GettingMyShipTogether

I forgot to add fwiw when initially looking at cruise lines we didn't really consider Royal Caribbean either b/c the ship seemed too big and the itineraries a little funky. 

44 minutes ago, oaktreerb said:

Thanks for posting.  For someone new to the Alaska cruise market you did a very thorough analysis and a great decision.

Thank you! They say the trip planning increases your anticipation and enjoyment, so by now I am REALLY looking forward to getting on the ship. 🤣🤣🤣

Aaaand one last thing... here's the breakdown of itinerary and rough pricing. It was hard to find info like this when I started planning so again, hope it helps someone else even though these things are always fluctuating. From what I can tell, cruise fares are pretty good 30-60 days out if you have flexibility but you get fewer perks and less choice so depending on your needs may be kind of a wash. 

Note: our activities in every port are going to be a hike, a beer, and fresh seafood. The excursions weren't too appealing to us so that kept our budget more reasonable. 

Total ~$5500

Flights ~$1k (booked 6 weeks out via Orbitz)

$100 transit to/from airports

Cruise fare, port fees, gratuities, ~$2.5k

-$120 on board credit

$200 on board spending (guesstimate)

$100 transits in ports

$300 food, supplies, shopping

DIY land tour - ended up being a bit less expensive than anticipated

$400 airbnb cabin

$250 car  

$100 gas

$120 park fees, shuttle

$80 shuttle

$500 food, supplies, shopping

Thanks also to everyone who answered my newbie questions and responded to my panic re: negative Coral reviews. Cheers! 

Ok, last decision, which ship. 

Eliminated Golden Princess and Island Princess due to concerning things in reviews which honestly may not have impacted us but had to narrow it down somehow.  

Down to Royal and Coral. Happy with either northbound or southbound itineraries.

Royal - best option was a forward obstructed deluxe balcony (those super huge ones with the metal railings). $733 + $180 port fees + $105 tips pp= ~$2000 for the cabin

Pros: huge balcony at the front of ship looks awesome for glacier viewing days, new ship with nicer decor, ease of the medallion thingie, more and maybe better dining options, cabin options on or just beneath Lido deck, less expensive

Cons: lack of public deck space, sails west of Vancouver island, 3.6k passengers which I assume translates to more waiting for things, being tracked by the medallion thingie, balcony may be too windy to use while sailing, may not be able to see much outside from the room due to the metal railing

Coral - best option was a starboard cabin with a slightly larger than normal covered balcony. $935 + 225 + 105 pp = $2500 for the cabin

Pros: sails east out of Vancouver, smaller, more public deck space

Cons: more dated, fewer "bells & whistles", more expensive

Again, we'd probably be perfectly content with either. Decided ultimately on Coral in order to see the Inside Passage. Busted our overall budget a bit so hoping it's amazingly beautiful! I'll be able to tell you if I thought so in a month! 🤣

...

Debated cruisetours vs. DIY. They priced out similarly at about $800pp additional when you factor in food, tips, etc. 

Cruisetour Pros: easy logistics, no driving, some good deals with perks available

Cruisetour Cons: looked like a lot of time in transit, the train sounded cool but driving would be faster, only 1 full day in Denali, not interested in a day long bus tour of the park, not too interested in staying in Talkeetna or Fairbanks

DIY Pros: control of the itinerary, tailor it to our needs, can spend all the time near Denali

DIY Cons: managing logistics, limited lodging options at this point in the season

Decided to DIY so we could spend 3 nights/2 days at Denali. 

DIY it is...now to decide Holland America or Princess. Honestly, they seemed pretty similar to me (no offense!) and pricing was comparable.

Holland America

Pros: our options for ships were both on the smaller side (~2k passengers), fewer complaints about the food, interesting onboard activities (BBC, America's Test Kitchen, EXC classes, etc.), slightly better incentives available with booking, more time in Glacier Bay

Cons: slightly higher pricing at the balcony level, reputation for catering to an older clientele

Princess

Pros: "North to Alaska" programming, 2nd glacier viewing at either Hubbard or College Fjord

Cons: more complaints about the food or how the line has gone downhill, more complaints that certain ships needed work (outdated, leaks, etc.), the design of the interior spaces & cabins didn't appeal

Decided on Princess for the 2 pros listed above. 

...

The contenders:

Celebrity (Millenium, Solstice, Eclipse), Norwegian (Bliss/Joy, Jewel), Holland America (lots of Dams), Princess (Royal, Coral). Did not consider Carnival, their marketing kind of says "Spring Break!" to me, although honestly marketing usually blows the differences between options out of proportion imho.

Took a quick look at Oceana, Uncruise, and some other options that were out of our price range - maybe another time another place. 

