Explained: Major Differences Between Princess & Other Cruise Lines Carnival, Royal Caribbean, & More
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There’s live music at nearly every bar and lounge, from laid-back piano to small-act music shows. Unlike other cruise lines, most of the alternative restaurants are free. Though foodies may prefer specialty restaurants, the complimentary restaurants provide excellent quality food. Unless you really want to try a specialty restaurant, you won’t go hungry sticking to the complimentary dining venues like the World Fresh Marketplace and International Café.
Activities & Entertainment
So until a bartender gets to know you, they ask your room number. Deciding between Princess Cruise Line and Carnival Cruise Line hinges on personal preferences and the type of cruise experience you’re seeking. Carnival Cruise Line Fleet is larger, with 26 ships and one more in the pipeline. The Carnival fleet is categorised into eight classes, from the oldest, the Fantasy Class, to the newest and largest, the Excel Class.
Princess Cruise Ships by Size (2024) Cruise.Blog - Cruise Blog
Princess Cruise Ships by Size ( Cruise.Blog.
Posted: Mon, 13 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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This is, notably, just the way Princess customers like it. Both ships have a similar number of paid versus included dining options. It looks like they've turned Churchills into an arcade and Club 6 into a casino annex since we sailed.
A Less Crowded Feel on the Ship
On the vast majority of Carnival ships, there's not just a single waterslide but a whole water park area. Dubbed WaterWorks, these areas vary in size and features from vessel to vessel. They typically have one or two big waterslides (sometimes three!), a play zone with interactive water features and a large, continuously filling dump bucket that periodically soaks everybody within range.
Sometimes held in a secondary lounge or a shipboard pub, karaoke on Carnival draws a big crowd. Passengers come prepared with rehearsed songs and sometimes even their own guitars. The latter venue was created in partnership with Food Network's Guy Fieri and serves a free lunch on embarkation and sea days, with all items smoked on board. That said, Carnival has seen the success that some of its competitors have had with a bigger range of upscale accommodations, and it's eyeing more suites for future vessels. The new Mardi Gras and Carnival Celebration each have 180 suites — more than twice the number of Carnival's other recent ships.
Princess Cruise Line Kids Clubs
Additional costs include $112 for gratuities and about $525 for a drinks package, bringing the total to approximately $1,780 per person. And, if you receive service that goes above and beyond, adding to the recommended gratuity is always appreciated. Cruising is a popular way of traveling for many people, offering a unique experience that combines the convenience of a floating hotel with the excitement of visiting multiple destinations in one trip.
You can check out recent the bar menus for the Splendor and the Crown Princess below. The Carnival Splendor has about the same number of dining options as the Princess Cruises Crown Princess. Anyway, might talk to kids about asking if what they want has a charge, for example if you set them a limit for the day.
Carnival for the water parks, etc. Want a quieter cruise? Younger kids would be ok on a newer Princess ship with a splash pad. I loved the medallion and tbh thought the service on Princess was better IF you go with plus or premium (room service, food delivery to your location, alcohol included in room service).
MSC Cruises
If it's in your budget I would investigate a cruise tour, north or south bound. A 7 night voyage is connected with a number of different land tours. As you might expect, pricing for ships will generally be lower during offseason periods such as September, October and parts of November. Note that three of the line's newest ships — Mardi Gras, Carnival Celebration and Carnival Venezia — do not have launderettes. Carnival fans are quite peeved about this, and you should be, too.
Seven of the line's 25 vessels measure less than 100,000 tons, which makes them almost midsize by today's cruise ship standards. Entertainment, at times, is as lowbrow as the line is low-cost. This is, after all, the brand that for many years held a Hairy Chest Contest around the pool deck on every voyage, to a standing-room-only, hooting and hollering crowd. Where you won't find Carnival ships, notably, is in Asia, South America or, for the most part, Europe. Unlike other big cruise brands such as Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises, Carnival doesn't spread its vessels around the world to draw a fly-in crowd. Aimed squarely at Americans, its trips are all about cruising close to home at a reasonable price.
Both Princess Cruises and Carnival are owned by the Carnival Corporation. However, there are some stark contrasts between the two cruise lines and they tend to target different crowds. It may seem silly to point out pizza as a way that Princess is different from other cruise lines, but if you think that, it may be because you’ve never eaten the pie on the cruise line.
The Medallion Net offers rather low cost WiFi and it actually works .... Although, maybe not so well up in the fjords up in Alaska. But, who would be looking at the internet with all that gorgeous scenery anyway. The activities on Princess are just about right for our liking. We are a couple in our early to mid 60's if that helps. There was a guitar player in another one of the lounges, with an opportunity for more dancing but it was quiet in there on our last sailing.
Each of the line's earlier Conquest Class ships has around 50 suites. The oldest Fantasy Class vessels have 28 suites and 26 junior suites. In recent years, Carnival also has deployed two of its vessels to Australia to operate voyages from Sydney and Brisbane. In a departure from Carnival's American-focused business model, the Australia sailings are aimed mostly at the local Australian market, though they are open to American travelers.
The line has partnered with Discovery to offer a Discovery at Sea program on vessels that includes activities like stargazing with a specialist from a top deck. The program also brings destination specialists and naturalists on board in places such as Alaska to offer insights. Most Princess ships also have a signature steakhouse. On most vessels, it's called Crown Grill and offers premium beef and seafood cooked to order in an open, theater-style kitchen. On two ships — Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess — it's called Sterling Steakhouse, where passengers choose their cut of steak from a tray presented by their waiter. Princess Cruises sails to more than 100 countries on seven continents, from North America and Europe to Asia and Australia, and it offers a wide range of itineraries — around 170 in a typical year.
You go to AK to see stuff and not to do stuff on the ship. All other things being equal and I doubt that they really are, I would pick Princess. On Princess there will be live entertainment every evening in the theater and in the various lounges. While I wouldn't balk at sailing on Carnival, I think Princess does offer a better experience, at least for the age group I am in.
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