Carnival Valor vs. Caribbean Princess?

[ryane369]

Hello,

 

I'm stuck between two ship's, the Carnival Valor and Caribbean Princess sailing on November 25,2007 with one out of Fort Lauderdale and the other Miami. I have'nt sailed either ship or cruiseline in the past and i'm aware they are roughly the same year, size and price.

 

Which ship would you people reccomend for six single mid-twenties (2 females,4 males) looking for a lot of people our age with many activities during the day aswell as great nightlife?

 

Will both ship's be to capacity or close??

Pro's and con's of each ship would also be greatly appreciated!

 

I'm looking forward to your replies and thanks in advance!:)

[fabnsab]

Well, I can't help you per se, since I was going between these two as well...lol

 

I can tell you that we chose to do the Caribbean Princess after MUCH research. We are 33 and 32 and have been on RCCL, Celebrity, and NCL before. I did Carnival way back when I was 21 so I don't know if I could judge where they are now based on that.

 

When I am stuck, I do what you are doing and come here and read for hours and days on end. These folks always help me decide whether they ever know it or not :)

 

I know Carnival is known for their younger crowd and fun entertainment but they are also known for having more kids. Is that week Thanksgiving? You may get inundated with kids. Hey, you may want that. We tend not to.

 

We decided to go with this ship because we liked the idea of the new amenities like "movie under the stars" or the adults only pool area. Also, we enjoyed NCL for their freestyle dining and Princess gives that option as well.

 

And it sounds lame as heck but I think one will always just speak to you more than another. Thats what happened for me between these two and it seems to every time I am caught between a few.

 

I know I didn't help much but I thought it was funny that we were stuck between the same two...lol Happy choosing!

[ryane369]

Thanks for the reply, every bit of information i recieve helps!

[Pia1913]

This the week AFTER Thanksgiving. You won't find too many kids on either ship.

 

Nightlife will be much better on Carnival; overall experience will be much better on Princess.

 

Pia

[vmom]

For your age group at that time of year, you may prefer Carnival. I think you will see more passengers of your age in the evening.

 

If you just plan to be hanging our with each other, and enjoying some relaxation then it may not really matter.

[howard6933]

I haven't been on Caribbean Princess yet (booked for 11/25), but have been on Princess 17 times including Golden Princess, Star Princess, and Diamond Princess among others. Even though I am partial to Princess, I do go on other cruise lines and sailed on Carnival Valor last year. We had a very nice time on Valor, met some wonderful table mates and overall enjoyed ourselves tremendously. When making a selection, remember that Carnival has assigned dining while Princess has assigned dining as well as "Anytime Dining". Both ships have excellent entertainment and the food is good also. Price and itinerary are other things to take into consideration. I'm sure that whichever cruise and ship you decide upon, you'll have a great cruise. ;)

[Brennivan]

Caribbean Princess, without a doubt!

[DeRon]

You are on a Princess board, but hands down the CB!

[swiss]

We have cruised on both ships and I think that for your age group I would choose the Valor. The Valor has alot of nightclubs and entertainment that would would love. The service on the Valor was one of the best of any cruise that we have been on. The food is about equal on both ships.

 

While we really enjoyed the CB, it was dead at night. There is not nearly as much activity or selection of nightly entertainment on the CB, especially for the time of year that you will be sailing.

[CruiseGem]

I have been on both and loved the movies under the stars on princess and the pools are larger than valor but!!!!! I THOUGHT the people were refreshing and the ship had a happy fun ship feel on valor and the water slides were fantistic i think the discos are always great on any princess grand class or better, if you go on valor have a fun ship good time!!!!:D

[swatts1]

I haven't been on the CP, but sailed Valor May, 2006. It was a very lovely ship and we had the BEST time at the Piano bar. Frankly I thought the food was the worst of any Carnival cruise I've taken, but the special restaurant was Fantastic. The ship was well cared for and my daughters (early 20's) had a great time.

[Umbarger]

Hello,

Which ship would you people reccomend for six single mid-twenties (2 females,4 males) looking for a lot of people our age with many activities during the day aswell as great nightlife?

 

Because of the above statement I would suggest the Carnival Valor. The Valor will have much more people your age and a much livelier nightlife. Remember Carnival is known as the "fun" ships. :D

[CallieS]

I just got back from the CB and sailed the Valor a few years ago. I don't remember too much about the nightlife on the Valor, but I thought the CB had a good nightlife - which I was surprised about. Skywalkers seemed to be very popular and there were outdoor late night parties around the pool a couple nights. It was definitely better than RCI's nightlife. I'm in my 20s and had a really good time on CB. There were plenty of younger people onboard including tons of honeymooners. Valor was great also, but it seemed to have more obnoxious passengers (loud, in-your-face types). Carnival gave the outward appearance of being livelier, but I don't think it really was.

[serene56]

Hello,

 

I'm stuck between two ship's, the Carnival Valor and Caribbean Princess sailing on November 25,2007 with one out of Fort Lauderdale and the other Miami. I have'nt sailed either ship or cruiseline in the past and i'm aware they are roughly the same year, size and price.

 

for the same price--take the Princess.. Usually Carnival is a few hundred dollars cheaper.

 

 

Actually checked the prices and Princess is 100pp cheaper then the carnival one.

Both ships go to different ports too. One is a Western caribbean and the other is a Eastern caribbean.

 

Princess is more relaxing with carnival having more port days so you will be on the go a lot.

[Umbarger]

OP please tell us what you decided. Thanks!

