Considering Back to Back

[TylerRose]

I know this topic has made the rounds before... but it has been a while. We travel as an extended family (3 cabins), with one wheelchair. My MIL(wc) has voted down ALASKA cruise tour feeling it will be too much for her, as would Europe. Still, we want an extended vacation.

In booking Back to Backs... I can't find a single Alaska cruise ship with an itinerary variation between July 7- August 10th, our vacation options. So, what are the plus's and minus's to Back to Back. Does it allow more relaxation, with less franticness to do it all... Or is it repeatitius to the point of frustration.

Also... Best ships for it. We loved the Zandam & especially the Prinsendam, but found the Zuiderdam larger than we'd like. I see little difference in ports between Inside Passage and Vancouver to Seward, although it would be nice to go a tad deeper and reach Seward. We are from Texas, so departure is irrelevant... we have to fly whereever we leave from.

THanks in advance,
Robyn

[localady]

I'd consider the Ryndam, it will have all the new enhancements and has a fabulous staff! We very much enjoyed our B2B on her!! I posted my review on our trip in July 2004.:cool: The enhancements (especially a dedicated teen area) might be something your family enjoys!:cool:

[dakrewser]

So, you want to do Alaska, you want to go for longer than a week and you don't want to repeat ports or do a cruisetour? Is that what I'm hearing?

C'mon over here in the corner where the rest of these folks can't hear us.

Ready? Lean in close and I'll whisper.

Celebrity. 12 days R/T from San Francisco:
San Francisco, Victoria, Ketchikan, Skagway, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Vancouver.
Just don't tell anyone on the HAL board that I mentioned it!

[cactuslady]

I can only imagine how wonderful it would feel to get to stay on the ship while everyone else had to leave. Haven't done a back-to-back, but have felt that there is too much to do in just one week. I think it would be more relaxing to split up the ports and activities and do half one week and the other half the other week. On the other hand, if the itineraries are different, you just have a longer vacation.

I met a woman doing back-to-backs over the same itinerary in the Caribbean who never even got off the ship. Getting away to the floating resort (and doing a couple of really huge jigsaw puzzles) was the goal for her. She did it every year.

[TylerRose]

Thanks Dave:
Allthough I am loyal to HAL as of late, I did check out Celebrity, but most reviewers on the boards as well as professional reviewers feel the Dream should be put out to pasture.
We did a similar itinerary on P-dam two years ago... it was great.
Sure wish HAL had more varied options... but at least I know I like the line, the environment, the way they run things, and the passengers HAL generally attracts. It is a good match for our extended multignerational family.

[dakrewser]

Thanks Dave:
Allthough I am loyal to HAL as of late, I did check out Celebrity, but most reviewers on the boards as well as professional reviewers feel the Dream should be put out to pasture.
That's probably true, but that's an NCL ship, isn't it?:)

The Infinity, which I'll be on next September, is as up-to-date as you can get!

-dave

[DonMaryCar]

Count us in as those that love B2B's. It was great on the 6th night knowing we didn't have to pack and put our luggage out. There is some repetition, but nothing bad. How can seeing a glacier twice be anything but wonderful? A couple nights the entertainmnet was a repeat but we went to the movies those nights. Always had more options on the menu to try. As far as ports, only differance was Skagay vs Sewal, both were great and when we did Juneau and Ketchikan we had lots of stuff to do we ran out of time to do on our first stop. I think doing back to backs on Ryndam would be a grat option.

Happy planning

Mary;)

[muffin]

We have done b to b alaska with princess, and enjoyed both trips immensely... no boredom at all... on the second pass you know what you wnat to do and ewhere to make it happen! However, if I did it agian, I would try to move from one line to alother simply for the variety... as well, they have somewhat different stops. Sitka, which we have visited on Hal cruises, is our favourite spot.... and we would try for one way to hit it for sure. Juneau is our least favorite, but it seems to be on all the routes. Do your own tours on land... lots and lots available right where you get off the ships and all cheaper by far than the ones put on by the lines.
Moving on the change around day would not be hard... as long as they leave and arrive from the same place!! we rented a car in Seward9 previously arranged on the web) and did a full day of looking around the area...well wotrh while.... returned and got right on again.... same cabin etc etc.... There were about 30 of us doing the b to b.

