HAL or Princess for August Alaska Cruise

[fristtimer]

I am taklng my 11,10 anad 7 year old for an Alaska cruise next August. I ahve it narrowed down to HAL or Princess. Any thoughts? Also, if Princess, the new mega ships (Diamond/Saphire) or the Coral?

[flashdog_1]

Hal advertises that its cabins are larger than other lines. Are you going to use a standard cabin or a suite if size is of concern? If itinerary is not a concern, I'd think the cabin size would be important.

[jff50]

I have never been on HAL, but I get the impression that Princess is much more kid friendly. I have been on the Island, the Sapphire, and the Diamond. I think that they are all great, but prefer the Island/Coral.

[2ndsailing]

We cruised on Hal with our children to Alaska. There were a lot more families on that cruise than we thought. We thought HAL was great and our boys who were aged 14 and 11 at the time had a great time. They joined the Pal Hal group made lots of friends and enjoyed it very much Alaska was beautiful so I think you can't go wrong with either cruise line. We're cruises to the Carribean on Princess so I'll be able to compare better after that, but Hal was great.

[2ndsailing]

We cruised on Hal with our children to Alaska. There were a lot more families on that cruise than we thought. We thought HAL was great and our boys who were aged 14 and 11 at the time had a great time. They joined the Pal Hal group made lots of friends and enjoyed it very much Alaska was beautiful so I think you can't go wrong with either cruise line. We're cruises to the Carribean on Princess so I'll be able to compare better after that, but Hal was great.

[2ndsailing]

We cruised on Hal with our children to Alaska. There were a lot more families on that cruise than we thought. We thought HAL was great and our boys who were aged 14 and 11 at the time had a great time. They joined the Pal Hal group made lots of friends and enjoyed it very much Alaska was beautiful so I think you can't go wrong with either cruise line. We're cruises to the Carribean on Princess so I'll be able to compare better after that, but Hal was great.

[2ndsailing]

sorry for the repeat postings (3 times) my laptop went crazy....

[VA_gal]

I have this same question. I'm trying to decide between these exact two cruise lines. I hope no one takes offense, but I'm hoping to find a ship with a good turn out of families and nice activities. I don't want our first cruise to be on board with the majority of passengers seniors or singles. :o Can any other families comment on these two cruise lines. Anyone sail on the Princess Coral recently? We were looking at the AK cruise.

 

TIA!

[sallyern]

We just returned from a cruise to mexico on Sapphire, and just booked for August to alaska on diamond. Princess was just amazing with our kids - they loved every minute of it - even refused to go ashore one day because they wanted to stay in kids zone. And for parents, the food was great, pristine ship, with great entertainment and activities. We had my parents with us, and they had a great time. These ships are laid out so well, you never feel crowded (a couple times at the pool) but I wouldn't cruise anyone else right now. Hope to see you on the 26th out of Whittier on Diamond

[C&S]

We went on the Sun Princess for 2 weeks with our children (ages 7 & 11 at the time.) They had a fantastic time. There were less children in the kids program than on other lines, but they still loved it. The program was terrific and very educational. They did a shark study, dissected squid, park rangers presented a program ... it was great.

 

Our first HAL cruise will be next week, so I can make a better comparsion of the programs after that. However, since it's holiday week, I sure there will be more children.

[Arubalisa]

From my review of HAL's Zaandam:

 

"The oldest and the youngest child in the group [there were 4 kids ages 8 - 15] participated. In that this was a Christmas cruise there were a fair number of children aboard, but not an overwhelming amount as I thought there might be. There was no charge for the club, not even supplies.

 

The teen made tons of new friends and generally just ended up “hanging out.” Most night’s teen events (ages 13 – 17) ran 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. There was an organized “get together” for the teens, for some reason it seems they were held mostly at the Aft Pool or Sky Room. With the upcoming addition of the Oasis Lounge, of course this will be the new place for the teens to gather.

 

Our daughter picked and chose which Club HAL activities she wished to participate in. She enjoys arts & crafts and now has some nice souvenirs from her first cruise. I was not too thrilled the day she played “Toilet Tag” until I was let in on the details. This was a regular game of tag with a little bit of a different title.

 

Only disappointment in the Club was the day we were in Martinique. We had signed up our DD the day before as required. When my husband went to sign her into the club that morning, none of the Club HAL staff was there. “They” decided they felt like taking the day off, and we were “lucky” that one of the male entertainers “volunteered” to man the Club that day. My husband chatted with the gentleman long enough to determine he felt safe leaving DD at the Club. Our daughter happily played on the computer for a couple of hours, but obviously that was beside the point."