NCL Prima vs Princess Caribbean?

[beer_baron]

This will be our first time cruising as a family with 2 kids (5 and 9), and we don't have any experience with either lines/ships.  (Due to timing and other constraints, we're limited to these two choices.)
I've read lots of mixed reviews about both ships, so would appreciate any opinions or recommendations. Thx!

[Essiesmom]

Both lines will have kids programs, but NCL will have more features to entertain kids than any Princess ship.  EM

[Andydoc]

I travel with my 2 kids all the time on NCL.  I have a 9 y.o. Son and a 13 y.o. Girl.  We love to stay in the Haven but often go throughout the entire ship.  My son loves the kids program and there are always kids to play with.  My girl is an introvert and loves to hang out by the pool with me.  We love the Haven pool versus the main pool because you never have to fight for a chair and there are generally other kids in there.  We did Prima from Iceland to London last year and it was good.  The ship was beautiful.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I would NOT go on Caribbean Princess. It's old and tired. If you go with Princess, I'd go on any ship younger than Royal Princess.

[kitkat343]

The Caribbean Princess won't have as much for kids as the Prima.  

 

We sailed the Coral Princess with a 2 year old, and he had a wonderful time, but he wasn't used to cruise ships having waterslides and bumper cars.  Once I took my kids on one of those ships, they were sad on the older ships.  Princess does have a very good kids club, especially for younger kids.

 

If you are sailing primarily for itinerary, NCL has had issues with changing itineraries after final payment.  This was the most recent posting of this happening:   On my sailing, they cancelled a port after final payment "to help the environment" continued to advertise the original itinerary with the dropped port still included for the next month.  They didn't warn anyone booking of the change, and wouldn't let them (or anyone else) cancel because it was after final payment.  We'd booked this cruise for the dropped port, since my daughter was obsessed with monkeys and would really have liked the monkeys at the DR.  If you do chose the NCL trip, always check the refund policies of private vendors before booking in case NCL doesn't stop (the first clue I had that the DR was in jeopardy was the private tour operators highlighting their generous refund policies at the start of their introductory email, which seemed strange until I learned NCL had been cancelling the DR for nearly a year by this point.  

 

[COcruise]

On 3/17/2024 at 10:37 AM, beer_baron said:

This will be our first time cruising as a family with 2 kids (5 and 9), and we don't have any experience with either lines/ships.  (Due to timing and other constraints, we're limited to these two choices.)
I've read lots of mixed reviews about both ships, so would appreciate any opinions or recommendations. Thx!

We did Prima in Oct (with a 10 month old). There is a ton to do for kids, water slides, regular slides, kids club, arcade, mini golf, a go kart track, it goes on and on. We stayed in the haven and loved it, doing another in a few weeks (different ship) also haven. Worth it with kids!