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[mikefoz1]

best cruise line for alaska cruise, Please

[Shmoo here]

best cruise line for alaska cruise, Please

 

"Best" would be so subjective.

 

You need to figure out what you're interested in seeing/doing and research the various cruiselines that go there to see if any of their itineraries will fit the bill for you.

 

:)

[JimAOk1945]

I agree with Shmoo. Alaska is all about what you want to see. We have sailed twice, once on Princess and the second on Radiance of the Seas.

 

We enjoyed the second one more because the itinerary took us to Hubbard Glacier and Icy Strait Point near Hoonah. Much more spectacular than just cruising the inside passage.

 

My wife always takes loads of pictures. If you are interested, highlights of our Alaska cruise in August can be viewed at the link just below. All are in slide shows with background music, but you can also go through the pictures by clicking on the thumbnails.

 

http://nancysoasis.com/alaska2012/alaska2012.html

 

Happy Sailing!

[CruiserBruce]

As mentioned, "best" is in the eye of the beholder. However, if you do some reading on this board, you will see this question asked frequently, and you will see many people say Glacier Bay is extremely important to Alaska cruising. And we strongly agree

 

As Princess and Holland America has most (but not all) of the cruises to Glacier Bay, that might answer your question.

[bonvoyagie]

Princess is the 800lb gorilla in this market and I will agree that if possible your first cruise should include Glacier Bay (I waited until my third and now I know better). This limits you to three major cruise lines - Princess, HAL, and NCL. Alaska is all about the ports and shore excursions - it is also about wildlife, scenery, glaciers, native culture and gold rush history. The more time you spend exploring the ports - the more you will learn and see.

 

So find cruises that spend time in the main ports of Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan - other ports include Icy Point Strait (Hoonah) and Sittka these are newer cruise ship destinations and are less touristy (for now).

 

Here is a website to help you plan port activities - http://cruiseportinsider.com/index.html

 

You also have the choice of doing7 day roundtrip or one way cruises (or put two one ways B2B for a 14 day adventure). Most RTs come out of Seattle while all one ways sail from Vancouver BC (there are some RTs out of Vancouver). Vancouver departures head to the inside of the island which is considered to be more scenic with calmer waters - Seattle cruises go out the Strait of Juan De Fuca and on the seaward side of the island. Both cruises have open water north of the island before ducking back into the protected waters to reach Ketchikan and Juneau. One way cruises also have open water from just north of Icy Point Strait to Seward/Whittier. IMHO a one way cruise is not worth it unless you can spend a few days more to see the interior of AK esp the Denali area.

 

Good luck on your decision

[mikefoz1]

I can not thank all of you enough. All the replies we so helpful in multiple ways. Sailing nothing but Caribbean has left me with blinders on.

[mikefoz1]

How's NCL to Princess??

[tmitchell82]

There is also a difference between doing a R/T cruise out of Seattle or doing the one way cruise North or South from Whittier/Seward to Vancouver/Seattle. R/T are easier for flights. Itineraries are different in that if you go out of Seattle, you are going to have to stop someplace in Canada, usually Victoria. One way, you are going to be further North and see more mountains and potentially Hubbard glacier. Also, the one-way would allow you to do a land tour in Alaska and get to see Mt. McKinley and Denali for example. Land tour was well worth it IMHO (we just don't have scenery like that here in Illinois....:D) I do agree with others that you definitely want Glacier Bay on the itinerary. Just an incredible place to visit. There is so much to do with a wide variety of options in the ports. I think you could visit these ports multiple times and have a different experience each time.

 

We found Alaska to be very different from the Caribbean. Caribbean cruises are beach, sun, and fun. Needless to say, you do not exactly sun yourself by the pool in Alaska. It really is about seeing Alaska. On the Caribbean cruises, we usually end up seeing shows, comedy acts, etc. at night. In Alaska, I think we made it to one act. We spent so much time outside or on the balcony taking it all in. Loved it so much, we are going back next summer.

 

Tim

[punkincc]

How's NCL to Princess??

 

We cruise NCL often, but have not been on Princess since 2007. Princess considers itself to be a little more formal and upscale in my opinion. We are big fans of NCL Freestyle and think NCL has the friendliest staff and customer service.

 

We are booked for our first Alaska cruise out of Vancouver R/T next May on the NCL Sun. We think the dine when, where and with whom you want will be a good fit with the late departure times in some of the ports. Not sure how fixed dining times would work around that. Wouldn't want to cut short my time in port to make that 6:00 seating:rolleyes:

 

If you want an idea of what an NCL Alaska cruise is like, the best cruise review I have read is by SDMike of his 7-28-12 cruise on the Jewel. Very entertaining and some fantastic pictures. After reading it, we just had to book an Alaskan cruise!

 

I would post the link but I am fairly computer illiterate. If you go to the NCL board and put SDMike Alaska cruise review in the search box it will come right up.

