Initial Thoughts on Princess compared to HAL (for those who don't read the daily)

[atexsix]

Ship

-the Discovery is beautiful, everything is so new and shiny, very handsome ship overall

-but way too big for us, I never really felt like I got to know the ship the way I do HAL vessels, which are intuitive in finding your way around, whereas Discovery felt like a maze, particularly the much cited Ketchikan Dining Room, honestly I don't get why they continue to design Princess ships that way, I even mapped out a better design in my own head.

-the spa and gym so far apart were another misnomer, why not move the kids area to the spa like RCI, or is it NCL?  Course having the sanctuary in front rather than the back is what screwed it all up to begin with, but in any respect, I felt this could have been better designed.

-I didn't really like the atrium concept, the noise level was astounding on sea days; I think people would have been more spread out if it wasn't for my next point, so unless you wanted to freeze up on deck, the atrium was it.

-Hated the lack of a covered pool, which is a great hang out spot on HAL ships but were mostly deserted on Discovery; I will also never again criticize the Crow's Nest, we very much missed having a forward perspective on where we were going.

 

Crew

-definitely on par with HAL nice; the crew were very attentive and accommodating, I couldn't believe it because I had read other reviews that said otherwise, so this was a pleasant surprise with one disappointment.

-one day I needed extra blankets and I called guest services who in turn called our steward who was noticeably displeased that I had done that.  Medallion allows you to request pillows via the app, but not blankets.  He said I should always call housekeeping, which to me meant "cleaning".  So Princess wasn't clear on this.  Past HAL stewards wrote down their names and extension at the start of the cruise for memory impaired people like us.  I asked our steward if he had a card and he said no.  

-However, he later redeemed himself during a wardrobe malfunction and we needed safety pins to fix it, I called him (at the correct extension this time) and interrupted his dinner so he could swing by the laundry for some, I tipped him well for this.  

 

 

Food

-MDR, we ate here 4 times: 2 breakfasts which we quickly gave up on and 2 dinners, the service was excellent at our late 8pm dining time, and the food was quite good actually, the meat loaf I had on the last night was one of the best ever and I'm a major meatloaf snob. And Dad LOVED his turkey that he had to wait late in the cruise for, but the server gave him extra at my request, I tipped for it. MDR breakfast was just too crowded and noisy, not relaxing at all for the time of day. 

***I do want to add that there were no upsells, nobody hawking water...it was nice, in fact I didn't experience this anywhere on the ship, the only time it was really evident was on the RS menu. 

-Lido, I never thought the Lido would be my go to for quiet time, but compared to the atrium, it was like a library most of the day.  We had several breakfasts, lunches, and dinners from there.  The food was adequate, not great by any means, but not horrible.  Everything was hot.  Variety was good.  And they had fantastic hours (looking at you HAL); knowing we could eat almost anytime of the day between 5am and 11pm really helped us.  And overlap!  The idea of overlapping breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner is brilliant!

-Pizza, consistently good, but best at sea?  I wouldn't know because I've only been on two lines, but better than HAL and I ate there 3 or 4 times.

-Crown Grill, ate here twice, both via room service and the first time was fantastic, but not quite at the Pinnacle level; however the second time was awful, the filet mignon was full of grizzle and I needed a chainsaw to cut it.  

-the Salty Dog, one hamburger was all it took to ensure I'd never return.  Worse than HAL.

-Overall, everything was about on par with HAL these days

-We enjoyed cocktails throughout, they seemed a little on the weak side compared to HAL.

-We did not dine at Sabatini's or Bistro Sur La Mer.

 

Entertainment

-can't really comment on this because we're not stage show people, the only time we experienced entertainment was the guitar player who set up in the atrium and was excellent; and the piano/string combo who mostly played in the Crown Grill bar who were also fantastic, this lounge quickly became our favorite hang out.  

