First Cruise to Alaska
 

Wondering if people can give their opinions to help me book a cruise.

I will be planning to do an Alaska 7 day cruise August 2008. I will be 40, my partner 44. Both of our parents (ages about 70) will be coming. My brother may come with his two children (ages 7 and 10).

So the question is... which cruiseline would you recommend and what itinerary? Roundtrip out of Seattle would probably have the lowest airfare related cost, right?

We will probably get rooms with balconies. I see NCL has "mini-suites" for a little bit more. (Wow, those carpets are colorful). Are these "mini-suites" worth the $ over the regular rooms with balconies?

I have been looking at NCL, Celebrity and Holland America but would appreciate any input.

Thanks

We did Celebrity Summit (I think that ship is not doing Alaska in 2008 but not sure). We flew into Anchorage then cruised south to Vancouver. It was an excellent cruise and we really liked Celebrity.

Hello; When we cruised Alaska we found the R/T air from Seattle to be the lowest price. NCL tends to get spotty reviews. You usually get what you pay for. We cruised on the Sapphire Princees which is a gorgeous shipand we found the Princess excursions to be very well organized. Do be aware that tours on land in Alaska can be very pricey. For scores of reviews try this site and check out the passenger reviews:
www.cruisecritic.com. There are also specific cruise line boards there as well as port info. Cheers, Larry :-)

Hello,

Please consider Princess as a cruise line option for you. Princess was among the very first to serve the Alaska cruise market and they have many inside connections.

Also, Princess has many balcony and mini-suite staterooms on their ships, which makes these staterooms much more affordable. Occasionally, it is less than $100 (it can be as low as $25-$35 per person per day) to upgrade to a balcony or mini-suite. Princess has excellent children's programs, the flexible dining program and many wonderful activities for all age groups and personalities.

Please consider a northbound or southbound cruise between Vancouver and Seward/Whittier. When you cruise round-trip from Seattle or Vancouver, you miss some very beautiful parts of Alaska that are quite different from the southeast corners. The College Fjords and Icy Strait Point are spectacular!

Best Regards,
Julia

I do prefer the one way itineraries but airfare is most always higher.

We were on HAL's Noordam R/T from Seattle which included Glacier Bay and Sitka. Overall, we prefer HAL to Celebrity and have booked the Westerdam for next summer to Alaska.

HAL has lots of experience in Alaska and we always had a prime docking space in port, unlike Princess and NCL.

I also prefer the size of HAL ships to the large Princess ships as well as the private vs. stacked balconies. We enjoy a nice breakfast in our cabin some mornings and Princess limits you to continental unless you are in a suite. Also, HALs bedding is awesome and the bathrooms very spacious. Cabin comfort is high on our list so this matters to us.

We opted to have room service on our HAL Alaska several nights to enjoy the views from our corner aft suite. The menu from the dining room is available to all cabins and HAL uses warming trays to keep the food hot. It was great to soak in a hot tub after a long day of physical activity and dine in private in our rooms sometimes watching a DVD.

We love HAL and they are our first choice.

I was also on the Summit this year - except we went north from Vancouver. We loved Celebrity (had cruised Princess and Crystal before). Celebrity has a nice traditional cruise experience if that is what you are looking for - and their service was excellent. Crystal isn't doing Alaska anymore, and our experience with Princess before wasn't great. I'm sure they are all good, but I would definitely recommend Celebrity, and I've also heard really good things about HAL....

NCL and Princess have flexible dining but I understand Holland America is introducing it on many of their ships.
This would be a plus for us.

Many people fly into Seattle and take the train or shuttle to Vancouver so don't feel you have to stick to Seattle sailings.

Wow, thanks for all the info. It seems like there are no clear answers except for me to stongly consider Princess (I just ordered their brochure).

Just wondering... is flying into Anchorage and taking the bus to the port a pain? Is that pain worth the extra amount you see? I spoke to a travel agent who recommended if I did the one way thing to start north and sail south as leaving the boat to ride to Anchorage to fly back to the East Coast is a LONG day.

I am in my 30's and Celebrity felt very stuffy to me. I really wouldn't take kids on Celebrity.

Don't limit yourself to Seattle. Airfare may be cheaper but the cruise may be more expensive out of Seattle. Look into Vancouver also. Weigh both sides (air and cruise).

I agree that Celebrity is not the best choice for people with kids. We enjoy the line because they are more traditional and formal than many of the others and because there are not a ton of families/kids on board.

HAL and Celebrity are my first choices in mass market cruising. What is stuffy to some is elegant to others. It all depends on what you are looking for.

