Alasks: Holland America vs Carnival

Our first cruise was on Carnival Spirit to Alaska out of Vancouver, great cruise, great ship, not much difference in demographics on an Alaska cruise between Carnival and HAL. Spirit went to Glacier Bay then. Perfect.

On HAL in late May/early June, Volendam, we were not able to get into Tracy Arm due to ice but we did get into Glacier Bay which is what makes the trip.

#1 Glacier Bay; #2 Vancouver for the scenery although it's only a half day going up and a half day coming back, it is spectacular.

Balconies are bigger on NA. It's a very nice ship. If Glacier Bay isn't enough to compensate for not having comedians every night then you should stick with Carnival, but if you really want to see the spectacular parts of an Alaska cruise take the NA.

Either way you have great choices. m--

Although we have never sailed Carnival, I have to agree with all who recommend HAL for a 7 day Alaska cruise. I would only recommend sailing out of Seattle if doing the 14 night cruise. Nothing beats the BC inside passage. You don't indicate where you are from so I don't know where you are coming from. We usually use the Quick Shuttle from SEA TAC that delivers you directly to the terminal and/or the Pan Pacific (arguably one of the best pre-cruise experiences I have experienced). Indulge in the Tamarind at least once. If you take advantage of all your time in ports and/or outside enjoying the beautiful scenery you will not miss the lack of onboard activities, but wanting to get a goodnight's sleep for the next day.

Went on Carnival to Alaska in 2011. Bored to death on ship. Liked the ports but that leaves a lot of hours of boredom. Going to try my favorite cruise line HAL this summer and hope it's enjoyable while on the ship.

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Went on Carnival to Alaska in 2011. Bored to death on ship. Liked the ports but that leaves a lot of hours of boredom. Going to try my favorite cruise line HAL this summer and hope it's enjoyable while on the ship.

 

 

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Actually my wife is afraid we will be bored on HAL. As I said, we enjoy the comedians, trivia, and production shows on Carnival. Did they not have those on your sailing, or are they just not your cup of tea? What do you enjoy to conquer boredom on your favorite cruise line HAL?

Actually my wife is afraid we will be bored on HAL. As I said, we enjoy the comedians, trivia, and production shows on Carnival. Did they not have those on your sailing, or are they just not your cup of tea? What do you enjoy to conquer boredom on your favorite cruise line HAL?

You raise an interesting question. What exactly is "boredom". We toss that word around as if it had only one meaning and we all understood what it meant to every passenger. What do you to to prevent boredom when you are at home?

Th ironic part is what some of us do to "relieve boredom" is what others might find boring in the first place; listening to books on tape, staring at the sea, reading, craft work, playing cards, board games, working on puzzles.

I would choose itinerary over the ship and prefer one-way over round trip.

Other than the obvious not traveling the same route twice, what would be the advantages of a one-way over a round trip?

How difficult is it to arrange the two one-way flights to both your embarkation and debarkation ports?

Actually my wife is afraid we will be bored on HAL. As I said, we enjoy the comedians, trivia, and production shows on Carnival. Did they not have those on your sailing, or are they just not your cup of tea? What do you enjoy to conquer boredom on your favorite cruise line HAL?

They had 2 nice production shows which I love. Heard the comedian kinda of not so good , trivia only lasts so long and I don't enjoy gambling. So when not eating and not enjoying sitting by the pool freezing, watching tv or a movie or having cruise sponsored activities would have been nice. There were so few activities compared to all other Carnival cruises, there were no movies and the tv sucked. Last Oct I sailed on HAL and they have a new in room entertainment system that was fabulous. Flat screen tv, interactive, the usual tv channels AND 100's of choices of tv shows and movies to watch whenever you wanted. I actually binge watched all of Downton Abbey that week. Now I hope HAL has more things to enjoy while at sea to and from Alaska but if they don't I know I will be a happy camper or in this case "sailor." And being Catholic I really enjoyed being able to go to daily mass.

A lot of people post about which ship has better food and how bad such and such line has become. I just learned they have all cut back in certain areas, lots of more healthy choices, etc. But no matter what, no one ever starved on a cruise! You will always find something you like. And they will always try and accommodate special reasonable requests.

I'm sure no matter which cruise you choose, you will have a great time. I just prefer HAL.

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I recall on one of our recent Carnival cruises, during a talk, the CD said that the Carnival Alaska is *not* like their typical young/wild/partying type of cruise. It does skew older. It sounded like it's not really Carnival's 'bread and butter' but obviously, they do still cruise there.

I've not been on NA, but was on Koningsdam (K) and they probably have some similarities.

Inside passage means gorgeous scenery on both sides of ship, very smooth waters. So this is a plus for NA.

small things:

The K definitely had better (more choices) buffet than the Carnivals we've done. MDR on K is pretty much the same, maybe slightly smaller portions. Dive-in burger really good (a bit of a preference to Guys, but Dive in is good too).

