ALASKA with other cruise lines

[cbb]

Any advice to a young professional couple with a 1st grader who wants to cruise the Inside Passage AND go to Denali? Currently they are looking at Celebrity and Princess cruisetours.

 

Celebrity has great appeal (and they've sailed X before) but Princess appears to have the whole Alaska experience nailed by offering the train car and the Princess lodging. When you are a working couple with not enough hours in the day, there is a certain appeal to letting others handle the details!

 

I depend on O cruisers to help me with these kinds of situations so have any of you personal experience with either of these Alaskan cruisetours? Thanks! c

[Paulchili]

I think Princess and HAL have the best cruise/land packages, AFAIK, but Princess might be a better choice with a young child (a little less formal).

I would compare those 2 for prices and itineraries.

BTW, I've never been to Alaska but plan on going soon :)

I am sure others, more knowledgeable about Alaska, will have their say.

[JimandStan]

Any advice to a young professional couple with a 1st grader who wants to cruise the Inside Passage AND go to Denali? Currently they are looking at Celebrity and Princess cruisetours.

 

Celebrity has great appeal (and they've sailed X before) but Princess appears to have the whole Alaska experience nailed by offering the train car and the Princess lodging. When you are a working couple with not enough hours in the day, there is a certain appeal to letting others handle the details!

 

I depend on O cruisers to help me with these kinds of situations so have any of you personal experience with either of these Alaskan cruisetours? Thanks! c

 

Two things:

1) Princess tends to attract a much younger crowd than Holland America, and although their Alaska Tour setup is extensive, it is also VERY rudimentary. Young families may find it fun, but they should not expect a deluxe experience on a Princess land tour in Alaska. It is just too huge an operation.

 

2) Try to talk them out of doing the inside passage cruise if you can, because the SOLE advantage to sailing that route is that you fly in/out of the same port, and if they are going to Denali anyway, it makes no sense.

[cbb]

Thanks Paul,

The young woman (trip planner) is going to have her TA give her quotes from both cruisetours and attempt to compare them. We've only been to Alaska once in '06 and did a land tour and then Inside Passage with HAL and even then it was running "old" people with a lot of smokers.

 

As of 1/2012 Princess does not allow smoking in staterooms or verandas which has opened up this cruise line for consideration!

 

Thanks again Paul. Alaska is stunning --but wet--so take your slickers/ponchos! And your fleece, and your hat....!!

[findacruise]

We did Alaska with HAL in 2006 and it was an older crowd but were a number of children. They had special HAL club for them. They didn't have unassigned seating then, but do now as an option. They do Alaska well and we did land first and then the cruise, which in my mind, is the best order. We went in mid-May and had outstanding weather (never any quarantees) and not the crowds that arrive later. It was cool, but warm in the sun and layers worked perfectly. Seemed to be more relaxed, probably because it's Alaska and dishes and crew uniforms were different. (not sure if they still are) We went to Denali and since it was early in the season we could still see some ice flows and on the trip to the Yukon there was snow and the train ride was beautiful. Enjoyed our entire trip.

[Paulchili]

Thanks Paul,

As of 1/2012 Princess does not allow smoking in staterooms or verandas which has opened up this cruise line for consideration!

 

Thanks again Paul. Alaska is stunning --but wet--so take your slickers/ponchos! And your fleece, and your hat....!!

 

cbb,

Thanks for the advice - will follow it.

We are doing Vancouver to Beijing on Princess. While it's not the best way to see Alaska, we are doing it for the itinerary (Vladivostok, Sapporo, etc) and we'll stay in Asia for land trips in the Stans.

We appreciate Princess' no smoking policy and as Elites we got free laundry and lots of free Internet - not a bad deal.

Some day we'll do Alaska "the right way" with a land tour.

[cbb]

The itinerary they are looking at would allow them to fly into Fairbanks then go to Denali, take the Park shuttle within the Park, (the train is in there somewhere!) then onto Whittier and board the ship for the IP to Vancouver. Extra days would then be spent in V and over to Victoria.

 

They realize that it isn't going to be genteel but they are looking at some level of suite & the luxury lines aren't geared for children as has been discussed.

