Holland america vs Princess Cruise lines

[mcrcruiser]

In the future we will focus more on Princess   &  their longer itineraries   .Reason is their deposits are only 598  pp vs Hal's  $600 pp  .Also , Princess has better entertainment  value  & the food is very similar . Even though we have to go a further distance  to bosrd their ships  ,we see more  cruising  value with Primncess 

[Sea42]

3 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

In the future we will focus more on Princess   &  their longer itineraries   .Reason is their deposits are only 598  pp vs Hal's  $600 pp  .Also , Princess has better entertainment  value  & the food is very similar . Even though we have to go a further distance  to bosrd their ships  ,we see more  cruising  value with Primncess 

Although I don't think a 2$ difference in the deposit amount is noteworthy, I hope you find more happiness with Princess than you have with HAL.

 

Edited June 20 by Sea42

[TRLD]

3 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

In the future we will focus more on Princess   &  their longer itineraries   .Reason is their deposits are only 598  pp vs Hal's  $600 pp  .Also , Princess has better entertainment  value  & the food is very similar . Even though we have to go a further distance  to bosrd their ships  ,we see more  cruising  value with Primncess 

HAL has longer average itineraries than Princess, and a smaller average ship size. HAL visits over 500 unique destinations, compared to Princess visiting around 400.

 

The destinations that both go to out of southern CA is pretty similar (HAL out of San Diego and Princess out of San Pedro), though HAL has their longer 40÷ day South Pacific itinerary.

[TRLD]

8 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Although I don't think a 2$ difference in the deposit amount is noteworthy, I hope you find more happiness with Princess than you have with HAL.

 

I seem to recall a couple of years ago when they had a topic complaining about Princess.

 

Part of which was that San Pedro was too far away since they lived closer to San Diego.

Edited June 20 by TRLD

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Holland crew is far better.

[Gunther1]

Yes, I agree that a two dollar difference most definitely would be a factor in my  decision 😏.

[WriterOnDeck]

I'm thinking the OP might have made a typo with the "5" instead of the "$". Agree $2 doesn't make any sense....

[TAW1963]

19 minutes ago, WriterOnDeck said:

I'm thinking the OP might have made a typo with the "5" instead of the "$". Agree $2 doesn't make any sense....

I think you are correct, for Princess deposits are $98 pp currently.  They are refundable too.

[Emme1233]

We have cruised many times, but our one Princess cruise was poor. We were on the Discovery Princess 16months ago. Too many people, poor food, and frankly the way people dressed for dinner was awful. That was our one and only Princess experience. We are not a fan of being on a ship with 4500 people. 

[Destiny0315]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

In the future we will focus more on Princess   &  their longer itineraries   .Reason is their deposits are only 598  pp vs Hal's  $600 pp  .Also , Princess has better entertainment  value  & the food is very similar . Even though we have to go a further distance  to bosrd their ships  ,we see more  cruising  value with Primncess 

Sorry to read that Cliff. I guess we will all have to go to the Princess Board on CC now to discuss with you whether or not CCL stock is a good investment.😉

[terrydtx]

One and done with Princess in 2019, was worse cruise since one on Carnival 20 years ago. 

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, Gunther1 said:

Yes, I agree that a two dollar difference most definitely would be a factor in my  decision 😏.

Sorry it was a mis type .The difference is HAL deposits are  $600 each & Princess is $98 each .Less downside with Princess imo

[WriterOnDeck]

1 minute ago, mcrcruiser said:

Sorry it was a mis type .The difference is HAL deposits are  $600 each & Princess is $98 each .Less downside with Princess imo

Book HAL while on the ship and deposits are $50.

[mcrcruiser]

In general if this question was asked on the Princess board would they say that Princess service & food are superior to Holland . We had sailed Princess in the past as well as other cruise lines amazing over  200 cruises   . Just seems to us that holland had to be pushed into better main sjow room  entertainment .  imo there is no perfect cruise line . any one could agree or disagree  .We did many sailings with Celebrity & truly vwish they had continued sailing from San Diego  but alas they no longer sail from SD  .At times they will sail from San Pedro  . We like Celebrity a lot 7 we get much better perks with them .at Elite Plus level  & We sail RCL at  Diamond Plus level with many perks .By the same token therec is o=imo no perfect cruise cline unless one can spend the big bucks for total luxury 

[mcrcruiser]

7 minutes ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Book HAL while on the ship and deposits are $50.

