I'm cheating on Princess...sorry.

[Travlin grrl]

I've taken 8 cruises on Princess and 1 on Holland, and I've loved everyone of them. But this year Royal is coming to the West Coast, so I decided to book a 3 day and try it out. I'm going on Black Friday down to Ensenada and back on Monday. I've never taken a 3 day cruise (my minimum is 7 days so far) so even that will be an experience, being that I never want to get off.  Just thought I would try something new, with slides (haha, and I will go down them) and compare the difference. I know Princess usually is regarded as having better food, and it will be hard not to compare the 2 when I'm on board, but I'm going to give it a shot. But Princess, I will be back!! 

[joeyancho]

Go ahead, it's fun  to sleep around

[nini]

Please report back on your thoughts!

[john watson]

The best way to appreciate something really fabulous is to occasionally do something jolly awful.

 

Regards John

 

 

 

[lx200gps]

We've just done exactly the same thing. Sailed Princess since our first cruise 10 years ago (though we tried Celebrity and NCL once each) we just booked the Oasis out of Cape Liberty for next May. We've wanted to try RCCL for a while, and the fact that they sail out of New Jersey so we can drive to the port, and have "southbound" itineraries to the Bahamas is what convinced us to finally give them a try. We're big ship fans, the bigger the better, so we're really forward to this trip.

[Tyskie]

"We sleep around!" lol

We are at 13 cruises with Princess

Platinum with NCL

Only one cruise each with RCCL & Carnival

 

We finally got to try Celebrity and loved it too.  Our dream cruise from Amsterdam to Rome on X was canceled like all the others due to Covid.  Hopefully in the future they will have that Iberian Peninsula cruise itinerary again.

 

Life is too short - go for whatever interests you and have fun!

[Musky Ike]

7 hours ago, joeyancho said:

Go ahead, it's fun  to sleep around

You could catch a disease doing that. 

[CineGraphic]

3 day sailings tend to be booze fueled....compare what you see to high tea on Princess, lol.

[fabby50]

We are in California.  Royal used to sail out of LA a few years ago and then stopped.  We sailed on her quite frequently, 3, 4 and 7 day cruises down to Mexico.  Can't give an opinion since its been awhile.

We have three cruises booked right now - all on different lines.  They all have things we like and things we think can be improved, but it beats work with whatever line it is.

[sprinkles]

2 hours ago, Musky Ike said:

You could catch a disease doing that. 

Or wake up with a tattoo 😉

 

We have also booked RCL for the first time in 20 years (used to love them before the water slides), looking forward to a change.  Of course that cruise is in June, have two Princess going before that, lol (I will always be a Princess).  Happy Sailing everyone!

[cruzsnooze]

I'm elite tier on Princess and Diamond plus on RCL so I've sailed both extensively. Royal has  a more lively vibe and more family oriented. I love their promenade shopping mall. RCL has Seattles best coffee at no charge which I prefer to the IC french roast which they charge for.

  I prefer RCL buffet but both Princess and RCL have good food. I wouldn't hesitate to sail either one, they are more alike mass market lines then different.  I do prefer the multiple higher tier perks on RCL.

  RCL cabins all have a love seat (small sofa) so sitting is more comfy.

Edited October 28, 2021 by cruzsnooze

[cruisequeen4ever]

On a 3 Day cruise, it’s hard to not have fun. Everyone is in a party mood to cram in as much fun as possible into a short period of time. We did a 4 day out of LA on Royal’s ancient Viking Serenade many years ago and had a blast; the food wasn’t the best, but a 3 day escape to sea doesn’t need high expectations.  Have fun!

[CruzDayz]

I’m doing the same but I’m doing the four day. I booked a great aft balcony for $999 and one day it went down to $467. They are giving double points and I need five to make Diamond so it’s a win-win. I would get bored on the same line all of the time. 
Have fun!

[gullgeorge]

Just did B2B on the Mardi Gras and agree with CarelessandConfused with the exception that the high-end internet was good.  That could be just a difference of ships.  At least Carnival has an app that works, even though the Carnival and Princess apps have very different features/functions.

[fabby50]

My favorite things about Carnival are the Alchemy Bar (in our opinion, the best bar concept EVER, plus amazing staff) and their steakhouse.  We think they have the best steakhouse even better than more pricy lines, more creative menu and more accommodating to dietary needs/requests. Although we enjoy Princess steakhouse', we think their menu is staid.

