Alaska cruise line opinions

We are trying to book a trip to Alaska for August and are looking for some opinions of various cruise lines. Has anyone cruised to Alaska on multiple lines so that they can help with pros/cons?

We have cruised twice with RCI (to the Caribbean) and like them. If we book with them it will be the cruise only because of the dates.

My in-laws and travel agent friend recommend Princess. We could potentially do a cruise tour with them.

Norwegian also has some cruise tours with dates that work.

Any insight into which is better? Anything you love/hate for any?

It will be me and my husband without the kids.

JMHO but I'd go with either Princess or HAL. Both have the most experience in Alaska with the best itineraries, including Glacier Bay which to me is a must.

I am with Zookie. Glacier Bat is not to be missed.

Within the last two years I have been to Alaska twice. Once on Princess with my husband and once on NCL with my kids.

If your children are not going I'd say Princess. It is a calmer ship. Not as noisy. I was 43 at the time and found enough action to keep me interested and not bored.

If kids were going I'd say NCL.

Vicki

I've cruised Alaska an Royal Caribbean and Princess.

I was not impressed with Glacier Bay. I loved Hubbard glacier.

Radiance of the Seas was a much better ship to see Alaska, imo.

We have cruised Alaska twice, first with Princess and the second time with RC. We enjoyed our second cruise on the Radiance of the Seas better than the first because we saw more cruising the southbound route from Seward to Vancouver since it had four ports of call and Hubbard Glacier was infinitely more spectacular than Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm.

However, I hear that Glacier Bay is even better than Hubbard Glacier so next year we are going back to Alaska to see it. I think the bottom line is if you can only go to Alaska once, pick an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay.

Happy cruising. It's a great way to travel.

JMHO but I'd go with either Princess or HAL. Both have the most experience in Alaska with the best itineraries, including Glacier Bay which to me is a must.

I agree but want to comment that seeing Tracy Arm all the way is spectacular. We had an amazing day there.

Take the Princess cruise tour - you will be so glad you did!

All of our cruises to Alaska were on Princess ships. We had a great time every time. We haven't sailed on RCI or NCL lately. I said we'd never sail on NCL again and haven't since 1989.

We did Alaska twice. The first time was a 7 night round trip cruise from Vancouver. The second was a 12 night cruise tour - 5 night land tour followed by a 7 night south bound cruise. Both were with RCI. We were very happy with both trips. If we were to travel to Alaska again it would be with RCI.

We have done Alaskan cruises five times (six if you count the Alaska Marine Highway trip). Twice on HAL, twice on Celebrity, once on Disney. Most important is the itinerary! (IMHO) Personally, the line/ship is secondary.

One of the reasons we chose to cruise on HAL this coming August is that the ship leaves from Vancouver and travels the inside passage the entire trip. I found out that ships that leave from Seattle have to sail west of Vancouver Island, in the ocean, and can be subjected to severe turbulence.

We have been to Alaska three times. My recommendation is to consider the itinerary and length of time in the ports. I would take Glacier Bay over the other glaciers, so that somewhat limits you because only two ships are given permits each day. Princess and HAL have many of them and the system of distribution is based on seniority, so to speak. Not quite fair, IMHO.

Some people like HAL or Princess because they say they "do Alaska better". Our HAL cruise was the lowest ranked of the three we have been on and I saw no difference between HAL and NCL Pearl on the Glacier Bay day.

I also love Skagway. Some lines go to Sitka which is a sweet town, but is a tender port and it doesn't have the excursion possibilities that Skagway does (long day trip to the Yukon).

Alaska is amazing on any cruise. Be careful to look at the details of the cruise itinerary and be wary of cheerleaders.

We are trying to book a trip to Alaska for August and are looking for some opinions of various cruise lines. Has anyone cruised to Alaska on multiple lines so that they can help with pros/cons?

 

We have cruised twice with RCI (to the Caribbean) and like them. If we book with them it will be the cruise only because of the dates.

 

My in-laws and travel agent friend recommend Princess. We could potentially do a cruise tour with them.

