Caribean - Holland America or Princess

[JPH814]

I am considering a 10/11 day southern Caribbean cruise in January 2016. Debating between a Holland America (Oosterdam) or the Princess Royal Princess. Granted, this is a HAL board, but I would still like some opinions as to the relative strengths of HAL vs. Princess for this cruise.

[DaveOKC]

I am considering a 10/11 day southern Caribbean cruise in January 2016. Debating between a Holland America (Oosterdam) or the Princess Royal Princess. Granted, this is a HAL board, but I would still like some opinions as to the relative strengths of HAL vs. Princess for this cruise.

 

A bit off your question, but I wanted to point out that right now HAL is running an Anniversary sale (thru June 1) that doubles the on board credit (OBC) for booking if you take an 11 versus a 10 day. Usually the OBC difference is more than the fare cost difference of the longer cruise. Results of this varies by cabin category and it does not apply to Insides.

[sunsetbeachgal]

What are the various ports on each? Also, tell me more about you, age range and what is important to you on a cruise.

 

I happen to absolutely love the Royal and Regal Princess, they are gorgeous (large) ships with quite a lot to offer in the way of included dining options, entertainment, etc.

[JPH814]

Dave:

We are doing a HAL trip to Alaska in July. If we choose HAL for the Caribbean, we will buy the future cruise credit on board and then wait for the letter which I understand comes about 3 weeks after a cruise with a pretty good deal. I understand that is a good strategy. Comments?

 

Sunset:

Both are roundtrip Ft Lauderdale. HAL is 11 days with three sea days. It hits the little islands in a row (St Thomas, Kits, Maarten, Lucia, etc) Princess does a longer trip - St Thomas then down to Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba. Both have a day in a "private island". We are active 60 year olds. Not into the club aspects, but a classy experience is a plus for us. We like the old time cruising experience - even enjoy formal nights. (Although I understand the carribbean is not a place for formal nights)

[DaveOKC]

Dave:

We are doing a HAL trip to Alaska in July. If we choose HAL for the Caribbean, we will buy the future cruise credit on board and then wait for the letter which I understand comes about 3 weeks after a cruise with a pretty good deal. I understand that is a good strategy. Comments?

 

Its a good approach IMO and its what I always do. Except, I normally keep an extra one (you can buy more than one per person) on hand just in case - you have 4 years to use them and if you do not you get your money ($100) back anyway.

 

Of course, this Anniversary Sale will be over by then, but very often another one comes along or the prices drop as you pass final payment date (75 days prior to sailing as I recall).

 

If you are going to be sailing Holland or Princess (or Carnival or another of the group's lines), you might consider buying 100 shares of their stock as you earn good OBC each time you sail for having the stock. You only need 100 shares to cover the cabin, as the deal is limited to one per cabin.

Edited April 6, 2015 by DaveOKC

[rbp3072]

....If you are going to be sailing Holland or Princess (or Carnival or another of the group's lines), you might consider buying 100 shares of their stock as you earn good OBC each time you sail for having the stock. You only need 100 shares to cover the cabin, as the deal is limited to one per cabin.

 

This is good advice. I should have bought a year ago when it was in the low-thirties. Now that it's bouncing around ~47ish, I'm not comfortable doing so till my Roth is funded. TLDR - Don't try to time the market, it doesn't work in the long run, lol.

[kennicott]

I am considering a 10/11 day southern Caribbean cruise in January 2016. Debating between a Holland America (Oosterdam) or the Princess Royal Princess. Granted, this is a HAL board, but I would still like some opinions as to the relative strengths of HAL vs. Princess for this cruise.

 

During our second to last voyage on Princess, Royal in September, the Main Dining Room was still tolerable. Not anymore though. Perhaps we did notice the decline coming in our September cruise on the Royal and should have became more concerned that something was amiss in the MDR. Even then, it wasn't that bad, maybe we experienced a fluke on that voyage or cost cutting has since caught up with Princess, so during our January (2015) cruise on the Coral, we discovered that their product in the MDR is undesirable for us. We have never ran into a situation like this before even though the "hand writing was on the wall" that it was bound to come. In my opinion this results from understaffing of both service and kitchen personnel.

 

It might be slightly better if you want traditional seating, been there done that for years and dislike it for a variety of reasons, one of which is we hate being relegated to eating at either 5:30 PM or 7:45 PM., even if we secure a table for two. We usually try to get there by 6:30 using anytime dining.

 

In January, each time we tried to use the MDR we were told there was a 40 minute wait time. They gave us a pager, no problem, thus, on the three occasions we decided to carry on and eat in the MDR the wait was only 10-15 minutes. The problem trying to eat dinner in the MDR on the Coral this time was the lack of service and poor quality meals. For instance, years ago there used to be a sommelier to take your wine order immediately after being seated, this practice gave way to no sommelier--instead head waiters were given extra training in wine selection, then that gave way to what you experience now on Princess, wine only if you are lucky enough to get someone's attention and if so, forget about ordering a bottle to be carried over for the following evening, they will lose it for certain in the maze. After being seated in the MDR, you sit there waiting and watching a harried flurry of activity by the understaffed help, forging a sad and losing battle trying to keep up. My gosh, dressing up in a tux on formal nights and trying to dine in an atmosphere like that is a joke. Come on Princess and HAL, get out of the MDR business.

