which ship/itinerary?

[purplepeanut6]

debating between 3 ships would like some feedback from anyone who has been on either

NCL-pearl,

Holland America-Ms. Amsterdam or

Princess- Grand Princess?

 

NCL:

Sun Seattle (EMBARK) --- 4:00 pm

Mon At Sea --- ---

Tue Juneau 2:00 pm 10:00 pm

Wed Skagway 7:00 am 8:15 pm

Thu Glacier Bay --- Overnight

Fri Ketchikan 6:00 am 1:30 pm

Sat Victoria, BC, Canada 6:00 pm 11:59 pm

Sun Seattle (DISEMBARK) 8:00 am ---

 

HA:

0 Puget Sound CO

1 At Sea

2 Scenic Cruising Tracy Arm CO 03:00 PM 08:00 PM

3 Juneau, Alaska, US 07:00 AM 06:00 PM

4 Sitka, Alaska, US TR 08:00 AM 04:00 PM

5 Ketchikan, Alaska, US 07:00 AM 01:00 PM

6 Victoria, British Columbia, CA 06:00 PM 11:59 PM

7 Seattle, Washington, US 07:00 AM

 

Princess:

1 Seattle, Washington 4:00 PM

2 At Sea

3 Ketchikan, Alaska 6:30 AM 4:00 PM

4 Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska (Scenic Cruising) 6:00 AM 10:00 AM

4 Juneau, Alaska 2:00 PM 10:00 PM

5 Skagway, Alaska 6:00 AM 5:00 PM

6 At Sea

7 Victoria, British Columbia 7:00 PM 11:59 PM

8 Seattle, Washington 7:00 AM

 

 

THANKS!

[biojeep]

We sailed on the NCL Pearl out of Seattle in 2012 & loved the ship and the itinerary. We had plenty of time in each port. The ship is a beautiful ship and there is plenty of open viewing space in Glacier Bay. We have sailed on Disney & NCL and we much prefer NCL. We love the freestyle atmosphere.

[Budget Queen]

I have been on all three cruise lines and all three "itineraries" in Alaska.

 

I couldn't care less about the cruise line or ship- so no help there. :)

 

But, with the itinerary- have you looked further into each of these ports? Have good ideas for how you would occupy your time? Know what the various tour options are? Alaska isn't the Caribbean- every port is well worth visiting, and very different from the others. Unique activities are available from each one. IF the itinerary is of interest to you (plenty of people it doesn't matter) then take some time and find out about each port. :) Sitka- could be a priority? The port has the best location for a varied wildlife boat tour. Also your only opportunity for getting to a puffin rookery. Again- depends on your priority for seeing Alaska. Glacier Bay is certainly a glacier and wildlife jackpot. You would see at least 4 glacier on this full day transit.

 

With Tracy Arm- I clearly advocate- for the "necessary" Tracy Arm ship boat tour add on. It is GROSSLY superior compared to the cruise ship transit. Also be prepared- for no glacier viewing, especially from a cruise ship- which on average only get within view about 25% of the time. Prior to earlier June even lower odds.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Budget Queen

[peety3]

Don't know how well it answers your question, but we've done two Princess northbound cruises (one when we lived in TX, so we'd be flying somewhere anyway, and the second after we moved to Seattle but it was booked prior to the move). We liked them so much we're doing a Seattle RT (with Tracy Arm at my wife's request) next July.

 

Although we're headed to the same three cities, I plan to repeat the exact whale-watch we did on our first cruise, but we're looking at an excursion to Haines from Skagway, so we're mixing it up somewhat.

[Keith1010]

If you are fine with all three itineraries, I would go to the member review section of cruise critic and read reviews on each ship to get a sense of what the majority of the reviewers say.

 

Keith

[bonvoyagie]

While I like NCL - and was on the Pearl in 2012 - I also agree with Budget Queen that this trip is all about AK and making the most out of each port and much less about the ship.

 

I have done both Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay - both are great for different reasons. Now that I know better, I would put Glacier Bay on my first trip and Tracy Arm for the second - and make sure that the small boat trip was part of it.

 

Here is a great site for learning more about the ports and what you can expect in each www.cruiseportinsider.com