First time cruiser seeks advice

[drfaust]

Hi everyone ---

 

Never been on a cruise, but I mentioned to my mother recently that I'd be interested in an Alaska cruise and she instantly got excited. She's now tasked me with finding a cruise and setting things up for us. I'm basically clueless about how to go about this, so I figured I'd ask for some advice.

 

Any advice on cruise lines out of Seattle to Alaska? I'm guessing we'll have a great time no matter which we pick -- Celebrity has some great rates out of Seattle right now, but I've read some so-so reviews on here. It's hard to tell from reviewers, though, if they were people who were determined to have a bad time, or if they have legitimate gripes. Something else to consider -- I'm 33, and my mom is 67. I'd prefer a line that has a good range of ages so that I can have someone to socialize with, as will my mother. I've read that HAL is mostly older people? Can anyone confirm?

 

Also, what are people's recommendations about dining? Traditional or freestyle? and if traditional, early or late seating? It's hard for me to know when I'll want to eat dinner if I have no idea what else is going on and when it is happening. Like, when do shows normally start?

 

I've been reading about FOD meetings on ships. Any lines regularly do that out of Seattle? would be fun to make some friends.

 

I'll start with those questions. I'm sure more will come to mind. Looking forward to your feedback!

 

Darren

[drfaust]

Is it worth springing for a view or balcony room? I assume we'll be spending most of our time NOT in our room, which makes me think it might not be worth the $$, but I'm curious about your opinions. Also, I see that prices of staterooms go up the higher in the ship you are. Is it worth spending more for a room higher up?

[spav01]

First of all, welcome to cruising. I may not be the right person to answer your questions, since I have far fewer cruises under my belt than most here, but here goes.

 

I have been on Celebrity once, and will be returning to it in November. I really like the line. I thought the food and service were wonderful. Take any review (mine included) with a grain of salt, because it is only one person's subjective experience. If you don't mind, I'll focus my answers on Celebrity...

As far as dining times: your choise is 6 or 8:30, or "freestyle", where you make a reservation to sit in a separate area for that type of dining. The question for you is, do you prefer eating earlier or later? The shows are always performed twice, once for early seating and once for late seating. We like eating later, and so we opt for 8:30 dining.

Age range: Celebrity's demographic skews older than Carnival or Royal Caribbean, but younger than Holland America. IMO, you and your mother will feel at home on Celebrity.

Balcony vs. Ocean View. Ask yourself: while travelling the Inside Passage, would you rather be on deck with others, or in your own cabin on your balcony. I cannot answer that, it's something for you to think about.

 

Higher up in the ship means more distant views, less proximity to the water. But if you hit rough seas, being lower means less rocking.

 

On my Celebrity cruise, we had an FOD every night. But that may well depend on the cruise director.

 

To find out what is going on on the ship (at least for a general idea) check out the postings were people have uploaded pictures of the dailies (the in-cabin newsletter) to see what is going on. You can find one example at tomandemily.com. ALso, check the reviews of people on the main Celebrity forum on this website. On port days there won't be as much happening as on sea days.

 

Good luck with your research. Happy to add any information you may want to ask about.

[drfaust]

Thanks, Michael. I'm sure we'll have fun whatever we pick, but I tend to fuss over details and overthink things. :)

 

I've read fantastic and horrible reviews of about every ship on every cruise line out there -- some people rave about Celebrity's food, some swear the RCL has the best food, while others swear that RCLs food is the worst.

 

So maybe the choice comes down to ports of call? Some ships do the Tracy Arm Fjord, others don't. Anyone have suggestions about 'not to be missed' ports of call out of Seattle?

[BalconyGal]

Actually I think NCL has the worst food. My favorite is princess. They have FOD meetings and my wife & I (both 33) have never had so much as a raised eyebrow sent our way. Princess is more upscale than NCL or Carnival but not as stuffy as say the "Luxury" lines. The food is excellent. I always go with anytime dining, you can still make a reservation that day for the time you want but by then you will have checked the days activities ans you will know when you want to go eat. Or you can just go whenever you want. You can also do traditional dining if you chooses. It is about 6:15 and 8:15 I believe.

