Royal Caribbean vs P&O

[CallingDrJones]

If you've cruised with both, how do they compare? We've done RC a few times and looking at a P&O cruise and don't want to be disappointed as we absolutely loved RC.

I’ve cruised with both. P&O ships are smaller, much smaller than Oasis, Allure, Harmony, etc. I used to like RCCL but they’ve gone too gimmicky lately. Robot bars? No thanks. We went on Anthem which had this. What’s the point? Took forever to get a drink as the queue was so long, you couldn’t order a whole round and it was all a waste of space just to have something different for the sake of being different. The same with the “Central Park” on the bigger ships. What’s the point? If I want to go to a park there are plenty where I live. I don’t go on a cruise ship and say “I’m so pleased there’s a park on this ship” and I can’t imagine anyone would think it’s a reason for booking. Waste of space.
I did find the food on P&O a little on the bland side but not as bland as Fred Olsen.
I found the other passengers on P&O to be more pleasant to be around (we were on Britannia) - a lot less pretentious. P&O have stopped additional service charges now - RCCL still have them so if you’re sailing out of Southampton be prepared for huge lines at guest services all day every day as armies of Brits queue up to have the grats removed. If you need to speak to guest services for anything else, forget it, you’ll never get to the front of the queue.
The entertainment was better on P&O, for us. RCCL again was too gimmicky. Lots of virtual reality stuff and dark themes. We much prefer traditional West End style stuff, musicals, etc. I don’t need virtual creatures crawling out of screens and aliens swinging from the ceiling. I have epilepsy and they used a lot of strobe lighting with no prior announcement.
Cabins were nicer on RCCL. Drinks, from recollection, were cheaper on P&O. The brands are more familiar to the British market - beers, condiments, etc that you find in the UK. Also proper sausages and bacon. Not the awful American ones (I dream of proper sausage and bacon here).

I've always wanted to take a cruise, but I'm afraid utter won't live up to the elegant imaginings I had of it as a child.

P&O are more geared to the British and European market whereas RC is more geared to the US customers I found - the drinks prices were the biggest difference. The ships vary more on p&O size wise. I think it's itinerary that matters though. My parents swear by Norwegian whereas I have a preference for Cunard - it's personal preference because actually they all have great cabins, good service etc. I've been told though to avoid Fred Olsen until I'm 70+ because they do cater to a different market (still nice but not to my taste I've been told!)

Yes, I would look at itinerary too. What’s the point of a great ship if it’s not going anywhere that interests you? Our next cruise is with Norwegian on Pride of America. I wouldn’t normally choose Norwegian but they are the only ones with a Hawaii cruise at the time we want to go that starts and ends in Hawaii. We only have a week so we can’t take a cruise out of LA or SF and spend 5 or 6 days at sea each way. We want to fly to Hawaii and start cruising so Norwegian it is!

@dudsville if you want elegance go on a short Cunard cruise, it really did feel like we were extras on a film set in the 1920's - the decor, string quartets, harpists etc. The mini breaks have a younger guest profile and everyone on board was there to party! Even the valet parking and them taking your checked luggage straight from the boot adds to that 5 star experience.

Thanks so much for your replies.

Great info about P&O, thanks @BritWifeinUSA. You make some really good points about entertainment etc and sounds like I'd enjoy the P&O stuff.

It's on the new ship round the Norwegian Fjords for a week, we've got a week child free but needs to be in the school holidays so we're a bit tied on dates.

I haven’t been on RC but I have done others and P&O.

P&O was the the one that felt a bit Butlins if I’m honest. Maybe because it’s so British. Very funny ( rude) comedian, Madness tribute band, acrobatic show etc. All good acts but safe crowd pleasers.
I liked that you were free to bring your own wine on board to drink in your cabin and I found the food to be good. I liked the group dining option surprisingly. Thought I would hate it but quite fun. There was always had steak and chips on the menu for DS in the restaurant and a nice fish option for me. Did buffet dining though some evenings and the standard was fine although again feels a bit holiday camp.
Oceania was small I thought and didn’t have a lot to do. However I go for the ports so not an issue.

Thanks stucknoue, I'll look that one up!

RCI have so much more for teenagers and families to do outside of the kids clubs on the ship. There may be a few token family games of football or table tennis on P&O, with an entertainer doing the odd workshop, but little else.

RCI shows are definitely more Broadway. A friend is currently the leading lady on board one of them and the show is amazing by comparison to P&O's headliners. Having said that, I saw a Police tribute action P& O earlier this year called The Rozzers who were brilliant. Britannia's cookery school is great, but there isn't one planned for Iona.

My own preference is P&O and I have a cruise booked on Iona for next summer. I spend quite a lot of time on board by myself and I find P&O has more places where I don't feel as though I'm sitting on the sidelines at a huge family party where I don't know anyone. Britannia and (hopefully) Iona are definitely the ships to go on in the P&O fleet which have the most modern feel.

We enjoyed tui cruises. Off on Friday in fact. Although I've never gone child free so not sure how it would compare tbh. All inclusive and we upgraded as we are only going for a week so all drinks includdd.

We have done 14 cruises, P&O are the worst we have been on, Poor food, poor service dirty ships.
RC, Celebrity, Tui, Princess, Holland America all much better