which cruise line fits my group

[mdharman]

I plan to cruise summer, 2009 with my wife and inlaws (in their early 70s). Plan to do the seven day loop probably out of Vancouver rather than going all of the way to Anchorage. None of the group has ever cruised. We are not too interested in being social. I planned on booking Norwegian. I was a little disappointed when I found out we had to go out of Seattle to get Glacier Bay on the itinerary. Anyway, I went to our TA to look into pricing and get questions answered and she pushed Princess. She said the problem with NCL is the eating because they don't have the big buffets that other ships do. This means it can take a long time to eat each meal. She suggested to try to get a balcony because the deck can get crowded. She also said to get a cabin as high as possible to avoid elevator waits.

 

We kind of ruled out Carnival for fear it might be too much of a party atmosphere, Regent and Celebrity because they seem a little expensive, and Holland because it is the old-fashioned cruise experience (heavy on meeting other people on the ship and formal nights). Don't know about RCCL. Maybe some of you want to give me your opinions.

 

1 - Does eating take a long time on NCL because of lack of buffets?

2 - Are the ships so crowded that a balcony is a good idea?

3 - Do you have to wait for elevators?

4 - Which line is better for four older people that want to relax, read a book, talk, play cards, etc. We also would like to get this booked for around 4 to 6 thousand for four people. - Princess, NCL, or something else?

[Toyz711]

the NCL star has a nice buffet..a BIG buffet. haven't been on the NCL pearl, but it's newer and bigger ship then the star. there are a couple of NCL ships that have smaller buffet area...not sure about the NCL sun out of vancouver.

on the NCL star you have 2 main dining room..(same menus, just different seating arrangement). these work like restaurants at home, just walk up and tell the hostess how many in your party and they seat you.

then you have the buffet, room service and blue lagoon (24hr diner), a top-deck grill, dining by the pool (weather permitting) and a 11pm buffet (treats and snacks) in the casino..all included in your cruise fare.

after then you have a steak house, french bistro, 3 asian dining venues and a tex-mex dining, as well as a italian...these have surcharges.

the pearl and the NCL sun has different names for their dining rooms..the pearl has the same types/number of dining venues as the NCL star (just no tex-mex). the sun is a different set-up..still 2 main dining room and several included as well as surcharge dining.

on any of these ships...if you go during prime dining hours, you MAY have a wait. to be honest, the only wait i have ever had, was the lenght of time it took the seating hostess to seat the people in front of us.

the main thing, with NCL you can always have a table for just your party..whether for 2 or more. never HAVE to sit with other, unless you request it.

i did the NCL star, in '06 before the NCL pearl started sailing...loved the glacier bay route. now the star does tracy arms and the pearl does glacier bay.

[lauren0309]

I havent book yet my cruise for Alaska but I was leaning towards Carnival Spirit Vancouver Round Trip. I got the same impression too about Carnival being a party ship that is why I never cruised with them but what I have been reading, Carnival to Alaska is not a party ship. The partying people go to the Caribbean, not Alaska and people tend to be in their 40's and up.

[Budget Queen]

You definately have some inaccurate ideas here. I hate to also say, your agent is way off base and not a reference that you are getting accurate information.

 

NCL, has "buffet" space like ALL the other ships. ALL will have waits at peak dining times. Ships sail full, fact of cruising life. :) Princess shines on their one way itineraries, but lack in their roundtrip Seattles, however, if looking at the 14 day Vancouver sailings- offers plenty. :) Carnival in NO WAY is a party ship in Alaska, they offer an excellent itinerary on their few round trip Glacier Bay sailings. They have one of the best ship naturalists, and demographics of passengers is just like ALL the other lines, middle aged and above the bulk. And HAL, you are WAY off in your assessment of this line for Alaska and overall, they have the winning Vancouver round trip itineraries. A superb line that does an excellent job.

 

Head to your library and take out Alaska by Cruiseship. Is informative for first time cruisers.

 

Also do online searches of cruise discounter agents, there can be significant differences in prices. IF you have this information printed out, then you should get ball park prices from your agent.

 

No you do not wait forever for elevators, a few minutes at most. A balcony is wonderful and many people don't sail without them. BUT deck viewing is superior for access to more, only "crowded" day will be your glacier day. And even that usually isn't bad, since so many people are unprepared in their attire running back inside and many who tire of being outside and leave after a half hour. :) IF you are getting a balcony, for Glacier Bay, you need a port side, since all the commentary and "stops" are on the way in. I don't agree with the "ship turns" comments, this is a very small portion of the overall available viewing. IF you want to see the most, get outside and on an open deck.

