Convince me why I should go with Princess

[JohnHall1965]

Ok we are looking at a Hawaiian cruise out of LA in Jan of 16 . Carnival and Princess are the two lines we have it down too. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary . Here lies my question we are going to book a midship Balcony , is Princess $772.00 (1544.00 total) a person better than Carnival . If you think it is please tell me why .Thank you for your replys

[azcruiser64]

Ok we are looking at a Hawaiian cruise out of LA in Jan of 16 . Carnival and Princess are the two lines we have it down too. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary . Here lies my question we are going to book a midship Balcony , is Princess $772.00 (1544.00 total) a person better than Carnival . If you think it is please tell me why .Thank you for your replys

 

Depends on what Carnival's price is.

[Coral]

Honestly, I think it is worth trying other lines to see which line you prefer. You have tried Carnival - go ahead and try Princess and see what you think for yourself.

[frisbee dog fan]

I'm not sure Carnival can match a price of $772 per person on a midship balcony. That's a wonderful price. It's listed for much more on the Princess web site. I checked a couple of other websites that often have good prices and didn't see anything near that. I would jump on it.

[wizard-of-roz]

Speaking for myself, I've tried them all; Princess is a better fit for me compared to Carnival because:

 

1. The décor is less garish and easy to look at.

2. Announcements in the dining room and throughout the ship is kept to a minimum. It is so disturbing and disruptive to the cruise experience in general.

3. I think the food onboard Princess is not only displayed better but has more taste.

4. I prefer the "feeling" of a "class" experience, rather than a "party ship" experience.

5. I feel the staff onboard Princess is more conscience and aware, geared towards passenger happiness.

6. I like the rewards program better on Princess.

7. I like the overall feel of a Princess ship; the International Café, the Buffet, the various choices of lounges and activities.

8. I love the Princess Promenade Deck, it's large with teak rails and lounge chairs, just like the old days of cruising.

9. The Princess High Tea's are absolutely the best on the high seas.

10. No one and I mean NO ONE beats Princess' Pizza. We've compared every pizza served on every other line......Princess is the best!!! ;)

[Princess Patches]

I think the OP is stating that the Princess cruise costs $772 per person more than the Carnival Cruise and is wondering if it is worth the extra cost.

 

Princess is a higher quality cruise and is worth some more than Carnival, but probably not $1544 more for a two week cruise. However, the price on the January 2016 Ruby cruise at $2500 per person in a balcony is not a discounted price and you can get a much better price than that on a Princess ship to Hawaii (we got $1500 per person in a balcony a couple of years ago on a last minute deal). Unless you absolutely have to book now, I would keep watching that cruise for deals. It will most likely go on a very good sale and be much closer to the Carnival price. January 2016 is a long way off.

[Nebr.cruiser]

I think the OP meant the $722 is how much more pp the Princess cruise will be over the Carnival.

 

We have taken a Princess cruise to Hawaii (and 9 others on Princess) and it was fine. Weather was disappointing, but that's just luck. We like Princess but we like Carnival too. For us, Princess is usually a better deal. I have not seen all that many Hawaii cruises with Carnival, though.

 

Princess is definitely calmer and has fewer active things to do, like water slides (depending on which Carnival ship it is). We like the food and service, MUTS (at night) and the general atmosphere of Princess. It's not a party ship, but there is plenty to do. Passengers will generally be older, although on a longer cruise like to Hawaii there may not be that much age difference--they'll both trend to the 50-60's and up.

 

For that amount saved I'd think seriously about Carnival, given all other things fairly equal.

[ar1950]

If you have enjoyed Carnival in the past, then it probably isn't going to be worth that much more per person. Everyone is different so there is no way I would try to convince you that it was. Enjoy the Hawaii cruise whichever line you choose to go on.

[shredie]

If it's strictly a matter of money, then go with Carnival.

[Mackenzie1]

The fact that you need to be convinced that the extra cost to cruise on Princess is worth it is your answer. Go with your instincts.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Our last three cruises were the Hawaiian ones on Princess. One aspect that no one has mentioned so far is that Princess has a great Hawaiian cultural program. There's now two duos will help provide this but their schedules won't be out for several months. Try searching on CC for "Elua" and you'll be able to read how many members have repeated this cruise more times than I have.

 

My first six cruises were on Carnival and then we got a special deal on a Princess cruise and ever since then, it would be an unusual reason for us to go on Carnival again.

[geoherb]

I'd prefer to sail on Princess than on Carnival. Do you really have to have a mid-ship balcony? Could you get by in a less expensive balcony, or even an ocean view cabin? As someone once recommended on here, it's better to upgrade your ship than upgrade your cabin.

[JohnHall1965]

Thank you all for your input , and yes right now Princess's price is 1544.00 dollars more than Carnival on the Ruby Princess and the Carnival ship is the Miracle . It is a special occasion cruise for us , I will keep my eyes open for a sale on Princess .

[OCruisers]

If you have been happy ... actually really happy with Carnival ... and money is an issue ... taking the Carnival is what you should seriously consider.

Just because we way prefer Princess, doesn't mean everyone will. :)

LuLu

[joeyancho]

You should cruise princess because it is not carnival.

[KruzPrincess]

Prices for Hawaii are generally higher now than in previous years. Princess reduced the number of Hawaii cruises and that pushed the prices up. My upcoming cruise is $1000 more than the previous two years for the same cabin category. If you are happy with Carnival you may want to choose Carnival. It's good to try other cruise lines and Princess has a really good Hawaii program on it's cruises, but only you can decide if the money is worth it. I think Princess offers a good cruise, but I've read positive things about some recent Carnival cruises.

