Princess Elites try Holland America

[akeasley]

Thanks for sharing the comparisons between the two lines. Princess will always be my favorite but the itineraries are what make me choose HAL. When I did my 7 day Canada/NE cruise, it was because HAL offered Prince Edward Island as a stop for the 7 day cruise when Princess seems to only offer PEI on 10 day cruises, which at the time I couldn't do b/c of work.

 

When choosing a 10 day cruise for next spring, Princess doesn't have much to choose from unless you want to cruise on the Royal (which is really expensive) or sail back to FLL during the 10 days. HAL is offering really nice 10 day cruises with stops that Princess doesn't offer.

[Boytjie]

I disagree here. Practicing putting on life jackets correctly can make the difference between surviving or not surviving a serious incident at sea.

 

Not sure what the Princess life jackets are like these days (will find out in February on the Regal) but HAL's you put on like a jacket - not hard to figure out at all.

[geoherb]

Thanks for your review. HAL is our second choice for cruises when there's not a Princess one that fits our schedule and budget. What I enjoy most about HAL are the classes in the Culinary Arts Center. What I don't like is how they've made some drastic cuts to the cruise director's staff and entertainment. That said, they have always had some interesting guest entertainers--acts that are more entertaining to me than the magicians and comedians that I've seen on Princess.

[Pam in CA]

Most of the HAL ships have pax laundries. Unfortunately the Westerdam, her sisters and the Nieuw Amsterdam do not. We prefer HAL slightly smaller ships, the Amsterdam and her sisters over the larger ones.

 

FWIW our muster station on the Sapphire was a stand up station, lined up outside the Internet area.

However, HAL offers "all you can stuff in a bag" for a reasonable price available any time.

 

Our Muster station on the Sapphire included the Internet Cafe. We got there a little early for a seat plus they brought in chairs for others needing to sit down.

[OCruisers]

Thanks for posting your excellent review here as well as on the HAL Board!

Many Princess cruisers will find it very interesting. :)

We are elite on Princess but still cruise on HAL from time to time. Often, people have a misconception of what HAL is really like.

LuLu

[sherryf]

Thanks for the review! We are now Platinum on Princess, with our 6th Princess Alaskan cruise coming up soon. I've been considering taking HAL one year in order to make it to Sitka. It's good to hear that I can probably be equally happy on a HAL cruise... even if I would miss the excellent Princess pizza. :p

[Northender]

Thanks for the great review. I am now rethinking about sailing on HAL.:)

 

I really dislike the way Princess is doing their sailings out of FLL to the Carib. Do not like the returning to FL at all. Also, some new places to visit would be very nice.:)

[hansi]

I also posted this on the HAL board:

 

My wife and I have had more than 30 cruises on Princess, making us "Elite," and our recent cruise on the Westerdam was our first on HAL. I'll give you some of my thoughts on how the two lines compare, within this limit: We've cruised all classes of Princess ships, but mostly on the Grand class, which forms the backbone of the Princess fleet. We love these ships because they're big enough to provide all the services we want without being obnoxious in size or revenue-generating mania (that would be the Royal, but that's a sad topic for another day). The Westy, built in 2004, is of about the same vintage as many of the Grand ships, so I feel these comparisons to Grand-class ships are valid. But this cruise was our only one so far on HAL, so keep that in mind.

 

Boarding: We joined the Westy in Seattle for a seven-day cruise to Alaska. Let's face it, the boarding process is always a bit of a pain. But this was as smooth as any we've experienced on Princess. Seems to me that the cruise industry has done about all it can in this area, and has brought a reasonably high degree of order to a situation that could easily devolve into chaos. Boarding the Westy was indistinguishable from boarding a Princess ship. This category is a wash.

 

First impression: The Westy is a fine ship, beautifully maintained and spotlessly clean at all times. We've come to expect this on Princess and have never been disappointed. This category is another wash, I'm pleased to say.