 

Norwegian also has some cruise tours with dates that work.

 

Any insight into which is better? Anything you love/hate for any?

 

It will be me and my husband without the kids.

If the RCI dates don't work for you, take a look at Celebrity. They sail opposites dates from RCI on their one-way cruises. If you're doing a one-way, it would be a shame to fly right out/in and not do any sort of land tour.

In the past 2 years, I've sailed Celebrity and Holland America to Alaska. Millennium was one-way Seward to Vancouver and HAL was r/t Vancouver. I agree Glacier Bay was an extraordinary day. But that's just 1 day. Over all, I prefered my one-way sailing on the Celebrity Millennium. One of my fondest memories from Millennium was looking out my balcony as we sailed past the 18,000 ft Mount St. Elias on our way to Hubbard Glacier.

As for the "most experience with Alaska" thing concerning HAL and Princess, I have yet to be explained what that means.

As you can see from the list at the bottom, we cruised to Alaska on HAL. We did choose HAL because of their experience, and we were taking a cruise/tour, so their tour was part of our package. We could have done the same thing with Princess, or several others. HAL was fine, it went to the ports that we wanted to see after we left Anchorage, although the ship went to Haines instead of Skagway and we had to use the ferry to get to Skagway.

If the ports are equal, pick whichever line you like better. After all, you are steaming at night, and wake up in port a, b or c. Different lines have different demographics, so if the ports are equal, then choose the ship you would like better. I don't think the "experience" thing counts at all if you are just going into different ports. If anything, the "experience" might have helped on the tour, though most lines do the same things on the tours as well.

Just my own thoughts on Glacier Bay, etc. We boarded in Seward which is close to Anchorage. At the time, ships were not actually going in to Anchorage, and only a few do now. We got to Seward early in the morning, and the ship wasn't leaving until 5, so we opted for the Kenai Fjords tour, which lasts about six hours or so. If you can do one of those small boat tours to the glaciers, I would not skip that for love or money. You get very close -- 1/2 mile -- and can both hear the glacier (they are not quietly sitting there), and you can see lots of calving. Though we later went to College Fjord and Glacier Bay, in my personal opinion, they became anticlimactic after the small boat tour. Seeing glaciers from a mile or more away on a large ship does not even compare. They are impressive, don't get me wrong, but the up close and personal small boat tour was worth 1,000 times more. Those small boat tours work out of Seward and a couple of other embarkation ports around there, and I would do my best to stop in one of them to take such a tour.

We got to Seward early in the morning, and the ship wasn't leaving until 5, so we opted for the Kenai Fjords tour, which lasts about six hours or so. If you can do one of those small boat tours to the glaciers, I would not skip that for love or money. You get very close -- 1/2 mile -- and can both hear the glacier (they are not quietly sitting there), and you can see lots of calving. Though we later went to College Fjord and Glacier Bay, in my personal opinion, they became anticlimactic after the small boat tour. Seeing glaciers from a mile or more away on a large ship does not even compare. They are impressive, don't get me wrong, but the up close and personal small boat tour was worth 1,000 times more. Those small boat tours work out of Seward and a couple of other embarkation ports around there, and I would do my best to stop in one of them to take such a tour.

I cannot agree more with this. We did the 26 Glaciers cruise with Phillips Cruises in Whittier. It was far better than the glacier experiences on my Alaska cruises.

Our first cruise to Alaska, will also be our first time on Princess. We chose it for land tour option and the itinerary. We will be downing Hubbard Glacier & Glacier Bay. Where is the best place to look for tips on choosing Alaskan shore excursions?

Our first cruise to Alaska, will also be our first time on Princess. We chose it for land tour option and the itinerary. We will be downing Hubbard Glacier & Glacier Bay. Where is the best place to look for tips on choosing Alaskan shore excursions?

Go to the Ports of Call section of Boards. Click Alaska, then you can either scroll down to see if your question is already up, or start a new thread. We always find our shore excursions from here - they are less expensive, and we get the feedback from those who have taken them previously.