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

[NancyIL]

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.

 

We did one ship excursion on the Crown Princess in June, and I was very impressed with how Princess handled everything. Only the people going at a particular window of time were allowed in the theater, and each tour group sat in a different area of the theater. When our group was called to board the bus, we filed out of the theater efficiently. That was SO different from our Celebrity Constellation cruise last September - where people sat wherever they wanted in the theater. When our color was called to board the bus, we had to get through the many people blocking the aisles.

[Dunelm]

Have had two cruises on the Grand Princess and loved both. We were in a full size suite on one, and a mini-suite on the other and felt pampered in both. The food is enjoyable on both lines (I am not a picky eater); I think the entertainment on Princess might have the edge. We have sailed most often with Holland America, but mainly because we choose the intinerary over the line.

[TracieABD]

I really like Princess. Their food and shows are great.

 

I really, really, really like HAL. Their service is unbelievable!

[GrammieK]

I can only speak for myself - so here goes. We were on the Caribbean Princess in a Penthouse suite and really found no comparison to HAL "S" suites. Balcony was like a postage stamp compared to HAL. Lounge had to be placed on an angle to fit! Food was not as good - buffett lukewarm, crowded and confusing!! Lines seemed to start from nowhere! Dining room was hit or miss. Thankfully in a suite, you can eat breakfast in a specialty restaurant (Sabatini's?) and avoid the buffett. Coffee - do I need to even say this??? Undrinkable unless you pay for a coffee card and go down to deck 5 for fresh brewed (from deck 14 penthouse suite). Of course in a HAL suite, you can get anything you want in the Neptune Lounge. One good thing about a suite on Princess, you get early embarkation, so run to the Sanctuary and pay for a lounger for the week or you will never find a lounge where you want it. Sorry to sound so negative, but I really was disappointed on Princess - but again, this is only my opinion! I an sure you will find many people who disagree.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I can only speak for myself - so here goes. We were on the Caribbean Princess in a Penthouse suite and really found no comparison to HAL "S" suites. Balcony was like a postage stamp compared to HAL. Lounge had to be placed on an angle to fit! Food was not as good - buffett lukewarm, crowded and confusing!! Lines seemed to start from nowhere! Dining room was hit or miss. Thankfully in a suite, you can eat breakfast in a specialty restaurant (Sabatini's?) and avoid the buffett. Coffee - do I need to even say this??? Undrinkable unless you pay for a coffee card and go down to deck 5 for fresh brewed (from deck 14 penthouse suite). Of course in a HAL suite, you can get anything you want in the Neptune Lounge. One good thing about a suite on Princess, you get early embarkation, so run to the Sanctuary and pay for a lounger for the week or you will never find a lounge where you want it. Sorry to sound so negative, but I really was disappointed on Princess - but again, this is only my opinion! I an sure you will find many people who disagree.

I agree with you 110%, Like I say I went with high expectations assuming that Princess would be close to HAL and it was far from HAL. We felt exactly the same way. After going to the buffet area twice I said never again.

There is just a different mentality of the average Princess cruiser. I will not say anymore than that :rolleyes: I went with low expectation for the two NCL cruises we did and was extremely impressed. We wish we would of had low expectations of Princess but we did not, between the Princess board and Princess advertising they really sugar coat it.

Next weekend we will be heading off to FLL for our first Celebrity cruise and I am trying not to have any expectations for this except I am sure I will be doing a close comparison to HAL ;)

[NancyIL]

I agree with you 110%, Like I say I went with high expectations assuming that Princess would be close to HAL and it was far from HAL. We felt exactly the same way. After going to the buffet area twice I said never again.

There is just a different mentality of the average Princess cruiser. I will not say anymore than that :rolleyes: I went with low expectation for the two NCL cruises we did and was extremely impressed. We wish we would of had low expectations or Princess but we did not, between the Princess board and Princess advertising they really sugar coat it.

Next weekend we will be heading off to FLL for our first Celebrity cruise and I am trying not to have any expectations for this except I am sure I will be doing a close comparison to HAL ;)

 

Wow - talk about a snobby suite-dweller!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Wow - talk about a snobby suite-dweller!