 

Thanks to all of you all. I'm sure there are other O cruisers out there who know people with children that might find this thread useful. You are terrific!

[TERRIER1]

I just started to look into Alaska cruises and HAL has very nice land/cruise package. I have only sailed O but HAL seems a better choice for this itinerary. Also, you can combine the inside passage and Gulf by cruising the longer voyage and starting at one gateway and ending in another.

[cbb]

Paul--that free laundry might come in handy--just for using the dryers!!

Your trip sounds awesome! What a great way to get to China! c

[cbb]

Nope, HAL is out. Their smoking policy is not something they want to deal with. Personally, I don't blame them. Our Carib cruise was ruined by the 2 chimneys on either side of me rendering my veranda unusable.

[TERRIER1]

Nope, HAL is out. Their smoking policy is not something they want to deal with. Personally, I don't blame them. Our Carib cruise was ruined by the 2 chimneys on either side of me rendering my veranda unusable.

 

You are correct. Smoking is not allowed in the cabin but still allowed on the veranda. I like their smaller ships though. The Princess and Celebrity ships are large.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Regent does Alaska very well.

[JimandStan]

You are correct. Smoking is not allowed in the cabin but still allowed on the veranda. I like their smaller ships though. The Princess and Celebrity ships are large.

 

Yes, the HAL Smoking Policy is officially "no smoking in the cabin" but my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) is that the $250 penalty is so low that many smokers just factor it into the cost of their cruise, and puff away.

[Dreps]

We did it with Regent, but if that is too much luxury for them especially with a first grader, it is important to realize that it is very easy to do this type of trip without using a cruise tour package, and I’m sure that you can get “much more bang for your buck” independently.

 

If you do the Inside Passage as we did from Seward (or Whittier), you fly up to Anchorage. Then, rent a car at the airport, overnight in Anchorage, and head for Denali the next day. (The train schedules just didn't work well for us going to Denali.) (Personally, we didn't think that spending extra time in Anchorage was very rewarding.) We stopped on the way to Denali in Talkeetna because the weather was great, and we were told to take advantage of it for a flight around McKinley from there. (Talkeetna was the model for the town in the TV series "Northern Exposure.")

 

After the flight, we continued to a B&B that we had booked not far from Denali. (I had arranged our Denlai Park shuttle bus tickets before we left). We spent most of the day in the park going in as far as mile 66; we continued to have wonderful weather with constant views of McKinley (very rare). Then we headed back to Talkeetna for a couple of nights at the Alaskan Lodge. We did a couple of tours around there and then headed back to Anchorage to drop off the car and take the train down to Seward to board the ship. Driving distances are long, but very easy, and the train trip down to Seward is very picturesque.

 

We, also spent several days in Vancouver at the end of our cruise, including a day trip to Victoria. The Alaska Cruise Critic board was extremely useful in planning all of this.

[RuthC]

Yes, the HAL Smoking Policy is officially "no smoking in the cabin" but my understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) is that the $250 penalty is so low that many smokers just factor it into the cost of their cruise, and puff away.

I'm a frequent HAL cruiser (well over 500 days), and a regular on the HAL forum. Since the new "no smoking in the cabin" rule took effect I have read no reports of people embarking to find their cabin had a residual smell of smoke. Yes, before the new policy was implemented, there were posts to the effect that people would just accept the fine, but there is no reason to believe that people have carried out that threat.

[cbb]

Dreps,

thanks for the info....sounds like something we'd like to do. We took the Park shuttle into Denali and loved it. We also took the private plane trip around Mt McK and it was one of the great moments of my life. The pilot told me he never tired of it and never took it for granted...awesome is the correct term to use!

We've been to Victoria and Vancouver several times and loved it. Thanks again for the itinerary! (Yes, Regent is too much for them right now)

[LuAnn]

The itinerary they are looking at would allow them to fly into Fairbanks then go to Denali, take the Park shuttle within the Park, (the train is in there somewhere!) then onto Whittier and board the ship for the IP to Vancouver. Extra days would then be spent in V and over to Victoria.

