Cream nights with Paul van Dyk imho are unbelievable, great sets, great vibe. Cream nights with other DJs are touch and go, can be good, can be so-so.
Armada nights: Armin is the main reason we´re there. The other djs (be it Markus or whoever) is nice-to-have, but Armin sets there are really nice.
never really noticed that Cream-"beerboy problem" that is so often mentioned on spotlight, to be honest.
Cream is packed pretty much every time, Armada last year had apparently some not-so-full nights. When we´ve been to Armada though it was packed, too.
other difference for me: Cream costs 38-42 Euro in presale, Armada at max 20,- ? And so far we´ve either picked up free entry flyer for the Armada nights (even for the closing in 2004) or have been GListed.