Carnival is big into the comedians, and also song and dance shows. K only had one comedian, but had broader variety of main shows (song and dance, their 'frozen wilderness' show, other types of music). K had a complimentary tour of kitchen gallery, complimentary cooking classes at the test kitchen. So I'd say that K had sort of broader assortment of entertainment, fwiw.

Overall, for that itinerary I'd definitely take the NA.

also: K did have lots of trivia every day/night, and as mentioned, the in-room tv had a lot of free movies and shows.

Other than the obvious not traveling the same route twice, what would be the advantages of a one-way over a round trip?

 

 

 

How difficult is it to arrange the two one-way flights to both your embarkation and debarkation ports?

A one way gives you the opportunity to add on a day or more in Alaska. The ships (except for Princess) dock in Seward which gives you easy access to the Kenai Fjord and Pennisula or you can spend time in Anchorage. I booked our flights to Vancouver and home from Anchorage myself and it took some time comparing flight schedules and watching prices, but no more difficult than any other flight booking. You could also take advantage of the cruise line flight booking service.

I know you ruled out Princess on price but I am surprised, I’ve never seen a HAL price less than Princess and I am always cross checking similar itineraries between the 2. We were really pleased with our Alaska Coral Princess Cruise.

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One other consideration about which cruise line to pick is which ship do you want in your background photos while you are cruising the glacier areas - the sleek navy blue hulled classic HAL ships, or the bumped-out awkward outlines of the mammoth Princess ships. :confused:

Which ever one you are on, the other one will be in your photos when you share the scenery.

I know you ruled out Princess on price but I am surprised, I’ve never seen a HAL price less than Princess and I am always cross checking similar itineraries between the 2. We were really pleased with our Alaska Coral Princess Cruise.

I have a comparison spreadsheet I can send you, but the prices I'm seeing for seven-day round-trips out of Seattle/Vancouver at the end of May (two people, balcony room, including taxes, fees, and tips) are as follows:

Carnival Legend: $3.700

HAL NA: $4,000

Star Princess: $4,300

Norwegian Pearl: $4.300

I tried pricing Celebrity as well but they don't have their 2019 Alaskan cruises up yet. Their 2018 prices are a lot more than the ones above.

I also looked at Disney and went into cardiac arrest. At my age the last thing I want is to refinance my home to go on a cruise.:cool:

Other than the obvious not traveling the same route twice, what would be the advantages of a one-way over a round trip?

 

 

 

How difficult is it to arrange the two one-way flights to both your embarkation and debarkation ports?

There are several reasons I prefer a one-way over round-trip:

The one-way trips usually offer an additional port and / or more time in port than round-trip itineraries. The round-trip cruises from Seattle must stop at a Canadian port, which is usually Victoria. Many times it is a short evening stop that allows little time for touring.

Sailing from / to Vancouver allows you to sail more of the inside passage. This provides better scenery and potentially smoother seas than The Seattle departures which usually sail outside of Victoria island.

The one-way trips give you an additional port (Seward or Whittier) based on where you begin / end your cruise. There are great excursions at both of these ports. You also can add a land tour before or after your cruise to Denali, Fairbanks and more.

I prefer starting in Vancouver and ending in Alaska. The scenery gets better each day as you go North. I also recommend spending a day or two in Vancouver, if you have the time and your budget allows it.

As far as flights, I used Google flights to find the best options. The best combination of price and times actually was one airline to Vancouver and a different airline returning from Anchorage. The one advantage Seattle has is that Southwest does fly there, if they fly from your area, and they do not charge for the first 2 bags.

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I know you ruled out Princess on price but I am surprised, I’ve never seen a HAL price less than Princess and I am always cross checking similar itineraries between the 2. We were really pleased with our Alaska Coral Princess Cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

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That interesting - I kept checking prices for over a year after we booked HAL and found the opposite to be true.....

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I checked prices for HAL and Princess for several dates from May through July. HAL was always less. Went to our TA and she did not believe me until she checked. In some cases for a balcony room Princess was as much as $1,000 more pp

That was my conclusion as well : Holland America was pretty consistently a few hundred dollars less expensive than Princess on an otherwise same to same comparison.

One big difference between round trip and one way that hasn't been mentioned yet: on a one way you cruise across the Gulf of Alaska. If you like cruising across open ocean that could be a big plus. Similarly, if you'd rather spend that time in the inside passage, then you'd prefer a Vancouver round trip.

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

Actually my wife is afraid we will be bored on HAL. As I said, we enjoy the comedians, trivia, and production shows on Carnival. Did they not have those on your sailing, or are they just not your cup of tea? What do you enjoy to conquer boredom on your favorite cruise line HAL?

