Voyage of the Glaciers Questions

[Bob_and_Mary]

Hi.

 

My wife and I are looking to cruise to Alaska next summer.  It will be our first cruise in quite a while and first ever to Alaska.  For those of you that cruise Alaska frequently, I have a couple questions.

We are looking to include a land package with the cruise.  Do you find it better to cruise first or last?

Also, next year there are three ships running the Voyage of the Glaciers itinerary (Grand, Sapphire, Majestic).  Which of those ships would you recommend?   

 

Thanks.

[azbirdmom]

We've done two cruise tours through Princess and have gone on 7 Alaska cruises with Princess.  Would strongly suggest that you do the tour first.  You'll be very busy on the tour and after that it's nice to relax on the ship.  Also, most of the flights out of Anchorage are redeyes so you'll spend a lot of time at the airport after the tour if you do it in the opposite order.  Daytime flights from Vancouver are plentiful.  Finally the southbound route goes to both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier.

 

We've been on all 3 ships and they would be fine for us.  But for a first time to Alaska I'd suggest Sapphire first and Grand second.  Both have a wraparound Promenade deck that is covered which is ideal for glacier viewing, especially if it's rainy.  We've also been on the Majestic and there's plenty of deck space for glacier viewing, you just lose the covered Promenade option.

 

I don't think you can go wrong regardless of what you choose but those are our preferences! 

[Alaskanb]

31 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

We've done two cruise tours through Princess and have gone on 7 Alaska cruises with Princess.  Would strongly suggest that you do the tour first.  You'll be very busy on the tour and after that it's nice to relax on the ship.  Also, most of the flights out of Anchorage are redeyes so you'll spend a lot of time at the airport after the tour if you do it in the opposite order.  Daytime flights from Vancouver are plentiful.  Finally the southbound route goes to both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier.

 

We've been on all 3 ships and they would be fine for us.  But for a first time to Alaska I'd suggest Sapphire first and Grand second.  Both have a wraparound Promenade deck that is covered which is ideal for glacier viewing, especially if it's rainy.  We've also been on the Majestic and there's plenty of deck space for glacier viewing, you just lose the covered Promenade option.

 

I don't think you can go wrong regardless of what you choose but those are our preferences! 

Agree. I spent most of my time with binoculars on our balcony. The Alaska board is a fount of knowledge. 

 

[mtnesterz]

Did you notice the pricing; that it is substantially more expensive to do the tour first and the cruise last? Demand is higher for the reason mentioned above.

Smaller ships are better when cruising Alaska, but the Grand's Skywalker lounge was removed.

Enjoy the view from the prommenade and Skywalker on the Sapphire and enjoy the inside passage. Full disclosure, we sailed a Royal Class ship once and never will again.

For the cruise tour, buy the connoisseur package so meals and excursions are included. Food was unbelievably expensive on land for us.

Alaska is awesome. Just don't take any last minute discounts on the Crown this year.

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by mtnesterz

[Buddysmom10]

I just got back from the cruise then land one on the Grand yesterday.

 

I chose the cruise first because I like to work from closest to furthest away. We stayed three nights in Vancouver pre-cruise.  I did the Grand just because it seemed like most people recommended that.  I'm used to the "mega ships" so it was a little different and those giant ones can't get into Glacier Bay.

 

I would not do the included meals on the land tour. I like to be able to choose what we want.  Denali had a few non-Princess restaurants across the street-one called Moose-aca was really good!

 

The food at McKinley and at Denali were average at best--only a few choices for breakfast. And at McKinley I ordered one of their omelettes (I think there were only four choices for breakfast) and asked for it without cheese and she said it was already mixed in so I couldn't get it. And things closed really early. Walking around the grounds at Denali (really nice) was like a ghost town on Saturday night at 9 pm! 

 

But the employees were extremely nice--mostly college students, great personalities/very friendly. 

 

But warning!!  Don't book Denali Princess on your own.  I was at guest services and the guy next to me went to check in DIY (non-cruise passenger).  They had cancelled his reservation and he never was notified!!  They said maybe there was something in Healy 10 miles up the road.  I would have been beyond livid-it's not like I-95 where you can find another hotel.