How is HAL different from Princess?

[bamelin]

Curious, I've never sailed with HAL, but really liked my experience with Princess.

 

Going to post similar question on Princess board to hear both sides.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=52649576#post52649576

 

 

My parents have sailed with HAL and rave about the line. Specifically the room service.

[styles27]

I've sailed on 1 Princess cruise (Canada/New England) and 1 HAL cruise (Bermuda).

 

Our honest assessment was they are more alike than different.

 

Passenger demographic was very similar although we've been told these 2 itineraries do attract an "older" crowd.

 

We would have liked a more "lively" night life on both cruises. By 10pm there isn't much going on in the smaller lounges/bars etc.

 

HAL's MDR food was better on the ship we were on compared to our Princess cruise.

 

Princess ship was gorgeous, Veendam was old and tired. (She has been spruced up since 2012 though)

 

I've cruised with all of the major lines and honestly can say there are some things we liked better on some of them but at the end of the day there really isn't too much of a difference (except Carnival is a LOT more lively than the rest) and we've always had a great time no matter the ship or cruise line.

[bamelin]

I do get that demographics wise, longer cruises = older passengers, regardless of cruise line. I actually feel that Princess (and maybe HAL too?) are doing a good job of attracting families on their 7 day Caribbean sailings.

 

My question is more about the meat and potatoes, the culture and feel of both lines. I've heard people say they are very similar ... are there any major differences?

[SeaSickCecil]

My two cents...One Princess, 6 HAL. What we like about HAL...full walkable one level Promenade with deck chairs on all the ships except the newest one, Koningsdam; daily 8 page condensed NYTimes in multiple languages available in the morning (no newspaper on Princess and we are news junkies...even in the Amazon and Antarctica); full libraries; able to walk from one end of the ship on HAL one one level, on our Princess cruise you had to go either up one deck or down one deck mid ship to get from the MDR to the showroom. The crew on HAL is outstanding, always friendly and helpful. The staterooms are bigger on HAL. We always book the lowest level Veranda...on Princess it was much smaller and I felt we would need to book a mini-suite to get the same amount of room. Also on HAL (and this is subjective) we always eat dinner in the MDR, on our Princess cruise we tried it twice (14 day cruise) and the food and service was so bad we never went back. I love the smaller ships and have found that HAL suits us. I've talked to my DH about taking another Princess cruise since they leave out of LA, but he says never again. He'd rather hassle flying to take HAL. Oh and if you like to sit quietly by the pool...forget it, Princess has their jumbotron going all the time. We could see it from town on our shore excursions.

The good for Princess...the show room was larger and the times worked better (for us) and they had Zumba on the pool deck in the morning. Also their trivia was better :) The basic coffee was worse, although I did like the coffee card for the International Cafe on Princess.

[styles27]

Gotcha!

 

Of all the lines we've sailed Princess and HAL were the most alike.

 

Personally I think since we sail in a "lower" level stateroom i.e. Outside or Verandah the service is very similar across the board.

 

I think when you get into the higher end rooms or for people that are loyal to one line therefore they are for example 5* mariners (HAL) that's when you probably start to see more differences between the different companies.

[bUU]

Our honest assessment was they are more alike than different.

Thanks. I must have read a hundred cruise reviews between Holland America and Princess and you've confirmed my takeaway from reading all of those reviews. It seems so strange for one company to have two brands that offer basically the same thing.

 

Of all the lines we've sailed Princess and HAL were the most alike.

I'm curious, have you ever sailed on Celebrity? My late mother would always compare Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, placing Celebrity a few steps above, but I gotta believe Celebrity is pretty close to either Holland America or Princess or really based on what you said here, both.

[sammiedawg]

You would get more specific comparisons if we knew which ships you were considering.

I personally like Princess a little better, depending on the ship. It has a bit more of a pulse but not in the party ship sense.

Holland America seems to be trending a little downmarket.

[styles27]

Thanks. I must have read a hundred cruise reviews between Holland America and Princess and you've confirmed my takeaway from reading all of those reviews. It seems so strange for one company to have two brands that offer basically the same thing.

