Wish I Could Merge Bits of Princess and RCCL !

[delirious9876]

OMG !! I want to merge bits of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line & Princess Cruises ! Lol

 

I've just been on a Royal Caribbean, Caribbean cruise and a Princess Cruises Caribbean cruise (back to back) and I'm usually very loyal to RCCL, but I now think I'm a bit of a Princess covert as well.

 

I need to not stray so I have no comparison - ha ha ha !

 

The RCCL ships are amazing and the entertainment is excellent, yet I found the food, friendliness, general day to day quality and service to be a real cut above RCCL on the Princess cruise.

 

What bits from other cruise lines would you like to merge with Princess in an ideal world ????

[Loonbeam]

We are of a similar opinion.

 

I would love to add in NCL's thermal suite and dining style from newer ships, Disney's theming, Princess Service and food and cabins and RCCL's entertainment and some ship amenities.

 

Now announcing the Liberty Breakaway Coral Fantasy, brought to you by giant cruiseco!

[delirious9876]

We are of a similar opinion.

 

I would love to add in NCL's thermal suite and dining style from newer ships, Disney's theming, Princess Service and food and cabins and RCCL's entertainment and some ship amenities.

 

Now announcing the Liberty Breakaway Coral Fantasy, brought to you by giant cruiseco!

Ha ha ha !

 

I like it :) :) :)

[sunsetbeachgal]

One of the things I love about RCCl is breakfast in the main dining room. I love how they have the fruit, cereals, and a few hot items set up buffet style and you can also order off the menu. This way you get the lovely atmosphere of the MDR without waiting for the various courses to be brought.

 

We have all but abandoned breakfast in the MDR on Princess. Painfully show service most of the time and always seems as if service is well, not happy to be there. Also boring same old, same old menu.

 

I also love the Tutti lunch salad bar on RCCL.

 

But the rest of the food, meals, International Cafe, pizza, etc. give me Princess!! :)

Edited February 2, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[paul929207]

I believe Royal & Princess were trying to merge when Carnival Corp jumped in and bought Princess for a good price.

[satxdiver]

I believe Royal & Princess were trying to merge when Carnival Corp jumped in and bought Princess for a good price.

 

Yes Carnival Corp yanked Princess out of RCCL's grasp with the age old mechanism - MONEY!

[reney313]

I completely agree. I would love the food, staff, and overall service of Princess with the ship amenities and entertainment of Royal Caribbean. What a great cruise product that would be!

[Jasperdo]

What bits from other cruise lines would you like to merge with Princess in an ideal world ????

RCCL is my second favorite cruise line after Princess. A few things that I'd like to see Princess do that RCCL does better:

 

1) Anytime Dining - My Time Dining on RCCL is light years better than Princess. It's all computerized, they don't allow Traditional Diners to use it. Never a long line. Much better than how Princess does it.

 

2) Buffet set up - While I think the food is better on Princess, and the hours are longer, the set up of Windjammers is much better than the Horizon Court. The serving areas are spread out, not all congested like on Princess. (Although, from the photos I've seen the Royal and Regal Princess have solved that problem.)

 

3) Cabins are bigger on most RCCL ships. I like that even the insides include a couch. And a solid shower door is nicer than the curtains on Princess.

 

Overall, I still like Princess better. But I would be perfectly happy to sail with RCCL again.

[CanuckCurlers]

I would love to have the service staff from HAL on Princess. They all have impeccable training. Unfortunately sometimes/often Princess staff seem more interested in each other than on the passengers and are at times unaware of proper service etiquette. Having said that it doesn't stop us from choosing their itineraries.

Edited February 2, 2015 by CanuckCurlers

[Pam in CA]

Having sailed on RCCL 4x, Celebrity 1x, and a 3-star Mariner on HAL, I think the only thing I wish Princess did was offer the dining room menu via room service the way HAL does.

 

FYI, I think every line does Anytime dining management better, including HAL. Princess Anytime is poorly managed, no matter which ship.

