Princess ships sailing to Alaska

[jchowze]

3 hours ago, sjde said:

The price quote surprised me. I expected Emerald to be less since it's an older ship but for balcony rooms it was $2000 more. That's not much I suppose,  when talking about 11 people. 

I believe Emerald goes to Glacier Bay & Discovery does not.  Having priced Alaska cruises for 3 years now, that usually makes for a big price difference - Glacier Bay is seen as "better" by some folks, thus can ask a premium price.

Edited March 5, 2021 by jchowze
typo

[leck57]

5 hours ago, jchowze said:

I believe Emerald goes to Glacier Bay & Discovery does not.  Having priced Alaska cruises for 3 years now, that usually makes for a big price difference - Glacier Bay is seen as "better" by some folks, thus can ask a premium price.

 

You are correct. I have just checked the itineraries and many Princess cruises do not go to Glacier Bay. The OP didn't mention the Sapphire or Ruby Princess and some of (not all) their cruises also go to Glacier Bay. These ships would be fine as well. If Discovery does not visit Glacier Bay then I would cross it off the list as I think if you are doing Alaska then Glacier Bay is a must see.  

[sjde]

I’m so glad someone pointed that out because I had figured a glacier was a glacier. 😀

 

The Grand and Majestic go , as well as the Ruby and the Sapphire but we ruled them out because we wanted to go round trip from Seattle. We also wanted  Skagway instead of Sitka & we wanted 7 nts. 

[John99]

We have been on several cruise tours to Alaska and are planning another for July 2022.  We love Alaska!

 

Your mention a round trip from Settle.

Discovery sails from Settle then ends up at Vancouver.  There could be transportation issues getting back to Seattle.  Plus, the itinerary does not included Glacier Bay National Park.

Emerald is a round trip to and from Settle includes Glacier Bay National Park.

Sapphire only sails in September 2022 which does not include Glacier Bay National Park.

 

Skynight, Astro Fyer, LeeW plus others gave a very good description on the layout of the ships and what to expect.  Also, I agree with others the Emerald would my choice plus it has a Promenade deck.  With 11 persons in your party you may want to check out “adjoining rooms” for the grand kids.  Skynight brings up a very good point about its better sailing the “inside passage”.   Also, the scenery is just beautiful.   If you’re prone to motion sickness the Inside Passage will not be as rough.

John

[voljeep]

how long is the ship actually sailing in the 'inside passage' and is this during daylight hours ?

[sjde]

The Discovery also  has a Seattle to Seattle round trip. 

[John99]

I stand corrected – the Discovery does sail round trip from Seattle.

The title:  7 day Inside Passage (round trip)

.

I think the title and map are missing leading.   The map (Princess web site) shows the Discovery (north bound) sailing the Inside Passage between Queen Charlotte Islands BC and various islands (Banks Is., Porcher Is., Dungas Is. etc.) using the Hecate Strait.  On occasion -- large ships will traverse the Lardeo Sound and Principe Channel which I don’t think is the case for this itinerary.   May be someone has better info on the intended route going north.  

 

Voljeep ask a very interesting question -- how long is the ship actually sailing in the 'inside passage' and is this during daylight hours?

 

Not very long in my humble opinion. 

For me, the “Inside Passage” going south from the southern tip of Alaska uses the Grenville Channel.  The Grenville Channel is possibly the most dramatic part of the Inside Passage.   Large cruise ships do not take this route. The channel narrows to about quarter-mile at mile 518.  Just beautiful!!  The Northern Canyons is especially dramatic 100 mile stretch of the Inside Passage which begins at Boat Bluff Lighthouse.  The almost 90-degree turn is too sharp for large cruise ships like the Majestic or Discovery. 

[nocl]

8 hours ago, voljeep said:

how long is the ship actually sailing in the 'inside passage' and is this during daylight hours ?

From my experience in doing 8 Alaska cruises on 3 different lines you actually sail little of the inside passage (basically pretty much what you have to to reach the ports. Most of which is a couple of hours before your reach port and a couple of hours after leaving port.

 

Did do one cruise on HAL that actually took the inside passage all the way down to Vancouver.

 

 

[sjde]

Was that the Maasdam? I think we did on that one. 

[nocl]

1 hour ago, sjde said:

Was that the Maasdam? I think we did on that one. 

We were on the Volendam.