first Princess Cruise! what to expect?

[acetray]

So I have sailed on carnival a few times and this will be my first time on a princess cruise. I am sailing on the Crown Princess that leaves April 3rd from Ft Lauderdale. I am really looking forward to trying out a new line. What kind of things should I expect to be diffrent about Princess, I would like to know what is better and what is worseabouit Princess? ( please be objective) Let me know if there are any Princess insider secrets that I should know about.

 

thanks

 

Tracy

[hubofhockey]

So I have sailed on carnival a few times and this will be my first time on a princess cruise. I am sailing on the Crown Princess that leaves April 3rd from Ft Lauderdale. I am really looking forward to trying out a new line. What kind of things should I expect to be diffrent about Princess, I would like to know what is better and what is worseabouit Princess? ( please be objective) Let me know if there are any Princess insider secrets that I should know about.

 

thanks

 

Tracy

 

First thing, original embarcation will go much quicker and luggage will be in your room much faster. You will not need to wait long hours even to get into you room.

 

Subsequent disembarcations and embarcations at ports are handled much better and more quickly on Crown Princess. There are even cool wet towels for you at ship.

 

Pools on Crown Princess are in separate areas, unlike Carnival Lido deck, where all pools are in same place. Pools on Crown Princess are larger and freshwater.

 

Crown Princess is less congested than Carnival ships.

 

Cruise Directors on Princess are not as directly involved in everything as they are on Carnival where they make announcements and are at center of the cruise.

 

Carnival may have better production shows in their main theater. However, Crown Princess will have more entertainment choices.

 

I found dinners in the main dining room to be better on Carnival than on Crown Princess. However, buffets for lunch and breakfast are much better on Crown Princess and the two specialty restaurants on the Crown Princess are well worth it. I recommend booking both.

 

If you have a standard balcony room, it will be larger on Carnival than on Princess. Princess mini-suites, however, are decent size. Carnival gives you the sofa in the standard balcony cabin. Princess does not.

 

Carnival ships have more glitz and lights and are similar to Vegas hotels. Princess' ships have less neon and more wood.

 

Carnival tends to have somewhat of a younger crowd and also has more families and kids. Carnival may be more congested. However, I hear the new Carnival Dream is more open.

 

It is hard to say which cruiseline is better. I think it depends what you like and what you don't like and I am sure there are many here and on the Carnival boards that will disagree with much of this post. Your signature says your Crown Princess cruise is "spring break fun". Whether you have a better time on Princess will depend on your definition of fun.

[gertz]

Crown Princess is less congested than Carnival ships.

.

 

If your comparing the Crown to the Liberty or Valor the space ration on all are the same 37. So they will all be crowded and if you go at spring break or maybe Christmas they will all be very crowded.

[Kinkacruiser]

First thing, original embarcation will go much quicker and luggage will be in your room much faster. You will not need to wait long hours even to get into you room.

 

Subsequent disembarcations and embarcations at ports are handled much better and more quickly on Crown Princess. There are even cool wet towels for you at ship.

 

Pools on Crown Princess are in separate areas, unlike Carnival Lido deck, where all pools are in same place. Pools on Crown Princess are larger and freshwater.

 

Crown Princess is less congested than Carnival ships.

 

Cruise Directors on Princess are not as directly involved in everything as they are on Carnival where they make announcements and are at center of the cruise.

 

Carnival may have better production shows in their main theater. However, Crown Princess will have more entertainment choices.

 

I found dinners in the main dining room to be better on Carnival than on Crown Princess. However, buffets for lunch and breakfast are much better on Crown Princess and the two specialty restaurants on the Crown Princess are well worth it. I recommend booking both.

 

If you have a standard balcony room, it will be larger on Carnival than on Princess. Princess mini-suites, however, are decent size. Carnival gives you the sofa in the standard balcony cabin. Princess does not.

 

Carnival ships have more glitz and lights and are similar to Vegas hotels. Princess' ships have less neon and more wood.

 

Carnival tends to have somewhat of a younger crowd and also has more families and kids. Carnival may be more congested. However, I hear the new Carnival Dream is more open.

 

It is hard to say which cruiseline is better. I think it depends what you like and what you don't like and I am sure there are many here and on the Carnival boards that will disagree with much of this post. Your signature says your Crown Princess cruise is "spring break fun". Whether you have a better time on Princess will depend on your definition of fun.

 

As I am planning a future cruise on Crown Princess, I very much appreciated your comments here. Thankyou.

