Princess/RCCL Cruise Comparisons

[KamloopsCruisers]

We're loyal RCCL cruisers - we took our first cruise with them and they have never given us any reason to sail with anyone else - until now.

 

We are wanting to take a repo Panama cruise next year (May '06) from Florida to Vancouver. RCCL has yet to post their itineraries or prices for next year, while other lines - like Princess - are quickly filling up. We have a tentative booking on Celebrity, but the cruise only goes as far as San Fran. and we'd really like to sail all the way to Vancouver. Plus, good friends have booked on the Coral Princess May '06. The itinerary looks good, as is the price, but we've never sailed Princess and are somewhat hesitant to "jump ship". I tried that once - NCL - and what a mistake it was for me. Freestyle dining just wasn't for me.

 

So, I'd really appreciate hearing pros and cons of Princess/RCCL from those of you who have sailed on both lines.

 

Thanks very much.

 

Sue

[FreQuentKruser]

We have over 20 Princess cruises and have also been on RCCL cruises 5 times and yes, there are some differences. Princess has fresh water pools, anytime dining and onboard laundry rooms. The drink prices on Princess are less than on RCCL. In the Princess casino you pay a 3% surcharge if you get $ on your shipboard account, on RCCL there is no surcharge. We found the passengers on RCCL to be a bit younger, we think the crew members, bartenders, etc on RCCL are "happier" than on Princess, but RCCL does say they have the "happiest ships" so maybe that is why, however many crew members told us the employee rules are not as strict on RCCL as they are on Princess. Although the food in the dining room is very comparable, but we lean a tad towards Princess in the food department however the buffets on RCCL are much better than on Princess, a much larger selection on RCCL. RCCL has very little food available after dinner whereas Princess keeps their buffet open. RCCL has midnight buffets on several nights. The coffee was better on RCCL ;) However, all of that said, we think Princess has an edge over RCCL, everything just seems a "little bit better" on Princess. But both lines are very nice and we've never had a bad cruise on either of them (I dont think there is such a thing as a "bad cruise" is there?) :)

[yancycruiser]

We are not near as experienced as the previous poster. However, we agree with everything they said. Having said that, We wouldn't hestitate to book either RCCL or Princess if the price and itinerary were right. We have been on six cruises and four lines. Enjoyed them all.

 

And I'll add a resounding AMEN to the statement, "I don't believe there is a bad cruise out there." If there is, I haven't seen it.

[beckers]

We have over 20 Princess cruises and have also been on RCCL cruises 5 times and yes, there are some differences. Princess has fresh water pools, anytime dining and onboard laundry rooms. The drink prices on Princess are less than on RCCL. In the Princess casino you pay a 3% surcharge if you get $ on your shipboard account, on RCCL there is no surcharge. We found the passengers on RCCL to be a bit younger, we think the crew members, bartenders, etc on RCCL are "happier" than on Princess, but RCCL does say they have the "happiest ships" so maybe that is why, however many crew members told us the employee rules are not as strict on RCCL as they are on Princess. Although the food in the dining room is very comparable, but we lean a tad towards Princess in the food department however the buffets on RCCL are much better than on Princess, a much larger selection on RCCL. RCCL has very little food available after dinner whereas Princess keeps their buffet open. RCCL has midnight buffets on several nights. The coffee was better on RCCL ;) However, all of that said, we think Princess has an edge over RCCL, everything just seems a "little bit better" on Princess. But both lines are very nice and we've never had a bad cruise on either of them (I dont think there is such a thing as a "bad cruise" is there?) :)

 

Interesting observations. I love Princess and really don't want to sail any other lines, but am taking my Dad on a 5 day trip to Bermuda on the Voyager of the Seas and it will be interesting to see what is different. I'm sure it will still be an excellent cruise however but I don't know how it will hold up to my beloved Princess.

[FreQuentKruser]

Interesting observations. I love Princess and really don't want to sail any other lines, but am taking my Dad on a 5 day trip to Bermuda on the Voyager of the Seas and it will be interesting to see what is different. I'm sure it will still be an excellent cruise however but I don't know how it will hold up to my beloved Princess.

