princess vs carnival

[stevenr597]

Yep, and don't ever post that on the Carnival CC forum or you'll get plenty of people ticked off at you, trashing you. We're platinum on Carnival and we will not cruise Carnival again. We're done with Carnival. Our Legend experience to Alaska was horrendous. The cruise director is a liar, we were late to every port, the ship smelled of garbage on our deck, children running around unsupervised, and the food wasn't that great. You get what you pay for - cheaper is not always better.

 

This is why Carnival is coined WalMarrt of the Seas:

 

peopleofwalmart.com

 

We are also Platinum Level Carnival Cruisers. We have had fantastic cruises with family on Carnival in the past. One of our favorites was short trips to the Bahamas for Christmas and New Years. But sadly, over the past several years, Carnival has come down in quality, stressing price before anything else. Can one still have a decent cruise on Carnival-certainly the answer is yes. But if one wants a more sophisticated or upscale cruise and does not wish to pay for Azamara or Oceania, then Princess or Celebrity would be the choice.

[keithm]

Isn't Carnival known as the Walmart of the seas?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

No, actually the "double wide" at sea! Go to YouTube & type in "cruise ship fights". While it can happen anywhere, Carnival by far has the most!

[keithm]

People that have cruised Carnival extensively and then decided to branch out and try Princess, or RCCL, or Norwegian will find significant differences. I hope this doesn't come as a surprise. These differences may turn you off, but you will only know if Princess is a cruising option if you make the jump and book a cruise. There is no reason that you can't cruise both Carnival and Princess in the future based upon what kind of vacation you want... or need.

 

Here is what you will find with Princess.

 

A more classic cruising experience. There are hints of British sailing and cultural heritage, like afternoon tea, pub lunch on sea days, many officers with extensive British merchant marine experience, etc. This is in spite of the fact that Princess is not originally a British sailing company, and only became associated with British sailing when they were acquired by P&O, many years ago.

 

An older demographic, but certainly not the oldest demographic in cruising. I'm in my late 30s and my wife is in her mid 30s and we always feel comfortable on a Princess cruise. Just because there is a scooter or two charging in the elevator lobby late at night doesn't disqualify us from having a good time. I hope that when I'm in a scooter I'll still be having a good time. A general rule of thumb, on Princess, the shorter the cruise, the younger the demographic, the longer the older. And of course, the other adage, if its cold they're old (referring to Alaska, East coast and Canada cruises, and European North Atlantic cruises).

 

Fewer "in your face" on board activities. Keep in mind that there are only so many ways you can entertain 3000 people on a sea day, and Princess tends to stick with the tried and true, trivia, bingo, performance art in the Piazza, live music on the Lido and in the bars/Piazza, etc. If your room is big enough, hanging out there with room service and a good book is a perfectly acceptable way to pass a day.

 

Less "booze cruise" atmosphere, in fact no "booze cruise" atmosphere. You'll still find sloshed people, but there is a good chance you'll find them in that condition after 5pm, over 50 years old, and fully clothed (not in a bikini or trunks). No guarantees, though.

 

No roving bands of teenagers meandering about the ship and potentially making trouble very late at night or early in the morning. I have yet to experience that on Princess, but the stories about it on Carnival are legendary, if not possibly urban legends.

 

Comparing notes with friends that sail Carnival, it sure seems like Princess puts up a better plate of food in most locations; buffet, MDR, lido deck, room service, and it seems that Princess has more dining options, especially if you have a balcony room or suite. The speciality restaurants on board are reasonably priced for what you get. Princess makes most items on board from scratch, including breads, cakes and pastries, hard ice cream, ground meat, etc. That matters when it comes to the final product.

 

More subdued interior design. Cabins are decorated in muted colors, lots of light "wood" tones, pastel blues, mauve, and taupe. Public spaces are highly decorated, but again, subdued colors are used and lots of brass, wood, glass and stone. There is nothing that is garish about a Princess ship. There is lots of garish colors and design at Carnival; its part of their trademark.

 

The pools on Princess are super nice and are chlorinated freshwater, not saltwater. They are well maintained, too. Just like any cruise in warm, sunny places, getting and securing a lounger can be challenging, and you'll find your share of all day lounger hogs, but later at night, pool areas tend to be less crowded and a bit more enjoyable.

 

Service on board Princess is generally attentive and professional. I find that the cabin stewards range from being accommodating to truly friendly and the dining room staff to be especially accommodating. Bar staff are nice, but seem too busy to create relationships... unless you are at a particular bar every day at a particular time, and you might be able to create a relationship. You won't find bath towel animals, and that's ok. I get the impression that cabin stewards are just a little too busy to be doing towel sculpture.

