Contrast Princess & Carnival, please

[CA_Cruzing]

Considering booking a 10 day Caribbean cruise on Princess for Mar 2019.

 

Wife and I are many times Carnival cruisers and I am seeking feedback/contrast of Princess and Carnival, if you’ve sailed both lines.

 

We are choosing this cruise to celebrate 50th birthdays and the itinerary is 10 days versus 8 or fewer as Carnival offers. That’s a big draw for us as we’re traveling from CA to FLL to cruise.

 

Also, we’d like some insight into Princess cruisers’ ages we could expect on a March cruise. We’ve only started sailing out of “family” or high season as our children and getting older and more independent.

 

We’re active and young (no disrespect to ANY active people regardless of age) and want to ensure we’re getting a good fit with this potential cruise. Reading somewhere that HAL attracts 65+ year old cruisers, mapping to an active and similar life-stage demographic is important to us as we tend to be pretty social on cruises.

 

Thank you in advance for your replies and input.

[Keith1010]

Carnival like NCL and a couple of other cruise lines is your entry level cruise line. While some like yourself have sailed them many times they do bring a lot of first time cruisers to the fold. They do this at very competitive pricing with more add ons while on board and they do attract a lot of passengers in their 20's to 40's.

 

Princess along with some other lines are the next step up in cruising. They do attract a slightly older passenger and provide some additional amenities in the cruise pricing.

 

If I equated the cruise lines to hotels I would think of Carnival as a Holiday Inn and Princess as a Hilton.

 

You will see more people at your age level then yo probably do on Carnival. It will be more refined (not boring but refined) then Carnival.

 

Keith

[nini]

What ship?

[CA_Cruzing]

Crown Princess 7 Mar 2019 to 17 Mar 2019.

 

Keith1010, we’re usually SPG or Marriott. Then Hyatt. We almost never do Hilton though.

 

We like the refined part, just don’t want to get caught up in snooty. We like to have fun and skip pretentiousness.

 

I always look at cruise lines marketing to see if we “fit.” The idea of attending seminars while on a cruise baffles me.

 

 

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[mgreich]

I would definitely say that princess is a more “elevated” cruise experience. The age group can range from teens to seniors, although I’d say its most popular with people 40+. Our family loves cruising with princess and we always find people to chat and socialize with. I will say also that princess can be more of a romantic setting. There are a lot of places for privacy and quiet. The food is always excellent on princess and I feel as though they have a larger variety than most carnival ships. I have only been on smaller princess ships so I don’t know if their larger ships would have a livelier atmosphere.

 

 

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[joeyancho]

Princess has less tattoos and woohoo people.

[Goldenfox]

I've been sailing on Princess since my mid-30's (am now 40). My husband and I like the ambience, though we loved Holland too. We've sailed on Carnival as well and had a wonderful time. I think you can't go wrong on a Princess cruise, and as you're celebrating your 50th you'll be in good company. Cruise passengers are getting younger, even the more upscale ones previously associated with the older crowd. There's definitely nothing snooty about Princess, nor its passengers, at least in my experience. I'm a 6th and counting repeat passenger and with every cruise I find more and more diversity in age and ethnicity.

 

 

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[CA_Cruzing]

So I’m reading reviews about the Crown on CC.

 

Less than stellar seems to be the mode.

 

We’ve never had a less than excellent experience on Carnival.

 

Any suggestions for which Princess ships might be better than Crown?

 

Wife and I just finished a 8-day Carnival Vista cruise which was a near flawless experience (25th anniversary cruise).

 

 

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[CA_Cruzing]

Princess has less tattoos and woohoo people.

 

 

 

Is this good or bad?

[mgreich]

Is this good or bad?

 

 

 

It probably depends on who you ask lol

 

 

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[flamomo]

IMO, Princess is classier than Carnival, but not snooty or snobbish.

I tried Carnival once a few years ago, and couldn't wait to get back to Princess. I have done almost 40 Princess cruises and have been on most of the ships in the Princess fleet (including twice on the Crown), and keep coming back to Princess because I enjoy the ambiance of the ships, and the feeling that the staff and crew on every one of those ships truly cares about the quality of the services they provide and seek to make every one of my cruises great experiences.

I have a 23 day cruise on the Crown booked for next year and fully expect that I will have a wonderful time.

