Carnival Cruiser tries Princess - Comparisons

[Joebucks]

Thanks for the review. Some are shocked to hear that better dining room food doesn't necessarily make or break a cruise.

[RobertoF]

We are fairly young for cruisers and love Princess.  I used to bash Carnival even though we had never been on a Carnival ship (unfair, I know).  So this year we went on Carnival Sunrise and it was everything I feared.  We hated it and will not go back on Carnival.  Everything was lower end and more crowded on Carnival.  That East Villiage club/mosh pit party atmosphere just did not appeal to us.  More recently we have been sailing Celebrity.  It is more expensive, but if you find Princess to be a bit dull I would say try out a Celebrity Edge-class ship (Edge, Apex, Beyond).  We have been on each of these ships and loved them all and now Celebrity is our go-to cruise line.  Celebrity has elegance like Princess or HAL but more activities (including late night like club DJs and silent disco) and more and better entertainment (particularly the quirky shows in Eden).  Also, Celebrity has great smoke-free casinos.

[Trueblueky]

On 12/5/2022 at 2:27 PM, Out of Iowa said:

Thank you for sharing.  Your viewpoints reinforce what SIL and her hubby thought:  they did Princess in Alaska (for some reason) and said Alaska was great but no reason for them to choose Princess again.

For an Alaskan cruisetour, Princess and HAL are best. The land portions are about the same. In fact, the Princess lodging at Denali is beside the HAL one.

 

We sail Carnival for most cruises.

[RobertoF]

You definitely have a point.  Maybe we'll give Carnival another try with Celebration or Horizon at some point.  Those are the two newer ships close to us.  With Princess and Celebrity we have been on old and new ships and the experience has been similar.  There are things we like better about the old ships (wrap-around promenade decks; traditional large dining rooms; real balconies) so it does not feel like a significant downgrade to be on the older ships on these other lines.

[KKB]

1 hour ago, RobertoF said:

You definitely have a point.  Maybe we'll give Carnival another try with Celebration or Horizon at some point.  Those are the two newer ships close to us.  With Princess and Celebrity we have been on old and new ships and the experience has been similar.  There are things we like better about the old ships (wrap-around promenade decks; traditional large dining rooms; real balconies) so it does not feel like a significant downgrade to be on the older ships on these other lines.

You might like NCL newer ships as well...but book a Club balcony suite or aft balcony.

MDR food is pretty good and specialty dining is quite good (you typically get 1-2 included in your booking).

Service is not quite up to par with Celebrity or Princess, except bartenders--NCL is the only time I have had bartenders come out from behind the bar to hug me at the end of my 2 weeks when I handed them an extra tip. Don't get me wrong, NCL service is NOT BAD. Celebrity & Princess excel in service, imo.

Why do I recommend NCL?

1--FANTASTIC shows

2--WATERFRONT--this is the wrap-around promenade deck you speak of, but EVERYTHING it should be. A bar on each side, waterfront dining at specialty restaurants, LOTS of casual seating around the whole deck. THIS is what sold me on NCL.

 

We sail our 1st Carnival 2 weeks from tomorrow. It was a free casino offer...to Hawaii. 

Free? Hawaii? Awfully difficult not to have a good time!!

[RobertoF]

Have fun on the Hawaii cruise.  Please report back on your experience with Carnival.  We tried NCL a few times.  We had a different experience with service on NCL in that I found it cold and standoffish.  I always say on Princess if you approach a crew member and ask a question the answer is always "yes" -- yes, we will find a way to do what you are requesting (even if it is technically against the rules).  With NCL I felt the answer was always "no" and then I would get a canned answer that some lawyer in corporate wrote.  I was particularly annoyed when we had a big family cruise (20 people) and 6 young kids and the youngest was 8 days from his birthday that would have put him in the older group with his cousins and they refused to move him.  I even offered to sign whatever waivers they wanted but the answer was a cold "no" and all of the kids left the club so as to not leave out their youngest sibling/cousin.  After that I vowed to not sail NCL again and so far I have kept that vow.

