We are in the very early stages of researching an Alaskan cruise for my husband's 60th birthday. We live in Los Angeles and assume leaving out of Seattle might be the best approach? I'm looking for advice on a good midsize cruise ship. We don't want anything too large. Any suggestions? I'm unfamiliar with cruises to Alaska but my husband tells me usually food is included in the price but not alcohol.is this true.

Look into Regent Seven Seas. None of their ships is particularly large.
Their cruises are moderately expensive, but meals are excellent, and good wines and premium spirits are included. The exception will be their best wines, which will be at extra charge, but will be very good indeed.
My wife and I went on our very first cruise -- to Alaska-- last year on "Navigator." Frankly, I did not expect to be particularly impressed or to enjoy cruising, but I was wrong on both counts.
We will cruise again via Regent next year, and we're looking forward to it very much. I do believe they have spoiled us for most other cruise lines, though.

Hi Clifbob,

Yes, food is included.
On most ships there are a few specialty restaurants that charge extra, but you can eat very well without that.
Alcoholic drinks, wine and cokes, etc. are not included except on very high end cruises.

About size. If you find a ship that does the ports you want (the most important thing, IMHO), don't worry about size too much. You probably won't feel anymore crowded. IMHO, layout of the ship matters more in that regard than size. I found, for example, that Crown Princess felt less crowded than some smaller ships and less crowded than other large ships.

I am sure Regent cruises are really nice, plus drinks are included. However, for me, they are very expensive, way out of my budget, so I have not taken one.

I want to tell you that Princess and some of the other cruise lines are very, very nice and, if Regent is also out of your budget, do not feel you are getting a second rate experience with other ships/cruise lines. I recently did my 4th cruise on Princess. It was lovely. Crown Princess is my all time favorite ship. It is older now, though, and service seems a bit more casual on Princess now than it was a few years ago. I prefer things a bit more formal, but we had a small child with us, so it was fine for her - and maybe why our waiter was more on the friendly side. We have also enjoyed Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and MSC, each line and each ship for different reasons.

I do not know which port is best to depart from. Regent does not depart from Seattle. Pull up some older threads for advice. Look for posts on here from Eschew (especially for excursions), Dayenu and Jacketwatch. There are other great posters, but I know these three will steer you right!

If you have not done so, explore vacationstogo.com for info about every ship, port, cruise line, price and itinerary.

Also, join cruisecritic.com. You will find reviews about ships, cabins, itineraries, ports, etc. You can join the roll call for your cruise, once you have picked one, and get just about any question answered. You can also join other cruisers doing non-ship excursions.

>>We live in Los Angeles and assume leaving out of Seattle might be the best approach?<<

Any particular reason you assume that? Sailings out of Vancouver could be as good or better - I also live in California and I sailed out of Vancouver and it was terrific.

If you are going to go with Regent seven seas, you may want to look at Silversea. They have smaller ships that carry 300 passengers and you will be pampered. You will be looking at $3500+ for a 7 day cruise but drinks is included. If you drinks a few glasses a day, it might be worth your while.

There are 3 typical itinerary for Alaska. Northbound, south bound or round trip. My personal preference is Northbound and to fully experience the beauty of Alaska, add on a land portion in Alaska after the cruise (cruise tour).

I always tell people to make sure Glacier Bay National Park is on your Alaskan cruise itinerary. That's probably the best part of scenic cruising.

I always ask the question why do you want to cruise, and what is the budget. The answers are going to dictate what you will be looking for.

Shore excursions in Alaska are by far more expensive than other destinations, and with good reasons. US operators and staff making US wages plus cost of living (and things in general) are higher in Alaska (example: $5 for a gallon of milk)

As Sass had said, do not discount the mass market ships. Service is acceptable, price is good, food is decent, and rarely you will feel crowded. Some cruise ships are better than others in the amount of public space, and in turn, create the smaller ship feel with a few thousand passengers on board.

I have been on ships as small as under 100 passengers, as well as ships that carries 300, 600, 1200, 2500, 3000, and as many as 6000. They all offer different cruising experiences. The small ships (up to 600) offers a very intimate environment where almost all the the staff you come across will know you by name after a couple of days, and I mean everybody. The service are more personal, and you get to know your fellow passengers as you will come across them everyday.

On the 1200+ passenger ships, your cabin steward and your waiter will know your name, and that's about it. You won;t get to know your fellow passengers at all as you will come across the same people occasionally. Unless you made plan to meet with people you met, or they are your dinner table mates, your likely hood of seeing them again is small.

For best value price points, the 2500-3000 passengers cruise ships are the norm and offer you the best varied cruise experience.

Good luck on your search and feel free to post more questions!

We have done both a larger ship and smaller one on the Alaska cruises from Vancouver. Both were Princess line, since then I have done other lines to different destinations but Princess is my favourite so far.
Unfortunately the smaller one we did was sold to Silversea I think, a high end cruise company anyhow. I did prefer the smaller ship but certainly enjoyed the bigger one too.