[vbmom87]

We did a HAL one way on the Volendam and couldn't have been happier this past June. (we were a group of five, ages late 50s to early 70s).

 

Take a look at the HAL round trip out of Vancouver. They have one that goes to Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm .... these were the two highlights of our trip this past June. We did Tracy Arm independently, but getting them both on a cruise itinerary would be fabulous if you are after beautiful scenery. I do not think you will be disappointed!!!! This is a WONDERFUL itinerary.

 

I would avoid a Seattle departure from what I have read on these boards. You do not get as much beautiful scenery as you will out of Vancouver. Also, you are more likely to have some rough sea waters out of Seattle. You can have rough seas out of either port, but it is more likely out of Seattle.

 

You can opt out of the two formal nights on HAL and have a lovely dining experience in the Lido for the buffet on those two nights. If you choose As You Wish Dining, you can pick a table for your group size and just eat with each other each night. YOu can dine at differnt times depending on your schedule in ports that day. No need to worry about dining with others. You are really misinformed about HAL being big on wanting you to meet others. That is absolutely incorrect, at least for the Alaska cruises.

 

We were on the bottom deck and NEVER waited for an elevator. In fact on our 7 day cruise we NEVER waited for an elevator anywhere on the ship. They say the lower the deck and closest to the center are best for not getting sea sick. The higher you are, the more likely you will be to feel movement.

 

We did not opt for a balcony. We went out on deck for viewing and never had crowds. Our day in Glacier Bay was gorgeous, so there were a good number of people out on the bow for terrific viewing, but it was not stifling crowded at all!!! Just what you would expect on a beautiful day. I do not like crowds, but on this cruise I never felt like the ship was crowded. People were all spread out. We didn't like the idea of viewing from one side of the ship if we had a balcony. We loved moving around all day long seeing the scenery from each side. We also didn't want to pay the extra and we had no regrets for our decision.

 

My DS and DBIL love to read and they found some great spots in the library with wonderful large windows for viewing on the Volendam. From what I have read on these boards, the HAL ships are superior in viewing areas.

 

Seriously, I think you need a different agent. She is giving you some false information and I hate to think what else she will tell you that is not correct. You need some accurate information for planning a trip like this. If you do stay with her, make sure you keep reading this boards and ask for help along the way.

 

One other tidbit of advice is to fly in AT LEAST one day early. Someone this past summer posted how they missed their cruise because of plane delays and they were not able to catch up to the cruise until day 4.

 

Also consider trip insurance and get educated about pre-existing health conditions. Just because you have insurance does not mean they will take care of you if the reason you are canceling is due to someone who had a medical issue prior to you booking the trip. To cover pre-existing conditions, you usually have to book within a week or two of placing your first trip deposit. Pre-existing conditions means for you, a travel companion, or a loved one back home. Someone also posted this past year how they purchased trip insurance but did not realize it did not cover pre-existing conditions. They were taking the trip with their family and mother who had cancer. At the last minute she took very ill and they lost all their money. So be a wise consumer.

[vbmom87]

One more thing. Check the passenger capacity of the ships.

The Volendam was a 1400 passenger ship. We thought it was great. I really had not desire to be on one of the larger cruiseships. Nothing was a really far walk. We never had lines getting on and off the ship. From my readings on this board I was told it could take 15 minutes to get on and off a ship. We NEVER had to wait. We travelled in mid-June and were told our ship was sold out. I can't say enough good things about our ship and our experience. I did not fall in love with cruising as a vacation style, but it was a wonderful way to see Southeast Alaska for a reasonable price. We would do it again in a heartbeat to see what we missed the first time, if we could snag a great price. I am not willing to pay what we did the first time around for a second trip.

 

As far as prices, make sure you stay on top of price reductions. Our agent was able to get us two price drops, but this was after I called her. In general, they won't call you about it. I was alerted to one price drop by this website. The other drop, I just checked an online discounter and noticed they had a price drop, so I checked with my agent. We originally booked a specific inside cabin, but were able to get an outside cabin with a window for $300 a person less by going with a guarentee. We went with a guarentee FF category (window) and ended up with an E cabin and our cost with all taxes, fees and fuel supplements was $1000 a person. So, you should be able to stay within your budget. As I mentioned above, we also got lucky by having a lower cabin in the center. I did not expect that with a guarentee. We were thrilled!!!