[KmomChicago]

On 12/19/2022 at 9:07 PM, cruisinqt said:

I had similar feelings after doing the Grand Princess a few years back. I enjoyed the cruise it was a beautiful ship but things just pretty much shutdown after 10 pm. Yes the bars and casino were busy but nothing else. And like you I’m a night owl so that was a bit of a bummer. There were lots of activities scheduled during the day but they weren’t my cup of tea. I wasn’t very interested in ballroom dance classes, lectures, watching ice sculptures be carved, learning how to make towel animals, etc. The food was really good, especially in the MDR. And the shows were excellent, better than Carnival’s in my opinion. But I just felt a bit restless and bored oftentimes on that cruise. It just wasn’t my cup of tea I guess. I don’t dislike Princess, I can see why so many people like them, it just wasn’t for me. Royal on the other hand was very similar to Carnival so I sail them every now and then when I find a good deal. In fact I’m going on Quantam of the Seas in May for an Alaskan cruise. 

Everything you describe sounds good to us. We like RCI's entertainment and their largest ships, but overall we find Carnival to be a solid value. . . however, we are early birds so having the entertainment close down by 9 or 10 is fine for us. We really like good production shows and Playlist on Carnival is hit or miss and not really blowing us away anymore, and I am finding the Punchliner comedians less funny over time so feeling open to considering other options. We really enjoy daytime enrichment activities on Carnival which are mostly trivia or silly games, but I think we would be ready to switch that up with some of the educational talks and sure, maybe ballroom dance class, why not? We are just now considering an Alaska cruise for 2024 and I was leaning toward RCI since they sail a Quantum class on that run, though I know Princess really specializes in Alaska, and has the rights to the best scenic routes. You've got me thinking to put them back in contention. 

[KKB]

26 minutes ago, RobertoF said:

Have fun on the Hawaii cruise.  Please report back on your experience with Carnival.  We tried NCL a few times.  We had a different experience with service on NCL in that I found it cold and standoffish.  I always say on Princess if you approach a crew member and ask a question the answer is always "yes" -- yes, we will find a way to do what you are requesting (even if it is technically against the rules).  With NCL I felt the answer was always "no" and then I would get a canned answer that some lawyer in corporate wrote.  I was particularly annoyed when we had a big family cruise (20 people) and 6 young kids and the youngest was 8 days from his birthday that would have put him in the older group with his cousins and they refused to move him.  I even offered to sign whatever waivers they wanted but the answer was a cold "no" and all of the kids left the club so as to not leave out their youngest sibling/cousin.  After that I vowed to not sail NCL again and so far I have kept that vow.

Yeah, I had a few issues that put me off in August on the Getaway. 

45 min to get a correct key? (I did a B2B) I removed my gluten sensitivity from their dining notes because it was such a pain. And I tried to cancel Vibe for my 2nd week on day 2 of the 1st week. NOPE. COULD NOT BE DONE. Huh? If I was at home & could call, it could be done. But they damn well knew I couldn't do that so they were gonna keep my $.

 

But the connections I made with the bartenders & Syd Norman performers helped offset.

Plus for a solo cruiser (DH had golf commitments), I found it easier to start conversations with people that my solo week on Princess.

 

Celebrity is our fav (LOVE E-class!), followed closely by Princess.

RCCL is 3rd & NCL after that. 

(my parents ranked them the same)

They each have things they do better than the others.

Celebrity: service, food, shows on E-class

Princess: service, food, game shows (they do it like no one else)

RCCL: shows & "extra" activities

NCL: Waterfront, shows & "extra activities.

 

We will still sail them all...So far NCL has been cruises we won (poker) or tremendous solo value.

Celebrity, Princess & NCL giving us the "all-inclusive" package (or virtually) typically prices other lines out for us. 

DCL was great but at 30% pricier, it's not 30% better.

Trying Carnival this month & MSC next month...let's see where they fall!