 

They realize that it isn't going to be genteel but they are looking at some level of suite & the luxury lines aren't geared for children as has been discussed.

 

Thanks to all of you all. I'm sure there are other O cruisers out there who know people with children that might find this thread useful. You are terrific!

 

Alaska with Celebrity and Princess. While I prefer Celebrity for their food, service and perks as an Elite, I thought Princess did a fabulous job on the land portion...they have it all down to a "T"!! The lodges in Denali and Mt.McKinley were fine and the train ride was such fun! Each car has it's own dining room (the food on board was good) and it's own bar...plus a live person doing all the narration and pointing out animals etc. as you go along! Princess usually has plenty for the kids to do as well. Have them try to go at the beginning or the end of the season as you'll avoid the mosquitos...we have been in May and September several times and the weather has been great..but that is the luck of the draw. LuAnn

[LuAnn]

cbb,

Thanks for the advice - will follow it.

We are doing Vancouver to Beijing on Princess. While it's not the best way to see Alaska, we are doing it for the itinerary (Vladivostok, Sapporo, etc) and we'll stay in Asia for land trips in the Stans.

We appreciate Princess' no smoking policy and as Elites we got free laundry and lots of free Internet - not a bad deal.

Some day we'll do Alaska "the right way" with a land tour.

 

You are going to love that cruise..are you on the Diamond Princess? LuAnn

[Paulchili]

You are going to love that cruise..are you on the Diamond Princess? LuAnn

 

Hi LuAnn,

Yes - it's the Diamond. With that many sea days (which are OK with us) I am glad we sprung for a minisuite - just a bit more breathing room.

Lots of time for trivias - come and join us :D

[BillPizzaiolo]

We did the Alaska tour starting in Fairbanks land tour southbound using discoveralaska dot biz in late August early September. It included everything except two meals in Vancouver. It was outstanding! Yes there were smokers on board HAL. We didn't travel with youngsters but think if we did they would have loved it. We saw lots of wildlife in Denali, & enjoyed the glass topped train ride from Faibanks to Dinali and then to Anchorage and the ship. Doing the exhausting land part first and relaxing on the ship was smart for us. I think I took over 2400 photographs of scenery and wildlife.

[cbb]

The great decision has come down: they are going Princess and a DIY land pre-cruise flying into Anchorage and renting a car, doing the Denali Nat Park shuttle and back to Anchorage. Post cruise they will do Van & Vic DIY.

 

Anyone got a tip on best way to get from Anchorage to Whittier?

 

LuAnn- I had a student who was born/reared in Alaska and she said the mosquitoes were so large that it was "the state bird." Airforce guys say the mosquitoes are so large that numbers could be painted on their tails!

 

Thanks everyone. You never fail me..... xoxo

[Paulchili]

Anyone got a tip on best way to get from Anchorage to Whittier?

 

 

I believe I read somewhere on our roll call about a scenic train between the two? I did not pay that much attention as it did not apply to us but you may want to investigate.

Good luck.

[geomac53]

I have done two alaska cruises one in september and one in may,one with princess one whit royal caribean Princes out of Seattle royal Cariben out of Vancouver. both were 7 ay up and back cruises both had thre stops in alaska, juno skagway and ketacan all three towns were cruise towns IE: Jewerly stores and trinket shops once outside of town everything is great but intown not so much and it sems every ship seems to dock on the same day so there a 6 to 9000 people trying to see everything. The next alaska cruise I want to do is from HAL it is a 14 day up and back without duplicate stops. Every one must go to Alaska at least once and no it is usually cqite plesant weathe wise in the mid 70 to mid 60s

[cbb]

Paul,

I found a website that does talk about the train from Anchorage to Whittier and it looks wonderful so i sent it on to the young woman. Thanks for thinking of that. I adore trains; I think I was born a generation too late! c

[Paulchili]

Paul,

I found a website that does talk about the train from Anchorage to Whittier and it looks wonderful so i sent it on to the young woman. Thanks for thinking of that. I adore trains; I think I was born a generation too late! c

 

...and no TSA to deal with + you can keep your shoes on with the trains :D