 

Room Service (ugh)

-this is where I had the most disappointments and not even close to HAL standards

-first of all, breakfast, to not even offer a pot of coffee to non-suite guests is ridiculous and I see no reason why other than to give suite guests something extra, yeah you can order from the International Café and hope it arrives (one day it didn't); but not worth the upcharges at that time of day.

-every room service order arrives with no condiments, no salt/pepper, no frills of any kind, not even a steak knife, really Princess?!  Dear Dad's tiny PB&J arrived looking ridiculously lonely on a huge plate.  I finally swiped a salt shaker from the Lido and hid it in the cabin so the steward wouldn't take it away.  Nor are there any ways to ask for these things because it's all automated via the app, I suppose you could call, but that would defeat the purpose of it.  

-the food itself was great if it was an upcharge item, but meh on everything else; by mid-cruise we stopped using RS except for drinks

-other random comments: the chicken soup was made with beef broth, go figure.  The desserts were good though and similar to HAL.

 

Medallion (lol)

-the worn medallion itself was wonderful, very efficient and we marveled over how the crew knew who we were anytime we were within spitting distance and how our door would unlock for us.

-the app however, was a joke.  My phone and eventually tablet would constantly freeze or go into spinning circles of death (on my iPhone it was still spinning while sitting in my living room upon returning home and I cracked up).  At least with Android there's a way to kill the app and start over.  But with Apple products you are forced to reboot the phone and after 3 or 4 times of this I grew tired of it and gave up on the app altogether.  I never did see our final bill, guess I'm going to have to call if there are any problems.  

-Navigator has issues too, but nothing like Medallion, at least it works throughout the cruise.

-Another problem was scheduling, venues would be wrong or the times and I wasn't the only one, I heard a couple complaints including one of the violinist's herself when nobody bothered to tell her of a last minute change right before she was supposed to perform, she was understandably unhappy.

-At least they printed out copies of the daily and brought them into the room the night before since the app was useless, maybe they knew this. 

 

I think I will stop here, but to summarize, would I return for another Princess cruise?  Probably, but I'd pay much closer attention to the particular ship, the layout, and size.  But as suspected, it'll never replace HAL and from time to time we'd see one of the BHB's next to us in port and wish we were there, a similarly titled thread appeared in this very forum about a week before we left and now I know why, although I was mystified at the time on what could be so bad you'd wish to be on a neighboring ship.  It's not that it was bad, it just isn't HAL.

 

P.S.  I stand corrected on pier runners, can you believe we had some in Skagway?  And the Captain himself encouraged everybody on the Starboard side to "welcome them back". LOL.  We were aft so we couldn't witness it. 

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by atexsix

[Florida_gal_50]

I was wondering how your cruise went.  Thanks for the write up.

[luvteaching]

HI Bruno, 

 

I was waiting for you to check in from your Princess cruise. I agree with you on a couple of items. I find the Princess ships to be so much bigger and harder to find my way around on as well. I don't mind the atrium but it's definitely not a quiet spot. 

 

On our last cruise (Pre-covid) we didn't eat in the MDR other than embarkation lunch and that was because we had guests with us doing the Bon Voyage experience. We used the buffet every day. It was ok and we never really saw anything we wanted on the MDR menus. 

 

We do Princess every couple of years simply because DH wants to go to Skagway and ride the train. We do one week on Princess and then get off, walk across the pier, and get on HAL to have another trip! 

Did you get some good book suggestions? How were the ports?  

How is DD doing? DH is ok here and we're planning on HAL July 10th if all goes well. 

Karen

[rkacruiser]

Thanks for your comments.  The Royal Class ships are so large that one cannot explore and use the all of the facilities during a 7 day cruise.  

[ski ww]

Thanks for posting, interesting.

[clueless2]

As someone who will cruise either line (plus Celebrity) based on itinerary, timing and price I agree with all your comments.  The only thing I would add is that Holland America has better ice cream. lol

[cruisingrob21]

Agree with everything you said.  After sailing on 3 royal class ships as my last 3 cruises, I think I may be done with those Princess ships.  I'll sail on some of the smaller ones or on HAL.