Let them know it is his birthday. My 7 girlfriends and I all celebrated our 60th and they did extras for us because of that.
The scenery is so amazing, if you can afford it I would recommend a balcony. My favourite day was the last sea day cruising by Vancouver island (where I live) and you go so slowly and can watch whales, kayakers , eagles. It was just magical. The other one was when we went into Glacier Bay. Again sitting on our balcony enjoying the view and feeling the majesty of it all, it was so quiet.

We did a couple of shore excursions from the ship and some we just did our own thing. The Alaska cruise, as mentioned above, is one of the most expensive ones.

Vancouver is probably the better departure port than Seattle.

Cruises out of Seattle have to visit a foreign port, so Alaska cruises stop in Canada. The trips out of Vancouver don't have to worry about that so they spend a little more of the cruise in Alaska, which is the whole point right?

Vancouver is also very busy with a large selection of cruise lines to choose from -- more than Seattle.

If you're sure you want a midsize ship take a look at Holland America. Their ships are midsize.

HAL and Princess are well known and are popular in Alaska. If this your time, I recommend a couple things. If you have the time and money, try a cruisetour. So much of Alaska is missed by just doing a cruise alone. Look for a cruise itinerary that includes Glacier Bay.

I live in LA and recommend avoiding Seattle. I flew Jetblue into Anchorage from LGB. Flying back from Vancouver is easy into LAX because you clear customs and immigration in Canada. Plus the rail line goes from downtown to the airport.

We also recently rented a car oneway from Downtown Vancouver (not Canada Plce but a few blocks away) for around $50 and did some touring on the way to the airport.Parking isn't cheap, though!

Hi-

We're the same demographic and took Princess to Alaska several years ago round-trip out of Seattle, and highly recommend it. Princess has been doing Alaska for a long time and is quite skilled at it. Few of the highlights:
* Seattle is an easy port to get in and out of, and the view out of the port is fabulous--all snow-capped mountains
* Princess offers trips through Glacier Bay, a one-of-a-kind experience where you cruise through a narrow channel with parts filled with chunks of ice and rimmed by mountains and get up close to a number of glaciers
* Princess has a number of great speakers to tell you what you're seeing and give interesting insights on the history and culture of Alaska
* The cruise line also does some special events, like a salmon buffet

Everything about the Alaska trip is truly wonderful--the landscape is unforgettable and the small frontier-style towns are both fun for shopping and sight-seeing.

On Princess, like other mass market ships (such as Royal Caribbean and Holland America), food is included (there's a main dining room, buffet and other small cafes) unless you go to their "specialty" restaurants, which have an extra fee. Alcohol is extra. Note that on Princess you can bring a bottle of wine a person onboard to drink in your room (if you take it out of your room, there's a corkage fee.

Hope this helped! - Musing About Cruising

Holland America and Norwegian also do Glacier Bay.

Nothing special about Princess in that regard.

People who cruise a lot seem to have their favorite lines.

I've found good and bad things about each of them.

We just had a great time on a Holland America cruise in Alaska. We flew to Anchorage and then cruised to Vancouver. We were on a mid-size ship (about 1500 passengers). We visited Glacier Bay on our cruise and I would highly recommend it. Food was included, as were some non-alcoholic drinks like juice and tea, but soda and alcohol were available for purchase. This was our first cruise and we really liked the size of our ship, but we don't really have a point of comparison since we've never done one of the larger ones.

What is included depends on the cruise line. I have only cruised on two lines, Princess and Crystal, so I cannot comment on the others. We have cruised most frequently on
Princess, which in my opinion is a "moderately priced" line, but quite satisfactory in terms of food and service. Satisfactory enough for us sail often with them. Food is included (all meals) in their buffet, main dining rooms (on the larger ships there is more than one), and the informal dining around the pool deck (pizza, burgers, ice cream, etc.). There are specialty restaurants that have a small upcharge (an Italian restaurant and a steak house). Alcohol and specialty coffee drinks are an extra charge.

We sailed once on Crystal, and it was wonderful -- more luxurious and also more inclusive. Meals included house wine. Bottled water was passed out as passengers left the ship on excursions (extra on Princess).

On both lines the tours, or shore excursions, were an extra charge. You had many options, and could also do exploring on your own.

We liked the idea of sailing to Alaska "one-way". We started in Vancouver, which I recommend, and got a portside cabin that allows you to see the coastline all the way up to your disembarkation point. We recommend you not get a cabin at the back of the ship, because of the engine vibration that is both noisy and annoying, especially at night. We ended in Anchorage, then added on a land tour that took us on Princess' glass topped train up to Denali for two days, the made our way back to Anchorage by bus with another overnight stay in another part of Denali.

I think you see more with a one-way itinerary, but you will need to see which itineraries suit you.

Hey C,

>We live in Los Angeles and assume leaving out of Seattle might be the best approach?

I prefer Vancouver, CA. You get to go up the inland passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

>a good midsize cruise ship.

Pacific Princess, Azamara cruise club, HAL Prinsendam, Oceania Cruises,

Oceania Riviera and Marina, HAL Oosterdam, Rotterdam and the other Dams.

>... usually food is included in the price but not alcohol

Depends on who you go with, or with whom you are going.
Some TAs will give you a beverage package for free.

Enjoy your planning.

Norwegian is better than it used to be...and there excellent main dining room service makes up for the food quality in the buffet.