Carnival Lover May Try Princess - Questions...

[TennisLover]

Hi. I loved my Carnival cruises, but we may want to try something different for next winter. I wanted to get info here because you are all Carnival lovers too. (I will research on the Princess board also but those answers will surely be biased!) Note that I am looking at the bigger Princess ships (would love the Ruby which will be brand new).

 

How does the nighlife compare? Any live bands, piano bar, karoake on Princess? How are the shows in comparison?

 

How are the teen programs? Do a lot of families cruise on Princess over school breaks?

 

Is it a more formal atmosphere on Princess? More "dressed up?"

 

How do the cabins compare? We usually get a standard balcony on Carnival, although I would look to a cat 11 if I was going to cruise on Carnival again. Which Princess categories compare to Carnival's standard balcony and cat. 11 cabins?

 

I have a lot of other questions, but those are my primary comparison questions. Would love to hear from people who like Carnival but have also cruised on Princess. Thank you in advance for your insights!

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

We cruised with Princess in Oct of 06 and we will be trying our first Carnival Cruise in Oct of 08, so I cannot really compare them. We sailed on the Carribbean Princess and I can tell you that

 

1. I would not say that everyone was dressed up. For the most part every person I saw during the day was in a bathing suit (or shorts) but nothing Thurston Howell III... However I would say that during dinner everone had on (for the most part, there was that one guy who came down in jeans one night) casula dinner attire, shirts, pants, dresses etc. Everyone looked nice but not stuffy.

 

2. I can only speak about the children's programs (we did check out the Teen facilities and they were having a great time every night we left our sons next door in their section). They were FANTASTIC, kept the kids busy and the kids wanted to spend more time there than with us.

 

3. The piano bar was always full..they had a great guy on there and the entertainment was good too, alot to choose from. Can't speak too much about the nightclubs as we have little ones but they always seemed full when we would walk by on our way back to our cabin.

 

4. I will tell you that our cabin was smaller I think than by Carnival standards. We had an OV and it was 180 sq ft. I have heard that Princess has some of the smallest cabins sailing but it was well appointed, with a mini fridge and the staff was EXCELLENT.

 

I do not know if the Ruby has MUTS (Movies Under the Stars) but let me tell you what a hit this was for our family. The cover the deck chairs, give you a nice blanket and then walk around and serve popcorn to you while you watch your movie. My 8yr old was on cloud nine watching Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a great way to wind down from a busy day.

 

Hope this helps a little.

[TennisLover]

Thank you! This is so helpful. I didn't know they had a fun piano bar. Really helps! (Ruby does have MUTS!)

[PrincessDreams4P&B]

A good tip about MUTS, if you want good seats and it's a good movie, get there early..they fill up fast

[Kurbanfan]

We sailed Princess for the first time last Dec. We have sailed on 10 Carnival ships and also have sailed RCCL.

The Crown was the prettiest ship we have ever been on. As far as entertainment we spent alot of time in the casino. They had 2 great comedians. A good band in one of their lounges. Not sure about karaoke because we don't really attend that. Piano bar was hoppin. The lido deck band was really good. Night life went on into the early morning.

As far as formal dress....it seemed comparable to Carnival. Also Jeans are allowed on casual nights so there were alot of people dressed nicely in jeans.

Can't comment on children's programs as ours are older. We had a regular balcony cabin which is a little smaller then Carnivals balcony cabin but layout was much nicer which made it seem roomier. The balcony was larger then Carnival.

This was by far one of our best cruises.:)

[oski007]

I am a young 32 and have been on 14 Carnival cruises and 2 Princess. My opinion was that Princess was more of a relaxing time where as Carnival has always been more alive. The demographics are of an older crowd for Princess than for Carnival. Is it to say you would have a bad time? No, it is just to say that Carnival really is more of a Fun Ship as the slogan would say.

[TennisLover]

I am a young 32 and have been on 14 Carnival cruises and 2 Princess. My opinion was that Princess was more of a relaxing time where as Carnival has always been more alive. The demographics are of an older crowd for Princess than for Carnival. Is it to say you would have a bad time? No, it is just to say that Carnival really is more of a Fun Ship as the slogan would say.

 

Can I just ask what time of year you cruised?

 

I'm thinking that a school holiday week will likely have more families....

[Clutterlady]

Although I have only been on one Carnival cruise and one Princess cruise with number two coming up very soon!! Think both are very comparable.

 

On Carnival, loved the beds, good deli, although the decor was a little "loud", it was fun. Would definitely consider another cruise on Carnival.

 

On Princess, great food in the dining room, great entertainment in all the venues, fresh water pools.

 

You will have a great time on Princess, you really can't go wrong with either one:)

[Umbarger]

I have been on several Carnival and Princess cruises both.

 

Carnival cabins are alot larger than Princess cabins. Carnival beds are alot more comfortable. I found Princess beds to be very hard.

 

The atmosphere is definitely different. A more formal atmosphere I would say. Food and entertainment about the same.

 

Princess tends to charge for things Carnival does not.

 

Ice cream - additional charge (except for one hour in buffet)

Brewed coffee - additional charge

Hot chocolate - additional charge

Cappuccino or Espresso - additional charge

Lemonade - additional charge

 

Variety is the spice of life so try Princess and make the comparison yourself.

[BND]

We were on Dawn Princess to the Mex Riviera this past Oct. We found that the food on Princess wasn't as good, the beds aren't as comfy and the cruisers tend to be older on average than Carnival. The best thing on Princess was that the shows/entertainment were a lot better. My DH and I decided that we preferred Carnival. We also found the cruisers, other than age to be pretty much the same. Princess is not more upscale than Carnival. We did see more tuxes on the men, but overall it wasn't any dressier.

[Kurbanfan]

Can I just ask what time of year you cruised?

 

I'm thinking that a school holiday week will likely have more families....

 

We sailed in Dec. the week before Christmas to the Southern Caribbean and the age difference was no difference then Carnival. I think Princess gets that rap because the majority of their cruises are longer and most their itineraries are not the Caribbean which will draw older people.

I believe if you stick with their Caribbean itineraries you will find the age difference thing is a myth.

On Carnivals 7 day or longer cruises you will also find a older crowd.

I think you won't be disappointed at all. Good Luck!