My fiance and I have a great suite with a wrap around balcony on a 7 day mexican riviera cruise booked for our honeymoon.

However, the Princess cruise on the Diamond Princess ship is really attracting me.

How would you guys comment in regards to food quality and entertainment in regards to these two ships?

Though the diamond princess ship doesn't have a wrap around balcony, it appears the comparable suites are larger in size.

My fiance and I like quality food, service, and entertainment. Granted, we get what we pay for, but i'm curious if anyone could comment on carnival vs. princess

There's no comparison. You can enjoy both, but Princess is light years ahead of Carnival. We took the 10 day Mexican Riveria cruise on the Sapphire Princess last month and it was the best cruise we ever experienced. We particularly liked the restaurant style dining and the ship is a grand affair, a sister ship to the Diamond Princess. For service and food, Princess wins hands down. The enterainment is pretty much equal to Carnival. We have sailed on Carnival 6 times and always had a good time. By the way you didn't mention which Carnival ship you are considering.

Oops! I forgot to mention that we were looking into going on the Carnival Pride.

How would you describe the food on both ships?

I agree with Frank--the food and service are definitely better on Princess. Not that Carnival's food and service are bad--if you've never been on a cruise before, you'll be impressed--but Princess was really outstanding in these areas.

As to the entertainment, however, I think it depends on what you're looking for. On Princess they seemed to "roll up the decks" at 10:00, and the choice of live music was pitiful. (Carnival usually had a number of choices going at once).

The cruise director made a lot of jokes about how empty it was in the disco, whereas on Carnival the disco is often crowded until the wee hours. If you're planning on going to bed early it won't make much difference to you.

Part of this may have been the particular Princess cruise we were on--Southern Caribbean on an "off" week.

If you're in your 20's or 30's (or party like you are) then go Carnival. Otherwise, choose Princess.

Also, if there's a huge difference in price, I'd choose Carnival in that case as well.

The Pride is one of Carnival's newer ships so it should provide a very nice experience. We thought the food on Princess was better, but Carnival has vastly improved it's food over the last couple of years. Not sure when you are planning to go, but keep in mind that May through September is the hot and rainy season on the westcoast of Mexico.

That's good to hear that the music variance on Carnival is good. My fiance and I are both musicians and enjoy music. We're also food lovers! So we're going to probably notice that the food on Carnival Pride will be very "mass produced", but hey, what do you expect for a bout that carries a few thousand people?!

We're simple and the non-crazy partying type of people. So I'm sure we'll enjoy either of the two. Guess it depends on what deals I can dig up with princess.

We will be going in march

I'm in my 40's and my husband is a good deal older. We only go Carnival--the entertainment is Broadway (I'm an ex-New Yorker) and is always fantastic--for the production numbers. We were on the Pride a year ago this Christmas and then during the summer--the food has improved greatly both in presentation and quality--which BTW wasn't that bad to begin with. They have a midnight "dirty" comedian, and 3:00 daily a magnificent 3 piece ensemble that plays during "tea". Carnival is a floating Las Vegas. If you like subdued and conservative, go Princess. If you want to have fun, people-watch and just enjoy yourself--go Carnival.. We've even booked a Mediterranean in July w/them. Yes, they look like a party ship--but they run a tight ship. They aim to please, and will bring you anything you want. We go up and enjoy the supper club (25$ pp) and it's a very romantic evening. We've been Princess,+ RCCL, +Renaissance, those ships close down after 10:00--the casino is quiet--New Year's Eve Carnival has dancing out on the pool deck 'til at least 2:00a.m. Re: your room: the wrap around is great, but (sorry) how much time are you going to spend in it?? You're going to be out and around the ship exploring....Have a great time whatever you do.

dfung--

I happen to LOVE Princess...
We did the Golden last year and fell in love with the cruise line all over again, after having tried other lines over the years..

Princess has won us over..The BEST thing is the Personal Choice dining..you can dine anytime you want for dinner..Just call down the day of the meal and ask for a specific time..Very easy to get....

Entertainment was good--they also had some "broadway" extravangzas so I don't think you will be disappointed.

Carnival is a younger crowd,more party party party atmosphere===Princess is more sophisticated....

IMO and from personal experience, almost ANY cruise line would have a decidedly more refined atmosphere than Carnival...unless they have changed a great deal since my one and ONLY cruise with them (out of 20+ cruises). I also had some major issues with their lifeboat drill and its decidedly NON-serious approach to things. I also got tired of being constantly reminded about what was for sale, etc., over the ship's PA system.

This is NOT a good place to get reviews of ships. Go to www.cruise-addicts.com or cruisecritic.com and read reviews of BOTH ships there.