It's an incendiary question and I'm sure there will be hordes of Princess cruise fans baying for my my blood out there by the time they finish reading this.
Stick with me for a minute though and let me know what you think before lynching me; I think I've got a fair point here, (he says).
First though a bit of background on Princess cruises might help anyone that hasn't cruised with them before.
As you can probably tell the whole point of this post will be in comparing P&O to Princess and vice versa so I'll be focusing on those brands for know.
P&O and Princess cruises are both very similar, P&O being the English brand and Princess being the American brand. P&O mainly operate out of the UK although they do have ships sailing from other ports depending on the season. Princess cruises offer a much wider variety of itinerarys having ships docked all over the world, but they also have a couple of ships offering nothing but ex-UK sailings.
As you would expect the P&O brand tends to have a more English slant to their cruises so the money onboard is sterling and gratuities aren't compulsory. Princess on the other hand have a more American slant on their cruises so the onboard currency is the US dollar and 15% gratuities will be added to all your drinks and to your final bill.
Whilst I can understand booking a Princess cruise if you're a fan of the brand and you want to try an exotic itinerary like Alaska or the Far East for example but if you're booking a cruise from the UK why would you ever choose Princess cruises over P&O? The brand and ships are almost the same except for the fact that one will charge you 15% extra on top of all your bills and the other one won't.
I mean is this just me? Am I missing something fundamental here or does it just seem crazy to book a Princess cruise leaving the UK when you could do the same thing with P&O and save yourself 15%
What do you think?
Happy cruising
I think you're right. Regardless on the amenities which Princess might offer, it would be wiser to opt for P&O in the long run since you get to experience more bang for your buck there.
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