Which cruiseline to take to alaska???

Want to go to Alaska next June,2018.Trying to decide which cruiseline is best for Alaska.It comes down to Celebrity,Princess or Holland America.Would like to hear from folk's who traveled to Alaska on those cruiselines! Pro's and Con's of each!

Check out the Alaska itineraries for the cruise lines you are contemplating and go from there. You still have plenty of time to make up your mind, so check out the various ports of call and embarkation points for your interests. The lines you mentioned are all mass market lines so just little differences that each excel in their own way. We decided on HAL Eurodam round trip Seattle because of itinerary and price.

We took the Princess cruise Seattle R/T and enjoyed the ship and Glacier Bay.

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Itinerary is more important than the ship. Find activities and ports you are interested in, then find a ship that spends the most time at those ports. Many people don't spend much time on the ship other than to eat and sleep, so ports are the key.

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HAL and Princess does Glacier Bay on some ships... it gets my vote as a glacier seeker.

Have you considered which month??? Cost vs dry port weather vs wildlife vs local festival opportunities.... Oprah likes July and so do I.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2667

Oops.... I see have chosen June. Great for daylight and dry weather.

We chose HAL(New Amsterdam) because it embarks from Vancouver, so it goes inside passage all the way. The ships that embark from Seattle go out to sea, instead, and make a pretty useless stop in Victoria for a few evening hours, on the way back.

I also like the maturity factor with HAL. No climbing walls, waterslides, etc. Fewer kids. Quality meals were also a big factor, along with a fairly large inside cabin.

All those pretty much the same. If you have prior cruise experience with RCL and any loyalty status above the bottom level they reciprocate pretty well between RCCL and X. HAL and Princess (under Carnival umbrella) not so much, just repeat status. Ship size is another factor - HAL operates generally smaller ships that can get to places really big ships can't go. But smaller ships also have fewer balconies (thus higher prices for them) and less stateroom choice. We like HAL but I have an Aunt who had a bad experience with them (ages ago) and insists on Princess.

We chose princess for 2018

I think it comes down to itinerary & price. As others have mentioned if you've cruised with a line before & you're happy with them, then go with them. We are doing the NA in Jul, Rt Vancouver. What ever your choice I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Allan

Want to go to Alaska next June,2018.Trying to decide which cruiseline is best for Alaska.It comes down to Celebrity,Princess or Holland America.Would like to hear from folk's who traveled to Alaska on those cruiselines! Pro's and Con's of each!

Why did you pick Alaska? Round trip or one way? Northbound or southbound? Seattle or Vancouver? Is it the itinerary? Maybe a special tour? Why just those three cruise lines? What about price? So many places to go and so many things to see. Alaska is about where to go, not how to go. It is all about preference and how much you want to spend.

Want to go to Alaska next June,2018.Trying to decide which cruiseline is best for Alaska.It comes down to Celebrity,Princess or Holland America.Would like to hear from folk's who traveled to Alaska on those cruiselines! Pro's and Con's of each!

I would limit your choices to Princess or HAL - Celebrity does not go to Glacier Bay.

Most of the cruise lines go to Skagway, Juneau, & Ketchikan - so if Sitka is of interest to you, that may be the differentiating factor... (That is when they are round trip cruises.)

In my experience, Princess was a little better that Holland America with the naturalist commentary and such, which I really liked, but I love Holland America--especially when they serve pea soup on deck on glacier days. Whatever you choose, you'll be in Alaska, so you'll like it.

We're biased towards Princess after having just returned from our second AK cruisetour. I feel it is quality cruising w/o the waterslides, rock walls, etc. Concentrates on attractive menus and meals, entertainment and tours, not to mention excellent customer service. And if you do the land tour in conjunction with the cruise, the Princess Lodges are wonderful places to stay.

Just went through the same decision making process. We wanted round-trip out of Seattle and to see Glacier Bay. Finally picked Holland America for our June 2018 cruise. Cannot wait!

We chose HAL(New Amsterdam) because it embarks from Vancouver, so it goes inside passage all the way. The ships that embark from Seattle go out to sea, instead, and make a pretty useless stop in Victoria for a few evening hours, on the way back.

I also like the maturity factor with HAL. No climbing walls, waterslides, etc. Fewer kids. Quality meals were also a big factor, along with a fairly large inside cabin.

