Grand Princess or holland for 35 day Hawaii tahiti

[beachfanatic]

Curious about grand Princess shape. It is old. 

[Thrak]

35 minutes ago, beachfanatic said:

Curious about grand Princess shape. It is old. 

 

Yep. Grand Princess is old. It was built in 1998. At that time it was the largest cruise ship in the world. It had a major flaw in that Skywalker's (an aft nightclub venue with wonderful aft viewing) was built of too heavy materials. That venue was later removed as unstable although Skywalker's was still in place in subsequent builds  of Grand Class ships but with lighter materials and, for the most part, farther forward.

 

Grand Princess may indeed be old but we are booked for 32 days on that ship starting in (very) late October of this year and have zero reservations about our booking. Don't let the "age" of Grand Princess worry you if you are considering booking a voyage.

 

Edit: We have never sailed Holland America. In fact, we have only ever sailed with Princess. We have only cruised 16 times (all with Princess for only a total of 196 days at sea) but have loved all of our cruises with Princess.

 

As for your original question which seems to be "Princess vs Holland America" I have no "real" info regarding Holland America. I can only offer the original "apocryphal" advice I received when I first started cruising: Carnival is "board shorts", Princess is 'Dockers", and Holland America is "Depends".

 

This is obviously "apocryphal" information but I actually took it to heart when I originally heard it and it has worked out well for me. 🤪

Edited July 14, 2023 by Thrak

[cr8tiv1]

She also has:

 

Alfredos Pizza, a full promenade deck, and many other classic designs. 

(Also) a “secret” staircase/inside joke.

 

She is one of my favorite ships.  

[LouChamp]

Aloha. We have been blessed to sail both Princess and HAL numerous times. We took a Princess cruise from Hawaii to Tahiti and stayed post cruise in FP for some time.  Pleased with Princess. Have also taken long HAL voyages.  As you know they each have their own personalities and character. It is a tough call.  I think it comes down to the ship, cost, specific itinerary and then a good judgment call.  Keep us posted!

[cheezenip]

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Edited July 16, 2023 by cheezenip
wish to delete

[Mike07]

The Grand was the first cruise ship I ever stepped foot on. It's an older ship, sir, but it checks out.

 

For me, I'd go back to the Grand and definitely for some Alfredo's pizza.

[DougH]

I love the Grand. Have sailed her 11 times, the last time in June 2022 for a B2B Alaska. She is still in fine shape and I would sail her again in a heartbeat

[Hogladyrider]

Have not cruised with Princess but have cruised with HAL and Carnival.....we are HAL all the way.  Love the food and live entertainment.

[Grayce]

We were deciding between Princess and HAL for our Hawaian cruise next year.  It all came down to the itinerary.  HAL had a stop in Kona and an overnight in Honolulu.  We ended up going with HAL.  Before we booked, I did watch/read many reviews about HAL because we haven't sailed with them before.  

[PescadoAmarillo]

I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice. We are frequent Princess cruisers who also have about 75 days on HAL. I love HAL for the size of their ships, the tiny sofas in even their inside cabins and their food choices, but I also love their classical music entertainment. Princess has more activities, and with a lot of sea days, you might appreciate that. And, of course, the biggest Princess selling point in my mind:  self serve passenger laundries. 

[cr8tiv1]

Also, for the price you pay for Holland America, you can upgrade your cabin on Princess.  

[Rassa]

I last travelled HAL 20 years ago for a month, so I am not really qualified to add my opinion other than saying we stopped because of the age group and now we are in that age group!  We really like cruising with Princess and RCCL.   I have cruised on the Grand post covid and we have 2 coming up in the next few months.   She is just a little tired looking but we like her.   As the oldest in the fleet, Princess ships have been going to P&O Aust.   P&O have revitalised the entertaining areas and the old Star and Golden are looking good here in Australia, with different names.  We are just hoping when the Grand is eventually sold off, that it home ports for P&O Aust., in Melb, Australia.  

[cr8tiv1]

51 minutes ago, Rassa said:

I last travelled HAL 20 years ago for a month, so I am not really qualified to add my opinion other than saying we stopped because of the age group and now we are in that age group!  We really like cruising with Princess and RCCL.   I have cruised on the Grand post covid and we have 2 coming up in the next few months.   She is just a little tired looking but we like her.   As the oldest in the fleet, Princess ships have been going to P&O Aust.   P&O have revitalised the entertaining areas and the old Star and Golden are looking good here in Australia, with different names.  We are just hoping when the Grand is eventually sold off, that it home ports for P&O Aust., in Melb, Australia.  

 

Wash your mouth out.....you already have my beloved Golden (and a few other grand class ships).  I'm holding on to the Grand Princess with threads.  By far, the Golden was the best out of the Grand and the Caribbean.  

