Thinking of booking Princess.....

[blindrid]

Any opportunities for dancing?

 

That's one of my big pet peeves. They do typically have nice night clubs but the majority of the time the I haven't been impressed with the DJ's. on my last one on the CB, the DJ was pretty good at clearing the dance floor by playing a lot of retro (new wave - whatever you want to call it). I'm guessing that is what he liked to listen to but didn't appeal to the majority of those in attendance.......

 

Anyway, we still had fun but we didn't feel like we danced the night away. I think the earlier crowds in different venues may have found different but we typically like a late dinner, show, casino or whatever and hit the bars pretty late.

 

Regardless, one can always make their own fun on a cruise.......

[cmalibu1]

That's one of my big pet peeves. They do typically have nice night clubs but the majority of the time the I haven't been impressed with the DJ's. on my last one on the CB, the DJ was pretty good at clearing the dance floor by playing a lot of retro (new wave - whatever you want to call it). I'm guessing that is what he liked to listen to but didn't appeal to the majority of those in attendance.......

 

Anyway, we still had fun but we didn't feel like we danced the night away. I think the earlier crowds in different venues may have found different but we typically like a late dinner, show, casino or whatever and hit the bars pretty late.

 

Regardless, one can always make their own fun on a cruise.......

 

 

That is one of my biggest concerns with this cruise. We are the same we like late dinner, late shows, then walking around on ship hoping to find music or the casino. I just hope the ship doesn't clear out too early! While we have fun no matter who is around, the more people having a good time usually adds to the experience!

 

I remember, even on our carnival cruise we would go looking for some live music and drinks at about 11 in some of the bars, and we would be the ONLY people...kind of disappointing!

[RvrCrzr]

To Jollymon: It always seems Carnival and Princess are pretty similar pricewise. At least they have been when I've looked. RCI is always much higher. My RCI Splendor of the Seas was my 2nd worst cruise I've taken. Won't go into details here, but I don't have one positive thing to say about that entire cruise, seriously! I'd like to go back and try RCI again, but I keep getting flashbacks of my bad experience and then to have to pay a few hundred dollars more to go back, I keep saying "no, no". OK....it was an older ship, a smaller ship and it was a 5 day cruise. Maybe that was the problem.

 

We got a really great price when we cruised VALOR...on account of their VETERAN DISCOUNT. We paid under $500 for inside cabins, and about $850 for balconies. (7 day, February). That was the cheapest we've EVER sailed!

 

RCI is very high lately, and some PRINCESS ships as well. Carnival always has some good prices...but they also have a ton of ships in the Caribbean during the winter.

 

I like CARNIVAL prices, PRINCESS SERVICE, and RCI ships! :)

Then again...I'd sail in a mop closet, hanging from a hook, eating a PBJ if that's what it took....:D

[caribill]

I prefer to prepay as much as I can before I cruise, so I like the Carnival method for booking shore excursions and prepaying tips.

 

If you wish, you can still prepay these on Princess by having money posted in advance to your onboard account.

[mag]

It depends what kind of vacation you are looking for. I've sailed on both. I would pick princess but have sailed on carnival when my sister was making the arrangements. I had a good time on both for different reasons. On carnival the decor is gaudy and loud. You are going to find more people consuming larger amounts of alcohol. There's nothing wrong with this. My sister and her family love carnival. She says it's more fun. Maybe I've gotten old and stuffy but I want to go on a cruise to relax and spend time with my DH and see and do fun things and eat good food while being pampered. OK just isn't good enough. I want to go to interesting lectures in elegant surroundings and sip a good gin gimlet. I'm starting to sound like a bit of a snob but I'm not. I enjoy having a sams and reading my book on deck while the band is playing. I just don't want to see hairy chest contests or lets see how many balloons you can stuff in your swimsuit while drinking bud.

 

There ya go after this long winded explanation:

 

Carnival is sitting on deck, drinking bud, watching goofy pool games.

 

Princess is sitting on deck, drinking sams, reading your book and enjoying the band.

 

 

If my sister sees this reply she's gonna blast me and call me old, poopy, no fun, I'm just waiting...

 

 

 

You are "old, poopy, and no fun"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!

 

I like both Princess and Carnival and had a great time on both...but Princess was boring at night if you wanted to go out and have fun and dance...and I don't mean out at 2 a.m. and dance, I mean at 11 p.m. cause that is even usually past my bedtime. There are drunks on every cruiseline and the only time I ever had drunks bother me and keep me up at night with noise was on my Princess cruise.

 

My DH and I cruise for the itinerary, ship and also price...and we do alot of research before we book. Of course we also cruise for the company...when can we all go together dear sister???

 

BTW, Can anyone tell who is the older sister??

[blindrid]

That is one of my biggest concerns with this cruise. We are the same we like late dinner, late shows, then walking around on ship hoping to find music or the casino. I just hope the ship doesn't clear out too early! While we have fun no matter who is around, the more people having a good time usually adds to the experience!

 

I remember, even on our carnival cruise we would go looking for some live music and drinks at about 11 in some of the bars, and we would be the ONLY people...kind of disappointing!

 

It's not unusual to go to one of the bars and the live entertainment stopping at 11:00 to pretty much a deserted bar. Then we would go to the dance club where there were people, just as I mentioned in my prior post.

 

To the PP that mentioned that she liked Carnival prices: It's not unusual to find Princess' pricing to be the same or less so I don't personally place Princess' pricing up there with RCL (and, of course, the more upscale lines) and consider it pretty much typical mainstream line pricing.

[dcrow72]

we have sailed NCL just once (never again) and Carnival 5 times. Loved all our Carnival cruises and never had a complaint about anything. But then we sailed PRincess last October and fell in love with the line. I agree with all the prior posts; Princess has less rowdy kids (and adults), much less alcohol pushing (had to search at times for a waiter on Lido for a drink or go to the bar ourself), and a bit higher class clientele, but not of the stuffy variety. It is much quieter all around. We sailed the Crown and didn't find large rowdy crowds anywhere for the whole week. There was action in the nightclubs (but the CD did comment that the week prior cruise was dead by 10 PM). My only negative was some of the dining service was slow and on one night downright poor. The food was mostly excellent and I felt that it was better than Carnival a bit, and I loved the anytime dining and the freedom it allowed us to come and go as we pleased. The balcony rooms on the Crown were smaller than those on the Valor; the mini suites on the Crown appeared to be about the size of our balcony room on the Valor, but I'm not sure if that's exactly true by square footage. The long and short of it is, we are now hooked on Princess.