[ExploringTheGlobe]

I've sailed once on Carnival and the rest of my cruises have been on Princess. I'm 45 and very active. Princess always provides many options for me. As others have said, it is definitely more refined than Carnival.

 

As far as the Crown, I was just on her a few weeks ago. She is showing some wear but nothing that would keep me from sailing on her again!

[skynight]

Princess

No Faster to the Fun. Your cabin is ready when you board.

Comics are family friendly.

You can carry on as much non-alcoholic beverage as you want.

No pool slides.

Generally an older crowd, but on short cruises and Alaska the crowd tends to skew younger.

With 30+ Princess cruises have never seen any passenger totally out of it with over drinking.

Not a lot of pool games, but there can be some in hot weather cruises.

[PrincessLuver]

Crown Princess 7 Mar 2019 to 17 Mar 2019.

 

Keith1010, we’re usually SPG or Marriott. Then Hyatt. We almost never do Hilton though.

 

We like the refined part, just don’t want to get caught up in snooty. We like to have fun and skip pretentiousness.

 

I always look at cruise lines marketing to see if we “fit.” The idea of attending seminars while on a cruise baffles me.

 

 

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We have sailed Carnival and Princess (and other cruise lines too) and are at the high end of both their loyalty programs.

 

Princess has more varied itineraries then Carnival.

 

Carnival cabins tend to be larger then Princess. Dining experience was similar on both lines.

 

The demographics are much younger on Carnival then Princess (Carnival is like college and Princess is like assisted living).

 

I do not see Princess as an upscale cruise line...someone compared Princess to a Hilton....more like a Garden Inn.

 

Princess give more OBC's then Carnival and allows you to stack them. I think Princess give more incentives to it's most loyal customers then Carnival does. More live music on Carnival then Princess....better and bigger theaters on Carnival ships then Princess (most Princess cruises people get to the theater 45 minutes early to just get a seat).

 

Carnival definitely more activities and active passengers....the lectures on Princess ships will be standing room only if that tells you anything...Carnival tends to provide a Cabin Steward with an assistant....not so Princess.

 

They are both good cruise lines and I do not find one more superior to the other. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses.

 

However, Princess cruisers tend to think Princess is a step above just about any cruise line. Our favorite Princess ships are the Royal Class ships....good luck and stand by for incoming fire....:D

[bostonfred]

Sailed both, as well as NCL,Celebrity and HAL, we found Carnival great, a lot of fun and energy, many people have a favorite line and limit themselves, find a ship and itinerary you like and book it, you will be treated well everywhere !...

[dickinson]

The demographics are much younger on Carnival then Princess (Carnival is like college and Princess is like assisted living).

 

 

However, Princess cruisers tend to think Princess is a step above just about any cruise line. Our favorite Princess ships are the Royal Class ships....good luck and stand by for incoming fire....:D

 

People in assisted living need some help with activities of daily living. I would NOT compare Princess to that at all.

 

Having cruised both lines I would say that Carnival has all ages whereas Princess does skew lolder (even though there are people of all ages on there too). We recently did two 5 day cruises back to back. I was expecting a lot more younger people like Carnival. Yes, there was but not to the extent of Carnival.

 

We really enjoy Princess (but would take another Carnival cruise too). I would really suggest not reading the member reviews of the ships. I have read bad reviews too of the Crown (and other ships too) but then went on and had a wonderful time. I have been on the Crown 3x (4x if you include my b2b cruise as two) and enjoyed them all. Crew turns over all the time and when their contracts end and they go home for a few months they will be back on a different ship.

 

Go on the Crown. I am sure you will have a wonderful time. The Crown is their second largest class of ship. There are many on here who like that size and won't sail on the bigger ships (Royal and Regal).

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[riffatsea]

Interesting to read this thread.

We are also many time Carnival cruisers(we'll be Platinum this March) who are trying Princess for the first time next year for the Panama Canal.

We don't fit the young/wild Carnival demographic as we are seniors who don't get silly drunk.

I first thought we'd go on HAL but after posting on the forum there and discussing it with friends who have done both(Princess and HAL) we thought that Princess was a better fit for us. It sounds like it is a line for active/social people who might want a bit more elegance than what Carnival provides.

We have friends in all age groups from 40s to 80s so we don't worry about who we'll meet but we do want people interested in socializing and not who stick their nose into a book and won't talk to anyone.

[dickinson]

Carnival tends to provide a Cabin Steward with an assistant....not so Princess.

