Considering Princess...will we be disappointed???

[mrspeck]

We are considering a sailing on the Crown Princess next April. We've never been on any other line than HAL. We've only been in deluxe and penthouse suites...looking at the Crown Princess's Owners Suite. Anybody have any comparison data? Will we be disappointed in the suite and service, food, or feel of the ship??? Thanks!

[Hlitner]

This is a tough one. We happen to like both HA and Princess and cruise both on a regular basis (along with many other lines) and we think that HA fans are among the most loyal and satisfied of all cruise passengers. Keep in mind that the Crown Princess is a much larger ship then all of the HA ships and many HA fans will say one thing they love about HA are the smaller ships (many even complain that the new ships like the Eurodam are too large). You will sacrifice some intimacy if you go on the Crown but you will also get more amenities, great pizza (its my personal thing but Princess has the best pizza at sea). What you will not find on Princess is free fresh OJ, an eggs benedict bar (now I am getting picky). Instead of the small movie theaters that are on lots of the HA ships you will get MUTS on the Crown which is almost like a drive-in at sea with its huge outdoor screen, too much noise during the day, etc etc. My DW and I love variety (our next cruise is on the Grand Princess and the following two cruises are on the Prinsendam and Rotterdam VI) but only you can decide whether variety is a good thing for you. Also be aware that if you are cruising the Crown Princess during the spring break season there will be lots of young adults.

 

Hank

[Atomica]

I can't comment on the Owner's Suites, but we've happily sailed Crown Princess twice now, and would gladly sail on her again. She's an excellent ship - larger than the Vista-class ships, but not uncomfortably so. Crew are attentive and friendly, and Princess puts on a great cruise.

 

My only complaint about Princess on the whole is I find their beds to be a little too much on the 'firm' side for my tastes. Other than that, a great choice for those who enjoy HAL but are looking for something different.

[KirkNC]

We have sailed on Princess twice and been pleased both times. I will say that HAL put service at a higher level but worse case you will just appreciate that next time ;).

 

Kirk

[kazu]

I have been on Princess twice. The first time I was delighted. The last time everything was a disaster (but was before e docs). I'm not that fussy but while i realize that food is subjective, I couldn't eat the dining room food at least three times. so, I have not been back on. I only book deluxe and penthouse on HAL too. I didn't have the quality of suite you had, but I found the service lacking. I might just be too fussy though,not sure., but I have never considered ourselves high maintenance. Might have just been bad luck.

 

You can't have a bad time on a cruise. Hopefully, you are high enough up to guarantee a good cruise. Have a great time and share your comparison with us when you get back please.

[bobalink]

After just completing our first HAL cruise last week on the Noordam, and having several prior cruises on Princess, I think you will find more similarities than differences.

 

Personally, I think Holland America has better food, coffee, and beds.

Princess gets the nod on entertainment, and the "wow factor" for their beautiful ships, especially the atrium.

 

Loyal fans of HAL will say that the service exceeds other cruise lines. We thought it was good, but then we have had wonderful, attentive, gracious service on Princess, too.

 

At first I found myself comparing everything to Princess. To the point that I was finding flaws with HAL. I had to make myself stop doing that and just enjoy and embrace the differences. Both cruise lines are great.

 

Go on your Princess cruise and ENJOY every minute of it. Lucky you!

[CJcruzer]

was not impressed with Princess (Crown princess, Aug 2009, British Isles cruise) --- everything at the buffet was lukewarm (eggs, pancakes,) - the flow up in the buffet area was terrible --- and I found the staff to be not very eager to please or friendly....put it this way, every night, my chocolates were somewhere on the nighttable (against the desk) or by the lamp and looked like the cabin steward had played "craps" - (they seemed to have been "rolled" onto that area....don't know why - other people had their choclates on their pillow, but mine were always like crap dice - and hit up against the bedside lamp.

