Princess versus Royal Caribbean

[OurSlowSimpleTravel]

Hello. Looking at doing a British Isles cruise. I've sailed Princess and Royal Caribbean before and those are the two I'm looking at for the British Isles. Princess seems to have more itineraries for July but wondering if anyone has experience with either/both.

 

How are the ships? I prefer smaller ships but also don't want anything super outdated.

 

How are shows/activity options? Royal won this for us in the Caribbean but it was also a much larger ship than what we sailed on with Princess.

 

How are the excursion options? My daughter has mobility issues so I prefer cruise line excursions. Any difference in number of options?

 

Our next 3 cruises are with Royal but wondering if Princess does Europe better lol.

 

Thanks!

[John Bull]

Since you've sailed both lines you'll know about the different standards and pace (our experience is RCI lively, Princess more laid-back) 

 

But for UK & European cruises the ports-of-call, and the hours in those ports, are more important.

 

Some include Ireland (usually Dublin and/or Cork), Northern Ireland, (Belfast), Scotland's cities (we rate Edinburgh far more attractive & historic than Glasgow), its northern moors (from Invergordon) and its wild & remote island chains (Orkneys & Shetlands), few cruises visit Wales (but trips into Wales from Liverpool), the Channel Island of Guernsey (tendered port, sadly missed quite often due to high sea swells), even Le Havre in France. Often those at the expense of not visiting a single English port apart from the port-of-embarkation.

Half-days are pretty useless, tendered ports present problems, some ports are distant from sights, some ports offer more options than others.

 

So can I suggest you choose based on itinerary rather than cruise line. Pick out one or two likely ones & post back here with departure port/s, itineraries, hours in port and time/s of year, perhaps with an idea of any special interests - cultures, cities or countryside, history (pre-historic, Kings & Queens, cathedrals, castles, 19th/20th century, etc) or anything else, and we can offer up opinions on your options

 

JB 🙂