HAL or Princess Ruby?

[Berk987]

We're torn. Should we try PR or stick with HAL for Nov 2011? We've done the following:

 

Nov 2008 - Eurodam

Nov 2009 - Westerdam

Dec 2010 - Nieuw Amsterdam

 

2 families each consisting of 2 adults (in our 40s) and 2 kids each.

By November 2011 the kids will be 7, 7, 5 and 3. This time we can get all the kids at Club Hal at the same time. We like not being around lots of other kids, we love the atmospher of HAL but we're ready to try something new. The price difference is about $200 total for a family of 4. Prices seem higher than last year. We love to eat. Not fussy about rooms, we just pay for the inside room. We're not party people, all in bed by 10pm and up by 6ish. We like to eat at 5:30 nightly. Kids are well behaved and are cruise pros by now (at least with HAL). Thoughts?

 

Thanks.

[kazu]

Speaking for ourselves, we prefer HAL over Princess, but that's us. After our last Princess cruise, we stuck with HAL so we haven't been on Princess for a while. I'll let others give their opinions on Princess.

 

You will find a lot more children on Princess than HAL IMO.

 

The things you describe you like seem to be more oriented towards HAL than Princess. Hal's rooms are larger too. Just some thoughts.;)

[NJ Fred]

We vote HAL.

 

No contest.

[Johanna7]

We prefer HAL but took a 2 week Princess cruise in November as we liked the itinerary because it had 2 places we had not been to. St. Kitts and St. Vincent. We loved both and having them on the same cruise sold us.

 

As you are not party animals, HAL will be just fine. The food is a notch better and yes, the cabins are larger. Enjoy.

[woodofpine]

If you like HAL then why change?

 

Princess may have more kids... but Princess has pools that operate nearly 24/7 which kids tend to like. Generally, the MDR service style is a bit more gregarious and kid interactive on Princess. But they're both good lines (HAL slightly quieter - slightly).

 

HAL Vista class ships to Princess Grand Class is a pretty close comparison.

[DRWhit]

I have Princess on the list to try one of these days. I think the ships are a little uglier, and they tend to have more passengers than HAL. But it seems like whenever I am stuck in an airport next to some Princess cruisers, they all seem to be positive on Princess when I ask them about it.

 

Be sure and let us know how it went when you return, either way.

[bbrme]

We are looking at either Princess or HAL for our Christmas cruise Dec 2011 with DD8 and DS10. We have cruised NCL and Carnival with them and they liked them both but DH and I didnt like Carnival much. We had a good time on NCL but they dont do the sourthen caribbean. Is there much for them to do on HAL? They love playing in the pool and hate eating "fancy" dinners so on the other lines we either fed them at the buffet before we ate or they ate at the kids club - will that work on HAL? Also what kind of adult entertainment do they have between dinner and around 10 pm. DH and I like to get in "date nights" when we are on the cruise but we all normally end up in bed by 10.

[Hawaiidan]

for kids.... Princess. way better set up than Holland America and better suited with activites:cool:

[doclove]

We have 4 kids and have sailed with HAL on the Oosterdam and Princess on the Ruby. While I will say that the Ruby Princess has more activities for kids, we will be doing our future sailings with HAL.

 

The changing factor for us is the level of service you get with HAL. On Princess we felt that we were just another guest, while on HAL the servers and crew loved having the kids around. We also felt that the dining areas were better suited for the kids. In the Lido the pizza (which our kids constantly eat), was in the main dining area. On the Ruby they had to walk outside the buffet, past the pool, around the elevators, and then wait in line for the pizza. Also HAL has many flavors of ice cream available throughout the day and the Ruby only had soft-serve.

 

While the Ruby had a better kids area, we found that many of the play areas were off limits due to weather or ship movement. If there was any rocking of the boat the kids couldn't go outside or be in the jungle gym. For us those areas were closed almost every day.

 

I hope that helps answer some of your questions. Let me know if you have any others.

[Berk987]

thanks for the info everyone. what's the bed configuration like for the inside cabins? We like the J rooms on HAL. DD (age 6) would be on the pull out sofa which she calls her lower bunk. I'm on the upper bunk because I like to get up at 6am and roam the ship. DH and DS (age 5) are in the queen.

[doclove]

We had a category I on the Ruby. The bed configuration was 2 lower with 2 upper berths right above them. If you had any of the upper berths being used, you could not put the lower beds together. There are no sofa beds in that category.

[pspcruiser]

We were on a Panama Canal cruise last year on HAL Maasdam.. ocean view room. Normally we are on Princess or Carnival. We did a transactlantic Ruby Princess two years ago.

