Princess or Carnival?

[micbooth]

I have a chance to take a Princess cruise to Alaska in August. I have always sailed Carnival or RCCL. We are Platinum Carnival cruisers and want to know if Princess recognized this and will we get the perks for boarding etc.? Will we get credit for this cruise with Carnival? Is there a big difference between the ships?

Please help me anyway you can!!

Thanks

Mick

[custompcsys]

The only thing you will get is past guest pricing with Princess, no other perks, and one line's cruises won't count on the other's past guest program towards status.

 

And yes, there are major differences between the two lines and their ships, IMHO. Two totally different experiences. I will let others expand on this but suffice to say I took one cruise on Carnival to try them and I have been back to Princess ever since.

[Toto2Kansas]

Carnival and Princess (or HAL or any of the others in the CCL group) do not combine past passenger perks. What is available to you because of your status on one cruise line, will not be transfered over to the other.

 

BUT, Princess has some of the best past passenger perks of any cruiseline IMHO, once you hit the magic 15 cruises with Princess mark.

 

Check out the Captain's Circle on princess.com and you will see exactly what I mean!

[ggprincess2004]

Give Princess a try to Alaska, you won't be disappointed. The ships have a more subdued decor, and they have a great kids program. They bring park rangers and naturalists onboard for the Alaska sailings, have great shore excursions available, have anytime dining which I highly recommend for those long port times in Alaska....if you find you perfer the ambience on board Carnival you can always switch back, but as Toto pointed out, Princess has a great loyalty program,as well.

For these and many other reasons, Princess is our cruise line of choice.

[sun~]

I was on the Carnival Conquest in Jan. '09 and just off the Caribbean Princess Mar. 22/09.

 

I would actually compare the ships (if the pricing & itinerary were similar).

 

The food was much better on Carnival.

 

Cabin was larger on Carnival (both were regular balcony cabins)

 

The big differences:

 

No promenade deck on the Conquest class ships. A covered area to walk outside is a must for me.

 

No forward facing lounge with sea view on Carnival, CB didn't have it either, but Skywalkers rear facing picture windows would do.

 

You had to walk through smoky areas on the Conquest, as all the bars and casino were up one long hall. I like a casino separate so you have places to escape the smoke.

 

After our last cruise I can honestly say that the public areas are very important to us, so I know I would study a deck plan carefully!

 

In Alaska, I would want a promenade deck.

[hubofhockey]

I was on the Carnival Conquest in Jan. '09 and just off the Caribbean Princess Mar. 22/09.

 

I would actually compare the ships (if the pricing & itinerary were similar).

 

The food was much better on Carnival.

 

Cabin was larger on Carnival (both were regular balcony cabins)

 

The big differences:

 

No promenade deck on the Conquest class ships. A covered area to walk outside is a must for me.

 

No forward facing lounge with sea view on Carnival, CB didn't have it either, but Skywalkers rear facing picture windows would do.

 

You had to walk through smoky areas on the Conquest, as all the bars and casino were up one long hall. I like a casino separate so you have places to escape the smoke.

 

After our last cruise I can honestly say that the public areas are very important to us, so I know I would study a deck plan carefully!

 

In Alaska, I would want a promenade deck.

 

I was on a Conquest class ship on Carnival the past couple of years and agree to most of your points with the exception of the food. Dinners in the dining rooms on Carnival are very good. There is no doubt about that. However, breakfast and lunch buffets are below par (compared with Royal Caribbean - will not have been on Princess until later in the month) with little to zero baked goods available for breakfast and flat (not close to fluffy) omelets made to order with powdered eggs. Lunch lines are long and tables are not easy to get. Breakfast and lunch are tolerable, at best, on Carnival. Maybe it's different in the dining rooms.

 

On Carnival, you do have to get through smokey areas to get to many places and there is no safe haven from that with respect to evening entertainment (with the exception of the main auditorium). Ships are congested and ther is one main pool area with very little room to move around, especially after people move the chairs.

 

There are great things about Carnival including pricing, size of balcony cabins (which all include sofas), outdoor movie theater, self serve ice cream, nice gym, great kids clubs, etc. Carnival is a great value. But I think I am pretty much done with Carnival as my kids are getting older and I don't mind spending an extra $500 to $600 for a more relaxed and less congested cruise.

