Royals, Alaska Land & Sea Tour Cruise

[Decpl]

Hi all, Wife and I are looking at Alaska for 2020 And was wondering how well Royal Does it.

We travel a lot on Celebrity, But honestly after 2 cruise this spring looking at other options.

Celebrity is going down hill on the Entertainment. We Did princess Alaska land Cruise in 2016

and was great, but always wanting to try other lines to see new things,

So How was you Land Cruise with Royal Caribbean?

 

Thanks K and J

[birdylady]

We did this 2 years ago through Royal and LOVED it and would do it again in a heartbeat.  This was the first land/cruise tour we've eever taken and they did a first class job.  We flew to Fairbanks as our starting point (fyi- we did our own flights as we had miles), did the land tour down to Seward and cruised to Vancouver.  They handled our luggage to and from the hotels, they handled the hotel rooms/keys, etc..  The tour guide and bus driver were very knowledgeable, friendly and professional.  Things couldn't have been done better.  And the embarkation in Seward was THE FASTEST we've ever done.

Hope you love your trip as much as we did.

With that said, if you have not done Alaska yet, do research as the costs of meals alone would have surprised us had we not read some good detailed reviews (meals run approx $25 per person per meal).

 

Erika

[Decpl]

Thank you Erika, Were the evening shows good, we just finished 2 Celebrity cruises in the last 3 months

and entertainment was horrible!

[birdylady]

13 hours ago, Decpl said:

Thank you Erika, Were the evening shows good, we just finished 2 Celebrity cruises in the last 3 months

and entertainment was horrible!

I can't remember what the shows were. But I will say, generally the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers put on a couple good shows a week. Then they usually have some guest singers/comedians/entertainers. Some are good some or ok.  Depends on your tastes.  But since you're talking Alaska, if you don't like the entertainment, you can always sit and watch the scenery at night. 

Erika

[prodoc]

We did an Alaska Cruisetour in August with RCI and loved it.  We cruised first (Vancouver to Seward) and then did the land portion.  Very comfortable buses and train rides to transport us to different cities.  Great tour guide and bus driver and good hotels.  Well taken care of as the luggage is put on the bus and transported INTO your next hotel room each move, all we had to do is put it outside our door in the morning.  I would recommend it highly.

Penny

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Cruising Alaska is an amazing and memorable experience everyone should enjoy at least once in their lifetime.

 

For business travel, I've had the good fortune to visit Alaska's cities 4 times. In 2014, we finally decided to do a cruise there - a wonderful trip of memories.

 

Prior to deciding on an itinerary...we considered a range of factors, including priorities. No matter which Alaska cruise...you simply can't "see everything possible"...so you make your own "Top 10 list" and align that with the cruise itinerary that most likely delivers those things.

 

Understanding that any Alaska cruise was going to be more expensive than many other destinations, we determined early on that flying into one city (such as Anchorage or Vancouver for example) and returning from the airport in another city made the airfare extremely more expensive that using the same arrival and departure city destination.

 

That led to our selection a "round trip" itinerary cruise - we sailed out of Vancouver BC (a wonderful place in and of itself). If that added cost is not an issue...there are certainly plenty of North-South or South-North cruise options.

 

Our top 5 priorities leverage several private tours and included:

 

1) Viewing multiple glaciers (including as close as possible)

2) Whale watching (both humpbacks and Orcas in more than one port destination)

3) Seeing other key wildlife of bears, bald eagles, and large sea lions in their natural habitats (not in captivity)

4) Sampling fresh Alaska seafood

5) Taking in the overall Alaska scenery within a relaxing experience

 

Mission accomplished, on the Inner passage round trip cruise. It was a true home run. We experienced much more than just this short list of priority items. The native Totem Pole venues, lumberjack demonstration show in Ketchikan, and many other elements made this cruise fantastic.

 

Now matter how you go...Alaska is a must-see destination.

 

 

 

[RSLeesburg]

We also did Alaska Land Tour & Cruise with RCI last year, and it was fantastic.  Here is our review:

 

with regards to entertainment, we saw most of the shows and they were all very good - better than we expected.