Fist cruise on Princess. Experienced cruiser on DCL.

[CarolynU]

yeah that’s very helpful

we always like to do half day excursions apart from CC as we like to make use of the ship

what cruises u doing next year with disney

The 7 night Southern Caribbean out of San Juan In January followed by a 5 night b2b from San Juan to New Orleans.
Then in early June a 7 night Med from Barcelona to Rome.
I was also booked on the WBPC with my son and wife but they can’t get time off for that and I’ve already done it 4 times so I’m cancelling it and moving the deposits to the Med.
That’s it for 2020 with DCL and so far in 2021 nothing appeals, but I’ll def do a DCL with my grandkids that year sometime.

 

[hmsTigger]

I think the British Isles Cruise with DCL is an unbelievable price. I have opened up a whole new world now of future cruise experiences and I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the possibilities. I'll always love DCL and won't stop sailing with them, but I will be more selective I guess.

Hi Did you mean you thought the DCL price for British Isles was good? Reasonable by comparison?
I enjoyed your review of Princess and thank you! If I missed this answer could you clarify........For the drink package, could you get water or iced tea or were they also part of a drink package? How abt water tea/coffee on buffet/Lido deck?
Thanks again for your comprehensive review.

 

[hmsTigger]

Thanks for this report. I think I will try a British Isles cruise on Princess in 2021. Good to hear good things.

What ports are on the Princess British Isles cruise?

 

[bobbiwoz]

We have a Princess Cruise Perth to Sidney coming up!

 

[AnnaS]

We have cruised DCL 8 times and for the first time cruising the Royal Princess next year. We are doing a land tour/cruise Alaska (10 nights). Hoping it will meet or be above our expectations - I try not to expect too much so I won't be disappointed Thank you for your review/summary.

 

[dprincessmom]

Thank you OP for the great review. My daughter has visions of a European cruise for her graduation. We will likely go with a non-DCL line and try and throw a few days in Disneyland Paris in. Because of your review, I will look at other lines. Thank you!

 

[hrhdhd]

If I missed this answer could you clarify........For the drink package, could you get water or iced tea or were they also part of a drink package? How abt water tea/coffee on buffet/Lido deck?

On Princess, water, tea, iced tea, coffee, and lemonade are available at no extra charge at the buffet and at dinner.

 

[mama&me]

What ports are on the Princess British Isles cruise?

The cruises I have researched start in Southampton and stop in: Guernsey, Dublin, Liverpool or Cork, Belfast, Glasgow, Invergordon, Edinburgh and Paris.

 

[CarolynU]

Thank you OP for the great review. My daughter has visions of a European cruise for her graduation. We will likely go with a non-DCL line and try and throw a few days in Disneyland Paris in. Because of your review, I will look at other lines. Thank you!

You are more than welcome. Whichever line you choose I hope that you have a wonderful cruise and your daughter loves it.

 

[CarolynU]

We have cruised DCL 8 times and for the first time cruising the Royal Princess next year. We are doing a land tour/cruise (10 nights). Hoping it will meet or be above our expectations - I try not to expect too much so I won't be disappointed Thank you for your review/summary.

Thank you. I'm glad that it was useful. I also had zero expectations, and I tried not to compare but we do that naturally really, but I can honestly say that Princess did well, and exceeded my expectations in many areas. Enough to entice me back again.

 

[CarolynU]

We have a Princess Cruise Perth to Sidney coming up!

Oh boy. I'd love to do that one!

 

[CarolynU]

The cruises I have researched start in Southampton and stop in: Guernsey, Dublin, Liverpool or Cork, Belfast, Glasgow, Invergordon, Edinburgh and Paris.

That;s a very interesting itinerary. I've been to Southampton, Dublin, Liverpool. Belfast, Edinburgh and Paris before. So much to see. Not with Disney though.

