Carnival Cruise to Alaska

[Denverdonkeys]

I have seen a lot of posts that say to not take Carnival to Alaska. That Princess, RCCL, or HAL does it better. I feel like most of those people would make the same statement about Caribbean, that Carnival is just not their preference overall. So instead of asking on the Alaska board, I want to ask here so that a wider variety of Carnival cruisers, many who have been to Alaska I think, can help me understand the true difference between the options. Would you choose Carnival, or why not?

 

Certainly the stops and excursions are the most important part, these are generally a very port intensive cruise.

[nybumpkin]

I have sailed to Alaska only once, on Carnival. It was fine - we enjoyed it very much. Tracy Arm was gorgeous. However, our very good friends (we're doing a river cruise with them this summer) sailed Alaska on Princess and I think I'd prefer the Princess itinerary. Carnival's Alaska cruises generally are 7-8 day closed-loop cruises from Seattle. Our friends were able to sail Anchorage-Vancouver and added on a few days in Denali; Carnival doesn't have that option.

[Illbcruzn4life]

Just now, Denverdonkeys said:

I have seen a lot of posts that say to not take Carnival to Alaska. That Princess, RCCL, or HAL does it better. I feel like most of those people would make the same statement about Caribbean, that Carnival is just not their preference overall. So instead of asking on the Alaska board, I want to ask here so that a wider variety of Carnival cruisers, many who have been to Alaska I think, can help me understand the true difference between the options. Would you choose Carnival, or why not?

 

Certainly the stops and excursions are the most important part, these are generally a very port intensive cruise.

 

posting here you will get a lot of biased replies too since this is the Carnival board and a high percentage here Carnival is their cup of tea.

 

Some of the drawbacks for me are that Carnivals cruises to Alaska start on a Tuesday. I like cruises that start on a Saturday or Sunday so I don't have to take off more than a week.

 

They also don't hit Glacier Bay very often which is a must see for many.

[VentureMan_2000]

I like Carnival, so would not consider (at this time) other cruise lines.  Having said that, if I were open to all cruise lines, then I would select the cruise based on itinerary, duration, and home port.  They all cruise the same waters and same ports -- just as the Caribbean cruises do -- so that wouldn't be a discriminator for me.

The rest just comes down to the personality of the guests the cruise line is catering to.

[Denverdonkeys]

I did not like Carnival leaving on a Tuesday, I would LOVE to do one of the longer cruises, but I can't swing that much time off. I have 3 children (under 10) I want to take, and so far we have not needed passports. Maybe going one direction makes for much better stops, and is worth the additional cost.

 

I am sure there will be bias here, I just read a lot of anti-carnival bias on the rest of the CC boards (Alaska seems to be the most). So maybe this will balance it out...

 

Thanks everyone so far!

 

[skrufy]

19 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

I have sailed to Alaska only once, on Carnival. It was fine - we enjoyed it very much. Tracy Arm was gorgeous. However, our very good friends (we're doing a river cruise with them this summer) sailed Alaska on Princess and I think I'd prefer the Princess itinerary. Carnival's Alaska cruises generally are 7-8 day closed-loop cruises from Seattle. Our friends were able to sail Anchorage-Vancouver and added on a few days in Denali; Carnival doesn't have that option.

We sailed to Alaska on two14 day cruises out of Long Beach the last two years  and had a great time. Holland America and Princess are the kings of cruising Alaska. They both do the land and cruise itinerary perfectly. I think you need more than the 7-8 day cruises. You have to see more than the three tourist cities, Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. We went to Icy Strait Point, Sitka and Glacier Bay. Would like to do Denali on Princess or Holland America.

[WLHyatt]

We've done Carnival twice and Princess once. The one way itineraries allow more time in ports than the closed loop week long sailings from Seattle. Princess service was generally better.

 

That said, I would not hesitate to take another Carnival Alaska sailing. Our first one was an 8 day Vancouver to Seattle at the beginning of the season and it was a better itinerary as it included both Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay and was in ports until pretty late.

[pinto18]

We are doing our first Alaskan cruise in August, Carnival Miracle 10 days out of San Francisco. We chose this mostly because it sails out of home port, we are platinum on Carnival and this sailing was like half the price of similar itinerary from Princess!

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I haven't been to Alaska, yet... But we are thinking of cruising to Alaska in 2021.  

 

Everything I've read is pick the ship based on itinerary and dates that fit your schedule, and not to worry about which cruise line you choose.  I've also been told to seriously consider a land tour/cruise combo, which would include a one-way cruise.

 

We're still finalizing our 2020 Bermuda cruise.  Once all the details of that are done, I'll start the Alaska planning.

[Roz]

I've been to Alaska 5 times, 4 on HAL and 1 on Carnival.  Guess which one was the best?  Carnival.  Granted, some of the things such as superb weather in Glacier Bay had nothing to do with Carnival, but overall it was a spectacular cruise.  It was the last cruise of the season, was 8 days, and left Seattle and ended up in Vancouver.  

 

It's hard to have a bad Alaskan cruise, regardless of which line you choose.

[GradUT]

I have cruised Carnival many times in the Caribbean and they do a great job.  But when it came time for us to book our Alaska  cruise, I only looked at HAL and Princess, namely because they had permits for Glacier Bay and because they have the reputation of doing Alaska "right".  We ended up taking a one-way cruise on HAL from Vancouver to Alaska (with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Glacier Bay and Skagway).  It was an excellent choice. 

[LadyMac72]

1 hour ago, nybumpkin said:

I have sailed to Alaska only once, on Carnival. It was fine - we enjoyed it very much. Tracy Arm was gorgeous. However, our very good friends (we're doing a river cruise with them this summer) sailed Alaska on Princess and I think I'd prefer the Princess itinerary. Carnival's Alaska cruises generally are 7-8 day closed-loop cruises from Seattle. Our friends were able to sail Anchorage-Vancouver and added on a few days in Denali; Carnival doesn't have that option.

