Celebrity vs Princess for Cruisetour in Alaska

[sbellante]

Trying to decide between these two lines for a Cruisetour in Alaska....I know Princess may be better for land portion and Celebrity will be better for cruise portion.....any feedback on which one you would choose and why? Thank you!

[frugaltravel]

Why do you say Celebrity will be better for the land portion? I have been on both and I would not say rhat.

 

What are your dates? What are your priorities? What are the itineraries of each cruise and tour? What are the port times? How long are you going for?

 

Princess has some very poor land tours but their SB itineraries go to both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. If it were me I would probably do the land tour independently and use Princess SB.

[sbellante]

Oh really? I heard Princess was the best for the land portion.....I just want two nights in Denali so we can do the deep tundra tour. I want to ride the train with the glass dome....I was struggling because I believe that Celebrity is a step above Princess, but I could be wrong. Do you think Princess has as good of service and food as Celebrity? Every review and book I have read says differently...what are your thoughts?

[thinfool]

While I lean toward Princess, I won't take sides as to quality, however, I would make the point that you cannot see Glacier Bay on Celebrity.

 

For many folks, GB is a must see for an Alaskan cruise.

[frugaltravel]

You have not spent much time on the CC Princess forum if truly EVERY review you have read puts Celebrity above Princess. Having said that, both lines are fine.

 

For me the itinerary is WAY more important in Alaska than anywhere else. Princess gets to Glacier Bay which was already mentioned. If you take Princess SB you also get Hubbatd Glacier.

 

Also Princess has much better unobstructed forward viewing areas which to me is a huge advantage. You miss a lot by viewing solely from a balcony.

 

With two nights at Denali I suggest changing the TWT to an Eielson shuttle bus even if you get no refund on the tour.

[caribill]

We recently took a 6 night (2 in Fairbanks, 2 in Denali, 2 near Talkeetna) Connoisseur land tour with Princess followed by cruising from Whittier to Vancouver.

 

There is no way that the Connoisseur land tour could have been surpassed by any other provider. Recommend it 100%.

 

And the cruise was great also.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I would definitely go with Princess. They have been in the Alaskan business for many more years than Celebrity. And as has been said -- Celebrity does not go to Glacier Bay.

[biker1972]

When comparing Princess to Celebrity for Alaska the land portion must be considered. Princess has more itinerary choices than Celebrity. If you do the land portion on your own, then you can get any itinerary that you want with a few exceptions. Those exceptions would involve a rental and taking gravel roads which would not be allowed under the rental contract. The land portions of either cruise line will be about the same in that they use similar hotels, buses and trains. In Denali tours are only provided by the park service contracted vendor so there is no choice. Since Alaska is about the land, decide where you want to go and what you want to see then see which cruise line takes you there. And if they don't, start looking at DIY. If the 7 or so days on the ship are most important and the land tours that line offers are not what you want , then you definitely want to consider building you own land tour. Another option would be to make a round trip from Vancouver using both lines with a cruise tour from one and a cruise from the other. With careful planning this can be done almost seamlessly.

[sbellante]

Thank you all for the help. Because we can't take more than 10 days away from our business, we have decided on a Princess cruise where we get to visit Denali and get to do the Tundra Tour. It is a basic tour, but until we are retired, that is all we can "fit in". A round trip cruise would have been easier, but we wanted to spend a few days on land. Of course we can always go back and experience more of Alaska. We are probably going on the Princess Sapphire. Thanks again!

[frugaltravel]

Thank you all for the help. Because we can't take more than 10 days away from our business, we have decided on a Princess cruise where we get to visit Denali and get to do the Tundra Tour. It is a basic tour, but until we are retired, that is all we can "fit in". A round trip cruise would have been easier, but we wanted to spend a few days on land. Of course we can always go back and experience more of Alaska. We are probably going on the Princess Sapphire. Thanks again!

 

That means three nights for your land tour. Are you sure Princess gives you 2 nights in Denali Princess?

 

With that short of a timeframe I would skip the cruisetour, book the land tour on your own and book the cruise with Princess.

 

Are you cruising NB or SB? My guess is NB and that is the only reason such a cruisetour might work. But then Princess parks on at the McKinley Princess for a night, with the sole purpose being that you spend money at their lodge.

[sbellante]

We decided on the 11 day tour and it does stop for two nights in denali allowing for the tundra tour.

[oratheeexplorer]

We decided on the 11 day tour and it does stop for two nights in denali allowing for the tundra tour.

 

 

We just did an 11 day cruisetour with Princess.....have a great time.....and I'd be willing to bet you will want to go back again....because we sure do! :)

[frugaltravel]

We decided on the 11 day tour and it does stop for two nights in denali allowing for the tundra tour.

 

That is good but I suggest you consider the shuttle to Eielson. Goes further into the park (only 5 more miles) but you get more chances to see bears. Also it is 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost. Main difference is that you have to get yourself to the WAC for the shuttle whereas the TWT picks you up at the hotel.

[thinfool]

You will enjoy the Tundra Wilderness Tour. We saw tons of wildlife and were very happy with our driver/guide.

 

Our next trip will put us on the shuttle, but for our first time, the TWT was the right choice.

[firstalaskatrip]

I can't comment on Celebrity, but we did a 10 day cruisetour on Princess and thought it was fantastic! For the cruise portion, the naturalist onboard did a great job of highlighting the periods of time where we were likely to see humpback whales and another time period where we were likely to see sea otters. She was spot on with all recommendations.

 

For the land portion, we took the train from Whittier to Denali - it's long, but breaking it up with getting lunch downstairs on the train (great reindeer chili!) and the beautiful scenery made it seem ok. We really enjoyed it. The guide on the train was also great. We did see beluga whales from the train in Turnaigan Arm. Once at Denali, Princess will refund you for the park tour allowing you to switch to a shuttle bus. We booked Eilson but ended up switching to a Wonder Lake shuttle to go even farther once we got to Eilson. The lodge for Princess was also substantially closer to the park than the Celebrity lodge was - both have shuttles but only during certain hours - Princess lodge is walkable though a decent walk. Would recommend staying as many nights at the Denali lodge as possible over the McKinley lodge unless you want to do flightseeing in Talkeetna since Denali has a ton to do. A lot of people on this board are pretty negative about cruisetours, but we really enjoyed it and found it to be an easy way to see a lot in a short time. That being said, I definitely really appreciated the advice to skip the park tours and switch to the shuttle bus - we saw a LOT more of the park for a much cheaper price.

[geoherb]

Going to Glacier Bay was definitely one of the highlights of our cruise tour last month--along with taking the Tundra Wilderness Tour. I would definitely recommend doing a tour that would let you do both of them (or one of the shuttles into Denali if you have time).

[sbellante]

Thank you!