[grandmato4]

As has already been said, the only perk you will get is past guest pricing on Princess from previously sailing on Carnival. We sail both Princess and Carnival and do feel differences between the two, now preferring Princess, but that's not to say we won't sail on Carnival again. An Alaska itinerary cruise has a different feel to it even when sailing on lines you are used to sailing in the Carribbean. For most passengers cruising Alaska the cruise is all about the itinerary and beautiful scenery of Alaska that you will experience and much less about the shipboard experience than when doing other sailings. People of all ages will be on any ship but the overall demographic of any Alaskan cruise will likely be older no matter which line.

 

If the price is right for the itinerary you would like to experience in Alaska I'd say this is a great time to try Princess. Going with the right frame of mind will likely make at the difference in the world as to how much you enjoy your trip.:)

[kooljamming]

I have a chance to take a Princess cruise to Alaska in August. I have always sailed Carnival or RCCL. We are Platinum Carnival cruisers and want to know if Princess recognized this and will we get the perks for boarding etc.? Will we get credit for this cruise with Carnival? Is there a big difference between the ships?

 

Please help me anyway you can!!

 

Thanks

Mick

 

 

Carnival had great food in the MDR, livelier entertainment while Princess had sheer beauty with a lot of attention to detail. You weren't blown away by it but you couldn't help but slowing down and admiring it all. I loved and will return to each for different reasons. Reasons for Carnival would be an awesome Reggae band, great food in the MDR, on deck 'fun'. It's great to see people not taking themselves or vacation too seriously. Reasons for Princess would be overall elegance, the adult aft pool, the live bands and theme disco with music I can appreciate. 70 nights with YMCA, Hot, Hot, Hot and Celebration was downright fun. We are booked on the Golden for August 8th.

 

 

Princess vs Carnival atrium:

 

 

 

 

 

The Pools on Princess are clearly in a class by themselves

[msmoger]

In Alaska, I would want a promenade deck.

 

I'll second that!! That is exactly where I would want to be when entering Glacier Bay and College Fjord (or when leaving or arriving in Vancouver). The views from the Promenade Deck are spectacular.

[KansasScrapper]

We are cruised both Carnival (twice) and Princess (3 times with our 4th in July). I must say that we perfer Princess hands down. Carnival is a fun and party ship where Princess is more of an upscale ship. I will say we did like the free ice cream on Carnival and there beds were better. But we LOVE the any time dinning and fresh water pools on Princess. For the most part we found we like Princess. We look at Princess first for a cruise and then RC and then Carnival. We are booked on the Golden Princess for our Alaskan cruise this July. We never thought we'd ever get to do it, but couldn't pass up the price this year. Heck our air is costing just as most as our cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I like the live music on Princess, and could do without the repeated "Caribbean" songs that you hear at each Carnival activity. Also there's less PA announcements about bingo and art auctions on Princess, even though that could be cut down too.

[JWJs]

 

Princess vs Carnival atrium:

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic comparison pictures! Thank you.

[windsor26]

I'll second that!! That is exactly where I would want to be when entering Glacier Bay and College Fjord (or when leaving or arriving in Vancouver). The views from the Promenade Deck are spectacular.

 

 

Having done alaska both on Celebrity Infionity and also Sun Princess I would go for Celebrity any day the whole experience as 200% better although Princess was good so how good do you think Celbrity was?

 

Laying on a lounger overlooking the glaciers wrapped in fluffy blankets and being served with complimentary hot chocolate and cookies was fabulous Try Celebrity:D

[micbooth]

Thank you for all your responses. Still haven't decided, still talking with the TA regarding flights whether we want to go on the inside passage with Princess (Seattle-Seattle) or Carnival Vancouver to Whittier. My parents are going and don't know about sitting in Anchorage all day for an evening flight and flying all night to get back home to Florida.

Thanks again

Mick

[drjpreston]

You no longer get past guest pricing if you have not sailed on Princess before. They have stopped offering this. My wife and I are Carnival Platinum we just booked the Golden Princess for our first Princess cruise and 40th anniversary 1-17-10. I have spent hours writing, calling and even a little praying. We even talked to corporate officers and sent both printed and web pages that said we would receive past guest pricing.... to no avail.

If someone has a connection that we have not discovered or tried we are open for ideas. In the mean time no past guest pricing for Carnival platinum members on Princess.

[Cruiser from MS]

We just returned from a 14 day cruise on the Golden Princess. We have cruised 3 times on Carnival and I have to say we like Carnival much better. If you book a balcony cabin on Carnival your cabin is much bigger not to mention the bathroom is also much roomer. Don't get me wrong I liked my cruise to Hawaii but I just like Carnival better.;)