Princess loyalists try HAL

My wife and I have had more than 30 cruises on Princess, making us "Elite," and our recent cruise on the Westerdam was our first on HAL. I'll give you some of my thoughts on how the two lines compare, within this limit: We've cruised all classes of Princess ships, but mostly on the Grand class, which forms the backbone of the Princess fleet. We love these ships because they're big enough to provide all the services we want without being obnoxious in size or revenue-generating mania (that would be the Royal, but that's a sad topic for another day). The Westy, built in 2004, is of about the same vintage as many of the Grand ships, so I feel these comparisons to Grand-class ships are valid. But this cruise was our only one so far on HAL, so keep that in mind.

Boarding: We joined the Westy in Seattle for a seven-day cruise to Alaska. Let's face it, the boarding process is always a bit of a pain. But this was as smooth as any we've experienced on Princess. Seems to me that the cruise industry has done about all it can in this area, and has brought a reasonably high degree of order to a situation that could easily devolve into chaos. Boarding the Westy was indistinguishable from boarding a Princess ship. This category is a wash.

First impression: The Westy is a fine ship, beautifully maintained and spotlessly clean at all times. We've come to expect this on Princess and have never been disappointed. This category is another wash, I'm pleased to say.

Stateroom: We had a "signature suite" on the Westy, about equivalent to a "mini-suite" on Princess. It was roomy enough, yet it seemed somewhat smaller than the Princess minis. The Princess minis have two TVs, one facing the sleeping area and one facing the lounging area. Our signature suite had one TV, placed on a desk at a right angle to the bed, so we had to lie on our right sides to watch it. It could be swiveled to face the couch, but forget about watching TV in bed. The bathroom on Westy was spacious, with a tub and stall shower. The balcony (excuse me, "verandah" in cruisespeak) had plenty of room with really nice furniture. This included two lounge chairs with ottomans and a table with two upright chairs. Very nice. This Alaska cruise was a bit on the cold side, so we didn't get as much use out of the balcony as we would have liked, but that's hardly the ship's fault. Lots of closet and drawer space. Bed was firm and comfy (DW and I prefer a firm mattress, so keep that in mind). No real complaints about the accommodations but, because of the bizarre placement of the single TV on Westy, a small advantage to Princess -- except for the balcony, which HAL wins. NOTE: HAL permits smoking on balconies; Princess does not. I'm not going to get into the endless debate about that. I'm just reporting.

Stateroom service: In all our years of cruising on Princess, we've never, and I mean never, had a bad cabin steward. They always provide great service with a smile. And I'm happy to report that our first HAL cruise was the same. We had two stewards, Adam and Zam, and these hardworking guys were terrific. I truly hope HAL is reading this. Princess vs. HAL on cabin service is another wash, but a good one.

Muster drill: A major problem area for HAL. Everyone on board gathered on the Promenade Deck beneath their assigned lifeboats, and a crewmember had to take roll call orally by calling out cabin numbers. This took a good 20 minutes, during which everyone had to stand in one place; no chairs available. This is a real problem for a lot of people including me. I have a bad back and can't stand in one place for long, so I had to sit down on the deck. One elderly couple, apparently hard of hearing, didn't know when their cabin number was called and were nearly marked as not attending the drill, which can result in being ejected from the ship. This system is just plain bad as compared to Priness' system, in which passengers report to a muster station such as a lounge or the casino and merely have their cruise cards scanned to prove attendance. No muss, no fuss, no standing around. In addition, on Princess everyone brings their life jackets to the drill and must practice putting them on, which is good. On HAL life jackets are left in the cabins, so, if there's a real emergency, no one will have practiced putting them on. HAL needs to join the 21st century on this. Big advantage, Princess.

Norovirus protection: In the Westy's Lido Restaurant (Horizon Court on Princess) no passenger handles a buffet-line utensil for the first 48 hours, presumably because norovirus will have reared its ugly head during that time. After the first two days, it's self-service as usual. Last time we sailed on Princess, maybe six months ago, everyone was handling those big spoons and tongs right from the get-go. HAL clearly has the right idea here. but I wonder if they shouldn't just keep the no-self-serve policy throughout the cruise -- someone could pick up the virus during a shore excursion, couldn't they? Still, norovirus is a real PR problem for the cruise industry, and HAL is certainly more pro-active in this area. Again, this assumes that Princess has not changed its policy in the last half-year, but I've no reason to think this has happened. Major advantage, HAL.