 

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say about NCL/Princess for Alaska.

[sherryf]

We are booked for our first Alaska cruise out of Vancouver R/T next May on the NCL Sun. We think the dine when, where and with whom you want will be a good fit with the late departure times in some of the ports. Not sure how fixed dining times would work around that. Wouldn't want to cut short my time in port to make that 6:00 seating:rolleyes:

 

Princess has "Anytime Dining" so this is possible on Princess too. No need to be locked into a set dining time if you don't want. We've done Anytime on all of our Princess cruises to Alaska and have been very happy with it.

[ntvsdgrl]

There is also a difference between doing a R/T cruise out of Seattle or doing the one way cruise North or South from Whittier/Seward to Vancouver/Seattle. R/T are easier for flights. Itineraries are different in that if you go out of Seattle, you are going to have to stop someplace in Canada, usually Victoria. One way, you are going to be further North and see more mountains and potentially Hubbard glacier. Also, the one-way would allow you to do a land tour in Alaska and get to see Mt. McKinley and Denali for example. Land tour was well worth it IMHO (we just don't have scenery like that here in Illinois....:D) I do agree with others that you definitely want Glacier Bay on the itinerary. Just an incredible place to visit. There is so much to do with a wide variety of options in the ports. I think you could visit these ports multiple times and have a different experience each time.

 

We found Alaska to be very different from the Caribbean. Caribbean cruises are beach, sun, and fun. Needless to say, you do not exactly sun yourself by the pool in Alaska. It really is about seeing Alaska. On the Caribbean cruises, we usually end up seeing shows, comedy acts, etc. at night. In Alaska, I think we made it to one act. We spent so much time outside or on the balcony taking it all in. Loved it so much, we are going back next summer.

 

Tim

 

Tim, I have to say I just watched all your videos last night on Alaska. I'm doing the Northbound next August on Coral Princess and the landtour afterwards. You guys were a little more adventuresome than I'm going to be but your photography was absolutely beautiful.

[punkincc]

Princess has "Anytime Dining" so this is possible on Princess too. No need to be locked into a set dining time if you don't want. We've done Anytime on all of our Princess cruises to Alaska and have been very happy with it.

 

We tried a pale imitation of NCL's freestyle dining on RCCL, if I recall. I believe we still had to inform them of the time each day we expected to dine.

The any timers were segregated to one corner of the dining room and we were seated at the same table every night. We felt like 2nd class citizens.

 

Perhaps Princess's version is better than this, but I doubt if it can compare to NCL.

[tmitchell82]

Princess has "Anytime Dining" so this is possible on Princess too. No need to be locked into a set dining time if you don't want. We've done Anytime on all of our Princess cruises to Alaska and have been very happy with it.

 

Anytime dinning was great in Alaska. If there was something to see outside at the dinner hour, you just ate later/earlier. I think early seating started when we were still inside glacier bay, well getting to the end of it and depending on the itinerary, you could be starting dinner while in port.

[tmitchell82]

Tim, I have to say I just watched all your videos last night on Alaska. I'm doing the Northbound next August on Coral Princess and the landtour afterwards. You guys were a little more adventuresome than I'm going to be but your photography was absolutely beautiful.

 

Thanks. I think I ended up taking over 2800 pictures and about 7 hours worth of video. Alaska was a photography heaven with all it's beauty. Hence forth the reason we spent so much time on deck and on the balcony. Now I am trying to figure out how to make a sequel to my first Alaska trip videos.

 

FYI - On the Coral Princess there are 2 decks forward on Baja and Caribe that are great places to go, particularly if you are headed toward the Hubbard Glacier. Just go all the way forward on the decks and go through the doors. They are not marked with anything, but just go through the doors and you'll be on the forward outside decks.

 

Tim

[sherryf]

We tried a pale imitation of NCL's freestyle dining on RCCL, if I recall. I believe we still had to inform them of the time each day we expected to dine.

The any timers were segregated to one corner of the dining room and we were seated at the same table every night. We felt like 2nd class citizens.

 

Perhaps Princess's version is better than this, but I doubt if it can compare to NCL.

 

How can you know if you haven't tried? On the ships I've been on, there are two "Anytime" dining rooms and one "Traditional" dining room. Sometimes, if they have a lot of people who want early Traditional, they use one of the Anytime rooms from 5:15 until 7:00. We have always gone whenever we wanted and have usually been seated immediately. They do have pagers they use if there is a wait. We have gotten pagers maybe 2-3 times in 4 cruises, and have never waited more than about 15 minutes. We have been very happy with Anytime Dining on Princess. I cannot say whether it "can compare to NCL" since I have never sailed NCL, but I certainly wouldn't think that this would be a major deciding factor in which cruise line to choose for a cruise to Alaska.

