Holland america vs Princess Cruise lines

[Ken the cruiser]

Sorry HAL didn’t work out for you @mcrcruiser. They used to be our go to cruise line when we first started cruising back in 2012, and we had a wonderful time while making 4* along the way visiting Antarctica and circumnavigating Australia to name a few of their unique itineraries.
 

Then HAL made their entertainment decision to switch to their Music Walk strategy around 2019 in search of the “younger” crowd, which motivated us to subsequently try a variety of different lines, as we are one of those couples that enjoy going to theater shows in the evening followed up by going to funny game shows that make us laugh rather than hanging out in a lounge every night listening to music. But that’s cool. As others have said, there are plenty of other reasonably priced cruise lines out there to choose from.
 

Fast forward to present day with the rumors that production shows are actually coming back AND with singers and dancers! I know. Who knew it was even possible! Combine that change with quite the assortment of early HIA and Mariner booking promotions, military appreciation and AARP OBC along with reasonable pricing, and HAL has us wanting to give them another look. Hopefully after going on a 22-day Panama Canal cruise on the Eurodam next spring, we’ll once again look forward to booking some of their other unique itineraries, such as their 28-day Alaska cruise that visits Nome and other seldom visited Alaska ports! 😁

 

But at the same time, we do have a lot of fun on the Princess cruises we’ve been on and hope to have on the ones we currently have booked, such as their August 2026 Solar Eclipse cruise and their Northern Lights cruise a couple months later.

 

Edited June 21 by Ken the cruiser

[montythecat]

Please define “younger crowd” who you believe are being 

attracted by HAL to Music Walk. We have become regulars on

HAL’s Pinnacle Class ships because of this current strategy. The

pianists, the rock bands in The Rolling Stone Lounge and the

Soul/Motown bands in BB Kings give us everything we could 

wish for. I can only thank HAL for providing the music we grew

up listening to. In expressing this opinion I do readily accept, of

course, that, inevitably, Music Walk will not be everybody’s cup

of tea.

[LouChamp]

Aloha. I have been blessed to sail since 1971 on most major lines around the world on countless ships. Close to top tier with them as well. They each have their own unique personalities and a lot depends in my opinion on the ports, time of year as well as the passenger mix. I have been satisfied with both HAL and princess. We have several longer sailings reserved in the future with HAL but are also booked on some of the other more upscale lines.  There are so many factors involved in ones individual satisfaction.  Smooth sailing!

[TAW1963]

My DW and I are relatively new to cruising.  We had our first cruise in December of 2022 on the Koningsdam.  Since then we have been on four Princess cruises and two additional HAL cruises.  We kept thinking that HAL would be more in line with our cruising style, but so far we have found that we are more satisfied with Princess.  We agree with many that the main dining room food on HAL is better than that on Princess.  However, we do enjoy the food and dining experience on Princess as well.  Like @Ken the cruiser, we too like going to evening shows in the theatre and so far, we find that we enjoy the evening shows on Princess far better than those in the HAL theatre.  Perhaps that will change in the near future as HAL incorporates more production-like shows.  We do enjoy the music walk on HAL, but we find we can get live entertaining throughout the afternoons and evening on Princess that we equally enjoy.  We also enjoy how Princess uses their production staff (band, singers and dancers) throughout the cruise for a variety of events.  Personally, I am not a big fan of how HAL uses a teleprompter in the main theatre for many of their enrichment or educational talks. It makes the presentations far less personable.   We do like the smaller size of the HAL ships better than the larger sizes of the Princess ships. 

 

In May, we did side-by-side cruises to Alaska out of Seattle.  The first week we were on the Majestic Princess and the second week we were on the Westerdam.  We had a lovely forward-facing Reserve Collection Mini-Suite on the Majestic and a center-aft Neptune Suite on the Westerdam.  We enjoyed both cabins, but generally preferred the one the Majestic.  We find the crews to be equal on both cruise lines and enjoy interacting with our cabin stewards, waiters and other staff as they work throughout the ship.  

 

We did have a very uncomfortable experience in the main dining room on the Westerdam, which I reported that evening on the Navigator app.  I was contacted by the Neptune Suite Concierge, who was very kind but ultimately dismissive of our discomfort.  We are usually fairly easy-going and easy to please, but for now, this experience is enough to sway us away from booking HAL cruises for a little while.  Hopefully that will change and we will feel differently for we plan to go on 4-5 cruises a year.   

Edited June 21 by TAW1963

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, montythecat said:

Please define “younger crowd” who you believe are being 

attracted by HAL to Music Walk. We have become regulars on

HAL’s Pinnacle Class ships because of this current strategy. The

pianists, the rock bands in The Rolling Stone Lounge and the

Soul/Motown bands in BB Kings give us everything we could 

wish for. I can only thank HAL for providing the music we grew

up listening to. In expressing this opinion I do readily accept, of

course, that, inevitably, Music Walk will not be everybody’s cup

of tea.