 

Had a coffee card and first night at dining room, asked for an espresso and the waiter punched the card, and brought me a cold regular coffee....since we were already running late to go to the show, I figured I would take this up the next day - I didn't have time to get a replacement as the coffee came way after the dessert!! I did mention it to the waiter..

 

Next day I went to front desk/guest services to ask where I could go concerning the coffee, and the person at the desk proceeded to rant and rave how they don't refund any money!!! WHATTTTTTT,,,I didn't even ask for money refunded, I just wanted to speak to someone about my late cold supposed to be espresso.....Finally a girl from the cafe/bistro came by and told me I should go downstairs and talk to the manager of the coffee bar --- she was very nice and I ended up getting a new card minus the punched hole (since that had been my first use) and apologized about the dining room incident.

 

On the whole, I found the ship too large - elevators were always "out" and waiting lines were long for their use..And don't even ask about the organization for ship tours ---- BEDLAM......but we enjoyed the cruise - the main dining room food was fine - not better nor worse than HAL - but hubby and I were not impressed overall with Princess......and don't even ask about the poor excuse of a library they had (spacewise) --- I found it hard to find those nice comfy nooks that HAL has.....

[Jacqueline]

I am curious as to why you are interested in trying the Crown? Is it the itinerary?

Where will she be next April (all I can think is SPRING BREAK)?

[SeaPeaInn]

We have just made a decision between HAL & Princess for an Hawaii-Tahiti 30 days. The size of the ship alone caused us to pick the Rotterdam even though we like Princess.

 

Paul

[mrspeck]

Thank you for all the replies.

 

As to why Crown Princess? Convenience...we'll be in Florida for a Wedding and thought we could maybe squeeze a sailing in before hand...only gives us so many options...could leave from any Florida Port...earliest departure April 23 returning no later than May 1. Oasis of the Seas or The Epic are other options.

[Jacqueline]

I think that Princess is the best choice, given that you like HAL. I have only sailed once on HAL (a 12 day European cruise) and loved the cruise line. I have another 12 day cruise coming up on the Westerdam. However, most of my cruises have been on Princess over the years.

I would say that the pools and open deck space on Princess are really quite nice, albeit crowded on sea days. If your itinerary has a lot of port days, you will like the ship better, as most people will clear off leaving you to enjoy yourselves.. I do not think that the cabins are as nice on Princess, but I have never had a bad cruise on any Princess ship over the years.

i added this after posting- I would not recommend RC for you. I have done it twice, once for itinerary many years ago when the Brilliance of the Seas was one of 2 ships with a Baltic itinerary suiting my calendar (good reason to take the ship) and once for a reason that I wonder about now... last summer, to the Southern Carribean, an itinerary I have done so many times, I could sail the ship. If I were to decide again, it would have been Princess, HAL or Celebrity.

[Golfgrl1911]

We have sailed on Princess twice and been pleased both times. I will say that HAL put service at a higher level but worse case you will just appreciate that next time ;).

 

Kirk

 

I concur....I sailed with my entire family on the Ruby about a year and a half ago...Nothing was wrong with Princess...HAL just seems to be a bit more upscale in my humble opinion.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Thank you for all the replies.

 

As to why Crown Princess? Convenience...we'll be in Florida for a Wedding and thought we could maybe squeeze a sailing in before hand...only gives us so many options...could leave from any Florida Port...earliest departure April 23 returning no later than May 1. Oasis of the Seas or The Epic are other options.

 

If those were your three options, IMO you made the best choice.

 

We sailed on the Crown Princess a couple of years ago. We had fixed early dining, and the service and food were excellent. We never bothered with the specialty restaurants because we were happy in the dining room. They have one dining room for fixed dining and two for open seating. Every night when we left our dining room, we walked past the line of people waiting to get into open seating. If you have open dining (anytime dining?), check the deck plans, the third dining room is on a different deck, I think one deck lower. Somebody told me that it was easier to get into that dining room because most pax forgot it was there.

