Alaskan cruise, which ship?

We are planning a 35th wedding anniversary cruise with our best friends next summer. We want to try Alaska. I have sailed the Carribean many times, but never cruised Alaska. Can somebody please tell me which is the best ship to take for a seven day cruise to Alaska. All comments and advice will be appreciated. Thank you!!!! :o

We took Summit along with the land tour in Aug. '03. It was wonderful. We had the land tour first which started out in Anchorage (Sun. 8/3) with just the overnight stay. Next morning we left on the glass-domed train to Talkeetna, where we saw Mt. McKinley clear as a bell from our hotel room. This quaint little town looks like something straight out of Northern Exposure. I kept expecting a moose to wander down the street any minute.

The next day we re-boarded the train just before lunch and went to Denali. On the train trips we had breakfast the first day and lunch the second day. We chose this land tour specifically because it gave us two nights in Denali. Included in the package was the 8-hr wildlife tour 69 mi. into the interior of Denali, where we saw moose and caribou actually in the road in front of the bus, grizzlies both coming and going, Dall sheep on the mountainside, lots of birds and amazing, constantly changing scenery. We had a box dinner and choice of hot coffee or chocolate at the halfway point. Water was always available. The guide/driver was excellent. On the morning before that excursion we were able to go to the Visitors Center and do our own hike then back to town for some shopping. There are free shuttles everywhere so getting around is not a problem.

From Denali we took a motorcoach to Fairbanks where we had an included excursion on a paddlewheel boat and a trip to the pipeline.

The hotels/lodges we stayed at were great. On Friday we flew back to anchorage and took a motorcoach to Seward where we boarded the ship, having been issued our passes before we got off the coach--so easy. We had a guide for the whole land tour. It was extremely well-run

The ship is beautiful, great food, service entertainment, excursions--just everything was first rate.

On the first day we were at sea, but stopped at the Hubbard glacier while the ship did a 360 turn so everyone could get a good look and take pics.

The next day we stopped at Juneau, where we had booked a combo tour--Mendenhall glacier and whale watch. We saw lots of whales and Stellar seal lions and even some dolphins. We could have used more time at the glacier to see all that the museum had to offer.

Next was Skagway, where we took the White Pass railway up the mountain and back--breathtaking, but not for anyone afraid of heights. Did a walking tour after the excursion.

Sitka--we did our own walking tour. Very interesting town founded by Russians.

Ketchikan-own walking tour of Creek Street and up the hill while the salmon run was in full swing. Didn't have time to tour the salmon hatchery or totem museum at the top. The salmon run was just like you see on TV--fish jumping up the waterfall, very cool.

The last day was at sea finishing off the inside passage. We saw two pods of orcas from the ship.

We flew home from Vancouver. We really had a fabulous time. You can't go wrong with the Summit.

1/02 Explorer E. Carib.

1/03 Explorer W. Carib.

8/03 Summit Alaska cruise/tour

2/04 Adventure S. Carib.

2/05 Galaxy Panama Canal

6/06 Jewel Brit. Isles/Nor. Fjords + 3 days in London

1/07 Mercury Mexican Riviera

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I have been on six Celebrity cruises and always liked Celebrity. We just got off the Crown Princess and we had picked that this summer because there were no big Celebrity ships leaving from NY. (I wish Celebrity would have a mega ship out of New York. )We were disappointed in the service in the restaurants and the cleanliness of the rooms on the Crown. So we definitely want to go on Celebrity next summer. The seven day Summit trip sounds great.

WHAT hotel did you stay at in Denali Park?

I heard some of them are run down.

Thanks again.

We are planning a 35th wedding anniversary cruise with our best friends next summer. We want to try Alaska. I have sailed the Carribean many times, but never cruised Alaska. Can somebody please tell me which is the best ship to take for a seven day cruise to Alaska. All comments and advice will be appreciated. Thank you!!!! :o

Ditto on Summit. We did the Alaska transition cruise (fabulous) on Summit last year and it was fabulous. Stick with an M class ship!!

Ditto on Summit. We did the Alaska transition cruise (fabulous) on Summit last year and it was fabulous. Stick with an M class ship!!

We tried to do the Alaska transition cruise this year, on an M-Class ship, and and it was a disastor. We skipped over 1/2 of the Itinerary because of pod problems, known to Celebrity, but unknown to myself. I think the M-Class ships could be OK, as long as you are aware of the recurring pod problems. These problems have been going on since the first M-Class ship were launched six years ago. If you are willing to take the chance with M-Class ships the service and entertainment are great. For myself, I will look elsewhere for my next cruise.

If I was planning another Alaska cruise, I would look into a different cruiseline, not Celebrity. If you want to take a chance that your Alaska cruise may NOT take you to all of your ports, definitely book an "M" class ship. If you want to take a chance that your Alaska cruise will reschedule your days in ports, & shorten your arrival & departure times in ports, definitely book Celebrity. If you want to go to Alaska on an inside passage sailing and never see the inside passage, definitely book Celebrity. I would look into booking another cruiseline.

