Star, Royal, or Coral for Alaska

[jkmmah]

I've narrowed down my summer 2021-first-timer-to-Alaska search to these three ships. The itineraries are similar, with Coral having Icy Strait vs Star and Royal having Ketchikan.

 

Which of the three ships would you recommend for Alaska? Please expand on why.

 

Thank you.

[Colo Cruiser]

Coral Coral Coral. We have sailed her many times.

Best size 1800 pax

Great promenade deck (excellent Alaska viewing)

Forward facing buffet

International Cafe (although not as big as other ships, still great)

Universe Lounge

Explorer's Lounge

Princess theater

Bayou Cafe

The best Wheelhouse Lounge

Forward and aft viewing decks.  (excellent Alaska viewing)

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

[voljeep]

on this forum, I would be surprised if Royal got even a single mention ...

[jkmmah]

8 minutes ago, voljeep said:

on this forum, I would be surprised if Royal got even a single mention ...

Are people not liking the Royal Princess? 

[jkmmah]

11 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Coral Coral Coral. We have sailed her many times.

Best size 1800 pax

Great promenade deck (excellent Alaska viewing)

Forward facing buffet

International Cafe (although not as big as other ships, still great)

Universe Lounge

Exploreres

Princess theater

Bayou Cafe

The best Wheelhouse Lounge

Forward and aft viewing decks.  (excellent Alaska viewing)

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

 

Thank you. Excellent points!

 

[memoak]

Smaller the better.  We are taking the Pacific in 2020

[Networker]

Terrific.  We are on the Royal.  First time Princess.  But I take bad comments with a grain of salt.  Have never had a bad cruise.  Loyal royal Caribbean cruisers.  

[leck57]

17 minutes ago, Networker said:

Terrific.  We are on the Royal.  First time Princess.  But I take bad comments with a grain of salt.  Have never had a bad cruise.  Loyal royal Caribbean cruisers.  

We were on the Royal in Alaska in July and it was fantastic. I take the point with the advantages of the smaller ships but the Royal is also great for activities, entertainment, the best buffet, and there are still heaps of great outside viewing areas. 

[Coral]

Coral Princess - 1st choice, great outdoor viewing areas (don't spend the entire time on your balcony)

Star Princess

Royal Princess would be last choice. Outside viewing areas are limited (no promenade deck), certain routes are limited in Alaska due to the size of the ship.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Coral

[Tedferg]

Agree with above points and one extra for me is Vancouver, great city to start or end a cruise

[KYBOB]

The Coral is best for Alaska as mentioned in the above post. We did a B2B and loved the entire voyage but this was our second time on the Coral. We have sailed twice on the Royal and twice on her sister ship the Regal. The Royal class is better for the Caribbean it has really no Promenade deck what there is of it is uncovered not to great for Alaska and no really forward facing viewing area. Plus getting off and on the Coral in port is much easier than the Royal class ships. The crew on the Coral have always been the best. 

[Micahs Grandad]

3 hours ago, voljeep said:

on this forum, I would be surprised if Royal got even a single mention ...

We did it on the Royal in Sept and had a great time.

Best CD and found places to watch the scenery.

[satxdiver]

I have been on two of the ships and have been n the Island which is a sister ship to the Coral before they butchered it. 

 

The Coral is the smallest with 2000 in lower bunks with the most ample places to view the surroundings of the three ships and has the outside promenade deck completely around the ship on one level .  Downside is that there are not as many amenities available.   The ship was last renovated (dry dock) in 2019 and is a MedallionClass ship. 

 

 The Star which is going to Australia P&O in 2021 and has 2600 in lower bunks.  It was last upgraded in 2017 so is the oldest ship since dry dock and will not be renovated again.  We were on the Star last month to HI.  The ship has the outside promenade deck completely around the ship but the front part is on the next deck.  Like the Coral it has one of the Lido pools enclosed which could be a tie breaker since it will be warm enough to use in AK.  It has Skywalkers hung over the stern (nice for viewing during the day when it is not in use as a disco), 24 hour IC and more convenient HC.  The ship is not MedallionClass so slower internet. I did not have a lot of trouble using the internet at night to see my email etc but it is slow. 

 

The Royal, the newest ship of the three, has 3560 in lower bunks and was last renovated in 2018.  All pools are outside and may not be as usable.  The promenade is only a small part of the ship so a lot less viewing space with overhead.  Being the newest configuration it has the most bells and whistles including a much nicer and larger HC.  Being a larger ship it has more outside viewing area (shared by more pax!).  It is a MedallionClass ship.  

 

Hope this helps a little. 

[phred119s]

We liked Star. Did it twice to Alaska. 

[jeromep]

I think the choice of ship all depends on what your interests are.  The Coral is a Panamax ship, so narrower than a typical cruise ship, and as stated earlier, the smallest passenger load of the three.  It's missing some of the signature public spaces and eateries which you'll find on Grand class and Royal class ships.  There is a lot to love about the Coral, but she is a bit of an odd duck, including her sister the Island Princess, built specifically for going through the old Panama Canal, so the internal layout doesn't really mesh up with the typical Grand Class ship layout or the Royal Class ship layout.

