Holland or Princess

[ladyjane550]

We have been on 4 Princess cruises. Thinking about the Niew Amsterdam out of Ft. Lauderdale for next Feb 2012. Will I notice a diffence in the food , entertainment etc.

[CtheW0rld]

both are very similar. if you book regular non-suite cabins, you will like hal's better. hal has small sitting areas in their cabins, and even regular outsides have bathtubs.

[cruzmann]

I would agree that Princess and Holland Am. are very similar except that I like the entertainment options on most Princess ships including the cabaret style entertainment that they have in addition to the main show. Many nights my wife and I would stroll the deck and catch a good comedy show later. Good variety. That said, I still vote for the food in the main dining room of the dam ships over Princess. We've been lucky to get upgraded to mini-suites on Princess and those cabins are a little roomier than on Holland. The veranda dining option was nice because there was plenty of room. Still a toss-up because HAL has never given me a bad trip, neither has Princess. Nightlife also might go to Princess but I skew older on my music tastes.

[Toad]

Having been on both, I would say that they are fairly equal, my only major Complaint being the coffee on Princess, which I thought was horrible, then again I am an addict. I thought the service was slightly better on HAL and room service was much better.

[F5Loar]

done both many times. I think Princess has better and bigger pools to enjoy. Entertainment is a bit more and then they have the champaign tree party which is nice.

Food a bit better on HAL. Both have excellent pay extra resturants. It would be hard but since you have done so many Princess ships I would want the change just to satisfy your cruise experence.

[Pam in CA]

both are very similar. if you book regular non-suite cabins, you will like hal's better. hal has small sitting areas in their cabins, and even regular outsides have bathtubs.

While true, the Princess cabins have much better storage and a dressing area outside the bathroom door. IMHO, it's six of one, half a dozen of another, depending on whether you want a small couch or storage.

 

As said, they are more similar than dissimilar. I think the food is better on Princess as well as the service, but as always, that can depend on your personal experience on a ship as someone on the same exact sailing can have the opposite experience.

 

Things I like about HAL:

 

-- superior Open seating dinner management, much better than Princess' Anytime dining.

 

-- you can ask to have the dining room menu delivered to your cabin and order anything as room service. While not quite the "Ultimate Balcony Dinner" experience, it's the next best thing and doesn't cost $50/pp.

 

-- movie theater with comfy chairs

 

-- Canaletto restaurant, a free, fine Italian dining area that is smart casual on formal nights. Delicious.

 

 

Things I don't like about HAL:

 

-- the buffet is a mess in the morning, particularly if you are planning on going ashore for an early tour. On the other hand, you can get a full, hot breakfast room service.

 

-- the buffet is open for lunch only for limited hours so if you come back late from a tour, your choices are limited. While the buffet on Princess doesn't have as much made-to-order food, it's much faster to get what you want and you don't have to wait in separate lines for 5-10 minutes each to get a sandwich and a salad. I learned to get my salad first so that when I got a tuna melt, it was still hot and not cold and congealed.

 

-- the buffet closes up tighter than a drum at 8pm so if you choose to have dinner in the buffet, while it's excellent, you have to get there very early to get all your courses; otherwise, you won't be able to get more salad, dessert or anything else after 8pm.

 

-- storage in the cabins is limited, particularly in the desk area. In my cabin on the Zuiderdam, for instance, there were two tiny shelves, just big enough for two glasses on one of them. The other held the hair dryer. No space to hold make-up, brushes or anything else you might want to use at the desk. On the other hand, there's a make-up magnifying mirror. (Kind of contradictory.)

[kazu]

It really depends upon what you want. there's some good points made by other posters. Food is very subjective, but for us Hal's food is better.

 

Princess offers more entertainment, so if that is a high priority for you, you may be a bit dissapointed.

 

HAL is more sedate IMO than Princess. :)

[beachluvr!]

