Which line for Alaska?

[momto3gr8boys]

Hi everyone! I am considering an Alaskan cruise for 2014. I have sailed DCL, RCCL, Princess and Celebrity, and was happy with all of them.

 

The Princess cruise was a 7 night typical Inside passage itinerary. What I loved about the cruise was how they tied it into the destination. There was a naturalist onboard who gave presentations on the history of Alaska and would do commentary over the course of the week. It really added to the overall experience.

 

That was my only Princess and Alaskan cruise. The other line/destinations (Caribbean and European) had nothing like this. So is it line specific or itinerary specific? If they all did something like this I will opt for best itinerary/price/ship. But if this is unique to Princess, I may lean towards doing that again.

 

Thanks!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Princess and HAL have been in the Alaskan business for many years and know what they are doing.

We have done quite a few Alaskan cruises on Princess and HAL and have loved them all. NCL was just "okay".

Since you have done Alaska before, try to choose something with a different port. Don't know if you did Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier or Tracy Arm -- but for the next cruise I would choose a different one than what you did before.

[Treven]

My experience was with Princess. It was round trip from SFO, and all the ports were wonderful. I really! liked Haines, plus Tracy Arm. Though it was June, Tracy Arm sure was cold!!!

[dmwnc1959]

I'm still waiting to get my duct tape and air freshener back. LOL ;) :D Been a long time since that cruise on Celebrity Millennium, hasn't it?

 

Enjoy Alaska, again. I cruised there five times and it still isn't enough. Wish I could go back but my cruising schedule is already lined up for the next few years. Maybe I can try and squeeze another one in there somewhere? ;)

[kelmac]

Hi everyone! I am considering an Alaskan cruise for 2014. I have sailed DCL, RCCL, Princess and Celebrity, and was happy with all of them.

 

The Princess cruise was a 7 night typical Inside passage itinerary. What I loved about the cruise was how they tied it into the destination. There was a naturalist onboard who gave presentations on the history of Alaska and would do commentary over the course of the week. It really added to the overall experience.

 

That was my only Princess and Alaskan cruise. The other line/destinations (Caribbean and European) had nothing like this. So is it line specific or itinerary specific? If they all did something like this I will opt for best itinerary/price/ship. But if this is unique to Princess, I may lean towards doing that again.

 

Thanks!

 

My wife and I have four cruises in Alaska, but by far our best itinerary included taking a "northbound" cruise on one line; spending some time in Alaska; and take a different ship "southbound".

If you have the time -- I would recommend Holland America northbound out of Vancouver; after arriving at Seward, spend two or three or more days exploring the area; and take a Celebrity ship southbound. It is a very cost effective trip as you don't need an open jaws flight back/to the lower 48, just R/T air to Vancouver. By taking different lines you can minimize the number of identical port stops. HAL does Glacier Bay, Sitka and Celebrity does Hubbard Glacier, Icy Strait...,

We did a total of 23 days, including seven nights in the Kenai and Anchorage. We even stayed at a Princess lodge (no, you don't need to be on a Princess cruise to stay at their lodges:) )

We did this trip for about the same cost as a 12 night Land/Cruise package.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:D

[momto3gr8boys]

I'm still waiting to get my duct tape and air freshener back. LOL ;) :D Been a long time since that cruise on Celebrity Millennium, hasn't it?

 

Enjoy Alaska, again. I cruised there five times and it still isn't enough. Wish I could go back but my cruising schedule is already lined up for the next few years. Maybe I can try and squeeze another one in there somewhere? ;)

 

Hi!!! Yes, it has been a long time! I may not have returned the duct tape and air freshener, but I did spread the wealth with the water and we still tell people about that story - as in you never know who you'll bump into on the internet :D

 

I do still have this picture though....I took it as soon as I got in the room, but I don't think I knew how to post it back then:

 

 

That was actually the last time I was on a cruise!! We did some land vacations this past year. I am doing a quick DCL 3 night in May, and as always, once I plan one, the fire is refueled!

[momto3gr8boys]

My wife and I have four cruises in Alaska, but by far our best itinerary included taking a "northbound" cruise on one line; spending some time in Alaska; and take a different ship "southbound".

If you have the time -- I would recommend Holland America northbound out of Vancouver; after arriving at Seward, spend two or three or more days exploring the area; and take a Celebrity ship southbound. It is a very cost effective trip as you don't need an open jaws flight back/to the lower 48, just R/T air to Vancouver. By taking different lines you can minimize the number of identical port stops. HAL does Glacier Bay, Sitka and Celebrity does Hubbard Glacier, Icy Strait...,

We did a total of 23 days, including seven nights in the Kenai and Anchorage. We even stayed at a Princess lodge (no, you don't need to be on a Princess cruise to stay at their lodges:) )

We did this trip for about the same cost as a 12 night Land/Cruise package.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:D

 

Wow! That's a great concept! I was starting to look at cruisetours yesterday (this year's itineraries/prices since next summer isn't out yet) and I am thinking I would like to do some time on land, and not a RT since it is so repetitive of what we have already done. But the flight into Anchorage and out of Vancouver is expensive. Thanks for giving me a different angle to research.

[kelmac]

Wow! That's a great concept! I was starting to look at cruisetours yesterday (this year's itineraries/prices since next summer isn't out yet) and I am thinking I would like to do some time on land, and not a RT since it is so repetitive of what we have already done. But the flight into Anchorage and out of Vancouver is expensive. Thanks for giving me a different angle to research.

 

Thanks! You will see that the one way cruises are less expensive compared to the roundtrip cruises. Seems like the base price for us was less than $100 per day, per person. Rental car prices seemed high in Seward, but other than that we thought it was very affordable.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Kel:)

[dmwnc1959]

Hi!!! Yes, it has been a long time! I may not have returned the duct tape and air freshener, but I did spread the wealth with the water and we still tell people about that story - as in you never know who you'll bump into on the internet :D

 

I do still have this picture though....I took it as soon as I got in the room, but I don't think I knew how to post it back then:

 

That was actually the last time I was on a cruise!! We did some land vacations this past year. I am doing a quick DCL 3 night in May, and as always, once I plan one, the fire is refueled!

 

OMG! That picture made me bust out laughing so hard! :D:D:D It even still has my Celebrity name tags on the case of water. In all my years, and in all my cruises, have never run across a similar situation.

 

I did a couple of cruises last year on another B2B, and have a brand new ship that's also a brand new design, booked for December. :D Should be fun!

 

If you decide on Princess come back to the Princess Forum and do a review. I'd love to read about your adventures.

[Putterdude]

It is generally regarded that Princess and HAL have the best itineraries in Alaska if going from Vancouver.