HAL vet tries Princess redux

[mikefang]

DW (Fang) and I have 127 days with HAL and several Carnival cruises prior to HAL. In the fall I reported favorably on the last minute repositioning cruise we took for our first Princess trip. We just completed our second Princess cruise, 7 days on the Golden Princess, Alaska, Seattle to Seattle. Very little of what I report will be different than I reported in the fall but there always seems to be interest when fans of one cruise line cruise on another. IMO it is very difficult to compare cruise lines given that comparisons between ships within lines can be difficult let alone trying to compare one line to another using limited snapshots.

 

That having been said it remains my opinion that if you enjoy HAL you will enjoy Princess and vice versa. The second cruise has given me a little wider picture to consider and so here goes:

 

PRE CRUISE: We used our TA and booked a window cabin on the Plaza deck, deck 5, which for reference is one the embarkation/debarkation decks depending on the tides. The cabin was well forward and one of the least expensive unobstructed view room available. We used Princess insurance and requested late (8pm) traditional dining. We used the Princess web site cruise personalizer and requested foam mattress toppings (eggcrates-strongly recommended) and robes in the room. The same site also allows for the making of special arrangements such as birthdays and anniversaries as well as printing off boarding passes-the site does not allow boarding passes to be printed until all the personal/immigration information has been inputted. I found the site very user friendly. Travel documents, including luggage tags, were received through our TA about 2 weeks prior to our May 9th departure.

 

UPGRADE FAIRY STRUCK: 3 days prior to the cruise our TA called and advised that we had been upgraded to a balcony cabin on the Lido deck, deck 14-or as I call it, deck ‘F’ for food deck. For you photo fans who check out the Golden we had L311, on the starboard side, almost directly below the big ‘G’ in Golden Princess. Nice place convenient to the chow line, hamburger bar, pizza bar and ice cream bar.

 

EMBARKATION: We live in Central Oregon and drove to Seattle making pre cruise parking reservations with Republic parking ($20 per day including shuttle service) adjacent to the newly opened Pier 91-used by HAL and Princess. They request you drop off luggage and passengers at the pier then drive to the parking area-a distance of about ½ mile using their courtesy (if you call $20/day for parking courtesy) shuttle to return to the pier. NOTE: No assistance with baggage was available from the parking area onto the shuttle, or off at the pier. (SEE DEBARKATION) Due to heavy congestion, long lines and unexplained delays it took 2 hours from dropping off DW (Fang) to getting on board. Most of that was waiting in long lines. Fang had great difficulty getting a porter as they all seemed to servicing the HAL ship on the other side of the pier. After finally succeeding we noticed a lot of people dragging their bags through the first of 3 lines leading to our pierside check in. IMO the problems seemed to be Port of Seattle related than Princess related. Had the weather been cold or rainy embarkation could have been very unpleasant. More on Pier 91 on DEBARKATION.

 

Will write more later. Mike

[ore-ee-gun]

Thanks for posting - we will be on the Golden next Saturday for our first non-HAL cruise, and I'm anxious to hear more.

[cruz chic]

That having been said it remains my opinion that if you enjoy HAL you will enjoy Princess and vice versa.

I agree 100%. The 2 lines are very similiar.

[jhannah]

Same here. The lines are different in personality ... but each offers a fine product.

[JimVrhovac]

Ruth and I fall into the catagory of HAL regulars and we cruised the Star Princess in January (Antartica) and loved the cruise. We did purchase future cruise credits and plan to cruise Princess again.

 

Ruth & Jim

[mikefang]

EMBARKATION (CONT) Pier 91, at least for Princess, is 2 story process. On the ground floor you are given the health form to fill out then you proceed up an escalator to the check in floor with the normal multiple check in spots. We entered the line outside the ground floor at approximately 1:10. 45 minutes later we had progressed to the health form and took the escalator to the 2nd floor where we entered another line which eventually split into individual check in lines. From the top of the escalator to the check in person was another 45 minutes. I think everyone or at least most everyone knew the Pier 91 process was new and all the Princess personnel were courteous and as helpful as they could be under the circumstances.

We learned on board that a good number of people had short waits, or virtually none at all, while many had long waits.

