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Carnival Victory or Caribbean Princess

lawtyger

By lawtyger,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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lawtyger

lawtyger

Posted
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Here's the deal, my wife and I will be deciding in the next couple days whether to do a southern caribbean cruise out of San Juan November 9th.

 

We have been on the Caribbean Princess (on our honeymoon) and the ship is truly gorgeous inside and out (built 2004). We have never been on the Carnival Victory and see it is an older ship (built 2000, refurbished 2007). As you'll see in my signature, we have cruised with Carnival before (Inspiration, Valor, Legend) and enjoy the fun ships.

 

One hesitation over choosing the Carnival Victory over the Princess is age of the ship and that it generally is rated as a 4 star while the Caribbean Princess is still a 5 (and from experience we know the quality of that ship).

 

I guess I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has actually been on BOTH the Carnival Victory and the Princess Caribbean.

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Chan_T

Chan_T

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Take my opinion on this for what it's worth...which isn't much...since I haven't been on either ship. :D DH and I have sailed Carnival and plan to cruise on Princess some time in the near future. With that being said, if we had to choose between the Caribbean Princess and the Carnival Victory, then we would definitely choose the Caribbean Princess.

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Carnival Platinum Cruiser

Carnival Platinum Cruiser

Posted
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I have been on both and enjoyed both. That being said & given a choice, would choose the CB anyday over the Victory. CB is much nicer in comparison. Id be happy to answer any questions. Happy cruising!:)

 

We have sailed 16X on Carnival, 2X on the Victory and once with Princess on the CB. We love carnival but given this choice the CB wins HANDS DOWN IMO.

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Trainman52

Trainman52

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We did the Crown Princess to Canada/New England last fall and will do the Victory next Saturday. We had a great time on the Crown. The International Cafe was our favorite. Francesco was our maitre'd in the dining room and he made us feel like a guest in his home. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

Bon Voyage

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lawtyger

lawtyger

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We have sailed 16X on Carnival, 2X on the Victory and once with Princess on the CB. We love carnival but given this choice the CB wins HANDS DOWN IMO.

 

This says a lot. We like Carnival, but that particular class Princess ship was oh so nice. Extra port (with Carnival) vs. nicer ship (and entertainment based on our memory).

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LSM1018

LSM1018

Posted
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Just my opinion, no flames please......

 

We sailed the Caribbean Princess this past May, and Victory in May 2007. I guess I am in the minority by preferring Victory over CB. After reading all I could about Princess, I was stoked about trying it. I ended up REALLY disappointed with our cruise. But hey, you never know until you try something new. We enjoyed MUTS and the seafood extravaganza. The dining room was much nicer on the CB (no booths), but the food wasn't as good as Carnival's. Our CB balcony looked down onto the deep balcony cabins, while our Victory balcony looked down on the water. The biggest drawback on the CB was the buffet. I have never seen such a total mess. No one knew where it started and ended. You would find the bread, but the butter was with the taco stuff. It just made no sense. Since we went to the buffet twice a day, it was a real problem.

 

All in all, I would book Victory again over the Caribbean Princess. :D

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lawtyger

lawtyger

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I have been on both and enjoyed both. That being said & given a choice, would choose the CB anyday over the Victory. CB is much nicer in comparison. Id be happy to answer any questions. Happy cruising!:)

 

Direfun2000 - thanks for the info. Our thinking has changed a bit in the last 24-hours, we are now considering ports in our decision. We have heard many say that CB wins hands down, but the Victory has an extra port. I see that the difference in ports is that the Victory visits Dominica and St. Kitts, where CB visits Tortola, any thoughts on the itineraries? Does anyone still feel CB is better even though it visits one less port....

 

Thank you :)

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KAWS

KAWS

Posted
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Just my opinion, no flames please......

 

We sailed the Caribbean Princess this past May, and Victory in May 2007. I guess I am in the minority by preferring Victory over CB. After reading all I could about Princess, I was stoked about trying it. I ended up REALLY disappointed with our cruise. :D

 

No flames here. I had to make the same choice and one of the reasons we chose Victory was because the CB is supposedly the sister ship to the Crown. We just didn't enjoy the Crown. I think it was the sheer size of it that threw us off. We much prefer the size ship of the Victory. Pricing had something to do with our choice too, I must admit.

 

We have booked Princess again for next summer, but again chose a ship with around 2,600 people. Those extra 400 nor so pax just do not do it for us. Some of our meal times (we chose anytime) were absolute nightmares.

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miclane001

miclane001

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Just my opinion, no flames please......

 

We sailed the Caribbean Princess this past May, and Victory in May 2007. I guess I am in the minority by preferring Victory over CB. After reading all I could about Princess, I was stoked about trying it. I ended up REALLY disappointed with our cruise. But hey, you never know until you try something new. We enjoyed MUTS and the seafood extravaganza. The dining room was much nicer on the CB (no booths), but the food wasn't as good as Carnival's. Our CB balcony looked down onto the deep balcony cabins, while our Victory balcony looked down on the water. The biggest drawback on the CB was the buffet. I have never seen such a total mess. No one knew where it started and ended. You would find the bread, but the butter was with the taco stuff. It just made no sense. Since we went to the buffet twice a day, it was a real problem.

 

All in all, I would book Victory again over the Caribbean Princess. :D

 

I think I'd lean toward the Victory as well. We had a`really nice aft balcony on the CB (though the cabin was smaller than what you usually get on Carnival), but I was really disappointed in the quality of the food. I was on the Victory before her rehab, but thought she was very nice and in great shape even then. I also think Carnival has much better entertainment--that may or may not be important to you.

 

I would cheerfully go on the CB again, but given the reasons above, all things being equal, I'd go with the Victory.

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