Which ship to take to Alaska?

[trip111]

What is the best cruiseline/ship to take to Alaska?

[Host Caroline]

That is really a loaded question[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] There are so many and it depends on whether you just have the time (or budget) to take a cruise, want to cruise and do a cruise line tour (many prefer for convenience if cost isn't a factor), take a cruise and tour independently, or go on a small ship vs. a large cruise line.
If you are looking for "up close and personal" small ship experience, [url="http://www.cruisewest.com"]Cruise West[/url] is excellent and they have a variety of itineraries. Of the major cruise lines IMHO Princess and Holland America are by far the best for cruises and tours.. they have been there the longest, have excellent onboard programs and a wide range of itineraries -- everything from 10-day roundtrip San Francisco sailings on Princess to short cruisers (3-4) nights on Holland America that combine with more in-depth touring to the Yukon and Alaska's interior. If you are just cruising, the roundtrip cruises from Seattle and Vancouver are really excllent. Several of the more upscale lines -- Crystal and Radisson-- sail Alaska each year also.
You really need to decide on big ship v. small etc. and then narrow down your choices based on your own interests, budget and length of vacation.

Host Caroline
<font SIZE="1">[B]Join me on the beautiful Diamond Princess in July 2005 for Cruise Critic's Awesome Alaskan Adventure --You'll have a whale of a good time![/B] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Sept 04-Royal Hounds Mariner of the Seas
Feb 05-Partae Pirates Carnival Miracle
One can [I]never[/I] have too many days at sea..</font>

[trip111]

Caroline,
Can you give me the pros and cons between Princess and HAL? We would most likely like to do a cruise tour first and then cruise. We are in our mid 40's and thinking of taking our two kids with us that our 12 & 16. Which cruiseline has the better cruise tours or are they too simular to compare?

[Mezzaluna]

Make sure the ship is not so large that it can't sail all the way into Glacier Bay. My husband took this cruise some years ago before we were married, and we are going this summer together. That was the biggest consideration in our choice of ship. We chose Coral Princess.

Stella Solaris '80
Carnival Celebration '92
RCCL Majesty of the Seas '01
Coral Princess '04

[mscloyd]

We also chose the Coral Princess, but because it had the most reasonably priced mini-suites with balcony of all the ships (at least from what I found). Probably because the Coral and Island have a higher percentage of mini-suites than most ships. Found out later that only a small number of ships cruise glacier bay so we got lucky! We also chose a one-way so we could do some interior touring.

[Budget Queen]

I give an edge to HAL for the Seward port over Whittier. There is just so much more to do in Seward. With kids RETHINK going on a cruisetour- extremely costly for what you get and very very few if any kids on the tours. It may not be the best touring option being on long buses, trains etc. If you do go on a tour- go for as long as you can afford- shorter tours have too much time in transit compared to the destination. The other option that is ideal for families is a RV rental or rental car and B&B's/lodges. You plan your stops and see all the "small" Alaska gems along the way. No fixed schedule, choice of dining, more money for tours. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] Consider looking at a toursaver book- can offer significant savings. Plenty of posters on this board planned their independent trips from scratch with excellent results. Head to your library and take out Alaska travel books. The more you know, the better your choices will be for YOU. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[trip111]

Thanks Queen for that info on cruisetours with kids. In general are the cruises to Alaska more adult or are their several children on board? We were on the Queen Mary 2 in March and virtually no children were on board. Glad we went by ourselves that time.

[Wan]

If you book your cruise during summer vacation time your kids will have plenty of company!