It does have that option now.  I have a September cruise to Alaska (Spirit) and it departs from Seattle and ends in Vancouver.  The amount in time in each port is great... better than many of the other lines I researched.

[1025cruise]

Alaska is about the itinerary. One thing is access to Glacier Bay. Princess and HAL have more access than the other lines. They've also been in Alaska longer.

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, LadyMac72 said:

It does have that option now.  I have a September cruise to Alaska (Spirit) and it departs from Seattle and ends in Vancouver.  The amount in time in each port is great... better than many of the other lines I researched.

Carnival has the option to sail anchorage to Vancouver? I didn’t see any sailings listed like that for Carnival. 

[LadyMac72]

19 minutes ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

Carnival has the option to sail anchorage to Vancouver? I didn’t see any sailings listed like that for Carnival. 

 

My mistake... I misread the Anchorage part.  Sorry!

[WLHyatt]

The Vancouver to Seattle at the beginning of the season and the Seattle to Vancouver cruises at the end are spectacular for the itinerary on Carnival. Princess did a little more than carnival, like the puppies in the piazza, but I much preferred the younger crowd on Carnival both times we went that way.

[Illbcruzn4life]

20 minutes ago, LadyMac72 said:

 

My mistake... I misread the Anchorage part.  Sorry!

 No probs. Thought you saw something I missed.🙂

 

Happy New Year! 🎊 

[M2LR]

I went to Alaska with Princess.  I probably wouldn't take Princess anywhere else (I prefer the more fun adventurous vibe of Carnival or Royal) but they do Alaska really well.  I feel like if you go to Alaska and just do the cruise portion you miss out on so much. Princess has a really amazing land portion whereas Carnival just has the cruises and limited access to Glacier Bay. I probably would pick Carnival 9 times out of 10 over Princess but that 10th would be for Alaska since I am very itinerary driven.  

Edited January 1, 2020 by M2LR

[13cheermom]

We are very loyal to Carnival and sail with them most of the time. However when it came to planning our Alaskan cruise we opted to go with Princess. We also heard from many experienced cruisers that Princess was the line to go with for an Alaskan cruise. We are stockholders of CCL so we still get to take advantage of our OBC option. The Princess itinerary includes Glacier Bay which was big on our list to do. This will be a bucket list cruise for us so we want to make sure to include all options. Looking forward to this May with my family!

[mexicobob]

Been to Alaska on both Carnival and Princess. Both are good. Depends on your schedule, ports of call, where you want to go, etc. 

Highly recommend doing a land/cruise tour. Voyage of a lifetime and Princess does it very well.

[SRQbeachgirl]

We have Carnival booked for an Alaska cruise in May. I also struggled with all the advice about which line to take, but in the end it came down to price and what fit best with our schedules, as we have a lot of competing priorities for our money and time this summer.

 

This likely isn't a "once in a lifetime" trip for us, so there is every possibility we will cruise to Alaska again and might try one of the other lines when we do. 

[Banditswife]

Carnival is doing a 10 day route on the Miracle out of San Francisco  this year.  Miracle is going into dy dock for refurbishments before the Alaska season begins.  We are booked for May.  We did Alaska many yrs ago on Royal & I am interested to see the difference.  I did check Princess for price & schedule, they are much higher priced than Carnival, but from what I have read a better experience.  So if money were not an issue, I'd choose Princess.  We've sailed HAL once & didn't think it was worth the extra cost.  Hal caters to an older crowd.

[jc4me]

Loved our cruise to Alaska (rt Seattle) last May.  We went to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Icy Straight Point and Ketchikan.  I can't imagine a better cruise, but it is possible.  We spent so much time ashore that the ship itself didn't matter much.  Would love to one day do a land vacation there in a different part of the state.  I agree with those that said to look at the ports and your schedule and go from there.

[Ferry_Watcher]

20 hours ago, LadyMac72 said:

It does have that option now.  I have a September cruise to Alaska (Spirit) and it departs from Seattle and ends in Vancouver.  The amount in time in each port is great... better than many of the other lines I researched.

 

Just as a reminder, that US passengers on a cruise that ends in a foreign port, in this case Vancouver, BC, you will need a US Passport to fly home.  You may have been able to board your cruise in Seattle with just a birth certificate and gov't issued photo ID, but that is not enough to get you onto an international flight home to the US.

 

I work at Pier 91in Seattle, and in 2019 the final Carnival Legend cruise to Alaska did end in Vancouver, BC.  We had to ask each passenger traveling with a birth certificate how they were planning to return to the US.  If they said 'flying home from Vancouver' we had to tell them that they would not be able to get onto the plane without a passport.  We told them to begin to make alternative travel plans now while they were still 7/8 days from the return date.  This included ground transportation (bus/train) to a US city (mostly back to Seattle), and changing their return flight back from Vancouver to a US city so that their gov't issued photo ID was all that was needed to get on a US domestic flight. 

Not surprisingly, there were folks that were traveling on this cruise with just their birth certificate and photo ID that didn't realize that they needed a passport to fly from Canada back to the US.  While is was not a fun way to begin their cruise, they were appreciative to have this information early on.

[CruiseAdict218]

I did Alaska once with Princess and had a great time, we’ve alternated between both cruise lines over the years, both have perks. Though on your first time around Glacier Bay is a must, though I think Carnival has no permits and/or is banned for the next 10 or so years whenever they renew permits, as stated Princess/HAL due to their long term standing with the area get special permission or extra permits. If you get there on a second go around then I’d say go back to Carnival. Though those 10 day sailings on the Miracle with some of the more unique stops might back up for no Glacier Bay.