Contrast Princess & Carnival, please

[PrincessLuver]

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.

 

Every Princess cruise we have been on, and we have been on plenty, tends to trend with mostly people in their 50's, 60's, 70's and above.....we tend to do 20 and 30 day cruises so maybe that would explain our different experience but it has never been what I would call a young crowd even on 10 day Mexico or 10 day Alaska cruises......I think people may think they are young but 60 is old....and I am in my 60's......:')

[golfb4cruzing]

Ruth Christie's vs Chuckie Cheese

[CA_Cruzing]

really great feedback and input here. thank you all and please keep it coming.

 

i think we're all pretty much on the same page here. Princess is more refined and classy than Carnival which can be rowdy and loud.

 

mind you, we actually enjoy watching the Hairy Chest contest Carnival offers. we love the people diversity. and we love seeing strange things happen too.

 

as for DW and I, we never buy the all you can drink package. it's just not our thing. we have and do bring our own wine to enjoy as Carnival's offerings are not what we really like (sans a handful of bottles, of which they didn't have two of what we wanted to drink one night).

 

without a waterslide on Princess, we automatically see there's going to be a difference in pax makeup.

 

from replies so far, it looks like we'll experience 30's to 70's on a March cruise which is similar to Carnival but likely more people (gross headcount) of 40's+ and fewer 20's to 30's.

 

what's really driving this decision is the itinerary and cruise length; 10 days Carib.

 

from replies, general cruising rules apply that the longer ANY cruise is, 10 days plus, you're going to see a more mature crowd. 40's to 50's plus can cruise longer than a week thus the pax makeup is going to be different. we've also heard over the years that longer cruises (14 days or more) attract the newly wed and nearly dead (no offense to older people, we all eventually meet our maker).

 

on our recent Vista cruise, we wound up befriending a bunch of people; one couple was mid 30's with him being tatted up and the nicest guy in the world. his GF was a few years his senior and works for CCL in sales. totally cool people and we'd definitely cruise with them again. and another set of sisters, both of them in mid to late 40's; both enjoying time away from their daily lives and families. again, super cool people and we had many life experiences in common.

 

so it sounds like Princess people (those posting here) are former and current Carnival'ers. that's good with us.

 

i've bailed on Celebrity cruising in the past as I don't fully see how we'd fit. HAL just seems like a 60's plus crowd.

 

now the Formal nights on Princess, are they truly formal as in tuxes and gowns? what's really acceptable onbaord?

 

both DW and I are professional people, we just like to go on vacation and be casual. living in CA, we prefer our flip flops as weather permits.

[CA_Cruzing]

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.

do you prefer to sail out of east coast or west on Princess (and Carnival)?

 

west coast options are very limited. it's frustrating.

[dickinson]

Threads about formal nights get heated but on a Caribbean cruise of 10 days you will find a little of everything.

[Tatka]

Every Princess cruise we have been on, and we have been on plenty, tends to trend with mostly people in their 50's, 60's, 70's and above.....we tend to do 20 and 30 day cruises so maybe that would explain our different experience but it has never been what I would call a young crowd even on 10 day Mexico or 10 day Alaska cruises......I think people may think they are young but 60 is old....and I am in my 60's......:')

20-30 dayers will always be like that as well as some destinations.

Our "oldest" cruise was on Royal Caribbean to Canada during last week of September. We in our early 40s felt like grandkids. People were celebrating 90-95 birthdays and 60 years of marriage. No problems for us, but it was interesting.

Regular Caribbean sailings even 10 dayers with Princess are absolutely not like that. During school vacations in March you can find upto 700 kids on board, on others 400-500, of course with their parents... many younger couples etc.

[Tatka]

really great feedback and input here. thank you all and please keep it coming.

 

i think we're all pretty much on the same page here. Princess is more refined and classy than Carnival which can be rowdy and loud.

 

mind you, we actually enjoy watching the Hairy Chest contest Carnival offers. we love the people diversity. and we love seeing strange things happen too.

 

as for DW and I, we never buy the all you can drink package. it's just not our thing. we have and do bring our own wine to enjoy as Carnival's offerings are not what we really like (sans a handful of bottles, of which they didn't have two of what we wanted to drink one night).

 

without a waterslide on Princess, we automatically see there's going to be a difference in pax makeup.

 

from replies so far, it looks like we'll experience 30's to 70's on a March cruise which is similar to Carnival but likely more people (gross headcount) of 40's+ and fewer 20's to 30's.

 

what's really driving this decision is the itinerary and cruise length; 10 days Carib.