[LouChamp]

6 hours ago, RobertoF said:

We are fairly young for cruisers and love Princess.  I used to bash Carnival even though we had never been on a Carnival ship (unfair, I know).  So this year we went on Carnival Sunrise and it was everything I feared.  We hated it and will not go back on Carnival.  Everything was lower end and more crowded on Carnival.  That East Villiage club/mosh pit party atmosphere just did not appeal to us.  More recently we have been sailing Celebrity.  It is more expensive, but if you find Princess to be a bit dull I would say try out a Celebrity Edge-class ship (Edge, Apex, Beyond).  We have been on each of these ships and loved them all and now Celebrity is our go-to cruise line.  Celebrity has elegance like Princess or HAL but more activities (including late night like club DJs and silent disco) and more and better entertainment (particularly the quirky shows in Eden).  Also, Celebrity has great smoke-free casinos.

Aloha. Agree with you totally.  I see you are seasoned cruisers.  If you can start to take longer cruises as we have learned to Europe, South Pacific, South America/Antarctica.  When I was younger Carnival was fun but unfortunately no longer for us.  Smooth Sailing.

[cruisinqt]

4 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Everything you describe sounds good to us. We like RCI's entertainment and their largest ships, but overall we find Carnival to be a solid value. . . however, we are early birds so having the entertainment close down by 9 or 10 is fine for us. We really like good production shows and Playlist on Carnival is hit or miss and not really blowing us away anymore, and I am finding the Punchliner comedians less funny over time so feeling open to considering other options. We really enjoy daytime enrichment activities on Carnival which are mostly trivia or silly games, but I think we would be ready to switch that up with some of the educational talks and sure, maybe ballroom dance class, why not? We are just now considering an Alaska cruise for 2024 and I was leaning toward RCI since they sail a Quantum class on that run, though I know Princess really specializes in Alaska, and has the rights to the best scenic routes. You've got me thinking to put them back in contention. 

One of the reasons we are doing Quantam of the Seas to Alaska is because we wanted to switch things up because we were getting a little tired of the same old stuff on Carnival. So I completely understand your feelings here. After many years of cruising your tastes change or you just want something different. 
 

But I have to say that Carnivals Excel class is very different from their other cruise ships if you’re thinking about doing Carnival anytime soon. The layout is completely different and very similar to Royal’s with sky bridges and a promenade area. They had a fantastic violin trio playing in one area that were amazing. And they had other evening entertainment other than just the Playlist productions. There’s a 2 story open air theater area called Grand Central that had shows playing every evening in addition to the shows in the main theater. A couple of nights they had some really good magicians perform. I also enjoyed watching the Family Feud game there. All of the entertainment there was very different from what we normally see on Carnival and we liked it better. There’s also soda fountains and several really good specialty restaurants. My favorite was Emeril’s Bistro (Emeril’s Lagasse) and my husbands was Rudi’s Seafood Grill (Rudi Sodamin). We both enjoyed the new Street Eats area which is a tribute to food trucks around the world. Overall this new class of ship seems to be trying to change things up a bit and we both agreed that it was a huge improvement. 

[fuddrules]

23 hours ago, RobertoF said:

You definitely have a point.  Maybe we'll give Carnival another try with Celebration or Horizon at some point.  Those are the two newer ships close to us.  With Princess and Celebrity we have been on old and new ships and the experience has been similar.  There are things we like better about the old ships (wrap-around promenade decks; traditional large dining rooms; real balconies) so it does not feel like a significant downgrade to be on the older ships on these other lines.

 

Just be aware that Carnival is generally far from elegant.  It attracts quite a few people that aren't elegant (like me for instance).  I don't prefer elegant and I certainly don't want to pay for it.

 

I go along with the dog and pony show and wear a button down shirt and tie on Carnival's fufu nights, but that's as far as I go.  It's simply not me and I don't like to pretend.

