Alaska, which Princess ship?

[Gnomey]

Hello all. I've talked the DW into a modest 6 weeker in North America which will include land time in Alaska, Canadian Rockies and Vancouver as well as Colorado and the American Rockies. Included in all this is 7 days on a ship from Anchorage. I want late season for Autumn colour which leaves us with Island Princess on 6 September, Coral on 9 Sept. and Star on 16th. I'm open to thoughts and suggestions from all you knowledgeable forum folk as to which ship might be better and budget sensitive side trips as well. I am currently favouring Star Princess as it is the latest departure.

I know you're thinking.....he should visit the Alaska forum and I have indeed been living there for a while, but I would like a southern hemisphere view as well.

Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to some discussion. :D

 

Steve.

[Opua Kiwi]

One thing I would do for busy Alaskan ports is google the port schedule for each port on the days your 3 ships will be at each.

eg; claalaska.com

 

There will likely be around 4 ships in most days, but if one particular ship had a couple of ports with only 2 ships in, then that would be a plus for me.

[cheznandy]

Steve, I havn't been on any of those Princess ships, but the Star is a sister ship to the Golden, which has the covered pool. We cruised Alaska on the Diamond Princess and the covered pool area was perfect. We had a couple of sun lounges on the top level just near the outdoor decks and was easy access to go in and out for the views and photos. The lower level had access to the Horizon court and seating area with lovely views through glass windows.

 

I am sure the Coral and Island do not have the Solarium pool area and have two open pools.

 

Also, the Island has had lots more cabins added to the aft in public space, not very poplular and I believe they have scrapped doing it to the Coral.

 

Alaska was amazing, whichever you choose will be great:)

[NSWP]

I have been on Star, Golden and Coral Princesses and on Island in November. Coral and Island are good sized ships, made especially for Panama Canal/Inside Passage. Island has had extra cabins retrofitted aft, losing most of the aft viewing decks, saying that there are a lot of balcony cabins on Island/Coral and price mark ups from lower category cabins are thus reasonable. I have yet to experience Island, but aft extra cabins aside it is identical to Coral. To be honest all the ships would be good for Inside Passage/Alaska.

 

Modifications to Island Princess increased capacity by around 200 pax, but from reports, they run 3 shows each night to fit people in. They have also opened up additional dining venues to cater. Remember, not all ships sail full.

Edited August 17, 2016 by NSWP

[xlxo]

I want late season for Autumn colour which leaves us with Island Princess on 6 September, Coral on 9 Sept. and Star on 16th.

Just be aware that late season means statistically increased chance of wet weather. Are you a storm chaser? There's a reason Alaska gets cheap at the end of the season.

[wishfulone]

We cruised the Inside Passage on the Coral in late September. We were hoping for lots of wildlife (bears) and the Northern Lights on the way to Fairbanks. Rain and fog put paid to the Northern Lights but the weather elsewhere was great (Skagway - White Pass Train to the Yukon return by bus is a must).We saw a few bears wandering across the walking trails at the Mendenhall Glacier and the Coral is a great Princess ship.

[Gnomey]

Thankyou for your comments folks, it is all useful and interesting.

 

Steve.

[MicCanberra]

Out of those three, I would opt for the Star, however, the ship is a secondary thought as itinerary, timing and price take precedence. As the itinerary (unless one has significantly less ships in port with it) and timing seem to be of no issue, it would come down to price and then the ship. Either way, any cruise in Alaska is wonderful.

[Bizziecruzer]

We have cruised Alaska on three different ships - diamond, coral and radiance- would recommend Coral as the pick.

[Missusdubbya]

We have cruised Alaska on three different ships - diamond, coral and radiance- would recommend Coral as the pick.

 

Bizzie can you tell us why Coral was the best? (perhaps what the drawbacks of the others were?)

[NSWP]

Bizzie can you tell us why Coral was the best? (perhaps what the drawbacks of the others were?)

If I may, Coral Princess still has plenty of aft viewing areas and a couple of forward viewing areas on Decks 11 and 12. Also plenty of balcony cabins on both Coral and Island. She also still has the Universal Lounge aft, Island lost hers.

 

As I said before Island lost most of her aft viewing areas due to retro fitting of additional cabins, she still has her forward viewing areas.

 

I shall do a review of the Island Princess in December when I return for the benefit of others in particular, impact of structural changes.

Edited August 19, 2016 by NSWP

[Bizziecruzer]

Bizzie can you tell us why Coral was the best? (perhaps what the drawbacks of the others were?)

 

Whilst the Coral is larger than the sun/sea/dawn that we have here in AU, it's smaller than the diamond and we got so much closer to the glaciers than we did on the Diamond. Also the ports were better on Coral, we did a northbound on it and a round trip inside passage on the Diamond.

[Gnomey]

Bizziecruzer, that's one option I hadn't considered. We will probably do a small boat glacier cruise on a local boat before we set sail though, so there are still lots of swings & roundabouts to negotiate yet. Island P. is fading a little as it is not reviewing well after its recent refit. I'm beginning to think that one week on the ground in Alaska in a motorhome will be nowhere near long enough!