Sure. One of our favorite phrases when we would go to HAL's evening shows for the first 6 years of cruising with HAL was "when is it going to be our turn?" You see we graduated high school in 1970, the first year Queen and Elton John came on the scene and rock and roll was the music of the day. What can I say, I was raised in California during the hippie era. However, on most of our 10+ HAL cruises HAL, ranging from the Ryndam to the Koningsdam, much of the music we heard was from the Sinatra and Big Band era from the 40's and 50's. 

 

It wasn't until we went on our first Celebrity cruise in 2019 and subsequently on Princess that we finally heard production shows and guest entertainers that included music from the 70s - 80s in their performances and realized it was finally "our turn" on these cruise lines.

 

But, in 2019 HAL temporarily introduced what we thought was an awesome cruising concept called In-Depth EXC, which we first experienced on an Antarctica cruise and then subsequently on the Maasdam on a B2B around New Caledonia and circumnavigating Australia for 40 days. Four to six lectures every sea day along with one or two in the evening on port days provided by a team of professional lecturers. However, that concept was short-lived.

 

Initially, the word was this concept was going to be expanded in some form or fashion fleetwide. However, towards the end of the cruise, we heard HAL made an about face and decided to go with their Music Walk entertainment strategy to include eliminating the production shows. The only rationale we could come up with at the time was that they were looking to attract a "younger crowd." We got a small taste of some of the components when we cruised on the Koningsdam in 2016/2017 with the introduction of the Lincoln Stage, Dueling Pianos, and the BB King's. However, since we don't enjoy just sitting around in lounges having a few drinks listening to music all evening, that was just the opposite direction of which we were hoping for. 

 

I'm glad to hear it was "your turn" and you have enjoyed their Music Walk entertainment strategy, as I'm sure others have enjoyed as well. But now since we're in our early 70s and hopefully Frank and the Big Band sound are in HAL's rearview mirror, we will enjoy cruising with HAL on some of their longer 3-5 week itineraries again. 

 

[montythecat]

Ken, nice comments. I’m 75 and would like to think that I fall

within your definition of “younger crowd” !!

[TRLD]

8 hours ago, montythecat said:

Please define “younger crowd” who you believe are being 

attracted by HAL to Music Walk. We have become regulars on

HAL’s Pinnacle Class ships because of this current strategy. The

pianists, the rock bands in The Rolling Stone Lounge and the

Soul/Motown bands in BB Kings give us everything we could 

wish for. I can only thank HAL for providing the music we grew

up listening to. In expressing this opinion I do readily accept, of

course, that, inevitably, Music Walk will not be everybody’s cup

of tea.

HAL has been pretty successful in lowering it's average age demographic since implementing the music walk. Especially on shorter 7 say cruises.

 

Princess on the other hand seems to now have an older average demographic. Probably why they are trying to become more multigenerational family friendly with the launch of the Sun with more family featured.

 

The HAL experiment with music walk seems to be changing. The downside of music walk was how it consumed a lot of entertainment slots for overly curated music Playlist. This resulted in fewer entertainment slots for productions shows and inside spaces optimized for music being less flexible for other activities.

 

Recent changes indicate reductions of slots allocated to music walk and more slots for production shows.

[TRLD]

Just now, montythecat said:

Ken, nice comments. I’m 75 and would like to think that I fall

within your definition of “younger crowd” !!

Maybe on Princess these days (we sail on many lines, including both HAL and Princess  but do about twice as many days on Princess vs HAL) with their demographics, less so on shorter HAL cruises.

[Lido deck main]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sure. One of our favorite phrases when we would go to HAL's evening shows for the first 6 years of cruising with HAL was "when is it going to be our turn?" You see we graduated high school in 1970, the first year Queen and Elton John came on the scene and rock and roll was the music of the day. What can I say, I was raised in California during the hippie era. However, on most of our 10+ HAL cruises HAL, ranging from the Ryndam to the Koningsdam, much of the music we heard was from the Sinatra and Big Band era from the 40's and 50's. 

 

It wasn't until we went on our first Celebrity cruise in 2019 and subsequently on Princess that we finally heard production shows and guest entertainers that included music from the 70s - 80s in their performances and realized it was finally "our turn" on these cruise lines.

 

But, in 2019 HAL temporarily introduced what we thought was an awesome cruising concept called In-Depth EXC, which we first experienced on an Antarctica cruise and then subsequently on the Maasdam on a B2B around New Caledonia and circumnavigating Australia for 40 days. Four to six lectures every sea day along with one or two in the evening on port days provided by a team of professional lecturers. However, that concept was short-lived.