 

Stateroom: We had a "signature suite" on the Westy, about equivalent to a "mini-suite" on Princess. It was roomy enough, yet it seemed somewhat smaller than the Princess minis. The Princess minis have two TVs, one facing the sleeping area and one facing the lounging area. Our signature suite had one TV, placed on a desk at a right angle to the bed, so we had to lie on our right sides to watch it. It could be swiveled to face the couch, but forget about watching TV in bed. The bathroom on Westy was spacious, with a tub and stall shower. The balcony (excuse me, "verandah" in cruisespeak) had plenty of room with really nice furniture. This included two lounge chairs with ottomans and a table with two upright chairs. Very nice. This Alaska cruise was a bit on the cold side, so we didn't get as much use out of the balcony as we would have liked, but that's hardly the ship's fault. Lots of closet and drawer space. Bed was firm and comfy (DW and I prefer a firm mattress, so keep that in mind). No real complaints about the accommodations but, because of the bizarre placement of the single TV on Westy, a small advantage to Princess -- except for the balcony, which HAL wins. NOTE: HAL permits smoking on balconies; Princess does not. I'm not going to get into the endless debate about that. I'm just reporting.

 

Stateroom service: In all our years of cruising on Princess, we've never, and I mean never, had a bad cabin steward. They always provide great service with a smile. And I'm happy to report that our first HAL cruise was the same. We had two stewards, Adam and Zam, and these hardworking guys were terrific. I truly hope HAL is reading this. Princess vs. HAL on cabin service is another wash, but a good one.

 

Muster drill: A major problem area for HAL. Everyone on board gathered on the Promenade Deck beneath their assigned lifeboats, and a crewmember had to take roll call orally by calling out cabin numbers. This took a good 20 minutes, during which everyone had to stand in one place; no chairs available. This is a real problem for a lot of people including me. I have a bad back and can't stand in one place for long, so I had to sit down on the deck. One elderly couple, apparently hard of hearing, didn't know when their cabin number was called and were nearly marked as not attending the drill, which can result in being ejected from the ship. This system is just plain bad as compared to Princess' system, in which passengers report to a muster station such as a lounge or the casino and merely have their cruise cards scanned to prove attendance. No muss, no fuss, no standing around. In addition, on Princess everyone brings their life jackets to the drill and must practice putting them on, which is good. On HAL life jackets are left in the cabins, so, if there's a real emergency, no one will have practiced putting them on. HAL needs to join the 21st century on this. Big advantage, Princess.

 

Norovirus protection: In the Westy's Lido Restaurant (Horizon Court on Princess) no passenger handles a buffet-line utensil for the first 48 hours, presumably because norovirus will have reared its ugly head during that time. After the first two days, it's self-service as usual. Last time we sailed on Princess, maybe six months ago, everyone was handling those big spoons and tongs right from the get-go. HAL clearly has the right idea here. but I wonder if they shouldn't just keep the no-self-serve policy throughout the cruise -- someone could pick up the virus during a shore excursion, couldn't they? Still, norovirus is a real PR problem for the cruise industry, and HAL is certainly more pro-active in this area. Again, this assumes that Princess has not changed its policy in the last half-year, but I've no reason to think this has happened. Major advantage, HAL.

 

Food: Yes, yes, I know. It's subjective. True. Still, comparisons can be made. In general, the quality of HAL's offerings is pretty much on a par with Princess'. But HAL's buffet line is bigger and has more variety than Princess' Grand Class. (Royal Princess' Horizon Court is a big improvement over the Horizon Court of the Grand Class. That's the only thing I liked about the Royal. My wife, by the way, didn't care for the Royal's Horizon Court, so there you go). Lido Restaurant's coffee seems better than Horizon Court's. I ordered cappuccino every night in the MDR, so I don't know about the ordinary coffee there. But Princess serves its cappuccino in a cup that's bigger than a regular coffee cup, while HAL's cappuccino comes in a regular cup. There's an extra charge for cappuccino in both venues, and considering there's a charge for it, Princess wins on this one. If memory serves, Princess' MDR menu had more variety, too. We went to Westy's Le Cirque one night -- that's the French-themed restaurant that's set up once per cruise in what's normally the extra-charge steak house, equivalent to Crown Grill on Princess. I had a chateaubriand to die for, as good as anything I've ever had on any ship. Love Crown Grill, too, though. Oh, and yes, Princess' pizza is way better. You win some, you lose some when it comes to food on a cruise. Once again, El Washo.

