Please help! Difference between Carnival and Princess?

[NJCruzer82]

:confused::confused::confused::confused:

 

Please help!

 

I am looking to book my next cruise in Decemeber 2010 and am looking into Carnival's line. I have cruised on Princess 3x now, and have loved every one of my cruises. With Princess, I know what to expect, how the rooms are, etc. I have never booked with Carnival and am wondering how is it? The specific cruise I am looking at is the Carnival Valor, leaving out of Miami on December 26th for the Western Caribbean Junior Suite.

 

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=MIA&itinCode=WEB&durDays=7&shipCode=VA&subRegionCode=CW&sailDate=12/26/2010&sailingID=53389

 

Can anyone tell me besides the obvious price difference (hence why I am looking at Carnival this time) how is the ship? Also, how do the rooms compare? Food, Casino, bars, etc? My girlfriend and I are 28yo, like to gamble, drink, hang by the pools, relax on our balcony, etc. Just trying to get an overall feel for the ship/cruise line because as I stated before, although I know Princess costs more, at least I know what to expect with them. Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

Thanks again!

 

Mike :p

[Yazoo cruiser]

We have cruised Carnival 18 times and Princess 1, so I guess that tells which we prefer. We were on the Golden Princess and really enjoyed it. However, for the price difference we prefer Carnival. As I remember the cabins on Carnival are a little larger. Actually, the only thing I liked better on Princess was the buffet, much better selection but quality about the same. Having said that, we would sail Princess anytime. Just that we are now platinum members and enjoy all the extra perks. I'm sure you will have a great cruise whichever you choose.

[Cruisin'Trooper]

We tried Princess when we went to Alaska and it was alright. The Carnival food is better (IMHO) and they go to the places we like to travel to. The Princess room was a bit nicer, but not enough for the price difference. The gym and spa on the Carnival ships seem better to us, but the pool area on the Princess was more elegant. We enjoyed the night club in the Skywalker's Disco on the Golden Princess at night watching the snow and ice, but not enough to change cruise lines.

[Perfect Stranger]

You're going to feel like kids on Princess with all the senior citizens on board.

[BigDoug]

Just about to do my 13th Carnival cruise and have one Princess cruise. Princess is fine if you want a mellow, low energy cruise. I did not care for the European style menu in the main dining room. Carnival appeals to us and the value can't be matched. I would definitely recommend that you give Carnival a try.:D

[CMM]

We were on the Legend over Thanksgiving after having sailed Princess the two previous cruises.

 

A couple of differences I liked with Carnival was the interactive TV. You can check your account to see how much you have spent, look at menus, and other things from your cabin. Carnival has free lemonade at their drink stations. Carnival has cute towel animals on your bed each night. Carnival lets you wait anyplace you want during the debarkation process, not a designated spot. Carnival waiters do dancing/singing bits at dinner.

 

Princess has so much to offer too.

We enjoyed both lines. I prefer to try different lines/ships out and find that part interesting.

[Yurita]

I'm 26 years old and I can relate. I recently went on my first Princess cruise (Ruby) and I've sailed Carnival 3 times, including Carnival Valor, western caribbean.

My comparison:

Food: Somebody said Carnival's was better... however, my partner (24) and I found Princess food better. It might be personal opinion, perhaps even personal taste.

Pools: Being young adults I LOVED princess pools. They are bigger, deeper, more jacuzzis, more pools, and I totally enjoyed the Sanctuary pool, were rules about 'no children' were extremely reinforced 24/7.

My biggest problem with Carnival, is that there are children inside jacuzzis, with their snorkle while adults are waiting to get in.

Also, after trying Royal caribbean, I found that Carnival pools are the smallest ones of all cruiselines I've tried.

We spend most of the day around the pool area. We are water people.

Ship design: Personally I liked Princess, even though the Valor is a nice ship. I liked the Ruby princess better just because it seemed easier to navigate, more modern, like decoration is light, soft, with lots of glass doors, all the around the ship.

Carnival interiors are darker, reminds me of Vegas, for some reason.

About TV: I was surprised at Princess movie selection on TV. They were playing movies fresh from the theater.

Movies under the stars: Carnival and Princess both offer them. I don't know if Carnival will cover the seats and offer you popcorn, cookies and warm blankets.

Yes, Carnival has free lemonade at the station. In princess you have to ask for it and Carnival's is way better.

Somebody said you'll feel like a kid because Princess has an 'older crowd'. It wasn't our case. Like I said, I'm 26 and I met lots of young people onboard. It won't be as many younger people as with Carnival's, but according to your preferences, this could mean something good.

Room are pretty much the same. Carnival's may be a bit bigger. Princess' open closet consept made me feel the room was a plus for us, though.

Being both of you 28, it's always good to try new things, new ships. As for us, our favorite line is Royal caribbean because it attracks us with their rock climbing walls, royal promenade, ice skating, surfing, H2O zones, parades.... it just appeals to us because we do all of these things.... and NO, you don't have to pay extra.

We loved Princess as a more relaxing, pampering, no-noise cruise, get away from it all cruise.

And Carnival it's more like a party, always on the move, more active enviroment cruise.... there's something to do all the time.

You may enjoy Carnival as well; the western caribbean had a lot to offer. We loved Tabyanna beach (Roatan), and cave-tubing in Belize.

Another thing to consider, I know this is out of your question, (my personal advice to you- hey, from 26 year old to a 28 ;)... I'll tell you the same one of the young nurses told me at work when I began cruising Carnival.... she said to me: if you catch a good deal on RCCL, please go for it, trust me, it won't dissapoint, it'll change your cruise perspective! so, I repeat what she said to me.

