Just off Princess Regal...differences from RCCL

[George C]

The mini-suites are pretty cheap and huge, but most have almost no shade and also no perks

[Big_G]

Great info and pretty spot on with my own experience on Regal. However, I put my Regal cruise at about #5 on my favs list mostly because of the design of the ship. The balconies, as mentioned, are small though this is a relative term, they are indeed noticeably "cramped" compared to all others I've had. My worst beef was trying to get to the dining room as you cannot access certain dining rooms from the level they are on unless you use the aft stairs. In other words, you can't stroll through the atrium and then continue to the dining room--you have to go up, cross to the very aft staircase then go down. Yeah kinda petty, but after all of the Royal Caribbean ships I've been on, this to me was very annoying. Alfredo's pizza definitely did rock!

Interesting about the dining room access. I thought they would do away with that after the Grand Class.

 

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[denamo]

Don't know if there was a charge for room service. We never ordered.

 

A poster mentioned the layout of this ship and the lack of ease in navigating getting to places. Totally agree. Royal Caribbean definitely has a better feel for designing ships allowing for ease of getting around the ship.

[JoRoy218]

Don't know if there was a charge for room service. We never ordered.

We've been on several Princess cruises -- frequently got room service in the morning. No charge unless you order alcohol. Except a tip of course!

[easyboy]

Thank you for sharing your experience and the comparison.

 

 

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[antsp]

I would never compare Princess with RCCL, Princess is far superior. A fair comparison would be with Celebrity. We sailed on the Navigator in October the Windjammer was disgusting, dirty and an embarrassing mess.

[nelblu]

I sailed on the Navigator this February, and never noticed the condition that you mention about the WJ.

[coops]

Princess Regal and Princess Royal are the only 2 ships on Princess with that fantastic buffet. The other ships with Princess are regular buffets. I agree they are the best buffets I have had. We only ate in dining room once they were that good.

[Ocean Boy]

I sailed on the Navigator this February, and never noticed the condition that you mention about the WJ.

We have sailed Navigator several times and I agree with you.

[TinyPinkBug]

We have sailed Princess before kids and my mother in law is an avid Princess cruiser, she is an Elite member. I agree the buffet and food are much better on Princess, and on Disney. In fact, my husband hates the buffet and quick serve food on RC. We haven't experienced aggressive up-selling on RC yet, but I am reading it has gotten worse in the past 6 months or so. We HATE being approached to buy stuff. If it is an issue on our cruise next week, it will certainly be our last RC cruise. Not that up-selling would be the reason, but it would be another drop in the bucket.

 

The main reason we sail RC over Princess for our family cruises is because of the kids clubs. But guess who is putting kids clubs on all their ships? PRINCESS! It looks like their clubs will be outdoor adventure club themed which is perfect for us. Maybe they will do more than just play Gaga Ball all hours and calling it various activities by throwing in a 5 minute craft every 2 hours like RC does. I am not impressed with RC kids clubs, but at least they exist.

[TinyPinkBug]

Oh, I forgot to add that the entertainment on Princess is not good. Same show tune snippets on all their ships, reminded me of a high school musical. And yes, the theaters on Princess are too small, but since the shows aren't worth seeing anyway....

[luckyinpa]

i like seeing the comparisons of the OP. a 5 day canadian is about the same price as my 9 day on anthem but princess has free grats now so it would be about the same price with that considered. i watched a 15 min youtube tour of the ship and admit i really liked it. the food near the pools just looked setup so well as did all the water features. and looked like tons of indoor seating available.

 

one main thing that stopped me is that i only leave from NY or Balt and i checked the expected temps in october. wearing a coat on a cruise is not something id be into.

[George C]

I would never compare Princess with RCCL, Princess is far superior. A fair comparison would be with Celebrity. We sailed on the Navigator in October the Windjammer was disgusting, dirty and an embarrassing mess.

 

Totally disagree , after doing a few Princes cruise was happy to get back to RCCL, never considered WJ disgusting , just bad food.

[brookmill18]

What about entertainment or live music on Princess--is there enough to do until about 11:30/midnight or so? And curious about demographics--interesting to hear about the kids clubs going in. We have teens--do people see a teen presence on the Caribbean sailings?

 

Thanks!

[TinyPinkBug]

What about entertainment or live music on Princess--is there enough to do until about 11:30/midnight or so? And curious about demographics--interesting to hear about the kids clubs going in. We have teens--do people see a teen presence on the Caribbean sailings?

 

Thanks!

 

I am not sure about the live music.

 

But the kids clubs are new and still rolling out. I don't think there are any US sailings with the kids club upgrades yet.

http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/kids-and-teens/

[MrsKC08]

Thanks for your comparison. Princess was our favorite cruise line until we tried Royal (Freedom) and we haven't been back to Princess since (2011). I must admit, that we loved their pizza and the movies under the stars. We also liked the Ultimate Kid Package (drink package) that included anything but alcohol drinks and it was (at the time) only $8/day!!!! We would often get milkshakes in the evening when we would watch the movies outside. I'm sure we will try either Royal or Regal Princess in the near future. We will be on Oasis in a couple weeks and on Celebrity in December. Time to start looking for 2018 cruises. :)

[cruisinfever]

We were on the same cruise as the op. It was our 4 th Princess cruise and I totally agree with what he said. The food was fantastic. The things I didn't like was: how the ship was set up. We had an aft balcony and it was difficult to get to the dining room and you had to walk through the casino to get to

The main theater. I did like that there were no photographers in the dining room interrupting your dinner. I

Hate that on RC. We had a great cruise but I still like Royal Caribbean and we are sailing on the Jewel

In Oct.

