RCCL or Princess

[heathjen]

I am impatiently waiting for the Voyager prices for 15 October 2012 as I want to book for our 25th wedding anniversary. They still can't tell me when the prices will be released. I have seen a very similar cruise on the Crown Princess on the same day with extra ports and fewer sea days. I just wondered if anyone had experience of both ships to compare

[yawalias]

We've always cruised RCCL but last year we decided to try Princess. We will never stray again. RCCL ships are bigger, better and more beautiful. The service on RCCL is so much better! Voyager was our first cruise. That's the ship that go us addicted to cruising!:)

[HomePlanet]

I have never sailed on Voyager, but I have sailed Mariner three times - and until Oasis it was my favourite ship. We also sailed on Crown Princess. The cruise was very good, but we had a few service issues while on board. Nothing major, but overall we have preferred Royal (though we also had a few service issues while booking and boarding our Oasis cruise - no line is perfect).

 

Both ships will have lots to do to fill your sea days. We enjoy the rock-climbing wall and the skating rink on Royal, and really enjoyed MUTS on Crown Princess. Look at both ships and decide what differences, if any, matter to you.

 

We found the cabin more comfortable on Mariner compared to Crown Princess. I don't recall if all balconies are the same on each ship, but on Mariner we had a full sofa, while on Crown Princess we only had a side chair between the bed and the balcony.

 

No doubt you would enjoy a cruise on either ship, so the biggest factors are itinerary and price. Only you can decide which itinerary you prefer. As for price, we just booked a Mediterranean cruise for this summer, and found that Royal's prices were much lower than Princess'. I'm not sure if that will still be the case for you, but Royal is now showing suite prices for this sailing, and a JS is about C$2,000 per person. A mini-suite on Crown Princess is about C$3,400. I don't know if other categories will show similar differences, but this would be an easy choice for me.

 

And congratulations on the milestone! My wife and I celebrated our 25th last year. A Mediterranean cruise is a great way to celebrate. Enjoy!

[DonnaK]

We've cruised 4 times on Voyager-class ships, but our last two cruises have been on the Caribbean Princess (which is a sister to the Crown) due to lower cruise fare and more convenient departure port.

 

RCI's ships are significantly nicer (Princess' ships are very bland - some call it understated elegance, but I call it boring) and have a more favorable space to passenger ratio, so they are less crowded. But, I wouldn't hesitate to sail on Princess again. They are the closest to RCI in service and overall cruising experience, and there are some things that Princess does better than RCI.

 

You can click on the links to my review in my signature for more detailed comparisons between the two lines.

[JeffHatfield]

We have sailed both Voyager and Crown Princess. Never again on the the Crown. The service was poor at best, pursers office was rude. Entire staff except for two Martini Bar Waiters acted as if they couldn't wait to get off of that ship.

 

Another CPA in our area did the Crown in Europe about a year later and she made the same comments.

[Mrs Miggins]

I have cruised on Navigator from Barcelona, Splendour twice from Venice and Crown Princess to the Baltic from Copenhagen.

The last cruise was my favourite. I loved the fact that they had someone onboard who gave lectures about the ports we were going to visit including correct information about the local bus services. This information was also shown on our TV. I have never been able to get any good local information from RCCL - I loved the afternoon tea - just right after a hard day's sightseeing, also cold drinks offered by the gangplank on return to the ship. Service was good at all times. When we sailed out of Stockholm then there was a commentary again giving great and interesting information.

We will cruise on Independence this Autumn but only because DD is meeting up with friends first met on Celebrity Century from Barcelona.

Both my husband and I prefer Princess.

[Worn out mailman]

No doubt you would enjoy a cruise on either ship, so the biggest factors are itinerary and price. Only you can decide which itinerary you prefer. As for price, we just booked a Mediterranean cruise for this summer, and found that Royal's prices were much lower than Princess'. I'm not sure if that will still be the case for you, but Royal is now showing suite prices for this sailing, and a JS is about C$2,000 per person. A mini-suite on Crown Princess is about C$3,400. I don't know if other categories will show similar differences, but this would be an easy choice for me.

 

I agree with this poster. We had our greatest cruise ever a little over a month ago on Serenade, and I have enjoyed a cruise on a Voyager class ship (Adventure) but I look at my old cruise vids and realize how much I miss the Grand Class ship of Princess. They're all great...just in different ways than one another. In shopping I find that the Princess cruises I like are priced higher than all but the Oasis class sailings. Enough higher that I will cruise RCCL even though I love Princess a lot. I guess it all depends on your demographic, that is to say, how much money you can throw into a vacation.

[Megs867]

I prefer Royal Caribbean. I enjoyed serveral things on Princess but more with Royal. The service on Royal is far superior. People on Royal work for their tips and truley seem to enjoy their jobs. People on Princess are pretty much guaranteed a certain amount of tips per week and I felt like at times this was obvious. Here is one example of Royals superior service on my first cruise in the MDR I had a Head Waiter named Diego and a Assistant Waiter named Raj both were great (obviously since I still remember their names) Raj would see my family in the morning in the WJ and even though he was not our waiter he would grab us a table and get our drinks.

[Yurita]

The Crown princess is a ship I would not recommend. I sailed the Ruby princess and found the service/entertainment so much better.

My fav line is Royal, second fav line is Princess, but there's no comparison, Royal offers so much more. The only thing that keep us going back to Princess is their itineraries.

[heathjen]

Thanks for all your comments. I have only been on the Navigator before and loved it. I think I'll probably wait for the Voyager if only they would hurry up and release the prices for all the cabins. One consolation is that the cruise must be running if they are selling suites. I was worried they would pull it.

[toothy26]

I just returned from Ruby Princess and while I had an awesome cruise (as usual), I will be returning to Royal Caribbean. Over the past couple of years, my family has cruised a few different lines and we all decided that Royal is the best fit for us. Their ships seemed to offer the most variety for most people and they are all just beautiful. Looking forward to my next cruise...The Allure!

[maxxedout2]

We've done both and have one booked on each for later this year.

 

Navigator OTS is larger than Crown. If you need rock walls and

ice rinks and the best mini-putt go with Royal Voyager class.

 

Been on Crown 3 times and never experienced anything

like what I'm reading here. It is classy all the way. But everybody

sees things from a different perspective I guess.

 

We have a Southern Crown to Aruba coming up and look

forward to the relaxing sea days, Crown Grill and entertainment.

 

We have Navigator booked for Western and look forward to the relaxing

sea days, Portofinos and the entertainment.

 

If you travel with kids or teens I can tell you that Royal (Voyager and up)

and Carnival (recent Glory cruise) has a lot for them to do.

 

Gotta go.:cool: