Princess cruiser tries Royal AOS 6/14-6/21

[jacketwatch]

Toronto25: Actually its RCL who does not let agencies price under them. You can get OBC as a perk from a booking agent. Just submit a request to ************* for RCI as we did and many others do. The price is the same but you do get perks like OBC. We got $400.00 OBC for the AOS from Costco for our booking. As for Princess the brochure price can be beaten through a booking agent. It happens all the time. We saved a helluva alut of money last Feb. on the Island thru a TA, at least $600.00 under the brochure price. I agree about trying different lines from time to time. A new look spices things up sometimes.

[ggprincess2004]

To the OP, thanks for the detailed review. It was very informative and I appreciated that you cited facts as much as possible...food is subjective, but I would be lost without access to iced tea 24/7 so I really appreciated that info as well.

 

Toronto25 - Princess is great with price adjustments, we've never had a problem just calling and asking for the reduction based on what the website is showing....and in fact, does allow TA's to discount below their pricing. So if the TA can beat the Princess pricing we use a TA.

[Solstice23]

I have found Princess customer service sucks on the phone, thats all and they have ways in and out of price adjustments, Celebrity Prices adjusts our suites all the time 1-2 days before sailings?

 

Princess and RCCL are much more alike then most think, Celebrity is a little bit better in some areas overall

 

Thanks for the discussion! Its nice to hear from others

[Jill_GA]

Awesome review, thank you so much. You gave great details and comparisons.

[satxdiver]

Thanks for the review. I was on the AOS last September. I have also been on the VOS twice which is a sister ship to AOS. I agree with most everything that you posted. Like you there were Quincieras onboard which is no surprise since the ship's homeport is San Juan, PR. I live in San Antonio with a large Hispanic population and am very familiar with the party as well as the use of Spanish on a daily basis. I did not have a problem with the teenagers aboard. I saw the ice show on the VOS on an earlier sailing so I passed on it this time. You described it well.

 

I prefer the Princess over the RCI ships for several reasons. I appreciate the 24 hour HC where I can drop by anytime to get more ice and water without having to ask a bartender for it. Being from the southwest USA, I use a lot of ice. I like the idea of being able to walk a short distance from the HC and sit outside at tables. I love being outside which is the major reason I live it in the southwest. I find Skywalkers to be a lot cozier than the vault disco. I do not like the idea of being on a ship in a disco without windows to look out.

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks for your review....

 

I do not agree with some aspects of your review, but we were not on that sailing, but on some things I just have to comment

 

Rooms, Balcony cabins are nicer on Royal and no floral bedding crap like on Princess....or cheap interiors on Carnival and Carnival balconies with cheap dividers. Working in retail design I am open to many things but princess ship design is sooooooooo boring SNORE, and Carnival well enough said, it matches the price I guess

 

The Voyager class is a wonderful class of ship design wise, still a bit big for my Wife and I, we actually prefer Celebrity design over RCCL

 

as far as cleaning rooms...of course Carnival is faster there ships get low scores on the cleaning aspect!

 

As for embarkation....you were boarding at a hard time for the AOS due to the H1N1 etc, we had same issues boarding a ship after Norwalk, on Celebrity, but very other time was fine

 

Also Princess does not let agencies price under them, and they are the worst cruise line to get a price adjustment after final or before!!!! No one I know likes Carnival and there ships are the worst looking anywhere....food and service can change from one ship to the next in any fleet at any time. I hope you try Royal again at some point.

 

You seem to have cruised the others a lot, hard to just base your decision on one cruise also.We are going on the Caribbean Princess to give Princess a try again, keeping an open mind, I will write here when we come back. To us Princess and RCCL are the same overall, My mom who has cruised over 60 times or so I have lost count says there the same overall.

 

 

I also must say people who stick to 1 cruiseline, miss out on chances to try new things, so all you out there, sometimes it can be a great change, when we tried Celebrity it felt right, but we still try some other ships and lines to mix it up.

 

Happy cruising, and thanks for the review

 

You will be happy to know for your sailing on Princess next year that they changed to duvets and I haven't seen a floral spread on any of my cruises but they were solid color bedspreads.