I was NOT in a Suite on Princess, I was agreeing with this posters comment. But yes I have been in many Suite on HAL, I consider myself to be far from snobby and would gladly sail in an Interior cabin. Since when does it make someone a snobby suite-dweller if they agree with someone :rolleyes:

[NancyIL]

I was NOT in a Suite on Princess, I was agreeing with this posters comment. But yes I have been in many Suite on HAL, I consider myself to be far from snobby and would gladly sail in an Interior cabin. Since when does it make someone a snobby suite-dweller if they agree with someone :rolleyes:

 

You are certainly entitled to prefer HAL over Princess. However, to post that "There is just a different mentality of the average Princess cruiser" is quite a snobby comment!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

You are certainly entitled to prefer HAL over Princess. However, to post that "There is just a different mentality of the average Princess cruiser" is quite a snobby comment!

I simply was saying that the average Princess cruiser has a different way of thinking so how you came up with the fact that I am snobby makes no sense at all :confused:

[NancyIL]

I simply was saying that the average Princess cruiser has a different way of thinking so how you came up with the fact that I am snobby makes no sense at all :confused:

 

Whatever your intentions, it came across as an insult to the "average Princess cruiser"!

[frugaltravel]

Whatever your intentions, it came across as an insult to the "average Princess cruiser"!

 

I am "average", have cruised Princess three times, enjoyed it immensely and was insulted. :)

[Two@Sea]

Whatever your intentions, it came across as an insult to the "average Princess cruiser"!

 

Sorry, but my opinion is that you totally put your own interpretation on a simple, non-confrontational, statement. I fail to understand how it could come off as an insult... :confused: ???

[NancyIL]

Sorry, but my opinion is that you totally put your own interpretation on a simple, non-confrontational, statement. I fail to understand how it could come off as an insult... :confused: ???

Reread what she said - especially the sentences in bold followed by the :rolleyes:

I agree with you 110%, Like I say I went with high expectations assuming that Princess would be close to HAL and it was far from HAL. We felt exactly the same way. After going to the buffet area twice I said never again.

There is just a different mentality of the average Princess cruiser. I will not say anymore than that :rolleyes: I went with low expectation for the two NCL cruises we did and was extremely impressed. We wish we would of had low expectations or Princess but we did not, between the Princess board and Princess advertising they really sugar coat it.

Next weekend we will be heading off to FLL for our first Celebrity cruise and I am trying not to have any expectations for this except I am sure I will be doing a close comparison to HAL ;)

 

Post the same comment on the Princess board and see if they feel it was a simple, non-confrontational statement.

[scamper]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand back to the topic.

 

All things being equal, it would be tough for me to give up the Neptune Lounge on HAL. I can never figure out why this concept hasn't seemed to take off on the other lines, save NCL's villa deck and (I have heard) RCL.

 

I have no desire to cruise either line. And, yes, in some respects, I AM a snob--and quite proud of the fact.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Reread what she said - especially the sentences in bold followed by the :rolleyes:

 

 

Post the same comment on the Princess board and see if they feel it was a simple, non-confrontational statement.

:DOddly I did just that using the same exact words on my Live From the Crown thread last Janaury and not one confrontation actually, several agreed with me if I remember right :)

Cruising on Princess is very different, one has to plan hours in advance if they want to go to a show that evening because Princess cruisers go very early to save seats. You do not see this way of thinking on HAL or NCL. I found this extremely different and felt sorry for the person that is sent to go save 20 chairs. Yet not great for me that went 20 minutes early and to see a half empty theater with all the chairs saved :confused: If you want a deck chair again you have to get up at the crack of dawn to get one es[ecially out by MUTS. Getting into an elevator is another story, one does not want to hesitate you you might get run down. Kind of like some cities people run red lights while other cities people might jump the green lights :D Things are just very different on Princess than HAL. The Buffet area is another drastically different area. It is simply a different way of thinking and doing things. Yes I did do the roll the eye thing because for me it was not my cup of tea for others it may be just fine. I do not think that is snobby, it is just not my preference.

