Canada New England

[kikiwik]

So we were booked on the Zuiderdam for Septmber to Alaska but we have just change to Canada/New England On The Crown Princess. Can anyone give me any information about this cruise or this ship. I know this is the Holland Boards but you guys are excellent for info.

[Chivalrygirl]

So we were booked on the Zuiderdam for Septmber to Alaska but we have just change to Canada/New England On The Crown Princess. Can anyone give me any information about this cruise or this ship. I know this is the Holland Boards but you guys are excellent for info.

 

 

We have booked on the Grand Princess on the 18th September, HAL was just too expensive for us. I am now trying to find out as much as I can about this cruise and the area we will be cruising, not having much luck so far.

Tried the Princess boards and no one is answering me :confused:

[PRINSENDAM]

We have booked on the Grand Princess on the 18th September, HAL was just too expensive for us. I am now trying to find out as much as I can about this cruise and the area we will be cruising, not having much luck so far.

Tried the Princess boards and no one is answering me :confused:

 

 

 

Val,

 

Shucks! Why don't you come on the VEENDAM... 9th October, 12 days... Montreal to Tampa... then a 7 day Western Carribbean... for good measure!

 

The Canada/New England cruise are excellent. Good ports and if you are luck you catch the leaves turning red... providing they leave the curtains of the Ocean Bar open!

 

Stephen

 

PSThe rates were quite good for this late cruise.

[Atomica]

We have booked on the Grand Princess on the 18th September, HAL was just too expensive for us. I am now trying to find out as much as I can about this cruise and the area we will be cruising, not having much luck so far.

Tried the Princess boards and no one is answering me :confused:

 

We had something of the same problem on the Princess boards but I've tried again so we'll cross our fingers! We too chose Princess because HAL's verandah prices were too out of reach for us and because we really like the itinerary & the idea of trying the Crown. The Grand Princess itinerary you're doing looks good (if only we could get that kind of time off work!)

[jascruise]

Val,

 

if you are luck you catch the leaves turning red...

 

 

If it's a fall foliage experience you want, come by about a month later. I'll give you a rake and you'll get your fill of these *&^%$ leaves!

[sail7seas]

Maasdam's Canada/New England cruise is so wonderful. We do it every year....back-to-back. I can tell you lots about Maasdam's but have no clue about Grand's.

 

Don't even know her itinerary as we aren't interested in Princess.

 

 

 

[Sea King]

Did I miss something or is the OP trying to get Princess information about New England on an HAL Board:confused:

 

why not book the Maasdam if available?

 

sorry, but Princess IMHO is not in the same "hemisphere" as HAL on any cruise let alone New England

 

as for the Veendam sailing, sounds wonderful .. Veendam is exquisite .. what's the itinerary Stephen?

[Chivalrygirl]

Val,

 

Shucks! Why don't you come on the VEENDAM... 9th October, 12 days... Montreal to Tampa... then a 7 day Western Carribbean... for good measure!

 

The Canada/New England cruise are excellent. Good ports and if you are luck you catch the leaves turning red... providing they leave the curtains of the Ocean Bar open!

 

Stephen

 

PSThe rates were quite good for this late cruise.

 

Would love to come with you Stephen, but this itinerary kinda fits in with the visit to our son Chris in DC. I will send you an email as I am very aware that today is the 1st and its almost Bon Voyage once more :)

[Atomica]

Did I miss something or is the OP trying to get Princess information about New England on an HAL Board:confused:

 

why not book the Maasdam if available?

 

sorry, but Princess IMHO is not in the same "hemisphere" as HAL on any cruise let alone New England

 

as for the Veendam sailing, sounds wonderful .. Veendam is exquisite .. what's the itinerary Stephen?

 

The question was posted here because we've cruised HAL extensively in the past, and we know that there are many people on here who have cruised both lines, and everyone on here has always been extremely helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. We were after a little helpful information.

 

Sorry we 'dared' to ask a Princess question on the HAL board.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Aaron, I know you will both have a great time. We loved the New England / Canada intinerary and hope to go back in Fall or late summer of 2008 (at least that is the plan right now) My TA loves Princess has cruised HAL but prefers Princess so everyone has different likes and dislikes. You may enjoy finding out what the different lines offer. Jim Hannah likes Princess, maybe he will find this thread and can comment.

[Atomica]

Aaron, I know you will both have a great time. We loved the New England / Canada intinerary and hope to go back in Fall or late summer of 2008 (at least that is the plan right now) My TA loves Princess has cruised HAL but prefers Princess so everyone has different likes and dislikes. You may enjoy finding out what the different lines offer. Jim Hannah likes Princess, maybe he will find this thread and can comment.

 

Thanks very much, Lisa :) We're very excited about this cruise - neither of us has ever visited the East Coast, so we're really looking forward to it, as well as giving the Crown & Princess a go. I've actually been browsing through your photos from your cruise on the Maasdam there - it looks spectacular!

[innlady1]

Funny this thread should be posted today, just when I've been looking for a November cruise, with a window of November 1 to November 20. Have to be home for Thanksgiving with the kids & grandkids!

 

I've narrowed it down to three:

 

Noordam: The 11 day itinerary, on November 10 (we just did the 10 day itinerary).