 

However, to continue on, in order to enjoy the voyage, instead of going to the MDR, we made do by booking dinner in one of the excellent specialty restaurants on board whenever we wanted to enjoy dinner, the specialty restaurants are super, make no mistake about that, even paying more it is worth it. If we do not want to go the extra pay route for dinner, we simply going up to the Horizon Court buffet, which was pretty good on the Coral, January, and crap on the Royal in September.

 

As for HAL, it has been one year since our last voyage with them, one lasting 32 days. I understand both lines, plus Seabourn and P & O Australia are of the same business model now. They have been amalgamated into the Holland America Group of Carnival Corp. under the leadership of Stein Kruse, previously the HAL CEO. Reason, to reduce competition between the twain. We are hard core Princess and HAL cruisers, we believe the cruise experience is pretty much the same on both today, food and otherwise, taking a nose dive.

 

I have a theory that there will be a drift completely away from providing MDR service on the major cruise lines in the future. Instead cruisers will experience more of and larger specialty extra charge venues and expanded no extra charge buffet area service. We only use Princess, HAL and Regent. Regent being an all inclusive voyage, but ironically, the food and service in the specialty restaurants on HAL and Princess are much better than those on Regent's which you can hardly ever get into anyway due no extra charge. However, the MDR on Regent is far superior to those on HAL and Princess.

[JPH814]

This is good advice. I should have bought a year ago when it was in the low-thirties. Now that it's bouncing around ~47ish, I'm not comfortable doing so till my Roth is funded. TLDR - Don't try to time the market, it doesn't work in the long run, lol.

 

I have had my carnival stock for about 5 years now. Bought it at 36 and have already collected on 4 cruises so that has been a nice, tax -free dividend.

[JPH814]

During our second to last voyage on Princess, Royal in September, the Main Dining Room was still tolerable. Not anymore though. Perhaps we did notice the decline coming in our September cruise on the Royal and should have became more concerned that something was amiss in the MDR. Even then, it wasn't that bad, maybe we experienced a fluke on that voyage or cost cutting has since caught up with Princess, so during our January (2015) cruise on the Coral, we discovered that their product in the MDR is undesirable for us. We have never ran into a situation like this before even though the "hand writing was on the wall" that it was bound to come. In my opinion this results from understaffing of both service and kitchen personnel.

 

It might be slightly better if you want traditional seating, been there done that for years and dislike it for a variety of reasons, one of which is we hate being relegated to eating at either 5:30 PM or 7:45 PM., even if we secure a table for two. We usually try to get there by 6:30 using anytime dining.

 

In January, each time we tried to use the MDR we were told there was a 40 minute wait time. They gave us a pager, no problem, thus, on the three occasions we decided to carry on and eat in the MDR the wait was only 10-15 minutes. The problem trying to eat dinner in the MDR on the Coral this time was the lack of service and poor quality meals. For instance, years ago there used to be a sommelier to take your wine order immediately after being seated, this practice gave way to no sommelier--instead head waiters were given extra training in wine selection, then that gave way to what you experience now on Princess, wine only if you are lucky enough to get someone's attention and if so, forget about ordering a bottle to be carried over for the following evening, they will lose it for certain in the maze. After being seated in the MDR, you sit there waiting and watching a harried flurry of activity by the understaffed help, forging a sad and losing battle trying to keep up. My gosh, dressing up in a tux on formal nights and trying to dine in an atmosphere like that is a joke. Come on Princess and HAL, get out of the MDR business.

 

However, to continue on, in order to enjoy the voyage, instead of going to the MDR, we made do by booking dinner in one of the excellent specialty restaurants on board whenever we wanted to enjoy dinner, the specialty restaurants are super, make no mistake about that, even paying more it is worth it. If we do not want to go the extra pay route for dinner, we simply going up to the Horizon Court buffet, which was pretty good on the Coral, January, and crap on the Royal in September.

 

As for HAL, it has been one year since our last voyage with them, one lasting 32 days. I understand both lines, plus Seabourn and P & O Australia are of the same business model now. They have been amalgamated into the Holland America Group of Carnival Corp. under the leadership of Stein Kruse, previously the HAL CEO. Reason, to reduce competition between the twain. We are hard core Princess and HAL cruisers, we believe the cruise experience is pretty much the same on both today, food and otherwise, taking a nose dive.

 

I have a theory that there will be a drift completely away from providing MDR service on the major cruise lines in the future. Instead cruisers will experience more of and larger specialty extra charge venues and expanded no extra charge buffet area service. We only use Princess, HAL and Regent. Regent being an all inclusive voyage, but ironically, the food and service in the specialty restaurants on HAL and Princess are much better than those on Regent's which you can hardly ever get into anyway due no extra charge. However, the MDR on Regent is far superior to those on HAL and Princess.