[Aquahound]

I would never compare Princess with RCCL, Princess is far superior. A fair comparison would be with Celebrity. We sailed on the Navigator in October the Windjammer was disgusting, dirty and an embarrassing mess.

 

I've been on a few Princess cruises including Regal, and I totally disagree with your opinion.

[sorento]

My family of 15 which included 8 children from ages 9 months to 13 and 7 adults just returned last Thursday from a 10 day on Royal Princess,sister ship to Regal.It was our first as we normally cruise Royal Caribbean.We decided to try Princess for several reasons.

 

It had 6 ports and 4 of them we had never visited before which were Aruba,Grenada,Bonaire and Dominica.

 

It left from Fort Lauderdale and the ship is not that old

and was almost 160,000 tons.

 

The 3/4th passengers in the cabin cruised for 299.00 plus port charges,although some of the port/taxes was refunded to our acct once onboard.

 

Here are some of our thoughts:

 

Food was great,plenty of options.Buffett was very good at all meals.Kids really enjoyed poolside pizza,grill and ice cream which was free.

 

Ship was beautiful,although one day while eating in the buffett,a guest alerted a supervisor of water dripping from the sealing.

 

Great photo package.My niece purchased for 99.00 dollars and got all of her pictures taken on the cruise.

 

House band called Rhaspody was fantastic,but mostly a dj at the pool.We would have enjoyed more live music.

 

Shows were just ok.They have their version of the voice which my nephew came in second.

 

Kids only went to children's club a few times,they just wanted to stay in the pool,which they need more pools.

 

Not enough poolside activities.

 

Most of my family in their late 20's and 30's felt their was not enough activities for them especially in the evening like Royal Caribbean.

 

We also have inside cabins,didn't find out until it was to that our quads would have beds that pulled from wall.Will never do that again.Lol

 

 

Room service was free with selections like hot dogs,burgers and fries,turkey sandwiches,lasagna.

 

To sum it up we had a nice time.To me the best part of our cruises is spending time together.

 

I always plan our trips and have been looking for our next one in 2018.

 

We love Royal Caribbean,but they seem to keep building these mega ships that go to the same ports and we want to try ports we have not been too.The ships for Royal that seem to do the Southern Caribbean all seem to be older and small.

 

Would we cruise Princess absolutely.But I am definitely going to look at all of our options with different cruise lines before booking our cruise in 2018.

 

Hope this helps someone.

[crazyfourtravel]

I have sailed on the Pacific Princess to Hawaii and thought the food was very good overall...especially the buffet for variety. I thought their non-alcoholic drink package was very inexpensive compared to RCCL...it was about $8 per day. They also allowed us to bring a case of water and juice at embarkation. We brought a few bottles of Clamato so we could make Caesars. They sell pint size bottles of alcohol for a fairly reasonable cost if you want to enjoy a drink in your cabin as you're getting ready. My sister bought a coffee card which never expires...you can use it on your next cruise if you still have some punches left.

 

I will be taking my first RCCL cruise this June on Brilliance of the Seas due to the itinerary. I was shocked at the cost of the water package and drink packages. The wines are outrageously expensive...Beringer Wine for $39 plus tax and gratuities when the bottle is worth about $4. I recall paying $29.00 plus tax and gratuities for a Washington area wine on Princess. They had a red and white that were perfectly acceptable. I am worried because I have heard so many poor reviews about the main dining room and Windjammer. I have traveled on several other lines and never been disappointed with the food. I guess we'll see for ourselves and decide if we'll travel with them again.

[George C]

I have sailed on the Pacific Princess to Hawaii and thought the food was very good overall...especially the buffet for variety. I thought their non-alcoholic drink package was very inexpensive compared to RCCL...it was about $8 per day. They also allowed us to bring a case of water and juice at embarkation. We brought a few bottles of Clamato so we could make Caesars. They sell pint size bottles of alcohol for a fairly reasonable cost if you want to enjoy a drink in your cabin as you're getting ready. My sister bought a coffee card which never expires...you can use it on your next cruise if you still have some punches left.

 

I will be taking my first RCCL cruise this June on Brilliance of the Seas due to the itinerary. I was shocked at the cost of the water package and drink packages. The wines are outrageously expensive...Beringer Wine for $39 plus tax and gratuities when the bottle is worth about $4. I recall paying $29.00 plus tax and gratuities for a Washington area wine on Princess. They had a red and white that were perfectly acceptable. I am worried because I have heard so many poor reviews about the main dining room and Windjammer. I have traveled on several other lines and never been disappointed with the food. I guess we'll see for ourselves and decide if we'll travel with them again.

 

Wine prices have really went up in last few years on RCCL, hate when cost of a glass of wine is what you pay for a bottle at home. RCCL does allow 2 bottles of wine per cabin with no corkage and liquor package has been on sale on most ships for about 20 percent off ( Hal has even higher prices for wine)

[Topo Gigio]

Having been twice on Regal, I used to say that their buffet was way better than windjammer. But after my 2 recent cruises on the Anthem & Allure, I must say that Royal Caribbean is stepping up their game big time in their food division. Both Anthem and Allure had very good choices in the Windjammer. Both in quality and tastiness.

[kalliekae]

Thank you for your comparison, op. It's always interesting to hear about other experiences. Our friends tried Princess to Alaska last August and were bored to tears. Food was very good, but the ship basically shut down at 10:30pm. Many times, they were the only ones left in the bar by 11pm. Having sailed with HAL several times, Princess sounds about the same as HAL.