"small ships" question

[UPNYGuy]

The wife and I have exclusively sailed Holland America for the past few years. Recently, the "revenue generation" theme aboard the vista class ships has become more mass market...and caused us to look into a smaller, more sedate ship. We have fallen in love with the HAL S-Class cruisers, but want to branch out into even smaller ships.

 

I know enough about the Princess R-Class to know that these may be just the ticket for us, so I booked a week long cruise just for giggles to test the waters.

 

My question is this....

 

How is the service compared to the HAL S-Class ships (Veendam / Ryndam)? I already feel that they do little wrong in this area. My understanding is that it goes like this...

 

Oceania

Azamara

Pacific / Ocean Princess

HAL

 

Pretty accurate? I understand that if I asked this on the HAL board I may very well get a different answer, but we are preferring smaller and smaller vesells.

[caribill]

Of the list you have, I have only been on the Princess ones.

 

So although I can't give a comparison, I have always found the service on the Ocean and Pacific to be excellent.

[Pam in CA]

I'm a 3-star Mariner and while I haven't been on the S-class, I have been on a variety of HAL ships. I'd say that the small Princess ships are similar to the Prinsendam although the Prinsendam has more passengers.

 

Overall, I've found that Princess food, service and entertainment are better than on HAL. Service is more personal and because it is, it's better on the small ships. A small ship cruise experience is different in that you keep seeing the same staff and passengers. You tend to meet people more easily.

[Nan_Sea]

We are 3 star Holland America passengers as well. A couple of years ago we decided to try Princess and we like it much better. There is more entertainment and we love the Piazza. Princess also has a much better passenger appreciation program which makes me wish we had traveled with them from the beginning.

[Queenk2]

We are 3 star on Hal and elite on Princess. I tend to like the food better on Hal, but the Pacific Princess was excellent. The small ships really make a difference in terms of both food and service. We have also sailed on Oceania, and their product is heads above the rest, but MUCH more expensive. I have yet to sail on Azamara, so I cannot comment, but if anything like Celebrity, ,possibly better, it will be wonderful as well. I think you will enjoy he pacific Princess because of both the staff , the service and the food.

Karen

[flamomo]

My only "small ship" experience has been a 10 day cruise on the Ocean Princess, back when she was still the Tahitian, and it was excellent. The decor is more "classic" .... dark woods, parlor type furniture. We had a minisuite on deck 8, and it was awesome. I don't know the dimensions, but the cabin was close to being square, and there was a feeling of spaciousness that is not found in minisuites on the larger Princess ships. There was only one dining room on the ship, with 2 fixed seatings, and the service was great. Probably the two best things about a ship that size were, 1. it only took a few minutes to get wherever one needed to go onboard, and there were no lines for anything, and 2. it was easy to get to know fellow passengers as well as all of the crew, including the Captain, who was the most visible and sociable I have encountered in 17 cruises.

[dorisis]

We have sailed on Ryndam and Veendam but prefer Princess Pacific and Oceania. Smaller and more elegant decor. We also like Princess Island and Coral which are larger than Princess small ships but fewer passengers than HAL. Food and service can vary widely by ship and crew. overall probably Princess.

[J-D]

We sail mostly on Princess, but have been on HAL's Volendam. The experience on the small Princess ships is notably different than on their larger ships, and we very much like the small-ship experience for the reasons others have mentioned. The more restrictive smoking policy on all Princess ships (since January 2012) is one significant difference between the two lines -- no smoking on Princess balconies, in contrast to HAL.

 

John

[UPNYGuy]

thanks for all the replies! It sounds like the wife and I may very well book many more cruises on these R-Class vessels.

[Infi]

The main difference between HAL and Princess for me is the crew. While the crew on Princess is friendly and efficient, they are less eager to please than HAL's staff IMHO. I don't know how to explain it, but HAL's crews just go the extra mile when it comes to service.

 

While I don't think the smaller ships of Princess are comparable to Oceania or Azamara, they also don't have the same price tag as either of those lines. You will get the same standard Princess menus, similar entertainment, and activities as on the larger ships, just in a more intimate atmosphere. If you're looking for a small ship experience (not an upmarket experience like Azamara or Oceania), the smaller ships of Princess would be the ones that are most comparable to the S-class on HAL.

[Pam in CA]

If you're looking for a small ship experience (not an upmarket experience like Azamara or Oceania), the smaller ships of Princess would be the ones that are most comparable to the S-class on HAL.

The interesting thing is that the Pacific and Ocean Princess have a lot fewer passengers than the smallest HAL ship (much less the S-class) so it's even more personal.

 

Out of all my HAL cruises, I've found the bar staff on HAL ships much better than on Princess. They remember your name, drink preferences, etc. immediately. Overall, my cabin steward and waitstaff on HAL have been between "OK" to awful. I've had some really, really (really) bad stewards on HAL and at best, indifferent waitstaff in the dining room so I can't say that HAL's service is better than Princess.

[UPNYGuy]

Thanks for the feedback Pam!

 

Plus, it was suggested at the recent mariner society brunch that the wife and I would probably enjoy these ships. We don't really care for the mega-ships (vistas are large enough), so we are going to give the Pacific a go!

 

Plus, Princess has the Sun and Coral class... everything I have read about those vessels leads me to believe we would enjoy those. Less pax vs the vistas.