Cruises - Princess or Carnival?

[tinatark]

By the pricing, this should be a no brainer, but we are considering either connecting balcony cabins on the Carnival Miracle or a mini suite on the Golden Princess.

We are looking at an 8 day exotic caribbean on the Miracle or 7 day Western Caribbean on the Golden.

Has anyone cruised both lines? What are the major differences? I would refer myself to cruisecritic, but the fans of either line are SO polarized!

 

[MM27]

I cruise a lot and I am loyal to Royal Caribbean. I'm very active and they always have so many activities to do, especially the larger ships.

 

[chisnpeke]

I cruise a lot and I am loyal to Royal Caribbean. I'm very active and they always have so many activities to do, especially the larger ships.

Royal Caribbean is better than Carnival (to me). I've never cruised Princess but my suggestion goes to Royal Caribbean. They offer a great product, in my opinion.

 

[Chris2597]

Definetly, Princess

 

[MoniqueU]

Anything BUT carnival.

 

[DawnCt1]

Anything BUT carnival.

I really like Royal Carribean but I LOVE Celebrity, which is owned by Royal Carribean.

 

[kribit]

Princess. I know of no one that has been on a Carnival Cruise line and liked it.

 

[DawnCt1]

Princess. I know of no one that has been on a Carnival Cruise line and liked it. I'm not sure how they are even still in business. I hear their ships need major overhauls.

Actually, there are really a LOT of people who love Carnival and they do have a lot of very new ships. Their food is supposed to be good, the entertainment is supposed to be good and their cabin space is a bit bigger than the RCCL ships. That said, its not for me. I do have a friend that only sails Carnival but then, she has never been on any other line.

 

[yoopermom]

I went on my first cruise, a Princess eastern Caribbean itinerary this summer with three generations (DF 50 something, me, DS 13), and I REALLY liked Princess because it had something for all ages, and I felt VERY safe there without my husband. It was fun and a party, but not "partying" like you hear about Carnival. Classy, but still fun! JMHO...

Terri

 

[DawnCt1]

I went on my first cruise, a Princess eastern Caribbean itinerary this summer with three generations (DF 50 something, me, DS 13), and I REALLY liked Princess because it had something for all ages, and I felt VERY safe there without my husband. It was fun and a party, but not "partying" like you hear about Carnival. Classy, but still fun! JMHO...

Terri

I have often heard that Princess is the best line for Alaska!

 

[kribit]

Actually, there are really a LOT of people who love Carnival and they do have a lot of very new ships. Their food is supposed to be good, the entertainment is supposed to be good and their cabin space is a bit bigger than the RCCL ships. That said, its not for me. I do have a friend that only sails Carnival but then, she has never been on any other line.

I guess I envision Carnival as a 20 something singles cruise. I've spoken to a few people who hated it but they were in their 40's. They made a few comments about the servers pushing drinks in their face at every corner. I suppose if you like to drink it's ok.

I went on one Princess cruise and it was wonderful. I also like Celebrity and Royal Caribbean I thought was great at the time (but the ship we sailed on is now out of commission) - it was old and it was back in the 80's. I didn't realize RCL owned Celebrity or vice versa. Interesting.

OP- Have fun with whichever you choose.

 

[disney4us2002]

Princess. I know of no one that has been on a Carnival Cruise line and liked it.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Carla and we LOVED our cruise this past summer on the very ship she asked about - the Carnival Miracle!!

The food was excellent; the ship crew was fantastic; the kid's club was tons of fun for our 10 yr old; our rooms were straightened and perfected every day at least 3x. There is absolutely nothing we could find fault with. We've also cruised on Norwegian and Celebrity. The food on Carnival was simply better. My friends have been on 2 Princess cruises and enjoyed both but said the median age of the passengers was significantly higher than us (we're 42 and 43).

Let me know if you have any specific Miracle questions. We sailed out of NYC so a different itinerary.

 

[helenabear]

Princess. I know of no one that has been on a Carnival Cruise line and liked it.

We loved our Carnival cruise. It wasn't a "20 Something party ship" at all. It was an old ship with not a lot of fancy stuff, but everything they did was wonderful. The food was awesome and we had a blast! They supposedly have great family programs from what our ship-mates said.

We also didn't feel like alcohol was ever pushed on us. Neither of us really drinks a lot and we didn't buy one single alcoholic drink on that cruise.

Never been on another cruise, but not quite sure why they are hated so much by others.

 

[kribit]

Ok Carnival Lovers - I just don't know anyone personally that liked it. Doesn't mean the cruise is awful. It's the same thing as people liking specific hotels (some like Marriots, some like Hiltons, some like Starwood). There is something for everyone.

Have fun on your cruise op (whichever you choose).

 

[kctwinmommy]

We have done Carnival a few times and my parents have done Princess many times. It's true that most people stay loyal to one line. We've stayed with Carnival cuz we've had a great time everytime we've gone. Wonderful rooms, great people, really good food, and NO party atmosphere at all!!! We've been on older and newer ones. I'm guessing that their short 3-day cruise may have more of a party atmosphere, since it's cheaper, those type of people may only want that. But we have found every type of people on our ships!! Young, old, couples, groups, family reunions, etc...

I would go with your gut feeling. No matter how many people you ask, you're going to get too many different opinions. Oh, and on our last cruise, we had a balcony next to our friends, and they opened the divider between our two balconies, it was great for entertaining in the evening.

 

[WDWAurora]

I went on Carnival twice with my parents. None of us drink. It was never an issue. I loved everything about both experiences, as did they. We tried to make another one work later on, but couldn't get the scheduling right. We didn't even consider another cruise line because of how great both of our experiences had been. Super clean room, super yummy food, and great activities for all of us (and the other people we knew on the same cruise, who ranged in ages up to about 75-I was the youngest). If you have any questions about the Destiny, I'll be happy to help.

 

[DawnCt1]

Everyone knows that Carnival owns Princess, right?

 

[tinatark]

Thanks for the ideas.

Our original thought was connecting balcony rooms on Carnival - they were cheaper than one mini suite on the Caribbean Princess!

Now I'm thinking about a balcony cabin and adjacent inside for our boys (they'll be 12 and 14) on the Princess ship. It's $1k cheaper. I'm getting quotes from cruisecompete.com, and have already gotten a quote from kimscruises.

The dates of the Princess cruise will work a little better for us - it's Sat-Sat, and the Carnival would be Sat-Sun. We could drive to FLL for a Sat-Sat cruise, would have to fly for the other.

 

[LoraJ]

I have been on 7 Carnival cruises and 1 Royal Caribbean. Most of my Carnival cruises have been really good. The last time, the food and service wasn't that great, but I think it's just because we were chartered and a lot of the staff was off that week. We're going on the charter again in January and keeping our fingers crossed that we have an actual real buffet.

We had an amazing balcony cabin on the last cruise. If you study the deck plans in the brochure, you will see that some are longer. I don't think I can ever go back to an inside or regular outside again.

Anyway, as much as I usually enjoy Carnival, I'd really love to try out Princess someday. My parents are cruise snobs and really enjoyed their last Princess cruise. (They just got back from a 32 day cruise to Asia on HAL)

ETA: Just saw your post. I would go for Princess then. Although the connecting balcony rooms would be nice on Carnival, but Princess would be worth the savings. I am wishy washy.

 

[my2boyzrock]

I have been on 3 carnival & 1 Princess cruise. My DH & I both prefer Carnival...we enjoyed Princess, the ship was beautiful, but we enjoy the atmosphere of Carnival better.