Comparison of Princess, RCCL, and Carnival. My review of the Crown Oct 5th - 12th

[flvol77]

Review of the Crown Oct 5th -12th

 

I thought I would do this a little different. Since we has cruised Carnival, RCL, and Princess all within 6 months I thought I would compare each. We have sailed the Valor, Mariner and the Crown.

 

Embarkation:

1) Carnival

2) RCCL

3) Princess

 

Both Carnival and RCCL do a great job of their boarding process. Carnival’s new facility in Miami is impressive to say the least and you are in A/C Building and not standing outside like Princess in FLL.

 

RCCL seems to also do a good job in Port Canaveral were a little more disorganized than Carnival but I would put them a close 1 and 2.

 

Princess is always disorganized, especially this time being their first cruise back from Europe.

 

Stateroom:

1) RCCL

2) Carnival

3) Princess

 

On RCCL we had a junior suite and it was huge, it was an awesome Cabin.

 

Carnival we had a balcony and Crown we had a mini suite, yes I know it’s hard to compare the cabins but we have been in a Princess balcony on the grand class ships so I feel I can compare them.

 

I liked the idea that Carnival has a small couch in their balcony room, but If you can land a caribe balcony IMO it outweighs the missing couch, and honestly I would rather have a caribe balcony than a mini suite.

 

RCCL is a notch above but so was the price.

 

Stateroom Steward:

1) Princess

2) Carnival

3) RCCL

 

Princess and Carnival were both outstanding, Princess a little notch above for always replacing our wine glasses and just getting us the little things. We do like the towel animals and I enjoyed that on Carnival. RCCL was horrible, yes she was getting off the ship in a week and looked worn out but, I hope this doesn’t sound nasty that isn’t my problem and we are VERY LOW maintenance, and very easy to please. Our room steward on Princess this last cruise said we had the cleanest cabin and he appreciated us.

 

Buffet:

1) Princess

2) Carnival

3) RCCL

 

We always enjoy Café Caribe on Princess and this last cruise wasn’t any different. I was disappointed with the long lines (the worst in 9 cruises with Princess) but once you got in there the food was exceptional for a buffet and the service has improved.

 

We liked Carnival’s buffet, their sandwich station and their Asian Buffet was nice.

 

RCCL was horrible, the food selection, the lines, the service. I hated not being able to get my own water, I know that sounds strange, but this irked me, especially after hours and the buffet is closed down you couldn’t get water? I don’t want to go to the front of the ship in their little café and get water. I also didn’t understand the pizza, hotdogs and burgers on the buffet, I can’t believe they have these huge ships and don’t have separate stations for those items. I hated their hours, I am use to Princess, I don’t want to be have to do anything by a clock when on vacation, the buffet would start closing up around 2:30 and I was like what is going on, and the only place to eat was the little café or room service.

Princess and even Carnival blow RCCL out of the water on this one.

 

Dining Room:

1) Princess

2) Carnival

3) RCCL

 

First of all we love anytime dining on Princess. We eat when we want to eat. We love their menus and selection. The service one night was slow (lobster night which is always slow) Food was ALWAYS cooked right and always came out hot.

 

Carnival, food was good, IMO the menus are a little more mainstream, BBQ ribs and a burger on the menu isn’t my cup of tea. Everything we ordered was good, service was outstanding. Didn’t like having to sit near a bunch of loud, drunk southern hicks every night because of traditional dining, and I am from Knoxville, Tennessee and I am allowed to say southern hicks because I have some of that in me also. Food wasn’t always prepared correct and honestly more times than not came out cold. Which was disappointing because I thought with traditional that wouldn’t be the case. The announcements at dinner cheapened the experience for us, while drinking my coffee and enjoying my dessert I don’t care to hear about what is going on that night or what team has the most points.