 

:D

 

Misleading. Princess provides a Cabin Steward.... just not an assistant. Your cabin is also serviced morning and at night. Carnival is 1x/day. I don't know how many cabins they service but am guessing possibly less than Carnival because they don't have assistants.

[Tatka]

Princess is much nicer, I'd say even refined. Beautiful ships, better food, nice crowd

[Tatka]

Is this good or bad?

Better for us.

We aren't sailing with Carnival anymore. This is one of reasons.

We are not snotty, snobs etc. We sail mostly in insides, easy going, but like Princess's ambiance much more.

 

Also we sail with all lines and are not attached to Princess, but it is one of favorites along with Celebrity.

[USCcruisecrazy]

So I’m reading reviews about the Crown on CC.

 

Less than stellar seems to be the mode.

 

We’ve never had a less than excellent experience on Carnival.

 

Any suggestions for which Princess ships might be better than Crown?

 

Wife and I just finished a 8-day Carnival Vista cruise which was a near flawless experience (25th anniversary cruise).

 

 

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The Crown Princess is in the Crown Class of ship. We have sailed on that class before and enjoy the atmosphere, the layout, and the company. We are sailing on the Crown Princess in 10 days on an 8 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. I think you'll love the ship.

 

Everyone on this site and any other site like it can only give opinions, and we know what opinions are like. The bottom line, IMHO, is pick a cruise based on the itinerary and then press. Every Princess ship we have cruised on has been great...mainly because our attitude is great. I'll post a report after I return on 18 Dec and let you know how we do. BTW: we have a party of 12 50+ year olds and we like to have a good time, so don't think moving up in class of cruise lines diminishes the opportunity to have a great time!! :)

[Tatka]

We have sailed Carnival and Princess (and other cruise lines too) and are at the high end of both their loyalty programs.

 

Princess has more varied itineraries then Carnival.

 

Carnival cabins tend to be larger then Princess. Dining experience was similar on both lines.

 

The demographics are much younger on Carnival then Princess (Carnival is like college and Princess is like assisted living).

 

I do not see Princess as an upscale cruise line...someone compared Princess to a Hilton....more like a Garden Inn.

 

Princess give more OBC's then Carnival and allows you to stack them. I think Princess give more incentives to it's most loyal customers then Carnival does. More live music on Carnival then Princess....better and bigger theaters on Carnival ships then Princess (most Princess cruises people get to the theater 45 minutes early to just get a seat).

 

Carnival definitely more activities and active passengers....the lectures on Princess ships will be standing room only if that tells you anything...Carnival tends to provide a Cabin Steward with an assistant....not so Princess.

 

They are both good cruise lines and I do not find one more superior to the other. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses.

 

However, Princess cruisers tend to think Princess is a step above just about any cruise line. Our favorite Princess ships are the Royal Class ships....good luck and stand by for incoming fire....:D

Princess is definitely nothing like assisted living. We sailed mostly on 7-9 dayers since mid 30ries, but this year had 10 dayer, crowd was mostly 40-50 with some kids and older adults.

[Jezabel2924]

I have done 12 Carnival Cruises and 15 Princess. Princess has the itineraries that we want and overall the better experience for us. While we have loved all of our cruises, we now look at Princess first when planning a trip.

[catwoman6226]

Another thing to keep in mind is that you're talking about March, which is smack in the middle of Spring Break for many colleges and other schools - although you'll see fewer kids, college or otherwise, on a 10 day cruise as opposed to a 7 day one. My friend and I are in our early 50s and have never felt that the demographics on Princess skewed too old for us. We're booked on the Crown this coming February and I've seen the negative reviews as well - but I also saw quite a few about the Star before our Hawaii cruise last year and the ship ended up being wonderful. I don't anticipate anything different this time around.

[vampiress]

this is minor, and i went on an older carnival ship, but the decorations were a bit garish, like every surface on carnival is a casino with neon lights.

 

there was no main dining room lunch option on boarding or sea days for carnival.

 

i found the way the middle decks get blocked by the dinning rooms super frustrating to navigate from fore to aft on carnival. the princess boat i was on previously seemed to have a better flow no matter what deck you were on.

 

that said i had a good time on both, i have a good time on all cruises, even the one where i got a migraine due to the low pressure system we sailed through.

Edited November 29, 2017 by vampiress