Royal Caribbean vs. Princess??

[PA8880]

This question is for those who have sailed on both lines..

I enjoyed Royal Caribbean so much, but wanted to try a different line for a new experience.. Can anyone give me the lowdown on the food, entertainment, pools, bars, service..etc...compared to Royal Caribbean..

Looking to go on the Emerald or the Crown in November.:D

 

Thanks, all!!!

[dclark]

It has been a year since I have been on Princess (got another one this July), but my past experience (I was last on RCL last June) is that Princess makes RCL food look like the bottom of a garbage bin!

The difference in offerings and quality is not 'subjective", it is obvious. Shrimp will be triple in size, you might also get a lobster tail that looks like a lobster tail...

On my last Princess cruise, we had excellent desserts every night. Not just a slice of cake, we are talking three nights that had soufflees, two other nights where a waiter nearby made up fresh bananas foster and cherries jubilee.I have had dishes with half dollar sized scallops, excellent steaks, the shrimp diablo is to die for and hey, who can not pass up the "Princess Fettucini"?

There is one night where there are crab legs (again, RCL is too cheap to offer).

Two years ago on the Golden, they even had swordfish on the menu and it was excellent!

Last summer, my family did a CCL cruise, then after two days, did a RCL cruise and the we were disappointed with the RCL quality-we all noted the cheapness of their food.

Their food has lots of cheap starches to fill you up. For example, one meal had pinky sized shrimp, butterfly cut to give the illusion that they were bigger, surrounding a huge dollop of white rice. The entire lot of shrimp amounted to maybe 8 bites, but hey, that's their thing. We gave up on the steak as it was too chewy to be edible. In the RCL dining room, $15 is the going rate for a steak that is a grade above dog food quality.

[ChampionCruiser]

This question is for those who have sailed on both lines..

I enjoyed Royal Caribbean so much, but wanted to try a different line for a new experience.. Can anyone give me the lowdown on the food, entertainment, pools, bars, service..etc...compared to Royal Caribbean..

Looking to go on the Emerald or the Crown in November.:D

 

Thanks, all!!!

 

These have been our last two cruises (Crown Princess and Mariner) and they were our two favorites. If you liked RCCL you should like Princess, at least I think so.

 

We found service/food to be great on both, so I'll consider it a tie since it is so subjective (obviously)

 

Princess won in the pool category easily....freshwater instead of salt, more pools (4 vs. 3) and a better layout, with the two main pools seperated and not side by side like on RCCL. Plus, we are fans of MUTS

 

Both cruises had good entertainment, but we prefered RCCL, although much of that was due to the ice skating show, which was fantastic. As far as the productions/other performers, they were pretty much equal.

 

As for the ships themselves, they were both stunning, but in opposite ways. RCCL is all about huge, open spaces (royal promenade, dining room, etc.) while Princess divides its ships into smaller areas. Sometimes this means that there isn't as much of a WOW factor, but the ships are definitely elegant, which a lot of people prefer.

 

While it might not be as "safe" to book a different cruise line, I think it is definitely worth it to try at least once, after all, there is no way to know if something else is better until you try it first hand....

[kooljamming]

This question is for those who have sailed on both lines..

I enjoyed Royal Caribbean so much, but wanted to try a different line for a new experience.. Can anyone give me the lowdown on the food, entertainment, pools, bars, service..etc...compared to Royal Caribbean..

Looking to go on the Emerald or the Crown in November.:D

 

Thanks, all!!!

 

We have done both with our most recent on Sapphire Princess. RCCl does have a Wow factor that is massing on Princess however still visually appealing. RCCl was livelier with more activities, which I really missed. The aft pool on Princess was absolutely stunning, quiet and peaceful. I enjoyed the food on both but would give RCCL the edge. We are RCCL fans but took a chance on Princess and really loved it.

 

[critterchick]

Somebody on CC once said that the lines are more similar than different, and I agree. I would give a slight edge to RCI for service in the dining room. On Princess we saw more unsmiling faces than cheerful ones.

 

My experience has been that the dining room food RCI is better, but the buffet on Princess is better. Princess' pizza beats RCI's hands down.