 

Entertainment: A couple of really excellent shows on Westy with terrific background effects. One show (I can't remember the title, unfortunately) featured a singer with an absolutely killer voice. She sang the theme from "Skyfall." Holy cow, what a show-stopper. Just so you'll know her on sight if you see her, she's a tall, short-haired blonde named Brooke. They never give last names. As a guy who couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle, I can tell you this girl has the real juice. The other show I liked featured three (I think it was three) wild and crazy drummers in an act that was half-music, half-cardiopulmonary workout. Everyone in the audience received drumsticks, and we beat them together in time to the music. Try to imagine that racket. What fun. On the downside, the music in the main showroom on many nights was often so loud it was painful. We've had this complaint on Princess, too, and I don't know why ships insist on doing this. Also, the shows on Westy had canned music, not a live band. I can only believe this is a money-saving thing. Sad, sad, sad, but I think this is spreading in the industry. Overall for this category, on the basis of these two shows, I have to say advantage HAL.

 

Ship design: Interior design is a major departure from Princess. On Princess ships (all classes) there's a large central atrium that serves as the ship's focal point. It's a place to sit, schmooze, people-watch, plan your day and even see some entertainment acts. You can get coffee and food away from the bustle of the buffet. Don't know about other HAL ships, but Westy doesn't have this. It does have something it calls an atrium, but it's far smaller and doesn't have a feel of being the heart of the ship, as on Princess. There are few places to just sit without being in a bar. I like the Princess design, though that could be because I'm just used to it. HAL devotees might say the HAL design is more intimate, and maybe you can make a fair case for this. One more thing: Princess ships have self-serve laundries on all decks; on Westy, no. Again, it's subjective, but advantage Princess.

 

Demographics: Conventional wisdom says HAL is for old people. Boy, was that ever not the case on this cruise. People of all ages, and lots of kids (school's out, I guess), and a lot of these kids were out of control. The screaming and yelling in the pool area got to be unbearable at times. Why can't parents exercise some control over their offspring? Princess has a "Youth Patrol" program on some ships to try to corral this problem, but I don't have a reading on the success of that, or lack of same. Royal Caribbean, Disney and Carnival, with all their kid-oriented facilities, would seem to be a better fit for families with young kids. A wash.

 

Would we sail on HAL again? Certainly, though we're still partial to Princess because of its loyalty program and some other factors. Hope I haven't bored you to death with my long-winded tome. Take it for what it's worth, if anything.

 

See you on the high seas,

 

Ron

 

For the benefits of us Brits, could you explain what a "wash" is?

[RNGALNG]

For the benefits of us Brits, could you explain what a "wash" is?

 

A 'wash' in this example means no one wins. They are about equal.

[Alaskanb]

Quick question: Has the fact that HAL allows smoking on balconies impacted your balcony use? It is our main reason for not looking at HAL itineraries.

[TBcruisers]

For the benefits of us Brits, could you explain what a "wash" is?

 

In this context, a "wash" is basically a tie -- both are equally good or equally bad when compared to each other.

 

As to the OP's comparison of Princess v. HAL: excellent! We are Princess Platinums and HAL 3-Star Mariners so we have had opportunity to compare both lines. I like the HAL Lido much more than the Horizon Court for a variety of reasons (including variety - always an Italian, Asian, Mexican, etc. component to the offerings), but the pizza on HAL is just not good, unlike Princess. The educational opportunities are more varied on HAL (I especially enjoy the computer/digital photography classes which are exclusive to HAL) whereas the entertainment offerings are superior on Princess. Basically, we feel any cruise has much to offer and it's what you make of it that counts.

[PeteBull64]

Thanks for your review. My wife and I on the other hand had a much different experience on HAL ( Eurodam )

 

For us princess wins hands down almost everywhere especially food and daily activities. HAL is awful in those.

 

But might just be a ship vs another...sometimes just a bad chef...

