Neptune suites pricing getting ridiculous....

[Seavoyage]

Who's the President of HAL.....

[oaktreerb]

3 hours ago, zelker said:

We've sailed Alaska 6 times - 5 on HAL and once on Seabourn.  There are so many reasons to pick HAL over X up there - after all, HAL and Princess "invented" cruising to Alaska to begin with.  Have you checked out the 14 night itinerary, RT out of Vancouver this year I think (vs has been out of Seattle)?  If not, highly recommend it - nobody else offers anything close.  🙂  Enjoy!!! 🙂 

How did the Seabourn experience compare to HAL in Alaska?   We’ve been to Alaska many times on HAL and sailed once on Seabourn in the Caribbean for 12 days.   I loved the Seabourn veranda stateroom.  The drinks included was no big deal.  HAL has better Bloody Marys.  Seabourn bartender didn’t even put a celery stick in the drink even when I requested one!   So, staterooms and drinks aside....how was Seabourn in Alaska?

[david,Mississauga]

4 hours ago, zelker said:

We've sailed Alaska 6 times - 5 on HAL and once on Seabourn.  There are so many reasons to pick HAL over X up there - after all, HAL and Princess "invented" cruising to Alaska to begin with.

...

 

I am not sure when HAL and Princess started cruising to Alaska, but we took our first cruise there in 1972 on the small Canadian Pacific Railway ship Princess Patricia.  The only other Alaska cruise ships at that time were Canadian National's) Prince George and P&O's Oronsay.  If there were other ships in that era that I was not informed about I stand to be corrected.

 

Incidentally, Princess Cruises got their start by chartering the aforementioned Princess Patricia during its off-season.

[zelker]

1 hour ago, oaktreerb said:

How did the Seabourn experience compare to HAL in Alaska?   We’ve been to Alaska many times on HAL and sailed once on Seabourn in the Caribbean for 12 days.   I loved the Seabourn veranda stateroom.  The drinks included was no big deal.  HAL has better Bloody Marys.  Seabourn bartender didn’t even put a celery stick in the drink even when I requested one!   So, staterooms and drinks aside....how was Seabourn in Alaska?

 

We love HAL's 14 night roundtrip (no repeats ports) itinerary so that was the main reason we tried Seabourn which was 15 nights and no repeat ports.  We also were looking forward to getting out on the zodiacs during the cruise but alas, it was not to be due to some red tape from Alaskan authorities (it was Seabourn's first year back in AK waters in many many, years and there were a few hiccups).  We love the Expedition Team on Seabourn who contribute so much to the experience.  We also enjoyed the off-the-beaten track ports we were able to visit with some great opportunities to get out to view bears in the wild.  

[zelker]

41 minutes ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

I am not sure when HAL and Princess started cruising to Alaska, but we took our first cruise there in 1972 on the small Canadian Pacific Railway ship Princess Patricia.  The only other Alaska cruise ships at that time were Canadian National's) Prince George and P&O's Oronsay.  If there were other ships in that era that I was not informed about I stand to be corrected.

 

Incidentally, Princess Cruises got their start by chartering the aforementioned Princess Patricia during its off-season.

 

Holland America celebrated 70 years in Alaska in 2017 ...

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/2017-press-releases/news-20170420-holland-america-line-70th-year-alaska.html

[david,Mississauga]

1 hour ago, zelker said:

 

Holland America celebrated 70 years in Alaska in 2017 ...

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/2017-press-releases/news-20170420-holland-america-line-70th-year-alaska.html

 

That is interesting.  I can find no record of any cruises being operated by HAL starting in 1947. Even Captain Albert's history blog could not help me find when HAL started sending cruise ships to Alaska. The above article mentions " its 70th year of Alaska exploration"  so I  wonder if that is when tours were started. HAL had an arrangement with Westours. Obviously passengers had to get to Alaska somehow.

 

Perhaps HAL had some cruises to Alaska in the late 1940s and maybe later, then took a break until the Prinsendam entered service in the mid 1970s.  I no longer have copies of the Official Steamship Guide from the early 1970s, but I recall  the three ships I mentioned earlier were the only ships cruising to Alaska at that time.  The two small railway-owned ships were based in Vancouver and the P&O liner was based in San Francisco.

 

Princess cruises lists the  Princess Italia as making Alaska cruises starting in 1969. Canadian Pacific began Alaska service in 1901, having purchased controlling interest in the Canadian Pacific Navigation Co. of 1883. Of course these earlier ships were liners not cruise ships, but many people used them as cruise ships.