Happy sailings!

[martinchem]

And there's something special about the tail.

[Nunu]

We've done both lines. I'd say Carnival is much better in terms of value however Princess ships are much nicer both visually and in how they present things. Movies Under the Stars vs. Carnivals big screen is a good example. On Princess it's an attraction (especially at night with the free popcorn and blankets on the chaise lounges), rather than an annoyance. The placement on the ship works better on Princess.

Food I take very little notice of, my wife liked it better on Princess. I think again it had to do with presentation.

We did enjoy both lines and there are plenty of young people on each. To say that Princess only attracts old people is ridiculous.

[fisherguy]

After reaching Platinum status on Princess, we decided to try out other cruise lines for a change of scenery and to satisfy our curiosity on just how different the other cruise lines were. This included a recent cruise on the Splendor which we thoroughly enjoyed.

 

From my personal opinion (YMMV), I could not find enough in the way of differences between the two to justify choosing one over the other which leaves pricing and itinearies as the only determining factors.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the buffets on Princess more. I felt the breakfast buffet on Princess had more selection and the buffet opening times overall were more flexible. The full dinner buffet on the Princess is opened till much later as well. In the MDR, we enjoyed some things better on Carnival and some things better on Princess. I found most of the portion sizes to be larger on Carnival. The food overall is good on both lines.

 

I didn't find much difference in regards to the service from any of the dining or cabin staff. The same hard working crew that you would expect.

 

Carnival rooms were slightly larger.

 

Carnival seemed to have a few more daily activities.

 

If you have kids, Camp Carnival is better than what they offer at Princess (more activities and variety for the kids) though Princess is pretty good as well.

 

Overall, Princess is a more laid back cruise line but I certainly wouldn't label Carnival as a Free for all Party Cruise line.

 

I think you will enjoy your cruise with either of the two.

[BettyCruiser]

:confused::confused::confused::confused:

 

Please help!

 

I am looking to book my next cruise in Decemeber 2010 and am looking into Carnival's line. I have cruised on Princess 3x now, and have loved every one of my cruises. With Princess, I know what to expect, how the rooms are, etc. I have never booked with Carnival and am wondering how is it? The specific cruise I am looking at is the Carnival Valor, leaving out of Miami on December 26th for the Western Caribbean Junior Suite.

 

http://www.carnival.com/Itinerary.aspx?embkCode=MIA&itinCode=WEB&durDays=7&shipCode=VA&subRegionCode=CW&sailDate=12/26/2010&sailingID=53389

 

Can anyone tell me besides the obvious price difference (hence why I am looking at Carnival this time) how is the ship? Also, how do the rooms compare? Food, Casino, bars, etc? My girlfriend and I are 28yo, like to gamble, drink, hang by the pools, relax on our balcony, etc. Just trying to get an overall feel for the ship/cruise line because as I stated before, although I know Princess costs more, at least I know what to expect with them. Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

Thanks again!

 

Mike :p

 

 

If you chose the Valor, I would like to suggest a corner aft balcony. You mentioned a junior suite and I see a corner aft is available which is cheaper and the balcony is huge and awesome, since you mentioned you like spending time on the balcony.

 

Beth

[buddylover]

We too, have cruised both lines but went back to Carnival for the following reasons:

Food: We think that believe it or not, the food on Carnival is far better than what we found on Princess. Hands down there seemed to be NO comparison. Try the lobster bisque on Carnival, you will instantly be able to see a BIG difference.

Cabins: The cabins on Carnival are larger (we have had a balcony staterooms on both Princess and Carnival). However, Princess has wonderful closet space set up in a more usable way in the cabin, but the space for the closet reduced the bathroom/shower size on Princess, and my DH is larger and found the shower difficult to move around in! We both could not walk around the bed at the same time to go out on the balcony.

Balcony: If you are going this route, our balcony on Princess won hands down. It was probably triple the size of our Carnival balconies which was wonderful for us in Alaska as we spent alot of time out there sightseeing through the Inner Passage.

Entertainment: Carnival wins this one hands down for us! There is much more to do later on into the night on Carnival, like midnite comediens and their entertainment is staggered so for example you can go to Karaoke, then to the main theatre show and later to the piano bar or late nite comedien etc. On the Diamond Princess all of the above was held at the same time and you had to pick only one and when it was over there wasn't much more left to do in the evening....plus, the theatre on Princes is small , like a High School auditorium....didn't seat many guests whereas on Carnival they are 3 stories and you don't have to arrive an hour early to get a seat.

Ship Decor: Princess is more elegant and understated (lots of brass and light cream marble/granite), Carnival is more showy, but the glitz kind of adds to the Vegas kind of fun. Depends on what you are looking for.

Crowd: We are older, we have kids your age, but we also found Princess to be an older stuffier crowd. Our own kids liked Carnival better as well.

The choice is yours to make, I say try them all and decide for yourself. Whatever ship you choose, I am certain you will have a wonderful time!

[NJCruzer82]

:):):)A big THANK YOU to everyone for your help with this!!! As it turns out, due to scheduling issues, we have decided to go with Princess for their Western Carribbean cruise on March 27, 2010 instead. But all of the input was greatly appreciated and will definitely come in handy when booking our next cruise (as I believe we will try Carnival next). If any of you are going on the Crown in March - see ya on board!!! :):):)

[firefly333]

I thought Princess food was better. I have been on Caribbean Princess and one other, now I cant remember the name.

 

I prefer Princess, but Carnnival is more convenient.

 

You will like both cruiselines. They are both pretty mainstream. I think Carnival caters more to families with kids.