[paul929207]

Free ice cream in Horizon Court each afternoon from about 3 to 4

[Tak8]

It's great to compare different lines. You find out for yourself which line is best for you. I think you will enjoy the freshwater pools. I was on the Crown two years ago for Christmas. If you like specialty restaurants, try The Crown Grill. Enjoy your cruise.

[hubofhockey]

If your comparing the Crown to the Liberty or Valor the space ration on all are the same 37. So they will all be crowded and if you go at spring break or maybe Christmas they will all be very crowded.

 

I disagree with you and I don't think it's all about space ratio. It's about design and layout as well. Princess breaks up their pool areas well as well as their entertainment areas throughout the ship. I think Princess makes better use of its space. Of course, the Liberty has a much larger theater and that is why Crown Princess shows main shows two times. Carnival also has larger balcony cabins. But both of those factors may contribute to Princess being less congested in open area. All I can go by is the feel I got from being on both ships (Liberty 14 days and Crown 7 days).

 

I have been on sold out ships on both Liberty and Crown (mid-April on both) and never had to wait to get tables in Princess buffets and had to on the Liberty. Same can be said for chairs in Lounge area.

 

Kinkacruiser, have a great criuse on the Crown Princess.

[go noles]

I disagree with you and I don't think it's all about space ratio. It's about design and layout as well. Princess breaks up their pool areas well as well as their entertainment areas throughout the ship. I think Princess makes better use of its space. Of course, the Liberty has a much larger theater and that is why Crown Princess shows main shows two times. Carnival also has larger balcony cabins. But both of those factors may contribute to Princess being less congested in open area. All I can go by is the feel I got from being on both ships (Liberty 14 days and Crown 7 days).

 

I have been on sold out ships on both Liberty and Crown (mid-April on both) and never had to wait to get tables in Princess buffets and had to on the Liberty. Same can be said for chairs in Lounge area.

 

Kinkacruiser, have a great criuse on the Crown Princess.

 

We were on the Crown in April spring break and the Liberty in September 07 after school started. We had a blast on both trips but it "felt" more crowded on the Liberty. I think part of it is because you have to go to the promenade deck to to go so may venues on Liberty.

 

Princess does a good job of putting the venues on more floors, or so it seems.

[CtheW0rld]

i found the food MUCH better on princess, but that is subjective. the absolute best thing about princess vs. carnival is princess does not have the singing and dancing crap in the dining room (thank God).

[justluv2cruisewithhubby]

I am sailing on Crown next month, however I have sailed on the Golden and I did notice that the Buffet area on the LIDO deck seems much tighter as it relates to space when your walking around to get your food.

 

I found that Carnival and HAL buffet set up seems customer friendly. The area seems larger for you to walk around. I also had a hard time finding tables to eat lunch at the Buffet as well as lounge chairs on a nice day. My opinion

[gertz]

I disagree with you and I don't think it's all about space ratio. It's about design and layout as well. Princess breaks up their pool areas well as well as their entertainment areas throughout the ship. I think Princess makes better use of its space. Of course, the Liberty has a much larger theater and that is why Crown Princess shows main shows two times. Carnival also has larger balcony cabins. But both of those factors may contribute to Princess being less congested in open area. All I can go by is the feel I got from being on both ships (Liberty 14 days and Crown 7 days).

 

I have been on sold out ships on both Liberty and Crown (mid-April on both) and never had to wait to get tables in Princess buffets and had to on the Liberty. Same can be said for chairs in Lounge area.

 

Kinkacruiser, have a great criuse on the Crown Princess.

 

With due respect I disagree with you. Space ratio along with crew to passenger ratio is an industry standard mathematical formula that is used by all industry analysis that I am aware of. If there is a better one I would be happy to know it.

 

You might as a suggestion try the Island/Coral/Sapphire/Diamond/Grand/Golden/Star/Royal/Ocean/Pacific Princess or RCCL Adventure of the Seas or any HOL, you will notice the difference immediately.

[caribill]

Free ice cream in Horizon Court each afternoon from about 3 to 4

 

On ships with the "Scoops" ice cream bar, the Horizon Court ice cream hour has been eliminated and replaced with "free" soft-serve at the Scoops location all hours that it is open.

[baby_tran]

[quoteFirst thing, original embarcation will go much quicker and luggage will be in your room much faster. You will not need to wait long hours even to get into you room.

 

Subsequent disembarcations and embarcations at ports are handled much better and more quickly on Crown Princess. There are even cool wet towels for you at ship.