 

We chose this cruise for itinerary, not the ship or the line. I liked the layout of the ship, but it was always too noisy by the pools. The pool with the big screen was quiet until noon when they started the kiddie movies. At that point, we would have lunch and go to our little balcony. They have an adult-quiet area, I forget what it's called. Comfy loungers and they bring you fruit smoothies and such. They charge $10 per "session" which is a morning or an afternoon. I was too cheap to do it, but looking back, it might have been a pleasant thing to do once or twice.

 

We had breakfast and lunch at the Lido, which we liked. You have to know which section is open when, but there is food 24 hours a day. Just snack stuff in the small sections late at night and early in the AM. During busier meal times, all the sections are open. Breakfast ends at 11:30 and lunch begins at 11:30. So the close one of the large sections of the lido at 11:00, which the other continues breakfast until 11:30. By 11:30, the section that closed early is open for lunch, and they close the other section for a half hour to get ready for lunch. I guess that could be confusing, but we got used to their pattern and thought it was managed very well.

 

The weakest points for us were that the tour excursion people were abrupt, not helpful, and they were downright nasty to one woman whose only question was where her tour was to meet (it wasn't on her ticket). The front desk people were horrible. It was like a game of liar's club--who could tell the biggest whopper and get away with it. I could not sign into my internet account on most days and the computer officer was always "on break" when I asked for help (at the aforementioned liars desk).

 

The shows in the main lounge were not great, but I hadn't seen a good show on a ship until Veendam this year. The smaller entertainment venues were good. We stumbled on a great jazz combo playing in the atrium one night.

 

Overall, I like HAL better for the smaller ships, quieter atmosphere. But I wouldn't say no to Princess in the future.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I personally was very dissappointed with our Crown Princess cruise last January, turthfully I had higher expectations and those expectaions were not met. We found the food to be fair at best with the exception of Italian food/pizza/and desserts were pretty good :D Main entree meats were terrible and the worst meal we have ever had was in the Crown Grill. :mad:

I found service/crew to not even be close to what HAL offers. Since several months have now passed I think that we may consider Princess in the future if it was an ideal itinerary but will go with much lower expectations:o

 

Now we have been on two NCL cruises since last November and I have to say we boarded with low expectations and were blown away both times. If you are a Suite person you are in for a thrill with NCL they are so far above HAL when it comes to Suite amenities and treatment. We have done many SA suites with HAL but NCL is definitely better. We cannot wait to try the Epic. Although I agree that for categories lower than a Suite NCL is probably not in the same league as HAL but NCL Suites are a much higher league ;) We personally felt crew and officers of NCL were more like HAL than we saw with Princess.

[PattiG]

It just goes to show you -- it's all a matter of taste and opinion. My cruise line of choice is Princess. However, I also like HAL very much. I have been on the Crown twice and have another cruise booked on that ship. I have not been disappointed in the food, activities or service. I sailed NCL once and will NEVER go again.

[many cruises]

Both HAL & Princess are our favorite cruise lines & there are many similarities between them. We love the Crown Princess and will be sailing on her again in a few months. We think the level of service is higher on HAL, but so is the price. The cabins are bigger on HAL and the beds are more comfortable. Princess has a wonderful repeat passengers program. The food is comparable...they are both very good in that area. There are many more entertainment options on Princess than HAL. HAL is more low key in the entertainment area. The pool areas on Princess are gorgeous & they stay open until late at night. Princess does the open dining better than HAL...their ships are designed for it. One major difference for us has been that we have never had any maintenance issues on any Princess ship, yet on HAL, we've had severe air conditioning problems twice on two different ships (Maasdam & Veendam). If we sail on HAL again, it will only be on HAL's newer ships because of this ongoing problem.

