Golden Princess

[bmccarthy]

We're considering taking our first cruise to Alaska in May. We are looking at either the Vancouver to Seattle or the Seattle RT cruise on the Golden Princess as they both go to Glacier Bay.

 

All 3 cruises have the same itinerary and go to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan, and Victoria. The only differences are that the first one leaves from Vancouver and has 1 less hour in Juneau and obviously is cheaper.

 

1. 7 nt. Alaska Vancouver to Seattle 5/14/11 $724

 

2. 7 nt. Alaska RT Seattle 5/21/11 $799

 

3. 7 nt. Alaska RT Seattle 5/28/11 $874

 

 

As far as crowds or weather, is it better to go in Mid or Late May? How close does the Golden Princess get to the glaciers in Glacier Bay? Is there a canopy over any of the pools for swimming?

 

Thanks,

Beth

[karatemom2]

The Golden is a beautiful ship and has a very nice indoor pool.

[Putterdude]

The 7 day from Vancouver will be the superior itinerary as it sails entirely in the Inside Passage where the seas are smoother and the scenery is non stop.Whereas the ones out of Seattle sail on the west side of Vancouver Island out in the open Pacific where you won't have any scenery for a day in either direction and the seas can be an issue particularly in May. The only issue that you may have is that the weather maybe cooler and wetter then going latter in the month...but that is a risk that you take with any Alaska cruise.

[MercedMike]

Golden Princess is a beautiful ship. You will enjoy cruising on her.

 

How close the ship gets to the glaciers in Glacier Bay is entirely up to the Captain, and can depend on many factors. Most of the time, the ships are able to get quite close to the glaciers, and spend an hour or more making a figure eight pattern so that both sides of the ship get an excellent view. Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/alaskaglaciers.html

 

The principal difference in price is due to season. The earliest cruises of the season are less expensive simply due to the law of supply and demand. The weather in early May is VERY chancy. The weather in Alaska is ALWAYS chancy. Anybody traveling to Alaska in any month should be prepared for cold windy cloudy weather for their entire trip, and consider any warm sunny days they get to be an unexpected bonus. Consequently, by taking the bargain cruise, all you get is a slightly lesser chance of warm sunny days. I think it is a good deal!

 

As far as the inside/outside Vancouver Island issue, we have done both and frankly there is very little difference for us. We are normally out and about the ship enjoying the activities and public rooms. However, if you plan to spend a lot of time on your balcony, or like our frequent poster BQ plan to bundle up and sit at the front of the ship with your binoculars for hours, then your perception may be different. It is, truly, not clear to me why shoreside scenery on both sides is preferable to shore on one side and open sea on the other.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[bmccarthy]

We will definitely save our money for excursions and book an inside cabin. We love to explore the ship, watch the scenery from a lounge, participate in activities, etc.

 

We would love to do adventurous tours, such as helicopter tour, glacier tour, bear sightings, whale watching, dog sled racing. Any recommendations for the ports (Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria)? By the way, why is the stop in Victoria only 5 hours at night?

 

Thanks,

Beth

[Putterdude]

By the way, why is the stop in Victoria only 5 hours at night?

 

Thanks,

Beth

 

The stop is to fulfill the provisions of the Passenger Vessels Services Act (PVSA) which prohibits a foreign flagged vessel from carrying passengers between American ports.

[bmccarthy]

The stop is to fulfill the provisions of the Passenger Vessels Services Act (PVSA) which prohibits a foreign flagged vessel from carrying passengers between American ports.

 

I knew that. Why don't they stop there for the day like the do in Alaska?

[Putterdude]

I knew that. Why don't they stop there for the day like the do in Alaska?

 

An itinerary out of Seattle is about 120 miles longer each way then that out of Vancouver so times in ports get shortened up.I don't know your exact itinerary but it all comes down to logistics and that is all the time they have to get from your last Alaskan port of call and still get to Seattle early the next morning.

[MercedMike]

We would love to do adventurous tours, such as helicopter tour, glacier tour, bear sightings, whale watching, dog sled racing. Any recommendations for the ports (Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria)?

 

There are so many great excursions in Alaska. My personal recommendations:

 

Do the whale watching in Juneau. We like the large comfortable boats form Allen Marine that do the ship's excursions, but if you want a smaller boat there are recommended companies on this board.

 

You would probably also have time for a helicopter excursion in Juneau. The dog sledding on the glacier is the most cancelled tour in Alaska, sadly.

 

In Skagway we really enjoy renting a car and driving over the White Pass into the Yukon, visiting Emerald Lake and doing the dog cart rides at Caribou Crossing. Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/skageway.html

 

Ketchikan is a good port for totems. Either Totem Bight or Saxman Village is good. We also love the Ketchikan ducks.

 

We have a page of shore excursions that we have enjoyed in our eight Alaskan cruises at http://www.bully4.us/alaskaexcursions.html. Hope it helps you.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[BabyDB]

Our first choice was definately to cruise out of Vancouver but airfares into Vancouver was much much more expesive then to Seattle. So with the help of our cruise.com agent she was able to find the only cruise that is repositioning out of Vancouver and coming back to Seattle. This is great since we can fly into seattle (cheaper!) and hop on a 3 1/2 -4 hr bus ride to Vancouver for $50 pp. Remember, the bus ride is a ONE-WAY...since you will be arriving back to Seattle with the cruise!!! Not a bad deal....the dates is May 14, 2011 - 7 nights alaska.

 

good luck

[appgirl]

We went to Alaska this past May. Our cruise left from Seattle May 15 on the Golden. I know the weather can be iffy all the time but we had weather in the high 60's, low 70's the whole time. It was beautiful. One thing I was glad about going so early. We went on a tour into the Yukon with Dyea Dave in Skagway. There was still a lot of snow on the ground. We were told on the tour that in a few weeks the snow would be mostly gone, whether that was entirely true or not I have no idea. But it did make for great scenary and I was very happy we went early. As for me, I would definitely recommend a balcony. I remember leaving Skagway sitting on the balcony watching the waterfalls and thinking about how lucky I was to be there. Plus we saw tons of whales from our balcony.