I found Crystal "elegant". I found Celebrity "stuffy".

I really think your kids are going to be bored on Celebrity.

I would definitely look at other lines. I do like Princess but am not a fan of their routes out of Seattle.

I recommend NCL without reservation. Their Inside Passage trips seem almost designed for families. There is no assigned seating (except for the specialty restaurants: Italian, Japanese, etc), and of course the kids can gorge themselves at the buffets. They have teen-only spaces, meaning an arcade full of game machines. We did the Seattle-Ketchikan-Juneau-Skagway-Prince Rupert-Seattle route, but there are other variations.

Clint: why don't you do the eeny-meeny-miney-moe?!! :D

Just finished a cruise on Princess from Whittier (Anchorage) to Vancouver. The ship has transportation from Anchorage to Whittier if you want to use it. We just went ahead and did that, just made things easier.

I saw the Sapphire when we were in Ketchikan, it's a big ship. We were on the Pacific Priness, much smaller and I really liked it, but after we docked in Vancouver, she left for Hilo. She's sailing Hawaii for a time, then into dry dock for refurbishment, and then 120 days around the world so don't know if they'll take her back to Alaska next season.

I had never cruised before and I did like it. I'm not here with my tongue hanging out to cruise again, but given the right circumstances I would take another cruise. We had an outside balcony cabin and I wouldn't do it any other way.

Princess has a hospitality center in downtown Anchorage (so does a few of the other lines). For $55, they will get you from the Anchorage airport to the ship at Whittier. What they will do is take your luggage at the airport and send it to the ship direct. You can stop off at the hospitality center and sightsee downtown Anchorage (not much to look at) and take the bus to Whitter later, which is 1.5 to 2 hrs away with a relatively scenic drive.

Airfare from Seatle to Anchorage is less than $250 most time.

I was on the Diamond Princess this month and it was nice (Ship built in 2002). Shore excursions are expensive but that's Alaska for you. Expect $200 or more per port of call if you like outdoor adventures. You do not have to do shore excursion and go on the cheap by taking walks on your own and meet the locals.

You can also book tour on your own and can be at least 25% cheaper than the ship's excursion fee for the same stuff.
If you don't know what to book, look at the ship's excursion list before you leave and call ahead and book your own (not through the cruise line).

If you have a group of people (like 8 or more), it is cheaper to book a limo to pick you up, decide where to go, drive you around for a few hours and get you back to the ship. $500 split among 8 to 10 people is cheap.

Don't miss the Eagle and Whale watching.
If you have a small group, charter your own boat. They will pick you up and drop you off.

Personally, air tours are over-rated and can be dangerous. There has been lots of accidents.

I have had bad experience with NCL (bad service and run out of food) and some of their ships are smaller and older. It is always party time with Carnival (they call themselves the "fun ship" so be prepared to see heavy drinking and people running around in hallways). Your parents probably won't enjoy the party atmosphere.

Holland America is too tame for my taste and they are more expensive. As I am not the "stuffy" type, I felt out of place. People "dressed up" for Holland and children will have a tough time to keep busy there.

I will recommend Princess as it has enough quiet place for you and your parents, and enough activities for the kids. (They have about 10,000 sq ft of space dedicated to the children's club area on the Diamond Princess)

If you want Alaska, go either Northbound or Southbound and not just the inside passage. Try vancouver departure and sepdn a few days tehre before going on board.

One piece of advise: sometime during your cruise, it will rain. Bring a sweater and a wind breaker. If you go on a Glacier tour, the weather can change on you real quick. Dress in layers. We went whale watching on a smaller boat and within a 4 hour period, it went from sunny to rain to sunny to icy rain, hail, and then sunny again ...

Best price on souvenir is Ketchekan. And by the way, do not buy jewellery. They are flogging jewllery to the tourist all over the place. There are more places that sell gold jewellery than t-shirts. Don't fall for it. If you must buy jewellery, buy from a store that is owned by the locals.

One last piece of advise: make sure you crusie Collge Fjord and Glacier Bay. If you go to Alaska, don't miss that. The inside passahe is nothing. Don't book the 7 day round trip. Go either north bound or south bound. Princess has the most ships in the area and offer the most departure dates and choices.

Good luck!

Hi

I just returned from my cruise and Eschew hits it pretty much on the mark. On the Insude Passage the ship stops at three towns: Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Ketchikan is the largest and does offer the most. However each town offers so many jewelry shops it actually blows one's mind!! Add to that the fact that most of these jewelry shops are owned by the cruise ships themselves.

