Has anyone sailed HAL And Princess lately?

[sugarcharlie]

Reading hundreds of posts but can't find people who have sailed both lines recently to compare. I have been on Celebrity which I loved, Carnival not so much, and am taking my daughter and her fiancé in march but must decide between Princess and HAL as those are the only two ships sailing when they can go. Price not an issue as it is similar on both cruises. Always heard HAL had an older crowd and not much going on in the evening but my TA seems to think that has been changing recently.

HAL allows smoking on the veranda which I'm a little concerned about because I like to have breakfast and appetizers there and hate smoke. Will neighboring smoke dissipate out to sea or find it's way onto my balcony?

Would appreciate any guidance and comparison of features, cabins etc. As I'd like to book this ASAP.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Pam in CA]

I've sailed on Princess, HAL and Celebrity this year. HAL has the reputation for having older passengers but that depends on the cruise time and itinerary.

 

Service and food are pretty similar on Princess and HAL, both are better than Celebrity. Cabin size and layout are different: HAL cabins are similar to Celebrity although larger, Princess cabins appear smaller but they have a lot more storage and an open closet/dressing area outside the bathroom door.

 

All Princess ships have self-serve laundries on every deck, some HAL ships do but not all; however, HAL offers a "by the bag" laundry special any time that is pretty reasonable.

 

All Princess and HAL ships have WiFi throughout the ship, even in cabins, and have for years; my experience on Celebrity was no WiFi except in a couple of hot spots.

 

In general, there's more nightlife and activities on Princess than HAL, and the entertainment is better.

 

With a few exceptions, Princess ships are designed with tiered balconies that are mostly open which makes the drift of smoke more obvious. After January 15, no more smoking on balconies. HAL ships are designed so they are all directly above each other so smoke isn't as big an issue.

 

IMHO, you can't go wrong with either.

[2little time]

Reading hundreds of posts but can't find people who have sailed both lines recently to compare. I have been on Celebrity which I loved, Carnival not so much, and am taking my daughter and her fiancé in march but must decide between Princess and HAL as those are the only two ships sailing when they can go. Price not an issue as it is similar on both cruises. Always heard HAL had an older crowd and not much going on in the evening but my TA seems to think that has been changing recently.

HAL allows smoking on the veranda which I'm a little concerned about because I like to have breakfast and appetizers there and hate smoke. Will neighboring smoke dissipate out to sea or find it's way onto my balcony?

Would appreciate any guidance and comparison of features, cabins etc. As I'd like to book this ASAP.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

I was on HAL seven months ago and Princess 2 months ago. I found the entertainment better on Princess. The crowd was older on HAL. We had problems with smoke on the balcony with HAL and not with Princess . Hope that helps.

[Tatka]

Our HAL experience is not recent, but we had a very enjoyable 4 cruises with Princess. In our opinion Princess caters very well to all ages, entertainment is good and various, food is various and plentiful. Princess ships are very well designed. They are "split" into smaller cozier spaces, so you don't feel like traveling with 3000+ people even when cruise is completely booked. Service is nice and unobtrusive, buffets are open late.

[LindaM]

We like HAL, but wouldn't book a verandah, for the reasons you mentioned. It could ruin your cruise if smokers were next door. I have a feeling the Princess smokers are going to switch to HAL because of their lenient smoking policy. You should stay with Princess if you want a verandah.

[sassyredhat]

All Princess ships have self-serve laundries on every deck, some HAL ships do but not all; however, HAL offers a "by the bag" laundry special any time that is pretty reasonable.

IMHO, you can't go wrong with either.

 

Charlie, I have sailed on both, but not as extensively as Pam. While our hearts belong to HAL, our next Hawaii cruise is with PCL. We are taking our DS and DIL with us and they wanted PCL.

One thing I do not like about PCL is their tiny bathrooms, and no tub unless you book suites. That may not be a dealbreaker to most though. :)

PAM~~I had planned to use PCL's laundry for Hawaii. They don't have the 'by the bag' on PCL ??

