Hi Everyone,
We are back home safely in Indy. Thought I'd take a minute to compare
DCL and Princess (Emerald):
The three things that the Princess Emerald wins on are: Food quality, Any-time dining, and Debarkation process. We both felt that the food in the dining rooms was a notch above DCL. Not true for the Buffet, which I would say was a half notch below. You can choose Traditional (early or late) dining or Anytime dining, which is what we chose. We only waited 5-10 minutes twice, and less for all other dinners. If we were in a hurry, we asked to be seated alone, and when we had plenty of time we joined other couples at a larger table. We found this arrangement very flexible and convienent. This would not be possible on DCL for Animators and Enchanted Gardens due to the staging of the experience. I believe all 3 of their main dining rooms are identical (except for artwork), so DCL wins in this respect.
The debarkation process allowed us to sleep in longer and still have breakfast at 9 am. There weren't people sitting on stairs waiting for their number to be called. I hate getting up so early on DCL. Sure embarkation is also delayed, but it's a lot easier getting up at 8 rather than 6 am. DCL might do this because of their proximity to the airport. At Ft. Lauderdale, from the ship to your gate was about an hour, and less than $20 cab fare.
Now what DCL does right: Their port is much better designed. Princess' port was strictly utilitarian, concrete floors, and no regard for separating the guests from baggage handling functions. There was no, "Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the Smith family.", but more than that there was a little more confusion/congestion than I remember on DCL. Princess did load on two separate decks to help with this ... DCL will probably need to do something similar on their new, larger ships.
Their sail away party was dismal. Kids were dangling their feet in the pool while a couple dozen people danced to the live band. Almost can't compare to the DCL stage show. If DCL was a 10, Princess was a 3 maybe. Still upbeat, but not even in the same league. Part of this might have been due to the age of the guests? I'd guess nearly 70% retired (over 60), 25% working ages, and 5% kids. There were 140 under 20 yrs old and between 3100-3300 passengers onboard.
The upper staff were just as good on Princess, but the "hidden" staff might have been a half notch below DCL. Respectful, but maybe less friendly. Our room steward was worthy of an extra tip, and even though we did Anytime dining, we were still greeted by some of our previous wait staff.
Some said their stage productions were the best they had seen on several cruise lines, but we felt like they were a notch or two below DCL. And the Princess Emerald didn't have a separate movie stage, rather using a large bar. They have easier access to drinks, but only two levels as opposed to ampetheatre seating.
Their private island, Princess Cay, is also several notches below Disney's. They had private cabanas, clamshells, floats, waterbikes, personal sailboats, snorkeling, as well as excursions. But the beach becomes rocky about 10 feet offshore, the ship anchors offshore so we had to line up to be tendered ashore, and the lunch was a notch below. Their north beach was terribly crowded, luckily we went south. Their island is too small and narrow to hide the behind the scenes activity (heavy equipment) like Disney does. It wasn't active while we were there, but it detracts from the view (not the ocean view). The various huts seemed a little too crowed and the live band was pretty much ignored. Their island is too small for walking and bicycle trails.
I think DCL allows you to bring any personal alcohol onboard, whereas Princess only allows wine and champaign (officially). But no free soft drinks on Princess. After 8 pm though, all the bars had $2.99 Pina Coladas, Long Islands, and house liquors.
All in all, because of the bang for the buck, we enjoyed Princess. We may sail DCL with kids and Princess without? While on St. Thomas, I asked one of the ashore store employees, which line arranged for the best shopping deals. I felt like he was honest in saying Princess, but then again he knew which ship we came from.
and
game.
