My friend and I recently sailed to the Mexican Riviera on the Sapphire Princess. I've only been on Carnival before this. Everyone one that I talked to said that Princess was a far better cruise line with better ships, better service, better food, etc. Overall, we did not find that to be the case.

No doubt, this experience on Princess was nicer in several ways: embarkation was an absolute breeze, you get to go to your cabin as soon as you board, the Sapphire is a beautiful ship, we really enjoyed anytime dining, we loved the fresh water pools, no silly dinner games with the waiters or all-ship color-team competition which I did not enjoy on Carnival, fewer ship-wide announcements on the PA system.

We thought that the food on the Sapphire was expertly prepared and tasted very good. We liked that the portions were reasonably sized and not overwhelming. But the menu didn't strike us as particularly interesting or creative, especially the desserts. Read more