[GrammieK]

Hi Lisa,

Sorry you were "flamed" for your opinion - which happens to agree with mine!! As my husband always says - that's why there are apples AND oranges. Some people love both and yet some people have a distinct preference. HAL is my preference by a mile. I also had high expectations after reading posts on the Princess board. The people who love Princess REALLY love Princess! Apparently, they appeal to a certain segment of the cruising market leaving the rest of us to take our business elsewhere. Doesn't make it bad, just different.

Enjoy your next cruise (Celebrity out of Fl?). Let me know how it compares to HAL.

Kathie

[NancyIL]

:DOddly I did just that using the same exact words on my Live From the Crown thread last Janaury and not one confrontation actually, several agreed with me if I remember right :)

Cruising on Princess is very different, one has to plan hours in advance if they want to go to a show that evening because Princess cruisers go very early to save seats. You do not see this way of thinking on HAL or NCL. I found this extremely different and felt sorry for the person that is sent to go save 20 chairs. Yet not great for me that went 20 minutes early and to see a half empty theater with all the chairs saved :confused: If you want a deck chair again you have to get up at the crack of dawn to get one es[ecially out by MUTS. Getting into an elevator is another story, one does not want to hesitate you you might get run down. Kind of like some cities people run red lights while other cities people might jump the green lights :D Things are just very different on Princess than HAL. The Buffet area is another drastically different area. It is simply a different way of thinking and doing things. Yes I did do the roll the eye thing because for me it was not my cup of tea for others it may be just fine. I do not think that is snobby, it is just not my preference.

 

You can make critical comments about Princess ships without disparaging Princess cruisers. Some of us Princess cruisers sail on HAL, too!

 

I was on the Crown Princess in June, and I went to the theater about 10 minutes prior to show time. I had no problem finding seats in the first few rows. Ours was a 12-night cruise, and they usually repeated the production shows a second night because of the multiple entertainers performing in different venues. The theater isn't large enough to accommodate every cruiser in two seatings.

 

My opinion of HAL's theater? Good entertainment, but poorly-designed theaters. As I recall from the Zaandam and Veendam - the seats were low-backed and pretty uncomfortable, and there was no slope to the floor unless you were seated in the balcony.

 

My Princess cruises were to Alaska and the British isles, so there weren't a lot of people sunning themselves by the pools. :D

 

I'm not a big fan of buffets, and the Horizon Court on the Princess ships I was on (Coral, Golden, and Crown) was considerably smaller than on other ships I've sailed - especially compared to Royal Caribbean.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Hi Lisa,

Sorry you were "flamed" for your opinion - which happens to agree with mine!! As my husband always says - that's why there are apples AND oranges. Some people love both and yet some people have a distinct preference. HAL is my preference by a mile. I also had high expectations after reading posts on the Princess board. The people who love Princess REALLY love Princess! Apparently, they appeal to a certain segment of the cruising market leaving the rest of us to take our business elsewhere. Doesn't make it bad, just different.

Enjoy your next cruise (Celebrity out of Fl?). Let me know how it compares to HAL.

Kathie

 

 

Thanks Kathie, I plan to be doing another Live from thread. Of course I will be comparing Celebrity very closely to HAL so it should be very interesting. I am really trying to go with no expectations either way. I do know that I have seen in person the outside of the Solstice and was WOWed so the next will be seeing the inside. But of course we know there is more to cruising than just what we see.

Now I just have to worry about any new forming hurricanes keeping us from getting to FLL :D Once we are on the ship that is the destination so if they take us on a 7 day cruise to no where I would be thrilled with that :)

[NancyIL]

Sorry you were "flamed" for your opinion - which happens to agree with mine!!

 

I took issue with Lisa's comment about Princess cruisers - not about her opinion of the cruise line.

[cruisemom42]

:DOddly I did just that using the same exact words on my Live From the Crown thread last Janaury and not one confrontation actually, several agreed with me if I remember right :)

 

Cruising on Princess is very different, one has to plan hours in advance if they want to go to a show that evening because Princess cruisers go very early to save seats. You do not see this way of thinking on HAL or NCL. I found this extremely different and felt sorry for the person that is sent to go save 20 chairs. Yet not great for me that went 20 minutes early and to see a half empty theater with all the chairs saved :confused: If you want a deck chair again you have to get up at the crack of dawn to get one es[ecially out by MUTS. Getting into an elevator is another story, one does not want to hesitate you you might get run down. Kind of like some cities people run red lights while other cities people might jump the green lights :D Things are just very different on Princess than HAL. The Buffet area is another drastically different area. It is simply a different way of thinking and doing things. Yes I did do the roll the eye thing because for me it was not my cup of tea for others it may be just fine. I do not think that is snobby, it is just not my preference.