Doesn't Mercury do the inside passage?

Hi,:) as you can see...you will get varied replies concerning

your question.

Some very unhappy customers while others of us had very

happy experiences.

I sailed on Mercury in May and was one of the happy

customers.

Were we late in port? Yes...but I had one of my best

cruises ever:) The majestic scenery is breathtaking.

The crew and staff were outstanding.

I know you will also receive other replies saying Mercury

was horrible...but for me it was wonderful...and I can

only give you the view from my particular circumstance.

Would I book with Celebrity again? Yes. And yes,

I would also book on any of the classes...Zenith,

C or M.

Enjoy your Alaskan Cruise...whichever ship you choose:)

Parrot..yes Mercury does inside passage.

I'm not tied to any particular cruiseline, as you can see by my signature, I usually take more land vacations than cruises. That being said, I think for Alaska, I would stick with Princess or HAL. They have been doing Alaska the longest, have the most on-shore amenities, and I think the best reviews. I did HAL for the Inside Passage in '99 and will be doing them again for a cruisetour in '07. They are very elegant (chimes to dinner, deck boys in their little Phillip Morris suites, teak promenade deck all the way around the ship, wood deck lounge chairs). Such a nice ambiance.:p

I would think ...especially in lieu of the fact that the Infinity is going into drydock for pod repairs soon ...that you would be safe booking an Alaska cruise for summer '07.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that they're probably gonna have the problems ironed out by then. :D

*Just got off a HAL ship to Alaska, and it was a very enjoyable cruise. However, the ports are pretty much the same for all the cruise lines, and if you do your homework here on the boards and book excursions independantly ...there isn't a whole lot of difference between what's offered from the cruise lines.

There's not much in the way of 'on shore amenities' that I know of giving anyone a 'leg up' on anyone else IMO.

Don't think you can go wrong with the Summit - we just got back from an Alaskan cruise on her a few weeks ago. Beautiful ship! Pod issues were at the back of our minds, but we had no mechanical problems at all.

Laura

Pick a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay. I love Celebrity but they don't currently go there.

Sorry, duplicate post

Here is another vote for Mercury. We have been to Alaska on Mercury twice and would do it again in a heartbeat.:D

booking the Infinity and her sister ship. You have heard about the mechanical problems, the virus and honestly they never gave us any idea what was going on outside for location etc. Things will calm down for them and they will get it together but suggest waiting until the good word is out loud and clear.

We just got off the Mercury on August 11 and we had a blast.

Be aware that Alaska is a different destination. Alaska is not the Caribbean. You might have seven days of cloud, rain, and cold. As long as you are prepared for this, it isn't a problem. At Ketchican (sp) we had all those weather conditions going on at the same time. At one point, we couldn't see the side of the ship, much less the front. That didn't stop us from enjoying the city, but we were prepared to walk around in the rain. We were rewarded with a few minutes of gorgeous sunshine just before we left and entered the clouds again. We had at least some sunshine every day, but we also had cold rain every day.

To me, Alaska is more of an active vacation. You need to get off the ship and encounter the land and experience whatever is there for you when you arrive. Alaska is adventure travel. That doesn't mean that you have to hike 20 miles in the snow every day, but you should be ready to go out and do things that you might not do at home. There are activities for all different levels of physical ability, so you don't have to worry about finding something to do. Just be ready to do it in changeable weather.

If you do nothing else, find some way to fly over the Juneau ice fields. If the weather is cooperating at all, you will have a once in a life time experience.

I would think ...especially in lieu of the fact that the Infinity is going into drydock for pod repairs soon ...that you would be safe booking an Alaska cruise for summer '07.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that they're probably gonna have the problems ironed out by then. :D

 

*Just got off a HAL ship to Alaska, and it was a very enjoyable cruise. However, the ports are pretty much the same for all the cruise lines, and if you do your homework here on the boards and book excursions independantly ...there isn't a whole lot of difference between what's offered from the cruise lines.

 

There's not much in the way of 'on shore amenities' that I know of giving anyone a 'leg up' on anyone else IMO.

This is hard. Some love Summit; some hate it. Why can't they fix the pod problems? What ship is good for Alaska on Princess? I didn't like the service on the Crown. AND how do we book excursions independently? Thanks everyone. I am fairly new to the boards.

This is hard. Some love Summit; some hate it. Why can't they fix the pod problems? What ship is good for Alaska on Princess? I didn't like the service on the Crown. AND how do we book excursions independently? Thanks everyone. I am fairly new to the boards.