 

In my experience, Princess has the best cabin stewards and dining waitstaff. The worst I've ever had has been on HAL, and that has been multiple times. Beyond bad and not a matter of personal preference. :( I still cruise HAL, though.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

One of the things I love about RCCl is breakfast in the main dining room. I love how they have the fruit, cereals, and a few hot items set up buffet style and you can also order off the menu. This way you get the lovely atmosphere of the MDR without waiting for the various courses to be brought.

 

We have all but abandoned breakfast in the MDR on Princess. Painfully show service most of the time and always seems as if service is well, not happy to be there. Also boring same old, same old menu.

 

I also love the Tutti lunch salad bar on RCCL.

 

But the rest of the food, meals, International Cafe, pizza, etc. give me Princess!! :)

 

 

Yep the brekkie and lunch on RCI were great ;)

[fishywood]

One of the things I love about RCCl is breakfast in the main dining room. I love how they have the fruit, cereals, and a few hot items set up buffet style and you can also order off the menu. This way you get the lovely atmosphere of the MDR without waiting for the various courses to be brought.

 

We have all but abandoned breakfast in the MDR on Princess. Painfully show service most of the time and always seems as if service is well, not happy to be there. Also boring same old, same old menu.

 

I also love the Tutti lunch salad bar on RCCL.

 

But the rest of the food, meals, International Cafe, pizza, etc. give me Princess!! :)

 

So your idea of combining "the best of two different lines" is to deny a cooked-to-order breakfast to those of us who enjoy a leisurely meal just because you personally lack the patience for it? The worst service I have ever witnessed--by an unfathomable margin--was in the Vision of the Seas MDR at breakfast and lunch. Ordered eggs over easy, was brought hard fried eggs sitting on the grill all morning: "sorry that's all we have". One morning special was scotch kippers, was not served with the included potatoes: "sorry, kitchen is too busy". Clearly the waiters just wanted everyone to serve themselves and leave them alone.

 

(And the second-worst service was Celebrity Select Dining on Infinity: between the lengthy wait for table even after 8:00 and the average 90 minutes between starters and entrees dinner was a three-hour project every night; Princess Anytime Dining is flawless by comparison)

[Loonbeam]

Of course, bear in mind that the cost of a cruise on the Liberty Breakaway Coral Fantasy would be on par with that of the top luxury lines.

 

One of the reasons each line has its pluses and minuses is that there are only so many dollars to allocate to each.

[Helenalee]

My 2 cents, A prefect cruise line would combine with:

 

Entertainments from Royal Caribbean

Activity facilitates (rock climbing...etc) from a Royal Caribbean

Shopping avenue from Royal Caribbean

Room size from Royal Caribbean

Food from Princess

Services from Princess

Anytime dinning from Princess

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jagsfan]

Agree, except I've never done anything but Traditional dining.

Also, I love the free internet minutes on Princess. I like being able to check emails so I don't have 300 when I get home.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[skrodle]

Having sailed on RCCL 4x, Celebrity 1x, and a 3-star Mariner on HAL, I think the only thing I wish Princess did was offer the dining room menu via room service the way HAL does.

 

\.

Pam-

 

I have never been on HAL so I am curious how their galleys are up in relation to the rooms. For Princess, the Room Service Galley is separate from the MD galley (From my memory its like aft on Aloha) or something random like that. And just doesnt have the capacity to put out the food from MDR. When we were in a suite and ordered dinner in our room from the MDR menu it took FOREVER... It was nice to have, but it was a very long wait.

[Pam in CA]

HAL has a different approach to buffet and room service dining. Their buffets are open for just 2-3 hours each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For instance, if you get back onboard at 2pm, the buffet isn't open so your choices are pizza, grill or room service. Dinner in the buffet closes up tight at 8pm. I was once served a chicken entree after an almost 45-minute wait just before 8pm and it was still raw in the middle. I brought it up to be cooked more but was told I was out of luck... the kitchen was closed. No entree, no dessert, not even a chance to get more salad. However, you can order a full, hot meal from room service. You are correct that on Princess, their room service facilities are very limited but then the buffet is open from 6am-11pm.

