Looking for some advice on Alaska cruise- considering the Grand Princess

Hello,

As you can see from my cruising history below, i've cruised mostly on Carnival, tried Royal and Disney once + a Nile River cruise in Egypt. We are a couple in their mid-thirties with a 8 year old daughter. I'm looking for an Alaskan cruise for next summer, and Carnival is not on my list (for 2 reasons, 1) i've read at several places and my TA also told me that Carnival isn't the best when it comes to Alaska, and 2) i want to leave or disembark in Vancouver (which Carnival doesn't offer).

So i've looked around, the NCL Sun looked interesting, but they only do 1 way and it's Vancouver to Seward (or vice-versa), and Seward is a 3 hours bus ride to the airport, which i'm not interested in, but then i saw the Grand Princess which looks really interesting (and it goes to Anchorage- the actual city where the airport is). Now, i'm looking for actual opinions of people who have cruised Carnival and could give me a good comparison Carnival/Princess. I don't really care about review of cabins, but mostly food and entertainment, overall overview?

Furthermore, for those who have done an Alaskan cruise (on whichever line), what is the best time to go?

Thanks a lot

Hello,

 

As you can see from my cruising history below, i've cruised mostly on Carnival, tried Royal and Disney once + a Nile River cruise in Egypt. We are a couple in their mid-thirties with a 8 year old daughter. I'm looking for an Alaskan cruise for next summer, and Carnival is not on my list (for 2 reasons, 1) i've read at several places and my TA also told me that Carnival isn't the best when it comes to Alaska, and 2) i want to leave or disembark in Vancouver (which Carnival doesn't offer).

 

So i've looked around, the NCL Sun looked interesting, but they only do 1 way and it's Vancouver to Seward (or vice-versa), and Seward is a 3 hours bus ride to the airport, which i'm not interested in, but then i saw the Grand Princess which looks really interesting (and it goes to Anchorage- the actual city where the airport is). Now, i'm looking for actual opinions of people who have cruised Carnival and could give me a good comparison Carnival/Princess. I don't really care about review of cabins, but mostly food and entertainment, overall overview?

 

Furthermore, for those who have done an Alaskan cruise (on whichever line), what is the best time to go?

 

Thanks a lot

There are no cruises that go directly to Anchorage . Princess goes to Whittier which is three hours by bus from Anchorage.Why not consider a 7 day RTN from Vancouver or Seattle . Princess, NCL, Holland America and Royal do this cruise . If you have the time , check the cost of flying home from Anchorage versus the adding the return to Vancouver.

Alaska is more about the scenery and ports than the ship. i have found that many people are to tired after the port to really enjoy the shows.

As you see I live in BC and drive to Vancouver . The return flight to Vancouver is close to the same cost as cruising back.

Holland America is the only cruise line that goes to Anchorage proper as part of a 14 day cruise from Seattle.

The Grand doesn't go to Anchorage - it either goes to Seward or Whittier. None of the one-ways to Alaska dock at the port of Anchorage. HAL offers a 14 day roundtrip Seattle (next year on the Statendam), which provides for a one day port stop (a long one -8AM-11PM) at the port of Anchorage. None of the other mainstream lines embark or disembark at the port of Anchorage though.

thanks for your quick advice, i must have read that wrong. Back to square one. I haven't seen any roundtrips within 7 days, i'll go and check again!!

thanks for your quick advice, i must have read that wrong. Back to square one. I haven't seen any roundtrips within 7 days, i'll go and check again!!

Most of the seven day cruises are from Seattle. Holland America has some. From Vancouver.

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I have sailed 5 times to Alaska on Princess and Holland America combined. I have sailed round trip from Vancouver, round trip from Seattle and Vancouver to Seward, Vancouver to Whittier and Seward to Vancouver. In order of the routes I liked the best, I would vote, RT from Vancouver, Vancouver to Whittier, Vancouver to Seward, RT from Seattle and last Seward to Vancouver. Whittier is only about a 1 1/2 hour trip to Anchorage. Seward is 3 hours. The RT from Seattle I like for the cheaper airfare, but the first day, the seas were a little rough for me. Flying out of the Vancouver airport is not fun. Security took me absolutely forever to get through. Around 4 1/2 hours, if I remember correctly. Also, going Southbound, we have a much harder time with the time changes.

I would recommend going with either Princess or Holland America on the Alaska cruises. They have the most ships there and the most experience in that area. I have done different routes and loved them all for different reasons.

My children sailed with me when they were younger on Princess and Holland America and they actually preferred the children's program on Holland America more. I was shocked. I figured with it being the "old folks" line, they would be bored stiff, but oddly they weren't.

