Which cruise line? Help!

[reney313]

I always look at RCI first, and consider myself most loyal to that line.

 

However, when I did endless research for Alaska--and I mean I think I read for 5 hours a night, every night, for 8 months.....I finally decided on Princess.

 

I can't point to one reason why, but it was a cumulative thing. I finally figured out that I need to do a NB or SB from Alaska to Vancouver to experience the "true" inside passage...meaning going on the inside of Victoria island to Vancouver. Once i figured that out, I had to decide which direction and which line.

 

From there, I just have to say--it seemed 9:1 that I really needed to go to Glacier Bay. I wasn't sure if I would ever make it back to Alaska so I planned my first trip as if it were my only trip. (nevermind i went back the next summer--last year--and I'm vying for another one this summer if airprices go down enough!). Anyway, with that knowledge, it left me with only a few choices doing a One-way that went to Glacier Bay.

 

I was 38 at the time (40 now. :eek:). After reading extensively on both Holland America and Princess boards, I decided Princess seemed to be more my speed since I had ruled out RCI, and I really didn't think NCL would give me the experience I wanted (park rangers, etc. maybe they do, but I didn't think it would "formal" enough for alaska--whatever that means in my little brain).

 

So...I finally decided on Princess. Then I had to decide direction and ship. I like larger ships...so I decided on Diamond or Sapphire. BTW--I have taken both of them now and I highly recommend both, although Sapphire gets a slight edge. On my first cruise to Alaska, Sapphire had not been renovated yet and Diamond had, so it was the obvious choice to me. On my second, Sapphire had just been redone and received a few things Diamond did not.

 

Anyway, I then decided on Diamond and going SB as I wanted to do the land first. I knew that I would want the cruise to look forward to after the land. That's just me. And I think I would have been WAY exhausted after the cruise to do the land--not to mention, the LONG flight was much better for the first day with the anticipation vs. the last day.

 

I found a review from someone who had done the same, and they had researched A TON and had booked the rail and hotel in Denali separate from the cruise portion. It provided a lot more flexibility. I did the same and glad I did.

 

Here was the link to their in depth review:

http://moonprincess.com/travel/193/

 

When I read it, I knew that my boyfriend and I were similar and it fit for us.

I truly modeled a lot of our trip doing very similar things!

 

Anyway, asking here is a good thing. Read the reviews, read blogs, know your style and I think it will lead you to the best option for you.

 

I think I'll go on RCI to Alaska at some point, but I'm very very happy my first cruise there was with Princess, especially if you add the land part. They just "have it down". There is a lot of logistics involved, different than a Caribbean/Bahamas cruise. I felt very happy with Princess as it came to luggage and getting me to point A to Z. Even then i did book some of it independently and they still helped out. Amazing.

[reney313]

I will make another comment here.

 

I really think you should read the blog I posted above. It helped me immensely with the logistics.

 

That said, we did not do the "husky homestead tour". Instead, after arriving in Denali, we went to the park to check our options out and book our tour the next day. Then we enjoyed the "resort" and Glitter Gulch that evening.

 

We booked our tour to Wonder Lake, but did end up switching at Eielson and taking another bus back. We had the last bus out of the Wilderness Center (i think 11:00am) so it was going to be past the last shuttle to Princess lodge when we got back. That was fine, as we though the walk would do us well, but clouds came in as we got to Eielson. Since we figured the chance of seeing Denali at Wonder Lake were slim, we decided to head back.

 

The next morning, before the motor coach back to Anchorage, we went into the park and attended the FREE husky demonstration. I LOVED it! Really an amazing service they do for us. I did not feel slighted by not going on the Husky Homestead for profit tour....although I would have loved river rafting instead!

 

I do have pictures from that trip on my facebook page. I've made the pictures open to the public so you don't have to friend me, just click on the albums under pictures and look for 2011 Alaska. My 2012 Alaska pics are there too, but it was a cruise only portion and we didn't go all out on the excursions that trip. For fun, I also made a slide show to music on You Tube (albeit, not professionally! That's for sure!).