 

There are really no climate controlled viewing areas on upper decks on the Royal class (sans the Majestic), other than the lido.  Since I don't use the elevator, the hoofing from main public areas to the upper level public areas is quite a trek.  The biggest recent dissapointment for me is how Princess is now piping in top 40 music into pretty much all public areas, at all times of the day (except for perhaps the lido area where its typically loud anyways).  My last HAL trips on the Eurodam and Amsterdam were nice in that I could always find a quiet place to read (tamarind bar during the day is a favorite).  Princess used to play some more instrumental music that was at least pleasant, if unremarkable.

 

I also continue to appreciate the minimal passenger interaction in the buffet on HAL - especially in this age of covid/noro - I'd rather have a crew member serve my plate rather than share utensils with 3600 people (I'm exaggerating of course).

 

One thing Princess has stepped up are some of its interactive games and shows - the Deal or No Deal show was pretty fun even if you weren't participating with the card from the casino to "play along" and some of the other less prop heavy contests and games were very enjoyable.

 

The next class of princess ships will be 4k passengers - pass.

[atexsix]

On 5/31/2022 at 11:58 AM, luvteaching said:

HI Bruno, 

 

I was waiting for you to check in from your Princess cruise. I agree with you on a couple of items. I find the Princess ships to be so much bigger and harder to find my way around on as well. I don't mind the atrium but it's definitely not a quiet spot. 

 

On our last cruise (Pre-covid) we didn't eat in the MDR other than embarkation lunch and that was because we had guests with us doing the Bon Voyage experience. We used the buffet every day. It was ok and we never really saw anything we wanted on the MDR menus. 

 

We do Princess every couple of years simply because DH wants to go to Skagway and ride the train. We do one week on Princess and then get off, walk across the pier, and get on HAL to have another trip! 

Did you get some good book suggestions? How were the ports?  

How is DD doing? DH is ok here and we're planning on HAL July 10th if all goes well. 

Karen

I was so busy before the cruise I never did get to check back on my book post.  We only left the ship in Skagway for the train and that was lovely, they were so accommodating and we got to go directly to the special car so DD could be lifted into it.

 

I'm glad you've got another cruise booked.  

 

Sadly, we think this is our last cruise together, DD just can't do it anymore even with my constant assistance which is hard on me too, in fact I'd describe this sailing as an emotional rollercoaster, every day/hour it seemed there was some new symptom or issue to deal with, I couldn't think straight, let alone enjoy the cruise.  I kept all of that out of my comparison of course because it has nothing to do with the ship or cruise line, although the ship staff helped when they could, mainly while embarking, but they couldn't do much about the problems we encountered in the stateroom, the beds in particular were a disaster because DD didn't have the strength to move around on them (go from lying to sitting up).  Thank God for Princess firmness, it would have been much worse with HAL's pillow tops.  The bathrooms were too small of course to take care of obvious business, I had to stand and assist in the closet area.  But I digress.

 

I'm going to do a separate review from a disability perspective and place it in that forum, not to discourage people from cruising, but to bring to light the countless things that aren't thought of.  

[atexsix]

1 hour ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Agree with everything you said.  After sailing on 3 royal class ships as my last 3 cruises, I think I may be done with those Princess ships.  I'll sail on some of the smaller ones or on HAL.

 

There are really no climate controlled viewing areas on upper decks on the Royal class (sans the Majestic), other than the lido.  Since I don't use the elevator, the hoofing from main public areas to the upper level public areas is quite a trek.  The biggest recent dissapointment for me is how Princess is now piping in top 40 music into pretty much all public areas, at all times of the day (except for perhaps the lido area where its typically loud anyways).  My last HAL trips on the Eurodam and Amsterdam were nice in that I could always find a quiet place to read (tamarind bar during the day is a favorite).  Princess used to play some more instrumental music that was at least pleasant, if unremarkable.

 

I also continue to appreciate the minimal passenger interaction in the buffet on HAL - especially in this age of covid/noro - I'd rather have a crew member serve my plate rather than share utensils with 3600 people (I'm exaggerating of course).