I will say that I am a very easy going person on cruises for the most part. I always make the best of everything. After all, it is vacation. I am not hard to please and like the simple things, but can take a touch of elegance at times, also.

I have done B2B Alaska on Princess twice. First time on Diamond, Whittier-Vancouver-Whittier, would never do that again because air travel from the east coast was a killer. Second time on Coral Princess, out of Vancouver. Both have excellent outside viewing areas if you don't have a balcony ( did insides both times). Horizon Court (buffet) is much better on Coral than Diamond. EM

There are no cruises that go directly to Anchorage . Princess goes to Whittier which is three hours by bus from Anchorage.Why not consider a 7 day RTN from Vancouver or Seattle . Princess, NCL, Holland America and Royal do this cruise . If you have the time , check the cost of flying home from Anchorage versus the adding the return to Vancouver.

Alaska is more about the scenery and ports than the ship. i have found that many people are to tired after the port to really enjoy the shows.

As you see I live in BC and drive to Vancouver . The return flight to Vancouver is close to the same cost as cruising back.

Holland America is the only cruise line that goes to Anchorage proper as part of a 14 day cruise from Seattle.

Whittier is an hour and a half from Anchorage.

There are several round trip Vancouver cruises. Which seem to be your preference?

I definitely don't agree that only HAL and Princess should be considered, because they have "been there the longest???" What does that have to do with anything??? All the cruiselines have been there for years.

Instead, you might want to consider the Alaska ports and what is of interest to you, especially if you may want to go to Hoonah or Sitka? Find out about each port, there are only 6 possible on the inside passage and rank them perhaps. This would narrow down your list. Also consider the glacier sailings. With HAL, some round trip Vancouver sailings went to both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm (Tracy Arm does "require" a ship excursion, my opinion only)

Best to educate yourself and get familiar with the itinerary differences then your choice will be clear.

I can't comment about Princess, sorry. We went round trip feom Seattle on NCL. I just wanted to comment about your question of when? We went end of May...early I know. We had unusual (according to captain) amazing sunny weather every day, but we had plenty of snow scenery and it even SNOWED on our train ride into Canada. Anyway, we live in Florida so we wanted snow...a cruising buddy from Michigan says Alaska in July/August looks just like home!

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Hello,

 

As you can see from my cruising history below, i've cruised mostly on Carnival, tried Royal and Disney once + a Nile River cruise in Egypt. We are a couple in their mid-thirties with a 8 year old daughter. I'm looking for an Alaskan cruise for next summer, and Carnival is not on my list (for 2 reasons, 1) i've read at several places and my TA also told me that Carnival isn't the best when it comes to Alaska, and 2) i want to leave or disembark in Vancouver (which Carnival doesn't offer).

 

So i've looked around, the NCL Sun looked interesting, but they only do 1 way and it's Vancouver to Seward (or vice-versa), and Seward is a 3 hours bus ride to the airport, which i'm not interested in, but then i saw the Grand Princess which looks really interesting (and it goes to Anchorage- the actual city where the airport is). Now, i'm looking for actual opinions of people who have cruised Carnival and could give me a good comparison Carnival/Princess. I don't really care about review of cabins, but mostly food and entertainment, overall overview?

 

Furthermore, for those who have done an Alaskan cruise (on whichever line), what is the best time to go?

 

Thanks a lot

We did the Grand Princess round trip out of Seattle in late Aug/early Sep. we took a Carnival cruise 2 yrs ago and it will likely be the only Carnival cruise we do. The cabin on Carnival was very nice, but the food was awful. Perhaps it was what I ordered (fish and lighter fare) but it was all over cooked. The Chef's Table was nice though.

Princess has provided a stellar experience over the past several years. Entertainment has been great with a wide range of choices. I will say though, that Norwegian entertainment is the best I've experienced at sea (but food was just so-so).

Service on Princess has been exceptional compared to Carnival as well.

We have done Alaska in May, July and late Aug/early Sep. all have been great weather wise. July temps were upper 60's to upper 70's Fahrenheit. Both early and late season are a bit cooler, but certainly not uncomfortable. We didn't need more than a light jacket and/or sweater. It's really dependent on the activities you choose to do. We canoed to a glacier and required full winter gear for that.

If I were recommending, I would say Princess for Food/Service, Norwegian for Entertainment and Carnival for cabin size.

Sorry I cannot answer about going to Alaska on Carnival....at least not yet. We are booked on the Carnival Legend in May 2015. I picked this cruise b/c it goes from Vancouver to Seattle and does go through Glacier Bay (which is something I was advised not to miss) I think Carnival does this route only for the 1st cruise of the season. Coming from NY, the airfares to anywhere else in Alaska vs Vancouver and Seattle, were so much more $$ and took so much more time.