We also would like to go on this ship due to the itinerary, but hubby worries it will be too "mature" for us, he is 47 and although we do not use climbing walls or waterslides, we enjoy good entertainment, activities like mini golf and fitness, and also wanting to meet people of similar age. Went on Radiance of the Seas to New Zealand and it was great, but the Radiance doesn't do Glacier Bay.

What do you think, is the N.Amsterdam too quiet for us? Is there a better option with HAL or Princess?

We also would like to go on this ship due to the itinerary, but hubby worries it will be too "mature" for us, he is 47 and although we do not use climbing walls or waterslides, we enjoy good entertainment, activities like mini golf and fitness, and also wanting to meet people of similar age. Went on Radiance of the Seas to New Zealand and it was great, but the Radiance doesn't do Glacier Bay.

What do you think, is the N.Amsterdam too quiet for us? Is there a better option with HAL or Princess?

We were worried about this as well (I'm 47, Hubby is 51) but we've heard that the average age on HAL runs lower when school is out due to families traveling together. If nothing else, I figure maybe I'll feel young and that's not a bad thing! ;)

We were worried about this as well (I'm 47, Hubby is 51) but we've heard that the average age on HAL runs lower when school is out due to families traveling together. If nothing else, I figure maybe I'll feel young and that's not a bad thing! ;)

We are leaving in two weeks for a 14 day cruise with Holland America. Yes, we are both 70 but have been on HAL many times. You will find lots and lots of folks in their 40's and 50's and yes, you will see some people in their 70's.

After a lot of research we chose a Princess 1-way from Alaska (Train from Anchorage to Whittier) to Vancouver BC. Our criteria were that we wanted both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, and we did not want our last evening to be spent in Victoria (which some ships do, then sail in the early morning hours to Vancouver or Seattle).

There was a group of 13 of us, ranging from the late 40's to early 60's. We found the age group/mixture of passengers on Princess to be just right for us, with enough activities but not many kids, and no climbing walls, etc.

We also liked the level of service on Princess. We felt it was elegant without being overly formal. We also really liked the absence of the push to sell things, and a very limited number of announcements over the public address system.

As others have said, look at what ports/stops (glaciers, etc.) are important to you, as well as whether you want an out-and-back or just a one way. One option to look at is the Grand Princess Round Trip from San Francisco. For the amount you will spend flying to Alaska you may be able to have an extra couple of nights on board, and the itinerary includes glaciers and some fun ports in Alaska. Spending time before/after the cruise in San Francisco can also be fun.

We just got back from a round trip out of Seattle on the Ruby Princess. I was responsible for planning for our group. I chose the ship by first deciding one way or round trip and chose round trip. I decided the logistics of round trip was easier for our group. It also would be cheaper and that was important to us. Second, I chose port of departure and chose Seattle over Vancouver. Reasons for this choice (even though many of you think it's the wrong choice...it was right for us!) were because none of use had been to Seattle and wanted a couple of days to see stuff. We also had a lot of Southwest Airline miles that got us 4 free round trip tickets to Seattle. We didn't want to spend even more money and time to get to Vancouver from Seattle. Each to his own, right?

The last and biggest reason I chose our ship, the Ruby Princess, was because I wanted to see Glacier Bay. After researching the glaciers, I found that you really aren't guaranteed seeing them on other cruises that don't tour Glacier Bay. I ended up seeing 2 others...Mendenhall and Davidson, but not everyone in our party did the excursions to see these. We all adored our day in Glacier Bay. My parents had a large balcony that we all used. It was fabulous to just sit out there and the peacefulness of nature.

Once I chose Glacier Bay, there were only 2 ships to choose from...the Ruby Princess and one of the HAL ships. I chose Princess because of the slightly younger in general and less formal vibe we got from stuff I read about the lines. I'm sure HAL would have been fine as well. I also chose Skagway over Sitka because my parents wanted to do the train and it's easier from there.

If you go down the list of things like I did (round trip or not, choose your departure port, and Glacier Bay or not) the cruise selects itself because there aren't that many to chose from.

Princess - itinerary: voyage of the glaciers!

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Princess but would not have a problem with HAL.

Both have been doing Alaska for a very long time.

We loved the Princess Voyage of the Glaciers but would consider HAL as well now that there is no longer smoking on balconies (which at the time is what led us to book Princess). I thought Princess did a wonderful job in Glacier Bay. HAL also has a round-trip itinerary that looks great if that works better for you logistically.

Our travel agent suggested a cruise that included Glacier Bay and inside passage.

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