 

[bakerworld]

2 Questions: Is Room Service included and what was the noise level in main dining? If room service is included, we could avoid the 'dress up' nights.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We did Princess one August and when we stopped in Edinburgh we were there late enough to go to the Military Tattoo. It was one of the best shore excursions ever!

 

[CarolynU]

2 Questions: Is Room Service included and what was the noise level in main dining? If room service is included, we could avoid the 'dress up' nights.

Yes room service was included. I didn't notice that the noise in the MDR's was any different to DCL to be honest. We had anytime dining and it was very busy so twice we chose to wait and sit on our own and twice we cut down on time lining and shared an eight and a six. I think it was quite hard to hear right across the table on the eight but it was possible.
You can enjoy the spectacle of looking at others all dressed up and the champagne fountain without being dressed up yourself if you want to and then eat in your room or around the pool or there is a large informal buffet too, so lots of choices.

 

[CarolynU]

We did Princess one August and when we stopped in Edinburgh we were there late enough to go to the Military Tattoo. It was one of the best shore excursions ever!

I love Edinburgh. I went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and did some sightseeing. Had a fabulous time.

 

[hmsTigger]

I've been trying to find as may posts online abt excursions from Princess. For example from ship getting into town centers. Reading 2 blogs they mention passengers have to find their own transportation into town centers like Dublin, Belfast, and others. DCL offers transport buses into town centers. Can anyone address this for us?

Thank you all for your info. I have been reading with much interest!

 

[CarolynU]

I've been trying to find as may posts online abt excursions from Princess. For example from ship getting into town centers. Reading 2 blogs they mention passengers have to find their own transportation into town centers like Dublin, Belfast, and others. DCL offers transport buses into town centers. Can anyone address this for us?

Thank you all for your info. I have been reading with much interest!

I can only comment on the Princess cruise that I was on and in Chania a Greek Island Princess definitely arranged shuttle busses that took the independent passengers into the town for a nominal fee and those busses also returned passengers to Princess and another cruiseline which was docked at the port. I think it was similar in Corfu. You could also email Princess to ask them these sorts of questions. I found their pre-cruise department very helpful indeed.

 

[jiminy14]

We have cruised DCL 8 times and for the first time cruising the Royal Princess next year. We are doing a land tour/cruise Alaska (10 nights). Hoping it will meet or be above our expectations - I try not to expect too much so I won't be disappointed Thank you for your review/summary.

We took our first Princess cruise in August after 12 DCL cruises. We took a 10 day cruise to Alaska that left from San Francisco. We had a mini suite, sailed from the U.S. and had 3 more nights for $4000 less than the DCL cruise. Besides the lower price and bigger stateroom, embarkation and disembarkation were remarkably better than DCL. We arrived at the port and after checking in, we walked right on the boat. There were no crowds milling around that we had to push through when our number was called for boarding. Disembarkation was so easy that my DH keep remarking that DCL could learn from Princess how to handle it. We signed up for a time and were given a color and a number and assigned to a lounge to sit in and wait for our number to be called. No lines snaking through the ship all the way back to the theater.
Food was a little better on Princess with more selections at dinner. They also had special dining events like high tea every day and an English Pub luncheon in one of the signature restaurants (no extra charge). I did miss the rotational dining but after a couple of nights, it really didn't matter. Service was a little more formal as we were not addressed by our first names but very good all the same.
The stateroom was very spacious with lots of storage. We actually had two large TVs instead of the one small one on DCL. There was no split bath but the one bathroom was large enough and had a full size tub. If I had one complaint it would be that some of the furniture was outdated and nicked. Our verandah could also have benefited from a power washing.
From an entertainment stand point, DCL is far superior. There was no lack of entertainment or activities on board but the evening shows were not as good as DCL. It's a sad commentary when the crew talent show was far better than any of their production shows.
We went on our first Princess cruise with low expectations but we were pleasantly surprised. We enjoyed our experience so much that we booked another Alaska cruise and one to Hawaii for next year.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Oh boy. I'd love to do that one!

It's Sydney lol, have fun