Totally confused, need opinions please!

[Sue L]

We are planning to take the kids to Alaska next summer they will be 19 and 21. We have only done Caribbean and I don't know quite where to start.

 

I thought I had it all planned on the RCCL Serenade, but now I just found Golden Princess, which has one less cruising/sea day and it goes RT from Seattle which would be very convienent. Though Vancouver is not a deal breaker. The costs are almost identical so that is not even a factor.

 

Serenade- VAncouver,Sitka,skagwayJuneau,vancouver

 

Golden Princess-Seattle, juneau,skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria, Seattle

 

I have no clue which ports are better than others. We haven't sailed Princess in many years. I am trying to figure out which ship would have more for the kids and us. We are very limited on which cruises we can take because of scheduling issues. Which itinerary/ ship have you sailed on? which would you reccommend? Any info positive or negative would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

 

Sue

[dbali]

Ships out of Seattle sail in more open waters which can sometimes be pretty rough.

 

Ships out of Vancouver sail through the Inside Passage which most people seem to prefer.

[Budget Queen]

What are the glaciers??? I still greatly prefer round trip Vancouver compared to Seattle. And not sure of your "sea day" reference??? You have much more open ocean sailing out of Seattle, and usually little time to do much in Victoria.

[GMoney]

I know very little about AK, but having just planned a B2B for 2007, I think BQ's question is most appropriate. You really need to make the decision based on the glaciers. I learned that there are so many choices & options that you need to do a lot of research. HAL has some ships that sail AK too; you may want to consider them, even with the younger people in your party.

[NancyIL]

I would do a search on Expedia to see the itineraries on all roundtrips out of Seattle and Vancouver. Serenade goes to Hubbard Glacier and the Golden Princess goes to Tracy Arm. Serenade alternates between going to Sitka one week and to Icy Strait Point the next, but it does go to only 3 port towns and 1 glacier, vs. 4 port towns and 1 glacier on the Golden. Check out HAL's Zuiderdam/Zaandam, which goes to Tracy Arm, Juneau, Glacier Bay, Skagway, and Ketchikan: http://hollandamerica.com/dest/itinerary.do?selectedItin=20070602:U729:AZU007&dest=A

[bluebreeze]

We are planning to take the kids to Alaska next summer they will be 19 and 21. We have only done Caribbean and I don't know quite where to start.

 

I thought I had it all planned on the RCCL Serenade, but now I just found Golden Princess, which has one less cruising/sea day and it goes RT from Seattle which would be very convienent. Though Vancouver is not a deal breaker. The costs are almost identical so that is not even a factor.

 

Serenade- VAncouver,Sitka,skagwayJuneau,vancouver

 

Golden Princess-Seattle, juneau,skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria, Seattle

 

I have no clue which ports are better than others. We haven't sailed Princess in many years. I am trying to figure out which ship would have more for the kids and us. We are very limited on which cruises we can take because of scheduling issues. Which itinerary/ ship have you sailed on? which would you reccommend? Any info positive or negative would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

 

Sue

 

Hey Sue,

We keep following each other around the world, just at different times, lol. First Brillance and now Alaska. We just booked Diamond Princess for 5/12 Vancover to Anchorage