My husband and I are taking his parents for their 65th wedding anniversay on a 7 day cruise to Canada/New England. Both the Golden Princess and Carnival's Triumph leave NYC on Sept 17th...itinerary and price is basically the same. I have been on Carnival and didn't like the food, but haven't been on a Princess ship. Love Celebrity for the food, but my in-laws palates are not as "sophisticated" as ours.

Anyone been on both ships?

Do Princess without question. Better ship, food, crowd and experience. While both are owned by Crnival Corp. I believe that Princess is a notch up from Carnival.

Have a great cruise.

Tom

Hi,

I would do Princess over Carnival in a heart beat, the difference between the lines are night and day, your inlaws would enjoy Princess much more than Carnival.



Shelton

I would personally opt for Princess over Carnival any day. Carnival, to me, was more of a booze cruise. Your inlaws and you will have a much better time on Princess.

I have sailed on both and there is no comparing the two - go with Princess!

Hi i would take Princess . If Carnival had a Sprit class ship going i would think about Carnival . But i don't really care for Carnivals Distiny class to much .We just got off the Carnival Miracle and the food we had was better then the food we had on the Grand Princess .But we love Princess just booked the Crown Princess for next july . This will be our 61 cruise
Mr cruises

My vote is Princess for sure.
Don't think you will be unhappy.

We have been on Carnival from Galveston. Thinking about Grand Princess during spring break (galveston again). Do yawl (aka you all) think the Princess is better when traveling with a lot of kids; ages around 5 thru 19? There may be as many as 6 or 7 families. Seems like the cabin choices are certainly much better having mostly balconies - of course there also $150-$200 more than Carinval. We really don't spend that much time in our cabin. I agree food on Carinval was ok. But the kids loved the ice machine, open 24 hours, & pizzeria open many, many hours. All opinions are appreciated. Thanks from Texas.

I would lean toward Carnival for that mix, but you can't go wrong either way you go.

Have a great cruise.

Tom

Do you think a cruise at the end of March will be affected by Spring Break ?

Thanks, Anne

You might also want to take a look at RCL. They have a fantastic children's program. We took our children on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise with children 9, 7, and 5. They absolutely loved it.

I just found out today that Princess, even though owned by Carnival, will not accept Carnival stateroom savings coupons...

I'm not suprised about that Laine. Though owned by Carnival, Princess does run thing themselves. About the only thing common as far as pricing goes, is the VIP program which I have not found to offer any signficiant discount. (Sail on one Carnival brand, save on all of them). The lines still retain their own frequent guest programs, gift certificates and savings programs.

Anne, the end of March IS spring break for us. Spring break is pretty much anything from mid-March through mid-April, possibly even a longer span of time.

Hi - what did you end up choosing for your husband's parents' trip?

Having sailed all three of the major lines going out of Galveston (Carnival, RCL and Princess), I would recommend Royal Carribean for large groups with children!

Carnival is what I consider the Holiday Inn of cruise lines... usually clean and better than nothing... but somewhat more budget-rate than the other two.

Princess was definately the nicest of the three. Excellent food and service and a beautiful ship. In my opinion (backed up by my 11-year-old son), not enough to do for kids. He thought the kids' program were "lame" (his word... not mine)!

Royal Carribean has a great kids' program. Lots of activities and things to do. It's sort of in between... Grandparents, parents and kids will all find something to do that will please everyone. Food was good but not what I would consider "overly sophisticated"... My son enjoyed dinners every evening on RCL, but ended up eating fetticini almost every night on Princess because he didn't care for what was on the menu.

Good luck in your decision!

cruising4fun

I can only speak of Carnival, and I have to say the food is something they need to improve upon.We had a wide range of ages, from 14-79, and I think Carnival was the best choice for us. Next cruise without the kids will definitely NOT be Carnival

Considering the age of the people going on the cruise, I say Princess is the only option. While I like Carnival a lot, Princess is more suitable for older folks. Actually, I am getting more into the Princess demographic day by day!