 

FacebooK:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1981500252894.2100385.1104834242&type=3

 

You Tube:

[allisons]

Budget Queen-thanks, will give it some more thought.

 

Statl-sorry to hear that, hope it didn't take away too much from your cruise experience.

 

allisons-yeah and it is a hit with the locals which is important to survive the off season.

 

Exactly! They're really working on getting the locals' business more than the tourists. All of my parents' friends have been driving up from RB to eat there. That schlep will be much easier during the off-season.

[OC PAT]

Wow...you have put together a wealth of info. that is just so helpful. It took me all day to get through it all and I am really getting excited. Thank you for your detailed blog and reviews! It has been very helpful!

[epaul78]

We loved cruising with Celebrity in Alaska!

 

We sailed on the Millennium a few years ago and loved our balcony stateroom.

 

The naturalist was onboard for the entire cruise and had regular hours on sea days as well as seminars on wildlife and Alaskan geology. The other entertainment was varied and interesting too, everything from a wine glass selection class to shows in the theater. We also thoroughly enjoyed the stop at Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), which not all ships get to visit.

 

Also, IMO Celebrity has the best beverage package, it included top shelf "adult beverages" and wines by the glass up to $12 as well as specialty coffees and bottled water and we felt it was a very good value.

 

Another thing is that Celebrity, being a more upscale line, seemed to have more active couples and not many families with young kids, when we don't bring our kids, it's nice to not have to be around other peoples' :). We also loved the dining options, you could choose to eat with others or not, and found the food quality and variety to be quite nice.

[Budget Queen]

 

The naturalist was onboard for the entire cruise and had regular hours on sea days as well as seminars on wildlife and Alaskan geology. The other entertainment was varied and interesting too, everything from a wine glass selection class to shows in the theater. We also thoroughly enjoyed the stop at Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), which not all ships get to visit.

 

 

 

Another thing is that Celebrity, being a more upscale line, seemed to have more active couples and not many families with young kids, when we don't bring our kids, it's nice to not have to be around other peoples' :). We also loved the dining options, you could choose to eat with others or not, and found the food quality and variety to be quite nice.

 

Actually what you describe is what all the cruise lines have in Alaska. None are over run with kids, with the possible exception of Disney. Bulk of passengers are middle aged and above. :) All can get a private table with open dining. Food is very similar. Ships that have on board naturalists, all have programs and narrations. Hoonah is a great port.

and a highlight for many, there, Haines and Sitka could all be of great interest but are not on a lot of itineraries. So reason, I always suggest finding out about each one. :)

[reney313]

Actually what you describe is what all the cruise lines have in Alaska. None are over run with kids, with the possible exception of Disney. Bulk of passengers are middle aged and above. :) All can get a private table with open dining. Food is very similar. Ships that have on board naturalists, all have programs and narrations. Hoonah is a great port.

and a highlight for many, there, Haines and Sitka could all be of great interest but are not on a lot of itineraries. So reason, I always suggest finding out about each one. :)

 

I agree with you here.

 

There might be some confusion between naturalist and the park rangers. I believe all the lines (or most) have a naturalist onboard the entire cruise. Those that go into Glacier Bay pick up Park Rangers at the entrance. Maybe the poster was thinking they were the same, and therefore that some lines only had them for one day.

[SuzyQ123]

Went Princess two years ago with a cruise tour.They were top notch.Leaving again on Princess in July to Alaska:):)

[linstadt]

So glad I'm reading this thread. I've been to Alaska twice and want to go back for my 3rd cruise next year. This one though would be a southward cruise. My TA says its better to fly into Anchorage than leave from it (you're either on a late night flight or early morning); didn't have any problems leaving from Seattle or Vancouver. I'd love to go to Denali but most of the cruise tours are only in Danali 1 or 2 nights, and that's not enough time to really get to see it and to have a chance to see wildlife. You take a huge chance going in May due to road closures. I'm also thinking of doing a pre or post tour of Canadian Rockies, starting to lean towards that instead of Denali. So many decisions.