 

Anyway, that is my 2 cents, but you won't know if you like Princess until you try it.

Being in the food industry, trust me, Princess & most lines for that matter make VERY little from scratch! The desserts come in tubs. Little is made from scratch. All those great cakes & pies are mostly offloaded in boxes. We use some of them in our catering business. You'll see the Sysco Food trucks on the piers off loading their products. Sysco can have outstanding products or some real crap. It all depends on a cruise line's food budget. I doubt you'll see the quality of say..Regent/Seaborne/Crystal, etc. on Carnival budgets.

[keithm]

I do shop at Walmart - not stupid enough to actually believe that I should pay more for the same item just because the store name is different. More money in my pocket means more cruising!

 

I don't eat at McDonald's unless I'm at the airport waiting for a flight. However, where one chooses to grab some quick fast food has absolutely nothing to do with cruising choices.

 

I am not drinking wine with my meal to appear sophisticated or wealthy. I drink what I like, whether it is wine, cocktail or beer.

 

I appreciate a quiet sunset & there is no problem finding that on any cruise line.

 

Don't even get me started on grammar. One of my daily challenges is reading these boards & fb posts.

 

I feel Princess is more sedate than Carnival. That is my own personal observation. I would expect there to be differences between the various cruise lines owned by Carnival Corp. Otherwise, what would be the point in owning multiple lines? Certain aspects of each line will appeal to different people for varying reasons. People look for different things in a vacation. There is absolutely no reason to make snide remarks about people who choose one line over another. If you want to be helpful, just state the differences that you have observed.

Let's equate Carnival Corp. to General Motors & see what we have..Carnival(Chevy Cruze) HAL(Oldsmobile)Princess(Buick)Cunard(Chevrolet Malibu up to high end Cadillac) Seaborne(high end Mercedes)Bit of a stretch, but you get the picture.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We sail both Carnival and Princess and prefer Princess. But we a re getting older and prefer the more subdued cruises. Princess is a whole lot classier and the food blows Carnival away. I have never seen a cirque d soliel show on Carnival. The only thing I wish Princess had is a sports bar. Passengers actually dress nice for dinner and you see a ton of tuxedos on formal nite. No t-shirts and shorts in dining room even on casual nites. The buffet is great. Pizza is the best.

[stillhott]

princess was filthy dirty

bathrooms out of order

no soap]

no hand sanitizer

 

carnival can't be worse

[dmdiver]

We sail both Carnival and Princess and prefer Princess. But we a re getting older and prefer the more subdued cruises. Princess is a whole lot classier and the food blows Carnival away. I have never seen a cirque d soliel show on Carnival. The only thing I wish Princess had is a sports bar. Passengers actually dress nice for dinner and you see a ton of tuxedos on formal nite. No t-shirts and shorts in dining room even on casual nites. The buffet is great. Pizza is the best.

 

I beg to differ on the tshirts & shorts on Princess. We were pretty surprised by some of the attire on our last night on Regal. I guess by that time, the staff just didn't care at all. I will second the sports bar wish. We were able to watch football out on Lido at night in those cushy loungers, but didn't make it through the entire game.

[elliair]

No, actually the "double wide" at sea! Go to YouTube & type in "cruise ship fights". While it can happen anywhere, Carnival by far has the most!

 

Whenever I feel a little down I go to youtube and watch the brawls on Carnival cruise ships. Two in particular always make me laugh. The brawl in the bar where this chick has her butt up in the air trying to help the guy who got knocked down. Security couldn't touch that mob. There's a video of them all standing on the pier the next day with their luggage.

 

The other one was of a girl in her early twenties wearing a skimpy bikini and who obviously had been drinking. Someone took her chair so she started fighting. Security showed up and tried to get her to leave but she wouldn't have it. She was all greased up with sun tan lotion and she was like a slippery fish. Security was trying hard not to have her bikini slip off. She got away from one of them and jumped on his back and they landed in the pool. She tried to drown the guy. Another security guy jumps in to save the security guy from being drowned. He certainly had a monkey on his back! LOL!

 

I'm sure there's more over at youtube. It's great entertainment. You might see something like that at WalMart.:D

 

I haven't experienced anything like this on Princess. The Princess crowd are older and more refined. Princess has more class. We use to like Carnival, but their cruise line is like Motel 6.