 

Oh and Princess leaves from Seattle. Maybe you should narrow if down to 2 or 3 cruise lines and then go to those specific boards and get a feel for what's offered , ask a few questions etc.

 

Have a great cruise whatever you decide! :)

[drfaust]

Thanks, Heather.

 

I've read so many reviews about RCL talking about how they've gone downhill, so I'm considering taking them off the list. Right now Celebrity and Princess are still in the running, and I'm iffy on NCL -- anyone have thoughts on them?

 

For me food is important -- and friendliness of staff. Otherwise I can entertain myself... and I assume all of the lines have lots of alcohol on board. :)

[drfaust]

Thanks, Heather.

 

I've read so many reviews about RCL talking about how they've gone downhill, so I'm considering taking them off the list. Right now Celebrity and Princess are still in the running, and I'm iffy on NCL -- anyone have thoughts on them?

 

For me food is important -- and friendliness of staff. Otherwise I can entertain myself... and I assume all of the lines have lots of alcohol on board. :)

[Bloom9]

When I sail Alaska it will be with Princess or Celebrity, if they get a solstice classs ship there that will seal the deal for me. For Alaska I would prefer a balcony just because Alaska is a very scenic trip from what i here. Also prefer anytime dining you get to eat when you want, if you do choose traditional dining the shows will have 2 seatings as well so you don;t miss out on them.

[Travellers123]

Hi, we are new to cruising too, we are going with Celebrity in Novemeber also, maybe the same cruise, we are on the Constellation out of Ft Lauderdale.

Our question is how strict is the clothing requirement onboard, it does appear to be quite strict or is this just make sure we all don't look scruffy, (not that we would ).

 

Sam

 

 

 

 

First of all, welcome to cruising. I may not be the right person to answer your questions, since I have far fewer cruises under my belt than most here, but here goes.

 

I have been on Celebrity once, and will be returning to it in November. I really like the line. I thought the food and service were wonderful. Take any review (mine included) with a grain of salt, because it is only one person's subjective experience. If you don't mind, I'll focus my answers on Celebrity...

As far as dining times: your choise is 6 or 8:30, or "freestyle", where you make a reservation to sit in a separate area for that type of dining. The question for you is, do you prefer eating earlier or later? The shows are always performed twice, once for early seating and once for late seating. We like eating later, and so we opt for 8:30 dining.

Age range: Celebrity's demographic skews older than Carnival or Royal Caribbean, but younger than Holland America. IMO, you and your mother will feel at home on Celebrity.

Balcony vs. Ocean View. Ask yourself: while travelling the Inside Passage, would you rather be on deck with others, or in your own cabin on your balcony. I cannot answer that, it's something for you to think about.

 

Higher up in the ship means more distant views, less proximity to the water. But if you hit rough seas, being lower means less rocking.

 

On my Celebrity cruise, we had an FOD every night. But that may well depend on the cruise director.

 

To find out what is going on on the ship (at least for a general idea) check out the postings were people have uploaded pictures of the dailies (the in-cabin newsletter) to see what is going on. You can find one example at tomandemily.com. ALso, check the reviews of people on the main Celebrity forum on this website. On port days there won't be as much happening as on sea days.

 

Good luck with your research. Happy to add any information you may want to ask about.

[spav01]

Hi Sam,

 

During the day. you can wear whatever you want. At night, Celebrity does have a dress code. There are several Formal nights, the number of which depends on the length of the cruise (a 7 day cruise has 2 formal nights). Dress code is a tuxedo, or dark suit, collared shirt, and tie. Most people follow this, some don't. The rest of the evenings are what they call "Smart casual", meaning a polo shirt or long sleeve shirt, a pair of khakis or chinos. There is an open question as to whether jeans are permitted in the restaurant, some say yes, others no. Don't ask about dress code on the Celebrity board unless you want to inflame an argument that goes back and forth on a regular basis.