Food: Yes, yes, I know. It's subjective. True. Still, comparisons can be made. In general, the quality of HAL's offerings is pretty much on a par with Princess'. But HAL's buffet line is bigger and has more variety than Princess' Grand Class. (Royal Princess' Horizon Court is a big improvement over the Horizon Court of the Grand Class. That's the only thing I liked about the Royal. My wife, by the way, didn't care for the Royal's Horizon Court, so there you go). Lido Restaurant's coffee seems better than Horizon Court's. I ordered cappuccino every night in the MDR, so I don't know about the ordinary coffee there. But Princess serves its cappuccino in a cup that's bigger than a regular coffee cup, while HAL's cappuccino comes in a regular cup. There's an extra charge for cappuccino in both venues, and considering there's a charge for it, Princess wins on this one. If memory serves, Princess' MDR menu had more variety, too. We went to Westy's Le Cirque one night -- that's the French-themed restaurant that's set up once per cruise in what's normally the extra-charge steak house, equivalent to Crown Grill on Princess. I had a chateaubriand to die for, as good as anything I've ever had on any ship. Love Crown Grill, too, though. You win some, you lose some when it comes to food on a cruise. Once again, El Washo.

Entertainment: A couple of really excellent shows on Westy with terrific background effects. One show (I can't remember the title, unfortunately) featured a singer with an absolutely killer voice. She sang the theme from "Skyfall." Holy cow, what a show-stopper. Just so you'll know her on sight if you see her, she's a tall, short-haired blonde named Brooke. They never give last names. As a guy who couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle, I can tell you this girl has the real juice. The other show I liked featured three (I think it was three) wild and crazy drummers in an act that was half-music, half-cardiopulmonary workout. Everyone in the audience received drumsticks, and we beat them together in time to the music. Try to imagine that racket. What fun. On the downside, the music in the main showroom on many nights was often so loud it was painful. We've had this complaint on Princess, too, and I don't know why ships insist on doing this. Also, the shows on Westy had canned music, not a live band. I can only believe this is a money-saving thing. Sad, sad, sad, but I think this is spreading in the industry. Overall for this category, on the basis of these two shows, I have to say advantage HAL.

Ship design: Interior design is a major departure from Princess. On Princess ships (all classes) there's a large central atrium that serves as the ship's focal point. It's a place to sit, schmooze, people-watch, plan your day and even see some entertainment acts. You can get coffee and food away from the bustle of the buffet. Don't know about other HAL ships, but Westy doesn't have this. It does have something it calls an atrium, but it's far smaller and doesn't have a feel of being the heart of the ship, as on Princess. There are few places to just sit without being in a bar. I like the Princess design, though that could be because I'm just used to it. HAL devotees might say the HAL design is more intimate, and maybe you can make a fair case for this. One more thing: Princess ships have self-serve laundries on all decks; on Westy, no. Again, it's subjective, but advantage Princess.

Demographics: Conventional wisdom says HAL is for old people. Boy, was that ever not the case on this cruise. People of all ages, and lots of kids (school's out, I guess), and a lot of these kids were out of control. The screaming and yelling in the pool area got to be unbearable at times. Why can't parents exercise some control over their offspring? Princess has a "Youth Patrol" program on some ships to try to corral this problem, but I don't have a reading on the success of that, or lack of same. Royal Caribbean, Disney and Carnival, with all their kid-oriented facilities, would seem to be a better fit for families with young kids. A wash.

Would we sail on HAL again? Certainly, though we're still partial to Princess because of its loyalty program and some other factors. Hope I haven't bored you to death with my long-winded tome. Take it for what it's worth, if anything.

See you on the high seas,

Ron

Thank you Ron for your thorough review. Have to agree with most of what you said too. Glad you enjoyed your cruise! m--

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Thank your for your review.

Glad you enjoyed your Alaskan cruise on the Westerdam.

Thanks for your thoughtful review between Princess and Hal. Its been a few years since we sailed on Princess and I think one of our big complaints was the food, but as you said food is very subjective. I totally agree about the TV. Like Princess so much better on that issue.

Thanks for a great review...we will be on the Westerdam in October so it's great to hear positive things.