[ruvidu]

For those who say they are choosing Princess "Good Luck". We just returned from 12 days with them and they ranked very low with us.
The Fairbanks Princess Hotel was nice and the tours touristy but fun.
The train ride to the Denali Princess was excellent.
The Denali Princess Hotel was not completed when we arrived. Everyone who got off of the train had to sit in public areas while waiting over 2 hours for clean rooms. Food prices were outragous ($7.00 chicken salad sandwich). The water was terrible thus the coffe and tea were terrible. There was no AC and no coffee in the rooms. We bought some items at the store there and asked for them to be shipped which they charge a handling fee to do. It took 2 1/2 weeks to get these items. Everything else we shipped along the way was at our home when we arrived.
Train to McKinley Princess was great as was the bus ride to the hotel. The buildings here had just been finsihed and the vending machines were not stocked. There were no washers and dryers in the wash rooms. No coffe makers in the rooms here either. They did at least have ceiling fans for ventilation. The morning we left to go to the ship they had one little coffe bar opened and we stood in line for a half hour to get a cup of coffe and a muffin.
Embarkation at Whittier was a joke. We had all preregistered at the hotel the night before but nobody knew anything about it at the terminal. They made us do it again.
Service in the dinning room was a joke. Once our server found that all 8 people did not drink wine he preety much turned his back on us. The food was mediocre at best.

The Good Things,
The rooms were clean and our room steward was great.
Disembarkation was very smooth.

We will go back to Alaska but Princess will not have any part in it. Between the two couples in our group we gave Princess over $13,000 and they did not earn anywhere near that amount.

SC Traveler
May 11-22-2004 Princess Land and Sea Tour

[mpk]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ruvidu:
Service in the dinning room was a joke. Once our server found that all 8 people did not drink wine he preety much turned his back on us.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That is a strange server. I wonder what was his motivation.

I can understand how that might happen in a snobby restaurant where they are trying to pad the the bill to get bigger tips... But on a cruise? Their tips are not tied to wine or the bill??

[schoolmarm]

We once took a galley tour on Carnival. Someone forgot to remove a large sign that was right by where I was standing. I was able to read it in detail. The servers were offered incentives to sell certain bottles of beverages. If they sold a certain number of these bottles they got paid more or received a day off. This certainly changed my practice of asking the waiter what he recommended! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img] But..if he was a great waiter I bought his recommendation to help him out! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Bruin Steve]

I always find it interesting how some people swear by Princess (and have probably never cruised with anyone else)...

Frankly, I am not a Princess fan...My one cruise with them was a major disappointment...

I prefer Celebrity, which, in my mind, is just a superior cruise line all the way around...

The selling points I always hear people throw out with Princess are:
1) They've been doing it longer than everyone else. That doesn't mean they do it BETTER. If that were the case, I'd be driving a Chevrolet, drinking Sarsparilla and brushing my teeth with Pepsodent...
2) They own their own hotels. What difference does this make? Are they any NICER than the hotels other lines put you into?
3) They go into Glacier Bay and the other lines don't. Okay, this is the only one that bears some validity. If it is important to you to see Glacier Bay, you may want to consider this. What Celebrity gives you instead is a fourth port of call...and you can book a plane or helicopter excursion to show you Glacier Bay while you're in Hoonah...

Look, in my book, you can have a fantastic Alaska cruise or cruisetour experience on ANY cruiseline...A 7 night cruise is the same length of time on any ship...Pay attention to two things:
1) The itinerary. Are you seeing things you want to see? The ship itineraries are actually all fairly similar. Some give you 3 port stops, others four. Some float you into Glacier Bay, some don't. The Land Tour portions differ considerably--but all of the lines give a myriad of options that vary from 2 to 7 days. Do you want to see a lot? Or do you only have the time or budget for a little?

2) The ship and the line. Face it, the cruise lines are all more similar than different. But the differences are there. If you like a specific line, take it. You'll be okay. Remember, HAL caters to an older crowd, Carnival a younger one...Alaska still gets a larger share of older cruisers, so HAL...and Princess, to a large extent, will get more than their share of these...But, most importantly, since you will be spending a lot of your time on the ship, pick a ship you like...one with the layout and amenities you like...

But, overall, remember, whatever is the "best" ship for someone else isn't necessarily the "best" for you...

Just my opinion...

Summit, July 3, 2004: Alaska: 13 night cruisetour
Constellation, July 16, 2005: Northern Europe: 14 nights

[Jolimont]

Depends on your age. Under 50 I'd say avoid Princess. I was just on the Diamond Princess and things did not go well (see Diamond Dissapointment thread on the Princess board.) I didn't see much of Alaska so I'll probably go again, but this time it'll either be Carnival or Royal Carribean.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=8b0000&cdt=2004;5;22;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Diamond Princess HERE WE COME! Alaska has never been so cool! 5/22/04
May 31, 2003 Carnival Triumph to Western Caribbean.