 

One thing I enjoy on HAL is asking to have the dinner menu delivered to my cabin and ordering off it to be delivered. Spent quite a few supremely casual dinners on my balcony. :)

[skrodle]

HAL has a different approach to buffet and room service dining. Their buffets are open for just 2-3 hours each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For instance, if you get back onboard at 2pm, the buffet isn't open so your choices are pizza, grill or room service. Dinner in the buffet closes up tight at 8pm. I was once served a chicken entree after an almost 45-minute wait just before 8pm and it was still raw in the middle. I brought it up to be cooked more but was told I was out of luck... the kitchen was closed.

:)

 

Ah... makes a lot of sense... I am still learning so much about other lines... :) I miss on Princess before the 24 hour international cafe when they had the Cafe Caribe open 24 hours and it was menu service from 11p-6a..

[GUT2407]

Princess service. Celebrity Buffet layout, Princess food, HAL room service. Carnival Prices, Princess' grats included in price [in Australia], Celebrity's freedom to buy a drinks package part way.

 

But I'm being greedy

[caribill]

RCCL is my second favorite cruise line after Princess. A few things that I'd like to see Princess do that RCCL does better:

 

1) Anytime Dining - My Time Dining on RCCL is light years better than Princess. It's all computerized, they don't allow Traditional Diners to use it. Never a long line. Much better than how Princess does it. RCCL limits the number of passengers who can sign up for MTD and assigns the overflow to traditional dining upsetting them. Princess does the opposite, limiting the number of passengers in traditional and assigning the overflow to Anytime upsetting them.

 

2) Buffet set up - While I think the food is better on Princess, and the hours are longer, the set up of Windjammers is much better than the Horizon Court. The serving areas are spread out, not all congested like on Princess. (Although, from the photos I've seen the Royal and Regal Princess have solved that problem.) Correct about the Royal and Regal

 

3) Cabins are bigger on most RCCL ships. I like that even the insides include a couch. And a solid shower door is nicer than the curtains on Princess. The inside I had on my last RCCL cruise had about a 4 inch space between the sides of the bed and the fixed furniture you had to get past to get to the bed. But one nice feature was the curtion that could separate the sleeping area from the rest of the cabin.

 

Overall, I still like Princess better. But I would be perfectly happy to sail with RCCL again.

 

see my comments in red

[GUT2407]

Oh and can I have the Ociana size ships now Proncess is dropping one of the "little sisters".

Edited February 3, 2015 by GUT2407

[sunsetbeachgal]

So your idea of combining "the best of two different lines" is to deny a cooked-to-order breakfast to those of us who enjoy a leisurely meal just because you personally lack the patience for it? The worst service I have ever witnessed--by an unfathomable margin--was in the Vision of the Seas MDR at breakfast and lunch. Ordered eggs over easy, was brought hard fried eggs sitting on the grill all morning: "sorry that's all we have". One morning special was scotch kippers, was not served with the included potatoes: "sorry, kitchen is too busy". Clearly the waiters just wanted everyone to serve themselves and leave them alone.

 

(And the second-worst service was Celebrity Select Dining on Infinity: between the lengthy wait for table even after 8:00 and the average 90 minutes between starters and entrees dinner was a three-hour project every night; Princess Anytime Dining is flawless by comparison)

 

 

We had absolutely no problem on the Freedom of the Seas ordering nice cooked to order omelettes, French toast, etc. What we enjoyed was getting our own fruit as we like larger portions of fruit and the Variety of cut and dried fruits. And Princess has nothing like the Tutti salad.

 

By the way, I'm don't remember saying deny anyone a cooked to order breakfast, and while I am not usually in a particular hurry, I have had Princess breakfasts be so painfully slow with very inattentive service.

