Emerald Princess vs Hal Noordam

[i am canadian]

Hello all!

 

I am looking for some information on the differences between Princess and Holland America.

 

We have cruised Carnival and HAL in the past, and want to travel to the Southern Caribbean in Jan 2009.

 

We did not like Carnival (too busy, too much of a party atmosphere all the time and poor service) and loved HAL. We want to try a 10 day cruise this time. The price difference between Princess and Hal is approx. $1000. Enough to look into a possible switch.

 

We are a mid 30's couple traveling without our toddler and are looking for a ship with good service, good company and active things to do. We are not drinkers or gamblers. We understand that the pax difference is large (Emerald 3080 pax Noordam 1918 pax). We love HAL for the lack of line ups, organized tenders, embarkation and disembarkation.

 

Can anyone give us any insight to help in our decision?

 

Thanks,

 

Sarah

[messy]

We took our first Princess cruise this April - it was a 10 day cruise on the Emerald. Last year we did a 10 day on the Noordam.

 

We enjoyed the Emerald cruise a lot but found the ship to be too big. We liked the size of the Noordam better. It took us a few days to get the lay of the land on the Emerald and there were still places we hadn't discovered after 10 days on board.

 

We tend to be low key and like to find quiet spots. Both of these ships have plenty of quiet spaces. There were more activities on the Emerald but the Norrdam has a great library, a great spa and their buffet area is much better than that on the Emerald (my opinion). The Emerald has the Sanctuary which we loved and spa pool was excellent - never crowded and we met lots of people at that pool because it was more low key.

 

The age of the passengers is definitely older on the HAL ships but that doesn't make a difference to us.

 

Both ships are beautiful - with the exception of the size (and the buffet)differences we had about the same cruise experience on both.

[i am canadian]

Thanks Messy!

 

That's exactly what we were looking for. Hubby is quite claustrophobic and Carnival was too much for him. I think HAL would probably suit us better while we travel without our little one. When she is older, I can see us looking at different lines.

 

Thanks again,

 

Sarah