We are also Elite Princess cruisers who have sailed twice on HAL and our impressions mirror yours...especially the Muster Drill! The smaller HAL ships, like the Maasdam we sailed on last year, do have self service laundries.

Miss the perks of Princess but we are working our way up the food chain at HAL! Depending on the itinerary we would sail either line.

What a wonderful, well-written, logical review. Thanks for sharing!

Thos also might be the first time in history someone has said HAL's entertainment was an "advantage" over another line. :)

We were once Elite on Princess but fell out of love and moved to HAL (and likely soon moving to Oceania and Crystal). I absolutely agree and miss Princess' muster protocol too. HAL's is IMO the worst experience of the lines we have sailed.

Thanks for your great review and comparison.

We are Elite on Princess as well, but have taken the majority of our recent cruises on HAL. We will be returning to Princess soon to use a future cruise deposit. It is good to hear from a Princess loyal that things still seem on par with HAL. Based on our experiences, your observations seemed spot on, though I will add that IMO Princess' pizza beats HAL's hands down! :D

Thanks for the comparative review!

Thanks for your great review and comparison.

 

We are Elite on Princess as well, but have taken the majority of our recent cruises on HAL. We will be returning to Princess soon to use a future cruise deposit. It is good to hear from a Princess loyal that things still seem on par with HAL. Based on our experiences, your observations seemed spot on, though I will add that IMO Princess' pizza beats HAL's hands down! :D

But now don't you have to pay extra for Princess pizza? In Alfredo's I believe they are charging now, the coming trend apparently. :( m--

Thanks for the informative comparison. We have cruised Princess several times, and our first HAL cruise is in October on the Westerdam. I love Princess, so I think HAL should be a good fit.

But now don't you have to pay extra for Princess pizza? In Alfredo's I believe they are charging now, the coming trend apparently. :( m--

Uh oh. It's been 3 years since I last sailed on Princess, so this must be new.

But now don't you have to pay extra for Princess pizza? In Alfredo's I believe they are charging now, the coming trend apparently. :( m--

This was a trial on Regal and very quickly cancelled. It's still free (they also tried charging for room service, which too was dropped).

But now don't you have to pay extra for Princess pizza? In Alfredo's I believe they are charging now, the coming trend apparently. :( m--

They are trying it out on the newest ship (Regal) in Alfredo's. We were on the Emerald in Feb. and could still get it without charge in Alfredo's and in the open-air pizzeria on Lido.

This was a trial on Regal and very quickly cancelled. It's still free (they also tried charging for room service, which too was dropped).

Oops, didn't see your post before I wrote. I'm glad to hear they canned that.

Thanks for your interesting review.

Not sure what you mean by "This category is a wash".

Thanks for your interesting review.

Not sure what you mean by "This category is a wash".

I think he's saying they came out about the same.

Ron, Thanks for your great review. If you were to compare costs, how would HAL do?

I'm a HAL fan but also cruised Princess regularly until about 12 years ago. I switched to HAL mostly because of demographics and because HAL makes me very comfortable as a solo cruiser. The few times I've compared HAL to Princess in terms of cruise prices, Princess was costlier. That may have changed though, but I am still interested in checking out Princess again.

Enjoyed your review. I sail both lines and agree with everything you've said here.

Thanks for the review. I'm sailing with a friend who has been on princess, and Norwegian. I think she will be fine on HAL. It's all I know.

Thanks for your thoughtful comparison!

We mostly cruise on Princess (Elite) but also very much have enjoyed and still tend to pick HAL for very port intensive cruises when we want to return from port stops to a very quiet ship. :)

LuLu

I love both HAL and Princess. I usually choose between one or the other based on itinerary and/or price. I just came back from an RCI cruise, the Splendour, which I chose because of the itinerary. What a shock to the system. The food was a huge disappointment, both in the dining room and the buffet. The food in the buffet was appalling. It was never fresh and there was only one station for fresh made eggs. Don't get me started about the nickel and diming - $8 for a bottle of mineral water? I missed my eggs benedict immensely. I am back to HAL next January and will probably not stray again from HAL or Princess.

I think he's saying they came out about the same.

Thanks for your reply.

Thanks for sharing.

:)

Thanks for your interesting review.

Not sure what you mean by "This category is a wash".

I think he's saying they came out about the same.

It means if you consider the positives and negatives of each it comes out basically being a tie; there is no winner.