Princess or Holland American

[ecec]

Going on our first cruise to Alaska and there will be 10 of us. We are going on a 7 day inside passage through Glacier Bay and will either choose Princess or Holland American. They both offer special perks right now, Holland is offering a free drink package per person ( not big drinkers),and Princess has on on board credit. . I have sailed Princess before, although it has been about 5 years, but never Holland. When I think of Holland, I think of an older sedentary crowd, but not sure if this still the case. We are all in our early 50s, so may now be classified as older! I thought I would ask opinions for the better cruise line option. The other difference is that Princess is out of Seattle and Holland out of Vancouver.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

[mapleleaves]

If one is out of Seattle and the other is out of Vancouver, there are probably more differences than just the departure port.

Does the HAL itinerary take you between the mainland coast and the E side of Vancouver;more scenic plus calmer water?

How much time do you have in each port and what time is the arrival and departure to each?

Post the details of each to get more feedback.

[Keith1010]

I have my own preference but what I would do is read the reviews about the two ships to get a feel for them.

 

Keith

[ecec]

Princess

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Seattle -- 04:00 PM

2 At Sea -- --

3 Juneau 11:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 06:00 AM 08:15 PM

5 Glacier Bay 06:00 AM 03:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 07:00 AM 12:30 PM

7 Victoria 07:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle 07:00 AM --

 

Holland

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Vancouver -- 05:00 PM

2 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

3 Tracy Arm 10:00 AM 10:30 AM

3 Juneau 01:00 PM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 07:00 AM 09:00 PM

5 Glacier Bay 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 10:00 AM 06:00 PM

7 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

8 Vancouver 07:00 AM --

 

 

Thanks!

[Budget Queen]

Princess

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Seattle -- 04:00 PM

2 At Sea -- --

3 Juneau 11:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 06:00 AM 08:15 PM

5 Glacier Bay 06:00 AM 03:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 07:00 AM 12:30 PM

7 Victoria 07:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle 07:00 AM --

 

Holland

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Vancouver -- 05:00 PM

2 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

3 Tracy Arm 10:00 AM 10:30 AM

3 Juneau 01:00 PM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 07:00 AM 09:00 PM

5 Glacier Bay 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 10:00 AM 06:00 PM

7 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

8 Vancouver 07:00 AM --

 

 

Thanks!

 

Demographics, despite your thinking, is actually going to be very similar on both lines. Alaska isn't the Caribbean- with the bulk of passengers middle aged and above. ALL ages do sail.

 

With HAL, it would involve budgeting for the "necessary" Tracy Arm boat tour. This is a "must do" on this itinereary.

 

There are differences, you need to determine YOUR priority for your trip. HAL is far more scenic sailing. Princess has 2 open ocean sea days. Ketchikan time on HAL, is superior and would offer you more tour choices.

 

I suggest you determine what activities are going to occupy your port times. Take a look at shore excursion lists. Depending on your choices, that may direct you to the cruise.

[vbmom87]

On HAL the Tracy Arm time of 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. is a "Service Call." At this time, anyone who booked the tour that BQ mentions in the post above, will transfer to a small boat and tour through Tracy Arm Fjord. (Awesome tour for those who have scenery as a priority). Those who do not book this add on tour, will continue on to Juneau. Those on the Tracy Arm tour will be taken back to Juneau when they are done with the Tracy Arm excursion. They will have a shortened time in Juneau. As mentioned, you need to figure out your priorities. Most likely, with a group of ten, not everyone will want to do the same things. Do not be afraid to split up so everyone can accomplish their priorities for Alaska.

 

My DD and her husband (25 years old) went on the HAL itinerary your posted for their honeymoon this past June. They did not take the Tracy Arm option, as they had other plans for Juneau. They loved the cruise...the itinerary, the scenery, the ship (Volendam), the food, etc. They did not come back with any negatives. They are not party people and loved the laid back nature of the cruise. There were a few shows that didin't thrill them, but that did not ruin their cruise.

 

Most of our vacations are going to scenic areas. Because of my interests, I would choose the HAL itinerary because of the more scenic Vancouver sailing and the Tracy Arm option. You need to determine your priorities. Good luck!!

Edited November 14, 2013 by vbmom87

[Putterdude]

Princess

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Seattle -- 04:00 PM

2 At Sea -- --

3 Juneau 11:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 06:00 AM 08:15 PM

5 Glacier Bay 06:00 AM 03:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 07:00 AM 12:30 PM

7 Victoria 07:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle 07:00 AM --

 

Holland

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Vancouver -- 05:00 PM

2 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

3 Tracy Arm 10:00 AM 10:30 AM

3 Juneau 01:00 PM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 07:00 AM 09:00 PM

5 Glacier Bay 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 10:00 AM 06:00 PM

7 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

8 Vancouver 07:00 AM --

 

 

Thanks!

