Frustrated with Princess - Choices Summer 2008

[kywildcatfanone]

Hi folks,

 

We have sailed twice on Princess and really like them. We have not cruised on any other line. My wife is a school teacher and so we are somewhat limited to the times we can cruise, but one of the nice things, is we have the entire summer available to us.

Next summer will be our 10th anniversary, and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's 20th anniversary. We have talked about a 10-15 day or so cruise together to celebrate. We have cruised Eastern and Western Caribbean on Princess, so we want to try something else.

I have started looking for something like a Hawaii cruise or southern Caribbean, but it doesn't appear Princess has anything to offer for next summer. Am I right? It looks like there is only one ship cruising the Caribbean and that is from NY.

I can't believe the lack of choices. Am I alone in my frustration? Is Royal Caribbean a good alternative to Princess, if you are a fan of Princess? Any advice?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Mike

[sunluva7]

I hear ya! You are correct - the CB is the only Princess cruise to the Caribbean next summer. We have the same dilemma with educators in the family. We have future cruise and onboard credits to use up, and because the Caribbean is our destination of choice, we have booked the CB out of NY on 8/6/08. (We would have preferred the Western Caribbean.:rolleyes:) If it weren't for all the Princess credits, we probably would have gone with another cruiseline. On the upside, we're looking forward to not having to fly anywhere!:)

[paul929207]

There are so many other places to go. Try Alaska, Europe or Asia. Princess has great cruises to all of them during the summer.

 

P.S. My wife is a retired teacher, so for years we went thru what you are going thru - only being able to vacation during the summer.

[sunluva7]

We live in New England, so have no interest in the Canada-NE cruises, not interested in Alaska right now, prefer the tropics, and Europe and beyond are out of our budget. So, unfortunately, if we choose Princess for next summer, that leaves very few options for us.:(

[CruiseAholic]

Princess has never really had a wide variety of Caribbean Summer options, I sure wish they'd bring back a Bermuda sailing !

[Dixe Lee]

We have always been a Royal Caribbean fan and just got off of our first cruise with Princess. Great cruise, but we still prefer RCCL. If you really like Princess, you will really like RCCL. They have many, many choices that would fit your time frame and offer the same quality service, food and entertainment choices. Beautiful ships, great itineraries, competitive pricing, no reason not to try them. We have tried other cruiselines, but find ourselves still leaning towards RCCL so we are now in the planning stages for a Caribbean cruise on RCCL next March or April.

[10X]

We have sailed on Princess 6 times and Royal Caribbean 3 times so, obviously, Princess is our line of choice. However, we can sail whenever we want to and actually have never taken a cruise in the summer. If Princess is not going where we want, when we want, we next look to Royal Caribbean to see if they can help.

 

Like Dixie Lee said, if you like Princess, you'll like Royal Caribbean. We just happen to like Princess a little more.

[woodofpine]

I haven't gone on RCCL (I look forward to it) but there is a broad consensus that RCCL is very similar to Princess (lots of passenger crossover).

 

On that note, keeping an open mind, I've come to the conclusion that the major lines are all more similar than dissimilar. Celebrity and HAL are also good lines where you'd have to work hard not to enjoy yourself.

 

Even Carnival is good if you book a new ship. A lot of folks diss Big C. to no end, and I've done it myself, but attitude counts for everything. X fans in particular can be intensely loyal and dismissive of C, but looking down onto the verandas of Millenium last Thanksgiving from Miracle, I thought, "I've got teak under my feet (they've got something synthetic) and I've got far and away the best bedding behind me than I've ever enjoyed on a ship... including the M class" (OK Miracle's possibly the best in C's fleet and the buffet food was lesser grade, but still). Carnival's decor and ambience does say "Vegas!" though, so if that's unappealing then pass.

 

If I were looking for a Princess alternative, I'd look at X, RCCL, HAL evaluating price and itinerary and I'd look at Carnival too (but even more selectively).

[Sanibel*Gal]

We have sailed on Princess 6 times and Royal Caribbean 3 times so, obviously, Princess is our line of choice. However, we can sail whenever we want to and actually have never taken a cruise in the summer. If Princess is not going where we want, when we want, we next look to Royal Caribbean to see if they can help.

 

Like Dixie Lee said, if you like Princess, you'll like Royal Caribbean. We just happen to like Princess a little more.

 

I agree....try RCCL - if you find a good itinerary that you like or even check out HAL. We like Princess as well, but we have also checked other itineraries of both and they visit other ports not offered on Princess itineraries.

 

Good Luck - Whatever line you chose.....Any cruise is better than no cruise!!:D

[Hoyaheel]

I'd look at HAL (I love the line) but they don't have any Caribbean sailings listed for next summer either....

