Alaska June 2014 Ship choices

[njoysun]

We are a party of 3 early 60 adults. Husband and wife and wife's sister. We have the following choices all at relatively the same price for the cruise within a few hundred $. Airfare will be different I realize.

 

We actually have reservations on 5 cruises. One of which probably will not work because of the departure day. I will start with that one.

 

1. Celebrity Millennium North Bound Vancouver to Seward. 1 Aqua Class Balcony for 2 and an inside room close by all on deck 11 Starboard Aft. Booked with the drink package and gratuities on the Aqua Class as a free item. This looks like the best of the itineraries and would afford us all some time together and apart. Unfortunately I do not think the departure day will work.

 

2. Carnival Miracle Seattle to Seattle in an Ocean Suite for 3. This room appears large enough for 3 adults (any thoughts) and is mid ship on deck 6 Port Side. Itinerary has Tracy Arm for the day and Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. Port times appear OK to short. and the Victoria BC stop (a cruise must for foreign ships) is 4 hours in the evening a total waste it appears.

 

3.NCL Jewel Seattle to Seattle. Booked in a Mini Suite for 2 and an inside cabin all on deck 11 mid ship Port Side. This goes to the 3 main ports Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan along with Victoria. Decent port times Afternoon in Victoria and it Cruises Sawyer Bay. Was able to get the Mini-Suite extremely low and it appears big enough to add the 3rd person and let the inside room go and save quite a bit. Any thoughts on 3 in the Jewel Mini-Suite? We are new to freestyle dining.

 

4. Holland America Zuiderdam - Vancouver to Vancouver On this we have a Signature Suite for 3 on deck 6 mid ship. This includes on a promotion beverage package and some credit. This sailing from Vancouver (higher Airfare) goes through Inside Passage which looks scenic and interesting on the photos and videos I have seen. Ports and other items look similar.

 

5. Princess Grand Princess Seattle to Seattle Mini Suite deck 9 (Dolphin) forward port. I am aware of the lack of overhead cover on the balcony and the visibility from above. Some say this is a problem and some say it is nice to have an unobstructed sky view.This has the main ports but only cruises Tracy Arm for about 4 hours. No other glaciers listed.

 

What I am asking is for some comparisons of the itinerary and the specific ships. I appreciate any help you can provide.

[UPGrandma]

My first thought would be to look at how long you are in port. Choice was easy for us once I did that as I wanted longest possible time. Second thing I checked was how many other ships were in port at same time. Cruiseportinsider has a lot of good information about the ports in Alaska and a link under each port to the number of ships porting each day.

[Italy52]

You definitely have a lot of choices available to you. From your description, it seems that you are putting the cabin and benefits first, then the ports. When we cruise to Alaska our priorities are: desired ports and duration in those ports, which ship can get us to those ports, and then cabin (we aren't picky).

 

For us, we like Celebrity's Millennium as it allows us to visit some of our favorite places: Hubbard Glacier, Icy Strait (whale watching), Juneau (whale watching) and Seward (Kenai Fjords National Park tour).

 

Some of the Seattle-Seattle cruises have limited port time in Victoria and there is always the possibility that you might not be able to make it into Tracy Arm.

 

I think the important thing to remember is that this is YOUR cruise --- you need to decide your priorities and what will ultimately work best for you.

[olemissreb]

When I first started my research on Alaska cruises, I was in the same predicament as you are. With much help from this board, I decided that port time was the most important thing and I would find a way to work around everything else. We ended up on the Celebrity Millennium southbound from Seward to Vancouver. Because it was a one way, it had the longest port times of anyone. I know it has a Friday departure (or at least it did last year), but for us that made it even better because we could fly in a week early and explore inland Alaska and then we had a couple days at the end in Seattle (we took Amtrak from Vancouver to Seattle the day of disembarkation) before flying home to Atlanta. It was the first time we've ever taken two consecutive weeks of vacation and it was so totally worth it.

[VermeulT]

The only input I can give, outside of the port info, is the suite on the Zuiderdam will be fine for 3. You should get a decent price ($199 or less) for the third person in the cabin.

And, depending on your time flexibility, it is possible and easy to take the train from Vancouver to Seattle if that is a better airport for you.

 

 

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