 

I liked the fact that, even on the Diamond Princess, there are lots of nooks and crannies. I also loved the live music on Princess, although I understand it's been cut from, for example, two acts to one in the Wheelhouse Bar.

 

RCI is more family fun, which dose of silly adult stuff (men's sexy legs, bellyflop contest, Quest). Princess is a bit more subdued. Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes not.

 

I think you'll enjoy Princess. Happy sailing!

[sunsetbeachgal]

To each their own-we think the dining room food on Princess was far superior to RCI, gave the buffet edge to RCI (but we really try to avoid buffets on any line), and pizza is FAR better on Princess. Entertainment about the same for production shows, but the edge to RCI on the Voyager class with the ice show. As said, the lines are more similar than different.

[gogispu]

As a veteran of both lines here's my take. Having sailed on 6 RCCL cruises(last one in Dec on Explorer and having been on 2 Princess...here's our take. RCCL was our favorite up until this year. In all fairness, we left out of NY instead of Fl. We have done the vision class ships on RCCL and Voyager class. My parents that were with us have done the radience class also. To say that we were disappointed is an understatement. looking back, I do see that the quality that RCCL once had has greatly diminished IMHO thatthey have had to pay for the big new ships and have cut corners on their older ships. WE missed the towel animals (only got them after I spoke to attendent, he didn't know the ages of our kids and just in general we were disapointed with the service. (This was on the Explorer) We had been on Voyager in 2002 and loved it. Princess we were last on for Thanksgiving of 2007. we have been on the Grand and Caribbean Princess. The kids prefer (as do we) the freshwater pools, even though there is no rock climbing wall, kids love MUTTS. Also found that as far as entertainment goes that it was easier to do things as a family on princess in the evening. We have a teen (14) and he prefers Princess for that reason. Food...again noticed that for kids, there is food available by the pool on Princess. Royal , on the biggerr ships had moved it all down to the Promenade or windjammer. To sum this up..we are going to go on Emerald for Thanksgiiving this year. We will be a mixed group, ranging from 86 to 10 so princess does come out ahead

[cynbar]

I think it all depends on what is most important to you and your family. If you really like the rock climbing wall and ice rink and big promenade area, then Princess is probably not for you because you'd spend all cruise missing those areas. But if you can cheerfully get by without those, give Princess a try. We have sailed RCI, NCL and Celebrity in addition to Princess, and Princess is our cruiseline of choice. We love the more subdued but elegant decor, the freshwater pools, MUTS, anytime dining, 24 hr food, better food IMHO in the MDR, and the smaller but more intimate DRs ( I should add there is no multi-tiered MDR on Princess, by design.) We have found lovely multiple pools, great and varied entertainment, wonderful pizza.... I could go on and on!

[shadowlover]

I have also been on both lines. I feel they are definitely both top notch. I have only been on the grand lines. Princess has better desserts and pasteries as well as pizza. I felt the food otherwise was similar to RCCL. I also feel that the service in the dining room was more consistently better on RCC. Service otherwise was the same. I love the smoking policy on RCC-I hate smoke and they seem to limit the areas a little better. I also think the lounge chairs are a little better on RCC. We had a fabulous cruise director on Princess and it really made it our favorite cruise ever. That being said- there are so many factors that go into cruising so any line could be as good as another. I really don't think you could be disappointed if all goes well on either line.

[Tak8]

I have been on both. I enoyed Royal, but prefer Princess. I sailed on the Crown last Christmas. The pizza on Princess is the best cruise line pizza I've had. Service is fairly equal on both lines. The fresh water pools are great on Princess. You may miss some of the Royal touches like the rock climbing wall and ice skating rink etc. Even if you have a favorite, I think it's good to try a different line. You may find a better fit or confirm you already found the one.

[PA8880]

I'm going with friends..and we enjoy a good cocktail and music. It looks like there are less bars/nightlife on Princess. Whats your take on that? I remeber RCI had a sky bar and the casino was always loud and a good time..I just want to show our friends (they've never cruised before) just how amazing cruising is.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I've spent 20 nights on the Emerald and 9 on the Mariner since January 9th, and posted a detailed comparison that might help you.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=944921&highlight=

 

We think there are some things that Princess does better and some that Royal Caribbean does better, but will be happy to cruise either line in the future. In fact, we have booked cruises on both for next January, and have to decide in a few months which ones we're actually going to take, and it's not an easy decision. We like them both very much.