 

Pools on Crown Princess are in separate areas, unlike Carnival Lido deck, where all pools are in same place. Pools on Crown Princess are larger and freshwater.

 

Crown Princess is less congested than Carnival ships.

 

Cruise Directors on Princess are not as directly involved in everything as they are on Carnival where they make announcements and are at center of the cruise.

 

Carnival may have better production shows in their main theater. However, Crown Princess will have more entertainment choices.

 

I found dinners in the main dining room to be better on Carnival than on Crown Princess. However, buffets for lunch and breakfast are much better on Crown Princess and the two specialty restaurants on the Crown Princess are well worth it. I recommend booking both.

 

If you have a standard balcony room, it will be larger on Carnival than on Princess. Princess mini-suites, however, are decent size. Carnival gives you the sofa in the standard balcony cabin. Princess does not.

 

Carnival ships have more glitz and lights and are similar to Vegas hotels. Princess' ships have less neon and more wood.

 

Carnival tends to have somewhat of a younger crowd and also has more families and kids. Carnival may be more congested. However, I hear the new Carnival Dream is more open.

 

It is hard to say which cruiseline is better. I think it depends what you like and what you don't like and I am sure there are many here and on the Carnival boards that will disagree with much of this post. Your signature says your Crown Princess cruise is "spring break fun". Whether you have a better time on Princess will depend on your definition of fun.

 

Just off the Crown Princess and I'd say everything said here is true in comparison to our cruises on Carnival Glory and Inspiration. I found the Crown more sedate when compared to Glory or Inspiration. Perhaps it was the timing of this cruise but we found it a much older crowd than we're used to. We found the food better in the dining rooms of Carnival but better in the buffets on Princess. We also liked the International Cafe...especially the shrimp salad! We missed the deli areas that are on Carnival. We were able to get ice-cream on both but it was harder to find on Princess (next to the pizza area...almost like they're trying to hide it). The kids centre is better on Carnival...maybe cause there's more kids! There were only 48 kids on our cruise. The production shows are better on Carnival...more glitzy. Princess tends to have more lounge acts. Never had a problem trying to find loungers on Princess. We thought Carnival's daily schedule is better laid out than the Patters. Sushi on Princess is awful and just barely edible on Carnival. We didn't find any midnight buffets on Princess but we did enjoy afternoon tea.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Carnival tends to have somewhat of a younger crowd and also has more families and kids.

 

That depends on the time of year you cruise. We cruised on the Carnival Liberty last winter and we cruised on the Crown Princess this winter. The passengers on our Carnival cruise last winter were largely elderly. In fact, the cruise director cancelled the dance classes for the week because of that! It seemed we were constantly dodging wheelchairs and scooters. On our recent Crown Princess cruise, it seemed that that demographic was pretty evenly split between the more mature passengers and younger couples, but very few families with children or college students, probably because school was still in session for most people.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Carnival may have better production shows in their main theater. However, Crown Princess will have more entertainment choices. I found dinners in the main dining room to be better on Carnival than on Crown Princess. However, buffets for lunch and breakfast are much better on Crown Princess and the two specialty restaurants on the Crown Princess are well worth it. I recommend booking both.

 

This is a matter of personal taste. We thought the production shows and other entertainment on our recent Crown Princess cruise were much better than what we experienced on our Carnival Liberty cruise last winter. We also thought that the dining room meals on Princess were superior to those on our Carnival cruise. The quality and variety of food available in the Crown Princess dining room and buffet were outstanding, and we saw no need to spend extra money to eat in the specialty restaurants. The other thing we noticed on the Carnival Liberty was the amount of smoking that was allowed in the various entertainment lounges; we breathed easier on the Crown Princess.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

On the Crown Princess, be aware that the buffet is really two buffets: The Horizon Court and the Cafe Caribe. They are connected, but often feature different menu items. The Cafe Caribe has a different theme menu each evening (such as Caribbean, Italian, German). And when seating looks congested in the Horizon Court, just keep walking back to the Cafe Caribe and you'll most likely find more open tables.

 

In the evening (after 11 p.m.) a section of the Cafe Caribe is set up for bistro dining. Linens and glassware with waiter service and a very nice menu for an elegant late-night dinner.

 

The hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries at the pool-side grill are excellent, as is the pizza and the pizzaria. In additition to the standard cheese and pepperoni pizzas, there is a specialty pizza offered each day. The ice cream bar offers free soft serve ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, or twist).