Pat

[Coral]

One thing I do not like about PCL is their tiny bathrooms, and no tub unless you book suites. That may not be a dealbreaker to most though. :)

 

Minisuites have tubs.

[Pam in CA]

PAM~~I had planned to use PCL's laundry for Hawaii. They don't have the 'by the bag' on PCL ??

It's inconsistent. Every now and then, they offer one but it's not all the time like on HAL. On the other hand, every Princess ship has a self-serve laundry, most of the time one on every passenger deck, which is probably why they don't offer many "by the bag" specials. Many people prefer to do their own laundry and not send it out. I found that putting stuff in a washer between 4-4:30pm was a great time to do it: always a washer or two free and I was done by 5:30-6pm.

[msmarvel]

My first cruise ever was on HAL in 2007 - a 7-day Caribbean cruise which is supposed to be a bit of a younger crowd. At 40 I felt I brought the average age waaaay down on HAL. There was almost no one out and about after 11:00 pm or so. No one dancing, and the one assistant CD got in trouble for playing the piano later even though we were all having fun.

 

The ship (Zuiderdam) was absolutely gorgeous and I did have a great cruise regardless of the lack of "night life".

 

Just got off the Crown a few weeks ago. I think it is a nice mix of ages (20s to 80s), there are people out dancing at Skywalkers until 2:00 if that is your thing, but it's not party central (which you might get on Carnival) and not a lot of drunks staggering around. The deck party at the 10 pm sailaway from Curacao was really well attended and fun.

 

I think you would be happy on Princess if you like to stay out a bit late for drinks or entertainment but don't want to be on spring break or something.

[phillycruise]

My first cruise ever was on HAL in 2007 - a 7-day Caribbean cruise which is supposed to be a bit of a younger crowd. At 40 I felt I brought the average age waaaay down on HAL. There was almost no one out and about after 11:00 pm or so. No one dancing, and the one assistant CD got in trouble for playing the piano later even though we were all having fun.

 

The ship (Zuiderdam) was absolutely gorgeous and I did have a great cruise regardless of the lack of "night life".

 

Just got off the Crown a few weeks ago. I think it is a nice mix of ages (20s to 80s), there are people out dancing at Skywalkers until 2:00 if that is your thing, but it's not party central (which you might get on Carnival) and not a lot of drunks staggering around. The deck party at the 10 pm sailaway from Curacao was really well attended and fun.

 

I think you would be happy on Princess if you like to stay out a bit late for drinks or entertainment but don't want to be on spring break or something.

 

I've got to second this opinion about HAL and the quietness. We cruised Spring break when there were actually more families aboard. HAL has a lot of plusses. We loved the itinerary, the service, and the bigger rooms but found it eerily quiet in all of the lounges and bars from 10pm onwards. We still had a great cruise, probably because the general ambience wasn't as hectic as previous cruises at Spring break which are naturally teaming with kids, however our kids were not so impressed.

 

Have never sailed on Princess so cannot comment, but am interested to hear it's a little more "lively" without being too party-like.

[geoherb]

We also took a spring break cruise on HAL. It was in 2009, but I'm sure next year will be similar in terms of demographics. It was about the same as our spring break cruise on Princess last year. We had lots of people my age (late 40s) and younger on that cruise.

[Ontario Cruiser]

We just came back from the Westerdam yesterday and the ship was hopping with young families celebrating Thanksgiving quite different from the week before when there was just us old foggies. We are going on the Grand in January for B2B 7 day cruises so expect all ages. The only other Princess cruises we did were the Tahitian and Star Princess which were longer cruises so few younger people. So it depends on the itinerary and pricing on both ships. The cheaper the pricing the younger the ages.

Ontario Cruiser

[sassyredhat]

It's inconsistent. Every now and then, they offer one but it's not all the time like on HAL. On the other hand, every Princess ship has a self-serve laundry, most of the time one on every passenger deck, which is probably why they don't offer many "by the bag" specials. Many people prefer to do their own laundry and not send it out. I found that putting stuff in a washer between 4-4:30pm was a great time to do it: always a washer or two free and I was done by 5:30-6pm.

 

Thanks Pam.

Pat