Main differences between HAL and Princess World Cruises?

[Labanos]

I'm following the adventures of people on the 2023 HAL World Cruise and the Princess World cruise thread here on Cruise Critics. I've sailed both HAL and Princess extensivly and love them both. For our 'normal' Cruises we prefer Prinsess but for a possible future World cruise i'm biased towards HAL.

 

The first thing i'm wondering is how adapted are the services to the World Cruise? It seems that on HAL the menu's, entertainment, lectures and events etc etc for the whole itinerary are setup with the world cruise in mind. A lot of changes so that people who are onboard for +- 128 days get a lot of changes. I have the assumption that on Princess it's more like a "standard" Princess cruise but longer, is that true? But i might be mistaken on that.

 

I also noticed that the HAL World Cruises got an enthousiastic and active folowing and it seems more popular then for example Princess World cruises. Is that true or is my opinion colored by the things i've read so far?

 

I haven't seen much site or blogs about HAL vs Princess World Cruises, do they exist? Love to hear all the info and experiences!

 

On to preparing for our aug 5th sailing on the Enchanted Princess in the Mediterranean.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, Labanos said:

I'm following the adventures of people on the 2023 HAL World Cruise and the Princess World cruise thread here on Cruise Critics. I've sailed both HAL and Princess extensivly and love them both. For our 'normal' Cruises we prefer Prinsess but for a possible future World cruise i'm biased towards HAL.

 

The first thing i'm wondering is how adapted are the services to the World Cruise? It seems that on HAL the menu's, entertainment, lectures and events etc etc for the whole itinerary are setup with the world cruise in mind. A lot of changes so that people who are onboard for +- 128 days get a lot of changes. I have the assumption that on Princess it's more like a "standard" Princess cruise but longer, is that true? But i might be mistaken on that.

 

I also noticed that the HAL World Cruises got an enthousiastic and active folowing and it seems more popular then for example Princess World cruises. Is that true or is my opinion colored by the things i've read so far?

 

I haven't seen much site or blogs about HAL vs Princess World Cruises, do they exist? Love to hear all the info and experiences!

 

On to preparing for our aug 5th sailing on the Enchanted Princess in the Mediterranean.

 

Can't compare World Cruises from HAL & Princess, as we have used Princess (20215) and Viking (2020). If you are interested in those comparisons, please check our travel blog andyandjudi.com

 

After spending 40 years both working and cruising with Princess, the 2015 World Cruise was our last. It may have gone around the World, but in reality it was no more than multiple segments and to fill cabins around Australia, they even sold mini-coastal segments, some of which were 2 nights. On departure, less than 600 of 2,200 were doing the entire cruise.

 

In 2020, most World Cruises were curtailed. Our Viking cruise stopped in Dubai, where Viking made arrangements for every pax to fly home, and paid for the flights. Once the flights stopped they still had 8 Canadian pax who couldn't get flights. We were 2 of the 8 and were kept on board for 3 more weeks until they could find a country willing to accept us and fly us home. This was completely free.

 

HAL stopped their WC in Freemantle. All pax with HAL Air got their flights home arranged and paid for. Those without HAL Air were disembarked to try and find their own flights and hotel.

[SargassoPirate]

Labanos, for an extended cruise, such as a world cruise, one of the first things I look for on the deck plans is the guest laundromat.  I prefer to do my own and have it done right.