HAL Cruisers Try Princess

[solocanadian]

brainyblonde, I have to agree that your comments mirror exactly what I stated when I got off the Crown Princess exactly 3 years ago this week. I no longer like to comment about a cruise I took more than 9 months ago because things change and to compare and give comment about something I did several years ago I often do not think it applies. But it is unfortunate to hear the same comments are being made about the Princess product. The really strange thing is that about 90% of time Princess is more money for the same itinerary as HAL is :confused:

Melodi I agree with you about probably doing Princess in 2014 although I am also looking at Norwegian Star doing a few sailings on the West Coast ;) But there are some interesting itineraries that Princess will be doing on the West Coast and having 4 ships sailing the West Coast. While I would rather cruise HAL Vista ships since there is not, Princess might be an option and at least this time I will know what to expect and not be trying to compare it to HAL ;)

After reading braineyblonde's post, I think I would take my chances on NCL over Princess. So much so, I'm going to post a question to the NCL man who will reply to all questions on Jan 25th. :)

[cruisinjudy]

I have my first HAL cruise coming up this summer for the Mediterranean. It was almost twice as long as the Princess cruises I found, and for only a little more money. This makes me concerned they may be cutting corners somewhere.

 

But anyway, I booked a balcony cabin on the Noordam (usually get a mini-suite on Princess). Can anyone compare these, size-wise? I know Princess' regular balcony cabins are considered small compared to other lines.

 

Well I know the mini-suite on Princess will be larger than the regular balcony on Noordam and have a lot better storage. I don't have the actual size available at the moment. Princess regular balconies would be closer in size to Noordam regular balcony. On Vista ships we always get the SY category, but usually do a regular balcony on S class.