Princess vs. HAL

[Working 2 Cruise]

Understoof. But what abour nigt life... This is the only thing rthat would keep me from HAL.

[Pam in CA]

Understoof. But what abour nigt life... This is the only thing rthat would keep me from HAL.

HAL ships are somewhat smaller than Princess ships, and their itineraries tend to be longer, which attracts an older clientele. There's plenty to do at night on a HAL cruise but because it attacts older passengers, it's not as active as on Princess. In general. If you took a 7-day cruise, it would be similar to Princess. In other words, it has more to do with the size of the ship and the length of the cruise than the cruiseline. You find the same thing on the small Princess ships.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thank yiou Pam, I am thinkimg HAL for a TA in 2012.

[cruisemom42]

HAL ships are somewhat smaller than Princess ships, and their itineraries tend to be longer, which attracts an older clientele. There's plenty to do at night on a HAL cruise but because it attacts older passengers, it's not as active as on Princess. In general. If you took a 7-day cruise, it would be similar to Princess. In other words, it has more to do with the size of the ship and the length of the cruise than the cruiseline. You find the same thing on the small Princess ships.

 

I don't necessarily agree. We took a 7-day Caribbean cruise on one of the HAL Vista-class ships (so not exactly small) in the summer. It was dead at night after the first show ended. If you enjoy all that Princess has to offer at night (e.g., possibly a comedy show, a movie, live music, disco, etc.), you might find HAL a little lacking.

 

That said, I'm cruising HAL again in September, but on an intensive cruise like this one, I'm not in it for the nightlife on board.

[ActiveTraveler]

I've had minifridges in my HAL staterooms on Maasdam and Westerdam. How hard did you look for that info?

 

I read the list of amenities in the balcony staterooms and suites on the HAL website. It does not list refrigerators. Instead they mention ice buckets. Why would HAL not put a refrigerator on its list of stateroom amenities if it is there?

ActiveTraveler has been quite active on

these boards without having sailee once. I do acknowledge that I am a newbie, but cruising is wonderful.

 

As soon as one couple talked a long time about cruises they had taken, I could not get cruising out of my head. I never intended to start planning three years early but the day I met them, I was hooked. I had already planned to go cruising someday.

 

Andrea- I can't remember, did you cross Celebrity off your list yet?

 

Yes for two reasons: the menus and (according to people who sail on Celebrity ships)lack of wood dance floors. It looks like they mostly have American food and nowhere to dance except the marble lobby area. What a shame because Celebrity has a great no-smoking policy and I read it also has fewer kids than Princess. :(

[Pam in CA]

I don't necessarily agree. We took a 7-day Caribbean cruise on one of the HAL Vista-class ships (so not exactly small) in the summer. It was dead at night after the first show ended. If you enjoy all that Princess has to offer at night (e.g., possibly a comedy show, a movie, live music, disco, etc.), you might find HAL a little lacking.

 

That said, I'm cruising HAL again in September, but on an intensive cruise like this one, I'm not in it for the nightlife on board.

I've been on the Zuiderdam, a Vista-class ship, and it has only about 2,000 passengers as opposed to about 3,000 on the Grand-class Princess ships. That's what I meant by HAL ship's being smaller.

[operafan]

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Yes for two reasons: the menus and (according to people who sail on Celebrity ships)lack of wood dance floors. It looks like they mostly have American food and nowhere to dance except the marble lobby area. What a shame because Celebrity has a great no-smoking policy and I read it also has fewer kids than Princess. :(

 

I can assure you, I have never seen people dancing around a " marble lobby area" on X. I HAVE seen people dancing in the many clubs! Btw, HAL does have refrigerators in the cabins. I don't know where you're getting your information on any of these lines but it all seems to be erroneous. I've sailed on all three lines and have found HAL and X to be superior to Princess.

[wrecks]

My rooms on HAL have been far nicer then my rooms on Princess. They have real beds, bath tubs in outside and balcony rooms (Princess doesn't do this until you get to a minisuite) - bathrooms much larger than on Princess, dvd players in each room, couches in rooms with out having to book a minisuite. HAL also provides a real room service menu to the staterooms. Give me a HAL room over Princess any day.

Did I mention that have real beds on HAL???!!!!

 

Me thinks you are trying to convince her to choose HAL over Princess, good job :cool:.

See you on the water,

Rex

[Cruisin' Chick]

This has to be about the 80th time this has been suggested to the OP.

 

 

 

And the hundredth for this one. :rolleyes: Apparently her only method of "researching" is to ask a question here on CC based on an incomplete understanding of the facts and then to come back and make snarky statements to those that try to provide information.

 

I was hoping the 80th time was the charm.:rolleyes:

 

Personally, I think she'd be much happier with Carnival or NCL. Just a feeling I have based on her posts.

 

Good one.

 

Here's one of the pools on the Island Princess on the second day of our Hawaiian cruise (before the pools were closed due to the high waves ONBOARD the ship):

 

 

Hubby and the girl are swimming against the waves in that photo.

 

As others have stated, there is a current that the ship will cross that will often produce heavy duty swells.

