Best ships for alaska cruise?

[Jcastle431]

Hello all,

 

We are looking to book our first alaskan cruise in summer 2018 but looking for the right ship/cruise line. We are familiar with larger cruise ships in the caribbean but would be open to a smaller ship if we found the right one. We both like to swim so a heated/covered pool is our only real "must have" but the more activities on board the better. Any suggestions or general advise about the best cruise ships/lines or Alaska in general would be great!

 

Thanks!

[SadieN]

Can't think of a line that has heated pools. Carnival, HAL and Princess all have ships with covered pools in Alaska.

 

First choose where you want to sail out of and what you want to see and do.

[SuiteTraveler]

Except for the 2 days at sea, I'm not sure when you would have time to swim on an Alaskan cruise as you will be off the ship most days by early morning and not come back until just before departure time. That said, there are some heated pools. Here's a thread that names ships with this feature:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1115994

[Sequim88]

HAL generally has smaller (they say "mid-sized" ships) and even the largest ones they use for Alaska are about the same size as other lines' smaller ships. For example Oosterdam which we are taking out of Seattle is about the same size as RCCL's Radiance class ships. Smaller ships can get closer to things like glaciers as well as take smaller passages that get you closer to shore. HAL ships also have retractable sunroofs (rain roof?) over the pool. Not sure if the pool is heated since we've never used one.

[zqvol]

If you really want a smaller ship, forget the pool for a week and look at Regent or Silversea. Their ships are about 25% of the smallest ships of the mass market lines. If you want really small there are a number of expedition ships that sail round trip out of Juneau.

[sunlitmists57]

We loved the NCL Jewel to Alaska. Nice pool but not covered. Loved the smaller ship feel and thr ability to spin in place for thr glaciers.

 

Enjoy!

[moqui_girl]

We went with Celebrity (on the infinity) a few years ago. It had a heated indoor/covered pool. Not sure what ship/s they currently have sailing in Alaska but worth checking them out.

 

We swam several times so if it's something you enjoy, you'll find time for it.

 

 

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