 

from replies, general cruising rules apply that the longer ANY cruise is, 10 days plus, you're going to see a more mature crowd. 40's to 50's plus can cruise longer than a week thus the pax makeup is going to be different. we've also heard over the years that longer cruises (14 days or more) attract the newly wed and nearly dead (no offense to older people, we all eventually meet our maker).

 

on our recent Vista cruise, we wound up befriending a bunch of people; one couple was mid 30's with him being tatted up and the nicest guy in the world. his GF was a few years his senior and works for CCL in sales. totally cool people and we'd definitely cruise with them again. and another set of sisters, both of them in mid to late 40's; both enjoying time away from their daily lives and families. again, super cool people and we had many life experiences in common.

 

so it sounds like Princess people (those posting here) are former and current Carnival'ers. that's good with us.

 

i've bailed on Celebrity cruising in the past as I don't fully see how we'd fit. HAL just seems like a 60's plus crowd.

 

now the Formal nights on Princess, are they truly formal as in tuxes and gowns? what's really acceptable onbaord?

 

both DW and I are professional people, we just like to go on vacation and be casual. living in CA, we prefer our flip flops as weather permits.

Definitely not tuxes and gowns. Maybe dark suits and cocktail dresses. For tuxes you need to go with Cunard.

 

Formal nights are dressier, but not too formal even on European sailings much less in Caribbeans.

 

You will see tons of dancing in Piazza which makes for nice people watching even if you don't participate.

[satxdiver]

We have been on the crown several times with a b2b this past spring for 24 days total. It is a nice ship and we enjoyed it. The piazza on the plaza deck is the center of activity when not on the lido deck. They have entertainers every day particularly in the evening and afternoons on sea days. There is a lot of activity present. The different Princess ships all have the same general layout so once you have been on one ship the others are similar. The newest ships (regal, royal and majestic) are laid out with significant differences.

 

Having been on both cruise lines, Princess is certainly a more refined experience. You will find a older crowd and not the 20's and 30's who want to party all night. Princess still has a table cloth on the MDR tables, cabin steward twice daily etc. Generally there are not a lot of young children aboard even on the 7 day cruises.

 

Dress code in the MDR is a hot issue on here and can end up in endless debates. The minimum allowed in the MDR on formal night is pants (dockers) and a button dress shirt for males and something similar like dress or pants suit for women. Non-formal nights they allow jeans and polo shirt for men and something similar for women. During the day breakfast and lunch, most anything is allowed except swim wear and sleeveless shirts on men. Shorts and a tshirt is acceptable.

 

Pax can bring on all the wine (750 ml bottles) they desire. The first bottle per adult is free while all the rest are charged a $15 corking fee. Only bottles that have the corking fee paid are allowed in the MDR. The small refrigerators in the cabins keep the wine nice and cold.

[san diego sue]

Formal nights: My husband no longer travels with a suit (a tux long time gone). Since we enjoy dining at our assigned dining room, he wears a Black dress shirt, black slacks,and a white tie. He looks formal but is relaxed. I wear slacks and a dressy top.

We love Princess. Our experiences have been good on board.

As far as the Crown , we were on for three cruises in Europe this past summer. Crowd was very mixed ages since it was vacation time for kids. Our experience on board was great .Only complaint when we were on the Transatlantic portion was the lack of activities on board. For port intense cruising, it worked fine for us.

We have been on Carnival several times, all on the West coast. The ships are a bit older . Still fun but prefer Princess. We have Elite status on Princess and with all the perks and on board credits , hard to cruise any other lines.

Have cruised Holland America and although nice experience, it is the oldest crowd .

Princess pricing seems to give the best for the money.

We started cruising when we were in our mid 30's and for many years we were always the youngest passengers on the ships. Never bothered us. We are older now and realize age is just a state of mind.One of our very close friends ,several years older than us, recently passed away on a cruise ship. What a way to go, being where he loved

Edited November 30, 2017 by san diego sue

[CA_Cruzing]

Formal nights: My husband no longer travels with a suit (a tux long time gone). Since we enjoy dining at our assigned dining room, he wears a Black dress shirt, black slacks,and a white tie. He looks formal but is relaxed. I wear slacks and a dressy top.

We love Princess. Our experiences have been good on board.

As far as the Crown , we were on for three cruises in Europe this past summer. Crowd was very mixed ages since it was vacation time for kids. Our experience on board was great .Only complaint when we were on the Transatlantic portion was the lack of activities on board. For port intense cruising, it worked fine for us.