[Stevesan]

One advantage of a B2B is to make up for lost opportunities. Weather in Alaska is often uncertain causing tour interruptions. For example, we had scheduled a helicopter trip with Temsco to Mendenhall Glacier while in Juneau. Unfortunately, weather prevented our landing on the first leg. Since I had scheduled Orca Enterprises for the southbound leg, I stopped by their office on the pier and asked Becky to schedule Coastal Helicopter in conjunction with the boat tour. This permitted Orca to coordinate our boat tour and helicopter trip. The shuttle bus from the boat dropped us off at Coastal’s base. Coastal took us flight seeing over a few glaciers and landed on Norris Glacier. We had a beautiful sunny day, so both the boat trip and glacier landing came off great. Coastal is a much smaller operation than Temsco, but our pilot was skilled and an excellent tour guide.

There was enough difference in the itineraries to keep our interest peaked. The north bound leg visited Hubbard Glacier and the south bound College Fjord while Glacier Bay substituted for Skagway.

It's Alaska and it's all good!

[Ziggy7]

So, you want to do Alaska, you want to go for longer than a week and you don't want to repeat ports or do a cruisetour? Is that what I'm hearing?

C'mon over here in the corner where the rest of these folks can't hear us.

Ready? Lean in close and I'll whisper.

Celebrity. 12 days R/T from San Francisco:
San Francisco, Victoria, Ketchikan, Skagway, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Vancouver.
Just don't tell anyone on the HAL board that I mentioned it!hahaha oh Dave I saw that!! You bad boy!!!
Hi TylerRose !!! What about going to Hawaii, I think you mil would like it there! :)
When we did our back to back, we went to different ports and was not bored, but if you dont like the menu the first week, look out cause its the same the second week, same for regular shows. There was no pax show the second week like the one your DH was in the first week :(

[bepsf]

It sure would be nice to have a HAL ship do longer cruises (10-14 days) all the way up to Anchorage and back...

[Himself]

You could go round trip to Seward and back or you could go Saturday to Saturday on the OOSTERDAM out of Seattle, Stay the night in Seattle and then do a week on the AMSTERDAM, and you would see Hubbard Glacier one week and Glacier Bay the Next Week.

HIMSELF

[garydm]

We encountered the same problem you have, so we booked Crystal RT San Francisco 12 days to Alaska. Costs a little more but you get more. Fantastic time.

Gary

[TylerRose]

Celebrity. 12 days R/T from San Francisco:
San Francisco, Victoria, Ketchikan, Skagway, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Vancouver.
Just don't tell anyone on the HAL board that I mentioned it!
Alas, you guys are correct, Dream is NCL. I rechecked Celebrity, but I can't find the above ititerary, although it is just like NCL's.
Truth is I have been researching when ever I have some spare time, hoping to find that ideal compromise... The perfect affordably priced longer trip.
But all of you are correct, so long as it's Alaska... it's all good!
Keep sending advice though... PCC wants us to book before we can't keep same cabins for B2B.

[geopa]

Infinity does longer cruises from San Francisco but only in May and Sept.

Princess has Regal Princess with a 10 night cruise from San Francisco (July 17th), granted Regal Princess is an older ship but we did a 10 night Baltic on the Crown Princess in 2000. Nice ship, had a really big inside cabin with lots of storage space. A good ship for a longer cruise--- now only if they had not placed that damn Dolfin head on the front of the ship (kills a lot of prime deck space for viewing)

[dakrewser]

Celebrity. 12 days R/T from San Francisco:
San Francisco, Victoria, Ketchikan, Skagway, Icy Strait, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Vancouver.
Just don't tell anyone on the HAL board that I mentioned it!
Alas, you guys are correct, Dream is NCL. I rechecked Celebrity, but I can't find the above ititerary, although it is just like NCL's.

Sept. 3 and 15, 2005. Mighht be other dates also.

-dave

[TylerRose]

Correct again Dave. Alas, we are limited to the Brief Texas school summer vacation time. Kids out June to August, combined with my folks, Ma works in NYC schools, June to Sept vacation. So for us July is it.

Thanks again.

[jazzsea]

You might contact Holland America by phone and talk to them about your MIL's concerns. I would suggest that you cruise from Vancouver to Seward and back.

Our favorite vacation was when we took Ryndam from Vancouver to Seward. We stayed for six days and cruised back to Vancouver on Statendam. We did that trip in August and even with less than perfect weather we had a ball.