[sloopsailor]

Never sailed on Carnival, so I can't share my personal experience with them. What I can do is share what our friends think.

 

Without exception, all of our friends who went to Carnival for their first cruise ended up not liking it and never tried another cruise again.

 

Those friends who tried Princess, Celebrity, HAL, or Disney as their first all got hooked and continue to cruise to this day, sometimes with us.

 

Not sure what this all means, except that for some reason Carnival did not satisfy, while the others did. Might be the type of people we socialize with. Or, more likely (in my opinion), it is the style and quality of the product each line provides.

 

Our favorites are Celebrity, Disney, Princess and then HAL. Never tried Royal Caribbean or NCL. The luxury lines are too expensive for our budgets.

Edited November 30, 2016 by sloopsailor

[jdeanski]

Hmmm Princess vs Carnival. I've sailed both. I was married on a Carnival ship. I always have fun. Then I discovered Princess. Princess overall seems a little more upscale.

 

The best thing I have discovered about Carnival is Guy's Burger Joint. Hands down a winner by a big margin. Dining room wise Princess by a nose. On board activities about even but come on Carnival do you really still need a hairy chest contest?

 

Let's talk about photos. I really don't enjoy being asked to have my picture taken every 20 feet on Carnival's promenade deck and we were actually taken away from our wedding reception to have pictures taken. I know it must be a big profit center but come on guys.

 

Princess wins the drink package war. Less expensive with no quantity limits and both people in the stateroom don't need to purchase. Princess also allows you to bring on bottles of water and soda. I prefer screw top soda. Water, I'll buy from either line, it's really too bulky to bring onboard.

 

Carnival restricts the size of a cooler you can bring onboard to a max of 12x12. I have an Igloo that actually is a little smaller but you should have seen the Carnival people pull out their ruler and try to measure.

 

Carnival wins an upgrade battle by allowing you move up to the next higher loyalty category at the start of a cruise if you reach that level during a cruise.

 

Customer service, there is great people everywhere so I'd say a tie.

 

I wouldn't turn down a Carnival cruise but right now I prefer Princess.

[satxdiver]

I beg to differ on the tshirts & shorts on Princess. We were pretty surprised by some of the attire on our last night on Regal. I guess by that time, the staff just didn't care at all. I will second the sports bar wish. We were able to watch football out on Lido at night in those cushy loungers, but didn't make it through the entire game.

 

The first and last nights aboard ship they are lenient on what pax wear. The first night some pax may have not received their luggage yet and the last night they may only have what they are wearing as the rest are in the suitcases sitting in the hallway to be picked up for transfer to the shore.

 

We have watched the superbowl and world series on the lido deck but that is all for game watches.

[muggo11]

Such passion on this question. I am now even-steven with 15 cruises on each. Making me platinum on Carnival and Elite on Princess. And no particular loyalty incentive to go on one over the other since the next levels are years away (if ever).

We are easily pleased and easy going and have enjoyed both lines immensely. We make cruise decisions based on price and itinerary and debarkation ports.

Carnival makes me happy--more silly fun than Princess. And more spots to dance when we're in the mood. I don't mind the kids--watching them on formal nights is a favorite pastime of mine. And my husband doesn't mind all the bikinis:). And we love most of the x-rated comedians on Carnival. Princess is a little quieter. The newer production shows are a little more sophisticated than Carnival's themed song and dance ones.

Steakhouses and specialty restaurants are equivalent as are the Chef's Tables (one of our favorite activities). I give the pizza on Princess a slight edge. And the wine selections on Princess include some of my favorite wines.

Both lines have quiet places. Carnival's Serenity is great (I have NO compunctions at all at relocating the belongings of chair hogs after an hour!). The fee-based Sanctuary is an essential part of any Princess cruise--I will happily pay for a permanent chair and the service is extraordinary.

And we don't notice a difference in MDR food--we prefer MDR to the buffet lines.

We have had outstanding and surly service on both--though the latter is anomalous.

And we have met some terrific people on both lines. And some rude and snotty ones!

Have fun whichever ship and line you choose. Your attitude is the most critical factor in any cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[caribill]

If you take a Carnival "journey's cruise" it will be close to the Princess experience.

 

If not a "journey's cruise" it will not be close.

 

As to the tables in the dining room with no tablecloths, it is not as bad as it sounds and actually looks nice. The tables are fine without them.

 

However, that would not be true on Princess with the currently used tables. Take a look under the table cloth on your next Princess cruise to see what the table is like.

