differences between HAL & Princess

[joinitaly]

I am a relatively new cruiser, I have been on the Noordam to Europe in 2005 and now am looking forward to the Panama Canal on the Island Princess in April. From these boards I have found out some differences between HAL & Princess

 

1. A verandah cabin on HAL is like a mini-suite on Princess (Princess balcony cabin doesn't have a sitting area or a bathtub)

 

2.The mini fridge on HAL is stocked when you arrive and you pay for what you drink. - The mini fridge on Princess is empty.

 

3. On HAL you pay for shore excursions when you order them _on Princess you reserve online and then they are billed to your shipboard account.

 

I like to know things ahead of times so I can maximize my cruise experience. Anything else I should know about Princess that is really different from HAL?

 

thanks

[Pam in CA]

4. The Princess room service breakfast menu is really a continental breakfast, it's not a full menu.

 

5. The buffet is mostly self-serve where you go to islands or stations where you help yourself rather than wait in a long line to be served. I much prefer the Princess buffet style. If you want a salad at lunch, there are eight different salad dressings to choose from, four of them non-fat. (On the Prinsendam, they had only three.) They also have an egg station at breakfast where you can get eggs prepared any way you want them, including an omelet with everything in it.

 

6. The soda "card" is a sticker that goes on your cruise card and it's for an unlimited number of sodas in a variety of glasses. It's a much better deal than on HAL.

 

7. There are many more "always available" items on the Princess dinner menu. For instance, you can have a shrimp cocktail or caesar salad every night if you want; ditto for tournedos of beef and fettucini Alfredo.

 

8. You can also request anything specially-prepared in the Princess dining rooms. Just let the Maitre D' know the day before.

 

There are probably more differences but these are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

[Wilcoam]

Princess, on their Grand class ships have sunshine on their balconies

Princess has hot tubs and pools open much later

Princess has a buffet open much later

Princess has a much cooler disco on Grand class

Princess has MUTS

Princess has a livlier night life

HAL has proper wine service & sommelliers at dinner

HAL has a much much much older demp pax

HAL dinner dress code can be more formal

 

jc

toronto

[Sale Away]

Princess has MUTS

 

Ok... I'll bite. What are MUTS?

 

Just the thread I was looking for as I'm researching a Princess sailing for 2009. :) Past sailings have been with HAL, Celebrity and RCCL so I'm also curious as to what the pluses are with Princess.

[camperhawk]

MUTS ..the big screen movie under the stars or sky, depending on daytime or evening. Some love it,some loathe it! I thought it was great for an evening of relaxation!

[CruiseBumm]

THis will be my first Princes cruise in 25 years. Thanks for the good info.

 

Does Princess have drink or wine cards fro purchases? :confused:

[cruisemom42]

Princess has freshwater pools.

 

HAL, in general, has more lectures on interesting topics (e.g., unrelated to shopping in port.)

[Pam in CA]

MUTS ..the big screen movie under the stars or sky, depending on daytime or evening. Some love it,some loathe it! I thought it was great for an evening of relaxation!

NOTE: MUTS is available only on a few ships: Sea, Grand, Caribbean, Star and Emerald Princess.

 

Does Princess have drink or wine cards fro purchases? :confused:

I'm not a drinker so I'm not sure about the drink or wine cards. However, they do have a "Cocktail of the Day" and a "Mocktail of the Day" that are very good value.

 

As for the cruise lecturers, I think it depends on the cruise and the itinerary. I've had some excellent lecturers on Princess on everything from mushing in Alaska to financial planning.

[Hlitner]

I would say that overall we find the two lines comparable. Many of the differences are related to the type of ship rather than just the cruise line. Princess does have quite a few mega-ships (Grand Class) where HA still prefers smaller vessels (although the Norrdam and its sister ships are still pretty large). One significant difference for us was that on the Noordam we could always get a decent hot breakfast served in our cabin, and it was truly hot when delivered. HA also has a tendency to attract a pretty old group of passengers (this can vary by cruise) and we have been on HA cruises when there were about 10 people awake past 10:30pm. We would cruise either line (and we do) at any time and generally make our decision based on itinerary.

 

Hank

[Taylor_Dene]

I've not yet cruised on HAL, but would like to do so in the future. As far as Movies Under The Stars (MUTS) goes... My husband absolutely loves this feature and it's the primary reason that we're going on the Caribbean Princess again a month from now.

 

Good luck,

Deb

[FredS]

Only been on |HAL once around So. America and we found the food was lacking in taste; not really seasoned. We wondered if it was due to the older crowd and believing they want a more bland food. It looked very nice, just not much flavor compared to our Princess cruises.

 

HAL's afternoon tea service is much better than Princess. There was one afternoon there was a chocolate tasting buffet in one of the lounges. All types and designs with chocolate. We enjoyed the more classical music that was played each evening in one of the lounges and there were servings of fancy cookies and cakes.

 

Ship docked in Valaparisio and many of us flew from Santiago to LAX. When we got off the plane in LAX there were 9 wheelchairs and one gurney waiting for people getting off the plane. There was only one little girl, about 10, with her nanny on the cruise. Most of the people were over 50years old. I would walk around at 1 or 2 AM and there was no one about.

[Aussie Gal]

We have been on HAL over 100 days and are Platinum cruisers with Princess so we have cruised many times on both HAL and on the smaller ships of Princess.

 

They are both good cruise lines with a few small differences. I love the fresh flowers and Art work on HAL. I also like being able to stay in the cabin until called when disembarking. We find the Indonesian and Phillipino stewards on HAL to be excellent. Also the Lido on HAL is great with more variety than Princess and the ice cream bar on HAL is open all afternoon.

 

On Princess it is wonderful not to have to pay for excursions beforehand. The cruisers on Princess are younger than on HAL and there are less walkers and wheel chairs on board.

 

I am sure you will enjoy your Princess experience.

 

Jennie

[Coral]

1. A verandah cabin on HAL is like a mini-suite on Princess (Princess balcony cabin doesn't have a sitting area or a bathtub)

 

 

I posted this earlier and it must not have made it.

 

I sort of disagree with your #1. I say "sort of".

 

While balcony cabins on HAL do have a couch and tub, they are not significantly larger than on Princess. Princess's minisuites are larger than HAL's balcony cabins.

 

I just had a balcony cabin last month on HAL - it reminded me of a Princess balcony with a couch instead of a chair and a tub in the bathroom. My balcony in my cabin was significantly smaller than my Princess balcony.

 

Regardless, they are both great lines with great cabins.

[Aussie Gal]

I also agree with Coral. The mini suites on Princess are much bigger than a Verandah on HAL other than on the Prinsendam which does have mini suites. I am not talking about HAL's full suites which of course are a lot larger again.

 

We have been in a mini on the lovely Regal Princess (which is now renamed and sails out of Australia), the Pacific and Tahitian Princesses and those cabins are far bigger than a A or a B on HAL's Statendam, Ryndam, Veendam, Maasdam, Volendam, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. I have not been on any of HAL's Vista class ships so do not know about those cabins.

 

Jennie

[Pam in CA]

I found my basic outside cabin on the Royal Princess to be very comparable to my basic outside cabin on the Prinsendam. The Prinsendam closet was larger and it had a full bathtub but other than that, they were almost the same.

[Cruzman]

Princess has freshwater pools.

 

HAL, in general, has more lectures on interesting topics (e.g., unrelated to shopping in port.)

 

Every HAL ship I've sailed on had fresh water in the pools!

[Coral]

Every HAL ship I've sailed on had fresh water in the pools!

 

I was recently on HAL on the Oosterdam. Someone asked about fresh water pools and I was only in the spa pool that was fresh water. I looked at a thread on the HAL board and it indicated that of the other 2 pools, one was freshwater and the other was saltwater. Again, I wasn't in them but found that strange. Not sure the rationalization for doing both.

[joinitaly]

thanks everybody, I knew I could count on you.

Jo