 

One thing Princess has stepped up are some of its interactive games and shows - the Deal or No Deal show was pretty fun even if you weren't participating with the card from the casino to "play along" and some of the other less prop heavy contests and games were very enjoyable.

 

The next class of princess ships will be 4k passengers - pass.

I think the Silver Ruse is doing 14 day cruises out of Seattle this summer and I tried to talk DD into it because having a smaller ship would be so much easier on us, but he always gravitates to the larger vessels.  

 

Agree on the trek from the atrium to the lido, we only had to do that a couple of times but it took awhile waiting for elevators, stairs were out of the question.  

 

It didn't bother me that the Lido was self serve, however, I did miss the interaction with the cooks/chefs the way you have on HAL.  

 

I didn't think the piped in music was especially horrible, but I could have done without it, since when did cruise lines decide our private reverie while pondering the ocean needed to be accompanied by top 40?  

[cruisingrob21]

48 minutes ago, atexsix said:

I didn't think the piped in music was especially horrible, but I could have done without it, since when did cruise lines decide our private reverie while pondering the ocean needed to be accompanied by top 40?  

I found it worse on aft deck outside the lido where I ate almost all my meals.  It reminded me of the music piped into just about every vegas casino.  As I was trying to take a few work calls, the background sound made it pretty bad.  Unfortunately my cabin was kind of a dead spot for wifi so while the calls worked great in the area aft of the lido, it was too loud to stay focused.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing..

[atexsix]

21 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I found it worse on aft deck outside the lido where I ate almost all my meals.  It reminded me of the music piped into just about every vegas casino.  As I was trying to take a few work calls, the background sound made it pretty bad.  Unfortunately my cabin was kind of a dead spot for wifi so while the calls worked great in the area aft of the lido, it was too loud to stay focused.

I forgot to mention above that I could barely hear it if my hearing aids weren't in, I took them out several times because I couldn't handle the atrium at full volume, it was like a shopping mall food court.  Maybe I live too quiet a life nowadays to handle so much commotion.

[mustgo]

We also just returned from a Eurodam cruise out of Seattle followed by a Princess Discovery cruise.  I agree with most of what was written.  I did think the food was better on Holland but the main stage entertainment much better on Princess.  We missed having assigned dining for dinner on Princess.  We requested sharing, sometimes we got table mates, sometimes we did not.  We were probably too old for most on Princess to want to share.  The International Cafe on Princess was a gorgeous area as was the rest of the ship.  However, we only went for coffee and left as we prefer quieter areas.  Our Eurodam cabin showed its age but having a Crow's nest more than made up for that.

[willoL]

1 hour ago, atexsix said:

I'm going to do a separate review from a disability perspective and place it in that forum, not to discourage people from cruising, but to bring to light the countless things that aren't thought of.  

I will look for your post @atexsix. I find it so helpful when people describe specifics about access. My own limitations are minor (thank God) and sometimes variable (autoimmune disease that flares and remits), but there are details I've learned really make my life easier.

 

Thanks for posting. 🙂

[atexsix]

1 hour ago, mustgo said:

We also just returned from a Eurodam cruise out of Seattle followed by a Princess Discovery cruise.  I agree with most of what was written.  I did think the food was better on Holland but the main stage entertainment much better on Princess.  We missed having assigned dining for dinner on Princess.  We requested sharing, sometimes we got table mates, sometimes we did not.  We were probably too old for most on Princess to want to share.  The International Cafe on Princess was a gorgeous area as was the rest of the ship.  However, we only went for coffee and left as we prefer quieter areas.  Our Eurodam cabin showed its age but having a Crow's nest more than made up for that.

I agree the IC was a great venue, especially early in the morning when the atrium was empty.  I also thought the desserts were better down there than what was offered in the Lido.  I think they baked their cookies about 3 months ago and could have been used as clay pigeons. 

