Which to Choose?

[TarantinoFan]

My husband and I are looking for a ten day cruise to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary and have narrowed down our choices, but figured we'd ask you guys for some suggestions! My husband is a professional photographer, and is looking to work on his street photography (documentary photography of people in every day life in public places, basically) while we are away. The cruises we are considering are the following:

 

10 Day Southern Caribbean Medley

10 Day Eastern Caribbean Voyager

10 Day Alaskan Cruise with Glacier Bay

 

Any information and/or insight you all can provide would be fabulous! Looking for advice from anyone who has been on these cruises, not just about photography!

[TracieABD]

Which ships?

[TarantinoFan]

The Caribbean ones are on the Emerald, the Alaskan one is on the Grand Princess.

[paul929207]

My vote would be for Alaska

[KruzPrincess]

Since you've been to the Caribbean several times, I guess I'd pick Alaska. If you do choose the Caribbean, I would pick the So. Caribbean. I see you're from Canada, so being that I come from MN I always think that the Caribbean is appealing.

[DrivesLikeMario]

AK has less photo ops for catching the daily life of the general public since many people are boaters or fly seaplanes into town. The towns are small, as are many Caribbean islands, but I think you would find more opportunity for these kind of pictures at the wonderful markets. St. Lucia has a good one where we caught some very unique pictures, the gritty town of Roseau in Dominica provides interesting photo ops and for a more prosperous area with the locals going about their daily business, try Grenada's St. George's area downtown.

[fishywood]

If you do choose Canada you would be much better off with a seven day Voyage of the Glaciers coupled with a three day (or longer) land tour to Denali. Four of the ten days on Grand Princess will be dreary sea days on the open waters of the Pacific--nothing to photograph there! Two days of glacier cruising rather than one, plus the land tour = photographer's dream.

[DrivesLikeMario]

AK is great for scenery and wildlife. Not the best for catching "people in every day life in public places" as the OP said.

[fishywood]

AK is great for scenery and wildlife. Not the best for catching "people in every day life in public places" as the OP said.

 

OK point taken. If that is his goal than all three of these cruises may not be port-intensive enough. Alaska with four port days + one day glacier cruising, the two Caribbean with five port days + one day Princess Cays.

[DrivesLikeMario]

OK point taken. If that is his goal than all three of these cruises may not be port-intensive enough. Alaska with four port days + one day glacier cruising, the two Caribbean with five port days + one day Princess Cays.

 

;) I thought of all the great natural scenery at first too, then realized that's not what the OP is looking for. ;)

[caribill]

My husband is a professional photographer, and is looking to work on his street photography (documentary photography of people in every day life in public places, basically) while we are away. The cruises we are considering are the following:

 

10 Day Southern Caribbean Medley

10 Day Eastern Caribbean Voyager

10 Day Alaskan Cruise with Glacier Bay

 

 

Since these would be at different times of year, it does not look as if you are determined to be on a ship on your anniversary itself.

 

The problem with all three of these is that with your husband's desire to do "photography of people in every day life in public places" is that all the ports will have many more people from cruise ships in town then there will be local residents (most of whom will be sales people inside jewelry stores).

 

Unless he wants to take pictures of tourists instead of locals, I suggest a European cruise where you are more likely to have more local residents than cruise passengers to photograph.

[TracieABD]

You might find more indiginous life subjects on a Baltics cruise. Many of those ports are step-off right into the city.

[TarantinoFan]

We are looking to sail April or May of 2013. Photography of course is not his main focus (I actually had assumed he would have preferred the Alaskan cruise for all of the photo opportunities of wildlife but he's decided he likes buildings rather than the wildlife) but we are looking for advice from previous cruisers who've gone on Alaska or the Caribbean; my main concern is the sea days from San Fransisco to Alaska and what the weather would be like, too.

 

TracyABD: I would love to cruise the Baltics and other parts of Europe though our jobs do not allow us to take much time off and we'd like to invest more time into discovering Europe. I'd feel cheated only going for a week or so haha.

[Budget Queen]

We are looking to sail April or May of 2013. Photography of course is not his main focus (I actually had assumed he would have preferred the Alaskan cruise for all of the photo opportunities of wildlife but he's decided he likes buildings rather than the wildlife) but we are looking for advice from previous cruisers who've gone on Alaska or the Caribbean; my main concern is the sea days from San Fransisco to Alaska and what the weather would be like, too.

 

TracyABD: I would love to cruise the Baltics and other parts of Europe though our jobs do not allow us to take much time off and we'd like to invest more time into discovering Europe. I'd feel cheated only going for a week or so haha.

 

Based on your statements- then skip Alaska.

 

 

I have cruised both locations extensively- I go to the Caribbean, as "fill in" trips which cheap late booked give away fares. But this is the place for "buildings" and people to photograph.

[geoherb]

I love Alaska, but I'd suggest a shorter round-trip cruise from Seattle (making sure it went to Glacier Bay) or a one-way cruise to or from Vancouver with time before or after to tour some. Both Vancouver and Seattle have some fantastic photo opportunities.

[TracieABD]

In that case, I would still go with Alaska... I have done both, and my personal opinion, is there seems to be more substance to the Alaska cruises. I absolutely fell in love with that "little neck of the woods".

 

I have been to the Caribbean many times, both on cruises and on land vacations. The feel of that region is just different.

[Cruise Raider]

I love, love, love both the southern Caribbean and the Alaskan intineraries....whereas the Eastern Caribbean is not so much my favorite. St Thomas has gone through a lot of turmoil and certainly not anywhere near as nice as it used to be. Some of the other islands are a bit sketchy as well -- just not the safest feeling. Aruba and Bonaire, on the other hand, are absolutely gorgeous -- flat but gorgeous. I think Greneda and Dominica have some wonderful people watching opportunities -- and Greneda has the most gorgeous uncrowded beach over by the spice market.

Alaska is also such a nice place to cruise --currently booked for our 6th time up there. I don't think you could ever go wrong with this cruise if photography is on your agenda. A lot of wow factor here and love being able to support the local American and Canadian economies.

[molme]

Have you considered the Panama Canal r/t from Ft Lauderdale. Some neat stops on this cruise.

[caribill]

We are looking to sail April or May of 2013. Photography of course is not his main focus (I actually had assumed he would have preferred the Alaskan cruise for all of the photo opportunities of wildlife but he's decided he likes buildings rather than the wildlife) but we are looking for advice from previous cruisers who've gone on Alaska or the Caribbean; my main concern is the sea days from San Fransisco to Alaska and what the weather would be like, too.

 

 

 

I would choose Alaska, but do a one way Whittier to Vancouver (or reverse). Interesting buildings in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan, but weather cannot be guaranteed. Only one real sea day (between Ketchikan and Vancouver). I consider Glacier Bay and Hubbard/College Fiord(depending on direction) as very scenic cruising days, not sea days.