 

On our transatlantic last year, we wore tuxes on formal nights, and either polo shirts or long sleeve shirts the rest of the time. One of our friends did wear jeans in the dining room on a few smart casual nights. N o one said anything.

[MiamiSpartan]

We actually thought the food on NCL was pretty great, especially if you spring for the premium restaurants...

We usually book inside cabins, but when we book Alaska, we will get a balcony room to take advantage of the views....

[Boytjie]

Yes, HAL has a reputation for generally having older passengers but depending on when you sail there may be more people your age -and they will usually have children (which could be a negative... or not).

 

I have only been on RSVP charters on HAL ships so the passenger make-up is completely different but I do like HAL's ships and from what I have heard about regular cruises I would gladly sail with them on e regular cruise. It is often said that HAL does Alaska "right" and I think Princess is also mentioned second.

 

We were on an RSVP Alaska cruise on the Amsterdam and I loved the ship: smaller, classic. The food and service is good and they apparently have GLBT meetings - or will schedule it if you ask the cruise director. Gay charters are one big GLBT gathering. ;)

 

As for dining: I prefer the flexible option of eating when you want to. You can either make a reservation for a specific time (some lines may limit that to the less busy dining hours) or just show up when you want to (you may have to wait a bit, especially if you want a table for two). With the tradition fixed dining option you get to eat with the same people every night with the same servers while with the flexible option you can meet new people every time, eat by yourselves or meet up with new-found friends an dine together.

 

Cruise lines like HAL will have formal nights and if you care not to dress up you can always have dinner in the buffet that night or even order room service. I tend to like formal nights. :)

 

As for balconies in Alaska: I am not so sure that I would bother. On the Amsterdam me had a cabin on the promenade deck that runs around the ship and the cabin it had an obstructed view - a window looking out into ship steel - but we had natural light. We had easy access to the outside on that deck and were able to move around to see sights on different sides of the ship. For places like Glacier Bay it was better to be outside on open decks to get the view all around you.

[drfaust]

I've been doing some more reading on the Celebrity forum and some of the qualms I had about the Infinity got quelled. There were some bad reviews of the Infinity on the review boards, but someone asked in the message forum about those reviews and people came back with "hogwash -- I just got off the Infinity and had an amazing time". So, I'm confident that if I go with Celebrity it should be fine.

 

I spoke to my mother last night about room preferences, and we both agreed that it would be nice to have natural light, so no interior rooms for us. Looking at the prices, though, it looks like we can get a guarantee room with a balcony in concierge class for barely any more than an oceanview room (with a resident discount), so we may just spring for that!

 

As for dining -- even if you start out with traditional dining, you can always switch out if you want, right? So if we start with traditional dining for the first few nights, but then go to 'freestyle' dining, that's not a problem, I take it?

 

As for dress code -- if I take one dark grey suit, that should get me through both formal nights, right? I don't do well in tuxes, and I spent a lot of money on a suit that I don't wear so often (everything is REALLY casual here in Seattle), so I want to get some mileage out of it. :) Slacks and a nice shirt work for the 'smart' casual nights, right?

 

Thanks for the good feedback, everyone. Sometimes there's just too much information to make sense of it all.

[BalconyGal]

We actually thought the food on NCL was pretty great, especially if you spring for the premium restaurants...

We usually book inside cabins, but when we book Alaska, we will get a balcony room to take advantage of the views....

That's the problem we had with NCl, if you wanted decent food you had to pay extra for it! I totally agree with the balcony, then if you get cold you can pop into the room for a minute or two.

[Boytjie]

As for dining -- even if you start out with traditional dining, you can always switch out if you want, right? So if we start with traditional dining for the first few nights, but then go to 'freestyle' dining, that's not a problem, I take it?

