Golden Princess vs. Serenade of Seas
 

We are looking at Southern Caribbean itinerary on either of these ships...

We are mid 30's, no kids, not big partier's...looking for a relaxing,enjoyable cruise.

How much of a benefit is Princess's dining? We would prefer to dine on our own.

Serenade seems to be a gorgeous, brand new ship...but I'm currently getting better rates on Golden. I've found bestcruises.com to be the lowest so far...anyone have other suggestions for finding low rates?

Thanks for any input!

kaelin-

We LOVED the Golden Princess- we went this past Dec on a 7 day cruise and did the personal choice dining..We were with another couple and it turned out to be terrific...

We had such good waitstaff the first nite, that we kept calling up every morning to request the same people---and got them.

Make sure if you do personal choice dining on The Golden, that you make dinner reservations in the Donatello dining room--it is the better of the 2 personal choice dining room...small and intimate..sort of like old cruising used to be--NOT a gigantic multi level dining room where tradtional dining takes place..

And remember to make reservations as soon as you get on the ship for the FIRST nite.


My niece went on Serenade of the Seas for the Southern Caribbean this past Feb.for her honeymoon..She said the ship was beautiful -and that the food was good ( but not great) >>>They are New Yorkers and used to eating some pretty good food, so they were a little more critical...But I have been on 2 RCL cruises and I personally PREFER Princess over RCL anyday...

Had not been on Princess for a number of years as we were sailing mostly on Celebrity--but when we went back in DEC, it was so great that we said it was now our preferred cruise line!

Interesting prospectives. I did not like the Golden Princess. It was too large and spread out, too many people, took too long to embark and disembark etc. I will say though that the service and food was fine...no complaints there whatsoever. I felt that they went way overboard (no pun intended) trying to charge the passengers for every little thing they could get away with. I have never cruised on the Serenade of Seas.

I guess it is just personal choice. I can't figure out why some prefer to cruise with thousands of people rather than hundreds of people??

Again, this was just my personal experience. To each his own...

traveller333-

Serenade of the Seas is ALSO a HUGE ship--just a different cruise line....

We had NONE of the problems that you listed when we sailed in Dec.

If you are comparing Princess to a smaller line like Radisson or Crystal etc-then there is a difference in the number of passengers that Crystal-or Radisson-carries...Much smaller ship equals LESS passenger...WHICH ship were you on that was SMALLER????

Go with Princess. Food is far superior. With Personal choice dining, you should have no problem getting a table for 2.

Andy, I've experienced several smaller cruiselines..Radisson (Paul Gaughan,Diamond and the former Song of Flower), Windjammer, Seabourn. IMO. these experiences were 100% better than the experiences I've had on the larger mega ships such as the Golden. I was on the Golden from Barcelona to Istanbul.The itinerary was great, the food and service were not a problem. It is just an entirely different experience on the smaller, more intimate ships where you know your fellow passengers and staff much better, you're more pampered and it's a more relaxed setting. You're also able to use the platform for watersports which is important to me. They are all inclusive, which is a big plus. The distance getting from point A to point B while on the Golden got kind of Old too as the days wore on. When I cruise I prefer cruise lines that do not cater to children with kid's programs. Maybe it could be compared with those that prefer to stay in a large chain hotel such as a Marriott with a small boutique hotel or B & B.

There is no right or wrong, just a difference in preferences, but you have to have experienced both to have an opinion as to which you prefer.

I'm sure there are others who have an opinion that the bigger, the better.

We sailed the Serenade last September, it is the most beautiful ship we have sailed on yet. It's 2 years newer than the Golden and about 20% smaller. It has been consistently rated the #1 ship on cruisecritic.com, the bible of cruise websites. You can see reviews of both ships on the site. Never having sailed Princess (taking our first in October), I can't compare the lines. Check cheapertravel.com for good cruise rates. One plus (in my opinion) with Princess is the option of Personal Choice dining, where you can dine when and where you wish.