[Bruin Steve]

Wow, Jolimont...
What a nightmare...and what a thread!!!
I think the reaction from a lot of the Princess faithful is expected...
And they are right in some respects: Princess did not DIRECTLY cause the flu...Quarantine MAY be the proper thing to do to keep it from spreading further...and winds might make it difficult to attempt a docking...

But they miss the more important issue: Those things of which Princess IS in control...and how they handle them...

After embarking on several Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises of late, it amazes me just how FAST they process people and get them on the ship...We're talking virtually IMMEDIATELY...How the Princess process is so difficult is beyond me...

As to Princess' public relations and customer service side, we also found it extremely lacking...When we sailed on the Crown Princess (Baltic-Aug 2001), we had heard that the immediately preceding couple of sailings had delays due to some engine problems...because of the slowness of the ship, they actually left port earlier than scheduled and arrived later...We knew this well thanks to THESE boards...it had been written about considerably...Yet, we received NO advance notice of any change in our itinerary...Luckily, we arrived at the ship EARLY in Copenhagen...because they LEFT PORT several hours ahead of the scheduled time...When I asked, they said they had notified everyone as soon as they could once they knew the change in the schedule...When was this? They claimed this was a day or two before the sailing...EXCUSE ME? We were flying in from Los Angeles...Even if we didn't plan on spending 3 nights pre-cruise in Copenhagen, we still needed to leave home at least two days before to make the ship half way around the world...no way they could reach us at home the day before the sailing...Good thing we didn't book a late flight in...

But, when I asked about engine trouble forcing the schedule changes, EVERY crew member at the pursers' desk flat out denied it...despite the fact that it seemed to be public knowledge among those on recent sailings... and amongst the waiters and bartenders we talked to!!!

The ship pulled into St. Petersburg two hours late (allegedly due to a labor strike in the port) causing all of the shore excursions to be shortened and otherwise messed up...We had two half day excursions, timed to return to the ship, eat lunch and then go out on the next one...Rather than arrange something like a drop-off in town to save time, they merely shortened our excursions and returned us to the ship with no time for lunch...just time to run to the next one (which turned out to be leaving a half an hour earlier than was announced that morning)...We asked (when we thought we had a half hour gap) if something could have been done in the way of providing sack lunches for those of us in this situation to take on the bus, the answer was "NO"...and when the afternoon excursion came back, we had a half an hour for "dinner" before the nighttime Ballet excursion...

Meanwhile, all the Princess folks did was create confusion, refuse to hear complaints or requests and claim NOTHING WAS THEIR FAULT OR PROBLEM...

Eventually, after enough complaints that we were shortchanged on the shortened excursions (like a 4 hour city tour in 2 hours!--they claimed we saw everything we would have seen on the 4 hour version--Yeah, from a bus window at 65 mph!), they finally gave everyone booked on the tours a whopping EIGHT DOLLAR CREDIT!!

Friends, it's not a matter of things out of their control going wrong...it's a question of how they handle it...Princess just handles things...and customer relations...POORLY...

So, Jolimont, I really empathize with you...

By the way, I'm with you on that "average age of 70" thing...On our Princess cruise, we would have gladly taken an average age of 70...On ours, it was closer to 85...If it weren't for the 20 kids on board (we know because my daughters COUNTED) out of 2300 passengers, that average age would have been more like 90 (the age of the comedian in the substandard Princess "entertainment")...

Summit, July 3, 2004: Alaska: 13 night cruisetour
Constellation, July 16, 2005: Northern Europe: 14 nights

[This message was edited by Bruin Steve on 06-02-04 at 06:24 PM.]