 

And as others have said, yes, there are hurricanes and other storms in the Pacific. In fact, last year, the Pacific had a much more active tropical storm season than the Atlantic, due to the El Nino conditions. The Mexican Riviera has been hit from time to time from hurricanes. Hurricanes have hit Hawaii (on our honeymoon, we stayed at a resort on Poipu Beach that was heavily damaged by a hurricane a few years later; they were showing a film there of the clean up and repair work, very fascinating).

 

Hurricanes, though, will not hit up the coast of California due to the cold water conditions off the coast. So here in Los Angeles, we don't have to worry about evacuating from a storm like that, even though we may get the moisture. We just have to worry about earthquakes, wild fires, mudslides, the occasional riot, city officials taking kickbacks, that kind of thing.

 

Reading Andrea's posts (not the questions) but when she's stating "facts" as true, reminds me of my mother who does this from time to time. Please check out your facts via reliable sources (and a little newspaper that is picking up info from the AP isn't one).

[trvlcrzy]

Btw, HAL does have refrigerators in the cabins. I don't know where you're getting your information on any of these lines but it all seems to be erroneous.

 

HAL doesn't offer refrigerators on all ships/in all staterooms. The Vistas offer them, but the smaller ships (R and S classes) aren't universal in this.

[cruisemom42]

I've been on the Zuiderdam, a Vista-class ship, and it has only about 2,000 passengers as opposed to about 3,000 on the Grand-class Princess ships. That's what I meant by HAL ship's being smaller.

 

I realize there's a difference in size, but 2,000 people is plenty to create a crowd at evening activities. HAL was actively promoting the Vista class ships at the time as being designed and operated for a younger crowd (e.g., parents with kids). I did not find it to be comparable to Princess. In fact, at the time we cruised HAL, we had only been on the Sea Princess to Alaska -- which is pretty comparable in size to a Vista class ship. And it was much, much livelier at night.

 

Son did not enjoy the HAL cruise, so we haven't been back. However, I have no problem with HAL for a port intensive cruise where I'm going solo.

[Coral]

Me thinks you are trying to convince her to choose HAL over Princess

 

Rex

 

I actually think HAL does have better amenities in their cabins. I am not big into refrigerators in the cabin and didn't look for one so I didn't know how to answer that one.

 

Thanks for the compliment though :)

[cruisemom42]

The pictures of staterooms I saw show ugly rooms with leather sofas that do not have a refrigerator, which is important to me. There is no way I can stay in one of those for two weeks!

 

Here is the breakdown of which ships on HAL have refrigerators. (This frequent cruiser/poster on HAL boards is an expert!):

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=22912268&postcount=2

 

 

You need to get it through your head that in order to find out complete and accurate information, you need to look to more than one source. Whatever part of the HAL site you looked at may not consider in-room refrigerators to be as "critical" to the cruise experience as you do; however, if you are not going to believe the word of someone who has been on DOZENS of HAL cruises just because you read something different elsewhere, then Cruise Critic really isn't going to be much help to you.

 

A little niceness in your responses might gain you more information as well. You do not have either the cruise or the travel experience that many of the posters here do, and yet you persist in bulldozing through a lot of responses that people clearly meant to be helpful. Just a hint -- if you keep doing that, pretty soon no one is going to be willing to take the time to respond to your posts.

 

Saying "please explain" or "thanks for the information" or "I'm getting conflicting information, please help me understand" would be a start. Acknowledging when you were wrong might be another......

 

P.S. You seem to have a very long laundry list of things that a cruise "must" have in order for you to enjoy yourself. If you are not able to let go of some of these small things, you are never going to be able to enjoy the bigger picture of what a cruise has to offer. And I can almost guarantee that you will come back from your cruise disappointed because you will inevitably find that some things were not the way you read they would be.

[Hoyaheel]

Yes, we had a balcony on Maasdam which is why we had a fridge - at the time not all the cabins had them. Though we're younger than the typical HAL demographic, we don't cruise for entertainment - don't care about nightlife, shows, dancing etc. So it works out really well for us. We also like the small Princess ships and probably won't be trying the bigger Princess ships (we found Westerdam at 1900something to be too big for us, so....) We recognize that our priorities are different from many others who cruise, but that's ok - because we can find what we want and are really happy with the experience:p

[jennifers490]

 

 

Yes for two reasons: the menus and (according to people who sail on Celebrity ships)lack of wood dance floors. It looks like they mostly have American food and nowhere to dance except the marble lobby area. What a shame because Celebrity has a great no-smoking policy and I read it also has fewer kids than Princess. :(

 

ok now i'm convinced you're just messing with all of us...

[madelinerose]

You need to get it through your head that in order to find out complete and accurate information, you need to look to more than one source...however, if you are not going to believe the word of someone who has been on DOZENS of HAL cruises just because you read something different elsewhere, then Cruise Critic really isn't going to be much help to you.

 

A little niceness in your responses might gain you more information as well.

 

Just a hint -- if you keep doing that, pretty soon no one is going to be willing to take the time to respond to your posts.

