Need Help figuring out the best ship to sail on an Alaska Cruise

[SNJCruisers]

3 hours ago, nocl said:

 

From what I have heard the Grand has sailed with as few as 170. 

No wonder everyone likes her so much.  With that kind of crew/passenger ratio, the service must be outstanding.

[caribill]

8 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

I have been on the Grand multiple times and she is well maintained.

New and bigger is not necessarily better.

 

 

To me, the ships with less passenger capacity are to be preferred for Alaska. It is not that the crowds are too big while on the larger ships, but that the larger ships (in normal times) bring too many passengers to the Alaska ports which (in normal times) are just too crowded. Remember that the Princess ship you are on is not the only ship in a port as there can be several other Displacement Of The Seas ships there at the same time.

 

 

5 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Then I guess the NCL Encore and Bliss, that are each 169 K tons are really too large for Alaska, IYHO.

 

Yes, because the number of passengers they can carry help overcrowd the ports.

[cr8tiv1]

Addendum:  OOPsss.. I got my threads mixed up.  Both talked about the Grand Princess.  One was the 5 day sampler and the other is this one (which ship/7 day).  But my comments apply to both.

 

Order of preference for one way voyages:

 

Coral Princess (not an option at this point)

Grand Princess 

 

 

 

 

 

[Host Sharon]

Given the cruise is all about the scenery, to get the full impact I would choose the smallest ship. 

[1025cruise]

21 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Then I guess the NCL Encore and Bliss, that are each 169 K tons are really too large for Alaska, IYHO.

Yup.

The mega ships, IMHO, don't belong in Alaska. Same goes to true for Royal's larger ships. For Princess, stick with Grand class ships.

[brisalta]

22 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

No wonder everyone likes her so much.  With that kind of crew/passenger ratio, the service must be outstanding.

 

Even pre-pandemic when the Grand ran at full capacity the service on board was outstanding.

At the time she had the best executive chef in the fleet.

[cr8tiv1]

1 minute ago, brisalta said:

 

Even pre-pandemic when the Grand ran at full capacity the service on board was outstanding.

At the time she had the best executive chef in the fleet.

 

I agree with your post.  Pre/Post.  The executive chef currently onboard was able to do magical things with special needs diets.  Club Class Dining was the best experience I've had in all of my years (and that is saying a lot).  The other times I've sailed on the Grand, it was great too.  This time, was over the top.

 

Even the guy sanitizing the Piazza stairs was friendly.

 

[brisalta]

1 minute ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I agree with your post.  Pre/Post.  The executive chef currently onboard was able to do magical things with special needs diets.  Club Class Dining was the best experience I've had in all of my years (and that is saying a lot).  The other times I've sailed on the Grand, it was great too.  This time, was over the top.

 

Even the guy sanitizing the Piazza stairs was friendly.

 

 

Can you remember who is currently executive chef on the Grand?

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

24 minutes ago, brisalta said:

 

Can you remember who is currently executive chef on the Grand?

 

Unfortunately, I do not have that information readily available.  He was some guy from Germany.  Someone at my table had a very restrictive vegan/no cholesterol diet.  Restaurant manager knew his stuff and sent orders to the chef that were well balanced and very healthy.  Passenger loved every meal prepared.  

[nocl]

Unfortunately the increasing size and number of ships in Alaska pre Covid had turned what were unique towns with lots of local character, into over crowded cruise ship ports full of the same stores that have taken over the Caribbean cruise ship ports. Many owned by the same people who shift inventory and sometimes staff to Alaska for the season, then back to the Caribbean when the Alaska season ends and the Caribbean season starts.

 

This year is a good one to visit Alaska before it becomes over crowded again.

[Moondogy]

Just have to say, nice user name you got there Moondoggy51 😁

[Purple Gallinule]

Hands down it is the Majestic Princess. We were on the Sep 19 sailing to Alaska, and we had so much fun on the Majestic that we booked it for a 14 day (2 7-days) in 2023. It is now our favorite Princess ship.