[Host Caroline]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by trip111:
Caroline,
Can you give me the pros and cons between Princess and HAL? We would most likely like to do a cruise tour first and then cruise. We are in our mid 40's and thinking of taking our two kids with us that our 12 & 16. Which cruiseline has the better cruise tours or are they too simular to compare?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Holland America has several tours to the Yukon that combine with a short cruise that are a lot of driving time-- would not recommend that. Otherwise,t the tours between Princess vs. HAL really aren't that different. I would give the edge to Princess over HAL with teens onboard although HAL does have teen shore tours etc. I would also give some consideration to the Carnival Spirit with teenagers -- ship is lovely and Carnival does appeal to families so you might find more there. Becuase Princess is part of Carnival Corp. their tours are very similar to Princess. A neighbor's daughter worked in Alaska last year for Princess/HAL/Carnival interchangeably on the "tour" end of things between Denali, Fairbanks, etc. and said there were more families on Princess and Carnival.

I'm not going to get into the Princess "debate" on the thread..in over 35 cruises I've had a less than expected experience for variety of reasons ranging from things beyond the cruise line's control (weather, cruise cancelled at homeport for mechanical reasons etc) to just a "bad day at the office" so to speak onboard with Princess, Celebrity, RCI and Carnival, none bad enough to deter me from sailing again on any of them! Many people have their favorites -- which is a good thing but it's "their" favorite and it doesn't have to be yours!

The ages your children are they will be fine on a cruisetour - as long as you and they understand that there are travel times that teens may find boring (they need their CD's etc along!) - but they'd probably be bored riding in a van you rented if they aren't "travelers." If you do a cruisetour, do one that has more train than motorcoach time (you can email me if you have a hard time finding them in the brochures and I'll be glad to give you tour numbers - [email]carocruiser@aol.com[/email]). If your kids are at all "outdoor types" and you guys really enjoy family vacations, there are a lot of things to do that you can participate in together, or even split up to do. If you don't want to take the time to map the thing out yourself and cost isn't a major factor, many people find the cruise tours simply more convenient. If you do decide to go independently, you have plenty of time to map your route! And the scenery's great no matter how you choose-- you just can't stop for that gerat photo op on the train[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Re the Princess lodges -- they were being refurbished -- an unfortunate thing that all was not finished for these very early tours but that would not happen next year so I wouldn't rule them out the reasons posted above.

Host Caroline
<font SIZE="1">[B]Join me on the beautiful Diamond Princess in July 2005 for Cruise Critic's Awesome Alaskan Adventure --You'll have a whale of a good time![/B] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Sept 04-Royal Hounds Mariner of the Seas
Feb 05-Partae Pirates Carnival Miracle
One can [I]never[/I] have too many days at sea..</font>

[mscloyd]

This is somewhat disturbing to hear since we are taking our first cruise on Princess, but since this a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us I'm going with the attitude that I WILL have a great trip - no matter what! Stuff happens and it won't be perfect but most things are only minor inconveniences. I can't change some things but I can change my attitude!

[ruvidu]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I can't change some things but I can change my attitude! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I had a great attitude until Princess personel started messing with it. If this is your first cruise you will have nothing to compare it to so you may be happy.
We would not take anything for what we saw but we wish someone else had shown it to us.
Russ

SC Traveler
May 11-22-2004 Princess Land and Sea Tour

[Budget Queen]

My few kids reference, was to the land tour only. My opinion only- what few kids there have been on my Alaska rail trips were extremely bored on the train. Few kids are going to be interested in scenery for the 8 hour ride Denali Park to Anchorage. I still suggest - to also look at independent options- that way everyone can get in on the planning- get a copy of THE MILEPOST and list the attraction on the way along your route- plenty of gems along the way that are very enjoyable. AND $13,000 for 4 people YIKES!!!! You definately have good reason for your expectation to be fulfilled.

[ruvidu]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>AND $13,000 for 4 people YIKES!!!! You definately have good reason for your expectation to be fulfilled.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes, the trip including airfare from SC and insurance was around $6300 per couple. We are all easy to please type people and normally stay at Hampton Inns when traveling. To us Princess can't hold a candle to Hampton Inn. They just charge more.
I agree about the kids on the train. While we enjoyed it I can't imagine asking a child under the age of 18 to sit there and look that long.
Well, I am heading out the door for our next vacation. A week on our favorite remote SC island. No hotels, no fast food - just great people. See y'all next week.
Russ

SC Traveler
May 11-22-2004 Princess Land and Sea Tour

[Poohb]

