Princess vs. HAL 10 Day Panama Canal

[AtlantaCruiser72]

One significant difference to pay attention to - Zuiderdam will transit the historic locks while Crown Princess will transit the new locks.  To my understanding there is no comparison and the new locks have much less of a "WOW" factor.  I personally would not travel on a ship doing the new locks unless I had already done the historic locks once (or more).

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Funny, but I choose the 11 day just because I wanted to visit Cartagena.  I'm retired military and I like to visit forts.

Not only does Princess play the MUTS, they play it continuously.  Daylight and night.  We too like our quiet balconies which is a big plus for HAL.  We've reserved one of those huge deck five aft wraps for our Panama cruise.  We also have a Princess scheduled but it also is in an aft suite.  We've been on aft balconies before and were never able to hear the MUTS.

 

I hated Princess because of the lack of quiet places. I spent sea days on my tiny balcony because the pool areas were too  noisy. I liked the big screen poolside movies on the K. It was only in the evening, so it was peaceful by the pool during the day. 

 

I had a deck 5 aft wrap on Zuiderdam 3 years ago for the canal. What a great view!! I did a ship's tour to Cartegena because I was going ashore alone--too hot  and too much walking for DH. I chose the version with "more walking" and "less shopping" (but not zero shopping). The fortress was up MANY steps, but worth the climb. I had heard that vendors were aggressive, but they weren't at all. They mostly held up what they were selling, but didn't call out to people. 

 

I like the vista ships and the corner afts, so I'm doing the same cruise again this winter.

 

[chill6x6]

So I called Holland America....Price hasn't changed at all.  I was able to get gratuities included but that's it.

 

As several of you mentioned....the Zuiderdam's itinerary IS better.  I really hadn't really thought of new locks vs old locks.  So that IS another Zuiderdam advantage.

[TriumphGuy]

We did the Coral Princess Panama Canal (11 night partial transit) and it was fine. My problem with Princess is that they constantly try to get you to buy stuff. Our last cruise to the Eastern Caribbean last winter on the Crown was enjoyable, however Princess in their constant assault on cheapening the experience has decided to remove the only armchair in the cabin (standard balcony and below), leaving only the desk chair to sit on. That was the last straw for us. Not an option for my 65 year old body.We won't be back.

At least on HAL you get a loveseat.

[crystalspin]

Have sailed HAL seven times, NCL once (once too many), and cancelled Princess a number of times. In other words, I've wanted to try them, but something has always happened to prevent it!

 

The last cancellation was for reason -- the reason @TriumphGuymentioned: 28 days with only one chair was too much to ask, even from our home port!

 

I do have two cruises booked with Princess, from San Pedro, but they are ones where I could rationalize mini-suites with their seating. Two mini-suites was as reasonable as three OVs. I think we will still miss the forward-facing observation Crows Nest! But willing to give it a try or two, to avoid making my family fly! Maybe the large balconies will make up for it.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by crystalspin

[Ken the cruiser]

Don't forget you also get Club Class dining and one free mini-bar setup along with free laundry and dry cleaning (which you also get in a NS) when you book a suite on a Princess ship. Also, if you are a veteran, you get extra OBC. One big reason we like Princess over HAL is because Princess has a bunch of fun things to do on sea days as they usually have 5-6 assistant CDs where as HAL has just 1 assistant CD. BTW is the Princess vista suite an aft-facing on? If so that's another positive, especially if you like viewing the scenery on both sides of the ship as well as from the aft.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Ken the cruiser

[earlydiner]

We did the Panama on the Coral Princess two years ago, ocean to ocean.  It was probably our best cruise out of 27.

I could be mistaken but the Caribbean Princess will take the new canal not the historic one.  A Panamax ship has a 106 foot beam for the old canal and the New Panamax allows a 168 foot beam in the new canal.  The beam on the Caribbean Princess is 118 feet.  Unless you have already done the historic canal, I would stick with the Zuiderdam.  We have been on the Zuiderdam as well and it is a great ship.  We will be on the Nieuw Statendam in 35 days in Eastern Caribbean.  It is too bad that they do not tell you which canal each ship is taking.  You just have to check out the beam.  