[NancyIL]

I loved my Crown Princess cruise to the British Isles in June. I also cruised on the Coral and Golden Princess to Alaska, and loved them as well. My first HAL cruise on the Zaandam in 2004 wasn't impressive, but the Veendam to Alaska in 2008 was much better - enough so that I booked the Amsterdam to Alaska for 2011.

 

What would make me book one cruise line over another is itinerary and price. I am interested in a Norway cruise in 2012, and the Ryndam has an itinerary in 2011 that I like very much. The Crown Princess has a similar itinerary, so I'll see what both offer when 2012 Europe itineraries become available. (Celebrity also has a very nice Norway itinerary in 2011, but paying the 200% single supplement would make it much more expensive than HAL or Princess.)

[dewong2008]

I have sailed on both HAL & Princess - never fancy cabins though. My biggest problem with princess is the buffet food......you never seemed to have all the fresh stuff you get on HAL. I tried princess a second time while travelling with my family and not only was the food not nearly as good as HAL but the bed in our cabin was horrid. We were disappointed because we had splurged (for us) and gotten a balcony to surprise our 10 year old daughter.

 

Anyway, I don't think I would sail princess again unless I got an amazing deal on a cabin, even then I would probably think twice.

 

Diana

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

We sailed on the Crown a few years ago. The only complaint we had was the over-crowding. Too many people. There were always lines everywhere and forget about getting a chair by the pool. Even when we were able to get a chair by the pool, people would move chairs from other areas and be right on top of you. Other than that issue, we like the ship, the crew and the food. The Crown Grill was one of the best experiences we have had on any ship!!!

[0bnxshs]

We are considering a sailing on the Crown Princess next April. We've never been on any other line than HAL. We've only been in deluxe and penthouse suites...looking at the Crown Princess's Owners Suite. Anybody have any comparison data? Will we be disappointed in the suite and service, food, or feel of the ship??? Thanks!

 

Been on both, and while there were slight differences between them, I'm very comfortable on either line, so far with no complaints! I think the biggest difference you will notice is the size difference.

[iancal]

We would go on either in a heartbeat. In our experience, the larger difference is actually between ships in the same line-both on HAL and Princess.

[oceandrive]

I was on several Princess Cruises (including Crown Princess) but I always come back to Holland America.

 

The good on Princess Cruises:

 

-Embarkation priorities for my Captain Circle level.

-Beautiful ships. Artwork very dull.

-Spa pool.

-Buffet restaurant open 24 hrs. Not for me... but some enjoy it.

-Shows and entertainment top notch.

 

The Bad on Princess Cruises:

-On average, Cabins much smaller than HAL cabins.

-Beds not very comfortable. Huge difference between them and HAL. (crown was the worse)

-Don't like the one towel per day system.

-Buffet restaurant serving area always cramped causing a lot of uncivilized behavior.

-Dining rooms cavernous with low ceilings.

-HAL more adult oriented than Princess...

-Gyms are always too small for their size of ships. So crowded all the time.

-Could be very difficult to find deck chairs...Unless you don't mind being half a mile from a pool.

[cruisemom42]

And don't even ask about the organization for ship tours ---- BEDLAM........

 

 

I have always found Princess' tours to be very efficient and well organized compared with other ships. My mom, who sails HAL quite frequently, also concurred while with me on a Princess Med cruise that Princess' system for organizing shore tours was superior to HAL's.

 

That said, I think most are right who say there are many more similarities than differences. I haven't been on HAL since 2005 on Zuiderdam (a cruise that wasn't an unqualified success for us) but I am looking forward to trying them again next month. I do hope everyone is right about the beds being better than on Princess -- that's my one quibble with them!

[world~citizen]

Will Princess disappoint you - only you can answer that question after you have cruised with them.

 

If you don't sail with them you will never know. Of course by then it may be too late.:eek:

 

Good luck.

[milleruszk]

The biggest difference I found is that the daily tempo on Princess is much more upbeat. Holland America is more low keyed. This is not a knock on either line. I would sail either line again without hesitation. :)

 

Tom