 

We felt the same way, we didnt go on RCCL until we already had over 200 nights on Princess, we only did the first RCCL cruise because some other family members were going and we decided to go with them. As we were embarking on the ship I know we were probably the only passengers who werent excited. However we soon became pleasantly surprised, we really enjoyed it .. yikes! I fact we liked it so much that we stayed away from Princess for a few years and then went on other RCCL cruises LOL. But do not fret, we are now back on Princess cruises, in fact we are leaving on a 26 night Princess cruise in 2 weeks and have another one booked in a few months. BUT we also like RCCL and will continue to go on their cruises too. In the past we have also been on Crystal, Costa and a few others, however we really didnt feel that those lines gave us the same "feeling" that Princess does. Our hearts are still with Princess and always will be, but we learned that we can also have a fun time on RCCL :)

[KamloopsCruisers]

Thanks Yancycruiser, Beckers & Frequentkrusers for your quick replies. I'm in agreement - there aren't any bad cruises (well, my NCL cruise wasn't BAD, but it did really fall short of my expectations. I was very disappointed after such a great time with RCCL). I am quite certain that we will have a "fab" cruise, and I'm starting to lean towards giving Princess a try.

 

Keep your thoughts coming.

[cruiserfan]

Great comparisons... I am an RCCL fan and will be doing my first princess. My only concern after reading this thread was then mention of the crew not as friendly. Since my friend and I travel alone we generally make friends with the bartenders and staff and spend alot of time with them.... Is this not allowed on Princess???

[cruiserfan]

I read in this post that the crowd tends to be "Older" on Princess. Well what constitutes "being Older" I think kruiserfan wrote it. I was wondering what your age bracket was???

[pokyd]

I've been on both lines and find the age groups to be very similar. A good number of 20 and 30-somethings, lots of 40's, some 50's and older. The length of the cruise and the itinerary are better indicators of the passengers; the caribbean cruises tend to be younger than the european or alaska ones. But you'll find a wide age range on either line.

 

Longer cruises 14+ days, tend to be older. On my panama canal cruise last fall,the captain reported the average age was 77!! I never saw so many walkers and canes on a cruise ship and sometimes wondered why there weren't more falls. After all, you are moving most of the time. But still there were enough of us "younger" ones to make it fun and interesting.

 

Bottom line, both lines are similar.

[stones902]

We have over 20 Princess cruises and have also been on RCCL cruises 5 times and yes, there are some differences. Princess has fresh water pools, anytime dining and onboard laundry rooms. The drink prices on Princess are less than on RCCL. In the Princess casino you pay a 3% surcharge if you get $ on your shipboard account, on RCCL there is no surcharge. We found the passengers on RCCL to be a bit younger, we think the crew members, bartenders, etc on RCCL are "happier" than on Princess, but RCCL does say they have the "happiest ships" so maybe that is why, however many crew members told us the employee rules are not as strict on RCCL as they are on Princess. Although the food in the dining room is very comparable, but we lean a tad towards Princess in the food department however the buffets on RCCL are much better than on Princess, a much larger selection on RCCL. RCCL has very little food available after dinner whereas Princess keeps their buffet open. RCCL has midnight buffets on several nights. The coffee was better on RCCL ;) However, all of that said, we think Princess has an edge over RCCL, everything just seems a "little bit better" on Princess. But both lines are very nice and we've never had a bad cruise on either of them (I dont think there is such a thing as a "bad cruise" is there?) :)

 

We have done about 10 cruises w/ RCL and 5 with Princess. For the most part, I agree with this posters obervations. The observations on food are really a matter of preference. I note little difference in staff between the lines.

 

Although Princess ships are wonderful, I would give the edge to RCL ships which I think are the most attractive on the seas. In particular, the voyager class RCL ships are not to be missed. I would give the disco on the Princess Grand class ships a big thumbs up because of the great views from the "handle of the shopping cart".

 

The bottom line is....I don't think there is a 5% difference between either line. It all boils down to a matter of preference. Book for itinerary and value. You'll enjoy yourself on both lines.

[Gateman1997]

Great comparisons... I am an RCCL fan and will be doing my first princess. My only concern after reading this thread was then mention of the crew not as friendly. Since my friend and I travel alone we generally make friends with the bartenders and staff and spend alot of time with them.... Is this not allowed on Princess???