Yes when a person is on a HAL ship the deposits are lower but ,I recall $100 pp as a future cruise credit . what is uninspiring with HAL is we had to cancel a cruise for HJan 2025 due to medical reasons &  the TA booked it as a refundable  .Now we are hearing HAL is taking $600 in penalties , The cruise was cancelled  cthis month of June 20204 7 the cruise is Jan 2025 .This & many other issues soured cus on HAL . They are not the cruise   line that does every thing correct all the time imo 

[AKJonesy]

Not sure of the point you are making.  I think most of us know what we are getting and not getting with HAL.  Farewell and I hope it works out for you.

[mcrcruiser]

32 minutes ago, Destiny0315 said:

Sorry to read that Cliff. I guess we will all have to go to the Princess Board on CC now to discuss with you whether or not CCL stock is a good investment.😉

Nope I am syaing far away from CCL stock as there are many stocks easier to make profits  .Even short term treasury bills are paying a lot better that CCL stock 

[mcrcruiser]

1 minute ago, AKJonesy said:

Not sure of the point you are making.  I think most of us know what we are getting and not getting with HAL.  Farewell and I hope it works out for you.

We are not foing any cruises for a while  due to medical issues . we been on cruise ships that have had to turn around to get vwithin Helicoper range to take people off  for medical emergencies &v seen the havoc it caused with flights needing rebooking  .so while we need medical ,we do not cruise

[mcrcruiser]

BTW in 2 years  Iskand Princess is doing a 54 day cruise R/T San Pedro  ,Los Angeles area  . It heads cas far as Australia .  .March 2026 is the cruise date

[albingirl]

3 hours ago, TRLD said:

I seem to recall a couple of years ago when they had a topic complaining about Princess.

 

Part of which was that San Pedro was too far away since they lived closer to San Diego.

It's all memorable.

[Kay S]

Bon Voyage and all that.  Thanks for dropping in to tell us you like Princess better than HAL.  I guess.  😐

[shiner6]

We have cruised both Princess and HAL. We like both of them! There is only 1 cruise line that I will never travel on again and I prefer to keep it my secret.  We always enjoy our time spent cruising-meet so many nice people and the staff on both lines are outstanding!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Not sure the OP realizes that the $99.00 deposit with Princess is just their current promotion and not what it always is. It is a Advertised Sale, much like Holland America does through out the year except HAL often does the $1.00 or $25.00 deposit.Most of  the time Princess deposit are pretty close to what Holland America is an sometimes more based on the cost because they often charge a XX% percentage based on the base fare. I have see many times when Princess deposits were quite high.

This is the current restrictions of that sale, if a few months from now you want to rebook because the fare dropped you will need to fork out a lot more money for the deposit much like it happens with HAL.

 

$99 Deposits

Offer Terms & Conditions

$99 deposit Offer applies to full, standard deposits only and shall not further reduce already reduced or discounted deposits. Discount already reflected on listed/advertised deposits. Offer not available on World Cruises, Full suites, Sanctuary Collection categories and cruises 45 days or longer. Cruises in which final payment is required are not eligible for this offer.Offer is valid on new bookings made June 1, 2024, through June 30, 2024. 

Offer Expiration: June 30, 2024

[Banditswife]

To each his own... In my humble opinion, there are good & bad things about all the cruise lines.  It comes down to what is important to you or me personally.  As far as deposits go- A lower deposit doesn't really entice me, I will still need to make a full payment eventually, no matter how much I paid up front.  I'd rather pay a larger deposit & a lower final payment, but that's just me.

[TRLD]

7 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

In general if this question was asked on the Princess board would they say that Princess service & food are superior to Holland . We had sailed Princess in the past as well as other cruise lines amazing over  200 cruises   . Just seems to us that holland had to be pushed into better main sjow room  entertainment .  imo there is no perfect cruise line . any one could agree or disagree  .We did many sailings with Celebrity & truly vwish they had continued sailing from San Diego  but alas they no longer sail from SD  .At times they will sail from San Pedro  . We like Celebrity a lot 7 we get much better perks with them .at Elite Plus level  & We sail RCL at  Diamond Plus level with many perks .By the same token therec is o=imo no perfect cruise cline unless one can spend the big bucks for total luxury 

Not really. We sail on several different lines  (7 in 2023 with over 120 cruise days) and find HAL MDR food better than Princess.  Princess fares tend to be a bit lower per day, but then you are dealing with larger ships. Princess tends to have more going on, but that also goes with the larger ship size