 

Princess and RCI is kinda close but Princess has more entertainment venues at night than RCI and Princess has the 24 hour buffet with 24 hour cold beverages unlike RCI where I could not get anything cold past 9 pm, a bit early in the evening when the parade does not even start until after 10 pm. I know why they do it because they want people to buy a soda or alcoholic drink since they don't make money off of free beverages but that is just plain cheap as well as the chocolate on the pillows and the turn down on beds and the providing of robes and conditioner and lotion and not providing self-serve laundries nor stuff it in a bag except for underwear. Cutbacks on RCI is so noticeable and I had never been on them before they did this, although we talk to a lady who said she has had it with them due to too many cutbacks.

 

It appears you were one of the oldest ships of Carnival which you cannot compare to today's Carnival as we were thinking of going on the Majesty due to the itinerary but we never were going to think of that as representing RCI. Let's be fair at least I took a Voyager class ship to compare and not the Majesty or Monarch as representation.

 

We might down the road consider RCI again but changes need to be made before we do and right now Princess and Carnival has been our best fit.

 

And I might add, you are so wrong about TA's not being allowed to price below Princess they can and they do. Carnival does not allow it and TA's can only provide extras just like what RCI allows.

 

As far as price adjustments, Carnival and Princess has given me the money back immediately on my credit card and I am still waiting since April for my refund of my cancelled cruise on the Mariner when it went north instead of south and my price reduction made in May on the AOS. Makes me feel like they are hard up for money being so slow in the process.

 

As far as the embarkation I talked about, it was about the security and showing of passports and had nothing to do with the swine flu. We were told we did not have to show our passports again, therefore we tucked them away safely only to get up on the ramp of the ship to have to be scrutinized again and this was not a quick show with anyone and made the lines back up. Why 3 showings? Coming off the ship we did not have to show it at all.....to me that's highly unusual.

 

Happy cruising to you and I hope you enjoy the Caribbean Princess next year as she got upgrades like her newer sisters.

[CrusinAgain]

I have found Princess customer service sucks on the phone, thats all and they have ways in and out of price adjustments, Celebrity Prices adjusts our suites all the time 1-2 days before sailings?

 

Princess and RCCL are much more alike then most think, Celebrity is a little bit better in some areas overall

 

Thanks for the discussion! Its nice to hear from others

 

All of the cruiseline reps I have talked to are not knowledgeable at all and you can call them 10 times and get 10 different answers. You can learn more from others in this forum than you can from talking with anyone at the cruiselines. RCI misled me also on questions asked. I was expecting a coffeemaker in the room since they confirmed it and only Junior Suites and above get it. Also they told me the interior room with connecting door has a loveseat but it did not so we had to upgrade. So its not only Princess. None of the cruiselines will give you a price reduction if the new price says "for new bookings only" or a flash price.

 

I doubt we will ever go on Celebrity as it is just a fancier RCI with more of the same from what I have read. Can't believe they don't show just released movies though like Princess and Carnival. Another sign of cutback.

[CrusinAgain]

Thanks for the review. I was on the AOS last September. I have also been on the VOS twice which is a sister ship to AOS. I agree with most everything that you posted. Like you there were Quincieras onboard which is no surprise since the ship's homeport is San Juan, PR. I live in San Antonio with a large Hispanic population and am very familiar with the party as well as the use of Spanish on a daily basis. I did not have a problem with the teenagers aboard. I saw the ice show on the VOS on an earlier sailing so I passed on it this time. You described it well.

 

I prefer the Princess over the RCI ships for several reasons. I appreciate the 24 hour HC where I can drop by anytime to get more ice and water without having to ask a bartender for it. Being from the southwest USA, I use a lot of ice. I like the idea of being able to walk a short distance from the HC and sit outside at tables. I love being outside which is the major reason I live it in the southwest. I find Skywalkers to be a lot cozier than the vault disco. I do not like the idea of being on a ship in a disco without windows to look out.

 

Lucky you that you had no problems with the teens. My daughter and son-in-law said someone would knock on their door and run every night and keep calling their room. If it was me I would have call customer relations about it and not tolerate that but they are young and was trying to put up with it which was another reason why they were asking me if there was an adult's only cruise. It wasn't due to the younger children just the teens that ran wild. Curfew was 1 pm for them but that didn't seem to matter.

 

I do love Skywalkers also and since I was with my sister and not my husband we did not check out dancing.