Princess or HA for South America

[travelstamp]

We are in the process of booking an Antartica cruise in January or February 2008. Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be the better experience - HA or Princess. We have sailed with Princess but have not been on HA as yet. Do both have informative speakers regarding the areas that we will be visiting?

[lwnbwlr]

We've been on over 15 cruises with Princess and 4 with HAL including

Antarctica in 01/05. HAL had three wonderful speakers who lectured both in the auditorium and from the bridge throughout the cruise. They were so popular that passengers were sitting in the aisles in the showroom to hear them. The added value they gave to the cruise was enormous. Despite the benefits from being elite on Princess, I would opt for HAL in a heartbeat. Have a great cruise!

Jim

[Mary Ellen]

We (and some others from the HAL boards) are going on the Rotterdam on 27 Jan '08 for the South America/Antarctica cruise. This will be the second time for one of our group. She has in the neighborhood of 400 days on HAL and according to her, this is the best itinerary she has ever done. So much so, she is doing this 'once in a lifetime' cruise again.

 

One CCer (AussieGal??) has posted here about her experience on Princess for the Antarctic cruise. I believe she liked her cruise, but one of her comments was that seeing how close the smaller HAL ship was able to get in around Antarctica, she wished she was on it. If she had it to do over again, she would pick HAL for that reason. Hopefully she'll see your post and give more information (and correct any mis-statements I've made).

 

We've heard nothing but rave reviews for the HAL lecturers for Antarctica. I've read reviews where passengers have mentioned scientists from Palmer Station coming on board for the day to discuss life in Antarctica (and they are quite happy when they returned back to the Station with fresh produce from the ship :D ).

 

Good luck with your decision.

[Mary Ellen]

Ok, I did find links to Aussie Gal's posts on the subject: link here, here, and here.

 

 

Whichever line you decide upon, I suggest you not take too much time to decide. On our cruise, cabin selection is limited and I imagine so on other cruises.

[lwnbwlr]

Mary Ellen:

 

In addition to the veggies, the scientists also took back several cases of beer. They were not unhappy about that either.

Jim

[BldLvr]

Hello all, DH and I did the MsRotterdam last Christmas and New Years (06/07) and all I can say is WOW. It was the best cruise we have ever taken, I can't say enough good things about HAL. We spent New Year's Day 2007 in Iceberg Alley and it was SPECTACULAR. We went to bed at 1:30AM, DH woke me at 4:30AM and said, "get up, icebergs, EVERYWHERE". There were 1000s of bergs, some as big as a small city and some much smaller. The speakers were great, really knew their stuff and we had a super good Ice Pilot. We did get very close to shore, we had great weather for 3 of the 4 days we sailed in the Antarctic waters. GO....you won't be sorry. I can't speak for Princess but I have heard too that HAL gets much closer than any other lines. Ask me any questions. DH and I would do this same cruise in a heartbeat. Out of this world is what I always say when people ask me how the trip was. After you once get in Antarctica, it ceases to be a cruise and becomes an adventure. Happy sailing...Marian

[Tarheelbelle]

Travelstamp,

Another choice might be the Celebrity---or maybe now it is Azamara---Journey, small ship trips to Antarctica [if you have ruled out even smaller ships that would allow for zodiac landings]. Check out the Antarctica board and the "Other Cruise Lines" board too.

[infohunter]

Hello all, DH and I did the MsRotterdam last Christmas and New Years (06/07) and all I can say is WOW. It was the best cruise we have ever taken, I can't say enough good things about HAL.

 

Glad to hear you had such a great time. We are booked on that cruise for this year (07/08) and can't wait.

[Canehdan]

My wife and I have sailed on both HA and Princess. We were not impressed with Princess however we were very pleased with HA.

 

Canehdan