Yes, we have cruised both Princess and HAL.
Our first cruise ever was Royal Princess and while it was many cruises ago and I have only vague memories of it, we must have loved it as that is what started our addiction.
But that was a number of years ago and abiout 45 cruises ago.
We have cruised HAL over thirty times now and Princess about five. Our last cruise w/ Princess was the last cruise we plan to do on Princess. I wouldn't say we'd never return but there would have to be a compelling reason.
We cruised on Ocean Princess and was disappointed with crew service and attitude; quality of food in the dining room (but did enjoy the Horizon Court); we didn't care for the ambience on board the ship and found it very annoying they way they became so pushy about buy this ...buy that. Every morning when we were having our breakfast, a dining steward put a dinner menu in our face and told us to order our wine for dinner then.
That was just too much ....give me a break. Can I have my OJ and coffee first? Who knows what we want to eat for dinner before we've had our breakfast?? Let alone what wine????
We were in the AA largest suite for back-to-backs and while we had a very good cabin steward, we were a little surprised there were absolutely no suite amenities or courtesies at all. On HAL, we are used to many.
We like the smaller, more quiet lounges and every night of our back-to-backs, we went for pre dinner drinks in a small lounge that seated maybe about 30 people. For everyone of our 14 nights in that lounge, it was the same bartender and he saw us come in every night and served our drinks. He never once said good evening, hello or anything else. He never remember our cabin number and not once said "have a nice evening" when we left for dinner. This would NEVER happen on HAL.
This is all just my viewpoint and I fully realize Princess has a huge loyal following and that is terrific. But Princess has changed to the point of not being appealing to me.
On HAL, we enjoy so much the friendliness and quality of service...the beautiful flowers and art, the suite amenities, the elegance of the ships, the wonderful menu selections and quality of food and presentation of food in the magnificent dining rooms.
For us....HAL is way our favorite cruiseline. (We have also cruised Celebrity numerous times; RCI once and Carnival once-sort of.)
