Carnival to Alaska?

[kdvolfan]

I have sailed Carnival twice before. May 03 Imagination to Belize and June 04 Miracle to Canada. We have always enjoyed Carnival and have never used any other line. We are considering/planning a cruise to Alaska next summer. On these boards under the Alaska section, it seems that there are far more cruisers on Princess and Celebrity than Carnival. My question is...does Carnival do a good job with an Alaskan cruise? It doesn't seem they have a great presence there. I'd appreciate any advice you could give. Thanks

[DeckCadet]

well, they only have one ship that goes there while other lines usually have multiple ships.

[glrounds]

[color=Navy][size=3][font=Comic Sans MS][i]Carnival builds its base in Alaska by [u]buying up other lines[/u] that cruise there. :D

Holland America (owned by Carnival) is based in Seattle and has always had a huge presence in Alaska. :)

Princess (owned by Carnival) also, as you stated, has a large presence there also. :)
[/i][/font][/size][/color]

[kkorman]

[quote name='glrounds'][color=Navy][size=3][font=Comic Sans MS][i]Carnival builds its base in Alaska by [u]buying up other lines[/u] that cruise there. :D

Holland America (owned by Carnival) is based in Seattle and has always had a huge presence in Alaska. :)

Princess (owned by Carnival) also, as you stated, has a large presence there also. :)
[/i][/font][/size][/color][/QUOTE]

Unfortuantely, this is true. Now we have 2 cruise lines controlling 85% of the market. This is not good for consumers as we have seen this week with the announcements about travel agency prices... anyway

There are many things to consider on an Alaskan tour and the ship is usually not at the top of the list. You should look at itineraries, glaciers on the tour, time of year offered, prices, North/south bound or roundtrip, and time in ports. Find the one that has the most of what you want and go with it. For me, I like the glaciers and the Princess ":voyage of the glacier" cruises on the Sun, Dawn, Coral, and Island are best for me. I will have done this itinerary 3 times this summer.

[normaxs]

[quote name='kdvolfan']I have sailed Carnival twice before. May 03 Imagination to Belize and June 04 Miracle to Canada. We have always enjoyed Carnival and have never used any other line. We are considering/planning a cruise to Alaska next summer. On these boards under the Alaska section, it seems that there are far more cruisers on Princess and Celebrity than Carnival. My question is...does Carnival do a good job with an Alaskan cruise? It doesn't seem they have a great presence there. I'd appreciate any advice you could give. Thanks[/QUOTE]

Sailed to Alaska last summer on Carnival Spirit and it was a very good trip. This was my third time in Alaska-once with Princess & once with Holland America and I thought the Spirit was better than HA but that was before she was owned by Carnival. The glaciers were calving almost constantly and the Captain announced we would spend extra time there for everyone to enjoy that sight. The service was very good from all the crew and the food was a bit better than Royal Caribbean was in January.

Alaska is so amazing, you're bound to enjoy it.
Norma

[CruiseMark]

I've cruised to Alaska on Princess and RCI, and to be honest, if I went again it would be on Holland America. It seemed no matter which port we were in, HAL has the best docking position, plus their land/sea tours are the best (in my opinion).

[waynegsr]

Sailing in 5 weeks. We will inform you all about the ship and the tours.

[hill6]

My mom jsut got off the Spirit today and she absolutely loved it. Do an inland tour if you are able too. My mom loved it.

[pholter]

CELEBRITY!!!! That was the most outstanding cruise I've been on..... Inside Glacier out of Vancouver on the Mercury..... Food and Service are 1st rate all the way. Carnival is fun, but I'd definitely consider Celebrity for Alaska.

[Mr Funship]

We went on Carnival Spirit Aug 2003 did the 11 day tour and cruise. Well it was just one great cruise, I did notice that the Alaska Cruise was a little more low key than the other 10 Carnival cruises I have been on. The whole trip was really great. On the train to Fairbanks from Anchorage, we had the new HAL railcars and they were the best railcars I have ever been on, this was great because all the people sailing with HAL got the old cars. Carnival did a great job, the Naturalist Hanna was great and had a meeting everyday to explain what we were going to see that day. Best cruise I ever had. This is not a party Carnival Cruise.

[kdvolfan]

Thanks to everyone for the information. I think I'll pick the right itenerary then worry about the ship.

[kkorman]

Good decision.

[waynegsr]

[quote name='hill6']My mom jsut got off the Spirit today and she absolutely loved it. Do an inland tour if you are able too. My mom loved it.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the info, planning the helo/dog sledding adventure/mendenhall glacier to mention a few.:cool: