Alaska

[Frannie9210]

:confused: Anybody cruised to Alaska on Princess? What ship would you suggest for the month of July 2008.

[kiwigirl]

:confused: Anybody cruised to Alaska on Princess? What ship would you suggest for the month of July 2008.

 

I would be interested also. We're looking at the end of July for our 10 year anniversary. There are 6 ships in the area at that time. 2 do the Inside passage which includes Tracy Arm Fjord, the other 4 do the Voyage of the Glaciers which include Glacier Bay and College Fjord.

 

I'm leaning towards one of the Voyage cruises since I believe we did the Inside on our first trip. The 4 ships are Coral, Diamond, Island and Sapphire.

 

Someone from our last roll call did the Diamond this year and enjoyed it. She's also been on the Coral and Island and said that those are her favorite ships so far.

 

I would be interested to hear any pros v. cons between the different ships.

[newbie2468]

We sailed on the Sapphire Princess this year in July and loved it... just the right size...

 

Extremely friendly staff.. but then I have only been on two cruises and both Princess (and going on another) so I am a cheerleader... But I did find the Alaskan cruise more friendly.. perhaps because we are on the ship for two days at sea in the beginning and got to know people.. :)

[jean s]

We've sailed on a number of Princess ships and our all time favorite was Coral Princess to Alaska. The size of the ship, the staff, and the entertainment were all great.

[8 Bells]

We are on the Coral Princess northbound on the Voyage of the Glaciers at the end of May. I booked this because of the itinerary, and all the good posts about Coral.

[LoriPhil]

On the advice of well cruised friends we took the Coral last July, and am now forever spoiled. She is a perfect size, not too crowded, and well maintained with a cheerful crew. One great thing about the Coral Northbound (at least last year) was that she was the only major criuise ship in Skagway, which was great fun! Don't know about this year's schedule though, since so many lines seem to be adding ships to the Alaska intenary.

[ggprincess2004]

I would choose an itinerary with Glacier Bay, and having been on Coral, Island and Sapphire, in a warm weather route it would be Coral or Island hands down, on general principles Coral is our favorite, but Sapphire with it's four anytime dining rooms and other great features was also a great choice for us earlier this year for our Alaska cruise. Honestly, I don't think you could go wrong with any of the four ships, but Coral would be tops for me.

[anneinca]

We sail on the Dawn Princess out of San Francisco in nine days!!! Can't wait. I will post after we get back.

 

anne

[UT-Volsfan]

Any sailing that includes Glacier Bay is the way to go!

 

As for the ship, I'd go one of the smaller ships. We did the Dawn in 2002 and the Diamond out of Seattle in 2004, and we enjoyed the Dawn much better for the Alaskan cruise. We never felt crowded on the Dawn but it was big enough until we always had plenty to do!

 

One suggestion, once you book your cruise go ahead and decide if there are any places you might want to get a rental car. If you want one, check online for the rental agencies in that port. Most of the smaller Alaskan ports only have one or two rental agencies - so the cars are booked quickly. On our Diamond cruise, there must have been 30 people in front of us at the rental desk in town getting told there were no cars available - we got a lot of nasty looks from people when we presented our reservation number and they pulled our SUV around to the front door so we could drive up to the Yukon for the day.

[bdwyer]

If you are planning to bring kids, I'd definitely go with either Sapphire or Diamond - they have more of a kids area and are larger so attract more families. If you're not with kids, any of the 4 will be great - Sapphire, Diamond, Coral or Island.

[Nancyquilts]

We're on the Dawn now. We're going to Tracy Arm, but that isn't my favorite, it just worked out time-wise. I'd go for Hubbard Glacier or Glacier Bay. Any ship should be fine. Nancy

[kiwigirl]

Thanks for all the great feedback. So far it seems that the Coral is quite the favorite.

BDWYER - Thanks for the tip about the kids are for the Sapphire/Diamond. That narrowed it down for me to the Coral and the Island. Makes it easier to do my research now that I'm down to 2 ships.

I'm also thinking we'll do Northbound so that we can spend more time in Alaska after the cruise. We can get to Vancouver any time of year but Alaska is obviously more limited.

[dantesab]

My wife and I are sailing on the star princess out of Seattle for a 7 day cruise on June 1st 08. Star has never sailed Alaska before I do not think so should be fun I hope.

[gg3]

:confused: Anybody cruised to Alaska on Princess? What ship would you suggest for the month of July 2008.

