Need advise for future Alaska Cruise

[CALMOM]

My husband and I are planning on taking a cruise to Alaska next year. Which month is better to go, May, June, July or September? We would prefer less children on board since we are celebrating our 20th Anniversary. I prefer to either go roundtrip from Seattle or Vancouver. I have sailed several times on Carnival and Royal and was not happy with Royal the one time we sailed with them. I am looking for personal service since I have found the larger ships don't offer that personal friendliness. I do want a balcony or mini suite. Looking for more classier than casual since Dad & Mom are going without the kids. So if you could advise me on month, cruiseline, ships, ports and excursions I would realloy appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[grannynurse]

Calmom,

From your description of what you are looking for, I would suggest Holland America Lines. They will have at least 6 ships in Alaska next summer. You can choose from their biggest and newest Vista ship the Noordam, another Vista, the Zuiderdam, both carry slightly under 2000 pax, OR the smaller more intimate S and R class ships. To see a description of each ship, go to the regular HAL board and look for the "sticky" on ship classes.

HAL is very highly rated for ambiance and service and does not have large numbers of children aboard. HAL also offers a very nice Renewal of Vows ceremony for anniversary celebrations.

If you want a cruise where crew calls you by name after the first introduction, fresh flowers everywhere, large cabins, bathtubs, gorgeous art, heavenly bedding, and a more traditional ocean-liner feeling, then HAL's for you.

GN

[Chat Noir]

May or early June will certainly be minimal children. Our family/friends group had 2 of the 10 teens signed up for 'teen club' on the May 20th Sapphire Princess sailing this year. I would expect September sailings to be nearly child-free, also.

 

There were a few more on the Carnival Spirit sailing of June 8th, last year, but still very few.

 

Princess is our favored cruiseline of the 2. I do look forward to sailing other cruiselines in the future. We enjoyed Sapphire, but, I think it is a bit 'too big'! The Coral Princess gets great reviews, but I believe it will be one-way again next year. HAL also gets rave reviews here on the board. Someday when we sail without our 'young adult' children, we may look to HAL, also.

[K.T.B.]

I was on Carnival Spirit the second week of May (Glacier Bay round-trip) this year and the amount of kids were minimal. I really don't recall seeing more than 20 to be perfectly honest, and quite a few of them in strollers.

[CALMOM]

Thank you so much for your advise. I was told today that Princess Golden, roundtrip Seattle was a great ship, any thoughts? If anyone is familiar with this ship, can they recommend which deck, I am looking for either balcony or mini-suite w/ balcony. I am so happy I found this website, it has been so helpful and eberyone on here is great.

[MaggieSweet]

Hi CALMOM,

 

We did the roundtrip Seattle on the Sapphire Princess in 2004 and loved it. We were in a balcony on Deck 9, which allowed no one to "look down" onto our balcony but we did have a view of balconies below. We cruise almost always in September, as it is our anniversary date as well. If you go after Labor Day, you'll have almost zero children on board. Alaska tends to be a little lite on the kid population, but especially after school starts again. I think I saw 3 or 4 and they were all in one family. :)

 

We're doing the Celebrity Summit roundtrip out of Vancouver next week (yahoo!!) so I can let you know how they compare. I love Princess, but based on your description of wants and needs, I think you could not go wrong with Celebrity or HAL. There are several of the HAL ships that don't have as many (or no) balconies, so check out each ship on their website before you make the big decision. We lucked into a Family View cabin on Celebrity. This is an aft cabin that is configured for families of 5 or so, but if they haven't sold by the time final payment becomes due, they're open to the general public. They're also priced in the "regular balcony" cabin price range instead of a suite.

 

They are literally twice the size of the standard cabin, and because they're aft, the balcony is about 4 times the size of the average balcony. I can't wait! In fact, hubby thinks we only have a standard balcony cabin, so I can't wait to surprise him. Good luck on your search, I find that planning is at least half the fun!! Any cruise is better than being at work. ;)

 

Tammy