Depends on my mood. Both do what I want. I did start out with creams as they were easier to lather however I find myself more and more preferring Italian Soft Soaps than anything else.
Today I used a soap and it was good. Yesterday was a cream. It was good too. Still not sure so I'll have to keep working on it.
I am a fan of creams, hard soaps, and soft soaps. Just depends on the flavor of the day I decided to choose.
Cream if I'm in a hurry to shave (which I rarely am); soap as the mainstay for most of my shaves. Soaps do last longer, and they require more participation by the user to achieve the desired result. I view using either creams or soaps in shaving similarly to certain approaches to cooking. Example: I can use prepared chopped garlic from a jar to add to my pasta sauce, or I can chop fresh garlic myself and add it to the same sauce. Both achieve similar ends: a garlic-enhanced sauce that will be tasty. One way is more convenient; the other requires a bit more effort on the chef's part. Arguably, the hand-chopped sauce may provide a better result, but unlike the chef who uses the prepared jar, the one who contributes more effort is usually more intimately involved with the process, and can take greater pride in the end result. All this talk about soaps & creams has made me curiously hungry....
I first used creams only. Now I'm a soap user, I enjoy having to work for a great lather. I'll use cream once in awhile now, at my current stock level of creams I better start using them.
Soaps, for the same reasons Kevin said... they last longer and require more of my participation and attention.
I prefer creams only because I buy most of my supplies locally and creams are more available in my area.
I prefer soaps because I like building lather from a puck (then on my face) better than with a cream. It's purely tactile for me. Having said that, I can be happy using creams, too, so it's not a super strong preference.
Mostly soaps. Because they last longer. The lathering is more or less the same process for me: I'm a face latherer: creams I spread some of it over my face, hard soaps get rubbed over the whiskers shavestick-style and only with croaps I load the brush before I start lathering. Time spent is about the same for all of them.
Some of my favorites are only available as one or the other, so I don't have a strong preference either way.
I use both. I like creams, but I like having the option of both. No reason to limit yourself to one or the other.
I have both and use both, but prefer soaps... I think I like soaps better because you can use the entire puck of soap up with absolutely no waste, they are easy to store and take up less space in my den...I can store "MANY" more different soaps pucks, than cream tubes in a given space...
What I prefer are a few particularly good creams and soaps I have found, not cream vs. soap. I use mostly soaps at home for no particular reason, although they do tend to last longer than creams. When travelling, I use a tube of cream or a shave stick because they are more portable than a cake soap and mug. Which one depends upon what is on hand at the time. Shave sticks do have an advantage over creams when traveling by air due to TSA restrictions (3.4 oz container or less for liquids or gels).
For the most part I prefer creams as they seem to be a big more creamy/rich and slippery. I do find the VDH Luxury and Proraso soaps to be pretty good though. I do find that I need a bit more soap than cream to achieve similar cushioning. We have fairly hard water here in Anchorage which doesn't help. When I was visiting a friend in Fort Meyers Florida several years ago their housing complex had a water softener which allowed me to have the best shave of my life with Edge gel. I was shocked. I could have shaved without any cream or soap.
I regularly jump between both as I like them equally. I just change my brush when using soaps to a boar bristle as it's easier to lather.