 

What I have read about HAL is that you can switch only once, I suspect the others cruise lines that offer both options would be similar. Traditional fixed dining is supposed to be the same time, same table, same dinner companions and same servers. If you switch in and out it kinda messes up that routine. :)

 

Your solution would be felxible dining where you can reserve a fixed time on those night you want to dine at a specific time and be flexible the rest of the time.

 

As for dress code -- if I take one dark grey suit, that should get me through both formal nights, right? I don't do well in tuxes, and I spent a lot of money on a suit that I don't wear so often (everything is REALLY casual here in Seattle), so I want to get some mileage out of it. :) Slacks and a nice shirt work for the 'smart' casual nights, right?

 

Yes and yes. :)

 

Thanks for the good feedback, everyone. Sometimes there's just too much information to make sense of it all.

 

It's only with the first cruise that it is a bit overwhelming - but Cruise Critic makes it easier.

[shepp]

I've been on Princess and Celebrity, and have been very, very happy with both. There's been a fairly good range of ages (HAL skewed a lot older on the cruises I took), and both were very gay friendly. Something to consider age-wise: if you take a longer or shoulder-season cruise, you'll probably end up with an older bunch than on a midsummer 7-dayer. I haven't done an Alaska cruisetour, but if you're interested in that, I hear Princess is the way to go.

 

Keep in mind that there are a lot of appealing public spaces on ships. My partner and I had an oceanview last cruise, but spent so little time in the cabin that I'm glad we paid, essentially, no premium for what amounted to maybe a half-hour of window a day. But hey, if you got the bucks, go for it.

[voyagerx]

My partner and I have been on 41 cruises, 9 cruise lines and a awful lot of different ships.

 

We feel food is better on Celebrity, HAL, Chrystal and Princess.

 

Love the size of the superior balcony cabins on HAL Nordam and her sister ships. The Celebrity Solstice public areas are beautiful, but, IMHO, the cabins are very poorly designed. There is not even enough storage space for a 1 week cruise and not one draw will hold a shirt folded in normal fashion. Also, the main dining room is really sterile looking relative to their other ships. On our first Celebrity cruise, the"balconyless" Century, the waiters wore gray tails and, if I recall correctly, white gloves. There were also true wine stewards, not bar waiters. Ah...for the good old days. Not really.

 

If you can, get a balcony for Alaska. The scenery is so magnificent you will want to sit outside and watch it go by all day. Watching from a crowded deck is far less enjoyable.

[drfaust]

Ok, so we're now all booked on Celebrity Infinity out of Seattle on June 11. I'm incredibly excited. We got a good discount on a guarantee balcony room in concierge class -- it was cheaper than many of the oceanview room prices!

 

Next job: figuring out shore excursions. :)

[markshale]

As I was reading this thread I was planning on giving you my opinion. But I see you made an excellent choice. You should have a great first cruise experience. Alaska is breathtakingly beautiful. Be sure to catch the scenery later in the evening. The sun doesn't set till pretty late. The mountain ranges look amazing at dusk.

 

As far as tours go I would suggest getting into at least one plane ride experience. Seeing the glaciers from above is a very memorable experience. I have been on the two landing helicopter glacier flight (pilots choice) in Juneau. A very good experience. Also, in I believe Ketchikan, the Misty Fjiords float plain tour was really cool. On that one we did a low altitude buzz of a lake and also landed on one. This was was truly the coolest air tour I have ever been on anywhere. Air tours are pricey, but if you decide to have one big splurge tour , you won't go wrong.

 

Mark

[markshale]

Just made a quick look at the Celebrity web site. The extra 20 sqft your are getting in your cabin will make a huge difference.

[TexanHou]

Ok, so we're now all booked on Celebrity Infinity out of Seattle on June 11. I'm incredibly excited. We got a good discount on a guarantee balcony room in concierge class -- it was cheaper than many of the oceanview room prices!

 

Next job: figuring out shore excursions. :)

My partner and I as well as my folks, nieces, brother, sister-in-law are on this cruise too! We are first time cruisers...so far Celebrity has made it pretty easy!