 

RCCL, where do I start? Couldn’t stand all the people crowded around the front entrance every night rushing to get in and RCCL would have their picture areas set up in that area so you couldn’t get into the doors. We tried coming later each night, but I kid you not the doors would open at different times every night, the first night they were 20 minutes late from opening and each night it was different and we couldn’t figure it out. Menu lacked a variety, their lobster night dish was a joke, and they didn’t even make it the suggested dish from the chief? I thought that was bizarre. The food was prepared wrong, and the food was cold maybe 4 out of 6 nights. Service was ok, the assistant waiter was the only one that seemed to care and she was a sweet heart, the head waiter did nothing and was of no use.

 

Specialty Restaurants

1) Princess

2) Carnival

3) RCCL

 

Princess: The Crown Grill was an outstanding experience, we ended up knowing the supervisor (Ariel) over the CG and he took very good care of us, the food, the service, everything was top notch and it was well worth the extra price.

 

Carnival: The supper club was an awesome experience, their décor and presentation was amazing and their service just blew me away, the only thing I didn’t like was my entrée size seemed a little on the small side. If it wasn’t for the special service from Ariel at the Crown Grill then Carnival would be number one.

 

RCCL: Chops was another great experience, the setting was fabulous. The food was extremely good, my only problem was my steak wasn’t cooked properly but it was quickly fixed. The service was also outstanding.

This is a category that I would almost make it a 1a 1b 1c – each of the cruise lines do an amazing job with their specialty restaurants and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommended each and every one of them.

 

Ship:

1) Princess

2) RCCL

3) Carnival

 

Princess: We like the big ship, small ship theme and it works for us. Princess seems to build their ships were views of the water are always available, we also enjoy that their deck that you can walk around is on the main deck, unlike on RCCL which is one deck lower than the main deck. I guess I don’t understand why everyone gets confused on Princess, some seem to say the decks don’t go through, actually if you just think from deck 7 through 15 go through you will be fine, honestly I don’t understand why this is so hard. We enjoy the Crown, we loved the international café, and Piazza had a lot charm and we like the grand class ships.

 

RCCL: Impressive ship, it was big, and on the outside and inside you knew it and I hated the main street like theme, it was always crowded and seemed like the only way to get from one end of the ship to the other was to go through it and we didn’t like it. We liked the décor, the dining room was impressive. We didn’t like the pool areas that much, we like how Princess has 4 pools.

 

Carnival: WOW, talk about a hurting your eyes, very flashy and loud. Honestly we were prepared for it so it wasn’t that big of deal. The ship wasn’t that hard to get around because we are use to the Grand Class of ships, the movie screen has nothing on MUTS on Princess and the pools were ok. It did nothing for us, but we enjoyed the different themes throughout the ship.

 

Value:

1) Princess

2) Carnival

3) RCCL

 

Princess offers us the best value for our money, we are platinum and get to enjoy some additional perks that make cruising and little more enjoyable is great for us. The FCC is a great way to go. When we get off a Princess cruise we feel it was an outstanding value and can’t wait to go again.

 

Carnival, offers a lot of bang for your buck, no it’s not Princess, if you go with an open mind and understand that you are getting a lower price for a reason and that it’s still a cruise and it’s what you make of it you will be fine also with them offering an anytime dining option we will be back to Carnival when Princess isn’t sailing out of the Caribbean.

 

RCCL, well the cabin was amazing but the price was also higher than any cruise we have ever taken. We went with high expectations and RCCL seriously let us down. All my friends told me you will never go back to Princess once you take a cruise on a “real” cruise line, well, that couldn’t have been further from the truth and we went running back to Princess, and I doubt we will be back anytime soon to RCCL.

 

I hope this comparison helps some, I know the comparing question always seems to come up that is why I structured my review this way. If you have any questions please ask.

[jwave]

I really enjoyed your review. I liked how it was laid out, it was simple to follow and highlighted areas that I have questioned. I have always wondered about RCCL but have been put off by the higher price, esp. since we already enjoy Princess. Of course I would love a larger room, but we enjoy the mini-suites (we bring our daughter so the extra interior room is appreciated).