[Ombud]

Once Carnival starts closed loop cruises from SF those will be the only ones I do with the grandkids. This next set (5, 7, 8 😎) are not musicians so they don't need classical or wind musicians 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Ombud

[Tak8]

Nice to compare.  I look elsewhere sometimes because of price and other times change of itinerary. 

[Calnev1]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

Once Carnival starts closed loop cruises from SF those will be the only ones I do with the grandkids. 

We  will also be on several of the long weekend Carnival Miracle trips out of SF in 2022.  And for the same reason . . . proximity to grandchildren.

 

Over the years we have sailed multiple times on most of the big cruise lines (princess, carnival, RCCL, HAL, Celebrity).  We have found that there were major differences within the same lines from ship to ship on things like food quality.  So its hard to make comparisons across lines.

[Calnev1]

3 hours ago, fabby50 said:

My favorite things about Carnival are the Alchemy Bar (in our opinion, the best bar concept EVER, plus amazing staff) and their steakhouse.  

My wife and I are not bar people.  Having said that, we had an awesome experience in the Martini bar on Celebrity.   They poured us a flight of something like ten martinis in an elaborate show.  

[vjmatty]

On 10/28/2021 at 8:11 AM, lx200gps said:

We've just done exactly the same thing. Sailed Princess since our first cruise 10 years ago (though we tried Celebrity and NCL once each) we just booked the Oasis out of Cape Liberty for next May. We've wanted to try RCCL for a while, and the fact that they sail out of New Jersey so we can drive to the port, and have "southbound" itineraries to the Bahamas is what convinced us to finally give them a try. We're big ship fans, the bigger the better, so we're really forward to this trip.

I also found myself this year wishing Princess served the northeast better. I didn't want our first return to cruising to involve worrying about flights, so being two hours from the NYC area we too booked Oasis, which we are currently enjoying right now. Pre covid you could not have dragged me onto an Oasis class ship, but between the convenience of a local port and sailing at reduced capacity it was worth a try and I'm glad we did it. 

[Coffeeluvr05]

We "cheated" in August and did a HAL Alaska cruise and we really enjoyed it, but we still prefer Princess.  There are some things I wish Princess had that HAL does and vice versa.  For instance, HAL cabins have a small sofa and I just think all cabins should have that.  I also really liked that we had a bathtub instead of those dumb showers that make a mess of the bathroom.  I loved the BB King music venue on HAL too.  I prefer Princess ships overall though.  I also prefer Princess when it comes to food.  Our HAL cruise was just after the startup so I'm not sure if it was a fair comparison.  Service was just as good on HAL as we have had on Princess.  

[PurpleTraveller]

I am also cheating on Princess not once but twice! After only cruising with Princess I looked elsewhere for the Mediterranean in 2022. I have booked a seven day cruise from Ravenna, Italy to Croatia, Montenegro and Greece on Celebrity and an eight day cruise of the Western Mediterranean from Barcelona on Royal Caribbean. Both cruises are very port intensive so I wasn't concerned about the ships but I like the itineraries. Time will tell but it is always good to compare. At the moment any cruise is a good cruise! 

[Drews_Cruise]

After many cruises on Princess we finally tried Celebrity in 2020.  It was fabulous and so nice to see a completely different style of ship.  You can tell you’re on a Princess ship just by opening your eyes because they have a standardized appearance and feel to them.  It’s nice to cheat on other lines but there’s nothing like the comfort of coming home to Princess.

[brisalta]

On 10/28/2021 at 12:45 PM, Ombud said:

This next set (5, 7, 8 😎) are not musicians so they don't need classical or wind musicians 

 

That is the age to get them seriously interested in music.

[gardenbunny]

Thanks for starting this topic.  We are also joining the “try other cruise lines”.  Princess is and will probably always be my favorite (Elite, 2 World Cruises, all the major regions, plus special itineraries like Northern Lights in Norway and So America/Antartica in 2020 just before Covid halted everything!). My next favorite - we are Platinum on Cunard - but requires flying to European ports.  We have done 2 Celebrity - Bahamas and Bermuda.  Not my favorite but best way to do Bermuda - going again May 2022.  And did one Disney with grandkids - don’t need to do that again.

But found we loved small ships after the 2 WC on Pacific Princess - Booked itineraries we really liked being offered on Azamara in 2023 for Japan and Israel, and trying an Oceania to Caribbean in Feb 2022.  And in August 2022 will be doing a Globus 14 day land tour of Canadian rockies ( Whistler, Banff, Lake Louise, etc) that includes a Holland 7-day Alaska cruise.