 

I'm curious, have you ever sailed on Celebrity? My late mother would always compare Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, placing Celebrity a few steps above, but I gotta believe Celebrity is pretty close to either Holland America or Princess or really based on what you said here, both.

 

I haven't had the opportunity yet to try Celebrity, but I'd like to.

Very good friends of ours who are both 5* mariner with HAL went on Celebrity last year and liked it very very much.

I was surprised to hear her say Celebrity was "a little better" in some ways, i.e. service and dining.

[foodsvcmgr]

We sail HAL, Princess, and Celebrity because we find them more similar than different, therefore we select any of the three based on itinerary and price.

We find certain things more to our liking on any of them, but not so much as to exclude the others and sail one exclusively.

[styles27]

I personally like Princess a little better, depending on the ship. It has a bit more of a pulse but not in the party ship sense.

 

This is interesting and why I think the itinerary is a major factor in determining that.

Our Princess cruise was just as quiet as our HAL cruise. I'm glad to hear you say this.

[Guest Nellsmom58]

We've wanted to try HAL for a variety of reasons, but the smoking policy allowed on balconies is scaring us away. What are your experiences with this? Princess and Celebrity do not allow smoking on balconies, but we like the itineraries offered by HAL and have heard good things. Your thoughts?

 

 

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[bamelin]

We sail HAL, Princess, and Celebrity because we find them more similar than different, therefore we select any of the three based on itinerary and price.

We find certain things more to our liking on any of them, but not so much as to exclude the others and sail one exclusively.

 

 

Which makes sense, all 3 comprise of the "Premium" cruise line market segment.

 

I feel Celebrity has a noticeable difference, Princess and HAL seem very similar.

 

Even comparing ships, Grand Class is similar to most HAL ships, and Royal class similar to Konsingdam. Even the complaints (about the larger ships) are the same lol

[bUU]

We've wanted to try HAL for a variety of reasons, but the smoking policy allowed on balconies is scaring us away.

 

Smoking is no longer permitted on Holland America cabin balconies.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7263

[OCruisers]

While we like Princess better, we've always enjoyed our HAL cruises. :)

Princess does offer "more to do" as far as activities go on the ship day & night.

HAL does have nice sized cabins.

On HAL regular verandah cabins are roomy enough for us.

On Princess we need to book mini suites.

Edited March 25, 2017 by OCruisers

[Host Jazzbeau]

I haven't sailed HAL but I have done a lot of research about cruise lines [i taught a class on cruising for my lifelong learning program]. Celebrity, HAL and Princess [and maybe Disney] are all traditionally classed together as "premium." Initially I think Celebrity was closer to HAL -- going after more mature passengers who wanted smaller ships with traditional luxury [Celebrity M-class ships], but lately they seem to going after the younger crowd [s-class and especially the newly announced E-class] and the Suite crowd [separate high-end restaurants and lots of amenities, especially with The Retreat ship-with-a-ship on E-class]. Princess' latest announcements seem to have a big focus on families, and the constant MUTS soundtrack dominates the pool deck [confimed by personal experience]. HAL finally got up-to-date on smoking, but still seems to aim at the older crowd with more traditional activities and amenities -- they do seem to have the most diverse entertainment onboard. But I would happily cruise on all three.

[RMLincoln]

I agree with nearly all that's been said. I want to mention that Princess ships usually only offer couches in their rooms at mini-suite and above, although not sure about their newest ships.

 

We are 4 star on HAL, Platinum on Princess, only 2 cruises on Celebrity but I like them very much. We have also enjoyed 30 days of cruises on NCL and find them more comparable than different than most people might think. We'll take any of them for the right price and itinerary.

 

Room service is more inclusive on HAL with full hot breakfasts offered, even though they have recently made some limiting changes to room service menus it's still better than other lines of same level. Upcharge is only for a few items. MDR menu available from HAL room service.