 

My first cruise was 6 years ago on Celebrity Mercury (had a balcony on port side), its first year leaving from Vancouver. Absolutely LOVED Vancouver, did a train trip to ?Whittier (having a senior moment here) then did a bus tour to Victoria, needed to be an overnight trip. Victoria is wonderful. Unfortunately I only had time to do a HOHO tour of Vancouver, so definitely want to spend more time. Hated the Mercury, old and needed updated but our naturalist on board was OUTSTANDING. I was up many mornings at 6:30 am with him, wrapped with the ships wool blankets and sipping hot chocolate, on the top deck watching the whales and the "torpedo"whales as he called some of them - the swam right for the ship then at the last minuted, dived under the ship and came back up at the rear, it was great fun to watch. I loved Ketichan - we did a tour that took us to an old cannery and then a boat ride, saw beautifully colored starfish... Read a book called, If I don't know you, you don't live here" It was written by a women that wrote obtis for her town (Haines) paper and it told of wonderful story of these marvelous people that were born or transplanted to Alaska. The woman that did the cannery tour told us stories, just like I read in this book. I did go on a dog sled ride (retirement gift from work, about $500) and it was the thrill of a lifetime. We went June 1

 

2nd time to Alaska was on HAL from Seattle, stayed at a Red Lion a few blocks up from Pikes Market; again did HOHO and walked around Pikes Market at 6:00 am as it was setting up. Wonderful city. This time I had a cabin on the ?Promenade deck where I had an exterior door out to deck and the deck chairs were on this wrap around deck. I loved this location because I could run around to the other side to take photos if the naturalist saw whales. It was again an inside passage although instead of Skagway, we went to Sitka. Loved Sitka. I did a flight plane to a bear watching tour. THAT WAS TERRIFIC. It poured the entire time, I was soaked, my camera was wet, my walker did me proud in the mud and woods, only saw one bear but it was great!! I lagged behind the small group taking photos and then it dawned on me that I lost my sight of the bear, I'm lagging behind the group, perhaps I should catch up :eek:. I missed formal night that night because I was chilled to the bone, but so worth it.

 

I didn't like HAL at all except for the cabin location, the service was not good, the food wasn't good, nothing like I've heard about HAL. I was with a group of 16, they brought 2 cases of wine onboard with them, with HAL's permission. Most ships only allow 1 bottle of wine.

 

My TA is suggesting RCI because they have better cruise tours and lodgings than Princess. I just finished my 17th cruise on Emerald Princess to the Baltics last week and the month before I was on the Oasis in the Western caribbean. I have 6-7 cruises on each of those lines. I'm leaning towards end of August because I want to do more bear watching and the salmon are running then.

 

Just so much to think about but its so worth it. Good luck with your planning!

Linda

[Budget Queen]

I agree with you here.

 

There might be some confusion between naturalist and the park rangers. I believe all the lines (or most) have a naturalist onboard the entire cruise. Those that go into Glacier Bay pick up Park Rangers at the entrance. Maybe the poster was thinking they were the same, and therefore that some lines only had them for one day.

 

The "Park Rangers" only are on a cruise ship in Glacier Bay. No place else.

[OC PAT]

I'm taking my notes and rethinking some stuff. I want to look into the Canadian Rockies as an alternate to Denali. Still researching. Thanks to all for their continued sharing. I am still firm on May and Glacier Bay. We live in an Ocean Resort and Dh can not take off June-October. So no leeway there.

[Budget Queen]

I'm taking my notes and rethinking some stuff. I want to look into the Canadian Rockies as an alternate to Denali. Still researching. Thanks to all for their continued sharing. I am still firm on May and Glacier Bay. We live in an Ocean Resort and Dh can not take off June-October. So no leeway there.

 

I've done the Canadian Rockies with VIA, independent and rental cars. Simple to get around, with benefit of spending the time of your interests.

 

I would suggest you find out about the specific areas, use a "tour" as a guide, but also head to your library and find out about the nontour areas. There are many significant highlights that may be of interest to you?

[OC PAT]

I've been researching the tours and will be heading to the library soon. We were out of town and I'm busy catching up with this and that. I am still reading and rereading my books on Alaska so hopefully I will come up with a great plan. Thanks again for your input.