Edited November 30, 2016 by caribill

[elliair]

The first and last nights aboard ship they are lenient on what pax wear. The first night some pax may have not received their luggage yet and the last night they may only have what they are wearing as the rest are in the suitcases sitting in the hallway to be picked up for transfer to the shore.

 

We have watched the superbowl and world series on the lido deck but that is all for game watches.

 

On the Royal Princess, 3 weeks ago, we saw an obese man get in line at the buffet who was wearing swim trunks and no T-shirt and no shoes. People were stunned. An officer walked up to him and told him he couldn't come into the buffet without a T-shirt and shoes. The man got belligerent with the officer but the officer stood his ground. The man left in a huff and everyone applauded. I saw the same thing on Carnival, however, it was a young college aged kid, no shirt and no shoes and dripping wet. No one said anything to him. On Princess on elegant night a man showed up in cargo shorts, wife beater T-shirt and he was told he had to change and come back.

[keithm]

Whenever I feel a little down I go to youtube and watch the brawls on Carnival cruise ships. Two in particular always make me laugh. The brawl in the bar where this chick has her butt up in the air trying to help the guy who got knocked down. Security couldn't touch that mob. There's a video of them all standing on the pier the next day with their luggage.

 

The other one was of a girl in her early twenties wearing a skimpy bikini and who obviously had been drinking. Someone took her chair so she started fighting. Security showed up and tried to get her to leave but she wouldn't have it. She was all greased up with sun tan lotion and she was like a slippery fish. Security was trying hard not to have her bikini slip off. She got away from one of them and jumped on his back and they landed in the pool. She tried to drown the guy. Another security guy jumps in to save the security guy from being drowned. He certainly had a monkey on his back! LOL!

 

I'm sure there's more over at youtube. It's great entertainment. You might see something like that at WalMart.:D

 

I haven't experienced anything like this on Princess. The Princess crowd are older and more refined. Princess has more class. We use to like Carnival, but their cruise line is like Motel 6.

Trust me, we met a chair hog last Feb. on the Regal that fit all the descriptions of bad behavior!

[keithm]

On the Royal Princess, 3 weeks ago, we saw an obese man get in line at the buffet who was wearing swim trunks and no T-shirt and no shoes. People were stunned. An officer walked up to him and told him he couldn't come into the buffet without a T-shirt and shoes. The man got belligerent with the officer but the officer stood his ground. The man left in a huff and everyone applauded. I saw the same thing on Carnival, however, it was a young college aged kid, no shirt and no shoes and dripping wet. No one said anything to him. On Princess on elegant night a man showed up in cargo shorts, wife beater T-shirt and he was told he had to change and come back.

There are those on this blog who feel that's fine by them. NOT fine by me! At breakfast/lunch a begrudging "perhaps", but not at night!

[riclop]

What are the major differences between carnival and princess? Princess is almost triple what Carnival charges for 7 day cruises.

 

Is there more included on Princess?

 

Are the rooms better? We always book a suite so are the suites worth double at the minumum?

 

Is the ship enviroment more fun? We like the entertainment on the younger side so comedy clubs/cirque du soleil versus broadway show type muscials.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

They are different but it seems you will like Carnival better.

[firegal2539]

Food, crew, entertainment, cabins, ships, ports, everything is better on Princess.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[OzKiwiJJ]

Food, crew, entertainment, cabins, ships, ports, everything is better on Princess.

 

I disagree with that, in part.

 

We just completed our first Carnival cruise, on Legend. The starters and mains in the MDR were good, if not better at times, than on Princess. However Princess desserts are far superior.

 

The crew were also excellent, no different to Princess IMHO, although Carnival doesn't seem to have as many / any waiters circulating in the bars and lounges like Princess does.

[Skai]

If you take a Carnival "journey's cruise" it will be close to the Princess experience.

 

If not a "journey's cruise" it will not be close.

 

 

I concur with this (if speaking towards the demographics of the passengers on board). It's well understood that longer itineraries generally attract a more mature clientele.

 

That stated, Carnival rarely offers cruises longer than 8-days and caters primarily to those looking for week-long(or less) sailings.

 

Our "Journey's" cruise was an 11-day one-way from Port Canaveral to San Juan, P.R. It consisted of a whopping 8 port days and 2 sea-days (during the first few days of the cruise). As such, due to being very port-active cruisers, very little time was spent during the day on the ship. Rather, the majority of time on board was spent around dinner and evening activities. W/ 2600 passengers on board, it never felt too cramped other than trying to attend the highly popular (adult)comedy shows -- which were held in too small of a venue to accomodate the demand.