While true, the Princess cabins have much better storage and a dressing area outside the bathroom door. IMHO, it's six of one, half a dozen of another, depending on whether you want a small couch or storage.

 

As said, they are more similar than dissimilar. I think the food is better on Princess as well as the service, but as always, that can depend on your personal experience on a ship as someone on the same exact sailing can have the opposite experience.

 

Things I like about HAL:

 

-- superior Open seating dinner management, much better than Princess' Anytime dining.

 

-- you can ask to have the dining room menu delivered to your cabin and order anything as room service. While not quite the "Ultimate Balcony Dinner" experience, it's the next best thing and doesn't cost $50/pp.

 

-- movie theater with comfy chairs

 

-- Canaletto restaurant, a free, fine Italian dining area that is smart casual on formal nights. Delicious.

 

 

Things I don't like about HAL:

 

-- the buffet is a mess in the morning, particularly if you are planning on going ashore for an early tour. On the other hand, you can get a full, hot breakfast room service.

 

-- the buffet is open for lunch only for limited hours so if you come back late from a tour, your choices are limited. While the buffet on Princess doesn't have as much made-to-order food, it's much faster to get what you want and you don't have to wait in separate lines for 5-10 minutes each to get a sandwich and a salad. I learned to get my salad first so that when I got a tuna melt, it was still hot and not cold and congealed.

 

-- the buffet closes up tighter than a drum at 8pm so if you choose to have dinner in the buffet, while it's excellent, you have to get there very early to get all your courses; otherwise, you won't be able to get more salad, dessert or anything else after 8pm.

 

-- storage in the cabins is limited, particularly in the desk area. In my cabin on the Zuiderdam, for instance, there were two tiny shelves, just big enough for two glasses on one of them. The other held the hair dryer. No space to hold make-up, brushes or anything else you might want to use at the desk. On the other hand, there's a make-up magnifying mirror. (Kind of contradictory.)

Good to know the buffet closes at 8 as we tend to eat late. But where do you get any food after 8??? And are there any:confused: late night snacks anywhere?

[RuthC]

Good to know the buffet closes at 8 as we tend to eat late. But where do you get any food after 8???

Room service is 24/7.

And are there any:confused: late night snacks anywhere?

Late Night snack is served in the Lido from 11:00 -midnight.

[Cruizer Bill]

HAL ships have fabulous libraries and superb wrap-around teak Promenade Decks the brings one back to the classic days of cruise liners! Also I like the art better on HAL. I like the Atrium on Princess and the amount of music better there too.

[Susie51]

Princess positives: dressing area next to the bathroom, bathroom door does not open into the entry. Many pools. I like the forward adults-only pool with two whirlpools. I have only been on Grand and Diamond both times in an OV.

 

HAL positives: order off of the menu at dining room hours. Tranquility

 

Try HAL, so you can decide for yourself.

[VTcruisenut]

Any cruise is better than NO CRUISE! I have cruised on HAL 3X and Carnival once. Haven't been on Princess.......We Love HAL....Love the staff- the service the smiles. We aren't in the cabin much, but find it very adequate. Love the MDR and great menu selections. I love the smaller ships- 5,000 passengers is too much for me. 1900 I can handle! If you haven't tried HAL, give them a chance. You will see what many of us love.......

[geocruiser]

What Princess ship are you thinking of?

I have been on the old Crown (2X), Sun(2x), Tahitian(1X), Ruby(!) and Emerald(1). If you are thinking Ruby or Emerald I would choose either one of those ships over Niew Amsterdam.

 

Maria

[Willsot]

I sailed both HAL and Princess within a few months. The Princess ship (Caribbean) was much larger than HAL (Rotterdam). Princess offers more entertainment venues, I enjoyed the buffets (I thought the breakfast buffet was better than HAL) but did not care for the larger number of passengers. I thought the food was very good on both, but give HAL the edge on MDR dining. I also found the Princess bed to be much less comfortable than those on HAL.

