If not Disney then which Alaskan Cruise ship/line?

[Guest]

Ignore the dodgy maths in my previous post should be about £7.1k due to poor current exchange rate.

[Loopylooloo]

Originally Posted by Hyper_Stitch

Although we've not yet sailed Alaska we're booked with DCL for next year.

I'm currently having the very personal is it worth is debate.

As a family of 5 including teenage girls we need 2 staterooms, roughly speaking for a Balcony and Inside on DCL for the 5 of us it's around £8.5k at today's exchange rate, that was silver opening day including OBB discount etc.

I've been speaking with some of my travel agent friends and reviewing our options. The choices are NCL, RCC, Holland America, Princess and Celebrity. Ideally we wanted to sail Vancouver - Vancouver as we're visiting friends also, which I think brought us down to Celebrity for end of August.

Booking now we can do Celebrity 2 cabins 1 Oceanview 1 Balcony including drinks package for £5.5k. Saving £3k so that would be our flights. However my youngest dd is so fixated on doing DCL I am torn.

I have several friends who've done Alaska Princess, Celebrity and DCL. Whilst those who did DCL loved it they said they wouldn't do Alaska again with them as they didn't use the ship so much. Princess and Celebrity people have said are both great, Princess food apparently was fab and Celebrity they described as more 'hip' whatever that means.

I still haven't made my mind up

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Hi, hope I can help here, I work in cruising and blog about it too.
We have sailed Celebrity, their bigger ships (Solstice etc) are fabulous, modern, great food etc. We love them. But, for Alaska, I am told that Princess are the specialists in the area, they have dedicated trains when you need a land tour, and they have priority on everything, its kind of their turf so to speak. I have not sailed Princess yet though so cannot compare ships. Look at the routes too, see which offer the best itinerary.

[Pootle]

I've sailed with Disney and Celebrity three times each, Princess twice and Royal Caribbean once, and for Alaska, I would definitely choose Princess, which is how we did it.

They, along with Holland America (both owned by Carnival these days) are the ones with a long history in the area and have purpose-built lodges in Denali national park along with railway coaches in their own livery on the Alaskan railroad. If you are splashing out to go all that way, I do urge you to do the inland tour too, to get a full picture of that incredible state. My understanding is that these two companies also fund some of the research and conservation work and this may be reflected by the speakers/rangers who come on board.

We sailed on the Grand Princess and had a cabin in an incredible location - aft corner, which gave us amazing views from a large balcony. If I were sailing the Med, or the Caribbean, it would not be my first choice of ship, but for that cruise, above all the others I have done, was definitely about the destination so the ship was just fine.

I currently have cruises booked with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess (over 2 years!). Next week I'll be on the Disney Magic's TA, so I definitely 'sleep around' when it comes to cruising but I think for Alaska, Princess is the way to go.

[dee slack]

Originally Posted by Pootle

I've sailed with Disney and Celebrity three times each, Princess twice and Royal Caribbean once, and for Alaska, I would definitely choose Princess, which is how we did it.

They, along with Holland America (both owned by Carnival these days) are the ones with a long history in the area and have purpose-built lodges in Denali national park along with railway coaches in their own livery on the Alaskan railroad. If you are splashing out to go all that way, I do urge you to do the inland tour too, to get a full picture of that incredible state. My understanding is that these two companies also fund some of the research and conservation work and this may be reflected by the speakers/rangers who come on board.

We sailed on the Grand Princess and had a cabin in an incredible location - aft corner, which gave us amazing views from a large balcony. If I were sailing the Med, or the Caribbean, it would not be my first choice of ship, but for that cruise, above all the others I have done, was definitely about the destination so the ship was just fine.

I currently have cruises booked with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess (over 2 years!). Next week I'll be on the Disney Magic's TA, so I definitely 'sleep around' when it comes to cruising but I think for Alaska, Princess is the way to go.

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you're very similar to us - not loyal to any one line, and tried as above but also Cunard, Fred Olsen and Star Clippers. DH has Alaska on his list for his next choice (making him wait until 2018 as next year I'm 50 so get to choose both trips )
He did quite a lot of research and concluded the exact same thing that HAL and Princess are the best lines for Alaska and we'll be adding a land package as well to make the most of everything.

[Loopylooloo]

Originally Posted by Pootle

I've sailed with Disney and Celebrity three times each, Princess twice and Royal Caribbean once, and for Alaska, I would definitely choose Princess, which is how we did it.

They, along with Holland America (both owned by Carnival these days) are the ones with a long history in the area and have purpose-built lodges in Denali national park along with railway coaches in their own livery on the Alaskan railroad. If you are splashing out to go all that way, I do urge you to do the inland tour too, to get a full picture of that incredible state. My understanding is that these two companies also fund some of the research and conservation work and this may be reflected by the speakers/rangers who come on board.

We sailed on the Grand Princess and had a cabin in an incredible location - aft corner, which gave us amazing views from a large balcony. If I were sailing the Med, or the Caribbean, it would not be my first choice of ship, but for that cruise, above all the others I have done, was definitely about the destination so the ship was just fine.

I currently have cruises booked with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess (over 2 years!). Next week I'll be on the Disney Magic's TA, so I definitely 'sleep around' when it comes to cruising but I think for Alaska, Princess is the way to go.

See more...

Totally agree with everything above! Brilliant advice. Especially about aft cabin...and doing inland tour, Denali etc.

[Pootle]

Originally Posted by dee slack

DH has Alaska on his list for his next choice (making him wait until 2018 as next year I'm 50 so get to choose both trips )

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Both big events, 50 and Alaska ... and I wish I were doing both of them again

We were lucky with the weather (start of the season May surprisingly, also cheapest time!) and I'm sure that coloured my view, but the whole trip was just stunning.

[daffodil92]

These replies are just brilliant. Thank you. Such a lot to look in to because in addition to the cruise we also have to decide what to do before/after. I was originally thinking about Banff national park then travel to Vancouver for the cruise. However, need to look into Alaska land tours too - most certainly couldn't do both. Also, I'm not sure if the lams tour would be suitable for the teens/12 year old? I might be pestering you all with lots more questions soon! Thanks for the replies - it's really exciting!

[Bats]

Originally Posted by Pootle

Both big events, 50 and Alaska ... and I wish I were doing both of them again

We were lucky with the weather (start of the season May surprisingly, also cheapest time!) and I'm sure that coloured my view, but the whole trip was just stunning.

See more...

That's when we go (May) so fingers crossed we get good weather too.

[DIBBadmin]

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