I have defected

[hop2it]

We've been on several Princess voyages and enjoyed them all, but suddenly and without forethought or malice, have booked a Holland America cruise because we preferred its New England/Canada itinerary.

I post here only to ask if other Princess people might have experienced Holland's so-called Lanai cabins, which have doors opening directly onto the promenade deck. Unlike Princess, these Holland ships (some at least) do not have balconies except for a few very costly suites.

Comments welcome and appreciated. (Yes, I've checked the Holland America threads, and opinions are divided, but largely from those who haven't enjoyed Princess balconies.)

[Kristal Blade]

We were given an upgrade to one of these cabins which opens onto the promenade deck.

We didn't like it, would have preferred an outside cabin with a window that promenaders did not walk past. The windows are opaque so you can see out, they can't see in, but it wasn't my favourite cabin location.

We have sailed Princess several times, HAL twice. My favourite cabin is a sunset cabin, right at the back of the ship. Princess have them both with and without balcony. The sunset balcony we had on Diamond Princess was magical.

 

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

We've been on several Princess voyages and enjoyed them all, but suddenly and without forethought or malice, have booked a Holland America cruise because we preferred its New England/Canada itinerary.

I post here only to ask if other Princess people might have experienced Holland's so-called Lanai cabins, which have doors opening directly onto the promenade deck. Unlike Princess, these Holland ships (some at least) do not have balconies except for a few very costly suites.

Comments welcome and appreciated. (Yes, I've checked the Holland America threads, and opinions are divided, but largely from those who haven't enjoyed Princess balconies.)

 

 

 

Enjoy the dark side defector.

[fishywood]

Do not feel bad about defecting. It was Princess' decision--not yours--several years ago to stop deploying ships on the Canada/New England sailings that would fit under the bridges to Montreal and now in the new 2018 schedule use only Royal and Regal thus severely limiting calls at Gaspe, Charlottetown, and Bar Harbor.

 

I sailed HAL Maasdam from Montreal to Ft Lauderdale three years ago and am now extremely hesitant to take a ship as large as Royal or Regal in that region, though Crown Princess' repo next year remains on the back burner. As for Maasdam I was in a non-lanai cabin in between two that were on Deck 6 and thought the location was perfect. I rarely observed anyone using their Lanai doors or sitting in their reserved deck chairs, though the weather was certainly the main factor. One caveat about that deck on Maasdam or Veendam: the section of cabins immediately forward of the aft elevators (366 to 387) are directly under the Galley for the dining room on Deck 7.

Edited December 11, 2016 by fishywood

[Homosassa]

The difference between a Princess Balcony and a HAL Lanai cabin is that your balcony is private. No one else will be on your balcony with you.

 

With a Lanai cabin (or any outside cabin on that deck), there will be noise from other passengers walking ( some running) and conversing outside your cabin any time of the day or night. There is also the noise of the crew as they move the deck chairs to clean the deck late and night and place the chairs at 5 AM in the morning.

[satxdiver]

The immediate thoughts I had when I first learned about this option on HAL was that those cabins are anything but private. With pax wandering outside your cabin at will sounds like a bad deal. On the issue of the darkened windows, turn lights on in your cabin and go outside particularly when there is low or no daylight and see just how "private" those windows really are. Think about how "wonderful" it would be to sit on your "balcony" and have pax passing by literally a few feet away. This does not appeal to me.

 

As for the "defecting" issue, you do realize the meal plan on a HAL. It is:

 

3:30 PM early dinning

5:30 PM late dinning

7:30 PM midnight buffet

8:30 PM lights out

:D:D:D

[DrivesLikeMario]

My only concern would be noise early in the morning from walkers using the deck outside the window. I'm sure it's quiet at night (being a HAL ship on a NE itinerary). I'm with you though - we go for the itinerary first, cruise line second. ;)

[riclop]

We've been on several Princess voyages and enjoyed them all, but suddenly and without forethought or malice, have booked a Holland America cruise because we preferred its New England/Canada itinerary.

I post here only to ask if other Princess people might have experienced Holland's so-called Lanai cabins, which have doors opening directly onto the promenade deck. Unlike Princess, these Holland ships (some at least) do not have balconies except for a few very costly suites.

Comments welcome and appreciated. (Yes, I've checked the Holland America threads, and opinions are divided, but largely from those who haven't enjoyed Princess balconies.)

 

I guess you will going to sleep at 8pm.

[diane.in.ny]

I can understand wanting to have some semblance of a balcony. I have sailed HAL a couple of times for exactly the same reason you mention: itinerary.