 

Initially, the word was this concept was going to be expanded in some form or fashion fleetwide. However, towards the end of the cruise, we heard HAL made an about face and decided to go with their Music Walk entertainment strategy to include eliminating the production shows. The only rationale we could come up with at the time was that they were looking to attract a "younger crowd." We got a small taste of some of the components when we cruised on the Koningsdam in 2016/2017 with the introduction of the Lincoln Stage, Dueling Pianos, and the BB King's. However, since we don't enjoy just sitting around in lounges having a few drinks listening to music all evening, that was just the opposite direction of which we were hoping for. 

 

I'm glad to hear it was "your turn" and you have enjoyed their Music Walk entertainment strategy, as I'm sure others have enjoyed as well. But now since we're in our early 70s and hopefully Frank and the Big Band sound are in HAL's rearview mirror, we will enjoy cruising with HAL on some of their longer 3-5 week itineraries again. 

 

Ken,

I am with you music wise and I can say that the Pinnacle Class Ships and the Rock Room is both our time and more that half of the productions shows right now have our music.  We either do not like most of the 90's and later music.  We are 50's music to 80's music.   We don't like RAP music at all.  We joke between ourselves that in about 10 years or so, it will no longer be our music time on the ship, we will think what the heck happened no more good music on the ship.  Holland America has ruined it.  LOL

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

HAL has been pretty successful in lowering it's average age demographic since implementing the music walk. Especially on shorter 7 say cruises.

 

Princess on the other hand seems to now have an older average demographic.

"Seems"?  There are probably some official stats somewhere on this, but my experience has been the opposite.

[TRLD]

35 minutes ago, Kay S said:

"Seems"?  There are probably some official stats somewhere on this, but my experience has been the opposite.

There are a few articles out there, but mostly dated. Many sources just keep reposting the same things. Went through a fairly extensive search a few years ago, but ran into that many cruise lines stopped releasing that data about 10 years ago. Back then HAL was the oldest, Princess very close behind both above 65, and Celebrity had been successful in dropping theirs from low 60s to mid 50s. That was when the data became a competitive issue for the mass market adult focused lines.

 

I contacted the PR departments of each of the 3 last year and none of them would give a hard number. HAL would only say that theirs had dropped since they implemented Music Walk. Princess would say nothing. Though they did comment about the family friendly features of the Sun class, which would seem to indicate they are aware of it.

 

We cruise a lot on multiple lines including multiple cruises on Princess and HAL each year. The difference in HAL demographics is noticeable. Princess on the other hand has lagged both Celebrity and HAL in their steps.

 

Frommers does talk about how HALhas brought their age demographics down.

 

https://www.frommers.com/macrosite/cruises/holland-america-line

Edited June 21 by TRLD

[Mary229]

10 hours ago, montythecat said:

In expressing this opinion I do readily accept, of

course, that, inevitably, Music Walk will not be everybody’s cup

of tea.

People should remember this^
There has been little entertainment on ships since I started sailing in the late 80s that I was all that enamored with.  I still enjoy cruising very much, it sure beats driving and the muss and fuss of air travel. 

[CNSJ]

Size matters.  Not just smaller ship usually = better service and less crowds, but staterooms.

 

On Princess I need a mini-suite to get a loveseat/sofa.  HAL has that in just about every class of stateroom. 

[Cruising-along]

30 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

On Princess I need a mini-suite to get a loveseat/sofa.

We recently booked our first Princess cruise (just a one-week get away) and our Deluxe Balcony shows it has a sofa.  I do see that regular balconies don't have one (?) 

 

As for HAL vs Princess, we'll see how they compare after that cruise.  I have heard good things from friends about Princess, so it may become our 3rd go-to cruise line, or maybe it won't.  

[mgtravelsalot]

Pricing is very similar on both lines when you get down to brass tacks

 Prices may be higher on HAL yet their drinks are less money if paying without a package If you book early on HAL you can get the HIA package included often times the elite package with all your tips included and there are many times of the year they have very low deposits.  Its how I have 5 cruises booked for next year lol all include the HIA package with tips lol

 Princess yes has special deposit times as well. but never include their packages so you are paying an extra 60 bucks or more per day to get those HAL is 55.00 and included specialty dining and as a 4 star I can eat there again at a discount if I want. You have to get the upper level package on Princess to get that the lower one just has stupid other stuff like fancy desserts which  IMO should be included anyway or exercise classes.  You have to be elite to get free laundry on Princess or do your own HAL only 4 star to get it.

