How important is the ship?

look for the itinerary and price first. I won't worry about the ship unless you really have to go with a certain cruise line.

On our Caribbean cruises we usually get balcony cabins one or two floors below the pool so we can walk back and forth rather than taking the elevator.

However, I'm thinking it would be better to get a lower level balcony to better enjoy Alaska scenery. True? Anything I'm not thinking about in doing so?

Also thinking of an aft balcony since it would have less wind when ship is moving.

I've read that it can be sunny and warm on Alaskan cruises depending when you cruise, but under 80 degrees seems a bit chilly to me! Perhaps we should just stick to an Oceanview for Alaska.

Input appreciated

Thanks.

 

 

I've read that it can be sunny and warm on Alaskan cruises depending when you cruise, but under 80 degrees seems a bit chilly to me!

 

Thanks.

Coming from the UK, on a similar latitude to Ketchikan, for me 60 is Ok, 70 is warm, 80 is stop what you are doing and sit down with a drink, 90 never happens. So looks like I might be OK with the weather when I go next year. Though I guess we have the warming Gulf Stream and no cooling glaciers so I will be prepared for cooler weather.

We just got off the Pearl on 9/13/15. A great trip. Sailing Glacier Bay was phenomenal. National Park Service rangers come onboard and provide some narration. It's heard throughout the ship and they do it from the Spinnaker Lounge for the benefit of non-balcony passengers. What you see is basically indescribable; pictures do it no justice! We saw Mendenhall glacier in Juneau but that was so so. In Skagway we took an excursion to Davidson Glacier which included a 30 mile boat ride in a high speed boat, a short canoe trip and a short hike directly to the face of the glacier. To us, this was the highlight of the entire cruise. Truly a once in a lifetime experience.

When I asked the original question, Princess didn't have their itineraries out. Now that they are out, I am looking at those too.

 

Right now I have the roundtrip out of Seattle on NCL Pearl booked with the "kids sale free" promotion (2 rooms, so only 1 kid is free). Not 100% happy because the pool isn't covered. But it does do Glacier Bay (not Hubbard, however).

 

I prefer to do the Seattle or Vancouver roundtrip because my mother and I MIGHT try to fly standby since my brother works for an airline. I have a few days to attempt to get there via standby. I would book an actual ticket for my DH since he has restricted vacation time. Not sure about the DDs yet. Depends on their work schedule. I think it might be difficult to get to Anchorage on standby? There are only a couple flights per day. My brother is going to monitor things for the 2015 season and we finalize decisions based on that.

 

I am, however, debating between the Star Princess Southbound and the Crown Princess roundtrip Seattle. The Star does Glacier Bay & Hubbard. The Crown does Glacier Bay. In addition, the Star Princess has a covered pool while the Crown does not. And the 10 day roundtrip from San Francisco is a possibility. I'm sure we could get there on standby. And the Grand Princess has a covered pool. Plus the times on Port Days seem good.

 

Maggie

Both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier are wonderful but in totally different ways. Based on the philosophy that in Alaska you pick the itinerary, not the ship, I would do the Star Princess southbound. Could you manage to find some time to do some land stuff before the cruise?

DON

I am of the view that there is a ship and a cruise line for everyone and no one does a bad job. So IMO what a person really needs to focus on is the itinerary and what they really want to see and get out of the cruise then try to match that up with a ship.