 

And I would not choose a lanai cabin. Besides all the reasons already mentioned, I understand from past cruisers that some pax don't realize those chairs are reserved for the cabin occupants. So you may need to ask people get off your chairs. :eek:

 

Plus if you want some fresh air and have your sliding door open, other pax can see in unless you close the curtains, but who wants to block the light during the day?

 

As for HAL in general, I think the ships are beautiful. The food is very good, I think a notch above Princess. But the average age is higher and the number of walkers, wheelchairs and scooters will also be higher.

 

That all said I wouldn't hesitate to book HAL if the itinerary is what I wanted. We took HAL to the North Cape and considering HAL for around South America.

[Coral]

I have sailed Canada NE 2x with Princess.

 

Both times, had a Princess mini suite. Both times, really did not use the balcony cabin. This is one itinerary that a window cabin would have been fine. I had dreams of seeing fall foliage from the balcony - this did not happen. By the time we ate dinner and the ship left, it was dark out.

[Lucky TGO]

Enjoy the dark side defector.

 

Good advice Keith :eek:

Tony

[lolane1]

I can understand wanting to have some semblance of a balcony. I have sailed HAL a couple of times for exactly the same reason you mention: itinerary.

 

And I would not choose a lanai cabin. Besides all the reasons already mentioned, I understand from past cruisers that some pax don't realize those chairs are reserved for the cabin occupants. So you may need to ask people get off your chairs. :eek:

 

Plus if you want some fresh air and have your sliding door open, other pax can see in unless you close the curtains, but who wants to block the light during the day?

 

As for HAL in general, I think the ships are beautiful. The food is very good, I think a notch above Princess. But the average age is higher and the number of walkers, wheelchairs and scooters will also be higher.

 

That all said I wouldn't hesitate to book HAL if the itinerary is what I wanted. We took HAL to the North Cape and considering HAL for around South America.

 

Exactly! I have sailed HAL twice to Canada. You definitely can see into the Lanai cabins at certain times. It is definitely not private and people do not see the little plaques that reserve those chairs for you (or choose to ignore)

 

I opted for a balcony on both sailings and would choose that again.

 

The smaller ships are lovely. But I have to say that the buffet was really sub par to Princess. The lunches in the dining room were great, but dinner came tepid most of the times and I cannot say that it was as good as Princess. That being said, I loved the itinerary and I never starved. :D

[OCruisers]

Mostly cruise on Princess but have no problem cruising on HAL at times.

It's fun to "Sleep Around"! :D

[Lucky TGO]

Mostly cruise on Princess but have no problem cruising on HAL at times.

 

 

It's fun to "Sleep Around"! :D

 

LuLu I'm SHOCKED hahahaha :D :D

Tony

[iceleven]

There are quite a few balconies on Regal and Royal that have absolutely no privacy and have to deal with noises from other guests just below. Those that overlook the abbreviated promenade and those just below the skywalk.

 

I would choose a HAL promenade cabin over any of those others especially if the itinerary is preferable.

 

BTW HAL is now not allowing smoking on the balconies so there may be a few switching back to HAL if the itineraries are better.

[cr8tiv1]

I've only sailed on Holland America once (and that was enough for me). I was "upgraded" to a midship "Lanai" stateroom. I thought it was great. Granted, it was only a 3 night repositioning cruise.

 

Every few cabins was a door to the Promenade deck.

 

I closed the curtains every night when the lights in the cabin came on.

 

I was not "bothered" by the Promenade walkers

 

Very convenient deck to be on.

 

If I were to ever book an HAL cruise again, I would have no hesitations booking this cabin.

[geoherb]

Our first HAL cruise was in a Promenade Deck cabin on the Maasdam before those cabins were converted into lanai cabins. It was a good location to interior activities but not a great view. I saw the lanai cabins on the Veendam and wouldn't pay extra to have one. Having people walking by would bother me more with a door than it did with a window.

[Knickearth]

as a 3 star loyalty member of HAL and an elite on Princess I can't speak about the lanai cabins as that is something started after I quit HAL.

 

We loved HAL for years then carnival took over and we noticed small changes constantly. Lots of cutbacks. We use to enjoy on at sea days the quantity of activities that enabled us to meet fellow passengers. We find they don't offer much in activities short of bingo (which we don't play).

 

We also found the food quality and diversity level to drop. They always served the type of meals you wanted to take pictures of and send home to make people jealous. That stopped.

 

My friend just got off the new Konigsdam on a TA and was bored silly.

 

I would be interested in your opinion of HAL. Which ship are you going on.

 

Also, the New england trips are my favorites. Nice to have a different type of port to visit. Don't forget to make a stop for lobster and clam chowder.

