Carnival cruise vs. Princess

[shawilson]

Have a fantastic cruise!

 

I have sailed both Carnival and Princess. Liked them both. The only thing I don't like about Princess, is that I have to get a mini-suite to get a couch. I won't sail without a balcony and a couch. Yes, that is a bit bratty. I can get a Cat 11 suite on Carnival, for the price I pay for a mini on Princess. The Cat 11 on Carnival gives you VIP boarding and whirpool tub. I think the food is about equal on both lines. I like that Princess has fresh water pools, while Carnival has salt water. Carnival has a water slide, and I lived to tell about it! Princess has anytime dining. I thought I read somewhere that Carnival will try this?

 

Bottom line, you will have a great time, no matter what line you choose, just pack a good attitude.

[Tyskie]

Loved your last line - "just pack a good attitude" ! Isn't that the truth!

[nbsjcruiser]

We're booked on the Emerald for a 10-day in two inside cabins. I'm noticing that the Carnival Freedom has a similar itinerary, is 2 nights shorter, but is more of a bargain for the four of us.

 

I'm thinking of making the switch. One drawback is that I can't use my two Future Cruise credits so I'd have to put a deposit down, and we'll lose about 400 in onboard credits that we had gotten for the Princess cruise.

 

Are the Carnival Cabins larger as they appear? On the Freedom we'd be able to afford to have ocean view or balcony cabins instead of two insides.

 

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has either been on the Freedom or been on a similar ship and can compare it to Princess.

 

A vacation is what you make it. I've seen people on cruise ships make a mountain out a a mole hill. They never seem to be happy. We were on the Fantasy and had a great time. In fact we want to try it again some day. Does it mean its as good as the 8 day Eastern on the ROS we were on? Maybe not but the food was good, service was in fact equally as good as any ship I've been on and we had a great time.

 

Long story short - it doesn't matter. You'll have a good time regardless. So go with your heart and enjoy.

[Tatka]

If travelling with children, go Carnival. They do have more entertainment for them. Also, Carnival seems to cater a bit more to party goers.

 

No children, go Princess. A bit more refine even if they are owned by Carnival. There will be less children on Princess if that is a concern.

 

I can't agree with this statement. Princess (especially new sips like emerald) has better facilities for kids than Carnival.. Plus there are children's pool, minigolf etc.

[psbtrvlr]

I can't agree with this statement. Princess (especially new sips like emerald) has better facilities for kids than Carnival.. Plus there are children's pool, minigolf etc.

 

I agree with you. My child (now 13) likes the Princess kid's programs better than Carnival or RCL.

[Woodmnky]

As other's have said, you are really the only one that can make this decision. We cruise on both lines and have a good time on either. If price was never a consideration its likely we'd sail Princess much more often than Carnival as we do overall enjoy it a bit more. We've not sailed on Carnival's Freedom but have read really good things about it. A balcony ALWAYS wins in my book, but that's not nearly as important to others which is fine. Yes, you will find the room larger on Carnival and a balcony only adds to that space. We've experienced no more nickel and diming on Carnival than on Princess. None of that bothers us on any line as we only spend money on the things we wish to purchase and ignor any sales attempts or advertising that's for something we're not interested in. We give the dining room food nod to Princess but Carnival gets the snacky food nod so it pretty much ends up evening itself out.

 

If overall cost is the bottom line for you and you've found that Carnival is going to be less expensive but allow you to upgrade to a balcony and the itinerary is almost the same then I wouldn't hesitate to change to sailing the Freedom.

 

 

Thank you for the well balanced review, it is very helpful to those of us that have not sailed both cruise lines.

[newmexicoNita]

ok, my take on this: 1-10 days beats 8 days anytime. Other than that, mass marketed lines are more alike than different. When I read people saying Princess is so superior to xxxxxx line I cringe. This is a matter of opinion and depends on what you are looking for in your vacation experience. We were unlucky enough to not have a good Princess experience. Does this mean Celebrity or RCI or Carnival are better lines, of course not. There are some lines that seem to bring out the snobbery in people. For these people it is hard to imagine them on what they consider inferior lines. For me, it is what the ship offers that I want. Itinerary is usually at the top of our list, followed by price of course. The line makes little difference. By the way, I am not a Carnival cheer leader by any stretch of the imagination. I just feel cruises need to be based more on the ship and lenght of cruise than the actually cruise line.

 

Nita

[Tatka]

It's not about snobbery.. It's just about simple convenience.

 

We sailed on the same size ships Caribbean Princess and Carnival Liberty. Same size, same number of people, but... and this this is a big but...

 

Princess is devided in smaller zones.. 5 different pool areas, which provide opportunity for people with different preferences to enjoy cruise. One was with MUTS, pool games and competitions, another with pool band, third one quiet adult only pool, forth one another adult only pool-spa, fifth for the families with smaller kids.

 

Another example.. dining. Princess has more casual dining venues with longer hours. On Carnival lunch lasted from 12 pm to 2 pm. It was a real zoo with 3700 pax trying to get food at the same time.