 

We might give HAL another shot one day but we need Princess quality for the next one :)

 

Pete

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thanks for your review. My wife and I on the other hand had a much different experience on HAL ( Eurodam )

 

For us princess wins hands down almost everywhere especially food and daily activities. HAL is awful in those.

 

But might just be a ship vs another...sometimes just a bad chef...

 

We might give HAL another shot one day but we need Princess quality for the next one :)

 

Pete

I agree. We loved the food on our two Maasdam cruises, weren't at all impressed two years later on the Noordam and the food a year later (last November) on the Nieuw Amsterdam was the best we've ever had on a cruise (displacing the Celebrity Mercury, which had theretofore held that honor). The dining service which had been entirely unmemorable on the Maasdam and Noordam was also excellent on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Things change, though, and we might be more or less impressed the next time on the same ship.

 

Something I really enjoy about HAL buffets (along with their coffee, which is wonderful) are the made to order items. Others might complain that it takes longer to collect food in the buffet, but there is a reason for it, and the result is that the food is fresher and much tastier.

[Jim Avery]

Thanks for your review. My wife and I on the other hand had a much different experience on HAL ( Eurodam )

 

For us princess wins hands down almost everywhere especially food and daily activities. HAL is awful in those.

 

But might just be a ship vs another...sometimes just a bad chef...

 

We might give HAL another shot one day but we need Princess quality for the next one :)

 

Pete

 

From reading posts, Eurodam seems to be much like the Royal Princess. Seems the bigger is better idea does not always work. My personal cruise wish is that someone build some medium size ships. Guess that does not compute to the accountants.:eek::D

[jnc411]

Thanks so much for a great fair and balanced review. Our Bro in Law and Sis in Law always go Holland America and tell us how much better it is than Princess (which they have not sailed on..) , so this is helpful to know that it is pretty much a wash , as we thought it would be. We still prefer Princess, we are Platinum working our way toward Elite.

Cori

[sassyredhat]

I think this is a pretty fair review.

Our first cruises were all on HAL, which we loved. I'm happy to hear that it's still pretty good.

We switched to PCL when HAL took all the ships out of San Diego. We can't fly, so west coast is pretty much it for us.

I have to say, we love PCL as much as we loved HAL. :)

 

Pat

[mreasier]

We did a Caribbean cruise on the Ryndam 3 years ago and agree with most of your review. If itinerary and price were right, we would definitely sail HAL again. There were a few aspects that make us still prefer Princess. With the Lido closing about 8:00 PM and no IC, there was no place to get a good late night bite or a casual late meal. I'm not sure if it the same on all HAL ships, but there was no mini fridge in the cabin. I have a med that needs to be kept cool. Our excellent steward found a way to keep it cool but it was a surprise not to find a fridge. I understand that one can be ordered for a fee if arranged in advance. The ambiance on the Ryndam was more quiet and sedate than on the Princess ships. While we are not looking for a “party ship” we would have liked a livelier atmosphere. At one port we shared the dock with a Carnival ship. While we were glad that some of the rowdy people who were barely able to stumble back on their ship were not on our ship, we did enjoy the music coming from their pool deck. There was not a sound coming from the Ryndam. There was as no attempt to set a Caribbean tone by pool music, dancing, specialized buffet, etc. The atrium/piazza area on the Princess ships is a center of activity, day and night. The atrium area on the Ryndam was disturbingly quiet. Maybe because it is a relatively small ship, there were fewer on board activities on the Ryndam. We usually cruise insides. Except for the lack of a fridge, we thought the cabin on the Ryndam was superior to those on the Princess Grand Class ships and it had a couch.

[geoherb]

Quick question: Has the fact that HAL allows smoking on balconies impacted your balcony use? It is our main reason for not looking at HAL itineraries.

It did not affect us when we had balconies on two of our recent HAL cruises. One was a balcony beside the outside elevator, which blocked any smoke from the balconies more forward on the ship. On our Veendam cruise, we booked an outside cabin.

[JimAOk1945]

Did you go on any shore excursions? Also, did your itinerary include Glacier Bay?