[Itolami]

While none of us have yet sailed Princess (my first Princess cruise is in May), I thought I'd chime in with a dissenting opinion about the Lanai cabins on HAL as there are so few of them.

 

My in-laws actually prefer (!) the Lanai cabins to regular balcony cabins and were disappointed to find out that they seem to be exclusive to HAL. They like the space and feel it is easier than on a balcony to rearrange chairs when you have guests over so you can look at each other during conversation. My mother-in-law also finds the space conducive to her knee problems as she would have problems maneuvering on narrow balconies.

 

Like a lot of people who have never stayed in a Lanai cabin I find the lack of privacy to be a huge disadvantage but if the in-laws have ever had trouble with peeping Toms or chair thieves, said trouble hasn't been frequent enough to deter them from booking the Lanai cabins.

 

I can't remember exactly when they started booking the Lanai cabins but it's been quite a few years ago now. They've booked them every time since that first.

[san diego sue]

We had a Lanai cabin on Holland. Only available on their smaller ships with low passenger count. I think there were 1200 on our ship.

Heard no noise in the morning from walkers. Loved the late afternoon sitting out with our other Lanai passengers. Made a lot of friends,

sipping our wine in our reserved chairs as fellow passengers walked by. This was a warm weather Mexico cruise.

Would I take one of these cabins again. Probably, because we got an incredible price (and much lower than their balcony cabins).If prices were close, would just do a balcony instead.

It was fun watching people walk by during the day. The sliding door

looked like a mirror and people were checking themselves out. had lots of laugh people watching from inside our cabin.

What I didn't like was the ship itself. Very old. Theatre was cabaret style and not comfortable. Food was okay.

[hop2it]

Many thanks for all the helpful and entertaining replies to my post. Our main concern with the lanai cabins is the potential for noise from people on the promenade. I suppose if anyone is too loud or bothersome, we could just open the doors and toss a bucket of ice on them.

[akeasley]

My mom and I had one of these rooms on the Maasdam in 2011, when these rooms had just been modified to lanai. We did a 7 day Canada/NE trip, specifically because HAL included Prince Edward Island in the 7 day, when Princess did not.

 

I think the doors are fairly soundproof because I don't remember any noise coming from the deck. It was odd seeing people walking around when the curtain was open, even though they (supposedly) couldn't see in your room. I think the only thing that bothered us was each room had 2 deck chairs reserved for them but often random people would just sit down in them. It made it awkward if you wanted to enter or exit through your balcony door.

[satxdiver]

Many thanks for all the helpful and entertaining replies to my post. Our main concern with the lanai cabins is the potential for noise from people on the promenade. I suppose if anyone is too loud or bothersome, we could just open the doors and toss a bucket of ice on them.

 

rofl

 

The one way windows work great as long as the non-tinted side is a darker environment. When the sun is beaming down her glory, the windows should work great. However at night with the moon beam for light and the cabin lights turned on, you can see through the window. If you have ever been around these windows, you should notice that the backside of the mirrored window is kept dark for a reason.

[BruceMuzz]

My colleagues at HAL gave me a quick education on Lanai Canins.

 

Great concept- but not such a great performance.

The exterior doors look great, but are quite difficult ( very heavy ) to open.

The cabin has less usable space, after sacrificing a window and some cabinets in order to install the exterior door.

Depending on the ship's speed and direction, wind tends to whistle through the frame of the exterior door. This door is located next to your bed, making it difficult to sleep.

When the decks are washed in the morning, water tends to leak into the cabin, through the frame at the bottom of the exterior door.

Exiting the cabin to the open deck is no problem. You just push the release button, located on the wall, next to the door.

Entering the cabin through the exterior door can be a problem. A separate magnetic key is required. If you forget it, you must go back inside the ship to use the interior door.

The exterior door key often gets demagnetized. If that happens, it is quite difficult to get a replacement that will work.

Due to ocean air, the outside magnetic card reader for the exterior door sometimes malfunctions. The ship' s engineers are not trained to fix this problem.

 

If you happen to be doing some scenic cruising, other passengers may stand in front of your windows and door, blocking your view.

The reserved signs for your lanai chairs are rather small. It often happens that other passengers, who do not realize that these are your chairs, may be using them.

 

Good luck.

[dchip]

I can't tell you about the lanai cabins but I can tell you this. We just cruised 48 days on The Amsterdam. It was the best cruise we have ever taken!

 

The food was amazing, the passengers, contrary to popular belief, were not ready for the rocking chair, the itinerary was fantastic. The shows were constantly changing with new entertainers boarding the ship at various ports.

 

We have 23 cruises on Princess but it was worth giving up every perk for this cruise.

 

Cheers, Denise