Edited February 3, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[big al]

I wrote a post about 3 years ago on "The Perfect cruise ship" that did exactly this- take bits & pieces from all cruise lines and make the "perfect" cruise ship..unfortunately, that means you MUST have cruised most, or all mainstream lines, not just 1 or 2..I am a cruise agent, and have cruised or toured all but Costa...here is what I would put together for my "dream ship":

 

Cabins- from Disney's Dream class cat 4A's for balcony ( 2 bathrooms, amazing rain shower)

Buffet- Disney's Dream class ( Palm trees w/ coconut fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, prime rib,Princess new Royal class good, too..)

Main Theater- MSC Divina- simply the most gorgeous theater around...

Aquatheater - Oasis class for amazing views & best shows

Best pubs/ lounges- Wheelhouse Pub ( Princess),Martini Bar ( Celebrity Solstice class),Skyline Bar ( Disney Dream class),Black & White Lounge ( MSC Divina), Crow's Nest ( HAL), British Pub ( RCI) ...

Best dining rooms- Oasis/Freedom class, Celebrity Solstice

Best dining concept- Disney Rotation dining ( you dine in 3 different venues & your staff follows you & greets you at each one, so cool!)

Best adult pool areas- RCI Oasis class, Norwegian Vibe Beach Club ( costs extra), Princess's Sanctuary ( $$)

Best specialty dining options- NCL's Le Bistro ( French) & Teppanyaki ( Japanese Steakhouse hibachi), Palo ( Disney), 150 Central Park ( RCI), Murano & Tuscan Grill ( Celebrity), Remy's ( Disney, very $$, but AMAZING!)

Best dining area concept- The Waterfront ( Norwegian Getaway/Breakaway), where you can dine outside & see the ocean or inside..deck 8

Best outside walk around promenade deck- Disney's Dream class..just beautiful deck!

Best aft pools- Princess Grand class, HAL

Best Main pool/ family class- MSC Divina, Oasis class ( several options)

Best children's pool areas- RCI H20 Fun Zone, Disney Dream class, NCL new ships, Carnival Breeze..

Best movie theater- Disney's 3D theater

Best dessert- Carnival's Chocolate Melting Cake, Norwegian's Fruit Fondue ( pineapple bottom filled w/ fruit, dipped in fondue chocolate!!)

Best beer pubs- Carnival's Red Frog, Maltings Beer ( NCL), Celebrity's Michael's Pub..

 

So those would be my choices..service is very subjective, as is food, but I did find Disney's service maybe top notch- of course, you pay $$ for Disney cruises, but I only experienced bad service really once, and that was in HAL'S Pinnacle Grille $$ venue, where we waited once 45 minutes for our salads - a bit long, don't you think?

 

Big Al

[gracebest]

Ah... makes a lot of sense... I am still learning so much about other lines... :) I miss on Princess before the 24 hour international cafe when they had the Cafe Caribe open 24 hours and it was menu service from 11p-6a..

 

We tried to order room service at about 8:30 one evening on HAL and was told it would be there in about 30 min. After an hour, we called again and were told another 30 minutes. After another hour we called again and told them to just cancel it. Other people complained all week about the same slow service from room service. It was our first and only HAL cruise.

[ellie1145]

I would love to add the amazing Horizon Court on Royal Princess to any Royal

Caribbean ship. It was awesome. We also found the service throughout the ship was top class.

 

The availability of food almost 24 hours a day on Royal Princess was also amazing - Horizon Court didn't keep closing down throughout the day like the Windjammer, so we were able to get a decent meal when we returned from being onshore, whatever the time, it was also open much later than the Windjammer. We don't like pizza which is pretty much all the hot food you can get after the Windjammer closes.

 

But I would like to see Princess learn from RCI about their entertainment, we think the entertainment offered on Royal Princess was old fashioned, mostly the same singing and dancing routines we watched 18 years ago, and very poor.

Edited February 3, 2015 by ellie1145