Disney/Princess comparison

[Surroundedbyboys]

We just got home from an Alaskan Cruise on the Coral Princess. I thought I would do a "comparison" for those of you who were curious.
Embarkation: The area for this on the Princess (in Vancouver BC) was unimpressive to say the least. It was hectic, dirty and not very well organized. Disney definitely has the advantage in this area.

The Rooms: No doubt about it, you get much better value for your money when it comes to the rooms on Princess. We booked two Junior Verandah Suites. They are very spacious and cost approx. $2,000 less than a cat 5 suite on Disney. We were also fortunate to have one room upgraded to a Premium Suite on the Coral a month before we left. (Complimentary). The suite was huge, with free internet use, free dry cleaning, laundry, canapes in the room every evening, corsages on formal nights.

The Ship- The Coral was not kept nearly as clean as The Magic. Our door handle kept falling off and twice when going up the stairs the handle on the railing came off in our hands. You don't see people constantly cleaning/doing maintenance on the Coral- and the ship showed the wear of that. Not that it was filthy, just not up to the standards of Disney.

The food- I feel that Disney had a much better variety/more interesting food choices although the quality of the food is comparable. The servers weren't nearly as "on the spot" as Magic although they were friendly as was the majority of the staff.

Activities and shows- Disney's shows win hands down. Coral did have some very funny comedians but weren't family friendly. The magician was terrible. Also, no first run movies on the Coral. In fact, they showed two different movies on board and they were both also being shown on the TV during the day. They had BINGO, moose races, Scattergories and Outburst. Pretty much the same exact activities each day. They did have one covered pool, and several open air. I didn't hear any complaints about the salt water pools.

My two sons weren't interested in the kids clubs, so I can't comment. There definitely weren't many kids on the ship. I feel that the ports in Alaska wouldn't hold much excitement for young kids. (Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan). My boys (age 14 & 11) loved the excursions we did- Ziplining (no kids under 10 allowed- and for good reason!); and we took a train up to White Pass which is a 3 hour round trip. I think little ones would be very bored with this but it was spectacular.

Disembarkation- This was a breeze! Much better than the experience we had on the Magic. They call you by color & number, and we just walked right off the ship, our luggage was all together, grabbed it and went.

Over all we (husband, two sons and & I) agreed that The Magic was a much better ship, more fun and had more to do. My mom, having never cruised absolutely loved the ship, and had a great time. She enjoyed the casino too.
If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer.

 

[cjsmith]

In all fairness, you will find embarkation different on Princess depending on where you embark. Check in has been very painless on our 3 cruises, actually better than on Disney. Disney can't be beat on disembarkation, that is for sure.

Sorry to hear that your ship was not kept up, however, many of Princess' ships are fairly new and kept incredibly clean. I can say that the Star was fantastic as was the Golden. We did see a lot of cleaning going on throughout our cruises and I was thrilled to see it.

Princess has fresh water pools, not salt so maybe that's why you didn't hear complaints about salt water pools!!!

I think the shows depend on the entertainment that is booked. The comedian that we saw in March on the Star Princess was first rate, funny as heck. He did a show earlier in the day for the family and then an adult version later on.

It really does depend on which intinerary you chose and what time of year it is to the amount of children on board Princess ships. When we cruised out of San Juan on the Golden on 10/24/04 there were almost no children, our own weren't with us. In Europe on 7/11/05 there were a lot of kids and for our 3/19/06 spring break cruise there were once again a lot of children.

Princess isn't as young kid friendly as Disney, I don't think any cruise line is. Disney is really geared towards kids, that's what they do best. Princess does have a superior teen program according to my kids and they also have a disco for them at night which the teens seem to love.
Princess is also more adult friendy, there is just more to do at night for adults. Disney is more family friendly I guess.

They're both great cruise lines, it just depends on what you're looking for and where you're looking to go.

 

[rickdeni]

When we take our grandchildren we go on Disney. When Grandpa and Grandma go alone it is always Princess. We have been on both old and new Princess and never found them dirty or in ill repair. As far as embarkation it definite depends on the port on Princess. This year the Princess Sun was the only one in port at Ft. Lauderdale. We entered the waiting area at 12 Noon and were in our cabin at 12:15. However, when we left out of the port south of LA it took over 2 hours. Disembarkating was also a disaster in LA but a joy in Ft. Lauderdale. We did not have a flight in Lauderdale but were off the ship and in our car by 9:30 which was not bad at all. I like both lines equally but for different reasons. I think Princess' sit down dinners are better but Disney's hamburgers, etc. at the pool are better. We will continue to use both lines.