 

One last thing, as already suggested by BQ, make sure you do a lot of reading of books and this forum. Learn what Alaska has to offer and then choose an itinerary that fits your interests. Most on this board say that the cruiseline itself is not that important for Alaska. I did a lot of research before I chose our itinerary and ship. All five us of us just loved the cruise. We picked a very scenic itinerary and very scenic excursions in port. We really saw a lot of the beauty of Alaska in a very short time. We felt like we got our money's worth.

 

Budget Queen has been to Alaska 20+ times. She is very knowlegable and many of us on this forum planned great trips because of her input. Do a search for her posts to get much valuable information.

[NMCRUISERS]

I wouldn't hesitate to take my parents or in-laws (all in mid-70's, healthy and mobile) on the Carnival Spirit.

There are plenty of great viewing areas both inside and out on deck to check out the scenery. The card room was a popular place for games and I saw many enjoying great reading spots thru out the ship.

Our fellow passengers (Sept 08) were polite and respectful. The ages ran the gamut from 20's and on up. There were a few children.

I actually made a comment on how fast the elevators were.

Michelle, the naturalist, was wonderful and so were the GB Park Rangers. I went to all of Michelle's nature talks.

Regarding balcony and location, depends on your budget and layout of the ship. On the Spirit, most of the rooms are located between the Public areas and outside decks. We enjoyed our balcony, but it wasn't a necessity.

[mdharman]

Thanks everyone for all of the great advice. This really helps and I appreciate you taking the time to post. I am really looking forward to this trip.

[kellywhitehills]

I havent book yet my cruise for Alaska but I was leaning towards Carnival Spirit Vancouver Round Trip. I got the same impression too about Carnival being a party ship that is why I never cruised with them but what I have been reading, Carnival to Alaska is not a party ship. The partying people go to the Caribbean, not Alaska and people tend to be in their 40's and up.

 

Definitely not a party boat..:) We did the R/T on the Spirit out of Vancouver and the ship was very quiet..

 

Kelly

[CowPrincess]

Before deciding on a ship, check to see how much port time is offered on the different itineraries. Some ships I looked at spent very little time in some of the ports. So yes, you get the same towns (for example, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan) but you may have substantially different amounts of time in each, depending on the ship. IIRC, NCL offers the shortest port times.

 

IMHO your travel agent is not a good resource for cruising, and probably doesn't know a lot about Alaska, either. I'd be concerned about relying on him/her for any important information. Seriously.

 

Which line is better for four older people that want to relax, read a book, talk, play cards, etc. We also would like to get this booked for around 4 to 6 thousand for four people. - Princess, NCL, or something else?

 

Celebrity and HAL would be the two I personally suggest you look at. Check out the HAL and Celebrity boards here and get some impressions of what people like about each.

 

We took HAL in May/08 7 day r/t from Vancouver, and never found the ship at all crowded. In Glacier Bay, everyone who wanted to be at the rail could be. There was plenty of room on deck. Lots of people viewed from their balconies, leaving plenty of room on deck for those of us who didn't have balconies :D HAL cabins are somewhat larger than most other mass market cruise lines. As for "formal night", you can if you choose to skip formal nights, get very similar food in the Lido, or through room service on HAL.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic! There are lots of amazing, helpful people here who can provide all kinds of info about each cruise line, and each destination.

 

edited to add: When I look at the Carnival site, I don't see any cruises that are r/t Vancouver, just northbound and southbound. So probably Carnival wouldn't work for you?

[Budget Queen]

 

edited to add: When I look at the Carnival site, I don't see any cruises that are r/t Vancouver, just northbound and southbound. So probably Carnival wouldn't work for you?

 

Carnival usually runs a round trip in May and 2 in Sept. all going out of Vancouver to Glacier Bay.

[CowPrincess]

Thanks Budget Queen!

[Bucky3]

Budget Queen was a BIG help to us when we planned a group cruise to Alaska two years ago for 8 couples in this age group. We decided on the Volendam, and it was just great - that size ship is perfect for Alaska. A couple of things I didn't see mentioned here that we enjoyed - you can have a delicious hot breakfast from room service, and the beds were by far the most comfortable we've ever slept in after 20+ cruises! We had a balcony cabin and really enjoyed it, but we were very lucky to have just about perfect weather in mid May. Having said all this, I should add that we really are Princess lovers! It is our line of choice, but the Volendam was perfect for this Alaska trip. Enjoy - you may become addicted to cruising like most of us here!!