Zeroed in on rooms ranging between 600-900/pp & itineraries that included Glacier Bay. That eliminated Celebrity.

Looked hard at Norwegian Bliss & Joy. YMM(will)V on pros/cons but here it is from one point of view. 
Price at the time: $849 oceanview, includes "free at sea" offers (room total with port fees & tips ~$2500)

Pros: observation deck, new, sounded fun, Seattle R/T = easiest flights, had a positive experience on my previous Norwegian cruise, like the "freestyle" approach

Cons: shorter port times, didn't go too far into Alaska, 4k passengers, Victoria seemed like a wasted stop, ocean view cost as much as balcony on other ships

Decided we would take a ship out of Vancouver even though the flights would be more expensive. We wanted to get to Denali National Park if possible. 

That left Norwegian Jewel. Decided Holland America and Princess had more Alaska-centric programming/events on board. That eliminated Norwegian and we were down to Holland America and Princess. 

...

I'm writing this in case the ridiculous amount of time I spent researching our trip can help someone else who is trying to decide on a first time cruise to Alaska. Breaking it up into pieces b/c it's a novel 😂

The mission: Plan a 7-10 day Alaska vacation for Aug-Sept 2019, total trip budget 4-5k. I started looking in early July; explored cruise only, cruise tour, land only, and cruise plus DIY land. Pretty soon decided we wanted to do the cruise component for sure, to be able to see things we could only access by water. We're not sure if we like cruising though, so we wanted ample time with nature, hiking opportunities, and photography opportunities (hubs is a photo nerd). 

The first thing I found out is cruise pricing is mysterious - it is hard to figure out apples to apples comparisons on all the various options.

The second thing I discovered is that cruising has an entire subculture I didn't know how to navigate. We're newbies - I've been on a 3 day to the Bahamas (Norwegian) many years ago, my other half has never been on one.

My biggest takeaway: I got obsessed with optimizing the trip b/c we feel this will be our one and only visit to Alaska, but at the end of the day I'm pretty sure our trip would have felt epic and enjoyable with any of the options we considered.

...

3 minutes ago, evandbob said:

once they meet a few bikinis the OP might have other issues to worry about.

lolololol 

i guess i read the original question differently...like the OP's hesitation isn't that the kids are glued to their phones normally but the marketing s/he is seeing from the cruise lines pushes the digital games as the main source of entertainment for kids

On 7/31/2019 at 7:56 PM, Cherylynn123 said:

Considering a cruise, reading a TON. have a 15 and 17 year old, oldest will be 18 at time of vacation. We are active, and the number one thing holding me back from booking is the big emphasis on "internet/PlayStation" areas for kids. I am NOT paying a ton to have them sit on their phones or glued to a screen, especially in a club where I can't see them. 

And since the oldest will be 18.. while other considerations. I would go anywhere, but I want active family time, exploring and playing. No shopping trips for us! Any suggestions at all? Places/ships to look into? Is cruising even a good choice? Thanks! 

I found some of the responses on this thread kind of harsh...I think it's a really good question and we don't have kids but we asked ourselves if cruising is for us and still don't know even though we booked one. I've been reading these boards a TON to try and maximize our trip... seems like people take cruises for many different reasons: some for the adventure, some to feel pampered, some to party, some to be able to relax and let someone else take care of logistics. 

To me, the draw is if you can get to places you can't access as easily via land - you're traveling while you're sleeping! I am sure there are smaller ships or cruise lines that don't lean on digital entertainment for the kids (not sure which ones those are though, sorry!), and some that cater to active passengers (kayaks on board, etc.). For an active family, I would think a cruise with lots of port time and nature opportunities would be the way to go. I don't know what all those options are...Alaska, maybe Hawaii, Central America? https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=187

Whatever you decide, hope you have a great family vacation. 😃

30 minutes ago, PotatoBug said:

 

1) I'm not sure what the west trail is, unless it's the one they took on my daughter's 8 hour hike. She said it was a bit of an ordeal, but a lot of that was just the pace they set in order to get to the glacier. Even at that it took over 2.5 hours to get to the ice.

My understanding is that the hikes out of the center are fairly easy and level. We saw lots of people at the base of the falls.

2) encore is the show with the guest soprano. We preferred Secret of Silk, personally.

3) bring both a zoom and binoculars. My daughter and I often worked in tandem with her finding things with the binoculars so I could take pictures with the zoom.

Awesome,  thank you. Sounds like she did the west trail. We may just make the call that day based on weather. Good idea on working together spotting wildlife etc, thanks!

thank you, @geoherb! 🙌

@PotatoBug

i do have a few questions 😃 

1) we're debating between east glacier trail & west glacier trail (self guided) at mendenhall....  did you talk to anyone who did the west trail on their own and any feedback based on their experience? i'm reading it's not too difficult if you're used to hiking and it's really difficult and dangerous (guessing from people less used to hiking?)