[chamima]

This is a Princess board so I would expect people to prefer Princess.

It would be interesting to see the EXACT SAME QUESTION posted on the RCCL board. I bet the answers would be quite different!:D

(BTW, we've never sailed RCCL, are quite happy with Princess so aren't looking to switch and therefore I have no opinion on this question, just thought asking the same thing somewhere else would be interesting)

[DiTomCruisers]

We liked the food & service better on the Princess, but the entertainment was better on the RCCL.

 

RCCL also had the huge center area on the ship which was impressive, plus they had soft serve ice cream available 24 hrs a day..

 

 

Either way, I'm sure you'd have a great time...

[PA8880]

hows the nightlife and bars???

Does Princess have a promenade like RCI??

[Tinkerbell26]

Just got off the Crown Princess 3/08 sailing. This was our first time with Princess and if my husband and sister have their say the last.

 

We found the pools wonderful, more impressive than RCC. Service was wonderful on both. Pizza and burgers on Princess by pool wonderful. But, you can't live on burgers and pizza.

 

We found the food in Bottacheli's (sp) horrible. Not one of us finished a full meal. I've read about the wonderful desserts, but, they were missing from our ship.

 

The buffets on the 15th floor just don't compare to RCC.

 

Dinner in Crown Steak House and Sabatini's was wonderful, better I think than the specialty restaurants on RCC. Although The night we ate at the Steak House, they were varnishing the railings right by our table and the odor came right into the restaurant.

 

Debbie

[DonnaK]

We are Loyal Royals who tried Princess last year and loved it. There are things we thought Princess does better, and things that RCI does better, but it all balanced out to an equivalent cruising experience. You can click on the link to the CB review in my signature for a thorough comparison between the two lines. In our opinion, the things that are important to us, such as WOW factor, activities for teens, entertainment and space-to-passenger ratio, RCI excels at so they remain our preferred cruiseline. However, we wouldn't hesitate to sail Princess again, as they provide an excellent cruise too. (I agree with posters who said that Princess does dining room food, especially seafood/shellfish better than RCI, but RCI has a much better buffet area).

[VASOXFANN]

It has been a year since I have been on Princess (got another one this July), but my past experience (I was last on RCL last June) is that Princess makes RCL food look like the bottom of a garbage bin!

The difference in offerings and quality is not 'subjective", it is obvious. Shrimp will be triple in size, you might also get a lobster tail that looks like a lobster tail...

On my last Princess cruise, we had excellent desserts every night. Not just a slice of cake, we are talking three nights that had soufflees, two other nights where a waiter nearby made up fresh bananas foster and cherries jubilee.I have had dishes with half dollar sized scallops, excellent steaks, the shrimp diablo is to die for and hey, who can not pass up the "Princess Fettucini"?

There is one night where there are crab legs (again, RCL is too cheap to offer).

Two years ago on the Golden, they even had swordfish on the menu and it was excellent!

Last summer, my family did a CCL cruise, then after two days, did a RCL cruise and the we were disappointed with the RCL quality-we all noted the cheapness of their food.

Their food has lots of cheap starches to fill you up. For example, one meal had pinky sized shrimp, butterfly cut to give the illusion that they were bigger, surrounding a huge dollop of white rice. The entire lot of shrimp amounted to maybe 8 bites, but hey, that's their thing. We gave up on the steak as it was too chewy to be edible. In the RCL dining room, $15 is the going rate for a steak that is a grade above dog food quality.

 

You know, people might take your opinion seriously without all of the extra drama.