[akeasley]

I think you should cruise with Princess. :)

[punkincc]

How can you know if you haven't tried? On the ships I've been on, there are two "Anytime" dining rooms and one "Traditional" dining room. Sometimes, if they have a lot of people who want early Traditional, they use one of the Anytime rooms from 5:15 until 7:00. We have always gone whenever we wanted and have usually been seated immediately. They do have pagers they use if there is a wait. We have gotten pagers maybe 2-3 times in 4 cruises, and have never waited more than about 15 minutes. We have been very happy with Anytime Dining on Princess. I cannot say whether it "can compare to NCL" since I have never sailed NCL, but I certainly wouldn't think that this would be a major deciding factor in which cruise line to choose for a cruise to Alaska.

 

I agree that the itinerary should be the deciding factor for any cruise. Once that is determined, I would look at which cruise lines offer the itinerary to meet my timeframe. I would have never brought up Freestyle cruising if the OP had not asked how NCL compared to Princess. You say anytime dining guests are limited to their own dining room on Princess rather than the main elegant room all the others dine in. This to me is segregation. On NCL I can choose between 7 or 8 dining venues.

 

Having cruised on all the major lines, I could go on any of them and have a good time. Yes, the staff and service are adequate, and people rave about how their waiter in the dining room remembers their likes and dislikes, but I can say that I have never had a meaningful conversation with with any of the staff on cruise lines other than NCL. It is difficult to explain unless you have experienced it. We have sailed them 3 times and it is consistently the same. IMO, NCL staff are the happiest, friendliest and customer service oriented in the business because it comes from the top down. It means the difference between a good cruise and a great one.

[sherryf]

You say anytime dining guests are limited to their own dining room on Princess rather than the main elegant room all the others dine in. This to me is segregation.

 

You misinterpret again, because you've never been on Princess. Instead of having one huge dining room, Princess has several smaller ones. They are all equally "elegant". Nobody is "segregated" into inferior dining space. You may prefer NCL, and that's fine, but you shouldn't make such disparaging remarks about Princess if you don't have first hand experience.

[punkincc]

You misinterpret again, because you've never been on Princess. Instead of having one huge dining room, Princess has several smaller ones. They are all equally "elegant". Nobody is "segregated" into inferior dining space. You may prefer NCL, and that's fine, but you shouldn't make such disparaging remarks about Princess if you don't have first hand experience.

 

I have cruised on Princess. You state that there are "2 anytime dining rooms" in addition to the " traditional" dining room. I take it from that comment that if you prefer anytime dining, you MUST eat in one of those 2 rooms.

 

It appears that you have not cruised NCL and therefore have no concept of what it is like to cruise on NCL. I don't think my remarks were disparaging, just pointing out the facts.

 

I think that Princess is a fine cruise line and may even be superior for Alaska itineraries which is why I hoped I might get some info here regarding what makes them the 800 lb gorilla in Alaska.

 

Every cruise line has it's pluses and minuses. It's up to each cruiser to determine what is important and what kind of cruise experience they want.

[sherryf]

I have cruised on Princess. You state that there are "2 anytime dining rooms" in addition to the " traditional" dining room. I take it from that comment that if you prefer anytime dining, you MUST eat in one of those 2 rooms.

 

Twisting my words again. Anytime diners can CHOOSE to dine in either of the 2 anytime dining rooms, or the buffet, room service, specialty restaurants, International Cafe, pizza stand (or sit down pizza parlor on some ships), grill.... There are plenty of options and nobody is restricted, except that IF you choose Traditional dining, you do that in the dining room used for Traditional dining and IF you choose Anytime dining, you do so in one of the 2 (or 4 on some ships) Anytime dining rooms. The food and atmosphere are the same in all "main" dining rooms, whether Traditional or Anytime. Lots of choices, lots of freedom. No segregation, no being forced into anything inferior to anyone else. :rolleyes:

[frugaltravel]

Twisting my words again. Anytime diners can CHOOSE to dine in either of the 2 anytime dining rooms, or the buffet, room service, specialty restaurants, International Cafe, pizza stand (or sit down pizza parlor on some ships), grill.... There are plenty of options and nobody is restricted, except that IF you choose Traditional dining, you do that in the dining room used for Traditional dining and IF you choose Anytime dining, you do so in one of the 2 (or 4 on some ships) Anytime dining rooms. The food and atmosphere are the same in all "main" dining rooms, whether Traditional or Anytime. Lots of choices, lots of freedom. No segregation, no being forced into anything inferior to anyone else. :rolleyes:

 

Forget it It is hopeless!!

[Budget Queen]

All the cruiselines do have "alternative" non fixed, dining options. Perhaps, not consider that such a priority in preference to itinerary, price and dates. :)

[sherryf]

Forget it It is hopeless!!

 

LOL! You're right. Anyone who uses strong words like "segregation" to describe a cruise line's dining practices is surely not going to be swayed by reason. :rolleyes: