of the line is like? My husband overheard several (older) couples setting together on the Grand. This was their first time sailing on her, but Princess was their favorite having sailed her other ships. They thought that the Grand was subpar to the rest of the Princess ships that they had been on. They stated that Princess had bought the Grand five or so years ago, from P & O and that it has a British taste and very different from the other Princess ships, and that they would never sail her again.

 

My question. Is she so different from the other ships in the Princess line? This will give me an idea as to whether to give Princess another chance with another ship.

[PescadoAmarillo]

The only thing I really disliked about the Grand was the lack of a mid ship stairway that passengers could use. It was amazing how much we missed this, since we don't generally use the elevators. Everything else about the ship itself seemed typical Princess to me.

 

I will admit that on our Grand Princess cruises (B2B in February 2005), we received the toughest post-dinner sales pitches from our waitstaff. I really didn't appreciate that, but realize that that could have simply been at the direction of the management team at the time.

 

Joanne...no it is not true that the Grand Princess was bought from P & O, not at all. It was built specifically for Princess at was hugely marketed at the time it was rolled out, as the largest ship afloat. Pure Princess, through and through, and all of the Grand Class and modified Grand Class ships (Golden, Star, Diamond, Sapphire, Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and soon Ruby) were built on basically the same model.

[Tatka]

I've only sailed on Caribbean which is almost identical (but has one more PAX deck and 500 more passengers)

 

I am not sure about Grand being bought from P&O, but I think in Europe all Princess ships marketed as P&Q..

 

Grand Princess

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Grand Princesss

The Grand Princess anchored in South Queensferry

Placed in Service: May 26, 1998

Status: in service

Tonnage: 109,000 gross tons

Call Sign: ZCBU5

Official Number: 10853

Length: 951 feet

Beam: 118 feet

Draft: 26 feet

Height: 201 feet

Cruising Speed: 22.5 knots

Decks: 18

Complement: 2,600 passengers, 1,100 crew

Registry: Hamilton, Bermuda

Grand Princess is a large cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises. Built by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani in Monfalcone, Italy, at a cost of approximately US$450 million, she was the largest and most expensive ship ever built at the time, a distinction now carried by Royal Caribbean International's Liberty of the Seas. Grand Princess primarily operates in Europe during the summer to early fall, and then operates in the Caribbean during winter to late spring.

She is the sister ship of the Star Princess and the Golden Princess. The Grand Princess was the setting for a task in the second series of the UK version of the reality TV show The Apprentice.

 

By the way we had many people from UK on our July 2006, Caribbean sailing if anything they are great to cruise with... They dress nicely for the dinners, polite etc. I much prefer to have them as my co-cruisers than riff-raff crowd on Explorer during our last cruise 2 weeks ago... ;)

[Tatka]

Can anybody explain why Princess decided to modify Grand Class design? What are the advantages of Crown and such comparing to Grand Class?

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Can anybody explain why Princess decided to modify Grand Class design? What are the advantages of Crown and such comparing to Grand Class?

 

More people = more money

[Jahla Jahla]

PescadoAmarillo;

 

Thanks for the information. I couldn't find that P&O had owned it, but had to ask the question to set things straight with hubby. He was the one that overheard that it was bought from P&O.

 

So, does that mean that all of the Grand Class ships, (Golden, Star, Diamond, Sapphire, Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and soon Ruby) all have the same inside layout? If that is so, not sure we will be sailing any Princess ships anytime soon.

[The Big Booper]

......<snip>By the way we had many people from UK on our July 2006, Caribbean sailing if anything they are great to cruise with... They dress nicely for the dinners, polite etc. I much prefer to have them as my co-cruisers than riff-raff crowd on Explorer during our last cruise 2 weeks ago... ;)

 

And how do you feel about the "riff-raff" crowd populating the Crown this summer, per all the posts here?

 

Too many loud New Yawkuhs, huh?

[Tatka]

And how do you feel about the "riff-raff" crowd populating the Crown this summer, per all the posts here?

 

Too many loud New Yawkuhs, huh?

 

I was actually really surprised to find this crowd sailing out of NJ. Was it the same on CP?

