Live in Florida - Looking for help venturing out. Norway Fjords or Alaska on Royal Caribbean?

[mtsublueraider]

I have young kids and we are about to reach Diamond so we have a fair amount of experience with Royal Caribbean. However, after our 9 night on Adventure coming up later this summer we're looking to branch out to another set of ports. Hard, of course, to fly to a port when we can drive to many of them. But, with young kids I'm trying to decide if flying to London is worth the cost of seeing the fjords. 

 

Or, we could experience Canada and fly out of Seattle to see Alaska for the first time. I've not done either. Norway is a 7 nighter but, of course, we'd be seeing London. The one out of Vancouver actually comes back to Seattle which works well for us too. 

 

Both are on the Quantum/Odyssey class which we haven't been on either.... for what it's worth because of price the Alaska would be in balcony and the Norway trip would be spacious ocean view on those LARGE rooms in the front with big port hole. 

 

What would you choose? 

[RobInMN]

Um....

If you are fishing for more input, why didn't you just bump your thread from last week?

 

 

[Crazy planning mom]

How young are your kids?

[mtsublueraider]

17 hours ago, RobInMN said:

Um....

If you are fishing for more input, why didn't you just bump your thread from last week?

 

 

 

OMG. I'm so sorry. I actually didn't remember I got around to posting my question. I forgot to click "notify" so I didn't get any responses. I now see there are PLENTY of responses to the thread. Moving over there.... 

[Crism]

No kids here, but I did both Norway (Jewel 12 nights) and Alaska (Ovation 7 nights) last year and found Norway to be MUCH more beautiful.  Alaska is very Americanized and expensive.  Norway was quaint, quiet, and mostly off the beaten path of major tourism.  That said, I've got Round 2 of Alaska in July of this year to mix it up leaving on Brilliance from Vancouver.

[cruisegirl1]

You mention young children.  Seems Alaska might be more interesting for your children.  (Ages?)  Lots of fun excursions.  European cruises have lots of sightseeing tours which might not fit your children at this time.   Whatever you select, have fun. 

M

[mtsublueraider]

1 minute ago, cruisegirl1 said:

You mention young children.  Seems Alaska might be more interesting for your children.  (Ages?)  Lots of fun excursions.  European cruises have lots of sightseeing tours which might not fit your children at this time.   Whatever you select, have fun. 

M

 

Thank you! They'd be 8 and 7 for the sailing. I do agree from what i've seen that the immediate "beauty" of Norway is striking and it would certainly feel like you've "gone" somewhere. I saw a video and Alaska is beautiful, but it didn't feel as distant and I hoped it would (if that makes sense). 

 

However, we're talking a $400 flight instead of a $1000 flight per person. 

[mtsublueraider]

2 minutes ago, Crism said:

No kids here, but I did both Norway (Jewel 12 nights) and Alaska (Ovation 7 nights) last year and found Norway to be MUCH more beautiful.  Alaska is very Americanized and expensive.  Norway was quaint, quiet, and mostly off the beaten path of major tourism.  That said, I've got Round 2 of Alaska in July of this year to mix it up leaving on Brilliance from Vancouver.

 

That's what I was thinking too with the videos I've seen. The ports seemed very "theme parked". I would like to venture out but transportation is sometimes a challenge with young kids. The more around the immediate ports the better.  

[ssb]

4 minutes ago, Crism said:

No kids here, but I did both Norway (Jewel 12 nights) and Alaska (Ovation 7 nights) last year and found Norway to be MUCH more beautiful.  Alaska is very Americanized and expensive.  Norway was quaint, quiet, and mostly off the beaten path of major tourism.  That said, I've got Round 2 of Alaska in July of this year to mix it up leaving on Brilliance from Vancouver.

I agree and with maybe Copenhagen

[Crism]

Norway's excursions were fairly cheap last summer.  I'm not sure if it was a 2022 only thing.  We booked all Royal excursions, and it didn't break the bank.  I was completely outpriced by Celebrity 2 weeks ago doing South America around the horn.  I did all off-cruise tours that trip.

 

Alaska was a mixed bag last summer.  Sitka was small and quiet enough that we could tour the main sites on our own.  Bears, animals, etc.  Mostly walkable or a short van ride that we purchased in town after the bus ride.  Skagway we took the touristy train via Royal excursion just to get us organized and on the thing.  Juneau we also did a Royal excursion up to a botanical garden and Mendenhall Glacier.  Nothing too exciting, but we wanted to see it all.  We did spend half the day touring downtown Juneau on our own before the tour.

 

It's all in what you're interested in seeing.  If you can pull off the Jewel from Amsterdam for 12 nights, that was incredible.  Going all the way up to Honningsvag and the Arctic Circle was fantastic.  We were lucky in June and had awesome weather.  Definitely in my top cruises with transatlantics and Panama Canal.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Crism

[Crism]

34 minutes ago, ssb said:

I agree and with maybe Copenhagen

 

I've been to Copenhagen for work, but never cruising.  One of my favorite cities...even better than Stockholm in my opinion.  I was planning on Voyager last year, but I wasn't able to due to work and training limitations.  I'm SO sad they pulled the Baltic.  I'd have done it even without St. Pete.

[ssb]

We were on Voyager with Copenhagen pre cruise with Best of Northern Europe Cruise,  and an Arctic Circle Transatlantic Cruise including more Norway and including Iceland Greenland into Boston .  Fabulous ⛰️

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by ssb

[thjeepster]

We are from Florida also and booking the Norway cruise with Anthem for next July 2024. We thought we could Alaska anytime and figure why not go somewhere far away to do a once in a lifetime type cruise. Plus we are staying in London for 3 days before. 
 

Don’t get me wrong Alaska is beautiful but Norway just seems like it’s totally different setting and different type of lifestyle. we can’t wait to go!!!!

 

ps we love Odyssey as well since that was the ship we got married on!!!

Edited March 29, 2023 by thjeepster

[Laurie JJ]

Don't know if you've already made your choice, but another consideration is that Norway is closing some of its fjords to all but electric ships in 2025 or 2026.  You might want to cruise there before they are more limited.  

 

[cannotfathom]

Went to Alaska on Ovation back in September.  The ports were beautiful   🙂