Between Prot Pala and Holy Pala I prefer Holy I think it's more useless and hard to kill. I will go Ret instead of Prot.
About other classes u should go with the ones that u feel more confortable. For example Feral druid have nice survibility but agaist a Ret he will hit u hard but u can heal and cyclone him and run and go to the fight again and u will win vs him (perhaps), but u need more skills and more tricks than just spam attacks.
And one thing that Elipas said in the P.s it's very true.
U should go with what u see it's better for u. If u think u will like playing with prot ok play with prot I should go Holy (my opinion, cleanse, plate wear, nice look with shield, it's like a beast that don't die) ;).
I don't know how to help u more :D.