Round Trip cruise choices

[Gaprofitt]

Hi All,

 

We are planning on going to Alaska next summer, unfortunetly I have to rule out the one-way trips due to cost. I noticed Carnival Spirit and some Norwegian ships go to Glacier Bay also on round trips. We prefer Princess so the decision is to go on Princess and skip Glacier Bay or to go Carnival and see Glacier bay but not be on a princess ship. Personally i'm leaning toward Princess, i'm not a big fan of norwegian at all. What do you guys think? I'm not sure if Glacier Bay is a can't miss enough to go on Carnival.

[maureenk]

Hi,

 

We've been on 2 Celebrity, 1 Royal Caribbean, and 1 Carnival cruise, all to the caribbean. We just booked a round trip Celebrity cruise to Alaska for this summer. Guess which is our favorite! For our first 4 cruises, we had our 2 young girls with us. Here's my relative assessment of the 3 different cruise lines: The best kids club and the best entertainment (by far) was on Royal Caribbean. The best food and service and least crowded feel was on Celebrity. We found that the food on Carnival was actually much better than the food on Royal Caribbean (and we are foodies and went on the Carnival cruise with major foodies - a chef and server, who typically go on Royal Caribbean ships primarily for price/value). We were all pleasantly surprised with the food on Carnival - both the dining room and the lunch buffets - we were on the Miracle. The Carnival ship was not as "elegant" but more "gaudy" (to use the term loosely) and just wan't finished off as nicely and felt very very crowded on sea days. I had expected the Carnival ship to be more fun, but really, the Royal Caribbean ship was far more fun, for both the adults and the kids. I found the food to be very average (and maybe less than) on RCCL - meats were not tender, gravies and sauces seemed "institutional" perhaps from a mix, soups didn't have the depth of flavor you get from a really good restaurant. We booked on Celebrity to Alaska (without Glacier National Park, unfortunately, as Celebrity doesn't have access) just because we really like the Celebrity experience - great food and service and very classy ships. We could have gone on an NCL ship to Alaska and seen Glacier Bay for actually a considerable $ amount less than we paid for Celebrity and but I've been very hesitant to try NCL, and we have could have done the Princess Sun also for less $. There are a lot people on this Alaska board who really like NCL. I looked into the Pearl and space ratio was considerably smaller than on the Celebrity Infinity and I'm not keen on the open dining concept (though never tried it). Hope this helps! It's of course just our opinion. I can answer more specifics if you have any questions......though we haven't done NCL or Princess........

[maureenk]

Just saw that you have been on Carnival a while back. Our Carnival cruise was in 2005 and I think they've improved a lot since the 90s, from what I've heard from friends. It looks like you are in a similar situation to us where you're leaning toward sticking with your favorite, in your case Princess, in our case, Celebrity.

[MSEm]

You can also check out a Round Trip on Holland America, especially one of the smaller ships. If you book Holland America, let them know you have sailed on Princess. You may quality for of VPI discount (CCL Family of ships).

You will probably have fewer childern on Holland than on the Carnival Spirit.

Good Cruising.

[cruzy-sue]

I'd like to throw in my 2 cents here. We have cruised on Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Silver Seas. We are booked on a round trip Alaska out of Vancouver. And we chose the Carnival Spirit.

 

We could have picked any of the above, but when we remembered the sister ship of the Spirit (Legend) it was with 4 star memories. We really found so many things about Carnival quite nice. The layout of the ship (love the lobby and atrium bar), the rooms are very nice, beds very comfortable, staff was pleasant and the people on board were not "party animals" as you may have heard from the past. And, particularly Alaska - I doubt there will be a lot of those.

 

As far as Alaska goes, I've heard that the shipboard naturalist onboard the Spirit is fantastic - and she can be heard spotting wildlife from all around the ship. I've heard that Glacier Bay is not to be missed - if going to Alaska.... And all of that, we were able to grab an aft wrap-around balcony suite.

 

We almost booked on the NCL Pearl, but don't like "anytime dining"; Celebrity - too sedate, Princess - owned by Carnival... So, with that - enjoy the planning and let us know what you choose!!!

[Budget Queen]

I have sailed, HAL, Princess, RCI, NCL and Carnival ALL to Alaska.

 

Frankly, there is NO comparism to any Caribbean sailing and Alaska on the same cruiseline.

 

A great deal also depends on what you want out of Alaska- if is is "Alaska", then the ship may be less important for most is outside the ship what you go to Alaska for. With that Glacier Bay is definately the winner here. I think overall, the round trip Princess itineraries are so so at best.

 

Carnival offers an excellent informative ship naturalist, that great enhances your trip- again, if you are "going" for Alaska. It is also loaded with passengers middle aged and above. Certainly no party ships in Alaska. :)

 

Of my list, RCI is near the bottom for me, my opinion only. I do like NCL very much and their freestyle fits in great with Alaska and their Glacier Bay Pearl itinerary just excellent. With their Tracy Arm itineraries, they have the exclusive add on jet boat tour, fantastic- usually. :)

 

So you may wish to make a couple lists. Consider- ports, time in ports, ship naturalist, route, glacier, price.