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences in an obviously thoughtful and unbiased manner.

[sunshine426]

Wonderful comparisons. I especially like the description of the dining room experience. I always wonder abt the wait time complaints for anytime dining. I feel like I am always waiting to go eat with traditional. We usually ended up getting down to the dining room abt 10 minutes early, then waited for all the table mates, the doors to open, etc. With anytime dining, we waited rarely if at all. I also laughed at the "southern hicks". Coming from Atlanta, I had a moment of :( :mad: , and then with the I know I have some southern hick in me, I had to laugh. I would probably have thought the same thing!!!

[goouchjac]

flvol,,,

Thanks so much for that very detailed review,,,,makes me feel better as this will be our first Princess cruise...We have sailed RCCL and Celebrity and honestly a little leary of going to another cruise line.

Sounds like the Crown is a great ship and getting very excited to get on and enjoy,,we are going in Jan. with friends and very much looking forward t the Princess experience:D ....

[floatel_lvr]

Flvol77,

Thanks so much for taking the time to do these comparisons. We are long time RCCL cruisers who are looking forward to trying Princess next year. I look forward to doing my own comparison but more importantly looking forward to seeing for myself how we like Princess.

RA

[jacketwatch]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. As fro the lines when main dining opens we have experienced this on RCI and Princess so just go about 5 min. after the doors are scheduled to open. No problems then.

[5fathom]

I have read some good objective comparisons and reviews on these boards and yours is one of the best. Great job!

[cruisinfever]

Thanks so much for your reviews. We are long time RCCL fans but were turned off this year when our prebooked cruise to the Southern Caribbean turned into a Spanish Immersion Cruise and everything would be in Spanish. They called us stating it was a courtesy call to let us know. They did refund our deposit but I lost out on the flight which I had to exchange. We are now booked on the CB out of Puerto Rico. Looking forward to seeing the difference in cruise lines. We sailed on NCL this summer and there were some features I enjoyed and others I much preferred on RCCL.

 

Thanks again.

[flvol77]

One thing I did fail to mention. I believe the Mariner had an "off" week. The state room steward being horrible didn't help, and I have had some bad to average ones on Princess.

 

I know we said we would never try RCCL again, but this morning we were looking at Panama Canal cruises and we are seriously considering the Jewel 10 day. We also live 45 minutes from Port Canaveral and Princess will not have a ship in the Caribbean from April 19th until Oct 11th so we may end up trying the Freedom of the Seas. I am willing to give them another try as long I can figure out a way of getting a decent deal and the ship has my time dining because that is important.

[DeRon]

flvol77 - Me and my wife have noticed that we agree with all your posts! We always see eye-to-eye with your thoughts and comments.

 

We just got off the RCCL Freedom of the Seas and we had a great time, but there were many things we missed about Princess! The Windjammer buffet on the Freedom was crazy! We affectionately called it the "Helljammer" all week. The dining room was gorgeous and the service was great. We thought the ship was not as elegant and beautiful as Princess. I also did not like the Promenade, the pools or the crowds. The ice-skating rink, climbing wall, Flow Rider were all less than impressive (to us). Probably the only thing that wasn't our experience was the storage in our room. Both Princess and RCCL rooms are fairly small (the class we were in) but the storage of stuff is MUCH better on Princess (closets, drawers, hanging stuff, etc).

 

What we missed from Princess on this cruise:

*The beautiful pools! Especially the aft pool.

*4 pools! Spreads the crowds out

*Less announcements. Cheapened the experience on RCCL

*Elegance and overall "feel"

*Buffet - never closes

*Storage in room

*Price!

 

We are definitely Princess people!

[cruisinfever]

I know we said we would never try RCCL again, but this morning we were looking at Panama Canal cruises and we are seriously considering the Jewel 10 day. We also live 45 minutes from Port Canaveral and Princess will not have a ship in the Caribbean from April 19th until Oct 11th so we may end up trying the Freedom of the Seas. I am willing to give them another try as long I can figure out a way of getting a decent deal and the ship has my time dining because that is important.