 

Well, at least Princess has so many places where you can "hide", and still enjoy pools.:)

[lizi116]

thanks for the responses. Cynbar, did you cruise with children? have DD 13 yrs old and loved RC. Will she have as many kids and fun as RC?

 

thanks

Our first cruise was this August on Princess. Both kids (9 & 12)LOVED it!! They both enjoyed the kids club, making friends, freshwater pools, shows and especially Movies under the Stars! There were 600 kids aboard when we sailed. Your DD will love it!

[Tatka]

Our first cruise was this August on Princess. Both kids (9 & 12)LOVED it!! They both enjoyed the kids club, making friends, freshwater pools, shows and especially Movies under the Stars! There were 600 kids aboard when we sailed. Your DD will love it!

 

I think Princess does well limiting number of kids, even kids enjoy it. :D

[PescadoAmarillo]

So, does that mean that all of the Grand Class ships, (Golden, Star, Diamond, Sapphire, Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and soon Ruby) all have the same inside layout? If that is so, not sure we will be sailing any Princess ships anytime soon.

Pretty much the same. There are some minor differences in the placement of some public rooms on Deck 7 (i.e. the Wheelhouse Bar, internet cafe, Sabatinis, etc.) but the main rooms (Princess Theater, Explorer's Lounge and a lounge called different things aft) are the same. Skywalkers protrudes on some ships (shopping cart handle), doesn't on others. The ships except for Crown, Caribbean and Emerald have a glass roofed pool area. But you'd find the way you move around the ship (Deck 7 being the only front to back non-cabin deck) the same.

[joand452]

Both the Sapphire and the Crown have stairways at the mid-ship elevators. We always choose cabins located by the "main" elevators. The stairs were in a separate corridor directly behind them.

 

We loved both our Princess cruises, but are sailing on RCI in March (mainly because we're going with friends). Our second cruise was on RCI in 2005. I loved the Windjammer variety and quality; much more interesting than Horizon Court.

 

We have have future cruise credit on Princess, which we'll probably use in 2009. I'll be sure we stay away from the Grand!!

[troywest]

Both lines have their good and bad points. Up to now, most people correctly picked their cruise based on itinerary and price.

 

That may soon change. RCCL (and other lines) will begin severely restricting smoking. This may drive some smokers to Princess. The increased smoking on Princess (if it does not change its policies) will drive many passengers to RCCL.

 

Many states and countries are smoke free. When Marriott went smoke free I didn't think it would work; but it has worked very well. Carnival tried a smoke free ship; but decided some years ago that it didn't work. I think the time for smoke free cruises has now come. We'll see how the marketplace works.

[DeRon]

Both lines have their good and bad points. Up to now, most people correctly picked their cruise based on itinerary and price.

 

That may soon change. RCCL (and other lines) will begin severely restricting smoking. This may drive some smokers to Princess. The increased smoking on Princess (if it does not change its policies) will drive many passengers to RCCL.

 

Many states and countries are smoke free. When Marriott went smoke free I didn't think it would work; but it has worked very well. Carnival tried a smoke free ship; but decided some years ago that it didn't work. I think the time for smoke free cruises has now come. We'll see how the marketplace works.

I am one that will switch to RCCL if the smokers hop over to Princess. When we sailed Celebrity Millinium a couple of yrs ago, the smoke was unbearable. I agree with the previous poster. It is time for smokeless cruisers.

[Tatka]

That may soon change. RCCL (and other lines) will begin severely restricting smoking. This may drive some smokers to Princess. The increased smoking on Princess (if it does not change its policies) will drive many passengers to RCCL.

 

They will restrict smoking in cabins, smoking will still be alowed on outside decks.

 

We were on Explorer last months and it looks like they already started doing so, as we had trouble finding ashtreys.. Only bars had them, and there were not enough shtrey-cans.

 

After Grand fire accident RCCL made very sensitive smoke detectors too.. We usually don't smoke in cabins anyway, but one time my DH tried alarm worked!!! Somebody from the crew came to our room and explained whole situation about alarms.