 

Steve.

[MicCanberra]

Bizziecruzer, that's one option I hadn't considered. We will probably do a small boat glacier cruise on a local boat before we set sail though, so there are still lots of swings & roundabouts to negotiate yet. Island P. is fading a little as it is not reviewing well after its recent refit. I'm beginning to think that one week on the ground in Alaska in a motorhome will be nowhere near long enough!

 

Steve.

 

I am thinking you may want more time driving around as well, the later cruises, especially the Star may suit best.

[wishfulone]

Bizziecruzer, that's one option I hadn't considered. We will probably do a small boat glacier cruise on a local boat before we set sail though, so there are still lots of swings & roundabouts to negotiate yet. Island P. is fading a little as it is not reviewing well after its recent refit. I'm beginning to think that one week on the ground in Alaska in a motorhome will be nowhere near long enough!

 

Steve.

 

So much to see. So little time. I noticed you live in the Blue Mountains so I'm assuming you may be walkers. You'll need at least one very long day in Denali NP. You'll want to go up river at Talkeetna and you'll need to hang around Fairbanks or further north for at least three days to be sure you see the Northern Lights. And then there's Mount McKinley/Denali, the Kenai Peninsular, etc, etc. We're sure we need more than one journey to Alaska :D

[wishfulone]

Here's another issue in choosing your ship - the enrichment lecturer. Some are better than others and I wish I could remember the name of our lecturer on the Coral. I think it was Mark something. Lovely bloke, extensive personal experience and an excellent communicator. If you can find out which ship he's on this season you won't regret it.

[Steelers0854]

DW and I did the Star to Alaska in the beginning of September. Yes you run the risk of more rain that time of year. It was so foggy and when we did Glacier Bay that you could only see the bottom part of the glacier, but it didn't detract from the overall amazing beauty up there. The truth is you can get hit with rain at any time up there.

 

The Star is a beautiful ship with a great covered deck at the very front of the ship. It was great to see the glacier in the rain from a protected spot. Yes it has a covered pool but to be honest we never used it as there was so much to enjoy in the scenery around you.

 

Princess is definitely the way to go in Alaska. They bring on board park rangers and naturalists that will give audio narration as you cruise through the area. We would stand on our balcony with the door open and have them on the TV listening to their talk. They also do a number of presentations on board that are wonderful to attend.

 

If you love the outdoors, and based on your planned itinerary it sounds like you do, please do try and get to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's a remarkable part of the US and one of my absolute favorite places. The Grand Teton mountains have wonderful hiking opportunities and it still retains the small old time city feel every though it has become more and more popular as a tourist destination over the years. I would almost suggest going there vs Colorado if it were a decision between the 2.

 

I'll look for some photos from Alaska and post them here in a min.

[Steelers0854]

 

 

 

 

So this shows the covered deck at the very front of the ship. A picture of a foggy day at Glacier Bay and a typical route in Glacier Bay as provided by the US Forest Service. This unfortunately was really the only day where we had bad fog and only 1 of 2 days with rain so overall we were pretty lucky.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Steelers0854

[MicCanberra]

Beautiful pictures.

[Gnomey]

Thank you all again for your valuable comments, suggestions and pictures even. And now for something completely different.....

It seems we are going in May/June next year, hopping on to Island Princess in LA and cruising all the way to Whittier, then doing the motorhome in Alaska, flying to Seattle and doing another couple of weeks in British Columbia and Washington state, and finishing off with a couple of days in LA to see some basic sights. The American Rockies (Colorado, Wyoming etc) in Fall will have to wait for another year!

We will certainly miss the full promenade deck on Island P. I'm sure we will manage though, it is only two weeks of our life after all! We do find ourselves looking forward to this trip now than plans are firming up.

 

Steve.

[Bizziecruzer]

Hi Steve - email me if you like - I can give you some recommendations / tips on hiring an RV in Alaska. We did it for 2 weeks last year. Henshaw1960 at gmail dot com.

[Gnomey]

Hi Bizzie, I was thinking of going with Great Alaskan Holidays. Their website is straight forward, services/shuttles look good, price seems better than the lower 48 too. So much to think of though, with ships/planes/hotels/3 vehicle hires all up.....:confused:

Steve.

[Gnomey]

Hi all, further to my earlier further to.........it seems we risk becoming criminals with my planned cruises in North America! Apparently we will be fined under the PVSA, which has been discussed elsewhere in CC. Princess have told us to cancel one of the two cruises or be fined $300 each for being in breach of the act. It all revolves around what is considered a "distant foreign port", and anywhere in Canada is not classed as being foreign, even though it is a different country! And I thought we had some crazy regulations! Our TA was caught out too and is discussing options with Princess, we get to learn what we can do soon.

Reading through CC forums many others have been caught out with this crazy Act, which goes back to 1886! I know its poor form to knock other country's laws but this one might need a bit of a "modernising" I think.

 

Steve.