Alaska, Why Not CCL

[crisp1]

I've been checking the Alaska boards, and it seems like everyone says Princess or Hal are best. We're thinking of taking an Alaskan cruise in September. I wan to use my Continental ff miles for the air, so I think it has to be a round trip cruise ( got to check that out). Any pros to CCl vs the others? Thanks

[Cruise Cat]

We did the Carnival Jubilee in 99 and had a great time. Also did RCCLs Vision of the Seas in 2003. Enjoyed both. (My Opinion) food on Carnival was much better)

[LHP]

We did the Carnival Spirit last July. We flew into Anchorage and out of Vancouver on our FREE Delta miles (thank you Delta).

 

Airlines are used to dealing with these split itineraries. No big deal.

 

Fabulous ship. An older crowd. 150 children. An excellent naturalist (Michelle). Good food.

 

Make sure you get a balcony.

[DebNJoe]

We did the Carnival Spirit last July. We flew into Anchorage and out of Vancouver on our FREE Delta miles (thank you Delta).

 

Airlines are used to dealing with these split itineraries. No big deal.

 

Fabulous ship. An older crowd. 150 children. An excellent naturalist (Michelle). Good food.

 

Make sure you get a balcony.

 

We did the Spirit Northbound in June 01 - It was the 3rd sailing of the Spirit at that time. Used Delta FF miles - flew into Seattle, drove to Vancouver, then flew home from Anchorage!

 

Took my parents for their 50th anniv. It was their 1st cruise. We all had a wonderful time!:)

[dodge9]

I have done Alaska three times... NCL (Norwegian Star), CCL (CCL Spirit) and Princess (Dawn Princess)... by far we thought the Carnival was better all around... better naturalist, better cabin size, better ship and better food selection... for us Princess was the worst, smaller cabins, food stunk and everyone said how fantastic Princess was... we just didn't see that. We are going back to Alaska next year and are planning on either Carnival or NCL... Carnival would be our first choice, but their Southbound cruises don't go to Glacier Bay, which we loved more than College Fjord, so we will check out NCL's itineraries when they come out and choose from there. I liked SOuthbound the best... did Northbound, Southbound and Seattle round trip so far. You will love Alaska... I wnent the first time because my husband wanted too... now it is my favorite!

[D4]

We did Alaska 3 years in a row (1999,2000,2001) on Carnival and NCL. It's our favorite itinerary, but our kids had enough after 3 years and wanted warmer weather.

 

We plan to go again next year, but haven't decided the cruise line. Our favorite lines are Celebrity and Princess, but we're also considering NCL. (No, Carnival isn't even in the running for us.) The nice thing about NCL in Alaska is the freestyle dining - you you can eat in the dining room whenever you're ready and you don't need formal clothes in the dining room. It's really nice on Alaska cruises because you don't have to rush back from the port for dinner and you already have to bring lots of extra clothes for layering. (This of course makes more of a difference when you're packing for a family of 4.)

[hawaiideb]

We were on the 4th sailling of the Spirit in Alaska June '01 Southbound. Loved it, had a great time, and would go again in a heartbeat. Also flew free on Delta with no problems on the split itinerary. Had a balcony, a must, and love the smoothness of this sailing. We had perfect weather in every port, and that Father's Day in Skagway made for a family song we still sing on Father's Day! The only thing we would do differently would be to go Northbound, so the scenery got more dramatic the farther you go. It was anti-climactic at the end of the week after seeing all the glaciers to end up in Vancouver.

[DebNJoe]

We were on the 4th sailling of the Spirit in Alaska June '01 Southbound. Loved it, had a great time, and would go again in a heartbeat. Also flew free on Delta with no problems on the split itinerary. Had a balcony, a must, and love the smoothness of this sailing. We had perfect weather in every port, and that Father's Day in Skagway made for a family song we still sing on Father's Day! The only thing we would do differently would be to go Northbound, so the scenery got more dramatic the farther you go. It was anti-climactic at the end of the week after seeing all the glaciers to end up in Vancouver.

 

Guess we pasted each other on the gangway! I agree that the northbound is better for the reason you stated ;)

 

Deb

[LHP]

I have to admit, packing for 4 was a lot of "fun" especially since we were packing for TWO weeks. We flew in a week before the cruise and rented a car. We drove a big loop from Anchorage to Denali to Fairbanks to GlenAllen and back to Anchorage.

[cruisenk]

I've been checking the Alaska boards, and it seems like everyone says Princess or Hal are best. We're thinking of taking an Alaskan cruise in September. I wan to use my Continental ff miles for the air, so I think it has to be a round trip cruise ( got to check that out). Any pros to CCl vs the others? Thanks

 

I think the reason some think HAL is wonderful in Alaska is because they were one of the first cruiselines in the market and they offer wonderful cruise/land packages. We were on the Statendam in 2003 from Vancouver to Seward and it was wonderful. I have nothing to compare it to, but we thought our Verandah was extremely large (over 250 square feet) and the balcony was large enough for a lounger, table and chair. I would highly recommend a balcony, as we thoroughly enjoyed watching the bald ealges flying while sitting in and leaving ports.

 

Also, we used AA frequent flier miles for our flights into Vancouver and out of Anchorage.