Looking for smaller ship

My husband and I are looking for a smaller ship for an Alaskan cruise, we'd like the ship to hold less than 1,000 persons, can anyone recommend a ship, does Princess line have small ships to Alaska?

Princess' only ship that's small enough to meet your needs, the Pacific Princess, doesn't seem to visit Alaska at all. Last I remember the small ship being in Alaska was 2010, but that's from my memory so no promises on accuracy. Back then, it was doing a rather unique 14-day itinerary so it had some stops in "faraway places", but still also stopped at the big three: Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway.

You're going to have to go elsewhere. I have a friend who works for Lindblad, Alaska Dream and National Geographic would be the ones I would start with.

HAL offers smaller ships than Princess. But it's a little more than 1000 cruisers.

Something like this? http://www.alaskandreamcruises.com/

My husband and I are looking for a smaller ship for an Alaskan cruise, we'd like the ship to hold less than 1,000 persons, can anyone recommend a ship, does Princess line have small ships to Alaska?

Oceania.... not sure when they are going to be here again with one of their ships but this would be a good fit

In addition to Dream cruises recommended above, UnCruise also has very small adventure ships with fewer than 100 passengers. We were looking at them, for an all-inclusive adventure cruise. Friends have sailed with UnCruise and recommended them highly. The price seems to be comparable or even higher than a luxury cruise, but features lots of "up close encounters" with wildlife and scenery.

Seabourn has restarted Alaska cruises this year with the 450 passenger Seabourn Sojourn. This is an all-inclusive luxury cruise, so be prepared for "sticker shock". We have, however, been won over by the Seabourn service.

Oceania Regatta does Alaska cruises all summer. The ship holds 680 passengers. Because the ship is small, it can get into areas larger ships cannot and to ports that others are unable to use.

We’ve done most of the major lines in Alaska and a couple on UnCruise and Alaskan Dream. For us, Uncruise does Alaska best. Exceptional food and itinerary. Overnighting in Glacier Bay was a treat.

Oceania’s Regatta was a disappointment. The food is very good but it’s a poor ship for Alaska. There is very limited unobstructed forward viewing and at two ports the docks couldn’t accommodate the size of the ship so we hat to tender, even though the itinerary noted that we were docked. We were able to dock when the tide changed. The only port they do that the larger ships don’t go to is Wrangell which is really a wasted port unless you’re going to Anan for bear viewing.

Windstar begins Alaska trips in 2018!

Uncruise is wonderful. We have taken three Alaska trips with them and enjoyed them all. Have also gone on several Royal Caribbean cruises (we worked as naturalists) but they are basically day stops in Alaskan ports for excursions and shopping. Uncruise loves to take you to the nooks and crannies the big ships don't see. We spent an entire day in Misty Fjords near Ketchikan and Dawes Glacier/Endicott Arm near Juneau. Had one evening where we were "surrounded" by several pods of orca and many humpback whales.

Our ship on all three trips was the Safari Endeavor which held about eighty people. The costs are higher but the route, ships, and crew more than make up the difference. No bingo games, casinos, or shopping tour pitches either. American Dream Cruises and Lindblad would offer a similar experience with Lindblad's focus being more educational (it's the tie-in with National Geographic).

Look at Regent and Silversea, both one way cruises between Seward and Vancouver on ships with less than 500 passengers.

Of the main stream cruise lines, I think that HAL comes closest to that size with the Zaandam - it is around 1400 passengers. We prefer small ships and if we had gone mainstream it was the cruise I would have picked. I liked their itinerary and no formal nights.

In addition to the luxury lines that others mentioned, there is Crystal Serenity. It currently carries just over 1000 passengers. The price was quite good for a luxury line and not that much more than the similar HAL itinerary that we looked at. In a few weeks, we will take one of their Alaska cruises.

Next year our favorite line, Windstar, will have Alaska Cruises with the 200 passenger Star Legend. The small ship size lets them have some unique itineraries including ones that cruise Misty Fjords and Kenai Fjords. The suites are larger than the cabins on the smaller Alaska lines (e.g. Uncruise and Alaska Dream).

Crystal Symphony is doing Alaska in 2018 & 2019. She is 1000 psg. EM