Florence the tiny zebra compares princess and carnival

[bluenoser2]

FLORENCE THE TINY ZEBRA COMPARES PRINCESS AND CARNIVAL

 

 

 

I know, I know…all you wonderful Princess patrons have been waiting with bated breath (what is that exactly?) for Florence to come back and tell you all about her latest adventures. Alas….this year she was kidnapped and taken on a Carnival Vista cruise. (DH is all about shiny and new, so this year Vista won).

 

However, I thought it would be nice for you to hear her take on the pros and cons, the plusses and the minuses, the good, the bad (I don’t believe there WAS any ugly with perhaps the exception of the Hairy Chest contest) of her take on the two cruise lines…..and even if it isn’t nice, well, she’s going to do it anyway. Because that’s the kind of indulgent gal she is.

 

And if you have nothing else to do, or if you’re having trouble sleeping, the excessively long review has just begun over on the Carnival board. I’ll provide the link here. In case you want to hear of her travels this year. Next year she’ll be back to Princess. I promise. Really. Don’t know where. Don’t know when. Don’t know how. But it will be Princess. I’m pretty sure. Ooh….is that foreshadowing? You’ll have to read on to see……

 

So here it is…..the envelopes please?

 

In the category of overall ship “wow” factor……the winner is…..(insert drumroll or far too long pause with music here)……PRINCESS. Now, we’re comparing the Vista, with all our Princess ships, so maybe this is not fair, but really. We were not wowed at all. You know, that moment when you step on to the ship after the lineups for embarkation and you’re all excited, and your mouth drops open, and you have to surreptitiously wipe the tiny bit of saliva escaping from said open mouth because the ship is so totally awesome? Nope. Didn’t happen. And it’s not because Florence has become jaded. She hasn’t. Just didn’t like the Atrium design. At all. Nuff said.

 

In the category of Entertainment, the winner is…. (Oh, I think it isn’t politically correct to say winner anymore, but oh well…..deal with it)……..

CARNIVAL. Yup. Best entertainment ever on a cruise for us. We laughed, Florence even shed a few tears in one of the production numbers (and not the one where the solo fell a little flat on the high note) but we REALLY REALLY enjoyed Flick and America Rocks production numbers, and the comedians in the Punchliner club were good too.

 

The next category is Cruise Director. And the Florry (get it? Florry? For Florence? The Tiny Zebra? Maybe it should be The Zebra goes to…..no….we’ll stick with Florry) goes to…..

CARNIVAL. More specifically Cruise Director Matt. He was the most personable, engaging, and funny Cruise director we’ve experienced. I’ve always thought it was odd that people would ask who the CD was going to be on their cruise because I thought….what difference does it make? Florence’s eyes have been opened. She will be asking more questions next time. It won’t be a deal breaker by any means, but I understand the allure.

 

And now, for the category of BUFFET EATING: The winner is…..PRINCESS. I have never met a buffet I didn’t like, but I found the Vista to be uninspired and I found myself underwhelmed every morning, which was mostly the only time I was there. Having said that, kudos to the deli section for humouring my craving for a Reuben sandwich.

 

However, if there is to be a contest for BEST HAMBURGER IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Florence casts her vote for Carnival. Guy’s burgers were a hit with the men in our group. A big hit. A gain-5-pounds-even-though-I’m-doing-so-much-walking kind of hit.

 

PIZZA: Hmmm….this is a toughy…one almost wants to have one of each of them right now to be able to test them side by side, but since this is not possible, the Florry is awarded to Princess for their actual crust, sauce and variety. But oh my, we did like the mushroom pizza on Vista.

DINING ROOM: For service, CARNIVAL. For actual food, Princess. That Florence. She’s such a Canadian diplomat.

 

Next up, POOLS. Well, I’m not sure, because it seems all the new ships are cutting way back anyway, but PRINCESS gets Florence’s vote, probably because she was able to find a lounge chair on her Princess cruises and there certainly wasn’t any of that happening poolside on the Vista. If you could call it poolside. For that big of a ship, that small of a main pool was a bit of a joke. Someone had a sense of humour when they did that. I get it. I understand that there is no money to be made by devoting real estate to pools. Vista gets that. There is more space devoted to bars (many of them vacant most of the time) than anything else on the ship. The one small pool by the big screen is large in comparison to the only other pool available to the general melee in the aft. Havana suite holders get their own pool, but for the rest of us plebes there was virtually no chance of getting in the pool. Which was alright. But Florence would have left her bathing costume at home had she thought more about that.

 

CREW: Well, we have never had bad crew experience and the waiters, stewards, and servers were all great, just as they are on all the cruises we have been on. So I guess that makes this category a tie.

 

ROOMS: We were in a standard balcony room on deck 9 and found it to be fine. Hmmm…..ok, the Florry will go to CARNIVAL on this one, just because the shower has more room. And the floor in the bathroom matched my toenail polish EXACTLY. Florence notices the small details.

 

 

 

So the final award? Yep, BEST OVERALL EXPERIENCE goes to……PRINCESS. And that’s why we will be back next year. Somewhere. Somehow. There’s a place for us……sing it with me….you know you want to.

If I’ve missed anything you think I should have included, let me know and I’ll check with Florence to get her take on it. In the meantime, please visit my day-by-day review of the trip, entitled, ZEBRA CRASHES HONEYMOON ON THE VISTA.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2400931

 

[joeyancho]

Hilarious!

[soccergang]

Thank you for posting your insight. We have been on both lines, and they each have their strong points. Overall, we do like Princess best.

[westendgirl]

Love your reviews bluenoser2 and have certainly missed you and Florence! So nice to see you on the Princess boards and to hear your impressions of Brand C. We sailed Carnival several times years ago but are hooked on Princess for so many reasons. On Carnival ships, there seemed to be a lot of cruisers testing their maximum alcohol consumption limit - and the conduct that went along with that (as the photo of Florence attests). Both lines are fine; Princess is simply better IMO. Come back soon, Marla!

 

PS Last year we visited Bluenoser country for the first time (on two different cruises). Spectacular!

[jdeanski]

On Carnival ships, there seemed to be a lot of cruisers testing their maximum alcohol consumption limit

 

Sometimes the best entertainment is watching the drunks!

[bluenoser2]

Aw shucks Westendgirl, Florence and I have missed everyone over here as well. Judging from the amount of time DH is spending every night using the Princess Cruise Atlas as his sleepytime read, I think we'll be planning a Princess cruises and be back soon pestering everyone with questions!

 

And jdeanski, why yes, we all manage to find entertainment in strange and unexpected places. We just count it as a freebie given to us by Carnival!

[easyboy]

Thanks for sharing.

[Lucky TGO]

I love it :D can't stop laughing :D :D

Tony

[jennybenny]

Great review!! I loved it!!

[sunsetbeachgal]

So funny, thanks for my evening entertainment!

 

 

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[MJSailors]

Hi Marla

Very pleased to see you posting on the Princess board!

We have enjoyed cruises on NCL, Celebrity, Cunard and Princess.

I have to agree with Florence that we prefer Princess. She has very good taste- love those earrings LOL!

I will continue to read your present review on the Carnival board.

[nojoke]

thank you so much for this fun read! We’ve traveled twice with a tiny “bear” that told his story in a photobook for 1st graders at our grandchildren’s school. The room stewards

would move the “bear” around the room--often positioned with the towel animals. We always looked forward each evening to see where the “bear” was meant to spend the night.

[bluenoser2]

Awww, that's great. Our room steward never moved Florence. But if you check out the review on the Carnival board you'll see Florence made friends with all the towel animals in the room at one point or another!