 

I prefer what I consider comfort.   Khaki shorts and a t-shirt or really get crazy with a collared pull over.    Having an occasional drink, some comedy, eating a good burger, getting some sun,  hot tubs, exploring new cities anywhere in the world, etc...  That's it, that's all I'm looking for - no fluff no fufu.

 

I seem to fit in with most of the Carnival crowd - but I've never been on their short booze cruises and have no desire to go.

Edited December 25, 2022 by fuddrules

[Honolulu Blue]

13 minutes ago, fuddrules said:

Just be aware that Carnival is generally far from elegant.  It attracts quite a few people that aren't elegant (like me for instance).  I don't prefer elegant and I certainly don't want to pay for it.

 

I go along with the dog and pony show and wear a button down shirt and tie on Carnival's fufu nights, but that's as far as I go.  It's simply not me and I don't like to pretend.

 

I prefer what I consider comfort.   Khaki shorts and a t-shirt or really get crazy with a collared pull over.    Having an occasional drink, some comedy, eating a good burger, getting some sun,  hot tubs, exploring new cities anywhere in the world, etc...  That's it, that's all I'm looking for - no fluff no fufu.

 

I seem to fit in with most of the Carnival crowd - but I've never been on their short booze cruises and have no desire to go.

I think you and I would get along very well if we ever met.  My style and your style are very similar.  

 

P.S.  The newer ships tone down most of the Vegas-style neon and glitz in the public areas for something approaching elegance.

[KKB]

2 hours ago, fuddrules said:

 

Just be aware that Carnival is generally far from elegant.  It attracts quite a few people that aren't elegant (like me for instance).  I don't prefer elegant and I certainly don't want to pay for it.

 

Funny thing is, we don't find Carnival to be any cheaper (if at all) when we do the All included (drinks, tips, wifi) packages on Celebrity or Princess.

10 years ago Mom wanted to take whole family a NYE cruise. Figured Carnival would be cheapest. 

(this was BEFORE all-inclusive packaging came around). 

Princess was less expensive than Carnival for interior rooms.

I think many people ASSUME Carnival is cheaper but might find differently in comparing pricing.

[CruizinSusan70]

57 minutes ago, KKB said:

Funny thing is, we don't find Carnival to be any cheaper (if at all) when we do the All included (drinks, tips, wifi) packages on Celebrity or Princess.

10 years ago Mom wanted to take whole family a NYE cruise. Figured Carnival would be cheapest. 

(this was BEFORE all-inclusive packaging came around). 

Princess was less expensive than Carnival for interior rooms.

I think many people ASSUME Carnival is cheaper but might find differently in comparing pricing.

Please humor me with an apples to apples comparison when you can sail on X at an all inclusive rate versus a bare bones Carnival rate.   I don't even think 7 days on the oldest M Class ship versus the Mardi Gras or Celebration would result in Carnival being more.

[KmomChicago]

On 12/24/2022 at 4:03 PM, cruisinqt said:

One of the reasons we are doing Quantam of the Seas to Alaska is because we wanted to switch things up because we were getting a little tired of the same old stuff on Carnival. So I completely understand your feelings here. After many years of cruising your tastes change or you just want something different. 
 

But I have to say that Carnivals Excel class is very different from their other cruise ships if you’re thinking about doing Carnival anytime soon. The layout is completely different and very similar to Royal’s with sky bridges and a promenade area. They had a fantastic violin trio playing in one area that were amazing. And they had other evening entertainment other than just the Playlist productions. There’s a 2 story open air theater area called Grand Central that had shows playing every evening in addition to the shows in the main theater. A couple of nights they had some really good magicians perform. I also enjoyed watching the Family Feud game there. All of the entertainment there was very different from what we normally see on Carnival and we liked it better. There’s also soda fountains and several really good specialty restaurants. My favorite was Emeril’s Bistro (Emeril’s Lagasse) and my husbands was Rudi’s Seafood Grill (Rudi Sodamin). We both enjoyed the new Street Eats area which is a tribute to food trucks around the world. Overall this new class of ship seems to be trying to change things up a bit and we both agreed that it was a huge improvement. 

