Which cruise line?

[Ilmksm]

I am sure this has been asked before, but I could not find anything looking through recent past threads. We’ve decided to book a cruise for 10 of us from ages 23 to 85 to Alaska in July 2025. After recently getting off of Celebrity cruise we did put a deposit down on an Alaska cruise on the Celebrity Summit from Vancouver.As we’ve done further investigation, it looks as if Holland American and princess are two other contenders that we may be interested in mainly because their experience in Alaska and that they go to glacier Bay. We like the fact that Celebrity ship has been refurbished, and we know what we are getting with Celebrity. We have not sailed Holland American, or Princess before.  I would appreciate anybody’s input on the differences between the 3 cruise lines, besides itinerary, and what their thoughts are,  if they have sailed any of these in the past. We are wanting to go to Denali for a couple of nights via the Alaskan Railroad. We have looked into the land tours offered by all 3 cruise lines and they appear to be more restrictive with free time available to do what we want to do on our own. Any thoughts on a cruise land tour versus planning a land tour independently with our travel agent? thank you in advance for any insight that you can give me. I realize that we are late in planning this cruise but there are still some choices available and with this being a bucket list cruise for our family, we want to make the best choices available and I know that you all have valuable insight to assist us. 

[peety3]

We've been very happy with Princess over the years. Two northbound Vancouver to Whittier (Anchorage), two Seattle round-trips with Tracy Arm Fjord, one Seattle round-trip with Glacier Bay, and a "half cruise" Alaska Sampler (four-day repositioning Vancouver-Ketchikan-Seattle). Anxiously awaiting a two-day repositioning to introduce our 5yo son to cruising as well as an Alaska cruise next summer right after school.

 

All of the ships undergo constant onboard maintenance as well as their mandatory drydock periods for heavy underwater maintenance (though the lines do usually squeeze in other cosmetic work during these times). The ships are their long-term asset, so the lines are highly motivated to keep them in good shape.

[jlawrence01]

I was on the Celebrity Solstice September 1st on an inside passage and am currently on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam in Whittier on a 14 day cruise.

 

If your goal is to have see a lot of glaciers and have great naturalist talks, I do not think that you can beat Holland America as you can get into Glacier Bay and College Fjords on many of their sailings.  In addition, their ships tend to spend a lot more time in ports which allow us independent explorers more time to do our thing 

 

I have not been on Princess in Alaska but it is more similar to HAL.

 

If I were going to take my family, it would be HAL or Princess only due to the itineraries.

 

As for the condition of the ships, I would give the edge to HAL over the S-class Celebrity ships.  Do realize that the HAL ships sailing into Glacier Bay are smaller and more intimate.

 

[donaldsc]

HAL goes to Glacier Bay.  Celebrity does not.  That is all you need to know when comparing the 2 cruises. 

 

Before you listen to the Celebrity people who will claim that Celebrity goes to Hubbard just remember that the probability of getting into Glacier Bay is close to 100% while the probability of getting into Hubbard is less than 100%.  Best if you can find a cruise that does both.

 

DON

Edited Monday at 05:10 AM by donaldsc

[Coral]

6 hours ago, donaldsc said:

HAL goes to Glacier Bay.  Celebrity does not.  That is all you need to know when comparing the 2 cruises. 

 

Before you listen to the Celebrity people who will claim that Celebrity goes to Hubbard just remember that the probability of getting into Glacier Bay is close to 100% while the probability of getting into Hubbard is less than 100%.  Best if you can find a cruise that does both.

 

DON

I agree.

Even ships that get to Hubbard, often don't get that close. We were 9 miles away on RCCL. Barely could see it.

 

I agree with Glacier Bay.

[jlawrence01]

On 9/15/2024 at 8:23 PM, jlawrence01 said:

I was on the Celebrity Solstice September 1st on an inside passage and am currently on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam in Whittier on a 14 day cruise.

 

If your goal is to have see a lot of glaciers and have great naturalist talks, I do not think that you can beat Holland America as you can get into Glacier Bay and College Fjords on many of their sailings.  In addition, their ships tend to spend a lot more time in ports which allow us independent explorers more time to do our thing 

 

I have not been on Princess in Alaska but it is more similar to HAL.

 

If I were going to take my family, it would be HAL or Princess only due to the itineraries.

 

As for the condition of the ships, I would give the edge to HAL over the S-class Celebrity ships.  Do realize that the HAL ships sailing into Glacier Bay are smaller and more intimate.

 

 

I was on the Solstice two weeks ago and on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam the past two weeks ago.  While Glacier Bay was great, the top moments for us was College Fjords and the tremendous number of glaciers.  In addition, Whittier was a great stop.

 

Also, the enrichment talks on the NA were far more insightful than the Celebrity Solstice.

 

Honestly, I would only book Alaskan cruises on HAL or Princess.

 

Anyone planning a Alaskan cruise should pay close attention to the times in port AND where the shops dock in port, especially in Juneau.

 

 

 

[donaldsc]

12 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

 

I was on the Solstice two weeks ago and on the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam the past two weeks ago.  While Glacier Bay was great, the top moments for us was College Fjords and the tremendous number of glaciers.  In addition, Whittier was a great stop.

 

Also, the enrichment talks on the NA were far more insightful than the Celebrity Solstice.

 

Honestly, I would only book Alaskan cruises on HAL or Princess.

 

Anyone planning a Alaskan cruise should pay close attention to the times in port AND where the shops dock in port, especially in Juneau.

 

 

 

 

Good point.  I forgot about College Fjord which is a day cruise out of Whittier.  The best of all possible worlds would be a cruise that arrives or departs from Whittier which gives you College Fjord and then hits Glacier and Hubbard on the cruise.  All 3 glacier experiences would be both very special and completely different.

 

DON

[jlawrence01]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

Good point.  I forgot about College Fjord which is a day cruise out of Whittier.  The best of all possible worlds would be a cruise that arrives or departs from Whittier which gives you College Fjord and then hits Glacier and Hubbard on the cruise.  All 3 glacier experiences would be both very special and completely different.

 

DON

You get that on a 14 day RT on Holland America (Vancouver - Whittier cruise).

 

My ONLY regret was not booking the up close excursion that took you close to the Hubbard glacier.  I did not know that was available. However, I saw so much in the past three weeks that I cannot complain.

 

Another thing that people should realize is that all port stops are tentative.  On HAL Nieuw Amsterdam yesterday, the captain and pilot arrived in the Skagway harbor and decided at 6:30 am that it was unsafe to dock.  By 8 am, they announced that Skagway was out and that Icy Strait Point was added to the agenda.  Considering the circumstances, that was making the best of a bad situation.

 

We will return to Alaska next year for a trip to Whittier on our way to Japan on the Discovery Princess.