Coming back to Princess

[Mist_ynight]

So I just cruised with Carnival for the first time and it will probably be my last time as well. My next cruise will be with Princess for sure. The service was no where near as good as my last two cruises with Princess. I've never had such a hard time getting a drink on a cruise. I had to wave down the bar waiter in the MDR to get a pop. Seemed like I was invisible. They would ask one person at our table if they wanted a drink and if they said no then they would dissapear.

 

I know people complain here about the main dining room dress but I couldn't believe what people wear in the dining room on Carnival. I saw several people with jeans and t-shirt pretty much every night. I even saw two people with jeans and a sweatshirt on elegant night! Since when is a sweatshirt elegant?

 

I was on a cruise so I still had a good time but I will choose Princess over Carnival anyday!

[timetravler]

All that you said is why I stick with Princess. I don't mind jeans in the dinning room as long as it's with a nice shirt or a polo shirt. On the one cruise that we did not do formal night, we ate in the buffet out of respect for those that wanted to dress up. Also the kids on a Princess cruise seem better behaved or maybe it's because they were taught manners. My grand kids were with us on a Alaskan cruise a couple of years ago and they loved dressing up. The old adage fits You get what you pay for.

[Mist_ynight]

The old adage fits You get what you pay for.

 

Very true, the princess cruise for the same time was only about $50 more a person so we should have went with it. My friend and her mother who cruised with me were also not happy with Carnival. They usually cruise Royal Carribean.

[windsor26]

Welcome back:)

[Sea Fan]

Welcome Home:)

[gerryl12]

Of course Carnival was not quite the same as Princess, they are a lower priced, closer to freestyle cruise line. Each cruise line caters to a slightly different clientel and the Carnival group of companies from Carnival through Seaborne tries to get them all.

Welcome back to Princess though.

[jeromep]

So I just cruised with Carnival for the first time and it will probably be my last time as well. My next cruise will be with Princess for sure. The service was no where near as good as my last two cruises with Princess. I've never had such a hard time getting a drink on a cruise. I had to wave down the bar waiter in the MDR to get a pop. Seemed like I was invisible. They would ask one person at our table if they wanted a drink and if they said no then they would dissapear.

 

I know people complain here about the main dining room dress but I couldn't believe what people wear in the dining room on Carnival. I saw several people with jeans and t-shirt pretty much every night. I even saw two people with jeans and a sweatshirt on elegant night! Since when is a sweatshirt elegant?

 

I was on a cruise so I still had a good time but I will choose Princess over Carnival anyday!

My wife has a coworker that cruised with Carnival this past summer and we did Alaska with Princess in July. So they compared notes. Sure, there are 2 formal nights on your typical 7 day cruise with Princess, and the rest of the nights you need to dress decently, but dressing up to eat a nice meal in the MDR isn't such a bad thing. Her co-worker was amazed at the clothing passengers wore in the MDRs on Carnival. Literally anything goes, as you experienced.

 

What the co-worker also said about MDR dining on Carnival I sumed it up like this: fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, dinner now, right now, not later, right now, at the time we told you to go to dinner, fun, fun, fun.

 

In other words, for all the fun and freedom that Carnival advertises I'm amazed that they still operate a scheduled dining system for all passengers. Princess's Anytime Dining is about as easygoing as I could ask any line for.

 

Oh, and on my last cruise I never felt ignored by any of the wait staff, sometimes they were even a little too attentive, but still, it was appreciated.

 

Your description of Carnival (and my wife's co-worker) is why we stick with Princess.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

Welcome home.....:):):)

Bob

[Solorca1]

fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, .

 

Haha, this sums up my experiences on Carnival quite well. My first two cruises were with Carnival when I was 17 and again at 22, and I had a good time with all of the "fun" that they advertise. Since the second cruise, we have been on RCI and Celebrity a few times, and the difference was massive. Last year, we decided to go on Carnival again and I hated the experience. The "fun" seemed over the top and juvenile and I simply didn't have a good time with that aspect.