[peterv]

Hello,

 

I'm stuck between two ship's, the Carnival Valor and Caribbean Princess sailing on November 25,2007 with one out of Fort Lauderdale and the other Miami. I have'nt sailed either ship or cruiseline in the past and i'm aware they are roughly the same year, size and price.

 

Which ship would you people reccomend for six single mid-twenties (2 females,4 males) looking for a lot of people our age with many activities during the day aswell as great nightlife?

 

Will both ship's be to capacity or close??

Pro's and con's of each ship would also be greatly appreciated!

 

I'm looking forward to your replies and thanks in advance!:)

 

I would select the Valor for you for a couple of reasons, the CB is doing the eastern Caribbean, which is nice but I've been there too many times. The Valor is going places that I have not been as yet, other than Grand Cayman, which I really like for snorkelling. I do much prefer the nightlife on Carnival as opposed to Princess, which is slightly sedate and well, frankly, a bit boring. The shows and comedians have not been very good the last few times. I really enjoy the piano bar on Carnival, Princess Crooner's with the hack Bert, he is terrible, and it is set in the open atrium. Not really a good piano bar location.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[ryane369]

We cancelled our booking on Carnival Princess and booked the Carnival Valor. From reading the post's on this site it just seems to be the better choice for this cruise. Hopefully we made the right choice!

[ryane369]

Sorry, "Caribbean Princess"! :D

[serene56]

on each of your post you will see an edit button which will allow you to edit you post up til 20 minutes after first posting it. After 20 minutes the edit button will disappear

[Tatka]

I like Princess from all aspects.

 

I also like having 2 adult only pools!

[KBRADLEY06]

Sorry, "Caribbean Princess"! :D

you made a huge mistake...

[ryane369]

OK, thanks for all the details on why I made a huge mistake!:rolleyes:

[KBRADLEY06]

I'm sure you'll have a great time but my wife (late 20's) and myself (early 30's) prefer princess to any other line. We have been on RCL, Carnival, Holland America, and Princess. Our favorite is Princess but Carnival is the only line we will never go on again. We were on the Carribean Princess last April and other than it being a short cruise, it was the nicest cruise we had ever been on. The ship is great and the dining is superb. Although we had a couple good meals on Carnival, we felt most of the meals were flawed and in several cases inedible. We also felt like the ship did not compare to other lines. It kind of had a tacky feel to it. Everything from the cabins, the bathrooms to the furnishings in public rooms to patio furnishings and pool areas were poorly kept.

 

I agree with the who said, "any cruise is a good cruise." Even a bad cruise can be a great vacation. It is also my belief that you can have a great cruise on a less than average line and vise versa. Some people write horrible reviews on ships we thought were perfect, so I guess you never know.

 

Also, if you're new to cruising, I think you will have a blast on whichever line you pick. When my wife and I were dating, we had been on a couple RCL's before we tried Princess. We were already hooked. Now were discovering the differences and how the lines differ from each other. Each line has advantages and disadvantages but we always have a great time. I'm sure you will too. Let us know how it goes. Who knows, maybe we'll try Carnival again sometime.

[Tatka]

I'm sure you'll have a great time but my wife (late 20's) and myself (early 30's) prefer princess to any other line. We have been on RCL, Carnival, Holland America, and Princess. Our favorite is Princess but Carnival is the only line we will never go on again. We were on the Carribean Princess last April and other than it being a short cruise, it was the nicest cruise we had ever been on. The ship is great and the dining is superb. Although we had a couple good meals on Carnival, we felt most of the meals were flawed and in several cases inedible. We also felt like the ship did not compare to other lines. It kind of had a tacky feel to it. Everything from the cabins, the bathrooms to the furnishings in public rooms to patio furnishings and pool areas were poorly kept.

 

I agree with you on all points (except for us the best cruises were on Princess and Celebrity)... and we won't be repeating Carnival anytime soon, but in our experience food and cleaness of Carnival Liberty (then 4 month old) was alright, it's poor design and number of people everywhere made our cruise very unpleasant.

[LynneL]

you made a huge mistake...

 

In MY opinion...Not True! I did just recently return from a Princess cruise (my first with them - usually sail Carnival & have sailed many other lines)..and it was one of my favorites (due also in part to other aspects, such as Renewing our Wedding Vows for 25 years of marriage). However, that said,...as you can guess by the 25 yrs. of marriage...I'm not in my late 20s nor early 30s (though I like to think I look it - lol).

 

Princess' nightlife was a bit sedate and, believe me, I'm not the clubbing type person. Carnival definately has a better night life. Also, from what I saw on our particular ship - the Crown - not as many people in your age group. Although Carnival gets the reputation of this wild party type ship & passengers...not true. If you go on a 3 or 4 day cruise to the Bahamas or on older less expensive ships you'll get a different crowd than on a longer, newer voyage. That will hold true for most lines. The Crown crowd was definately closer to age 50ish. Carnival a bit more diverse & more younger people than Crown.

 

There was not a huge difference in food - dining room may have been a bit better on Princess (also after a while I knew what was going to be served on Carnival on what night of a cruise - so a different menu was nice maybe bumping it up a notch for me) but I felt Carnival had the better buffets.

 

Carnivals decor can be glizty (think Vegas) but then again, would Vegas be Vegas with that aspect? Also, I don't think you're having them decorate your home so sometimes glitz is fun for vacation.

 

My kids who are 20 & 22 so closer to your age group than mine, felt it was a tough toss up between the two lines. Felt each had it attributes. My guess is if they went on one of the Carnival ships that has the big screen similiar to Movies Under The Stars they'd give the deciding vote to Carnival.