princess vs HAL

[cruisers from NC]

My husband and I have taken several cruises with HAL. How does Princess compare? What are the differences both positive and negative?

[Toto2Kansas]

We have been on 13 Princess cruises and 2 on HAL. The main difference we have seen between the two is as follows (kind of tough with only two HAL cruises to compare it to):

 

We found HAL to be more sedate then Princess, a much quieter cruise.

 

We found HAL's food to be a bit better in the diningrooms but Princess has their buffets beat all to heck.

 

The service on our two HAL cruises seemed to be just a tad better than Princess, but that would depend, we have also had some Princess cruises with excellent service just like HAL, depends on the ship and crew I guess.

 

Both entertainment seems to be pretty equal to what we have seen.

 

Princess Casinos are much better than HAL. ;)

 

Princess cabins I think are a bit larger than HAL's but HAL has a better cabin layout. This also depends on the category you book. We had an outside cabin on the Zaandam and an SS Suite on the Zuiderdam. Princess we normally book mini suites but have had balcony cabins also. No sitting areas whatsoever on Princess until you reach the mini suite level and above, same for bath tubs, only in mini suites and above on Princess.

 

Wish I could supply more info but that is about as much as I can compare first hand.

[FredS]

On HAL we were able to stay in the room until it was our time to get off at the end of trip. On Princess we were told to stay in a lounge area somewhere until it was time to get off. Much nicer staying in the room. HAL maybe a few little extras here and there. Liked their free Java Bar cafe with cookies. Was not impressed by the HAL food. Was bland, thought it might be because of the older crowd on a 21 day cruise.

[geocruiser]

Hi,

I have been on both HAL and Princess. I was on the Crown Princess twice and on HAL's Noordam, Zaandam and the old Westerdam. I had a great time on both Princess and HAL. I love the Crown (too bad Princess does not have her any more). I would sail on the Crown again if they had her! The service was great on the Crown. The food on the Zaandam was great. The Noordam food some nights was not so good and there were other issues. But I like both cruise lines. We are going on the Sun Princess this Dec. I tend to like older ships and smaller ones too. You will have a great time on either line.

 

Geo

[JanetMarie]

On Princess, the staff are just more "friendlier." HAL, to us, was stuffy.