 

While I am not personally a fan of HAL having had a terrible cruise with them a few years ago. Of the two itineraries I would choose HAL's only because the scenery out of Vancouver is vastly superior to that out of Seattle. However, before making that choice I would want to check out Princess's new 7 day return itinerary out of Vancouver.

[Crew News]

Going on our first cruise to Alaska and there will be 10 of us. We are going on a 7 day inside passage through Glacier Bay and will either choose Princess or Holland American. We are all in our early 50s, so may now be classified as older! I thought I would ask opinions for the better cruise line option. The other difference is that Princess is out of Seattle and Holland out of Vancouver.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

 

Cruising out of Vancouver (Inside Passage) is sheltered most of the time from the Pacific Ocean by a series of islands. That translates to a higher priority of calmer seas and things to see on both sides of the ship. The extra time in Ketchikan is a real choice determinant.

 

Cruising out of Seattle will expose you nearly full-time to the Pacific weather. The seas will be less calm. I'm not a fan of Victoria, BC but it is required since all cruises must stop at a foreign port. A port only at night is not so appealing unless you want to do something indoors (dining).

 

The age of the passengers is determined by when kids are in school. Most HAL frequent passengers would estimate the average age of adults as mid-50's so you will fit in well. Note that there are activities for all ages with the HAL kids program be especially popular.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[vbmom87]

While I am not personally a fan of HAL having had a terrible cruise with them a few years ago. Of the two itineraries I would choose HAL's only because the scenery out of Vancouver is vastly superior to that out of Seattle. However, before making that choice I would want to check out Princess's new 7 day return itinerary out of Vancouver.

 

Every cruise line has people who have had a bad experience on it. Unless someone has had multiple experiences that were negative, I am not so sure it is fair to generalize. I have had two HAL cruises that were outstanding. I had one NCL that was good. My sister went on one NCL that was horrible and one that was great. I am one who cruises for the itinerary, and would not hesitate to cruise on HAL again.

[Putterdude]

Every cruise line has people who have had a bad experience on it. Unless someone has had multiple experiences that were negative, I am not so sure it is fair to generalize. I have had two HAL cruises that were outstanding. I had one NCL that was good. My sister went on one NCL that was horrible and one that was great. I am one who cruises for the itinerary, and would not hesitate to cruise on HAL again.

 

Sorry, but when you pay premium dollars to cruise over Christmas and the ship is dirty, the linen is stained, your cabin is scarred and the furniture stained, meals are served cool at best, tables in the pool area are not bussed and there is broken glass in the pool area....then you are not inclined to hold the line in high regard and with all the other lines to cruise on why would I take a chance with them again. If you look at my cruise history you will notice that we have sailed on a couple of lines many times and am not a cheerleader for any line....but we won't return to HAL any time soon given and given our experience I certainly can't recommend them. I am very happy that you had two cruises with HAL that you liked.

Edited November 15, 2013 by Putterdude

[Budget Queen]

Sorry, but when you pay premium dollars to cruise over Christmas and the ship is dirty, the linen is stained, your cabin is scarred and the furniture stained, meals are served cool at best, tables in the pool area are not bussed and there is broken glass in the pool area....then you are not inclined to hold the line in high regard and with all the other lines to cruise on why would I take a chance with them again. If you look at my cruise history you will notice that we have sailed on a couple of lines many times and am not a cheerleader for any line....but we won't return to HAL any time soon given and given our experience I certainly can't recommend them. I am very happy that you had two cruises with HAL that you liked.

 

Yikes, that is bad. How long ago was this? I've sailed on HAL around 10 times, and do recommend them. I have never been on a cruise like you describe and hope I never do, even after being on 83 cruises so far.

 

I'm glad you enjoy your choices you now sail.

[Aquahound]

Going on our first cruise to Alaska and there will be 10 of us. We are going on a 7 day inside passage through Glacier Bay and will either choose Princess or Holland American. They both offer special perks right now, Holland is offering a free drink package per person ( not big drinkers),and Princess has on on board credit. . I have sailed Princess before, although it has been about 5 years, but never Holland. When I think of Holland, I think of an older sedentary crowd, but not sure if this still the case. We are all in our early 50s, so may now be classified as older! I thought I would ask opinions for the better cruise line option. The other difference is that Princess is out of Seattle and Holland out of Vancouver.

 

Thanks for your feedback!