I noticed that it depends on the particular bartender. The guy in Skywalkers for instance was very friendly and loved to chat as were the wait staff in Santa Fe dining room and the lower atrium bar. However the staff in Pacific Moon was all business as was the Churchill's bartender.

[Kaylas Mom]

We love RCCI and were hoping to book the RCCI Jewel of the Seas for a Baltic/Russia cruise for July 2006....but I will give you one HUGE reason to switch from RCCI to Princess. PRICE!

 

I waited for months to book the RCCI 12 night Scandinavian/Russia trip, but the prices were SHOCKING! And RCCI has started refusing to allow TAs to discount, so I couldn't get a rediuction any whichaway I tried. I tried them direct, on-line agencies, everyone and everywhere the price was exactly the same to the penny. So, I looked again at the Star Princess and I am glad I did. Basically, we are saving $3,400 off two cabins by switching from RCCI to Princess for the same basic balcony cabin and same basic itinerary.

[KamloopsCruisers]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. RCCL has yet to release their price/itinerary for a repo Panama cruises for next spring, so we have today booked our 1st Princess cruise on the Coral. Even though the cruise is almost a year away, no mini-suites left and we were only able to get a guarantee AB balcony. Hopefully cabins will open up prior to our cruise.

 

I guess now I will frequent the RCCL board less and move on over here. I know I'll have many questions about Princess, so you will be seeing me often. I also know we're going to have a great cruise.

 

Thanks again,

 

Sue

[giadav]

, we think the crew members, bartenders, etc on RCCL are "happier" than on Princess, but RCCL does say they have the "happiest ships" so maybe that is why, however many crew members told us the employee rules are not as strict on RCCL as they are on Princess. Although the food in the dining room is very comparable, but we lean a tad towards Princess in the food department however the buffets on RCCL are much better than on Princess, a much larger selection on RCCL. RCCL has very little food available after dinner whereas Princess keeps their buffet open. RCCL has midnight buffets on several nights. The coffee was better on RCCL ;) However, all of that said, we think Princess has an edge over RCCL, everything just seems a "little bit better" on Princess. But both lines are very nice and we've never had a bad cruise on either of them (I dont think there is such a thing as a "bad cruise" is there?) :)

 

I agree with this poster. I would like to add that we found the food on Princess in the buffet area to be less in quantity than RCCL but the quality was a little better, but the staff was not very quick to replenish empy serving trays. On RCCL in the buffet, there is always staff rolling a cart around to the tables w/coffee, tea, juice. On Princess, we felt like the staff was trying not to make eye contact with you, this was very surprising and it happened all week. We heard this comment many times among the other passengers as well. Another thing that surprised me was the bedding, all the cruises we have been on, the blanket is wrapped with a top sheet and a botton sheet so that the blanket doesn't touch your skin.

 

With all that being said...we have been on Carnival, RCCL and now Princess and love all of them.

[riekl]

We've had 3 princess cruises (Sea, Grand, Golden, and now booked on CP) and 1 RCCL (Mariner just last year).

 

I will never go back to RCCL it was a horribly boring experience compared to Princess for us.

 

Pro's of Princess over RCCL:

* Freshwater pools, this is a big bonus !! Those salt water pools and spas were icky, slimy feeling, bad smell, and a pain to wash off. Give me good ol' cholorine any day. Also the Princess pools tended to be a few degrees warmer then the iced down pools on RCCL.

* Granted this was just one RCCL cruise for us but those on board we talked with said it was more or less the norm, at any given time 20-30% of the hottubs were CLOSED even during the day and prime night life. This only made crowding so much worse !

* Movies .. RCCL shows already released to dvd/vhs movies from a very poor projector in a very small room with a very bad sound system. Princess even before MOTS showed non released movies with top notch projector and sound in their theaters, MOTS has only improved this.

* In room TV .. RCCL uses this RTV crap that is apparently based on microsoft .. our "TV" "crashed" no fewer then 8 times during our 7 day cruise. We got 20 minutes into watching "The Terminal" had it die ! Had to call down and have the movie restarted, then it died 5 minutes into it, ugh ! Crashed all the time in the menus .. what good is "interactive tv" if it doesn't work.