[Florida_gal_50]

3 hours ago, atexsix said:

I was so busy before the cruise I never did get to check back on my book post.  We only left the ship in Skagway for the train and that was lovely, they were so accommodating and we got to go directly to the special car so DD could be lifted into it.

 

I'm glad you've got another cruise booked.  

 

Sadly, we think this is our last cruise together, DD just can't do it anymore even with my constant assistance which is hard on me too, in fact I'd describe this sailing as an emotional rollercoaster, every day/hour it seemed there was some new symptom or issue to deal with, I couldn't think straight, let alone enjoy the cruise.  I kept all of that out of my comparison of course because it has nothing to do with the ship or cruise line, although the ship staff helped when they could, mainly while embarking, but they couldn't do much about the problems we encountered in the stateroom, the beds in particular were a disaster because DD didn't have the strength to move around on them (go from lying to sitting up).  Thank God for Princess firmness, it would have been much worse with HAL's pillow tops.  The bathrooms were too small of course to take care of obvious business, I had to stand and assist in the closet area.  But I digress.

 

I'm going to do a separate review from a disability perspective and place it in that forum, not to discourage people from cruising, but to bring to light the countless things that aren't thought of.  

I’m so sorry to hear that.  

[cruisingrob21]

I do wish that HAL would somehow bring the Grand Dutch Cafe to the vista and signature class ships.  Also would enjoy them "upgrading" New York Pizza on the signature ships to the same setup as on the pinnacle class ships with a nice selection of breakfast sandwiches.

[atexsix]

3 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I do wish that HAL would somehow bring the Grand Dutch Cafe to the vista and signature class ships.  Also would enjoy them "upgrading" New York Pizza on the signature ships to the same setup as on the pinnacle class ships with a nice selection of breakfast sandwiches.

Agree.  The cafe in the Crow's Nest can handle the addition of it in a limited way IMO; they already have the coffee setup, all they need to add is a couple of dessert carts and their set.  The Eurodam used to do just fine having plates of pastries near the order counter.  I think it's just HAL being chintzy. 

[cruisingrob21]

9 minutes ago, atexsix said:

Agree.  The cafe in the Crow's Nest can handle the addition of it in a limited way IMO; they already have the coffee setup, all they need to add is a couple of dessert carts and their set.  The Eurodam used to do just fine having plates of pastries near the order counter.  I think it's just HAL being chintzy. 

I think some of the appeal of the IC on Princess ships is that it offers those closer to the "evening" decks an alternative for a casual snack rather than going topside.  If I was HAL, I would consider placing it where one of the bars are in the atrium on the Edam.  There are 3 bars (Ocean, Pinnacle Grill, and Atrium) and I rarely see all three busy simultaneously and this would have some brand consistency with where it is located on the Pinnacle ships.  Althought, I'm not sure if the Atrium bar is still there?  I haven't been on the Edam for a few years but will sail on her next month.

 

When Princess put the IC's in on their ships, it really "activated" the atriums along with some of the "Street performer" acts they include.  It changed the atriums from being merely pass through locations with shops to a place where chair hogs would be attracted indoors 🙂 I joke, but it definitely pulled more people into the atrium and made it an all day venue rather than one thats used before and after dinner primarily. 

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by cruisingrob21

[atexsix]

4 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I think some of the appeal of the IC on Princess ships is that it offers those closer to the "evening" decks an alternative for a casual snack rather than going topside.  If I was HAL, I would consider placing it where one of the bars are in the atrium on the Edam.  There are 3 bars (Ocean, Pinnacle Grill, and Atrium) and I rarely see all three busy simultaneously and this would have some brand consistency with where it is located on the Pinnacle ships.  Althought, I'm not sure if the Atrium bar is still there?  I haven't been on the Edam for a few years but will sail on her next month.

 

When Princess put the IC's in on their ships, it really "activated" the atriums along with some of the "Street performer" acts they include.  It changed the atriums from being merely pass through locations with shops to a place where chair hogs would be attracted indoors 🙂 I joke, but it definitely pulled more people into the atrium and made it an all day venue rather than one thats used before and after dinner primarily. 

 

The atrium bar was long gone when I was last on Eurodam, the atrium stairways were gone too, not sure why those had to go unless they intentionally wanted to avoid creating a similar Princess like space.  The Ocean Bar can easily be expanded to include something like the Dutch Cafe, in fact it's a great idea because it's always dead in there outside of happy hour. 

[cruisingrob21]

14 minutes ago, atexsix said:

 it's always dead in there outside of happy hour. 

Agreed.  The atrium on the vista class ships is typically pretty quiet other than during HH or evenings.  Maybe thats okay - its not a huge space.  Another spot to place it could be the Art Gallery just aft of the Pinnacle Grill Bar - I liked what HAL did converting the night club into the Gallery Bar and thought they moved all the artwork into that space with all the table games, but I guess the art area lives on?

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, atexsix said:

Sadly, we think this is our last cruise together, DD just can't do it anymore even with my constant assistance which is hard on me too, in fact I'd describe this sailing as an emotional rollercoaster, every day/hour it seemed there was some new symptom or issue to deal with, I couldn't think straight, let alone enjoy the cruise. 

 

I sincerely regret reading this.  The time comes......  😢

 

The Atrium Bar, when it existed, was another concept that was ill-conceived.  On any ship on which I sailed that I had, it either had no patronage or was closed.  

 

Maybe someone in management recognized that patronage and, I am sure the $$, that the Atrium bars on Carnival and Princess ships generated.  Why can't this be replicated on a HAL ship?  Well, there's a world of difference in the ambiance in the three Atrium bar areas!  HAL spent money on building something that never worked and had to spend more money to tear that area out and create something "new".  

[RuthC]

5 hours ago, atexsix said:

I'm going to do a separate review from a disability perspective and place it in that forum, not to discourage people from cruising, but to bring to light the countless things that aren't thought of.

Great! It would be a welcome review. 

When you do post it, will you please post a link on the HAL forum, either as a new thread, or a new post in this thread so we will know to go there? I don't normally read in the Disabled Forum. 

Thanks. 

[atexsix]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I sincerely regret reading this.  The time comes......  😢

 

The Atrium Bar, when it existed, was another concept that was ill-conceived.  On any ship on which I sailed that I had, it either had no patronage or was closed.  

 

Maybe someone in management recognized that patronage and, I am sure the $$, that the Atrium bars on Carnival and Princess ships generated.  Why can't this be replicated on a HAL ship?  Well, there's a world of difference in the ambiance in the three Atrium bar areas!  HAL spent money on building something that never worked and had to spend more money to tear that area out and create something "new".  

Years ago on the Oosterdam, the Atrium Bar hosted the LGBQ and the Friends of Bill W at the same day/time; talk about confusion!  

 

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

Great! It would be a welcome review. 

When you do post it, will you please post a link on the HAL forum, either as a new thread, or a new post in this thread so we will know to go there? I don't normally read in the Disabled Forum. 

Thanks. 

Will definitely let you know.   It's in the works, but I'm typing it out in Word first.  

[maryandmarge]

Hi Bruno -

It was nice to be able to read your comparison of Holland to Princess as we've never cruised on Princess.    It seems you were able to enjoy this cruise more than last September when we were sailing on N. Amsterdam with you.    I understand the health issues we have to deal with as we age.  Normally when we cruise my sister and I would look for the longest excursion that would give us the most to see in the ports that we have never been to.   Since she had back surgery the end of April and is getting all her strength back - we have decided to go thru possible excursions and maybe not pick the all day ventures.  We don't snorkel or do the water excursions.  We like to see the local country sides.   We'll know in the next couple of weeks what we think we can do and can get those booked for our 17 day San Diego thru Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale in October on the N. Amsterdam.   I hope someday your options will allow you to plan more cruises and that we are lucky enough to be able to be on the same ship as you.    Stay healthy!

Maryell