 

The Star is one of the three original sisters in the Grand Class.  She is a very typical Princess ship, however she, along with her nearly identical sister the Golden will be transferred to P&O Australia in the next couple of years.  I've sailed on both the Golden and the Star and found them to be very enjoyable.  They are a nice size ship with just the right number of people relative to the public spaces.  The early Grand class ships are really a tour de force in cruise ship design, not overcrowded, plenty of good public spaces, great thought went into how people flow and where they might congregate.  If you are a pool dweller, both the Coral and Star have a covered pool, which is great for an evening swim, especially up in Alaska.  MUTS is located at the open air pool, and I can attest to having experienced a nearly 80 degree day in Alaska, and a 30-40 degree night sitting out on a lounger trying to watch a movie, with a cross wind adding a significant wind chill.  I don't think a single cruise ship should be designed without at least one indoor pool, but indoor pools with or without retractable roofs seems to no longer be in fashion in ship design, with the exception of the Majestic Princess, which has a covered pool, but compared to her sisters in the Royal class, that is a one-off.

 

Royal is a large ship, and the class leader.  There are no indoor pools.  But there are some interesting features, such as the Skywalk.  The Royal also showcases most of all the specialty restaurants and newest features that Princess has brought to market in the past few years.  There is also a significant redesign of the Horizon Court buffet, so foot traffic flow should be improved and less congested.  There has been a lot of additional thought put into the Royal class, but there have been some gaffes which have been gradually rectified when each new ship is built, such as how the pools have been designed, the missing terrace or wake-view pool, correcting some passenger flow issues, etc.  The Grand class ships are very similar, especially in their public spaces, however the Royal class ships have some pretty distinct differences from ship-to-ship.

 

I guess you need to ask yourself if you want a ship which has a smaller passenger number, but also fewer features and dining venues, or a larger ship with more passengers and more features and dining venues?

[MsSoCalCruiser]

7 hours ago, jkmmah said:

Are people not liking the Royal Princess? 

I love the Royal Princess. 

[satxdiver]

14 hours ago, jkmmah said:

Are people not liking the Royal Princess? 

 

We like the Royal and Regal for the new venues offered and the great HC design eliminating most of the congestion in that area.  We have not been on the newest ships in the fleet but probably would like them as well.  It is all in what you want such as smaller vs larger, old vs new and amenities offered.   

[rocklinmom]

Having done Alaska several times I would go with Star or Coral. Then it comes down to ten days or seven days. Coral does Icy Strait Point, which was unique and has a great zipline if you like that. Star would go out of San Francisco if preferred (I'm guessing Coral would be the Vancouver/Anchorage route, or it could be Seattle). 

[Paula_MacFan]

We have the Star booked for 2021 Alaska cruise.  When I looked at the schedules for booking I originally though the Coral would be best.  However, the Coral leaves on Wednesdays and the Star on Saturdays, which works better for our schedule.  Not sure if this is an issue for you, but you might need to look at the dates/days to determine which schedule is the best choice, rather than simply which ship.  

 

Edited to note that in 2021 the Star is doing Anchorage/Vancouver itinerary, not San Francisco as poster noted above.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Paula_MacFan

[Belle]

Star is going to dry dock in April 2020.

[nini]

On 12/27/2019 at 3:32 PM, Networker said:

Terrific.  We are on the Royal.  First time Princess.  But I take bad comments with a grain of salt.  Have never had a bad cruise.  Loyal royal Caribbean cruisers.  

Not to worry- book an aft balcony and you are set. Personally, we prefer the Grand and Royal Class

and were not crazy about the Coral. We are an exception. On the Coral, the HC was in the front but the windows

were typically fogged up/ dirty so could not see out anyway. The IC is small, next to the smoky casino. 

[BarbinMich]

On 12/27/2019 at 6:32 PM, Networker said:

Terrific.  We are on the Royal.  First time Princess.  But I take bad comments with a grain of salt.  Have never had a bad cruise.  Loyal royal Caribbean cruisers.  

My major complaints about using the Royal Princess in Alaska include its huge # of pax compared to the Star and Coral.  There are often multiple ships at a port up there so Royal just makes crowds worse.  Plus, having sailed to Alaska 4 or 5 times on Princess, HAL and Celebrity I think the Royal with no promenade deck is a drawback if you visit Glacier Bay or another scenic day of cruising.  Very little protection from the weather on what outside decking the Royal has.  We've always been up there in spring or fall so maybe the Royal is suitable in the summer.

[LoriPhil]

For us, Alaska is about scenic cruising so access to a variety of viewing options that  easily accommodate many passengers is key, and we would always go Coral as first choice.  Royal class ships would be our last choice due to large passenger contingent with fewer public viewing opportunities (ie lacking promenade deck, public aft and bow viewing decks, dinky balconies etc).  But we do love Royal class for Caribbean cruising...