Alaska - Celebrity versus Princess?

Hi! I'm well. I hope you are too!

 

That's so exciting for you about Alaska -which ship (or is that the princess cruise you told me about last year?). I've never been to Alaska so starting to think about it for the future.

 

Any plans for the holidays 2018? :)

Yes, the same cruise I spoke about last year. We’re adding on a visit to Las Vegas prior to boarding in SF. We have previously completed a southbound sailing from Seward to Vancouver when the boys were much younger (our youngest was around 7 at the time).

Not sailing this Christmas as our older DS is due to start university this year so it will be his first break back home in December ;).

Our very first cruise was on the Celebrity Galaxy (not with the fleet any more). We went to Hubbard Glacier and it was FABULOUS!!!!! We enjoyed enjoyed it more than Glacier Bay (later on Princess). However, we love the Golden Princess!!!

How would you compare-- Princess vs Celebrity vs NCL

We find the food better on Celebrity (breakfast and the buffet in particular). Dinner we find comparable.

We had trouble getting theatre seats on the last Princess ship we were on, which I don't know is normal for Princess or not, but never had that issue on Celebrity.

Live music was better on the last Princess cruise we did

Also consider if you really want to do a land tour. It is really easy to do on your own and I have done it several times. You can adjust to what your interested in and your own timeline.

You might want to check out the Pros and Cons comparison on Cruise Critic of Glacier Bay vs. Hubbard Glacier. We are Elite status with Celebrity however decided to sail on Princess in Alaska in 2014 and will again this year with our adult children for the same reasons mentioned by many others above. In our opinion, Glacier Bay should not be missed when visiting Alaska.

Thinking about Alaska in June 2019. Probably a Cruise-tour. New itinerary for us. Never been to Alaska. We are Elite on Celebrity. Is it the time to try Princess or is the Celebrity Cruise-tours on par? Thinking about 3 days for the land portion.

Funny that I came across this post today.

I had originally booked Princess for an Alaskan cruise tour July 2019, today I switched to Celebrity.

I like most people have always heard that Princess does Alaska best, they own their lodges where you stay on the land portion of a cruise tour.

I decided to take some time and put together a spreadsheet comparing the various lines that offer cruise tours to Alaska for 2 people in July 2019 with 6 land days and 7 cruise days in a balcony cabin.

Through my research I found that most cruise lines that offer Alaska cruise tours have very similar itineraries and visit most of the same places. All seem to offer similar included land excursions and transportation between the various locations.

Now I had to decide what things were important to me to sway my preference of a cruise line.

Hotels during land portion - not that important because ultimately you are experiencing Alaska and not sitting around a hotel room. Really only need clean place to sleep - so the fact that Princess owns their lodges no longer held a lot of importance.

Cruise line - not that important. We have cruised several lines and we often find more similarities than differences. We have found things that we really liked and other things we didn't care for on every cruise ship we have been on. Loyalty rewards are not enough for us to really try to stick with one line all the time.

Total price - this is really what is the most important for us. Comparing the two and adding in a drink package and prepaying gratuities we felt Celebrity is a better choice for us.

Princess Royal 13 day southbound cruise tour with drink package and gratuities paid upfront was over $10,500.

Celebrity Millennium 13 day southbound cruise tour with drink package and gratuities paid upfront is $9750. We also get internet and $300 OBC, extra time in Juneau and Ketchikan as well as Icy Straight Point as a port of call.

Of course this is just my reasoning and it may be different for others.

When you add in any additional perks for your status on Celebrity it might even be a better option or you.

Either way Alaska will be fantastic and the memories you make will last a life time.