[BrandiGreg]

Princess for us, 24 times. We always have late traditional seating (7:45 or 8:00pm start time) and finish by 9:30pm, plenty of time to get to other end of ship for the 9:45 or 10pm show. Never felt we had to rush to get a good seat. What entertainment we DO miss are evening trivias or smaller crew staff shows like the newleywed game or theme parties (like 50's night) which run while we are at dinner....but we would rather miss those than rush back to the ship to get ready for an early dinner.

[jrzebird]

I thought that the comparison was very good and fairly spot on. Thank you.

 

I really love HAL and like a prior poster, I stopped sailing them when they stopped sailing out of New York. My good fortune was that I found Princess, and that has been the perfect match for me. I love the activities on sea days; the fact that I can get something to eat anytime; the wonderful CD staff, which is ever-present and friendly;the customer service reps; I love that on Princess the Horizon Court staff gets your drinks, often carry your platter and helps you find a seat. This is all sadly missing, for the most part, on HAL. I also like that Princess has a large plate, almost a platter, that they offer in the HC, so you can get all of your food in one trip.

 

I am not fond of the way HAL does muster. For some reason I always get stuck in front of one of the huge fans that seem to be exhausting the air from inside. It is SO loud. Pam's explanation of why Princess does it their way makes sense. I never understood why they did it outside, since muster would be held in your assigned spot, inside.

 

I MUCH prefer the Piazza to the Atrium on HAL That is totally wasted space IMHO. I love sitting in the Piazza. It feels like the heart of the ship.

 

In March, on the Westerdam, the folks in the cabin next to ours were cigar smokers and that totally chased me into the cabin most times. Even my son had to give up and come in a couple times.

 

All that being said, I really love HAL and will sail on her again. I have a friend who works for HAL so I like to go visit him once a year or so, and it's always like coming home.

 

Maureen

[Commodore]

despite all the compliments for Hal service, I am very disapointed with Hal. I called Hal last sunday and ask if a 48 days cruise London to Capetown could be shortened to 26 days London to Dubai the agent said I have to book it first then he will apply for a deviation.Ok I told him to do it came back to me after an hour and said first I have to deposit 3840$ and the price for 48 days cannot be altered.I shall stick to Princess as I am Elite and I shall forget my Mariner status with Hal.

[JimAOk1945]

despite all the compliments for Hal service, I am very disapointed with Hal. I called Hal last sunday and ask if a 48 days cruise London to Capetown could be shortened to 26 days London to Dubai the agent said I have to book it first then he will apply for a deviation.Ok I told him to do it came back to me after an hour and said first I have to deposit 3840$ and the price for 48 days cannot be altered.I shall stick to Princess as I am Elite and I shall forget my Mariner status with Hal.

 

I've never heard of a cruise being shortened or having a deviation. I'd like to understand how this works. Can you please explain it to me?

 

Thanks!

[san diego sue]

To Sassy Red Hat:

You said you haven't sailed on HAL anymore since they pulled their ships from San Diego.

HAL is alive and well in San Diego and in the fall through April sails every week. They do Mexico cruises, Panama Canal, SA, Hawaii etc.

We usually fill in with HAL cruises, last minute deals, between our Princess

cruises. The ships are the older ones but on short cruises , works fine for us.

I still prefer Princess.

[Pam in CA]

I've never heard of a cruise being shortened or having a deviation. I'd like to understand how this works. Can you please explain it to me?

I think what he's asking for is to disembark in Dubai after 26 days instead of continuing on for the full 48 day cruise. Sometimes, cruises are sold in segments and it's possible to book just a segment or even to disembark at a port before final disembarkation. For instance, on a British Isles cruise, it's not unusual for passengers to request disembarkation at Le Havre rather than returning to Southampton. However, when you do make this type of request, you still have to pay the full fare even if you disembark early.

 

It sounds like HAL either isn't selling the 48-day cruise in segments with one ending in Dubai nor allowing early disembarkation with a reduction in fare. I don't know of any line that will pro-rate your fare if you disembark at an earlier port. It's not HAL but all the lines. Perhaps they didn't explain it very well to the poster but that's pretty much SOP and not worth getting upset about or blaming the line for.