We have been on Carnival several times, all on the West coast. The ships are a bit older . Still fun but prefer Princess. We have Elite status on Princess and with all the perks and on board credits , hard to cruise any other lines.

Have cruised Holland America and although nice experience, it is the oldest crowd .

Princess pricing seems to give the best for the money.

We started cruising when we were in our mid 30's and for many years we were always the youngest passengers on the ships. Never bothered us. We are older now and realize age is just a state of mind.One of our very close friends ,several years older than us, recently passed away on a cruise ship. What a way to go, being where he loved

Thank you, SDSue. Sorry to hear of your friend's passing, but truly a special way to depart.

 

Your feedback and experiences are appreciated greatly.

[Happy fool]

We have sailed on both Carnival and Princess. Princess definitely skewed older. Now the Carnival cruises were 7 days and the Princess was 10 days which probably contributes to an older crowd. We also took a Royal Caribbean transatlantic and even that was not as old a crowd as the Princess. Also, I did not feel that Princess was upscale compared to the other two lines.

 

That said, I had a great time on all of the cruises. Just be prepared to see a lot of gray hair when you walk into the dining room. I wasn’t expecting the cruise to skew as old as it did.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Micahs Grandad]

We were Diamond on Carnival when we started cruising with Princess about three years ago and now platinum.

 

Did the Crown this past July in Europe and had a great experience.

 

Princess buffet is far superior to Carnival's and crew will get you your drinks.

 

Overall service better on Princess and no questions about 2x service from room steward.

 

Entertainment much different. Production shows on Princess kind of what Carnival used to be. Do miss the comedy club and piano bar on Carnival.

 

Too us cruising these days is to see the world and that means Princess is where we are doing the majority of our cruises.

[nini]

Princess is absolutely NOT Assisted Living!!! I should know, because

I worked in that industry for 18 years. Those residents need assistance

going to the dining room, help with bathing, dressing and mobility can be an issue,

let alone reminders to go to the dining room.

 

We really enjoy Princess and we were on the Crown two years ago.

I subconsciously compared it to her sister ship, the Golden. I liked

the Golden better, the food seemed better. However, we really like

the design.

 

IMHO, stay away from HAL. We sailed on HAL once and I felt like I

was in a bucket of bolts- that is what you call very worn and tired. The

ship seemed to close down at 9:00 pm

P.S. We are in our 60's

[toescat]

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.

 

 

 

Thank you in advance for your replies and input.

 

We have sailed on Carnival around 16 times and love each and every cruise. We love everything about the Carnival ships. We have been sailing on Princess since 2004 only because we sailed with other people who are only loyal to Princess. I love the food on Carnival more than on Princess. The princess ships are more laid back but the cruises have been enjoyable to us. One of the reasons we have continued to cruise Princess is it sails out of San Francisco which is our home port. Bottom line it is all about what you want on your cruise and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. If Carnival offered cruises out San Francisco we would hop on with hesitation.

[voljeep]

Carnival is like Walmart on the 1st of the month or black Friday

 

Princess is like Target:evilsmile:

[CA_Cruzing]

We were Diamond on Carnival when we started cruising with Princess about three years ago and now platinum.

 

Did the Crown this past July in Europe and had a great experience.

 

Princess buffet is far superior to Carnival's and crew will get you your drinks.

 

Overall service better on Princess and no questions about 2x service from room steward.

 

Entertainment much different. Production shows on Princess kind of what Carnival used to be. Do miss the comedy club and piano bar on Carnival.

 

Too us cruising these days is to see the world and that means Princess is where we are doing the majority of our cruises.

 

thank you so much. your previous Carnival replies have been very helpful to me. i appreciate your input.

 

from your experiences across both lines, would you say Princess is more adult-like versus Carnival more party-like? we have been frustrated with Carnival's Serenity deck and pool decks as well. chair hogging really bugs us.

 

would you say Princess has similar chair hogs/situation? maybe this is a cruise wide issue?

[CA_Cruzing]

We have sailed on Carnival around 16 times and love each and every cruise. We love everything about the Carnival ships. We have been sailing on Princess since 2004 only because we sailed with other people who are only loyal to Princess. I love the food on Carnival more than on Princess. The princess ships are more laid back but the cruises have been enjoyable to us. One of the reasons we have continued to cruise Princess is it sails out of San Francisco which is our home port. Bottom line it is all about what you want on your cruise and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. If Carnival offered cruises out San Francisco we would hop on with hesitation.

 

so we're in a similar situation to you. we're in El Dorado Hills, CA, not far from you in Brentwood.