 

We like HAL's classical music and hope to be able to try out their new Lincoln Center Stage. Princess and Celebrity have mostly done away with classical music. On Princess we like that they usually have an alternative entertainment venue offered, something that can happen on the larger ships. Happy planning, m--

Edited March 26, 2017 by RMLincoln

[OCruisers]

Princess has lots longer times to eat day & night in a variety of places (24 hours in the International Café) BUT the room service menu on HAL is WAY better. ;)

[GarySuzy]

First about us we have 9 HAL and 8 Princess Cruises. We do like smaller ships <2500 passengers and HAL are all in that category. However, Princess 3000 passenger ships do not seem to be crowed.

 

The main difference is Hal is a little more slow paced on entertainment. This being said we are about to take our first HAL cruise that has BB King on it so this may change our view point.

 

We like both cruise lines and think you will enjoy either one.

[geoherb]

Oh and if you like to sit quietly by the pool...forget it, Princess has their jumbotron going all the time. We could see it from town on our shore excursions.

The large screen (Movies Under the Stars--or MUTS as it's known on the Princess board) is only at one pool. There are other pools to enjoy if MUTS isn't your cup of tea (and it's not ours).

 

On our HAL cruise last month, chair hogs were nonexistent. When I walked early in the morning on the Caribbean Princess, I was amused at people already staking out their chairs before 7 o'clock. I try to avoid the sun, and thus the chair hogs don't really affect me much.

 

Princess has shortened the length of its production shows to 30 minutes and does them three times a night when they're presented. That allows people to choose which one works best for them. Sometimes we liked going before dinner and sometimes after. And we never had a problem getting a seat in the theater. We did not have any problems getting at seat on our HAL cruise--but that was because we always went to the late show. The people we spoke to who went to the early show said it was always packed.

[xlxo]

Thoughts....

• I bounce between the cruise lines depending on who's sailing on the date I want to go.
  
• I think Holland has more mid-size ships and Princess uses more bigger ships.
  
• HAL's smaller mid-size ships allow them to visit smaller ports
  
• Princess's larger ships appear to offer more quad cabins which are great for families.
  
• HAL has photo packages.... Princess does not. So hard to decide which one to keep.
  

Other than above... I find the two very similar.

Edited March 26, 2017 by xlxo

[Aquahound]

Thanks. I must have read a hundred cruise reviews between Holland America and Princess and you've confirmed my takeaway from reading all of those reviews. It seems so strange for one company to have two brands that offer basically the same thing.

 

I'm actually surprised at that. I've cruised a few times on both HAL and Princess and I would never say they're more alike than different. I think they're totally different.

 

First is the ships. They are nothing alike. Princess tends to me a lot more dated in their interior design, and the ships feel a lot more crowded. Standard staterooms feel much smaller and do not have a couch. Plus, their balconies are smaller.

 

On the other hand, Princess entertainment blows away HAL. There's a lot more live entertainment, and a lot more upbeat entertainment around the ship.

[bamelin]

no classical music on Princess?

[Rina's Mom]

You can often listen to a string quartet in the "Piazza" on Princess ships.

 

No one has mentioned "Vines," the Princess wine (and tapas) bar. My husband and I love a good wine bar and we enjoy going to Vines.

[iancal]

From our perspective, if you don't include ship size/condition, and mtce issues, these mass market cruise lines are all going down to the same lowest common denominator. Sure, things like entertainment or on board customer IT systems may differ but at the end of the day we find them so very similar. We find absolutely no difference in service-personal or otherwise. Even the slipping service in the MDR is common to the lines that we have sailed on.

[Lady Arwen]

Thanks. I must have read a hundred cruise reviews between Holland America and Princess and you've confirmed my takeaway from reading all of those reviews. It seems so strange for one company to have two brands that offer basically the same thing.

 

I'm curious, have you ever sailed on Celebrity? My late mother would always compare Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, placing Celebrity a few steps above, but I gotta believe Celebrity is pretty close to either Holland America or Princess or really based on what you said here, both.

We're Elite with Celebrity and I would agree that it's a step above HAL and Princess. However, we sail with all three lines frequently and enjoy them all. Lots of similarities and the differences are not deal breakers for us. You cannot go wrong with either HAL or Princess, so pick the itinerary and price that suits you best and go for it!