 

 Food is very close to each other I happen to like HALs a bit better but food is subjective. I find the crews on HAL the best at sea unless you are on Crystal or Viking

 

 Im retrying Princess again after 12 years of being away not because I dont like HAL but it was going where I wanted to go at the time of year I wanted to go. I priced out HAL first but they werent going when I wanted to go so Im doing Princess the prices comes out to basically   300 more once I buy the package for a 31 day cruise and I wont have free laundry Go figure

 

  It will be interesting to experience the differences after so many years Will let you all know

Edited June 21 by mgtravelsalot
spelling errors

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, montythecat said:

Ken, nice comments. I’m 75 and would like to think that I fall

within your definition of “younger crowd” !!

Of course you are and I'm still a youngster at 72! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

For us as long as we have a good time on our 3-5 week cruises, which includes recognizing most of the songs we hear at the shows we attend and have fun at their evening game shows, we're happy. Right now, we cruise with Princess, Celebrity, NCL and are bringing HAL back into the fold. But since we like to book longer itineraries with a balanced mix of port and sea days, we pretty much feel "middle age" on those cruises! But one thing about cruising with those 4 different lines as much as we have since cruising started back up, we pretty much have free laundry on all of our cruises and that's a super big deal for us as well!  😂

 

Edited June 21 by Ken the cruiser

[doone]

For me HAL is what I like.  I have been sailing with HAL for well over 40 years and are there things that they did 40 years ago that I miss, you betcha, but I don't dwell on those things they no longer do.  Things change, people change, businesses change, nothing stays the same.  I have sailed other lines and always come back to HAL feeling like I am back home when I step onboard one of their ships.

 

The Pinnacle Class ships, for me, are a great addition to the fleet, it gives more options for folks.  Let's face it, we aren't going to live forever so the cruise lines (all cruise lines, not just HAL) have to change so they can stay "afloat"....😉

 

If HAL doesn't make you happy, its great that there are so many different cruise lines to chose from, hopefully you find one that works for you.  For me, for now I'll stick with HAL.

 

Happy cruising everyone!!!!

[CruiserBruce]

Well said @doone. Many people don't handle change well, and others seem to take it personally,  like a business hates me, or doesn't know what they are doing if they make changes. It's just change, not the end of the world.

[Niagarawine]

Sailed twice with Princess and preferred HAL. This was a while ago . However Ihave been noticing that items that are included with HAL are extra charge on Princess, pizza, pasta and room service I believe, could be wrong. I like room service included along with the very good pizza. I didn’t care for the pasta on my last cruise but generally it’s very good on HAL. I also find they make a sturdy cocktail where Celebrity and RCI are a bit weaker. I was on Caribbean Princess twice. 

[Ken the cruiser]

If I might ask, how many assistants does the HAL cruise director have on the entertainment staff to keep the guests happy at various events on the ship? Princess usually has between 4-6.

[Mary229]

36 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask, how many assistants does the HAL cruise director have on the entertainment staff to keep the guests happy at various events on the ship? Princess usually has between 4-6.

It depends on the cruise. HAL ships generally carry fewer passengers.  Usually at least two maybe 3 on the larger ships.  There are a couple of people who do multiple positions.  The art teacher and the gym staff may help with some entertainment in the evenings. 

Edited June 21 by Mary229

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, Niagarawine said:

Sailed twice with Princess and preferred HAL. This was a while ago . However Ihave been noticing that items that are included with HAL are extra charge on Princess, pizza, pasta and room service I believe, could be wrong. I like room service included along with the very good pizza. I didn’t care for the pasta on my last cruise but generally it’s very good on HAL. I also find they make a sturdy cocktail where Celebrity and RCI are a bit weaker. I was on Caribbean Princess twice. 

Pizza by the slice upon Lido is free on Princess ordering a whole pizza via room service has a charge.

 

Ordering room service or for delivery anywhere on the ship via app has 1 activation charge per cruise, ordering room service by phone from your room has a charge per call.

[TRLD]

53 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask, how many assistants does the HAL cruise director have on the entertainment staff to keep the guests happy at various events on the ship? Princess usually has between 4-6.

One of the biggest differences is that most Princess venues are set up to be flexible for various activities, and Princess does quite a few. On HAL many of the venues are optimized for music walk, less flexible for other activities, and far fewer activities.

 

 

[Niagarawine]

2 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Pizza by the slice upon Lido is free on Princess ordering a whole pizza via room service has a charge.

 

Ordering room service or for delivery anywhere on the ship via app has 1 activation charge per cruise, ordering room service by phone from your room has a charge per call.

Oh we order room service everyday for breakfast and in the evening doe snacks. My husband orders tge pizza, goes up to deck ten, picks it up and we eat in the cabin as I have mobility  issues and some days are better than others.