 

If you didn't enjoy the food, fine, but you lost all credibility with the garbage bin and dog food remarks :rolleyes:

[ckrcjr]

We have sailed both lines as well and definitely prefer Princess. We just returned on 3/7 from the Independence of the Seas - we had a group of 23 friends/family and many have sailed both lines. We found the service, food and entertainment has deteriorated tremendously. Although the ship was gorgeous - Princess ships are equally as beautiful. We do not need the rock climbing wall, surf rider, boxing ring, etc to have a great cruise. Some in our group were in their mid 20's and they said they preferred Princess as well because they felt there were more activities going on on Princess and better night entertainment. The food is far better on Princess - although that can be very subjective, and we prefer the smaller dining rooms on Princess over the larger dining room on RCCL. The best thing about the cruise was the cruise director - Graham Seymour, who was previously with Princess and is now with RCCL. He is fantastic and truly carried the entertainment onboard.

 

There were some in our group who stated they would not sail RCCL again because of the above reasons - and we are booked on the Sapphire Princess (24 of us) for Alaska in Sept. Last year we sailed the Emerald for a 10 day cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale and it was the best ever. We have also said the Grand, Crown, Sea, Caribbean over the past years and have never had a bad cruise - all have been excellent.

 

We are trying the new Carnival Dream next Feb. as that ship appears to have features from RCCL (cantilevered hot tubs) as well as the movies under the stars and poolside pizza/burger bars which Princess has. Looking forward to it.

[flbeachmom]

i will be able to answer your question in about a week as we are off on our 1st princess -crown_.. Have been on the RCCL Liberty and Mariner. liked both but loved the NCL this past t-giving better maybe. they each have different things i like about them so i assume it will be the same for the crown. We usually only go on new boats though but as long as i am on one i am happy..

[Tatka]

We like both lines, but Princess more... a like pools set up better, flexible dining, MUTS(!!!)... kids are less noticable (or less of them), smaller scale entertainment, more seafood. :)

[vjmatty]

Will tell you in a few weeks.... we are taking our first Princess cruise on the first of April. I might not be able to give a good comparison though since I've only been on the smaller RCL ships, Enchantment and Legend, to be exact. Some things I like about RCL are the solarium and the way the buffet is set up, and also that they have a hot menu for room service.

[cynbar]

I should also add that Princess does a terrific job on their pasta and it is often ordered as an appetizer portion ---- delicious and fresh choices every night, plus the fettuchine alfredo is on the always available menu. In earlier years, when the MDR was more regimented, the pasta was an offical course, the way it is often served in Italy, before the main entree. Don't hesitate to ask for a smaller portion as an appetizer-- and this doesn't preclude you from getting the regular appetizer, salad, soup, or any combination you desire.

[stargazer]

I have really enjoyed reading the different opinions on this thread especially as we are sailing on the Emerald next month, it will be our 1st Princess cruise after 10 RCI and 1 Celebrity, I have no worries about not enjoying myself as after all I WILL BE ON A CRUISE! LOL

[PescadoAmarillo]

PA880- the nightlife totally depends on the length of the cruise and the time of year. We had considerably more nightlife on our 7 night Mariner cruise than on our 10 night Emerald cruises, but then it was a 7 night cruise, and the average age was at least 15 years younger on that RC cruise than the Princess cruise. But I'm sure that a 7 night Princess cruise, especially during Spring break, would be just as active at night as the same length cruise at the same time on RC.

 

The Mariner had a few more small bars than the Emerald, I think, but it was pretty close. Princess has added some smaller venues (ie Vines and Adagio) to the old staples of the Martini bar and the Wheelhouse on the newer ships.

 

I had to comment on lobster...our lobster on the Mariner was much, much, much better than on the Emerald. I think some of these things are purely luck of the draw, and very ship specific. If anything, I ate healthier dinners on the Emerald than on the Mariner simply because I often resorted to the always available salmon. On the Mariner, the menu had some very different types of items, and I tended to try them, and they weren't always the healthiest meals I could have eaten.

 

Count me among those who loved the 3 story dining room and the live music from a 3 piece group every evening, every dinner on the Mariner. That truly adds a level of elegance that Princess's dining rooms lack. And as for the rock climbing wall, inline skating and ice skating rink...although we enjoyed the skating show very much, we never used them. You don't have to partake of those kinds of activities to enjoy a RC cruise.