Edited December 1, 2019 by earlydiner

[chill6x6]

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Don't forget you also get Club Class dining and one free mini-bar setup along with free laundry and dry cleaning (which you also get in a NS) when you book a suite on a Princess ship. Also, if you are a veteran, you get extra OBC. One big reason we like Princess over HAL is because Princess has a bunch of fun things to do on sea days as they usually have 5-6 assistant CDs where as HAL has just 1 assistant CD. BTW is the Princess vista suite an aft-facing on? If so that's another positive, especially if you like viewing the scenery on both sides of the ship as well as from the aft.

Yes the Vista Suite would be aft-facing.  The NS I have booked is one of the corner aft-facing too, 5190 to be exact so that kinda cancels out.  

[Walfam]

15 hours ago, earlydiner said: It is too bad that they do not tell you which canal each ship is taking.  You just have to check out the beam.  

The cruise line should know.  IIRC from our Panama Canal cruise, we were told they have an appointment or reservation to enter the canal at a certain time and that reservation is booked at least a year in advance.  

[Hlitner]

The entertainment on Princess will be much better then on HAL.  As to the food, we rank it a toss-up since we find some cuisine better on HAL and other things better on Princess.  And HAL has nothing to compete with the International Café (we love this venue on Princess ships).  Princess is far from perfect, but we would choose the Crown.  For us, the entertainment would be the difference.

 

Hank

[chill6x6]

So I went ahead and booked Crown Princess as well.  $200 deposit and completely refundable.  I wanted the deck 9 S6 and there was one left so figured I better and the very least put a deposit down to hold it and see what HA does with the price on the Zuiderdam cruise down the road.  When I booked the price was actually LESS than I quoted above. $7938 including $150pp OBC,  1 night speciality dining for both(+ 1 for being in a suite), two bottles of wine, and up to 4 devices internet.  So the $300 OBC almost cancels out HA included gratuities.   

 

So the Crown Princess cruise is about $1490 LESS!  If prices DON'T change, yep...a no brainer.  Kinda curious since they are both Carnival companies and both Kinda courting the same clientele.

 

I sure agree about the entertainment.  I've been on one Princess ship, Ruby.  The best entertainment of any ship I've seen that didn't end in "of the Seas."

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, chill6x6 said:

So I went ahead and booked Crown Princess as well.  $200 deposit and completely refundable.  I wanted the deck 9 S6 and there was one left so figured I better and the very least put a deposit down to hold it and see what HA does with the price on the Zuiderdam cruise down the road.  When I booked the price was actually LESS than I quoted above. $7938 including $150pp OBC,  1 night speciality dining for both(+ 1 for being in a suite), two bottles of wine, and up to 4 devices internet.  So the $300 OBC almost cancels out HA included gratuities.   

 

So the Crown Princess cruise is about $1490 LESS!  If prices DON'T change, yep...a no brainer.  Kinda curious since they are both Carnival companies and both Kinda courting the same clientele.

 

I sure agree about the entertainment.  I've been on one Princess ship, Ruby.  The best entertainment of any ship I've seen that didn't end in "of the Seas."

Smart decision. BTW you also know you can get additional OBC if you own 100 shares of Carnival stick (applies to any cruise line owned by Carnival) and/or if you are a military veteran (Princess only)? Just making sure as we didn't know this little tidbit when we first started sailing with either of these lines.

[chill6x6]

So Holland America has a new promotion and I did it for this cruise.  The cruise fare actually went UP $160 to $9588, BUT... for that I got:

 

$400 OBC(BTW plus $100 OBC for booking on ship) so $500 total.

2X$50.00 beverage cards

Prepaid gratuities($320)

Excursion discounts(whatever that means)

 

So that price includes about $920 worth of "stuff."  I'm sure I would use every bit of that too.  Main thing was I got basically $500 OBC for $160.

 

Princess cruise is now $1343 less @ $8244.66 and includes about $733 worth of "stuff."  I'd use their stuff too.