While it is unfair to compare the older Maasdam to the newer Ruby there was such a HUGE difference between the two in terms of food and service. Our room on the Maasdam did not have functioning airconditioning the entire voyage. We complained constantly and engineers were sent everyday to try and fix the situation to no avail We asked for a different cabin but were told there were none available. The front office finally delivered a large box fan to at least circulate the air (we were in a ocean view room).

FINALLY they did arrange another room about 8 days into the sailing which was much better. Why this was not offered previously is beyond me. It spoiled our entire vacation and we were given a $100. per person credit for the

"inconvenience"!!!!! We did find out by accident that the reason for the air conditioning problem was that we were towards the bow and the airconditioning was not able to function that far in high humidity and temperatures. The ship is old and things just don't work very well anymore.

The food does not compare in quality to Princess.. the service as well. Never again. Go with Princess!!!!

[wrinster22]

Hey, I am a kid and was not impressed with Hal at ALL durring it's peek time (christmas) entertainment was lame and the ship was dull. I would go with the Princess cruises for sure! I was told I could not due an activity because it was for adults. Yeah the Nintedno Wii tournement, not a single person over the age of 14 appeared and we were all turned away. Also Princess ships make me say *wow*

[LarryF]

The Ruby Princess is great and if our kids were still young I wouldn't hesitate to take them on the Ruby. We have sailed on the Zuiderdam and loved it and we are sailing on the Eurodam in March and looking very forward to it.

 

The deciding factor for me would be that there are four pools on the Ruby. The one on the aft and the one on the stern are adult only. The two middle pools are decent size pools and one of them has movie under the stars. Most of the newer HAL ships have one adult pool and one family pool. I think Princess has more activities by the pools than HAL.

 

The Horizon Court and the Cafe Caribe (buffet) are open 24 hours a day. They have free soft serve ice cream by the pool, but they also have free regular ice cream (limited flavors) from 2:30 to 3:30 in the Horizon court each day. The burgers and pizzas by the Pool are outstanding.

 

The edge does have to go to HAL for food, but the food on Princess is very good. The Piazza on the Ruby is very lively at night and a fun place to see entertainment all during the day and evening.

 

I would have to give the edge to Princess given the age of your kids. If you do decide on the Ruby try to get an aft catagory "I" cabin on the Riviera deck; as it is just steps away from the aft pool. It's like having your own giant balcony.

 

Please don't take this as HAL bashing as we love HAL, but we mostly love HAL for it's elagance and quiet atmosphere. In any event, you wouldn't go wrong with either as ultimately you'll be with your family in the Caribbean on a cruise ship! What could be better!!

 

Larry

[djhsolara]

We've done several HAL and also been on Ruby. We LOVE HAL...and everytime we go elsewhere we always end up asking ourselves "Why?".

 

We liked Ruby and we had a balcony stateroom on the Lido Deck. While the stateroom was nice, it was by far the smallest stateroom we've had on any sailing that we've taken.

 

Ruby is a beautiful ship but the Princess ships are just a bit big for us. We also do not like that there is not a covered pool. We sailed in December and even though we were in the Caribbean it was a bit cool to be in the pools. A covered pool like HAL has would have been nice.

 

Hope this helps...

 

:) :)

[soccerdad3]

We cruised the Ruby on Jan 9th, and enjoyed every minute. We are cruising on Nieuw Amsterdam March 6th. This will be our first HAL. We're hearing nice comments, especially the food. We have concerns about the evening activities, as Princess has such a nice variety for every age. Our room on the Ruby was on the Dolphin deck aft. Large balcony and watching the waves from the back of the ship was delightful. Had we booked a balcony on the side, our actual room would have been bigger.

 

We have booked a balcony on NA and it appears to be a fairly large room. My wife will be anxious to see if the "salon style hair dryers" truely are salon style. Any comments?

 

Steve

[soccerdad3]

We are looking at either Princess or HAL for our Christmas cruise Dec 2011 with DD8 and DS10. We have cruised NCL and Carnival with them and they liked them both but DH and I didnt like Carnival much. We had a good time on NCL but they dont do the sourthen caribbean. Is there much for them to do on HAL? They love playing in the pool and hate eating "fancy" dinners so on the other lines we either fed them at the buffet before we ate or they ate at the kids club - will that work on HAL? Also what kind of adult entertainment do they have between dinner and around 10 pm. DH and I like to get in "date nights" when we are on the cruise but we all normally end up in bed by 10.

 

 

Have you considered Disney? Problem solved:) With children involved, nobody beats the Mouse!