[SNJCruisers]

51 minutes ago, Purple Gallinule said:

Hands down it is the Majestic Princess. We were on the Sep 19 sailing to Alaska, and we had so much fun on the Majestic that we booked it for a 14 day (2 7-days) in 2023. It is now our favorite Princess ship.

We just booked 3 sailings on the Majestic.  14 days in Alaska 5/27/23, 13 days to NZ 11/27/23 & 12 days to Southern Australia 12/10/23.

[coconutty23]

Now that we've weighed in on which ship, my new question is which side: Port or Starboard? And why.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

On 12/10/2021 at 10:40 PM, brisalta said:

 

Can you remember who is currently executive chef on the Grand?

 

 

 

I have taken Island, Grand and Majestic to Alaska and would say that the Grand is the best choice. The amount of open deck space is awesome. 

 

And on a side note On the Halloween cruise this year Jerry Dias was the executive chef. 
 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by HaveDogWillTravel

[rj59]

I've done the Majestic, and the killer feature for Alaska is the Hollywood Conservatory all the way forward. There are windows all the way around, cabanas, various kinds of chairs, and it extends to the covered Hollywood pool. Unlike the ships for a forward sanctuary, it's free. There are even various kinds of xylophones and topiary and a big world map, all designed to make it elegant and interesting for the Chinese market. The other thing that separates the Majestic is the noodle bar, which has ramen, pho, miso, and a daily rotation of specials, and hot soup is perfect on a cold Alaska day. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

@rj59you have described the conservatory well. While I liked it for a quiet spot to read I personally found the views way too restricted by all the cabanas, windows and topiary.
 

The full promenade on the Grand gives sweeping views all around with access to seating outside and the ability to duck in to get warm or use a bathroom. Deck 15 also gives  access to full front, sides and aft views. Decks 16 and 17 give even more open and unimpeded aft and side viewing areas. Some areas have the blue glass wind breaks that some don’t care for on a warm sunny day but they sure come in handy on a cold and blustery one. 

The Grand also has Monkey Island. Deck 15 above the bridge. They open it up in Glacier bay and when sailing into, out of ports as weather allows. 

Edited December 20, 2021 by HaveDogWillTravel

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

While I liked it for a quiet spot to read I personally found the views way too restricted by all the cabanas, windows and topiary.

I agree that it is not that great for a broad view.  Probably best to be able to move about.

[SNJCruisers]

The Majestic is 19 years newer and almost 40% larger than the Grand.  More amenities, restaurants, bars and the peripheral stuff that constitutes a vacation.  Many will say that the ship is secondary in Alaska, but I disagree.  The ship will always be a factor as far as I'm concerned if you have a choice.

But of course different people place importance on different things when it comes to their ship choice. And others consider the ship secondary and the ports primary.  That's why there is vanilla and chocolate.

[nocl]

24 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

The Majestic is 19 years newer and almost 40% larger than the Grand.  More amenities, restaurants, bars and the peripheral stuff that constitutes a vacation.  Many will say that the ship is secondary in Alaska, but I disagree.  The ship will always be a factor as far as I'm concerned if you have a choice.

But of course different people place importance on different things when it comes to their ship choice. And others consider the ship secondary and the ports primary.  That's why there is vanilla and chocolate.

The problem is that even though it is larger there really are not many more amenities on a Royal Class ship than a Grand class ship.

 

The Majestic is a bit unique in that class so it has some design differences such as the Hollywood pool, at the expense of no sanctuary.  It has the noodle bar in place of the normal pool deck pizza area.

It has a French specialty restaurant  in place of the piano bar.

 

But what exactly are all of the extra amenities in a normal royal class? Other than the fountain that takes the place of one of the Lido pools.

 

When you go from Grand class to Royal Class you lose the promenade all the way around the ship. You have Princess live replace the much more useful explorers club.

 

I have sailed on all of the Grand Class and all except the two newest of the Royal class and I cannot really think of anything that the Royal Class has that the Grand class does not.  Only that some of space are larger that serve the same function.