[chill6x6]

10 hours ago, DivotMaker said:

 

Exactly.   I just spent quite a bit of time on Celebrity's website.  I might be in the minority here, but I just wasn't all that impressed with all the "cool features" they advertised.  I agree, it seemed like sensory overload to me, almost like a carnival.  We chose HAL because we just want to unwind and relax, and the more I compare the two the more I believe giving HAL a shot for this particular itinerary (Alaska) is a better fit for us.  YMMV.

I agree with you....I cruise for exactly the same reason...just to unwind and relax. Most of the features that Celebrity offers that I appreciate are the included premium beverage package, included premium internet, included gratuities, suite-only restaurant that is the best ship-board restaurant I've ever tried,  suite-only lounge/bar, and the suite-only Retreat.  Beyond that...as far as some of the Edge/Apex unique "stuff," I mean it's there if you want to participate but one certainly doesn't have to.  All the other fundamentals for a great cruise are still there.  I'm of the frame of mind that there are several cruise lines that I can enjoy and have a great time on...different experiences yes....but all enjoyable nonetheless. My last four cruises were an H6 aboard the Getaway, PS on Rotterdam, OS on Oasis, and CS on Silhouette so I'm pretty versatile!

[DivotMaker]

40 minutes ago, chill6x6 said:

My last four cruises were an H6 aboard the Getaway, PS on Rotterdam, OS on Oasis, and CS on Silhouette so I'm pretty versatile!

 

What did you think of the PS on Rotterdam?

[chill6x6]

6 hours ago, DivotMaker said:

 

What did you think of the PS on Rotterdam?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2653516-quick-033119-rotterdam-sailing-review/

[RocketMan275]

19 hours ago, DivotMaker said:

 

Exactly.   I just spent quite a bit of time on Celebrity's website.  I might be in the minority here, but I just wasn't all that impressed with all the "cool features" they advertised.  I agree, it seemed like sensory overload to me, almost like a carnival.  We chose HAL because we just want to unwind and relax, and the more I compare the two the more I believe giving HAL a shot for this particular itinerary (Alaska) is a better fit for us.  YMMV.

Agree.  Included drink packages are not attractive.  Suites comparable in size to neptunes seem significantly more expensive on Celebrity.  I keep checking but Holland seems superior.

[3rdGenCunarder]

9 hours ago, david,Mississauga said:

 

That is interesting.  I can find no record of any cruises being operated by HAL starting in 1947. Even Captain Albert's history blog could not help me find when HAL started sending cruise ships to Alaska. The above article mentions " its 70th year of Alaska exploration"  so I  wonder if that is when tours were started. HAL had an arrangement with Westours. Obviously passengers had to get to Alaska somehow.

 

Perhaps HAL had some cruises to Alaska in the late 1940s and maybe later, then took a break until the Prinsendam entered service in the mid 1970s.  I no longer have copies of the Official Steamship Guide from the early 1970s, but I recall  the three ships I mentioned earlier were the only ships cruising to Alaska at that time.  The two small railway-owned ships were based in Vancouver and the P&O liner was based in San Francisco.

 

Princess cruises lists the  Princess Italia as making Alaska cruises starting in 1969. Canadian Pacific began Alaska service in 1901, having purchased controlling interest in the Canadian Pacific Navigation Co. of 1883. Of course these earlier ships were liners not cruise ships, but many people used them as cruise ships.

 

It's possible they were counting the land agreement as their first presence in Alaska. That reminds me of when the small publisher I worked for was bought by a very large company. We were merged with another subsidiary. The sign on our lawn said "Quality Educational Materials Since xxxx" (can't remember the date). But when we were merged with the older subsidiary and our names were combined, the date on our sign was changed to the start date of the other company because it was older.

 

But HAL definitely claimed 70 years. We even got a special tote bag. No ship on it, though. 

 

 

[Dunelm]

It is a matter of different strokes for different folk.  We have sailed in suites on Celebrity, Princess, and Holland America.  We prefer Holland America.  My husband drinks the occasional glass of wine, so free drinks do not excite us; we found the last Celebrity experience to be very gimmicky, and that was not appealing to us; Holland America's suites seem to be more spacious and, as mentioned before, their itineraries appeal to us.  But, it would be very boring if we all enjoyed the same things.  It is good to have choices among the different lines.