Norway Cruise - HAL Prinsendam North Cape OR Sapphire Princess Land of Midnight Sun

[satie37]

My friend and I are planning on exploring the Norwegian coast next summer and have narrowed it down to two choices. I am really torn between the itereraries and the ship. Having sailed on Prinsendam I like the fewer passengers and this one goes to more ports. However, the Princess cruise includes a stop at the Lofoten Islands vs HAL stop at Narvik. Other than that the itineraries are mostly the same. We also are looking for a more spacious cabin .... so likely Vista Suite on Prinsendam or Mini Suite on Princess. Anyone give me some feedback on the HAL itinerary vs Princess? I have not sailed on Princess before so any feedback on that experience would be helpful. What would YOU choose??? I am interested in exploring the culture, geography and am an enthusiast photographer so hoping to do some landscape and street photography while I am there.

[kitkat343]

The lines are much more similar than different. Personally, we prefer the food on princess to Hal, but we have sailed Hal whenever they have a good itinerary and will continue to do so in the future. Norway is all about the ports so I’d let that be your biggest factor. I only sailed the fjords so I can’t advise you on itinerary, but I’m sure you’ll have an incredible time.

[Coral]

You may also want to look at May 30th on Pacific Princess for a small ship experience.

 

I am doing the Sapphire Princess this summer.

[4774Papa]

NCL and Royal Caribbean also have Arctic Circle cruises.

[sjgertz]

We made the same decision for June 2018. Decided on Princess as Sapphire has a children's club and Prisendam does not (they used to run it if more than 20 kids on board but that stopped Dec 2017) and we are travelling with our 7yo. Sapphire ended up being about $2000 cheaper for our room preference...We liked the concept of the smaller ship and the kids club was the deal breaker - we would have paid the higher price for the smaller ship experience.

[LHT28]

also check out Oceania for the small ship experience

 

we did the North Cape & up to Svalbard