JP96

great idea, thank you

Interesting. I was afraid to request anytime dining because I have heard that if you are a party of 4 and three other parties of 4 show up before you, you end up waiting. Sounds like RCL and Celebrity handle it well though.

I'm a little concerned about the kids club on RCL. My kids are 8 and 11 so they would be in two different kids groups. Do you think they strictly enforce this? I know they will want to be together.

Thank you! I was not even considering this itinerary at first but the extra port sounds great.

Interesting that RCL appears to be more expensive than the Coral. I was surprised by this. I priced out both and a mini-suite on the Coral is less expensive by about $600 than a balcony room on the Radiance. There is only a difference of about 30 sq. feet. I would think that a Glacier Bay cruise would be more expensive in general.

Wow, your pictures are amazing! Thank you for your feedback. It sounds like you had a great time on RCL as well as Princess. Do you have a preference now? Did you get to see Glacier Bay on your first cruise? Do you think one ship would be more suited for a family than the other?

In what way do you think RCL was a step up from NCL?

Thanks

Hello,

I'm considering a one way cruise in Alaska on either the Coral or the Radiance in late July/early August. I have an 8 year old and 11 year old. The Coral does Glacier Bay/Hubbard and the Radiance only does Hubbard but adds in Icy Strait Point. I'm really struggling with whether to give up Glacier Bay and add in Icy Strait. It will give us another day to do an excursion versus more glaciers for the kids and days at sea, which I'm not sure will be exciting after a while (which would be fine with me). I have done HAL cruises twice already and have seen glaciers. Also, I'm hearing that the food on RCL is much better. All around I have been told that Princess is "fine," w hich is not exactly what I want to hear after making the trip from the East Coast and spending a lot for the trip. We will not be going to Denali as we don't have the time.

Has anyone done both the Princess and RCL who can give me feedback? It is hard to find any recent reviews from people traveling with kids.

Thanks!

Hello,

I'm looking at the Coral Princess Alaskan cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. During the inside passage part of the cruise, can you actually see anything or is the boat too far out in the water to see land?

Do you prefer this voyage over the NCL Sun trip that seems identical? NCL includes Hubbard Glacier on the Northbound trip whereas Princess does it going South? We have an 8 and 11 year old. Does NCL get any closer to land during the inside passage portion of the trip?

Thank you!

Are you able to actually see land when you cruise the inside passage on the Sun in Alaska? On princess they say they cruise the inside passage but are too far out in the water to see anything (this is on the Whittier to Vancouver voyage).

Thanks. Wow, you really plan ahead! It looks like you have been on several Norwegian cruises. I haven't been on one in years. Are you doing the one way from Vancouver to Seward or the reverse? Did you also consider Princess? Can you tell me what you have enjoyed on NCL? I was starting to lean towards Princess because of the junior ranger program. I wonder if all cruise lines they stay in Glacier Bay for the same amount of time.

Thanks!

Thanks. Did you find the food to be decent?

Thank you. I think I may have read an old post somewhere that said that Princess and HAL were the only major lines going through Glacier Bay because the others were polluting. Sounds like a great option. Did you have a balcony? Did your kids use the kids club and like it?

Some of the others like Celebrity and RCL are including Icy Strait Point, which sounds interesting, but they don't do Glacier Bay, only Hubbard Glacier. Icy Strait would give us another opportunity to do whale watching, etc. but then you give up going through Glacier Bay. I guess you can't have it all!

I'm ruling HAL out because I read that they still allow smoking on verandahs and I'm really sensitive to smoke. If we are going to pay for a balcony I don't want smoke wafting over to us from the cabin next door.

Thank so much for your review! Glad to hear you liked Princess!

I'm looking for a high quality cruise to Alaska with my husband and 8 and 11 year old boys. I'm getting overwhelmed by all the reviews. As a kid I went on many HAL cruises including Alaska, so my natural choice was to choose HAL, but I'm hearing some negative things about it now. "Too traditional, set eating times, slow service, not enough for kids to do, run down ships, smoking on balconies." I have also been on RCL, NCL, Celebrity (an awful cruise to Bermuda), Disney, Windstar, Sitmar (years ago to the Panama Canal). I do like the itinerary that HAL and Princess are offering going through Glacier Bay. Perhaps seeing Hubbard Glacier (without Glacier Bay) on the other cruises will be enough though. Icy Strait Point sounds like an interesting stop too with another chance for excursions. My husband and I loved salmon fishing when we did it 15 years ago in Ketchikan.

I'm also not sure how much my boys will use a kids club or if they will want to be with us the whole time. They tend to be kind of shy. Some of the cruises have too many days for my kids just cruising. I have ruled Disney out because it seems like a distraction when the focus should be Alaska. We are not doing a cruisetour but I don't mind flying into Vancouver and out of Anchorage.

Any thoughts?