[Rassa]

14 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Wash your mouth out.....you already have my beloved Golden (and a few other grand class ships).  I'm holding on to the Grand Princess with threads.  By far, the Golden was the best out of the Grand and the Caribbean.  

Oh dear, we were on her in the last month and had a great time .... sorry to say.  I understand where you are coming from but I am trying to prise your hands off the Grand.  I am not the only Melbournian to want this and obviously not the only person to want the Grand.   I nevertheless, wish you well in keeping her.

[Grayce]

11 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

...And, of course, the biggest Princess selling point in my mind:  self serve passenger laundries. 

 

That is one of the things we are worried about on HAL 😄. We are used to being able to do our own laundry. 

[boone2]

We sailed on the grand from Vancouver to Auckland last October.  I had sailed on her previously  when she was brand new   I thought she looked great. I have sailed on HAL many times but only as crew so I don’t know the passenger experience so much, I prefer the Princess offerings 

[Thrak]

21 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

And, of course, the biggest Princess selling point in my mind:  self serve passenger laundries. 

 

To me this is an important point. I was appalled when I found that other cruise lines don't have any self service laundry facilities.

[PescadoAmarillo]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

To me this is an important point. I was appalled when I found that other cruise lines don't have any self service laundry facilities.

True, and this is the only reason we did our long cruises on Princess. I was willing to do hand laundry every single night on the Norwegian Spirit for 12 days, but 120 days of that would have gotten old. Some of the older HAL ships had them and I believe that Azamara might have kept them in their R-class ships (like the Pacific Princess), but they certainly don’t exist on most cruise ships.  

[that]

21 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

True, and this is the only reason we did our long cruises on Princess. I was willing to do hand laundry every single night on the Norwegian Spirit for 12 days, but 120 days of that would have gotten old. Some of the older HAL ships had them and I believe that Azamara might have kept them in their R-class ships (like the Pacific Princess), but they certainly don’t exist on most cruise ships.  

J,

when

where do you cruise next?  🤞🏻

[Cruise Junky]

Are you comparing Grand’s 32 day to Koningsdam 35 day?  If so, I find Koningsdam’s itinerary light years better than Princess. 

[Ken the cruiser]

If you don’t like to go to evening shows in the main theater featuring production as well as guest entertainers every night, you don’t like going to game shows every night, and enjoy listening to “canned” lectures given by the HAL combination cruise/excursion director, HAL would be the better choice. 
 

However, since we like going to shows every night in the theater, watching game shows, and listening to professional lecturers, we now choose PCL every time over HAL, even though we are 4 star mariners. But that’s just us.

[PescadoAmarillo]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

…and enjoy listening to “canned” lectures given by the HAL combination cruise/excursion director,

Yes, HAL does disappoint with their combination cruise director/destination specialist. And their cruise directors are pretty (very) sedate. It’s hard to fully grasp what an impact that has on a cruise until you experience it. But I love their musical entertainment options. 

[cr8tiv1]

On 7/16/2023 at 4:34 PM, Grayce said:

We were deciding between Princess and HAL for our Hawaian cruise next year.  It all came down to the itinerary.  HAL had a stop in Kona and an overnight in Honolulu.  We ended up going with HAL.  Before we booked, I did watch/read many reviews about HAL because we haven't sailed with them before.  

 

No one mentioned that Princess has Hawaiian Cultural Ambassadors on board.  This was a program developed by Cruise Director Dave Cole and ELUA (Tiki Dave and Leialoha).  Since then, Princess has hired a couple more ambassadors for each voyage.

 

They offer Hula and ukulele lessons.  They give the port talks (not buy these shore excursion sales from tour desk).  They have many Hawaiiana lectures (by naturalist).  It is a complete experience when doing a Hawaii voyage.

[Cruise Junky]

11 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

No one mentioned that Princess has Hawaiian Cultural Ambassadors on board.  This was a program developed by Cruise Director Dave Cole and ELUA (Tiki Dave and Leialoha).  Since then, Princess has hired a couple more ambassadors for each voyage.

 

They offer Hula and ukulele lessons.  They give the port talks (not buy these shore excursion sales from tour desk).  They have many Hawaiiana lectures (by naturalist).  It is a complete experience when doing a Hawaii voyage.

It has two stops in Hawaii   It’s a garbage itinerary. Princess is more about the sea days than the ports.  I’d rather see Hawaii than take a hula lesson.  

[Ken the cruiser]

35 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Yes, HAL does disappoint with their combination cruise director/destination specialist. And their cruise directors are pretty (very) sedate. It’s hard to fully grasp what an impact that has on a cruise until you experience it. But I love their musical entertainment options. 

Regarding the musical entertainment options with 2500+ pax onboard, how many can fit in any one of the Music Walk entertainment lounges?