Connoisseur cruisetours

[vawalkers]

We are considering a Princess cruisetour to Alaska. We have no experience with Princess. Can anyone explain what is included in the Connoisseur Tour and do you think it is worth the extra money?  Thanks!

[PR-Texas]

I can't say about the tour to Alaska but I checked out the itinerary on our Australia New Zealand cruisetour before I booked it.  From the Princess website choose the cruisetour you're interested in and check the Cruise Details.  The Connoisseur Escorted cruisetours I looked at to Alaska had a fairly detailed itinerary including which meals were included on the land portion.

Good Luck. 

[sirclean]

We are taking the Connesour Cruise Tour next week!  

What makes it different?  Most  meals are included at the resorts.  Some excursions are included too.  You will have a travel guide as well.  

10 years ago I went with my family and were 'on our own'.  We are trying this way this time.  We have high hopes that it is worth the extra costs, but Im sure it will be!  Im usually the planner, so having someone else in charge of many of the plans is a vacation in itself!

[mtnesterz]

In 2016, we did the Explorer version of an Alaska Cruisetour instead of Connoisseur. (No meals included on the land portion.) Big mistake. A hamburger in the lodge was $25, breakfast buffet was $19...eight years ago. You know what's happened to prices since then.

If I were to make one last post on CC to help someone, it would be to advise them to pay the extra for the food and tours your get with the Connoisseur. Won't kid you, this vacation is going to hurt your wallet, but it will be amazing. YOLO!

Edited June 3 by mtnesterz

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, vawalkers said:

We are considering a Princess cruisetour to Alaska. We have no experience with Princess. Can anyone explain what is included in the Connoisseur Tour and do you think it is worth the extra money?  Thanks!

 

Here is an old but still relevant thread that you may find helpful. It helped us decide to do a connoisseur cruise tour. (We have done two of them to Alaska - a 13 day and a 15 day - and loved them both.)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1727858

[Rudy888]

We did the connoisseur tour last summer, 10 days 5 lodges

We felt it was worth the extra cost. Didn't have to think, "the halibut is 35.00 but the hamburger and fries are 20.00. We felt we received the value, others may not.

 

[JStar]

I agree. We have done two and thought it was worth the price. Made it a very hassle free experience and from our perspective a very Relaxed and enjoyable trip.

[ClydeKilgore]

On 6/3/2024 at 1:51 PM, Rudy888 said:

We did the connoisseur tour last summer, 10 days 5 lodges

We felt it was worth the extra cost. Didn't have to think, "the halibut is 35.00 but the hamburger and fries are 20.00. We felt we received the value, others may not.

 

We did the 10 day connoisseur trip last year as well.  Well worth it.  Would never do Alaska without it.  We stayed with friends in who are long time Alaska residents before the trip and they said we would see some places they have never seen.  

[flviking]

We did an Alaska Connoisseur cruise tour.  We may have paid more but we found it worthwhile.  The biggest benefit in our view was the tour guide made restaurant reservations for us before we arrived at the lodges.  They were always very crowded and we frequently overhead hosts and hostesses quoting one to two hours wait for a table.  Also, paying up front kept the sticker shock of the menu prices off our minds.  I know economically its not different but it helps us to not have concerns about crazy pricing while on vacation.  We did that way early at home.  We also got two room upgrades at the lodges.  We have another booked for Alaska 2025.