I will answer this gladly, because I sail HAL again and again, in spite of being quite critical of the entertainment. However, I don't fit the demographic they are mostly trying to please, so I know that going in. A cruiseline can't be everything to everyone! Here's what I do:

• I always go to the shows, sometimes I really like it and stay, and if I don't I slip out quietly (no big deal).
  
• I set my schedule by trivia -- I love it. Last cruise was general knowledge trivia, as well as music trivia where they play a song and you're guessing the song/artist/year of release. It goes from the 50's to present day so it's good to have a wide age-range on your team.
  
• Some cruises the piano-bar has been great and was request-driven by a fun group (last cruise it was neither, so YMMV)
  
• I go early to things I think I will like (sometimes it is standing-room only at the America's Test Kitchen, or if they are playing a current-release movie in the Theatre). For some reason people go REALLY early to everything that involves being seated. :confused:
  
• We take book (or choose something from the library) to fill in the quiet times (or the times they're offering watch-seminars, or hair-secrets as entertainment). :o I find a spot in the Crow's Nest or Explorations Cafe (a.k.a Library area).
  
• We also take two decks of cards and sometimes end up playing with some new friends. There are plenty of board games you can borrow from the library too.
  
• I haven't done this yet, but there is an extensive DVD-library (the list is in your stateroom), you can watch something in your room.
  
• Shuffleboard, table-tennis and pickle-ball are available if you're so inclined.
  
• If you drink, there are wine-tastings, beer-tastings, happy hours and pub crawls.
  

I'm sure other people have some secrets, but a book, cards and my computer (if I feel like writing a cruise diary) are all I need to fill the quiet hours. We seem to find plenty to do, even when there is nothing to do.

Very interesting on these price differences. HAL was higher for a comparable cabin on our upcoming Partial PC. I measured on a per person per day price as Princess was 10 days and HAL 11 with nearly identical itineraries. Even with a special sale, Princess had HAL beat by several hundred $ in fare and less perks. It pays to be obsessive when planning !

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For price comparisons remember that the smaller HAL ships, R and S classes, have a lower ratio of balcony rooms to overall rooms, so those ships usually have a high premium to get those cabins. The newer ships especially Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam and Konningsdam may be more comparable to Princess ships for balconies. But the HAL balcony rooms will have a couch or at least a loveseat, which Princess does not. m--

Thanks so much for all of the replies. The information presented was a big help in making the decision.

We ended up going with the dark horse candidate and chose the 7-day northern glacier (Vancouver to Seward) route on the Celebrity Millennium. The wife could not overcome the impression given to her by friends that HAL cruises were full of old people, despite me pointing out to her that we ARE old people. Celebrity actually turned out to be slightly cheaper than HAL and only a little more expensive than Carnival.Now we have 460 days to do the rest of our planning.

:cool:

We ended up going with the dark horse candidate and chose the 7-day northern glacier (Vancouver to Seward) route on the Celebrity Millennium. The wife could not overcome the impression given to her by friends that HAL cruises were full of old people, despite me pointing out to her that we ARE old people. Celebrity actually turned out to be slightly cheaper than HAL and only a little more expensive than Carnival.Now we have 460 days to do the rest of our planning.

:cool:

Nice choice. I did that same cruise and I thought it was excellent. Actually, mine was flipped. I did the southbound route. I also cruised HAL through Alaska on a trip that included Glacier Bay, but that Celebrity cruise was my favorite of my 2 Alaskan cruises. Celebrity is an excellent line...much better than HAL, in my opinion. Enjoy your cruise. :)

This may be a good place for this question. We are doing the July 1 to 8 cruise from Seward to Vancouver. We are trying to decide which are the best excursions to take. We've never been to Alaska before and would love to not only see the beauty and the wildlife but also perhaps spend some time fishing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I the 10 day Explorer package on the Princess in 2012 and loved every minute of it. It was my first and only time on a Princess, but it might be the only time I make it to Alaska. Take the plane trip to the base of Denali. We loved it and my husband still encourages everyone to do that. How often do you get a chance to land on a glacier? It was amazing! We cruised in May from Vancouver and we had a balcony, but I spent most of my time on the back deck, wrapped in a blanket and drinking hot drinks, watching the wildlife and gazing at glaciers. Get off the ship and see all of the towns. The totem poles, the fish hatcheries, the eagles, the whales, etc. Walking back to our bus after whale-watching, I looked down beside the dock and saw several of the largest starfish I've ever seen. We saw the sheep on the hills while driving down the Yukon highway, we saw moose and caribou, we saw eagles, we saw a mama bear and her babies on the shore from the back of the ship. We took the train at the end of the week and stayed in the three different lodges before heading home. Probably the most I've ever spent on a trip, but it was well worth it!