Cruise tours/lodges - Princess vs. RCCL (Alaska summer 2020)

Doing my early research for summer 2020. Has anyone been on both Princess and RCCL cruise tours and stayed at their lodges? I think I understand that Princess owns their own lodges and RCCL has contracts with independent lodges. I'm not interested in any other cruiselines, just these two.

We'd probably be looking at a 10-11 day cruise tour package. We've cruised Alaska on Princess back in June 2011, on a 7-day round trip from Seattle, so this cruise will be to revisit and add on the land portion, which we did not do last time.

Thanks for any insight.

Let's bump this up for Kellie.

Doing my early research for summer 2020. Has anyone been on both Princess and RCCL cruise tours and stayed at their lodges? I think I understand that Princess owns their own lodges and RCCL has contracts with independent lodges. I'm not interested in any other cruiselines, just these two.

 

We'd probably be looking at a 10-11 day cruise tour package. We've cruised Alaska on Princess back in June 2011, on a 7-day round trip from Seattle, so this cruise will be to revisit and add on the land portion, which we did not do last time.

 

Thanks for any insight.

If you are concerned about which lodging you'll be in, would you consider not using the cruiseline and instead putting together your own trip? If you did it with a rental car, you could choose any lodging that you want, as well as any dining that you want and do the activities that you want. There's almost nothing offered by the cruiseline that can't be booked independently.

A short cruise tour, like you are considering is a poor choice with both these options. Way too much time is in transit. comparing Denali- RCI is not in an ideal location and will require limited shuttle service, so would impact on your touring opportunities. BUT, Princess usually includes, the McKinley Lodge on their tours, which, overall is a negative, since Denali is rarely viewable., a mistake to consider, especially at the expense of Denali Park- in my opinion.

Both on the short tours, will have you transiting ship to Denali in the same day- be well prepared for a 10 hour trip.

I'd suggest looking very closely at the details of each tour you are considering. So, educate yourself, with time and distances. Being Denali is the highlight- be certain to get INTO the park. In the past, both these cruise lines have offered, pretty worthless tours that did not. My suggestion, at the least- only consider the Tundra Wilderness tour. An realize, that is lacking as it doesn't get to Eielson or Wonder Lake, which are a fraction of the cost.

Good, luck, you are way ahead of the game, and smart to get an early start, It certainly will benefit you to educate yourself and being able to know what you are looking at, in the choices involved.

As suggested by the above poster, the Natural History Tour in Denali is the least expensive but it doesn't go very far into the park. Even if you go on a cruisetour with Princess, you can upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour. You will have to pay the difference between the cost. If you go to Mt. McKinley Lodge, check out the tree house built by TreeHouse Masters.