Thanks for the response. I did a live review from the second sailing of Mardi Gras and we enjoyed one of our best cruises ever.  If they send an Excel class ship to Alaska we’ll certainly add it to the short list.

[SERK]

On 12/24/2022 at 9:08 AM, RobertoF said:

You definitely have a point.  Maybe we'll give Carnival another try with Celebration or Horizon at some point.  Those are the two newer ships close to us.  With Princess and Celebrity we have been on old and new ships and the experience has been similar.  There are things we like better about the old ships (wrap-around promenade decks; traditional large dining rooms; real balconies) so it does not feel like a significant downgrade to be on the older ships on these other lines.

You should try a Carnival Journey's Cruise.  They tend to have a more mature crowd of people as they are longer and more expensive.  I think you'll have a better experience with what Carnival offers.  The shorter 4-5 day cruises tend to be cheap and bring the cheap on board with it.  

 

Our last 5 day cruise in 2021 was an exception though.  Maybe because the Covid restrictions were still in place but we had a nice group of people on that one. 

[cruisinqt]

7 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

Thanks for the response. I did a live review from the second sailing of Mardi Gras and we enjoyed one of our best cruises ever.  If they send an Excel class ship to Alaska we’ll certainly add it to the short list.

Oh I’d be with you on that one. I wish Carnival sent their bigger newer ships to Alaska or overseas to Europe instead of keeping them in the Caribbean. That’s why I chose the Quantam because if I did Carnival to Alaska it would be on the Spirit. And I’m spoiled by these big ships with so many choices for entertainment and food.  

[sparks1093]

16 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Please humor me with an apples to apples comparison when you can sail on X at an all inclusive rate versus a bare bones Carnival rate.   I don't even think 7 days on the oldest M Class ship versus the Mardi Gras or Celebration would result in Carnival being more.

I can't do a comparison with X, but I did just price out a Princess vs Carnival cruise. Both left in 9/2024 going to Alaska. Princess leaving from Vancouver, Carnival from Seattle. Princess price for a forward balcony $4206 which includes the drink package, Wi-Fi for two, tips and a few other amenities. Carnival's price for an aft balcony was $3363. Add in gratuities of $203, Cheers at $991, Wi-Fi at $202 and the total is $4759. That's a $553 difference, so yes, it pays to shop around. Of course if someone doesn't buy Cheers the price difference may not be so much, but one should definitely look at all such factors in deciding. We will likely be looking at Princess as a possibility from now on. 

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I can't do a comparison with X, but I did just price out a Princess vs Carnival cruise. Both left in 9/2024 going to Alaska. Princess leaving from Vancouver, Carnival from Seattle. Princess price for a forward balcony $4206 which includes the drink package, Wi-Fi for two, tips and a few other amenities. Carnival's price for an aft balcony was $3363. Add in gratuities of $203, Cheers at $991, Wi-Fi at $202 and the total is $4759. That's a $553 difference, so yes, it pays to shop around. Of course if someone doesn't buy Cheers the price difference may not be so much, but one should definitely look at all such factors in deciding. We will likely be looking at Princess as a possibility from now on. 

I don't know if you factored in flights. I believe it will cost you more to fly to and from Vancouver than the same for Seattle.

[CruizinSusan70]

11 hours ago, cruisinqt said:

Oh I’d be with you on that one. I wish Carnival sent their bigger newer ships to Alaska or overseas to Europe instead of keeping them in the Caribbean. That’s why I chose the Quantam because if I did Carnival to Alaska it would be on the Spirit. And I’m spoiled by these big ships with so many choices for entertainment and food.  

Maybe if Carnival started thinking outside of the box then maybe they would have the money to come out with a new ship sometime between 2025 and 2029.   RCI, NCL & MSC all have multiple ships in their pipeline through the end of the decade, while Carnival only has the Jubilee and was announced last week that there would be no more.  They are stuck on a treadmill while their competition moves forward.

[sparks1093]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I don't know if you factored in flights. I believe it will cost you more to fly to and from Vancouver than the same for Seattle.

Probably not from Montreal but the question wasn't about flights, it was about cruise fare. That wasn't a cruise we were planning on, I was just doing some dreaming to pass some time and since someone asked for a comparison and I had just done one, I gave it. Once Princess releases their 2025 itineraries we will be doing some shopping and comparing. ETA that I just checked fares and roundtrip to Vancouver from Montreal was $250, to Seattle from Montreal $420.

Edited December 26, 2022 by sparks1093

[ontheweb]

19 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Probably not from Montreal but the question wasn't about flights, it was about cruise fare. That wasn't a cruise we were planning on, I was just doing some dreaming to pass some time and since someone asked for a comparison and I had just done one, I gave it. Once Princess releases their 2025 itineraries we will be doing some shopping and comparing. ETA that I just checked fares and roundtrip to Vancouver from Montreal was $250, to Seattle from Montreal $420.

OK, but airfare would be part of the total cost. And when we did an Alaskan cruise and looked at both those ports, it was not only more expensive to fly to Vancouver, it was also not direct as were flights to Seatle.

[BlerkOne]

4 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Maybe if Carnival started thinking outside of the box then maybe they would have the money to come out with a new ship sometime between 2025 and 2029.   RCI, NCL & MSC all have multiple ships in their pipeline through the end of the decade, while Carnival only has the Jubilee and was announced last week that there would be no more.  They are stuck on a treadmill while their competition moves forward.

If Carnival Corp wanted a new ship, they could certainly have one. The individual Carnival lines can't override corporate who supplies the funds. MSC, for example, is still essentially a one trick pony. RCI has more older ships than Carnival. Carnival is ahead of the curve.

 

[KKB]

On 12/25/2022 at 12:24 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Please humor me with an apples to apples comparison when you can sail on X at an all inclusive rate versus a bare bones Carnival rate.   I don't even think 7 days on the oldest M Class ship versus the Mardi Gras or Celebration would result in Carnival being more.

I am NOT saying all inclusive rate on X compares to bare bones on Carnival.

I AM saying when you take the Carnival rate, add drink package, tips & wifi, you may find price difference are not what you think.

It is NOT always that way...we had a Med cruise on Carnival booked for May 2020...obvi didn't happen.

We had $600 credit to use from it & I swore we were going to lose it. When I compared similar cruises, it was cheaper to book the AI on X, Princess or NCL. 

Finally Carnival offered us a free cruise via the casino. 
Once we paid for drink packages (did the drink calculator & determined it is worth it), wifi (we will share one plan...on Princess & Celebrity we each get our own; no biggie tho) & tips, we are saving only about $1200 compared to if we had booked a 14 day Princess Hawaii cruise. 

Remember--this cruise was FREE. 

Comparing the Princess 14 day cruise on a 25 YO ship to Carnival 14 day on 20 YO ship to Hawaii...the bare bones price is about $750 MORE for Carnival. 

My thoughts are that people simply THINK Carnival is always cheaper...and most don't compare prices to find out if it is so.

 

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

On 12/25/2022 at 1:24 PM, CruizinSusan70 said:

Please humor me with an apples to apples comparison when you can sail on X at an all inclusive rate versus a bare bones Carnival rate.   I don't even think 7 days on the oldest M Class ship versus the Mardi Gras or Celebration would result in Carnival being more.

 

We (me and DH) sailed the Mardi Gras in July, 7-days, in an aft balcony. Cost was about $2,700 total, which did not include drinks.

 

We will be sailing Celebrity Reflection in a Concierge Class extended balcony for 7 days on January 22. For the cruise only rate we paid about $1,700 total. 

 

Edit to add: Mardi Gras was Western Caribbean, X is Eastern.

Edited December 26, 2022 by SRQbeachgirl