I am usually a Royal Caribbean cruiser. But, I am looking at a Australian cruise on Princess. Can you give me pros and cons of both RC and Princess? Thank you for your time.
Royal, I find the two cruise lines to be very similar, in my one experience on Princess. I think the most compelling reason to switch would be to get the itinerary/time of year/price that suits you best. Or if the features and amenities of a particular ship appeal to you, and you want to give that ship a try.
Which Princess ship are you looking at? That can make a difference. They have small, medium, and large ships doing Australia.
To me there are no pros or cons worthy of mentioning. As Sandy said, they are very similar. You'll never know how other lines are if you don't try them. You might be surprised and find you like them better than RCI. In many eyes Princess is a level up from RCI.
royalcruiser, if you are looking for why people would switch, I think Sandy has the answer. I'm a long-time Princess cruiser, but if I saw an itinerary I liked at a price I liked on a ship that appealed to me, I would certainly try Royal Caribbean.
I broke from Princess to do a Baltic cruise on Holland America because I liked their itinerary better; now I'm a HAL fan too.
And Dave has a good point about which Princess ship; the three sizes are very different. You might try one of the small ships and love it; but you should know ahead of time that they are very different from the RCI ships.
Hi royalcruiser, I am an avid Princess fan. That doesn't mean I don't cruise on other lines. I've booked Celebrity for this year because I wanted to try the Solstice. I've booked the Epic for next year, because I want to experience this new ship. I've sailed on Costa, Carnival, HAL, NCL, Royal, and Princess. To me, Princess is my favorite, so far. Princess has the muster drills down, you don't have to stand outside you go to a lounge. To my taste, the food is the best of the lines I've been on. The ships are immaculate, the service is impeccable, and the staff is professional yet friendly. When I step on board a Princess ship, I feel at home. I also agree with what everyone else has posted. If the itinerary is what I want, the price is good, and it fits my vacation schedule, I'll book it. Best wishes!
After nine Royal cruises we are going on Princess. While we were disappointed with a few things that happened on our last RCL cruise these did not outweigh past fantastic experiences. We definitely looked into traveling with them again, and the loyalty program certainly was an incentive. In the end on our trip for five reserving two rooms, traveling a western intinery, the trip on the Crown Princess was over $2000 less than the comparible intinery on the Freedom for the same week. For that kind of savings we are giving another brand a try!
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Laurie
RCCL Nordic Empress 1993
RCCL Nordic Prince 1994
RCCL Explorer 2003, 2005
RCCL Navigator, 2004, 2007
RCCL Mariner 2006
RCCL Liberty 2008
RCCL Adventure 2009 Read and post cruise reviews
Hello spoheat,
I cruised on the Crown Princess last January and absolutely loved it. The staff are so friendly, the food is fantastic, you will love the Movies Under the Stars feature, and you never feel that the ship is crowded.
Have a fantastic voyage.
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