One woman's opinion of HAL and Princess

[106f]

mini suite comparison between Eurodam and Ruby goes to HAL. HAL suites are wide while Princess suites are long and narrow. Less window and less balcony width on Princess. Slight edge to HAL MDR for the culinary council menus. More interesting than Princess "comfort food". Overall not much difference. We cruise for the ports and don't care about daytime activities. Usually too tired for nightlife.

[CruiseMob]

We generally cruise Princess only on their 7-day West Coastal cruises which HAL does not offer. This one on the Crown had an overnight in San Francisco which is nice as well as stops at Catalina Island, Astoria, and Victoria

Thanks for the review. I've been watching the West Coast cruises on Princess for a couple of years now. I keep hoping HAL will offer them, but eventually I'm sure we'll end up booking Princess for one. Making this review really helpful! Thanks again!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Thanks for the review. I've been watching the West Coast cruises on Princess for a couple of years now. I keep hoping HAL will offer them, but eventually I'm sure we'll end up booking Princess for one. Making this review really helpful! Thanks again!

 

Glad I could help. Most of our West Coastal cruises were on the Sapphire Princess which has 500 passengers less. However, that ship has been moved to Asia. The Golden also has done this cruise. But as I mentioned the Crown was just too large for us. Princess does have nice itineraries for the 7-day west coastal. Hope you get a chance to do one sometime.

[3rdGenCunarder]

When we lived on the west coast we did several of coastal repositioning cruises on Princess as we loved the ports. Also did 10-14 day cruises with them.

 

Now we cruise HAL because of the design of the ships, the larger space ratio, itinerary and price. However, they have a lousy loyalty program compared to Princess. Perks that make it for me are free laundry, internet and discounts on spa treatments

 

(bold is mine) This was a big difference when we sailed on the Crown Princess. We met a couple from Australia who had been sailing Princess's smaller ships in that part of the world for several years. They were disappointed in the larger ship. Their feeling was that Princess kept ordering the same basic ship, but finding ways to cram more cabins into it without adding to public space.

 

We did not like Princess. Way too many announcements (Bingo in 15 minutes!!) and we never found any quiet deck space. Music playing (loudly) everywhere on deck. The only place to find peace and quiet outside was to sit on our balcony. In retrospect, I should have paid the surcharge to sit in the "sanctuary" or whatever they call the quiet area, but I resented having to pay for something that I can always find for free on other ships.

 

I liked the buffet on Princess because of the longer hours and the organized way they did the transition from breakfast to lunch.

 

At this point, we sail HAL and Cunard. I think the Crown was the last ship from any other line that we tried. We said we would do more river cruising, but HAL and Cunard keep sending me those enticing emails...