Why would (or wouldn't) you choose Princess for Alaska?

[CruizinSusan70]

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Susan, take a deep breath and relax. You seem to be a touch agitated.  I’m not the slightest bit worried about being “relegated to older rust buckets”.  As a matter of fact, we have cruises booked on Celebrity Ascent and Beyond in 2024 and a TA on Rotterdam VII.  And, we’ll be sailing on Regal Princess this September to the British Isles.  Not one rust bucket among them. lol
I sincerely hope you enjoy your cruise on Majestic Princess, I’m sure she’s just lovely.  

We will be spending 18 nights on the Beyond in November.  What we're really looking forward to are our B2B's on the Sun in late 2024 and early 2025.  Enjoy your bookings.

[Lady Arwen]

7 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

We will be spending 18 nights on the Beyond in November.  What we're really looking forward to are our B2B's on the Sun in late 2024 and early 2025.  Enjoy your bookings.

I believe that Captain Kate will be at the helm during your cruise on Beyond.  If you haven’t already, get a photo of her and Bug.  She’s always out and about and very visible to her guests. We met her on Edge. Personality plus!  Maybe you’ll catch her standing on the Martini Bar mixing drinks. The truth!  Have a wonderful time.  

Edited May 1, 2023 by Lady Arwen

[edgeman61]

22 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The OP likes to cruise on the newer ships from both RCI and NCL.  If you're used to sailing on ships that are 150-230 K tons, it's a major difference to cruise on a ship that is 99.5 or smaller, which is the entire HAL fleet.  People are off loaded for excursions no matter where the ship sails.   And with the length of time in port being extended while cruising in Alaska it's OK that there are more passengers disembarking.  When you're in port for up to 14 hours, not everyone is going to be rushing off at 700 am.

 

Maybe yourself and others like the smaller ships.  There are numerous threads that contain posts about people hating the Royal Class, so it's obvious that they will never set foot on a Sphere Class ship.  Yet there are others that enjoy the amenities that the newer ships offer.  We did 14 on the Discovery last year and loved it.  Have future 14 day bookings on the Majestic and the Enchanted.  When we're on the Majestic in a few weeks, we'll be booking B2B's for fall 2024 and winter 2025 on the Sun.  I will infer that we won't see you onboard.

 

Please don't use the phrase that "Most cruisers will tell you that smaller ships are more desirable than the big ones."  That may be true for you, but the last time I cruised on a ship that was under 100 K tons was 12 years ago, and I've cruised over 30 times since then.  Some people like vanilla while others like chocolate.  That's why the newer larger ships are enjoyed by some while the older vessels are loved by others. 

 

Going back to 2009, when the Oasis OTS debuted there have been 45 ships built by the mainstream lines that are 130 K tons or larger.  Mainstream new builds under that number total 4.  The Celebrity Equinox at 122 K and three ships from HAL.  If most cruisers desirability was with smaller ships, then why such a disparity with the size of new builds over the past 14 years?

Not to hijack the thread but IMHO the reason the cruise lines are building larger ships isn't because of customer demand, it's because they are more profitable, if they can fill them.

 

Personally, I'm OK on a ship with up to 3500 passengers but I have no desire to take a vacation with 5000+ other people.  On the other side of the scale, I took a cruise on HAL's Prinsendam (something like 800 passengers) I thought it was too small, it lacked the amenities that I had become used to on most mid-size ships.

 

I've been to Alaska (cruise only) three times, all with HAL, they do Alaska very well.  I'm going again this summer with Princess (11N on the Crown Princess) so I'll have a better comparison of the two lines.

 

I agree that food on HAL is somewhat better and the rooms tend to be larger.  HAL is a more traditional line so their ships won't have many of the attractions of say RCL, NCL or Carnival.  The passengers do tend to be older but in Alaska during summer break expect a fair number of children.

 

Personally, regarding Glacier Bay vs. Hubbard Glacier, there are more glaciers in Glacier Bay and the scenery is prettier from what I can remember but Hubbard Glacier is HUGE, I saw more calving there than any other glacier I've ever been to.

 

I don't think you can make a bad decision with either HAL or Princess, I would look at itinerary and cost as my prime decision making factors.

 

Good luck.

[CruizinSusan70]

51 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I believe that Captain Kate will be at the helm during your cruise on Beyond.  If you haven’t already, get a photo of her and Bug.  She’s always out and about and very visible to her guests. We met her on Edge. Personality plus!  Maybe you’ll catch her standing on the Martini Bar mixing drinks. The truth!  Have a wonderful time.  

We were on the Edge with her as our last cruise pre-covid in Jan of 2020.  Since we will have 18 nights on the Beyond, it'll increase the chance of getting a selfie with her.  Gotta respect her all female crew on the bridge.

Edited May 1, 2023 by CruizinSusan70

[NG11]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I'm fully aware that my 14 day cruise could be booked as a 7 day northbound or a 7 day southbound.  Been cruising for over 35 years and have 50+ cruises under my belt.  My 🤔🤔🤔 was just sarcasm.

Apologies. It's hard to decifer that in text form.

Edited May 1, 2023 by NG11

[Ken the cruiser]

16 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Thank you for educating me on something I had no idea about. 🤔🤔🤔

As long as the included itineraries are mostly different, I’m not seeing the downside of the 14-day being a B2B. Now, it they were identical, that would be an issue for us.

 

In this particular case since this is the “Voyage of the Glaciers”, you will see different glaciers on each leg besides seeing Glacier Bay twice, which can be a good thing depending on the weather during those 14 days.

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, NG11 said:

Apologies. It's hard to decifer that in text form.

Fully understand, no problem.  Take care.

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As long as the included itineraries are mostly different, I’m not seeing the downside of the 14-day being a B2B. Now, it they were identical, that would be an issue for us.

 

In this particular case since this is the “Voyage of the Glaciers”, you will see different glaciers on each leg besides seeing Glacier Bay twice, which can be a good thing depending on the weather during those 14 days.

 

This is our first time to Alaska and we like the newer modern ships so those facts combined with this itinerary were the primary reasons we chose it.  The middle of this cruise starting with Skagway with the train into Canada through the second time to Glacier Bay is what we're looking forward to.

[Coral]

5 hours ago, edgeman61 said:

 

 

Personally, regarding Glacier Bay vs. Hubbard Glacier, there are more glaciers in Glacier Bay and the scenery is prettier from what I can remember but Hubbard Glacier is HUGE, I saw more calving there than any other glacier I've ever been to.

 

Glacier Bay is almost always accessible. Hubbard is not and can be skipped. I agree that Hubbard is huge but I have missed it more times than I have seen it.

[MILLERVILE]

On 4/29/2023 at 5:35 PM, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

We are platinum with Princess and are looking to do Alaska in 2025. We are also weighing our options as to Princess or HAL. Both lines have been doing Alaska longer than others so we are not concerned with which one has more experience. They are both very experienced in Alaska. Even though we are loyal to Princess we are leaning towards HAL. The reason for us comes down to ship size and cabin size. HAL ships are 1000 passengers smaller and their standard veranda cabins are larger. With Princess you must go with a deluxe balcony, on those ships that offer them, if you want a small sofa to sit on. And the newer Princess ships have very small standard balconies. HAL can’t seem to get rid of the moniker that the ships are for old people. I believe you will find that both lines have similar demographics. Of course now that I’m 70+ maybe I don’t notice the old people. 😂😂

I have done both, I picked princess for the Itinerary this trip.  I loved Hal for 50 dollars unlimited wash they washed all my clothes after 4 day on land then everyday i sent clothes it was great!  i was in my late 50's.