A Question to Any Carnival Cruisers Who Have Cruised with Princess

[Hutchgal]

I have been on mostly Carnival Cruises, but a few years ago I was on the Caribbean Princess. I liked the ship but really only noticed 2 major differences. First , as others have stated, not as many activities as Carnival. I love trying everything so I give Carnival the edge there. Also , for the trivia games etc they did have, their prizes were very tiny. Yes I'm corny but I LOVE my 'Ships-on-a-Stick!! :D Other than that, both lines are excellent. I am a Carnival gal but Princess has some great ships too. :)

[Jay B]

We have been on many Princess cruises and have some kind of status designated by a color but can't remember what - gold, silver, bronze or something. We went on our first Carnival cruise in 20 years last year - on the Legend from Tampa. I think we prefer Carnival. The price was a heck of a lot cheaper than an identical Princess cruise but we really like the demographics on Carnival. On our last few Princess cruises, most of the passengers were older (in their 80s) and really nasty - especially on the cruises from south Florida. It's probably not fare to judge Carnival from one cruise but our Carnival Legend trip had much nicer passengers and the average age was probably 50. Also, the food was great on both lines but maybe even better on Carnival. And the average room on Carnival is a little bigger. There are some downsides to Carnival. On our Princess trips, we had the ship to ourselves after 10:00 PM - including the casino. On Carnival, the casino with all the smokers was still busy at midnight. And the nightly theater shows were a little better on Princess. We just booked a cruise for this November and looked at both Carnival and Princess - we chose Carnival.

 

j

[serene56]

We are heading out on #15...mostly carnival- 3 Princess.

When we first thought about taking Princess we heard about the ships being older and the ship shuts down at 10pm So we figured we would try it out for ourselves.

Princess wow'd us from minute one-- for us it was a complete different experience.

In 3 Pincess cruises we ate in the dining room only one time-- the rest of our cruises we ate at the buffet. Eating at the buffet was truly a more intimate experince then eating in the dining room. We still had waiters to get our drinks, etc all we had to do is get our food. Soda cards are affordable on Princess. (I think we paid 35.00 for a 7 day cruise compared to 55.00 on carnival.)

I also liked that shows ae presented more then one night--so if something conflicted we didnt have to miss out on something.

 

Princess cost a little more-- but its really was worth it for us. We did not experience a lot of older passengers but families. (We have not ever taken a 10 day criuse and think that would be older as people with kids cant do those cruises because of time constraints.

 

We still cruise Carnival--going on Freedom in March. Booked the Ruby for Feb 2011.

[Trvlr37]

We've sailed both lines and most recently the Caribbean Princess. We have enjoyed all our cruises. Princess cabins are smaller and I really missed a sofa in our cabin, but ships are generally classier. Princess has some nice things like high tea on sea days and we think their pizza is pretty good. Carnival has 24 hour pizza and seems to be a more high energy-type cruise. Panama Canal cruises are more laid-back, but scenery is beautiful - you will have a great time. It's all in your attitude toward it - don't let the little things bother you on any cruise. It sure beats being at work.

[Skeeter60]

First off let me say that I enjoyed all of my cruises on both Carnival and Princess. As many have stated the crowd is somewhat older on Princess. I did not feel that I had to leave the boat due to the age of the crowd! There were still many people who were young and like to have a good time. The pools on Princess were not as crowded and bingo was better (guess older crowd likes bingo?) Carnival does seem to be a younger crowd. Food on Princess was better but I felt like I had to dress for dinner every night which I do not like because I am a casual person. Both are good and you will have a good time. Enjoy;)

[maxamuus]

We liked Princess the food was great, the service was the best we had on any ship hands down. They are a great line.

 

The only downside as other have mentioned it is a older crowd. Mind you we dont mind older folks just seemed like the whole ship had a 10 pm bedtime. We would walk around and pass lounge after lounge completely empty with the bartenders just looking bored to tears.

 

We liked Princess and would sail her again just know going into it you are going to feel like you booked a cruise with your parents.

[chechebean]

We have sailed both cruise lines in suites. The CP suite has 2 TV's, a smaller balcony (we were uncovered). Very nice room with adequate space. The suite on Carnival Miracle had beautiful furnishings, lotsof marble and a beautiful bar with many shelves, a very much loved dressing area and a great size bathroom with tub and two vanities. I will vote that the Miracle had more cubbies to pack things away.

 

The food on CB was much better. Don't miss the Seafood Event, delicious!! Lobsters, gigantic shrimp you name it!! We enjoyed desserts on both lines. Carnival Miracle won me over with the Hot Chocolate Cake and the NY Cheesecake was a hit on CB.

 

CB is a beautiful elegant ship and the Miracle is very vibrant and every room says "lets celebrate"!!

 

The pools are deeper on the CB. I believe the water was fresh on the CB and salt water on the Miracle.

 

We felt the Carnival Miracle line had pushier sales for the drinks and pictures. Entertainment was enjoyable on both.

 

On both lines we traveled to the Caribbean so the length of the cruise and destination were similar. The crowd was a bit different as earlier reported by other posters. Carnival was certainly younger and more couples and lots of events going on everywhere.

 

There are differences but not so huge as to prevent anyone from having a pleasant experience. It will be interesting to see what you think after you return. Be sure to come back and post your personal comparisons. Happy cruising!!

[Lejardin]

We've sailed Princess twice, and I may be in the minority, but I never found the passengers "older", and actually, Princess had the most fun activities than I've found on RCCL. So I would definitely recommend Princess, for the fun, and the elegant decor. The cabins were a tad smaller, but had better storage.

[dan40]

Odd, I thought the crowd on Princess was younger!!:D:D

[happy cruzer]

Two things that Princess does very well

 

The dining room is open for all meals.

 

The pools are fresh water and set up to be less crowded.

 

Remember every line is a LITTLE different. Just enjoy the little differences and all will be good. Mainly you will go the Panama Canal which is a great cruise and it sounds like you want more exotic itenaries (which means you will be cruising with the retired folks; which we have done since we were very young and enjoyed every minute) so you will need to find another line to enjoy like you have CCL.

[ncbeachteacher]

We are Carnival Cruisers but sailed Princess in Alaska on a cruisetour. We prefer Carnival over Princess to sail on. However, Princess has an awesome product in Alaska with their land tours! If I could do over, I would do the land tour with Princess and then, get on the Carnival Ship!

 

We prefer Carnival for many of the same reasons everyone else does: We get more bang for our buck with Carnival. Personally, we like the the food on Carnival better than Princess. I did like having two specialty dining options on Princess but all of them offer a great product. I was not impressed with the buffet on Princess and they do have fewer choices overall. The casino dies around 10:30 on Princess, just when Carnival's is heating up. We have enjoyed many an evening bar hopping on Carnival (something we typically do not do) but never found anything worth hopping to on Princess.

 

Princess is nice, subtle, subdued, and expensive. Carnival has more energy, vibrance, salsa, and flair.

[lhanson38]

My Daughter and I did this cruise last March on the Island.

We loved it. The port were wonderful. My daughter was 24 at the time

of the cruise. Heronly complaint was that she did have to carry her id

with her as they did card her when she orderd a drink. LOL

Yes there were a lot of older people on the ship. But for the most part

they were great. The biggest diff that we noticed between princess and ccl was at the pool there is a higher engery at the pool on ccl.

Other than that the island was in great shape. the food was really good

the shows were nice. We didn't do any of the clubs just to tired from the ports to stay out really late. And the really nice thing was there were so few kids on the ship, Go have a great time see really wonderful places

and meet so great people.

We would do this trip again in a heart beat just to see cartagana again

what a truly great place.:)