It is more of a challenge to hold stable,--like any telephoto lens--but I tend to use it on a tripod almost exclusively unless I'm chasing insects--and I tend to only do that in bright light which gives me high enough shutter speeds to compensate for any movement.
I have found a 200mm macro lens to be much better for smaller subjects (provided I don't need a wide field of view) than a 50-80mm macro lens because of the greater working distance. For example,I am less likely to cast a shadow on the subject, or cause the subject to move, because I don't need to be as close. It's also easier to fill the frame with a subject, and to isolate it from its background, which is what I tend toward doing when photographing closeup. One of my favorite setups in the Nikon system is the 300mm f/4.5 EDIF on a 55mm PN-11 extension tube--it gives about three feet of working distance at nearly 1:2 magnification. I learned about it from John Shaw's book "Closeups in Nature," one of the true classics of outdoor photography "how to" books, and well worth reading today even though it was written 30 years ago.
Edited to add: it is possible to use a Nikon lens on a Canon EOS camera--in manual focus, but with metering--with relatively inexpensive adapters