 

Crown Princess: November 3 (and possibly doing a B to B on 11/10). The 11/3 itinerary is great: San Juan, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, Tortola & St. Thomas (and back to San Juan). Downside is we have to fly from Boston to San Juan where we can take the Homeport bus from Boston to NYC!

 

Emerald Princess: 11/06, 10 day itinerary. Ft. Lauderdale, Princess Cays, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua. Back to FTL.

 

I couldn't find any other HAL cruises that had verandah's available....they are all closed, at least last time I checked. We could take an outside, but we really do enjoy having a veranda and the "fresh air" factor.

 

Some of you may remember that our good friend (and travel agent) missed sailing with us on the Noordam because of surgery and complications thereafter. So we "promised" them we'd do a cruise this Fall. I've spent so much time on this board that I'm ending up being the one to suggest to them what cruise we do!

 

I've checked the Princess board, but feel much more "at home" here! ;)

 

We loved the Noordam and would love to do that again. I wish they'd vary the Caribbean itinerary more than they do. The 11 day drops Grand Turk and picks up Dominica and Barbados.

 

I'd love a Canada/New England cruise but our inn is still open at that time, so that's a no go.

 

With only one cruise on Princess and one on HAL, I can tell you that I think HAL is a step ahead in most areas. The only thing we enjoyed a bit more on Princess was the Anytime Dining because we could still have the same table/same waitstaff and juggle the times. But that's neither here nor there....I first need to narrow down our cruise options.

[geoherb]

We took a Princess cruise to New England/Canada four years ago. It was great. Ours was 7 nights, roundtrip from New York City. The ports were Saint John, Halifax, Bar Harbor, Boston, and Newport. My favorites were Halifax and Newport, although all of them were fun.

 

As for the difference between HAL and Princess, we've only done one HAL cruise (Maasdam, Christmas 2005). We took our fifth Princess cruise this year. We like both cruise lines. There were things we missed this year after sailing on HAL, but there were other things we had missed when we were on HAL. I'd gladly book either again.

[Chivalrygirl]

I love the way the really nice folk pop up on the HAL board with offers of help. We tried for the Veendam but there were no verandahs, I wonder if the US TAs grab these, my TA down here thinks this is the case and also all the port side minis on the Grand. We are really usisng the ship as a floating hotel as we wish to make the time we have ashore a total sightseeing adventure, we are unlikely to return to this part of the world again, but who knows maybe we might win Lotto lol I have long held a childhood dream to sail out of NY, I can fulfil this dream also as well as keep DH happy, I am the sailor, not him. Yes we would have preferred the Veendam 9 Sept sailing, but I think we also want freshaire and a good look at the St Lawrence from our cabin. I have sailed Princess one other time and really enjoyed, however, the service was not up to what we experienced on the Statendam last year. Dinner from the dining room in the cabin after a hard days foot slog would be a dream. I plan to make a bit of a song and dance about this once on board, after all we have a mini-suite :D

So you see SeaKing FYI since visiting the HAL boards I know I can always come here for good help and advice, after all this is where my friends habitate :p

Cheers Val

[kikiwik]

Thanks Lisa and Everyone else for your helpful responses. As Aaron has said we have had no luck on the Princess boards and knowing that many of you on HAL have sailed both I thought this would be a good question to ask you guys. Hopfully Jhannah can comment as I heard he has done both. We wanted to do HAL but there Itinerary and the Prices for balcony cabins just didnt' work for us. We are looking forward to this as it will be when all the colors are changing. As for seaking thanks but no thanks for the response!

[PRINSENDAM]

 

as for the Veendam sailing, sounds wonderful .. Veendam is exquisite .. what's the itinerary Stephen?

 

 

 

Who cares!:rolleyes:

 

Montreal, Quebec, several ports.............. Tampa. 12 days... then out for a 7 day Western Carribbean.

 

Looking forward to this. First time back on VEENDAM since 1998!

 

Stephen

[Chivalrygirl]

Who cares!:rolleyes:

 

Montreal, Quebec, several ports.............. Tampa. 12 days... then out for a 7 day Western Carribbean.

 

Looking forward to this. First time back on VEENDAM since 1998!

 

Stephen

 

lol Stephen I "b" care, how did you manage to pick up that "Silver spoon":cool:

Val :D

[sail7seas]

Of course, US TA's are grabbing the cabins on Canada/New England Itineraries. I would guess 85 -90% of the passengers aboard will be from U.S. and Canada.....not surprisingly. :)

 

We live in Boston, take this cruise every year and know we have to book it very early to get the cabin we want. The Maasdam usually sells out for every cruise and it sells out early. Start earlier next year if you want to be sure of availability for the week/cabin you want.

 

There is little competition on this route and a finite number of cabins. Your Down Under TA should have acted sooner for you and would have an equal chance at booking whatever it was you wanted. Can't wait for February or March and expect a large selection.

 

I do happen to know there are still cabins for June 23 and June 30 sailings on Maasdam if those dates interest you.

 

 

 

[PRINSENDAM]

lol Stephen I "b" care, how did you manage to pick up that "Silver spoon":cool:

Val :D

 

 

Val, Must be good old Irish luck! Didn't you mother ever say, "Fall down in a pile of poo and come up smelling of roses!"

 

Stephen

 

PS: Dad was born in in Ireland.... Irish mother, Bermudian father. The connection is weak, but the luck comes through just fine. Hey, I married Ruth didn't I!