* Card room . Princess ships have 2-3x the selection of board games and table space to go around.

* Personal choice dining .. it is the bomb, our "traditional" dining set my wife and I (a white couple 27 & 26) at a table for 10, with a family of 8 blacks from Alabama. Now I have a lot of black friends but this was a miserable experience we never went back to the dining room and were relegated to the buffet. With personal choice dining this can't happen.

* Princess acctually has onboard activities even on port days, on RCCL the ship becomes a ghost ship on port days. If you are done at the port and don't want to go swimming .. to damn bad theres nothing else going on anywhere on the ship ever.

* Pricing .. every price comparison I have ever done shows Princess to usually be 20% less then RCCL on similar cruise/class of ship (i.e. comparing Grand class to Voyager class) i'm sure someone can reply with some exceptions to the rule but that is what I have found.

* Princess Cays kicks the snot out of RCCL's little port. We saw I think 3 fish after snorkeling for 2 hours .. they dont hand out fish food which is probably a good part of why, the port is much smaller then PC and much less to do. It really bummed us out after experiencing Princess Cays.

 

 

Pro's of RCCL

* Johnny Rockets .. o god was this place good .. despite the cover we ate here _4_ times it was so damn good.

* Prominade very nice layout and nice to walk around, very impressive.

* Hrm .. the coffee shop was very nice

 

I'm running out of good things to say about RCCL .. overall every aspect of the experience was "a little" to "a lot" better on Princess.

[riekl]

ignore this can't delete

[nicknack]

Only one person even mentioned personal choice dining. To me, that is the number one reason to favor Princess. Eat when you want and with whom you want. I can also be guaranteed to get a table for 2, if I want it, on Princess. Not so on RC where you wouldn't know about that until the day you sail and only if you luck out.

[Earthworm Jim]

How does Princess Personal Choice Dining differ from the NCL Freestyle dining that the original poster mentioned?

 

I'm not familiar with either one.

[madelinerose]

No top sheet???? :eek:

 

Another thing that surprised me was the bedding, all the cruises we have been on, the blanket is wrapped with a top sheet and a botton sheet so that the blanket doesn't touch your skin.

 

With all that being said...we have been on Carnival, RCCL and now Princess and love all of them.

[swooldri]

We love RCCI and were hoping to book the RCCI Jewel of the Seas for a Baltic/Russia cruise for July 2006....but I will give you one HUGE reason to switch from RCCI to Princess. PRICE!

 

I waited for months to book the RCCI 12 night Scandinavian/Russia trip, but the prices were SHOCKING! And RCCI has started refusing to allow TAs to discount, so I couldn't get a rediuction any whichaway I tried. I tried them direct, on-line agencies, everyone and everywhere the price was exactly the same to the penny. So, I looked again at the Star Princess and I am glad I did. Basically, we are saving $3,400 off two cabins by switching from RCCI to Princess for the same basic balcony cabin and same basic itinerary.

 

I totally agree, my wife and I were big RCI fans (11 cruises with RCI) until their pricing change last Fall. We have now taken 2 Princess cruises and have 3 more booked. The overall cruise experiance is very close to the same with some small advantages to both cruise lines. But, due to the much higher price we are now Princess fans.

We also booked the Star for the Baltics for~ 1/2 the price of RCI.

Steve and Karen

[cruiserfan]

About the sheets...

 

I believe they do that because they wash these sheets between every cruise. They do NOT wash the blankets. Same as a hotel....

[giadav]

No top sheet???? :eek:

 

 

Sorry..I don't think I finished my thought about the sheet. When you got into bed (on Princess), you had a sheet and a blanket. All of the cruises that we have been on usually have a sheet, a blanket, and then another sheet. So that when you are snuggled under the covers, you have clean sheets touching your skin and not the blanket that is not washed between guests.

The nicer hotels do this as well.

 

Anyway..it is something that I like and our room steward wrapped the blankets for us.

 

I also want to add that Princess was the 1st cruise ship that we didn't feel like we had to get a lounge chair at the crack of dawn and not move all day in fear of not being able to find another spot. There were 4 of us on this trip and we move around and always found 4 lounge chairs. That was nice.