Island, Coral or Star?

[AlaskaBound!]

I want to book an Alaskan cruisetour for me, husband and our two kids, age 17 and 18. Is there a ship that would be best for us? It appears that Island Princess, Coral Princess and Star Princess are the only ships in Alaska in 2016.

[Whimsy]

We chose the Coral with the FB4 tour for next August.

 

We have been on the Coral previously thru the Panama Canal and had a wonderful experience with the size of the ship and the crew were outstanding. It's been one of my favorite ships for it's size and crew. The addition of adding cabins on the Coral has been cancelled for now so she will still have the aft viewing areas available and less cabins than the Island, meaning less Passengers. I have not been on the Star but we really felt the Coral was perfect for our group.

[SpelChic2001]

I've sailed on all three: the Coral (twice Panama Canal and once Alaska), the Island (Mediterranean this spring) and the Star (Mexican Riviera) I had a wonderful cruise on all three ships, and by far, they are my favorite ships in the fleet.

 

If all things were equal (dates, itinerary, etc.) and I had to choose just one, it would be the Coral...I love the size, layout, public areas and cabins. The Coral has an International Cafe, which the Island does not, even though they are sister ships.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Karen

[Astro Flyer]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. :)

 

If the itinerary & price were similar, then I'd chose the Coral which at 92,000 tons with under 2,000 passengers is very roomy.

 

Until this year the Island was nearly identical to the Coral but the Island had a drydock overhaul that made the ship less desirable to me. The Star is one of the older ships but is well maintained & would be my 2nd choice.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[f-mattox]

Definitely Coral Princess. Star Princess is very nice but Coral is laid out better for outdoor viewing and better suited to Alaska. Island Princess has a number of issues since its recent reconfiguration and should probably be avoided until things are resolved.

[Colo Cruiser]

1) Coral

2) Island

3) Star

[Astro Flyer]

1) Coral

2) Island

3) Star

Looking forward to reading your opinions about the Island after your 7 weeks this fall.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[Colo Cruiser]

Looking forward to reading your opinions about the Island after your 7 weeks this fall.

 

 

I know right! I was dreading the drydock and here I have 3 cruises booked on her. :rolleyes:

[cr8tiv1]

One more vote for the Coral. She is my favorite ship. There are so many viewing areas on the Coral. I booked a balcony mid-forward. It was just a hop, skip, and a jump to the forward observation decks. Can't remember the cabin number, but the last bumpout in the first grouping. Loved it.

[mevs904]

I agree with all of the posters who have recommended the Coral. We were on the Aug. 5 northbound cruisetour and felt that the ship was perfect for Alaska. The crew was excellent and we especially enjoyed the fact that the Coral has a complete outside promenade deck where you can walk uninterrupted laps around the ship.

[caribill]

Since you are booking a cruise tour, select one that spends at least two nights at each lodge.

 

With a one night stay you get there one day and leave the next and have very little time to see the area.

[Pushka]

Since you are booking a cruise tour, select one that spends at least two nights at each lodge.

 

With a one night stay you get there one day and leave the next and have very little time to see the area.

 

 

Its hard to select the ship specifically when tying it into a landtour. We had a preference for the Coral for obvious reasons (dry dock rebuild deferred) but the dates we wanted to travel meant the Island was the ship used. We picked a forward mini suite hoping to be able to use the forward viewing area. OT - which deck can we use for that? I think one level is crew area. For some reason, even on a recent celebrity cruise, forward viewing areas are really under used.

[LoriPhil]

We love the Coral, but booked the Star because the dates (and price) worked for us for a B2B next May.

[ChiefBoats]

I want to book an Alaskan cruisetour for me, husband and our two kids, age 17 and 18. Is there a ship that would be best for us? It appears that Island Princess, Coral Princess and Star Princess are the only ships in Alaska in 2016.

 

We have sailed on all three of those ships but we prefer the Island or Coral. We like the smaller passenger count and the size of the ship in general.

 

We have taken two cruise tours sailing on the Island Princess. We have found that if you do the land portion first and then the 7 day inside passage it is seems to be more relaxing. The land portion is very busy with early raisings to get to the next location. We fly to Anchorage, do the land portion and then board the ship in Whitter ( Princess's northern terminus ) at the end of the land portion.

 

If you do not want to do the cruise-tour then and don't want the long flight from/to Alaska then you can also fly to Seattle and do a 7 day round trip inside passage on either the Crown or Ruby Princess. We have been doing that for most of our 9 Alaska cruises.

 

If you fly out of or into Vancouver you will be paying international airfare but you can get by that by flying into or out of Seattle and taking the Princess transfer to or from Vancouver. That is a nice 2.5 hour motor coach trip and they do not pack the motor coaches full. The DW and I always have a seat to our selves.

_____________________________________

Island Princess 2008 Alaska, Island Princess 2009 (B2B) Alaska, Royal Princess (Old) 2010 Alaska, Golden Princess 2011 Alaska, Coral Princess 2012 Panama Canal, Star Princess 2012 Alaska, Island Princess 2013 Alaska, Crown Princess 2013 Western Caribbean, Caribbean Princess 2013 Western Caribbean, Royal Princess 2014 Eastern Caribbean, Royal Princess 2014 New England, Emerald Princess 2014 Western Caribbean, Emerald Princess 2015 Western Caribbean, Ruby Princess 2015 Alaska

[born2cruize]

I've also been on all three ships, though I was on the Island before the drydock. It does depend on your habits. While the Island and the Coral are smaller, as a person who like to take photographs they are the WORSE for taking pictures. If you are just going to look they are very good but on the open upper deck area you are looking through blue/green colored panels. The Star on the other hand while larger has plenty of open unobstructed viewing area on the upper decks.

[OCruisers]

Agree with many others:

 

Coral

Island

Star

[laughing husky]

I agree also.....

Coral

Island

Star

 

I have sailed on all of them, and I LOVE the Coral.....I will be sailing on the Island in October.....I shall reserve judgement on the redo until then, but I don't think I will like it very much. It will be a very port intensive cruise, and that will make a big difference.....Like the Star also....But the Coral is my all time fav....Wll, I guess I really like the small ships best, but aside from that.....The Coral....

[UpcountryTravelers]

Agree: Coral. Our 2nd favorite ship of 11, and we've done Alaska twice on the Coral. So good, we chose her when going back with friends!