 

ON BOARD: The Golden was fresh from drydock and a 4 day shakedown cruise. A beautiful ship. We experienced no problems with post drydock work though the steakhouse area was still under construction. Our room was a small balcony room, comfortable-particularly with the eggcrates and our robes were hanging in the closet when we arrived. Closet space was good and there is adequate storage for luggage. Bathroom smaller than on HAL. The traditional dining room is all the way aft and somewhat difficult for Fang to access. She has a bad knee and goes downstairs with discomfort. Only 2 elevators access the dining room and there is no access from forward. The International Café was new to the Golden and we found the coffee card to be a great value. The shops are mostly higher end.

 

FOOD: We found the food overall to be excellent. Fang says, and I agree-after 38 years I ain’t stupid-that they are somewhat soup challenged. IMO the food on the Golden was better than the Sapphire last fall and I would be hard pressed to choose between HAL and Princess. The Horizon Court/Lido still has a confusing traffic flow complicated by a couple of tour groups that had no concept of what a line is for but the food was good but I would not waste my time in the waffle bar line. Good selections and only limited difficulty finding seating. Our tablemates tried the steakhouse, temporarily located on the Lido aft section and raved about it the next night.

 

SERVICE: Our room was immaculate when we arrived and despite my best efforts the room steward kept it that way. Our dining room waiter was excellent as was his assistant. Both provide the service that brings back customers. International Café service was good but still shaking down a little. Bar service was slower than expected possibly due to some staffing cutbacks. Purser’s desk provided good service when we had questions.

 

CC MEET AND GREET: Thanks to an active roll call board Sharon set up an excellent meet and greet on Sunday. It was attended by around 40 CC types, the CD and Asst CD-both of whom were impressive and very customer oriented. They set up another meet and greet on the last day with a dedicated area, snacks and some gifts. Fang and I spent some time with the CD and his Assistant; both of whom we thoroughly enjoyed. We also had the opportunity to thank two of the senior chefs who came to the meeting. Sharon and her husband Lee were also 2 of our tablemates and contributed greatly to our CC meetings and our overall cruise enjoyment. Thanks and KUDOs to Sharon and Lee.

 

I will finish this off tomorrow-we came home to having new carpets put in and I am tired! Mike

[ldog]

thanks for posting a comprehensive review.

[mikefang]

Okay, back again to finish this off. Fang always says I talk too much and reviewing my typing I have to agree.

 

DRESS: Most people were nicely dressed and the 2 formal nights saw some tuxes, lots of suits and sportcoats with ties. Ladies dressed in nice evening wear. As always a few exceptions but overall more formal than I expected for Alaska. I opted for my old guys outfit of Navy blazer, dark gray slacks, tie. Fang was in nice evening wear, dresses. Non formal for us slacks, polos for me, dress for Fang. We were comfortable. One of the couples at our table was from England and he wore a coat and tie every evening-dinner jacket on formal nights.

 

PIER 91: We were expecting some teething problems and we were not disappointed; however, most of the luggage issues we saw, IMO, will be smoothed out. We used Republic Parking and their request is that extra passengers and luggage be dropped off before going to parking-no luggage assistance in the parking lot area, which is what we did. For debarkation however there is luggage loading on the pier which would eliminate getting your vehicle and returning to the pier-we did not note this before I jumped on the shuttle.

 

Pier 91 does have separate lanes for private vehicles, shuttles, tour buses but one lane leading into the pier before you get to these individual lanes. Please note that this one access lane is also used by semis and other delivery vehicles bringing supplies and stores for whatever ship/ships in port-2 in our case. This was at best a nightmare and I should have noted the luggage difference earlier and just loaded it onto the shuttle to eliminate the zoo I encountered trying to reclaim Fang and luggage. I do not know about service animals in that situation but if you drive I recommend the method I did not use to make your morning easier. We noted vehicles blocking traffic lanes to load and unload-arriving passengers and departing were well mixed up in the traffic pattern-or lack thereof.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: Good, large dance cast and we enjoyed their shows including the Motown show. Active and pleasant cruise staff.

 

IN SHORT: We like HAL and Princess and expect some differences. I think there are better/or perhaps more entertainment choices on Princess but that is, after all, personal choice and yours may be appropriately different. Our lifeboat drill station was the casino and I had a vision of being the man remembered for yelling as the water closed over my head “daddy needs a bigger life jacket”!

 

Enjoy Princess, we do! Enjoy HAL, we do! Just enjoy. Mike and Fang

[JimVrhovac]

Enjoyed the review. Thank you

 

Ruth & Jim