[dcl1710]

We choose our cruise by itinerary and have done both RCI and Princess. If this is a carribean cruise I think they are the same. For a more in depth cruise - Baltic, Italy I would choose Princess because they tend to have people knowledgeable about the area and give lectures before each city.

Advantages of Princess:
1. Patter more information
2. Self service laundry for long trips
3. MUTS!
4. Anytime dining
5. Better liquor prices
6. Allows wine on board from land
7. Room service coffee
8. Pizza better
9. Better internet (RCI was a joke)

Advantages of RCI
1. More kid friendly
2. Room had more places to unpack stuff
3. Excursions were better handled
4. Embarkation easier
5. The pubs in the mall area nice

I am not going to list disadvantages because that can get very dangerous on these boards! Any cruise has good and bad things - go with the flow and enjoy!

[jillyfish]

[COLOR=Green][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Hey LeGerri!
We are in the opposite situation as you. We have sailed The Grand twice and the Caribbean Princess twice. We are now trying to decide whether to "jump ship" and go on RCCL (Liberty of the Seas). It is tough to decide!!! :confused::confused::confused:

We have always enjoyed the princess ships. We especially liked the anytime dining. On the Caribbean Princess (I believe they also do it on the Grand, called "bistro") they set up the back portion of the Horizon Court with table cloths, candles, real glassware and plates in the evening. You still serve yourself, buffet style, but there are waiters who bring your drinks and check on you. The food is generally the same, or close to, what they are serving in the main diningroom that evening. We were always able to get a table right at the window. It was nice to eat at a leisurly pace but not at a snails pace like in the formal diningroom.

The mini suites are great for a group of three. We have a young son. We originally opted for the mini suite because of the pull out sleeper sofa rather than the upper berth and the bathtub rather than just the shower. There are two tvs also, so no arguing over what to watch. ;)

Movies under the stars were great but very limited to PG or G films for our son. The one evening we were able to go was wonderful though. Kinda like being at the drive in. They cover the deck chairs with cloth covers, pass out blankets and come around with popcorn and candy. You can also pick up pizza, burgers or dogs and eat while you watch the movie. We didn't ever go to that pool during the day though with the moving blaring up above.

We also enjoy that the Princess ships come and go from Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami.

Lastly, the Pizza IS great on Princess.

We have always had a relaxing, laid back vacation on Princess. We are looking for a tad bit more family excitement, that is our reason for looking at RCCL.
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[Hlitner]

We have sailed both lines many times (Diamond and Elite) as well as 9 other cruise lines (we like variety) and find pros and cons to both lines. But, overall we think they are very comparable and would book either at any time (we currently have a RCI, Azamara and Princess cruise booked for next few months). As to the Grand Princess (and Grand Class) we love these ships because of the Caribe deck balconies which are about twice the size of most cruise ship balconies and have the advantage of being half covered and half open to the skies. Regarding kids programs, we would have to give the edge to RCI ships..but Princess also does a pretty decent job. This being said, if you cruise with kids during the school year than you might find that all the programs are lacking since there are fewer children (most are in school where they belong).

Hank

[NancyIL]

Let's see...what board am I on now? ;) I've been on 1 HAL cruise, 3 RCI cruises, and my most recent cruise was on the Coral Princess to Alaska. I LOVED the Coral and would happily sail on her again. I found the Coral to be comparable in many ways to RCI's Jewel of the Seas, which we also loved.

I have cruises booked on Disney, RCI (twice), and HAL in 2008, so Princess will have to wait until another year. But I would definitely cruise with Princess again - for the right itinerary and price.

[jillyfish]

[COLOR=Blue][FONT=Century Gothic]Our dilema is choosing between Crown Princess itinerary vs Liberty of the Seas - ship itself.

We know we like Princess and we like the itinerary they offer for the date we are looking at. We would however, like to try Royal Caribbean again, haven't been on theirs for several years. We have a 6 year old son and we are trying to figure out if the Liberty of the Seas H2O zone and Royal Promenade's parade would out way Crown Princess' itinerary. Which would be 4 beach stops compared to 2 beach stops on RCCL.
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