 

It didn't help that it was our cruise directors final sailing prior to retirement, so the entire cruise was pretty much a dedication to him, with the staff pretty much ignoring the passengers and focusing on inside jokes and references the entire time. It made the experience feel cheap.

 

This will be our first cruise on Princess, and I'm hoping we've found a new home away from home.

[Cozzette2]

We just went on our first and last Carnival cruise. It wasn't bad, just different and not what we had come to enjoy on Princess. If you order the soda card, good luck getting anyone in the dining room to serve it to you. Dining room service was so bad. My son had a baked potato every night and every night he had to ask for sour cream. It usually was about a 10 min wait for it. Why not just bring it at the time the meal is served.

Their ice cream isn't nearly as good as Princess but their coffee was pretty good. They also serve Starbucks.

It was a nice cruise and for the young group of first time cruisers that we were traveling with it was fine but I really missed Princess and the wrap around promenade deck.

Kris

[dorisis]

Cruising provides something for almost everyone. We have tried many lines and have decided that about 4 of then suit us very well, but I haven't ruled out any of them.

 

~Doris~

[nycruise]

My wife has a coworker that cruised with Carnival this past summer and we did Alaska with Princess in July. So they compared notes. Sure, there are 2 formal nights on your typical 7 day cruise with Princess, and the rest of the nights you need to dress decently, but dressing up to eat a nice meal in the MDR isn't such a bad thing. Her co-worker was amazed at the clothing passengers wore in the MDRs on Carnival. Literally anything goes, as you experienced.

 

What the co-worker also said about MDR dining on Carnival I sumed it up like this: fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, dinner now, right now, not later, right now, at the time we told you to go to dinner, fun, fun, fun.

 

In other words, for all the fun and freedom that Carnival advertises I'm amazed that they still operate a scheduled dining system for all passengers. Princess's Anytime Dining is about as easygoing as I could ask any line for.

Oh, and on my last cruise I never felt ignored by any of the wait staff, sometimes they were even a little too attentive, but still, it was appreciated.

 

Your description of Carnival (and my wife's co-worker) is why we stick with Princess.

 

Carnival offers Your Time Dining, similar to Princess's Anytime Dining.

 

Having said that, Princess is our favorite line, we've tried all of the mass market lines and none do it as well as Princess. Since we travel more for the itinerary than the cruise experience, we will continue to travel all lines but all things being pretty much equal we will always prefer Princess.

[luv2travel77]

Welcome back to Princess! :)

[quilter49]

Our last Golden Princess cruise was not as good as usual. So, we tried RCCL's Liberty of the Seas. From the moment we stepped foot on the ship, we compared them. We had to wait to get into our room and everyone had their overnight bags with them in the dining room for lunch. The floor doors were closed off and people were sitting in the stairwells. The cabin steward had our door open, but our garbage can was overflowing and there were wet towels on the floor! Gross. We like a ship that looks like a ship and not a shopping mall. The food was good, but the pizza and ice cream were terrible.

We are returning to Princess next week on the Grand. Sometimes you have to leave something to really appreciate it!:)

[Dunelm]

We have good friends who, years ago, cruised for the first time with Carnival and said they would never go on another cruise again. Then, we persuaded them to go on a Princess cruise with us. I admit we were a tad nervous, but our friends loved it and have been cruising with Princess ever since. I guess it is a matter of "different strokes for different folks."

[lovevacadays]

Welcome back! I've cruised Princess 10 times and Carnival twice. I wasn't fond of the Carnival experience either. Granted I was on a cruise so had a good time but it was a pretty generic experience in my opinion.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Princess is very good ...

[srpilo]

Good choice :)

 

 

 

Srpilo

[Go-Bucks!]

I've sailed on both lines and found each has their own good and not-so-good. I had lots of fun on both. I do prefer Princess, but have heard that Carnival's beds are much more comfortable. Princess beds are so hard and uncomfortable, although the mattresses in the full suites felt better.

[Mist_ynight]

Glad to see I'm not the only one to feel this way. I'm so dissapointed that I need to wait until next year to cruise again! I can't wait to get back on Princess!