[skennedy25]

I was wondering the same thing about the carribbean. I called Princess and they said that they are using alot of their ships in Alaska over the summer. I beg to differ with the person that said if you like Princess, you will like RCL. I f you are the type of person who like 2 different shows with 2 different times, then stay with Princess. We went on Royal and they only had 1 showtime for the shows plus we felt that RCL didn't have enough stuff scheduled on sea days while Princess would have enough stuff scheduled that we had a hard time finding time to do all those things.

[gunner22a]

Is summer the only time you can go. The Golden is doing a bunch of 14 day Hawaii trips in the fall. I booked 29 Oct so just as the chill sets in here in Canada I will get a bit of an extended summer.

[ggprincess2004]

Princess really is staying out of the Caribbean during Hurricane season. They may have made the decision for two reasons: Profitability and operations.

It would be nice to see them have a year round commitment to FLL, but their decision makes sense on several levels.

[Manny's mom]

I have sailed Princess to Alaska and this past summer from Athens to Barcelona on the Royal. Both were amazing trips. This year we are sailing the Grand to the British Isles. There are tons of places to go --

[wizard-of-roz]

Are RCCL cabins bigger than Princess?

[wrp96]

We went on Royal and they only had 1 showtime for the shows plus we felt that RCL didn't have enough stuff scheduled on sea days while Princess would have enough stuff scheduled that we had a hard time finding time to do all those things.

 

What RCCL cruise were you on where there was only one show time? That is not the norm for RCCL. Every RCCL cruise I've been on has always had 2 show times, one for main seating, one for late seating. The only night it is different is on the first night of the cruise.

[wrp96]

Are RCCL cabins bigger than Princess?

 

From what I understand it varies by ship and by stateroom category. If you are looking at RCCL's oldest ships, those tend to have extremely small staterooms. But the newer RCCL ships have much larger staterooms. Also remember when comparing that Princess usually includes the balcony in the stateroom measurement, while RCCL lists the measurements for the stateroom itself and a separate measurement for the balcony.

[cruzkitty]

I love Princess-it's my favorite line, but I'm going back to Royal Caribbean next summer because of the lack of cruises in the Caribbean that Princess offers. September is our month to cruise, and Princess does not offer a cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, only New York, and 10 days. It is hard for us to get away for 10+ days, so we really like the 7-day cruises. I'm sure I'll be going back to Princess, hopefully on a Hawaiian or Tahiti cruise at some point. But next summer will be another Carribean cruise, I love the WARM Caribbean cruises!! I just love the cruising experience altogether.:)

[Dixe Lee]

Mike, you should peruse the RCCL threads. I think you would be pleasantly surprised. A previous poster stated that RCCL only has one show per night and few activities during the day on sea days and that is simply not the case. May be the case back several years ago, but RCCL sets the standard in a lot of respects, especially for families who are looking for a variety of activities that will please all age groups. This is not to put down Princess, we just sailed on Princess and we really enjoyed our cruise, but RCCL would not disappoint you, either.

[impartfish]

We've cruised many times with Princess (lost count after 16th one) and 10 times with RCI. The two cruise lines are VERY, VERY similar. Princess does some things better like the dining room food & service and the muster drill and RCI has incredibly beautiful ships with very, very comfortable & beautiful cabins.

 

You really should give RCI a try. HAL would also be a good alternative.

[janetz]

We are saling the CB next May just because it is Princess and sails from NY. My thoughts are that Princess is making a mistake by not offereing more cruises to the Carribean next summer which is high season for familys to cruise. People are forced to other lines, and may not come back to Princess. :cool:

[Vacationschedule]

Princess and Royal Caribbean are much more alike than they are different. Both are mass market lines catering to the same type of passengers. The newer class ships such as the Radiance, Voyager and Freedom class have very nice staterooms. I like the RCCL ships more than Princess. The Radiance class are outstanding with views of the sea at almost every turn. I would check into Royal.

[kywildcatfanone]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. I will see what else I can find. We really wanted to do Hawaii next summer, but no one seems to have something like that. Anyhow, I will look into RCCL, as my brother-in-law wants to try them as well. I hope they have anytime dining, we really like that about Princess.

 

Any more advice, keep it coming!

 

Mike

[Coral]

It is about $$$$. Princess can get more money for their sailings in Europe and Alaska compared to the Caribbean. They also don't have hurricane issues in Europe or Alaska either.

 

Celebrity is another line which routinely does not put ships in the Caribbean in the summer.

[curiouscat]

Actually, there ain't much sailing in the summer out of Ftl and Miami next summer. My mom wanted a 10 day carib sailing in may/June and not a one... they reposition the ships to Europe. I looked at X,Rcl,princess and holland,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

The strange thing is they have the ships going out of NY..... she is from NY but doesn't want to sail out from there.... can be too cold/windy and rough....

 

Just weird how limited they are leaving the summer carib sailings from down south:eek:

 

CuriousCat