 

Saying "please explain" or "thanks for the information" or "I'm getting conflicting information, please help me understand" would be a start. Acknowledging when you were wrong might be another......

 

P.S. You seem to have a very long laundry list of things that a cruise "must" have in order for you to enjoy yourself. If you are not able to let go of some of these small things, you are never going to be able to enjoy the bigger picture of what a cruise has to offer. And I can almost guarantee that you will come back from your cruise disappointed because you will inevitably find that some things were not the way you read they would be.

 

AMEN!!! Andrea is definitely already beginning to develop quite a reputation on these boards. I believe a few long-time posters (no names) have already put her on "ignore".

 

I have advised Andrea over and over again to say thank you. Haven't seen it yet.

 

This poster has divulged a huge amount of personal info on these boards, comes across as condescending and an expert, when in fact the word amateur screams from her posts, and consistently becomes argumentative while playing the victim. I honestly have never witnessed another poster like this. :D

 

ok now i'm convinced you're just messing with all of us...

 

Oh no, Jennifer. Andrea became indignant with an X poster who has sailed every X ship in existence, when he told her there were no wooden dance floors.

 

Andrea, what is your definition of "American food" on X ships? :confused:

[grandmato4]

Andrea- I can't remember, did you cross Celebrity off you list yet?

 

Yes for two reasons: the menus and (according to people who sail on Celebrity ships)lack of wood dance floors. It looks like they mostly have American food and nowhere to dance except the marble lobby area. What a shame because Celebrity has a great no-smoking policy and I read it also has fewer kids than Princess. :(

 

Than congradulations, you have chosen Princess for your first cruise in 2013. Your reasons for crossing Carnival, RCI, NCL, Crystal, Celebrity, HAL all off your list (and others not listed since they have the same things about them that caused you to not sail on those listed) for your first cruise are irrelevant as far as if we all think those reasons are reasonable by opinion or know they are inaccurate in fact as it all comes down to YOUR own opinions and facts as you read them and ultimately your choice.

 

Now you can hope that when the itinearies come out in another aprox 18 months there is a Grand Class ship that will be less than 10 years old when you sail on her 12-15 months later doing a western Med itinerary without any tender ports sailing in a month that doesn't fall within football season or a month where more children are likely to be on the ship than you would wish. And of coarse hope that Princess hasn't made any changes between now and then to the things on board that you value highest. Good Luck ! :)

[jennifers490]

 

Oh no, Jennifer. Andrea became indignant with an X poster who has sailed every X ship in existence, when he told her there were no wooden dance floors.

 

Andrea, what is your definition of "American food" on X ships? :confused:

 

Actually I do remember when I was on Celebrity they only had a choice at dinner between hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken pot pie and fish sticks. The kraft macaroni and cheese was the best though, they definitely didn't use the store brand. I found it very elegant.

 

I was trying not to indulge but wait until she gets into skywalkers--anyone tell her about the plexi glass dance floor? Or do they still have the big midnight dance party in the marble atrium? (only remember dancing on wooden floors on X also...) maybe that will be enough to move on to Costa? :) not sure why someone who never heard of flamenco would be so worried about dancing conditions...

[cruisemom42]

Now you can hope that when the itinearies come out in another aprox 18 months there is a Grand Class ship that will be less than 10 years old when you sail on her 12-15 months later doing a western Med itinerary without any tender ports sailing in a month that doesn't fall within football season or a month where more children are likely to be on the ship than you would wish. And of coarse hope that Princess hasn't made any changes between now and then to the things on board that you value highest. Good Luck ! :)

 

Based on her latest criteria, the cruise must be in May and don't forget there has to be availability of a starboard mini-suite on Emerald deck....:rolleyes:

 

Of course, if she finds out that apple juice isn't available on board, that may be a deal breaker!

[madelinerose]

... not sure why someone who never heard of flamenco would be so worried about dancing conditions...

 

And a "dance host" is required. ;)

 

And of course hope that Princess hasn't made any changes between now and then to the things on board that you value highest. Good Luck ! :)

 

Yeah, good luck on that one! Perfect! ;)

 

Of course, if she finds out that apple juice isn't available on board, that may be a deal breaker!

 

Filtered, unfiltered, organic??? ;)

[Hoyaheel]

I thought, based on the "the Pacific never has rough water, it's called the pacific after all" thread, Hawaii is the cruise destination now, not the Med?:p

[Iamcruzin]

Based on her latest criteria, the cruise must be in May

 

 

Kill me! Every cruise I have ever taken except for one has been in May.

[jennifers490]

Kill me! Every cruise I have ever taken except for one has been in May.

 

Oh I'll join you in the med in May just for fun...now I'm just plain curious :)

[madelinerose]

I thought, based on the "the Pacific never has rough water, it's called the pacific after all" thread, Hawaii is the cruise destination now, not the Med?:p

 

Kill me! Every cruise I have ever taken except for one has been in May.

 

 

LOL!!! Must be the heat! :D:D:D

[Iamcruzin]

Oh I'll join you in the med in May just for fun...now I'm just plain curious :)

 

I have to check my schedule I may have plans in 2013.:)