 

I'm not a big HAL fan either. One cruise with them on their latest and greatest, and I was very underwhelmed. Personally, I would favor Princess over HAL, especially for the smoking policy. The last thing I would want is to be enjoying the beautiful scenery on my balcony and to be smoked out by my neighbors.

 

That said, I do like HALs itinerary better and in Alaska, that's a big deal. Sorry if I missed it, but what ships are you considering? That could make a difference also.

[Putterdude]

Yikes, that is bad. How long ago was this? I've sailed on HAL around 10 times, and do recommend them. I have never been on a cruise like you describe and hope I never do, even after being on 83 cruises so far.

 

I'm glad you enjoy your choices you now sail.

 

December 24, 2011 on the Oosterdam.:eek:

[vbmom87]

Sorry, but when you pay premium dollars to cruise over Christmas and the ship is dirty, the linen is stained, your cabin is scarred and the furniture stained, meals are served cool at best, tables in the pool area are not bussed and there is broken glass in the pool area....then you are not inclined to hold the line in high regard and with all the other lines to cruise on why would I take a chance with them again. If you look at my cruise history you will notice that we have sailed on a couple of lines many times and am not a cheerleader for any line....but we won't return to HAL any time soon given and given our experience I certainly can't recommend them. I am very happy that you had two cruises with HAL that you liked.

 

Your experience surely did not sound like a good one, and I can understand why you don't wish to sail with HAL again. If you spend time on the forums of the other cruiselines, including Princess, you will find that every cruiseline does have unhappy customers who had a less than positive experience and have no desire to cruise with the line again. My point was simply not to negate your experience, but to simply remind people that you can have a good or bad cruise on any cruiseline.

[Appygirl]

I'd rather spend more time in Ketchikan than Princess offers.

 

You didn't mention specific ships. Food is subjective but generally speaking I prefer the food on HAL over Princess. Unless its the Zaandam where the food would actually be pretty good except its usually served cold to lukewarm. Zuiderdam gets a lot of complaints about the air conditioning not working and toilets not working. However people cruising to Alaska generally don't complain about the lack of air conditioning. I like the Zuiderdam but then I've never dealt with toilet issues on it - knock on wood. The Zuiderdam's show lounge the air conditioning usually is working a little too well for Alaska weather. Princess has better entertainment than HAL, except oddly enough the Zaandam makes up for the lacklustre food by offering very good entertainment on par with Princess. On Princess the Horizon Court (lido buffet restaurants) has longer operating hours than HAL's Lido buffets, could make a difference if you're hungry at 9pm and don't want to wait for room service. HAL shuts the Lido buffet down at 8pm and they mean right on the dot. They do open again for an hour for appetizers around 10:30pm. Also depending on the Princess ship you will likely have the International Café which a lot of people like for casual eating. Princess has longer operating hours for their swimming pools and hot tubs, close to midnight, but that might change depends on the ship. HAL closes them down around 7pm depending on the ship. I don't think you can go wrong with either Princess or HAL to Alaska. You just have to figure out which itinerary you prefer or is more convenient and how important a role you place on food, entertainment, hot tubs, and working toilets and AC to narrow down the choices.

[Putterdude]

Your experience surely did not sound like a good one, and I can understand why you don't wish to sail with HAL again. If you spend time on the forums of the other cruiselines, including Princess, you will find that every cruiseline does have unhappy customers who had a less than positive experience and have no desire to cruise with the line again. My point was simply not to negate your experience, but to simply remind people that you can have a good or bad cruise on any cruiseline.

 

You only get one chance to make a good first impression and HAL dropped the ball big time with us....for that reason I can not recommend HAL and likely will not return to sail with them anytime soon. I expect they can do better, however, in my case to suggest that they are superior to Princess on an similar itinerary basis would be gross misrepresentation. I am happy that you enjoyed them on 2 of your 3 cruises but they are not for us. As a matter of fact when I posted my review about our cruise I can remember what your rebuttal ...."He is a Princess person, I knew he wouldn't like it" and I responded "to bad I hadn't asked you first I could have saved a lot of money and disappointment".

[vbmom87]

...."He is a Princess person, I knew he wouldn't like it" and I responded "to bad I hadn't asked you first I could have saved a lot of money and disappointment".

 

 

 

No offense meant at the time. A poor choice of words on my part. My apologies if I offended you.

 

After reading these forums for years, it does seem like when people have really enjoyed one cruise line, and then try another they are disappointed. There are others on the HAL forum who have had similar issues to you, but as I said, so have people on other cruiselines. It is a gamble when you book a cruise. I know that I could go on another HAL cruise and have a very different and not so pleasant experience. And I also know the same could happen on any cruise line including the luxury lines. I agree that when we are spending big money, we want what we paid for. I am not a big cruiser and so far picked my cruises for itinerary only. I will say though, that if all things were equal, and I wanted a balcony, I would not choose HAL because they allow smoking on balconies. It is good we all have choices, but I am sorry your experience on HAL was not a good one. I hope all your future travels meet your expectations.

