Need Advice: Crown Princess or Nieuw Amsterdam

[aliciam]

Hi all, I am trying to decide between two cruises: one on Crown Princess and one on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam. Both are the same week and about the same price. I've cruised on Princess many times, but never HA. 

 

Crown Princess 10-day

Would be an obstructed view room with a window. I've been to three of these ports before. I've never sailed in anything less than a balcony.

• Princess Cays
• St. Thomas
• Curacao
• Dominica
• Bonaire
• Grenada

 

Holland America 7-day

Guarantee veranda, never been to any of these ports

• Key West
• Half Moon Cay
• Amber Cove
• Grand Turk

 

Grand Turk has been on my list for a while. I think overall I would prefer the Princess 10-day, but the obstructed window has me questioning. A balcony room on Princess would be about $1,000 more, which I am not doing. And, NA and Holland America would be something new. We are in our mid-40s.

 

Which would you choose?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Aquahound]

HAL Nieuw Amsterdam is a nice ship and far less crowded feeling than Crown.  However, the negative is a lack of entertainment options.  This would be a tougher choice if they were the same length, but I think the Crown cruise is much better.  Just try to score a room between the life boats.  

[CruiserBruce]

Holland America has been adding entertainment options left and right. Half Moon Cay is a treat. I would go on Holland America in a heartbeat.

[capriccio]

The Crown Princess itinerary is much better, especially the fact that 2 out of 3 of the A(ruba) B(onaire) C(uracao) islands are included.  In my mind a 10 day cruise always beats a 7 day cruise especially if the price is similar!

[gadaboutgal]

Absolutely recommend the Crown Princess over Nieuwsterdam.

We sailed the Crown for  20 nites in December 2017 Christmas and New Years inside cabin and loved the ship; we sailed  14 nites in Jan/Feb 2019 on Regal Princess--great cruise.  Immediately after, sailed Nieuw Amsterdam.  Could not wait to get back to Princess.  Nieuw Amsterdam is not the old Holland America that we enjoyed before. There is a reason why this ship has lower pricing.    

[CruiserBruce]

10 minutes ago, gadaboutgal said:

Absolutely recommend the Crown Princess over Nieuwsterdam.

We sailed the Crown for  20 nites in December 2017 Christmas and New Years inside cabin and loved the ship; we sailed  14 nites in Jan/Feb 2019 on Regal Princess--great cruise.  Immediately after, sailed Nieuw Amsterdam.  Could not wait to get back to Princess.  Nieuw Amsterdam is not the old Holland America that we enjoyed before. There is a reason why this ship has lower pricing.    

 

Wow..."Nieuwsterdam"?  It won't have lower pricing because its 7 instead of 10 days?

[capriccio]

 

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Wow..."Nieuwsterdam"?  It won't have lower pricing because its 7 instead of 10 days?

 

Are you making fun of a typo (when the ship's name was spelled correctly two more times)?  If not I totally missed the intent of the Wow comment.

 

OP says both cruises have a similar price, but the Crown Princess is a 10 day cruise in a obstructed view cabin while the Nieuw Amsterdam is a 7 day cruise in a guaranteed balcony:

 

5 hours ago, aliciam said:

Hi all, I am trying to decide between two cruises: one on Crown Princess and one on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam. Both are the same week and about the same price.

 

 

[Aquahound]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Holland America has been adding entertainment options left and right.

 

(Snort laugh)  Ha!  Yeah, I guess they did technically add a couple entertainment options but at what expense?  No more live pool music (full band on Princess).  No more music in the Crows Nest.  Maybe one passenger participation game show the entire cruise.  No nightly theme parties or deck parties.  No more entertaining Cruise Directors.  No central atrium live music or games like on Princess (and everyone else).  Oh, and the final kick in the rear; no more production shows.  

 

HAL has its certain fine points, but entertainment is not one of them.  In that regard, Princess blows them out of the water.  

[gadaboutgal]

I apologize, CruiserBruce, for the misspelling; however, my statement stands regarding the Nieuw Amsterdam rates.  They are lower on most of their cruises compared to other HA cruises and most of the other mass market cruise lines on a per day basis.  Just looking at cruises in November and December of 2019, they are offering inside cabins at   $56, $60, $62, etc., per day.   

I find no fault with other HA ships.  It's just the Nieuw Amsterdam (did I spell that correctly?) that I found to be lacking in so many ways.

[Cruzaholic41]

I don’t think this one is even a question. Definitely go with Crown for all the reasons already mentioned.  I’ll admit I’m not a fan of that class of Princess ships but apparently you are.  Holland America has cut back way too much on the big things like activities. HAL ships have become not much more than just transportation. 

Edited September 21, 2019 by Cruzaholic41

[evandbob]

We sailed the Crown Princess twice, once in the Med for Italy and Greece, the other time on a 7 day SB from Anchorage to Vancouver  We came away with good memories of both sailings.

 

Having sampled HAL yet, perhaps when I hit 70, but a 10 day cruise beats a 7 day cruise when the age and class of ships and the fare are similar.

 

We would just pick a regular balcony though, rather than an obstructed or guaranteed balcony.

[aliciam]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! This has been very helpful. Looks like Crown it is. 

 

17 hours ago, gadaboutgal said:

Absolutely recommend the Crown Princess over Nieuwsterdam.

We sailed the Crown for  20 nites in December 2017 Christmas and New Years inside cabin and loved the ship; we sailed  14 nites in Jan/Feb 2019 on Regal Princess--great cruise.  Immediately after, sailed Nieuw Amsterdam.  Could not wait to get back to Princess.  Nieuw Amsterdam is not the old Holland America that we enjoyed before. There is a reason why this ship has lower pricing.    

 

Thanks so much - this is very helpful to have a direct comparison.

 

13 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

 I’ll admit I’m not a fan of that class of Princess ships but apparently you are.  

 

Actually, we've only sailed Royal and Regal on Princess, so this will be a new class of ship for us.

[xlxo]

I say.... if you are over 50.... go HAL.  If you are under 50... go Princess.

[gadaboutgal]

We are way over 50-sailed HA  many years ago and enjoyed it but would not plan another cruise with them.                                                                                                                                One of the reasons Nieuw Amsterdam did not appeal to us was the extremely loud bands playing in the central portion of the ship which you cannot avoid.  I think they are trying hard to appeal to a much  younger crowd.  Princess appeals to all adult ages.

[awhcruiser]

On 9/20/2019 at 6:25 PM, CruiserBruce said:

Holland America has been adding entertainment options left and right. Half Moon Cay is a treat. I would go on Holland America in a heartbeat.

What entertainment on which ship(s)?

[CruiserBruce]

26 minutes ago, awhcruiser said:

What entertainment on which ship(s)?

The Rolling Stone Lounge, or Club, whatever it is called, on the bigger ships.

[marco]

For ports, length  of the cruise and the price being the same, go with Princess.  But if everything was equal, I'd prefer HAL (and we've been on both lines, several times each)      Oh ya.....and I'm over 50!

Edited September 22, 2019 by marco

[awhcruiser]

20 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

The Rolling Stone Lounge, or Club, whatever it is called, on the bigger ships.

I thought you meant actual production shows which I really miss.  I already knew about the lounge(s)