 

Frannie - you will love Alaska......just an awesome experience. We have cruised there three times......Holland Zaandam out of Vancouver in Sept. Diamond Princess out of Seattle in July and Holland Zuiderdam out of Vancouver in July of this year. I would first pick my itinerary and decide what ports you want to go to and if you are doing a land tour as well. Then decide what fits those ports, roundtrip Seattle or Vancouver, or Northbound, Southbound. July is a great time because the bears are active.....whales are always active during cruise season. We love to sail out of Vancouver because we like the logistics of sailing the true Inside Passage to the East side of Vancouver Island. Look at your map and note that when you sail from Seattle, you are going on the West side of Vancouver Island and that is the Pacific Ocean.......and can be rough at times, but more than that your view on port side is all water. Out of Vancouver your views are just breathtaking. Of course, after a day and a half, it all is the same scenery. I would rec. taking the smallest ship possible: quicker getting off and on due to fewer folks, esp. if you tender, but more importantly, often.....the smaller the ship, the closer to scenery and wildlife they can come.......esp. in the glacier areas. Princess and Holland America are both outstanding lines. Many folks find that flying into Van is more expensive, so they fly into Seattle, and rent a car, shuttle, or take the AmTrak into Vancouver. We use miles, so we fly in. Just do a lot of research on the boards, esp. the Alaska board for great advice and tips. gg

[Plant]

We sail on the Dawn Princess out of San Francisco in nine days!!! Can't wait. I will post after we get back.

 

anne

 

Anne, we'll be doing this cruise next year. Please come back and tell us all about it :) !

[Daycare Provider]

We will be visiting Alaska 08/08....I didn't read anybody comment abou the Golden...is this a bad sign?????? We chose to sail out of Seattle because of our flights. The price is 147.00 pp Rt verses 650.00 pp doing a Northbound out of vancouver.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I agree with GG about deciding which itinerary you want to do, and then see which ship goes on it. We wanted to do the RT out of Seattle because we weren't interested in a cruisetour and didn't want to spend a lot on airfare (one way into Anchorage and the other into Vancouver is more expensive than most flights into Seattle). So that eliminated many cruiselines. We were between Princess and HAL. As the Diamond and Sapphire were new the summer we were going, we narrowed the ships down to those two.

[Frannie9210]

:D I thank you all for you tips and suggestions. Keep them comming I will be booking soon for July.

[lightladymel]

We took the Golden and had a great time. The roundtrip from Seattle was the only one that worked into our timeframe. It was just right for us on this trip, our first to Alaska, but if I get to do it again I will try for a one-way and land excursion. While it is a large ship, we didn't ever feel crowded and didn't feel the huge crowds. We saw one of the smaller Princess ships coming out of Tracy Arm as we were going in and they all seemed packed like sardines on the deck, we were much more spread out.

[wam68]

We will be visiting Alaska 08/08....I didn't read anybody comment abou the Golden...is this a bad sign?????? We chose to sail out of Seattle because of our flights. The price is 147.00 pp Rt verses 650.00 pp doing a Northbound out of vancouver.

 

We were on the Golden in mid August of this year. We'd never been to Alaska before so can't comment on Glacier Bay or other sights farther north. Tracy Arm was absolutely spectacular and we enjoyed Juneau, Skagway, Ketchican and Victoria as well.

[katefur]

We just returned from Alaska. The Coral Princess was great...good staff and entertainment. We had a mini-suite and the balcony was huge with 4 chairs and a table. It also had 2 TVs, refrigerator, plenty of storage and a full size bathroom with a tub. On the port side we saw so many things (orcas, humpbacks, eagles, glaciers) that we didn't really have to leave the cabin! The naturalist narrated on the TV so that you knew when animals/ sights were there for viewing. The laundry was right down the hall and convenient to use for clean clothes before repacking. We also carried on alcohol, water and diet drinks so that we could stock the frig ourselves and not pay for the cruise supplied drinks. I would recommend a covered balcony in any case because of the iffy Alaskan weather. Several years ago we were on NCL and the cabins weren't as nice.

[olegna]

We just returned from Alaska. The Coral Princess was great...good staff and entertainment. We had a mini-suite and the balcony was huge with 4 chairs and a table. It also had 2 TVs, refrigerator, plenty of storage and a full size bathroom with a tub. On the port side we saw so many things (orcas, humpbacks, eagles, glaciers) that we didn't really have to leave the cabin! The naturalist narrated on the TV so that you knew when animals/ sights were there for viewing. The laundry was right down the hall and convenient to use for clean clothes before repacking. We also carried on alcohol, water and diet drinks so that we could stock the frig ourselves and not pay for the cruise supplied drinks. I would recommend a covered balcony in any case because of the iffy Alaskan weather. Several years ago we were on NCL and the cabins weren't as nice.

 

 

We did the Island Princess in May.

Previously there 20 years ago with HAL.

Had a terrific time both times.

Will have to get back again real soon.

Here are some photos....

http://www.milioto.com/alaska2007/Alaska_flashpoint_bg_FlashPoint/Output/index.htm

Give it a second or two to start....

Angelo and Clare

[Brennivan]

Fabulous photos. Thanks for sharing!