 

 

Umm, well you did not quite say the same exact thing on your live from thread:

 

"I do find that the Princess cruise mentality is a bit different than on HAL. On Princess I see so much of chair saving all over the ship, even in the Thermal Suite. It is as if no one wants to share or be considerate of others. I also do not find the crew to be as warm and friendly as on HAL or NCL. NCL was definitely as warm and friendly as HAL. I am so use to going down a hallway and being greeted good morning by every crew member. They do not do that here on Princess and when you do greet them and say Good Morning they are almost shocked."

 

And from reading the posts following, it appears that Princess posters in the main politely disagreed. But, whatever. :rolleyes:

 

For what it's worth, the way you posted it on your "Live From" thread I did not find insulting, as an average Princess cruiser. I do agree that what you posted on this thread is a bit of a dig.

 

Here is the thread, in case anyone would like to read for themselves: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1121708

 

At the time, it seems there were some things you enjoyed about Princess, but do not see fit to mention here....!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

t the time, it seems there were some things you enjoyed about Princess, but do not see fit to mention here....!

Basically because many of the things that were my first impressions only superficial. As the week continued Truthfully we found less and less we liked about Princess. If you want to cruise for good Pizza and Pastas then Princess is the cruise line you want to pick.... Is that what you want to hear? My personal experience was not great. The over all food quality was much lower than HAL, the bathroom amenities were extremely bad and cheap quality, the beds and bedding were far from what I consider to be adequate. I find Princess to be a low end Mass market cruise lines for a more senior crowd. Now maybe not all the cruises and or cruisers are that way but that was what I perceived to be the case for our Caribbean 7 day cruise. Yes Maybe a Baltic or Alaska itinerary may be different. But most 7 day Caribbean cruises with Princess are extremely cheap and unfortunately in order for Princess to keep those prices cheaper than RCI and Carnival many things have to go such as the things I mentioned above.

I honestly expected Princess to be equal to HAL but it was not even close. I live in the US and last I knew we still had freedom of speech so this is my opinion and others are allowed to think and speak differently. :)

[NancyIL]

I find Princess to be a low end Mass market cruise lines for a more senior crowd.

 

You thought Princess had a more senior crowd than HAL?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

You thought Princess had a more senior crowd than HAL?

Comparing the large Crown to a Vista Class or Signature Class HAL ship most definitely. Now if you compare Princess to a S or R class ship on a longer itinerary I would say they were about equal. In all the 7 days cruises we have done I have never encountered so many mobility scooters, walkers, and oxygen tanks. The scooters alone were part of the problem with the elevators. Several times we would wait for an elevator at mid ship to have 5 or more people with scooters waiting to get on. In all honesty I have never encountered this on HAL maybe because the Crown is so much larger compared to HAL I am not sure. But our sailing was definitely a larger percentage of Seniors compared to a Vista Class HAL ship and I have been on plenty.

[donaldsc]

We have sailed Princess many times and have just done a HAL cruise on the Maasdam. Considering what everyone said about how I would love HAL, I was disappointed. Not disappointed enough to never cruise HAL but nevertheless disappointed.

 

I did not think that the level of service on HAL was as good as on Princess. The entertainment on Princess was better.

 

The main deal breaker for me on HAL would be their smoking policy which appears to be that anyone can smoke anywhere that they want to. Princess has many more areas where you can breath clean air.

 

DON

[frugaltravel]

If you want to cruise for good Pizza and Pastas then Princess is the cruise line you want to pick.... Is that what you want to hear? My personal experience was not great.

 

Obviously your personal experience with Princess was not just "not great", it was terrible if the only positive things you can say about the line is that it has good pizza and pastas. Your personal experience was certainly not typical.

 

I live in the US and last I knew we still had freedom of speech so this is my opinion and others are allowed to think and speak differently. :)

 

Yep, and I have the same freedom to totally disagree with your OPINION.