 

Entertainment. Aside from main shows on Princess there was a lot more smaller scale entertainers in different clubs. On Carnival there were many lounges, but most of the time nobody perfomed there. On Princess live music ended at 1 AM on the last night. Some nights there was nice music even on Lido buffet. Both ships had MUTS (movies under the stars), but on Princess it was much better utilized (better programming), for the convenience of movieviers every night they provided cozy blankets, free popcorn etc.

 

We sail when school is out so both ships technically had many kids.. but.. on Princess we hardly noticed them, while on Carnival they where in every wirlpool and pool.

 

Cruise on Carnival was the only time when I really wanted to hide in my stateroom, just to avoid endless crowds everywhere. Even with mostly good service and food it wasn't pleasant experience.

 

Maybe all things I described were little things, but together they provided much better experience for us.

[flvol77]

It's not about snobbery.. It's just about simple convenience.

 

We sailed on the same size ships Caribbean Princess and Carnival Liberty. Same size, same number of people, but... and this this is a big but...

 

Princess is devided in smaller zones.. 5 different pool areas, which provide opportunity for people with different preferences to enjoy cruise. One was with MUTS, pool games and competitions, another with pool band, third one quiet adult only pool, forth one another adult only pool-spa, fifth for the families with smaller kids.

 

Another example.. dining. Princess has more casual dining venues with longer hours. On Carnival lunch lasted from 12 pm to 2 pm. It was a real zoo with 3700 pax trying to get food at the same time.

 

Entertainment. Aside from main shows on Princess there was a lot more smaller scale entertainers in different clubs. On Carnival there were many lounges, but most of the time nobody perfomed there. On Princess live music ended at 1 AM on the last night. Some nights there was nice music even on Lido buffet. Both ships had MUTS (movies under the stars), but on Princess it was much better utilized (better programming), for the convenience of movieviers every night they provided cozy blankets, free popcorn etc.

 

We sail when school is out so both ships technically had many kids.. but.. on Princess we hardly noticed them, while on Carnival they where in every wirlpool and pool.

 

Cruise on Carnival was the only time when I really wanted to hide in my stateroom, just to avoid endless crowds everywhere. Even with mostly good service and food it wasn't pleasant experience.

 

Maybe all things I described were little things, but together they provided much better experience for us.

 

I agree with many of your observations, but on the valor the buffet was open more than 12-2 (RCCL has the worst hours at sea) We never had any trouble finding food on Carnival, we thought the entertainment was better on Carnival (of course we have sailed on Princess 8 times in a short matter of time and have seen the same shows numerous times)

 

We would sail on Carnival again - but NEVER during spring break or when kids were out of school.

 

The crowd on Carnival is very different, IMO they are much ruder, louder and think they can say and do whatever they wanted when they want - That was one thing that drove us nuts, but we always get a balcony (balcony doors on conquest ships are a horrible design flaw) so we can hide from people and just enjoy the sea.

[chipmaster]

We're booked on the Emerald for a 10-day in two inside cabins. I'm noticing that the Carnival Freedom has a similar itinerary, is 2 nights shorter, but is more of a bargain for the four of us.

 

I'm thinking of making the switch. One drawback is that I can't use my two Future Cruise credits so I'd have to put a deposit down, and we'll lose about 400 in onboard credits that we had gotten for the Princess cruise.

 

Are the Carnival Cabins larger as they appear? On the Freedom we'd be able to afford to have ocean view or balcony cabins instead of two insides.

 

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has either been on the Freedom or been on a similar ship and can compare it to Princess.

 

Only you can decide between money and experience. My 2 cents is that the extra price is well worth paying for on Princess. Carnival seems to be more in your face about "having fun" too much so in my opinion :( The decor of the ship, the behavior of the crew is all about pushing the fun. I sum it up to the waiters dancing on the table, hairy man contest as the best examples of "fun." My experience on two princess is they seem much more about offering all the same amenities and fun but with a bit more reserved class. My opinion of the kids activity and amenities on the Emerald is that they are also far superior to anything I got on the Valor ( but those are different classes of ships). Kids had better facilities, more space, movie under the start, guitar hero under the stars, great lineup of movies playing all the time, etc.

 

You don't always get what you pay for, but if you want more you always need to pay for it too. Speaking from my recent Princess experience I think it is well worth a premium over my last Carnival experience no ifs or buts about it :D Nothing wrong with Carnival's offering as it's price and ambience seems to meet the price and needs of a large crowd too. To each their own.

[Tatka]

Only you can decide between money and experience. My 2 cents is that the extra price is well worth paying for on Princess. Carnival seems to be more in your face about "having fun" too much so in my opinion :( The decor of the ship, the behavior of the crew is all about pushing the fun. I sum it up to the waiters dancing on the table, hairy man contest as the best examples of "fun." .

 

I can't agree more!!!

 

Whole vacation I kept thinking about "Fun ship" ads... It felt like artificial fun.

 

Hairy chest contest in the middle of common pool area was disgusting. :(

[victory2020]

I didn't feel nickel and dimed on Carnival but doesn't Princess charge for ice cream?

And for espresso/cappucino in dining room?