 

 

FYI. Our favorite ship is the Jewel of the Seas. She is just beautiful. Loved all of the lounges. There are even pool tables. Very different from the Voyager Class ships. I think you will be happy on her.

[ellbon]

I have done 12 princess cruises and trying RCCL and celebrity this winter. I have heard that the food was better on princess. .gues what.. on the Crown all my meals were cold.

 

I do love the fresh water pools and will miss that but I am ready to try something new to me.

 

As long as i ma in a mini oe a JS i will be happy. as far as the room being cleaned i always find dust and clean that myself. on my last princess cruise i found drink glasses on the balcony.

 

To me everything is luck of the draw! Also i do ont do buffet.. so no problem.

[TwinCruiserMom]

We love Princess and I appreciate your comparisions. We have thought about other cruiselines since Princess just leaves Florida for months on end and it really cuts your options.

 

We also agree that Royal is overpriced and geez with those food problems, I do not think we would even be interested in them. And Carnival, I do not know if I could get over the tacky decor thing. I have seen pictures of their atriums that just hurts my eyes.

 

Thanks for the info!

[shipoflove]

I agree with some of your post. But, it's funny how one cruise can make such a difference. We didn't care for the dining room on the Crown. The dining rooms on the voyager or freedom class on RC are gorgeous. The door crowding experience happens on both. As another poster stated, just show up a few minutes after the dining room opens. The food in the dining room wasn't any better to us than we have had on RC. The head waiters on any of our cruises have never really done anything for us. Our daughter had her birthday on the Crown. She received a postcard in the cabin to take with her to dinner to give to the head waiter showing it was her birthday. She was so excited and gave it to the head waiter as soon as we got to the dining room. We weren't sure what to expect, maybe a piece of cake or something? Well, it was nothing. No one ever acknowledged it was her birthday. She was so disappointed.

We had no complaints about our room steward on Crown, just didn't love him. We have loved all of our room stewards on RC. They have always taken the extra time to get to know you. They would even stop us in the hallway to chat. And of course the towel animals!:D

We had a great time on our Crown cruise. I'm not complaining about any of the above issues because they really aren't any big deal. But just wanted to put my 2 cents in that all of this is so subjective and is just one person's perspective.:)

[DonnaK]

Thanks for posting your opinions. I hope people take them with a grain of salt, because your experience on RCI is not the norm. We typically sail on RCI, but recently tried the Caribbean Princess. We felt that while they are different, they provide equivalent cruising experiences, right down to the quality of the food and service. RCI isn't always more expensive than Princess either - this is variable too.

[Tatka]

First of all thank you for interesting comparisson.

 

Our latest "big ship experience" was also on these 3 lines

 

Caribbean Princess/Explorer of the Seas/Liberty

 

I agree with most of your points.. especially big ship/small feel.. We enjoyed it very much. Also dining.

 

The only real disagreement is about embarkation process.

 

1) Princess was a breeze ( Fort Lauderdale 2006)

2) RCCL was comfortable but long 1+ hours, but we were seated, had coffe etc (Bayonne NJ 2007)

3) Carnival.. Oh my. This was a complete screw up by CCL. Imagine 45 minutes standing outside of the building under sun and then 2+ hours slow line around chairs. Kids crying, older people not feeling well. (Fort Lauderdale 2005)

[Tatka]

I would also add entertainment

 

1) Princess

2) RCCL

3) Carnival

 

While we enjoyed RCCL unusual things such Promenade parades.. we felt that Princess had the best big/small scale choices. Loved various singers in different bars/lounges.

 

Carnival's entertainment outside production shows was non-existant.

