Emerald Princess - first Alaska cruise, please help with few questions!

Hi,

I am in charge of organizing our first cruise to Alaska for our group consists of 15 adults to celebrate 60BD, 40, 35 & 30 wedding anniversaries. I have looked at all of the options (Seattle, Vancouver, Northbound, Southbound) and decided with round trip from Seattle because we will do pre-cruise in Portland and post-cruise in Seattle. I narrow to 2 ships HAL Oosterdam and Emerald Princess. Both stops at Juneau, Ketchikan, Victoria except Sitka and Hubbard Glacier for HAL and Skagway and Tracy Fjord for Princess. I read that both Hubbard and Tracy are hard to see close up. It is true?

HAL $350 deposit is non refundable because of the reduced price cabins while Princess had $1 deposit pp, so Princess won. I believe that Princess ship is bigger and newer than HAL. Hope that I make the right decision because everybody put their trust on me.

We had previously cruised with Princess, Carnival, RRC, Norgewian, MSC but always reserved first seating dinning option. Due to the time in port for few nights is right at dinner time, I am thinking about anytime dinning option. Would it be difficult for our group to get table? how is Princess anytime dinning option work?

Many thanks for your help

I forgot to mention the sail is mid June

Your travel agent should be able to answer all your questions. If you booked directly with cruise line you can assign booking to a local agent and they can help you understand the differences and also answer the questions on the ships

Sent from my iPad using Forums

My vote will go to Hubbard trip if you are a glacier seeker.

 

I am in charge of organizing our first cruise to Alaska for our group consists of 15 adults to celebrate 60BD, 40, 35 & 30 wedding anniversaries.

 

We had previously cruised with Princess, Carnival, RRC, Norgewian, MSC but always reserved first seating dinning option. Due to the time in port for few nights is right at dinner time, I am thinking about anytime dinning option. Would it be difficult for our group to get table? how is Princess anytime dinning option work?

The biggest table I know is only good for 10. So you have to arrange for 2 adjoining tables for 10 & 5, or 3 tables for 5 & 5 & 5.

There are 2 MDRs for ATD. 1 MDR is for 2nd seating only at 7:30pm. The other MDR is solely for ATD with 1st (5:30) & 2nd seating.

Since you are on ATD, it is hard to get that kind of adjoining seats if requested nightly. It is best you talk with the Maitre 'D as soon as you get onboard and arrange for your requested seating arrangement.

Just make sure you do not arrive at the MDR past 15 minutes of your reserved time. Otherwise, they will release your adjoining reserved seats for others.

Another option is the 2nd seating on TD which you can arrange with your TA to link all your bookings so that adjoining seats can be arranged by your TA.

We were on the Emerald last May and enjoyed our cruise.

Hi,

 

I am in charge of organizing our first cruise to Alaska for our group consists of 15 adults to celebrate 60BD, 40, 35 & 30 wedding anniversaries. I have looked at all of the options (Seattle, Vancouver, Northbound, Southbound) and decided with round trip from Seattle because we will do pre-cruise in Portland and post-cruise in Seattle. I narrow to 2 ships HAL Oosterdam and Emerald Princess. Both stops at Juneau, Ketchikan, Victoria except Sitka and Hubbard Glacier for HAL and Skagway and Tracy Fjord for Princess. I read that both Hubbard and Tracy are hard to see close up. It is true?

 

HAL $350 deposit is non refundable because of the reduced price cabins while Princess had $1 deposit pp, so Princess won. I believe that Princess ship is bigger and newer than HAL. Hope that I make the right decision because everybody put their trust on me.

 

We had previously cruised with Princess, Carnival, RRC, Norgewian, MSC but always reserved first seating dinning option. Due to the time in port for few nights is right at dinner time, I am thinking about anytime dinning option. Would it be difficult for our group to get table? how is Princess anytime dinning option work?

 

Many thanks for your help

Emerald Princess is an excellent choice. Does the itinerary include Glacier Bay? Mores the pity if not.

Suggest you ask your group about dining time. If your group would like to eat together, traditional will suit your needs.

Strongly suggest that you move your booking to a TA that has group booking experience.

Since you appear to be asking about dining on Princess, you may want to ask on the Princess board.;)

I am on the Emerald July 30. I booked with the $1 deposit also.

I have reserved Tracy Arms excursion (only excursion). It is a smaller boat and you get up close to the glacier.

The largest dining room table size is 10. You might want to have late dining. Have all your reservations linked together either through your agent or call Princess to do it. Once on board go to the dining room to see where the tables are and see if the head person can help with the tables.

I had a group of 16. We had 2 tables close together with the same wait staff and each night we took turns at each table.