 

Thanks for all your contribute to the forums. You have been a great help to so many people on the forum planning their vacations, including me.

[jnc411]

We have not sailed with HA , so can not comment on that, but we have sailed Alaska with Princess twice, the last time was this Sept. after a Princess land tour , and it was just wonderful , we loved the land tour and we love the cruise also, it all depends on what is important to you and your party as to itinerary, and activities on the ship , etc. Good luck I hope it all works out well for you and have a wonderful trip.

Cori

[donswife]

The other difference is that Princess is out of Seattle and Holland out of Vancouver.

 

 

I am confused by this, both Princess and HAL have cruises out of both ports. We are thinking about an Alaska cruise next summer, and Westerdam got better reviews than Oosterdam.

[Putterdude]

I am confused by this, both Princess and HAL have cruises out of both ports. We are thinking about an Alaska cruise next summer, and Westerdam got better reviews than Oosterdam.

 

Sorry for the confusion, the earlier post was incorrect, both lines sail out of both ports. Princess traditionally has offered only 7 day, one way cruises out of Vancouver however this year the are offering a 7 day return out of Vancouver whereas Princess 7 day returns were only offered out of Seattle. HAL has for years offered 7 day return itineraries from both Seattle and Vancouver.

[rostbp]

of the itinerary. HAL is the only cruise line that I found offers the Yukon/Denali Land & Sea packages. (Wish Princess had the same). Itinerary is most important.

[travgurl]

Well we have chosen Holland for next July. Do a cruise tour if you can. I figure that if I am traveling that far, I might as well do and see as much as we can. We are doing a 12 day tour. We chose Holland because of the itinerary. We are going to a Holland presentation at our travel agency to get more information even though we are already booked. Looking forward to our trip and we will make our own judgment of the cruise line when we are done with the trip.

[Strawberry]

We have over 400 days on Princess but chose HAL for our next Alaska trip because HAL has a 7-day itinerary that stops at Sitka our favorite port. Princess doesn't stop there anymore.

[Daisyloo]

Princess

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Seattle -- 04:00 PM

2 At Sea -- --

3 Juneau 11:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 06:00 AM 08:15 PM

5 Glacier Bay 06:00 AM 03:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 07:00 AM 12:30 PM

7 Victoria 07:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle 07:00 AM --

 

Holland

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Vancouver -- 05:00 PM

2 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

3 Tracy Arm 10:00 AM 10:30 AM

3 Juneau 01:00 PM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 07:00 AM 09:00 PM

5 Glacier Bay 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 10:00 AM 06:00 PM

7 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

8 Vancouver 07:00 AM --

 

 

Thanks!

 

We have sailed several times on both Princess and HAL. We like them both and would not hesitate to sail either again.

For the 2 options you have mentioned, I would go with the HAL cruise. You have better time in port in Ketchikan. You could see both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm on the same cruise - most cruises you get one or the other. (We did Tracy Arm on the Zaandam - it was breathtaking.)

The Princess cruise has a short stay in Victoria, basically only there because of the need to hit a "foreign" port. Total waste of time. Also, the Vancouver sailing will be on the east side of Vancouver Island, so more scenic and most likely calmer waters.

The demographics on the ships will be similar with probably a slightly older crowd on HAL. But only slightly.

All in all, I would go with the HAL cruise.

Whatever you pick, enjoy. :)

[LEtue]

Princess

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Seattle -- 04:00 PM

2 At Sea -- --

3 Juneau 11:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 06:00 AM 08:15 PM

5 Glacier Bay 06:00 AM 03:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 07:00 AM 12:30 PM

7 Victoria 07:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle 07:00 AM --

 

Holland

Day Port of Call Arrival Departure

1 Vancouver -- 05:00 PM

2 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

3 Tracy Arm 10:00 AM 10:30 AM

3 Juneau 01:00 PM 10:00 PM

4 Skagway 07:00 AM 09:00 PM

5 Glacier Bay 07:00 AM 04:00 PM

6 Ketchikan 10:00 AM 06:00 PM

7 Cruise Inside Passage -- --

8 Vancouver 07:00 AM --

 

 

Thanks!

 

I have only sailed on HAL once and I wasn't impressed either. However, for the two itineraries you are considering I would definitely pick the RT itinerary from Vancouver. The experience just isn't the same when sailing from Seattle.

 

I try not to base anything on a sample of 1 so I give the nod to HAL here.....