Although I haven't cruised yet (our first one is in July), I'd like to add my 2 cents. We wanted to book with Cruise West for the up-close/personal and no formal dress but then found out that there was no smoking in your own rooms. It was only allowed outside/one side of ship. I don't smoke but DH does and I wanted him to be happy too. We cancelled with CruiseWest (their loss) and booked Celebrity.
Kathy

[Genessa]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ruvidu:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I can't change some things but I can change my attitude! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I had a great attitude until Princess personel started messing with it. If this is your first cruise you will have nothing to compare it to so you may be happy.
We would not take anything for what we saw but we wish someone else had shown it to us.
Russ

SC Traveler
May 11-22-2004 Princess Land and Sea Tour<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Russ,

we did a similar tour to you last year, land then Coral. We weren't on one of the first trips out (July 5 was our start off date), but the issues with no air conditioners, no coffee makers in the rooms, expensive food (and one you didn't add - unable to get into the restaurant at MtMcKinley unless we wanted dinner at 10 PM) I did mention in my long, long review last year.

The coffee bothered me because it was such a long walk to the main lobbies. The air conditioners bothered us because it was quite warm when we were inland - high 80's. Luckily it cooled off at night.
The only way we ventilated the room in Denali was turning on the bathroom ventilation fan, propping the front door open and sitting there, and then the construction that was going on about 300 yards from our room filtered in.

However, from what I've seen and heard and spoken to others about, most of the other hotels in interior Alaska are about the same. A bed and breakfast would have had coffee and food, but not likely to have ac. Even the Captain Cook, which was one beautiful hotel, had no ac.

We did what we could, gave verbal complaints to the front desks and mailed long, detailed ones on the "what did you think" forms.

We also didn't let these problems bother us too much. We've done a lot of land travelling from camping to 4 star hotels and try to be pleased by the pleasantly unexpected (like the Best Western room with ac, coffee maker, continental breakfast, gift pack of camera, granola bars, candies, for $39.99 - for 3).

Agnes

[dperry]

I was on the infamous 5/22 Diamond princess tour. I would advise avoiding this ship in Alaska, I think it's simply too large for glacier viewing. We never made it to the end of the Tracy Arms fjord, we had to turn around. The week before they turned around, too. I waiting to hear if this week's cruise turned around also. It is a beautiful ship with georgeous cabins, but it's too big for this intinerary, in my opinion

[Budget Queen]

I too find the ships getting a little too large for Alaska, I greatly miss the days of 40,000 gt being the norm. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I sailed the Sun when it was the largest ship sailing Alaska- now it's one of the smallest. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] Choose carefully, HAL may now have the edge with ship size for me. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[natesfirewife]

For the Inside Passage (R/T) I would recommend the Radiance Class ships by Royal Caribbean. We took the Radiance and she was a beautiful ship. In fact we liked her so much that we booked the Serenade for August 7th, 2005 and are starting a CC Group Cruise for our sailing. There is so much to do in Alaska and it's hard to pick from all the tours that are offered. Make sure that when you pick your ship you see how much time is spent in each port. If you are interested in joining us feel free to email me, [email]natesfirewife@yahoo.com[/email] (put Alaska in the message box) and I will get you all the info. We are in the process of getting our group pricing and hope to have it posted soon on our group page.

Misty


Roll Call for the Grandeur 12/18/04. Come join us in New Orleans for the Christmas Season!! [url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=1683059817&m=389105961&r=699105961#699105961"]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=1683059817&m=389105961&r=699105961#699105961[/url]
Serenade of the Seas / Alaska / 08-07-05
Grandeur of the Seas / W. Caribbean / 12-18-04
Vision of the Seas / Mexico / 04-04-04
Radiance of the Seas /Alaska /07-05-03

[Thoth]

From what I understand all the big name large ship lines are good. Much depends on your taste or dress code. I love Holland America, but I do have to dress up at times. Also I like assigned seating.However I am not a party animal.
My advice to first timer cruisers is look at price and itinerary first and formost if comparing Carnival, Holland America, Celebrity, Princess, Norwegian, or Royal Caribbean.