 

I am always cautious reading others opinions of food. I appreciate the comments for sure, but I also recognize people's standards can vary considerably.

 

We have cruised Seabourn, Cunard (Queen's Grill) and Uniworld (river) and the food was outstanding. We also have cruised on Carnival and thoroughly enjoyed the (admittedly different) experience. . I understand you need to adjust expectations. This trip we are expecting a certain middle ground.

 

We do not do buffets - no matter how good - except an occasional breakfast. It is good to hear about the specialty restaurants. Our experience on HAL Eurodam was that the MDR was a B- but the Pinnacle steakhouse was excellent.

[regnig]

We've done the 10/11 dayers on both Princess & HAL and IMHO I'd go with HAL. The HAL Vista class ships (Oosterdam is one) are an ideal size and never feel crowded. The balcony cabins on HAL are larger and are comparable to a mini-suite on Princess and will include a love seat. The beds are more comfortable, the bath towels larger, the free coffee MUCH better, the room service menu far more extensive including being able to order off the MDR dinner menu. We are Elite on Princess and when we took our 1st HAL cruise I wrote the following about our Westerdam (also a Vista class) cruise which you might find helpful.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1603771

 

Additionally, I have come to the conclusion that HAL onboard personnel are the BEST in the industry, "excellent, just excellent".

[JPH814]

We've done the 10/11 dayers on both Princess & HAL and IMHO I'd go with HAL. The HAL Vista class ships (Oosterdam is one) are an ideal size and never feel crowded. The balcony cabins on HAL are larger and are comparable to a mini-suite on Princess and will include a love seat. The beds are more comfortable, the bath towels larger, the free coffee MUCH better, the room service menu far more extensive including being able to order off the MDR dinner menu. We are Elite on Princess and when we took our 1st HAL cruise I wrote the following about our Westerdam (also a Vista class) cruise which you might find helpful.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1603771

 

Additionally, I have come to the conclusion that HAL onboard personnel are the BEST in the industry, "excellent, just excellent".

 

Larsen:

Thanks so much! Great food for thought

[regnig]

Joe, two final thoughts. We have done both the 10 day and 11 day cruises and love the 11 day itinerary. The only exception might be the stop in Martinique as that normally is on a Sunday and the place is pretty shut down. I do understand from talking to others that the ship does offer some interesting Tours but if you were planning on seeing much on foot not so much. Additionally the Daylight passing of Mount Pelee with narrative is quite a treat.

[jimmy2x]

Princess has a lot to offer, BUT those tiny balconies on Regal/Royal and the constant blaring of MUTS are a deal-killer for us.

[CowPrincess]

I encourage you to compare port times between the 2 cruises. I cancelled a HAL S. Carib cruise because the port times were, IMHO, too short. (I wasn't paying attention when I booked :rolleyes: :) )

[igraf]

MUTS = movie(s) under the stars

 

 

 

Princess has a lot to offer, BUT those tiny balconies on Regal/Royal and the constant blaring of MUTS are a deal-killer for us.

[jimmy2x]

MUTS = movie(s) under the stars

 

True - and if that was all it was, no problem. Unfortunately, it seems to run all day and is really loud. I am quite sure that many folks like it, but not for us.

[kennicott]

I am always cautious reading others opinions of food. I appreciate the comments for sure, but I also recognize people's standards can vary considerably. .

 

You know JPH 14, that is so true, food, service and every other aspect of a cruise experience is a matter of subjective opinion, we all know that, or at least should. Why ask then? Maybe I don't really agree with you, but so what?

 

My hunch is you already had your mind made up and merely wanted to float a question for the sake of argument. If not, so why do you ask for our opinion, which then offered by those who take time to respond to your question you then remind them all opinions differ? Take all opinion with "a grain of salt" correct? Questions like yours should also be taken with a "grain of salt" too. Since I do not see you sincere, but not condescending, I wonder why waste the time here. Sorry if I got you wrong and I bothered to respond.

[JPH814]

You know JPH 14, that is so true, food, service and every other aspect of a cruise experience is a matter of subjective opinion, we all know that, or at least should. Why ask then? Maybe I don't really agree with you, but so what?

 

My hunch is you already had your mind made up and merely wanted to float a question for the sake of argument. If not, so why do you ask for our opinion, which then offered by those who take time to respond to your question you then remind them all opinions differ? Take all opinion with "a grain of salt" correct? Questions like yours should also be taken with a "grain of salt" too. Since I do not see you sincere, but not condescending, I wonder why waste the time here. Sorry if I got you wrong and I bothered to respond.

 

I do appreciate and consider all opinions offered here. But I do make sure I take into account the readers perspectives. I want to hear a lot of opinions, and appreciate those with detail. Because the reasons for a writers opinion might not matter to me. For example, loving a cruise line because of the evening production show in the theater will have little impact on my selection.

 

I also will hold more highly the opinions of those who seem to have a history of posting both positive and negative reviews - some people seem to only post the negative.

 

And no, my mind was not made up when I started this process...but I am closer to making a decision now. If anything, I was leaning toward Princess, but now am leaning toward HAL. The review by Larsen has helped.