I had open dining on Princess, which went smoothly as I was always seated immediately because I enjoyed joining other groups at tables. They did use the buzzer/pager system for those waiting for tables for two. Service was very good on both Princess and HAL but I love the wonderful HAL crew members.

[KirkNC]

It really depends upon what you want. there's some good points made by other posters. Food is very subjective, but for us Hal's food is better.

 

Princess offers more entertainment, so if that is a high priority for you, you may be a bit dissapointed.

 

HAL is more sedate IMO than Princess. :)

 

This would be our take also. My only addition is that I think the service is a tad better on HAL. For us the choice would be itinerary driven.

 

Kirk

[mamadot]

We have had suites on Princess and ov on HAL with many cruises on both. We are *** on HAL. Just give me any cabin on HAL. Not that Princess is bad but just love HAL. The ships are so much easier to navigate and we love the string quartet every night. Also it seems we have more space everywhere on HAL!!

[mauiedin87]

Haven't been on HAL for a number of years, but these posts sound so encouraging. Looking forward to March next year on the Oosterdam! Our last few experiences on Princess were downhill. We felt Princess was getting more and more "carnivalized"! The crowds were huge, the bands borderline, the noise everywhere pretty bad. And another thing, they over-aircondition everything! We froze the whole trip to Hawaii and back. Next time I'm packing more sweaters,even going to Hawaii, just in case.

 

I'm also looking forward to better beds. Without an "egg-crate" mattress topper on the last Princess cruise (and it will have been the last!), it would have been a miserable sleeping experience!

[beachluvr!]

Room service is 24/7.

 

Late Night snack is served in the Lido from 11:00 -midnight.

It doesn't appear I will go hungry:D

[beachluvr!]

Any cruise is better than NO CRUISE! I have cruised on HAL 3X and Carnival once. Haven't been on Princess.......We Love HAL....Love the staff- the service the smiles. We aren't in the cabin much, but find it very adequate. Love the MDR and great menu selections. I love the smaller ships- 5,000 passengers is too much for me. 1900 I can handle! If you haven't tried HAL, give them a chance. You will see what many of us love.......

I am so looking forward to my first HAL sail:)

[Willsot]

I'm also looking forward to better beds. Without an "egg-crate" mattress topper on the last Princess cruise (and it will have been the last!), it would have been a miserable sleeping experience!

 

It was my first Princess cruise and I had not heard of the mattress toppers until someone told me about them after I had mentioned waking up with a backache each morning. I'll definitely remember to ask if I repeat with Princess.

[Pam in CA]

It was my first Princess cruise and I had not heard of the mattress toppers until someone told me about them after I had mentioned waking up with a backache each morning. I'll definitely remember to ask if I repeat with Princess.

Do they offer bed boards or other way to provide support for HAL beds? Just curious as I find them way too soft without enough support, and have wound up with a sciatic nerve flare-up during every HAL cruise.

[bobalink]

Do they offer bed boards or other way to provide support for HAL beds? Just curious as I find them way too soft without enough support, and have wound up with a sciatic nerve flare-up during every HAL cruise.

 

Hi Pam,

I know what you mean. Even the mattresses are subjective.

 

I was quite comfortable and enjoyed my first night's rest on the soft mattresses on HAL.

 

Hubby and I were already "comparing" everything on HAL to Princess on our first cruise, and the next morning I said, "well, one thing I know I like better on HAL is the mattress." To which my hubby replied, "are you kidding me? My back is killing me!"

 

As you have said many times, I think there are more similarities than differences.

 

For us, we think the service is better on Princess, but we loved the food on HAL. The library was beautiful on the Noordam. The entertainment was weak.

 

I would cruise again on HAL, if the itinerary is what I am looking for. In fact, we are trying to decide between HAL and Princess for a "family cruise" to Alaska in 2012. Can't wait for Princess to publish their Alaska itineraries for 2012. I have already looked at HAL's.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Food princes service holland