 

we'd love to sail more out of CA and SF would be even nicer. except the choices are Mexico or Mexico. fun, but we've been to Mexico many times on Carnival (LB).

 

if Carnival offered 10 day cruises that were close to us, we'd book them without hesitation. so we have to hike to FLL or MIA for more itineraries and frankly, more cruising choices.

 

Carnival is always a great mix of people. I'm guessing Princess is a little above Carnival due to pricing.

[Micahs Grandad]

thank you so much. your previous Carnival replies have been very helpful to me. i appreciate your input.

 

from your experiences across both lines, would you say Princess is more adult-like versus Carnival more party-like? we have been frustrated with Carnival's Serenity deck and pool decks as well. chair hogging really bugs us.

 

would you say Princess has similar chair hogs/situation? maybe this is a cruise wide issue?

 

Hard to say. Up to now our Princess cruises have been colder weather ones either TA or European so not much going on by the pools.

 

We will be doing our first Caribbean one on Princess next month and interested to see how that goes.

 

I will say that Princess is more sophisticated in many regards. A lot of their evening entertainment is classical.

 

For example they have had main lounge entertainers who played the violin for example. Carnival has gone to playlist productions which are a turnoff to us while we are enjoying the Princess production shows.

[Lanz]

We just returned from a fabulous cruise on the Carnival Breeze; the staff and ship were exceptional. Good accommodations, great food (some misses but mostly hits) and a staff that demonstrated friendly exceptional service. I think this kind of excellence comes from the top, Mike the cruise director was visible throughout the cruise. He was one of the best cruise directors we ever had. On the other hand our last cruise on Princess, Caribbean Princess, was less than stellar. As one poster said this is a matter of opinion and your own experience. We are Elite on Princess but find that service, amenities and “bang for the buck” continues to deteriorate while the Carnival product continues to improve. Having said that we have three cruises booked on Princess mostly due to itinerary but I have a new respect for Carnival and would not hesitate to book them again (Not in summer or Spring Break).

[UpcountryTravelers]

Best definition I've seen (after 28 cruises, 4 on Carnival and 20 on Princess) is this:

 

"Carnival rocks, Princess glows!!"

[Sailaway John]

Both wife and I are going on our 16th cruise with Princess on the Majestic in September 2018. We feel that Princess tops them all and we cannot say anything bad about the cruise line, except that some people eat too much and waste food. We have also cruised on P&O, HAL and Carnival Spirit.

Enjoy tour cruise

 

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.

[CA_Cruzing]

We just returned from a fabulous cruise on the Carnival Breeze; the staff and ship were exceptional. Good accommodations, great food (some misses but mostly hits) and a staff that demonstrated friendly exceptional service. I think this kind of excellence comes from the top, Mike the cruise director was visible throughout the cruise. He was one of the best cruise directors we ever had. On the other hand our last cruise on Princess, Caribbean Princess, was less than stellar. As one poster said this is a matter of opinion and your own experience. We are Elite on Princess but find that service, amenities and “bang for the buck” continues to deteriorate while the Carnival product continues to improve. Having said that we have three cruises booked on Princess mostly due to itinerary but I have a new respect for Carnival and would not hesitate to book them again (Not in summer or Spring Break).

we share your Carnival sentiments, fully.

 

we read many negative Vista reviews but just had our best vacation experience ever.

 

sure, Vista has some issues (seating in liquid lounge is pretty bad, comedy club fills to capacity 20 mins before a show, poker table (only one) is in the sports bar so it gets very little action, chair hogs on serenity) but we had a great time.

 

room service 2x a day and we gave our stew a great tip for it. mdr food was near excellent. buffets had good food choices but salad bars were lacking. never was charged corkage for our wine. we had same wait staff for anytime dining as we requested them each night and were fully accommodated. got our dinner seating each night without a wait except for 1 evening (wait was 5 mins that night with a beeper).

 

we'd sail Carnival again in a heartbeat. they just need longer cruises and better ports IMO. thus our push to experience Princess next.

 

we're looking for a higher quality experience for the money without the snobbiness factor. we just like to be around fun people; people who are real and know how to have a good time. that's us in general.

[UpcountryTravelers]

"higher quality experience for the money without the snobbiness factor"..........sounds like Princess to me!!

[CA_Cruzing]

from all your replies, Princess has great clients, and loyal ones too. that says a lot about a company and its product/experience.

 

very balanced and kind. i can reasonably assume it's due to life experience, age, wisdom and economic achievement.

[Steelers0854]

I did a companions from a Carnival cruise we did a couple of months ago. It was my first Carnival after doing mostly princess cruises.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2524492