 

In contrast, our other Carnival sailing out of NOLA was a 7-day(3 ports/3 sea days) on a 3600 pax ship. While there were a lot of different amenities available, the downturn was that there were lines for everything including leaving/returning to the ship in port. We completely avoided the main Lido deck (outside area) for most of the cruise, as it was a zoo of people during sea days. It did feel a little bit like the shopping experience at a Wal-Mart or a mainstream shopping mall. Yet, we met some nice people and still enjoyed ourselves.

 

This was our first foray away from Princess. We also tried a 7-day NCL sailing(as a b2b) the following week.

 

While there were some new things on the Carnival sailing that we did like, we weren't that enamored with the total experience. It was aL "Yeah, we might try Carnival again if it's a unique itinerary(SEE: 1st Paragraph) or a new embarkation port for us, but....we'll probably stick with the more mature mainstream lines among parallel itineraries."

 

We would however consider another (rarely) offered "Journey's" cruise again. I don't know how much Carnival will keep scheduling these into the future, but I keep my eye out for them.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Skai

[OzKiwiJJ]

I concur with this (if speaking towards the demographics of the passengers on board). It's well understood that longer itineraries generally attract a more mature clientele.

 

That stated, Carnival rarely offers cruises longer than 8-days and caters primarily to those looking for week-long(or less) sailings.

 

 

It's slightly different in our part of the world. 9-12 night cruises to the South Pacific are common, and attract a wide demographic. Sometimes there are very good bargains on suites outside of school holidays. That's why we tried Carnival Legend out last month. It was far more similar to Princess than expected, except for the dreadful decor in the some of the public areas (oh, those urns!), and the Serenity area plus our suite enabled us to steer clear of the kids most of the time.

 

Princess is still our favourite, but if we spot another bargain like that one at a suitable time we'd have no hesitation in cruising Carnival again.

Edited December 1, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[Skai]

It's slightly different in our part of the world.

 

A South Pacific itinerary would definitely put Carnival on the radar as an option for sailing from down-under.

 

I ought to refrain from stating this, but I suspect that we would likely be more comfortable sharing a ship with a broad demographic range of predominately Aussie(and/or Kiwi) fellow passengers than a sailing from here in the states.

 

I mean, I'm proud to be an American and I love the USA. It's a 'great' country.

 

It could be even 'greater'(again) if it weren't for...well.....all of the Americans.

[mrs and mrs]

A South Pacific itinerary would definitely put Carnival on the radar as an option for sailing from down-under.

 

I ought to refrain from stating this, but I suspect that we would likely be more comfortable sharing a ship with a broad demographic range of predominately Aussie(and/or Kiwi) fellow passengers than a sailing from here in the states.

 

I mean, I'm proud to be an American and I love the USA. It's a 'great' country.

 

It could be even 'greater'(again) if it weren't for...well.....all of the Americans.

 

Wow, I mean we just off the Golden (asia), now we haven't meet very many Americans.

But wow, the ones we meet on this cruise blew us away, Man oh Man, we got invites to New York, California, etc,etc. Blew us away, really nice people.

Lots of fun, really down to earth, quite refined, without being tossers.

And we still talk about them and to them right to this day.

Ha this was during the election and they were so embarrassed, ha we said who gives a toss, just enjoy.:):)

Edited December 1, 2016 by mrs and mrs

[OzKiwiJJ]

A South Pacific itinerary would definitely put Carnival on the radar as an option for sailing from down-under.

 

I ought to refrain from stating this, but I suspect that we would likely be more comfortable sharing a ship with a broad demographic range of predominately Aussie(and/or Kiwi) fellow passengers than a sailing from here in the states.

 

I mean, I'm proud to be an American and I love the USA. It's a 'great' country.

 

It could be even 'greater'(again) if it weren't for...well.....all of the Americans.

 

Carnival Spirit is here all year round, and Legend repositions from the US for our summer. Plenty of 8-12 night South Pacific itineraries, plus the Legend repos.

 

There was a fairly good bunch on Legend last month. There are always the odd one or two that make you go :rolleyes: and I guess it depends what parts of the ship you frequent. We tended to go to the Serenity area during the day, and usually ended up in the Piano Bar after dinner. The Red Frog Pub sounded lively on a couple of nights but it didn't suit us on that cruise.

Edited December 1, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[mrs and mrs]

Thank you for saying this!

 

The superior attitudes on these boards are unreal.

 

Tell us about it.:):)

I think this sums it up.