Princess Alaska Questions :)

[CatsinShow]

Have a number of questions!

 

Have any of you taken different Alaskan cruises with different ships? Did one have better food than the other? Has was the entertainment on each ship? What was the age group you encountered at the solo cruisers meet events (if you attended)? Were there many 20s-30s people on the cruises?

[donswife]

Have a number of questions!

 

Have any of you taken different Alaskan cruises with different ships? Did one have better food than the other? Has was the entertainment on each ship? What was the age group you encountered at the solo cruisers meet events (if you attended)? Were there many 20s-30s people on the cruises?

 

I have been to Alaska on 3 different lines, Princess, HAL, and NCL, all round trip from Seattle (plus 1 round trip Vancouver, but that was too long ago to be relevant!)

 

Food: I thought Princess was the best, had the most options, and some of the best crab legs I have ever eaten!

 

Entertainment: For the Alaska specific events, Princess was far ahead, with presentations including a naturalist, folklorist, Libby Riddles (Iditarod winner), and lumberjack, plus puppies! For general entertainment, HAL had the best shows, including my favorite, a crew show.

 

We never paid much attention to the solo events, but all had a wide age span.

 

Enjoy!

[moki'smommy]

We're done Celebrity and Princess to Alaska.

 

Food...Princess food in general is improving while the food to the riffraff on Celebrity is worsening. Celebrity has gone to a totally separate restaurant for their upper end clientele, and the rest are being somewhat ignored with this obvious two tiered system. Princess has Club Class dining, but it is the same menu served in a special section of the dining room; no impact on people who don't opt for that level.

 

Age range--We felt that Celebrity was an older crowd. We saw very few 20s and 30s in August. Princess is more "all ages," although the longer the cruise, the more the older people predominate. Summer in Alaska is a very mixed group. I didn't attend any singles events on either line as I've not been impressed with them on a third line.

 

Entertainment....honestly the main stage stuff was lacking on both lines. The variety acts were decent. Princess had the better speakers. And of course, they had the puppies. Excursions were the same.

 

Princess has the best itineraries.

[CatsinShow]

I realized I asked this poorly! I mean like different Princess Alaskan cruises such as Star, Coral, and Island.

 

Sorry about that :)

[idahospud]

I realized I asked this poorly! I mean like different Princess Alaskan cruises such as Star, Coral, and Island.

 

Sorry about that :)

We've done multiple Princess ships to Alaska over the course of the last several years. If you're interested in comparing the Island and Golden, I just finished two weeks of "live from" reporting on my blog. I also have the links to all the Patters for both.

http://www.debsdays.com/

[VibeGuy]

I’ve sailed all the ships doing Alaska, and just got off two weeks on Star. I have some strong opinions.

 

I prefer the Vancouver-based linehaul itinerary to the roundtrip options. More time in ports and you get either College Fjord or Hubbard Glacier depending on the direction. So that narrows the discussion to Star, Golden, Island and Coral.

 

Island is a nonstarter. Hate the reconfiguration. It’s awful. Especially for cool-weather itineraries where people tend to be inside. I personally love Coral - my DH hates it, for ridiculous reasons like the depth of the indoor pool and the shape of the Wheelhouse Lounge. Seriously. I like the elegant line and logical flow. German engineering and all that.

 

Between Golden and Star, you have to work at finding the differences. I’ve has excellent cruises on both. We chose Star mostly for timing.

 

The production shows on Star average “pretty good”, but that average is misleading in that one is really great (Born To Dance) and one is a well-sung/well-danced trainwreck (Stardust). My idea of eternal damnation is having to choose between Stardust and Colors of the World every night of my post-corporeal existence. The guest entertainers were notably good (saw one of them twice she was so fun (Teacake)), but this shouldn’t influence how you book.

 

Food on Star seemed of above-average execution for Princess over the last few years - I constantly saw the executive chef at the various dining venues. Many menu items that are perennial faves seemed extra-good.

 

All up, pick between Coral, Golden and Star based on price and timing and don’t look back.

[skynight]

Agree, don't select the Island

[CatsinShow]

Thanks guys :) Very helpful comparisons!

 

I've only been on 1 Princess Cruise which was 10 years ago and the food was probably the worst tasting food of any cruise that I have been on (and this is compared to lower end cruise lines). My parents have been on a number of Princess cruises and they said when they took the Sapphire in Alaska that the food served on it was the worst!

[Sea Hag]

We've gone to Alaska on the Grand, Coral, and Ruby. For food, I'd give the nod to the Ruby last September. Outstanding. Entertainment was fine on all.