[LovetheSea]

Thanks for the comparison. We have also been on the Mariner of the Seas, the Carnival Liberty and the Sapphire Princess. We will be on the Crown Princess next week, so I was interested in what you had to say. We are Celebrity Elite members and had always thought they were the best of the popular lines. (We have also cruised Holland and Norwegian). But we are really disappointed with the changes Celebrity has made over the last couple years. Not to mention the spike in price. We took a lovely cruise to Alaska on the Coral Princess and that is what brought us back to Princess for our E. Caribbean cruise. I had to really talk my hubby into trying it. He wasn't with me on the Alaska cruise I was with my Mother. So I am hoping everything is as nice as on the Coral. We have cruise for a long time and expect things to go wrong. So we are pretty good at going with the flow. As long as the staff on the ship are nice and are trying their best. Can't wait to go. I will post a review when we get back.

[Tatka]

Thanks for the comparison. We have also been on the Mariner of the Seas, the Carnival Liberty and the Sapphire Princess. We will be on the Crown Princess next week, so I was interested in what you had to say. We are Celebrity Elite members and had always thought they were the best of the popular lines. (We have also cruised Holland and Norwegian).

 

We also thought this .. till we tried Princess.

 

While I still think Celebrity has somewhat better (more pollished) service, overall experience was even better on Princess. :)

 

We are sailing on Ruby next month.

 

But we are really disappointed with the changes Celebrity has made over the last couple years.

 

What changes?

 

I am somwhat disappointed with their decision to part with Michel Roux.

[flvol77]

Thanks for posting your opinions. I hope people take them with a grain of salt, because your experience on RCI is not the norm. We typically sail on RCI, but recently tried the Caribbean Princess. We felt that while they are different, they provide equivalent cruising experiences, right down to the quality of the food and service. RCI isn't always more expensive than Princess either - this is variable too.

 

Every cruise we take I we look at the pricing on RCCL and they are ALWAYS 25% higher, maybe not for you because you have sailed with RCCL many times and receive discounts for your status.

 

RCCL is more expensive and I have friends that are Diamond Plus and we cruise about the same time during the year and we compare prices and Princess is always cheaper.

[flvol77]

As another poster stated, just show up a few minutes after the dining room opens.

 

As I said we tried to, and the dining room doors would open at different times each night one night as late as 20 minutes.

[JWJs]

Thanks for posting your comparison of the 3 lines. :) :) :) You did a great job. We sail on Princess and Celebrity and have never been disappointed. Why take a chance on some other line with our hard earned cruise dollars.

[Jade08]

Thanks for posting your opinions. I hope people take them with a grain of salt, because your experience on RCI is not the norm. We typically sail on RCI, but recently tried the Caribbean Princess. We felt that while they are different, they provide equivalent cruising experiences, right down to the quality of the food and service. RCI isn't always more expensive than Princess either - this is variable too.

 

Totally agree!

 

I think Caribbean Princess has better food, but Voyager of the Seas has impressive dinning room.

 

They are equally wonderful.

 

Also, our two Mediterranean cruises on RCI were not expensive at all.

[Tatka]

RCCL has higher pricing due to extensive ads.. and all unusual things they provide (promenade, rock climbing, roller skating, ice-skating).

 

If these things don't matter for you I don't see any other advantages.

 

Some other Princess advantages:

 

1) You can get robes in any cabin (outside of suites by request)

 

2) Buffets on Princess close much later, on RCCL it was 9:00 PM.

 

3) MUTS.

 

4) Less crowded adult pools. There are 2 adult pools.

[caribill]

Our daughter had her birthday on the Crown. She received a postcard in the cabin to take with her to dinner to give to the head waiter showing it was her birthday. She was so excited and gave it to the head waiter as soon as we got to the dining room. We weren't sure what to expect, maybe a piece of cake or something? Well, it was nothing. No one ever acknowledged it was her birthday. She was so disappointed.

 

 

The head waiter blew that one.

 

At the end of the meal, your waiter and assistant waiter should have brought a small cake to the table and sang "Happy "Birthday."

 

Did you get the Happy Birthday balloons on the cabin door that day?