 

The International Cafe in the atrium is a fun place. There is usually entertainment in the atrium in the afternoon and early evening (piano player, classical quintet, juggler, etc.). At the International Cafe, there are a variety of salads, sandwiches, and lovely desserts all for free. The only costs are for coffee drinks and gelato.

 

Just across the atrium from the International Cafe is Vines wine bar, which offers free sushi and tapas... delicious little treats.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

To keep from going astray on your way to your cabin, note that the floor carpet in the starboard hallway has a blue pattern and the carpet in the port hallway has a red pattern.

 

Also, you can get a free deck of Princess playing cards from the Passenger Services desk simply by asking.

 

Check out the nice library for a good selection of books and games.

[katiepe]

First thing, original embarcation will go much quicker and luggage will be in your room much faster. You will not need to wait long hours even to get into you room.

 

Subsequent disembarcations and embarcations at ports are handled much better and more quickly on Crown Princess. There are even cool wet towels for you at ship.

 

Pools on Crown Princess are in separate areas, unlike Carnival Lido deck, where all pools are in same place. Pools on Crown Princess are larger and freshwater.

 

Crown Princess is less congested than Carnival ships.

 

Cruise Directors on Princess are not as directly involved in everything as they are on Carnival where they make announcements and are at center of the cruise.

 

Carnival may have better production shows in their main theater. However, Crown Princess will have more entertainment choices.

 

I found dinners in the main dining room to be better on Carnival than on Crown Princess. However, buffets for lunch and breakfast are much better on Crown Princess and the two specialty restaurants on the Crown Princess are well worth it. I recommend booking both.

 

If you have a standard balcony room, it will be larger on Carnival than on Princess. Princess mini-suites, however, are decent size. Carnival gives you the sofa in the standard balcony cabin. Princess does not.

 

Carnival ships have more glitz and lights and are similar to Vegas hotels. Princess' ships have less neon and more wood.

 

Carnival tends to have somewhat of a younger crowd and also has more families and kids. Carnival may be more congested. However, I hear the new Carnival Dream is more open.

 

It is hard to say which cruiseline is better. I think it depends what you like and what you don't like and I am sure there are many here and on the Carnival boards that will disagree with much of this post. Your signature says your Crown Princess cruise is "spring break fun". Whether you have a better time on Princess will depend on your definition of fun.

 

What an excellent comparison and response:)

[hubofhockey]

With due respect I disagree with you. Space ratio along with crew to passenger ratio is an industry standard mathematical formula that is used by all industry analysis that I am aware of. If there is a better one I would be happy to know it.

 

You might as a suggestion try the Island/Coral/Sapphire/Diamond/Grand/Golden/Star/Royal/Ocean/Pacific Princess or RCCL Adventure of the Seas or any HOL, you will notice the difference immediately.

 

I don't need due respect. You are free to disagree with me. OP had cruised on a Carnival Conquest class ship and is going on a similarly sized Princess ship (Crown). As I have been on a Carnival Conquest ship and the Crown, I just posted from my experience. I don't pay particular close attention to space ratios as I do the facilities themselves and layout and design of the ships. That is where I think Princess does a great job, especially in splitting up the pool areas as well as entertainment venues. It really helps with the flow of the ship.

 

For comparison, my two Liberty cruises were in mid to late April and so was my Crown cruise. Each ship was at capacity with extra berths being used because children tend to be on ships that time of year. Some other factors that might also relate to flow of crowds are the size of the Princess theater in comparison to Carnival's. Carnival's is much larger and that could also account for more people being in the same place at the same time.

 

Gertz, your experiences on the Carnival Conquest class and similarly sized Princess ships may be totally different than mine. Again, my comparison was just from my experience and no great mathematical formuals.

[Minoushka]

I just returned from Crown

The Cafe Caribe and International Cafe have great food

I do not recommend Sanbatini's or Crown Grill on this ship .However it was Great on the Grand

Dining room is subdued in colour and atmosphere. I missed the singing and dancing of Carnival

I did not care for the shows on the CRown .One was a Cole Porter 40s review ...oh hum

The outdoor Mex night was not well attended and tacky IMO

The cabins are clean and comfortable

Caribe deck balconies bigger then Carnival

No cupboards .Just open hanging rod to put stuff ,suitcases fit under in front of bathroom

Nice shampoo conditioner and lotion supplied every day.

Cabins slightly smaller but layout is good

Princess ships all look alike IMO ..I have been on 5 ..Layout and look pretty similar No glitz or neons .lovely marble floor

Casino small and SMOKY Very few penny machines

Aft pool quiet .nice

I like Princess but also like Carnival You will enjoy both