The offship excursions are pretty hefty in price. If you would like to take a float plane trip the cost is around $250 or better per person for a fairly short trip.

Glacier Bay offered some huge glaciers and a lot of green evergreens. But then most of the scenery while on the open water was of evergreens.

Was I disappointed? Yes - the cruise was definitely not what I expected as I saw very little and visited even less in these towns.

I did have a wonderful time in Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria. These three cities offer a lot and I wound up wishing I had spend a bit more time on Vancouver Island.

So that is how I viewed my Alaska cruise in September 2007. That amount of money could easily have taken me to another wonderful visit in Europe.

The highlight of this September Alaska trip were the eagle and whale excursions. It was a last minute decision (4 days to departure) to go on the crusie so we just book the excusions on the ship.

Eagle watching at Ketchekan and Whale watching at Juneau. About 4 hours each trip and well worth the money. We were up close and personal with the wild life despite poor weather. The Glaciers are something to behold dispite the fact that I have seen many Glacier as I live by the Rockies. College Fjord is awesome as is Glacier Bay. There are more than evergreen along the way, but you will have to look for it and at the right place, right time. We sat by the windows at the top deck most of the time. I got many great shots with a tele-lens. (port side on Northbound cruise and the reverse side on southbound) Buy the book "Alaska Cruise Companion" by Joe Upton ($25) if you plan to go on the Princess. Lots of helpful info.

Princess offer computer classes and photography classes on the ship. Some free, some charged. Stopped in on some of them, pretty decent stuff.

The Jewellery stores are not owned by the cruise line but they receive heavy commissions. Don't want to be a racist, but look at who works at those stores and you can figure out who owns those stores really quick. If you have been there, you will know what I mean. There are a bunch of them and they are not locals. The locals all have signs on the windows now. They are taking money from the local economy and don't spend their money locally. The things they flogged are made and imported from elsewhere, probably India. Once the season is over, they close shop and go elsewhere with the money. You might see the same faces in the Caaribbean flogging jewellery.

Its a free country Eschew. My wife is Indian and I can tell you the vast majority of Indian citizens here are well educated, hard working and PAY taxes. They have just as much a right to be here as you or I. Frankly this is a political view that smacks of labeling and stereotyping. This is a travel board. Lets leave it at that. find another forum for your political views.

You have some very valid points Eschew and I probably didn't think of it earlier. Unfortunately, DH picked up the infamous "airline scuz" and wasn't up to watching off the balcony too often.

As to the jewelry stores and ALL of the souvenir stores - there was little to be purchased that was actually made in Alaska. Many totem poles had "made in whatever foreign country" printed on the bottom. Most of the sales personnel came up from the lower 48 for the summer jobs. As to the cruise ships having a ownership in many of the stores I was given that information on more than one occasion.

In truth, I would still prefer to fly/drive somewhere and spend time with the people and learn about the culture more than I was able to on the short in-town visits from a cruise ship.

Hello Jacketwatch, You are 100% correct that this is a free country. I did not mention what ethnic background the store keepers (or owners) were. I just merely mentioned that the majority of the jewelery came from India (just like the totem poles are made in China). If you care to look closely, most inexpensive jewelery sold in North America came from India, just like most toys sold in North America are made in China.

I mentioned that the shop keepers are not local and did not support the local economy or community. I did not say the shop keepers are not well educated, not hard working and did not pay tax. You said it, I didn't.

It was not a racist remark nor it meant to be.

Most of the Alaskan souvenir baseball caps, t-shirts, wind breakers , totem poles, the Eskimos cutting knives are all made in China. Come to think of it, so are most of the American flags. Am I making a racist remark again? I am just stating the facts.

I totally disagree that air tours are overrated and dangerous. I have done several in Alaska and the views were breathtaking and among the most memorable of any excursion.

As for HAL being "stuffy" that is subjective. It is definitely traditional, elegant and folks do dress up. IMO, it is classy not stuffy and that works for me :)

Eschew: If you meant to comment about the ecomonical aspect only thats fine but you blew it by adding in the ethnic element which was unnecessary and you didn't have the guts to mention it by name but did so by implication. It was you who said to look at who is working at the stores. Those are your words and I am sure you didn't mean Martians. You meant Indians who also run many of the stores in the Caribbean.

Eschew: Tell me how are you so certain that profits made by "them" who are not as you put it "locals" are not reinvested in the US? You are certain that none of this money is used to buy US stocks, saving bonds or is not invested in some in the US economy or do all of "them" send it back to India? How do you know what "they" invest in?