[Woobstr112G]

If it's strictly a matter of money, then go with Carnival.

 

If this is the case, I agree. If not, what ROZ said.....:):):)

 

Bob

[moonhunter]

I have never taken a Carnival Cruise and probably never will because where I live (near Port Caniveral) the Carnival Cruises are generally short and populated by a younger, heavy partying demographic. But there are no cruises longer than seven days. I love Princess, but on a longer cruise with the extra cost, I would give some more thought to Carnival. Keep in mind that prices go down and that travel agents often have much cheaper prices than through Princess. We have come to love aft balconies. It's hard to get a real aft balcony unless you book very early, but often the last aft balcony on the side is larger and has a better view - doesn't happen on all ships.

[more cruises]

Do they have identical itineraries and times in port? Do they cruise by the volcano/lava at night? Do either of them stay late at Hilo so you can drive down to the lava neighborhood at night, or go out and stargaze?

 

All those things would be really important to us and would factor into our decision about the price difference

 

Check every single online travel agent you can think of. We booked a cruise once that every agency listed for $3400 but we found it for $1700 on one of the sites. It pays to shop, shop, shop.

[DMRick]

We have been on Carnival as well as Princess to Hawaii. The only time we went past the lava flow was on NCL (where we flew to HI first). So if that is important to you you need to check your itineraries.

After going to Hi on Princess and then Carnival (we did Carnival because of price and because we were already in Vancouver), we came home and booked Princess again to wipe the previous cruise from our minds.

It may depend on age (we are in our 60's), but we like to get to HI nice and relaxed. This carnival trip was anything but. It was so loud! My husband loves the uke lessons, and there were none. I like to make the beautiful necklaces (leis).. On Carnival everything was oriental trading company kits.

We like to play trivia, but it was played in an area that had a walkway where people walking through shouted out the answers.

We enjoy the games, but not the kind where you have to balance a token between your butt cheeks and walk and drop it in a bucket.

We also found many of the days in port were longer, although I believe we went to five ports on Carnival vs four on Peincess. We do love our Princess HI trips and are heading back in Feb!

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

Edited November 18, 2014 by DMRick

[dorisis]

Speaking for myself, I've tried them all; Princess is a better fit for me compared to Carnival because:

 

1. The décor is less garish and easy to look at.

2. Announcements in the dining room and throughout the ship is kept to a minimum. It is so disturbing and disruptive to the cruise experience in general.

3. I think the food onboard Princess is not only displayed better but has more taste.

4. I prefer the "feeling" of a "class" experience, rather than a "party ship" experience.

5. I feel the staff onboard Princess is more conscience and aware, geared towards passenger happiness.

6. I like the rewards program better on Princess.

7. I like the overall feel of a Princess ship; the International Café, the Buffet, the various choices of lounges and activities.

8. I love the Princess Promenade Deck, it's large with teak rails and lounge chairs, just like the old days of cruising.

9. The Princess High Tea's are absolutely the best on the high seas.

10. No one and I mean NO ONE beats Princess' Pizza. We've compared every pizza served on every other line......Princess is the best!!! ;)

 

I agree with everything above except for the tea. Oceania is better.

[JF - retired RRT]

Our last three cruises were the Hawaiian ones on Princess. One aspect that no one has mentioned so far is that Princess has a great Hawaiian cultural program. There's now two duos will help provide this but their schedules won't be out for several months. Try searching on CC for "Elua" and you'll be able to read how many members have repeated this cruise more times than I have.

 

My first six cruises were on Carnival and then we got a special deal on a Princess cruise and ever since then' date=' it would be an unusual reason for us to go on Carnival again.[/quote']

 

They both posted their schedules in a thread that i was reading the other day.;)

[JanBerlin]

... I can't.

 

After having cruised seven times with Princess, took Celebrity in October and honestly can't tell you one aspect where Princess is superior (perhaps the frequent cruiser perks, but as a first timer on Princess you wouldn't be granted those, anyway).

 

Ship layout/design, cabin interior, food, basic price and additional costs, routings, staff - everything surpassed Princess by far.

 

Will use my last Future Cruise Credit next spring on Princess in Alaska and that will be it.

[Nick55]

We have recently taken a couple of Carnival cruises and were surprised at the fun we had. As i near 60, we have enjoyed all of the differences in each of the cruise lines we have sailed on in the past few years. After having some equipment cancelations we quickly rebooked at the last minute on carnival and were pleasantly surprised. While i do think Princess offers a better dining experience, i'm not sure it is worth $700 each.

 

We found ourselves enjoying the increased activities on Carnival and their pizza was hands down the best we have had on any cruise line. Carnival has more venues open all night or later in the night, but princess is a little more laid back. one big thing we enjoyed more on Carnival was the free adults only area for lounging.

 

We have a princess cruise booked for March that we had booked over a year ago. We considered canceling when we compared rates and it to, was almost $500 more on Princess per person than the same cruise on Carnival for the same cabin level. We just had a price drop and the difference faded away, so we are going to rejoin the princess life.

 

They are very different cruises, but you can do a second cruise somewhere for the $1,400 you save, if you find the right cruise with the recent rates they have been offering.

 

Either way - have a great cruise

[smeck]

Having sailed the miracle before we had a great time. As you see on my signature Princess will be my Fifth cruiseline and I found most to be similiar, where one does really bad on one aspect of the cruise experience they may excel in another. I now pick cruises by itenary rather than cruiseline due to the repetitive ports of call. As long as I'm on the ocean I'm happy be it a dingy or a mega ship.