Seaglass, For information on the various ports go to the Alaska thread on this board. Another way to find out about independent land tours is to do a search on the names of the ports that you are going to visit. You will find a wealth of information there. If you have an extra week I would recommend booking a one way cruise to or from Alaska and renting a car for a week and driving around in Alaska. Driving a car through Alaska really brings home the Alaskan experience. My experience has been that Princess does a much better job than Celebrity does in Alaska and you are more likely to get to all of your ports.

I know you were disappointed with your cruise on the Crown, but I still recommend Princess. We have cruised several times on RCI, X, and Princess. We chose the Star Princess for our Alaska cruise three years ago and it was perfect. We docked at all ports. Some ships have to tender so I would recommend checking to see what the ships you are considering have to do in each port.

Regardless of cruise line, get a balcony for Alaska.

We sailed Infinity on July 9th and we missed part of our cruise due to pod problems. If there are problems then it means you're stuck on the ship for a few days and not a lot to do. If we missed anything then it was down to the total lack of announcements. The Captain hardly spoke to us except for when there was something majorly wrong and then he didn't give us full information. As the previous poster said the weather can be bad in Alaska - we were lucky. We had glorious weather, only one day of rain in Juneau, but after 3 days on the ship it becomes very boring. With the problems at Canada Place disembarking too, I would consider another cruise line. RCCL go from Ballantyne Pier in Vancouver - perhaps that is better than Canada Place?? Also having seen the HAL ships whilst in Vancouver they look far superior to Celebrity. We've sailed Princess in the past and how I wished I'd picked one of their one way cruises. With all the pod problems on the M class ships I'd avoid them totally. Infinity is going into dry dock but what about the other sister ships?? It's a lot of money to risk on a holiday that could go disastrously wrong. The customer services with Celebrity are also bad so there is no reassurance that if something does go wrong that you will get any sort of customer satisfaction. Hope this helps!

The one day that I did get off the ship, in Ketchikan, the Sun Princess was docked there. We sailed on her when she was with P & O as Adonia. She's had a full refit when she went back to Princess so should be in a very good state. She wsa absolutely beautiful when we sailed on her in 2003, lovely lay-out, big swimming pools, excellent dining rooms, theatre, etc. So there are other Princess ships that 'do' Alaska. We sailed on the Golden Princess and the service, etc was faultless - far better than Celebrity. The food was better too - more choice, 24 hour dining too. We loved it and felt it was more upmarket than Celebrity. More people dressed 'properly' by the dress code on Princess too. It was really noticeable on infinity that there were many on Formal Nights that were 'casual' in the dining rooms and sadly nobody from Celebrity did anything about it which lowered the whole standard and feeling of the nights. I would definitely say that Princess 'outdoes' Celebrity.

I found just the opposite between Princess and Celebrity (and HAL) as far as the service and food being 'more upmarket.' I much more preferred Celebrity. Same with the dress code....although IMO you'll find that many folks tend to dress more casual on the Alaska cruises...I saw more folks dressed up on Celebrity than HAL or Princess.

But the following of dress codes isn't pertinant to choosing an Alaskan cruise IMO...it won't have any affect on your enjoyment (at least, it shouldn't).

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with any of the 3, but it depends on what you are looking for in a cruise.

As far as their being mechanical problems...again...I would not worry about this for next summer. Read the boards....and yes, go to the Alaska board on CC...check itineraries and prices and dates, and finally availability.

Have fun!

My husband and I sailed Infinity to Alaska five years ago, during her inaugural season, and it was our second best cruise to date. We have also been on the Mercury, where we had a great sky suite with a huge private balcony, but the ship itself was not as nice as the Infinity.

Seaglass-we stayed at the Grand Denali Lodge way up on the mountain overlooking the Denali "Village" with spectacular views all around. It was part of the land tour package through Celebrity.

In Talkeena we stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge with beautiful views all around, as well, and Mt. McKinley was just outside our window, or so it seemed.

In Fairbanks we stayed at Sophie Station Hotel, an all-suite hotel with beautiful gardens surrounding each wing and bordering each drive and parking lot. Actually the gardens were unbelievably beautiful EVERYWHERE in Alaska. We were dumbfounded at the huge, almost mutant flowers and vegetables often, mixed together in interesting configurations. The extra amount of sunlight does the trick. My friend and I took almost as many pics of the flower gardens as we did anything else, much to our husbands' chagrin.

These lodgings were part of the Celebrity package and were definitely NOT rundown. The rooms were beautiful, clean and very comfortable. There were also great restaurants on the premises. Our land tour guide was with us every step of the way and was a great asset to the tour. He flew back to Anchorage with us and rode the coach to Seward, issuing our SeaPass cards before we got off to board the ship. :D

I was interested in a Celebrity Summit Alaskan cruise at one time. However, the Summit cancelled an Alaskan cruise two years in a row for the same problem, so I wouldn't trust them to get it right next summer. HAL's southbound Volendam has the same itinerary as the Summit in 2007, so if that was the itinerary I wanted, I'd choose HAL.