2) i've read a couple of things about a show on board with an opera singer, is that the same as secret of silk or a different one?

3) is it worth bringing binoculars if i have a good zoom on my camera (that I can basically view through as well) - worried about exactly what you mentioned of not being able to switch from one to the other fast enough...

thanks!!!

59 minutes ago, PotatoBug said:

Day 8 - July 31, 2019 - Disembarkation/Anchorage

The day dawned with the sun shining, and a few puffy clouds in the sky. We rose in the morning and headed to the dining room shortly before 7, with a stop at the IC to use up punches that would soon become worthless. We were seated at a table for 8, and one couple was getting a little antsy; they were to be disembarking in 15 minutes for their train to Denali! When their food arrived they wolfed it down and bolted from the dining room. The rest of us were able eat more calmly LOL

 

The young couple next to me have a friend who used to live in Anchorage and had sent them many suggestions of things to do, see, or eat. They let me get a copy of the “downtown, no car” options.

 

We returned to our cabin to finish our last minute packing, fill out the “atta boys” for a couple of crew members, and we headed for the Platinum lounge in the Wheelhouse Bar. Our other option was that “Orange 2” was meeting in the Universe Lounge. We arrived at the Wheelhouse with about 10 minutes to go until our group was scheduled. When we were called a crew member was leading us to the gangway via the elevator (down one floor) so we took the stairs, and that put us at the front of our group exiting the ship (and the bulk of Orange 2 was making their way from the aft Universe Lounge). This came in handy because that meant we were the first to board our bus to Anchorage. I wanted to grab a front seat but those are reserved for people with limited mobility, so we took the 2nd row. One set of front row seats, behind the driver, remained open as the bus filled and one woman was looking for seats for her and her young (5ish) son but children aren’t allowed in the front row. We offered to take the front row and give them our seats; we had scored the front row after all.

 

The bus now full, we pulled out to go wait at the tunnel. There is a single lane tunnel that links Whittier to the highway to Anchorage (or anywhere else), so we had a wait of about 20 minutes for traffic coming to Whittier before they reversed the direction of traffic flow. The tunnel is well-lit inside so we didn’t get the total darkness that’s so common in tunnels. After a couple of miles we emerged on the other side to the sight of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and Turnagain Arm. Turnagain Arm was so named when Captain Cook’s ship got stranded in the glacial silt at low tide and had to wait for high tide to be able to turn around and leave.

 

Our driver/guide told us to be on the lookout for humpbacks and belugas but we saw nothing but birds, and gorgeous scenery.

 

After an hour and a half we were at the visitor’s center in Anchorage. We checked to make sure our bags had made it safely, and gathered them all together. We left them in the visitor center while we did a little exploring downtown. We called our hotel to see if it would be possible to check in early, but they said to call back at 1; it was 10:30 at that point. So we did a lot of window shopping, making note of places to return to the next day before our flight in the late afternoon, then got some lunch at Humpy’s (a bar and grill), and then more window shopping (including at the relatively new mall built downtown where Marcia checked out iPads at the Apple store).

 

We heard some live music and went to check it out; it was a one-man blues band. He was using an electric piano for the rhythm section and playing an electric guitar. He was surprisingly good! Nearby was Wild Scoops ice cream and we kept an eye on the line. When there was a short enough line we went over to check it out, and each got a cone; it was very good!

 

Finally, it was nearing time to check into our hotel, so we collected our bags at the visitor center and walked a few blocks east to the Ramada. We checked in, found two nice queen sized beds in the room (which was a relief after the tiny singles on the ship) and I laid down on my bed. I fell asleep almost immediately, and awoke an hour later. We mulled over our dinner options and neither of us was energetic enough to walk back to the downtown core so we picked a nearby outdoor spot.

 

After dinner we returned to our room and just relaxed. I also spent some quality time with a lacrosse ball trying to roll out the tightness in my legs. Sunset wasn’t until 10:40 so we fell asleep with the curtains drawn as tightly as possible.

 

Tomorrow we fly home at 4:25 in the afternoon.

Thank you so much for the detailed report, we're going on the exact same itinerary in 3 weeks and have been trying to figure out some of the port details etc. Super helpful, we're hoping to hike a lot too. Sounds like a great time was had all around, have a safe trip back!  

16 hours ago, geoherb said:

Thanks for the great report. I have a couple of coffee cards to give away since we won't be able to use them in August. I took them with me on my Island Princess cruises in June/July, but I only used a few punches since I wasn't sure if I could convince DH to take a cruise in August after he finishes up his current work contract. I couldn't. We're going in September instead.

Is it uncouth of me to say I'd be happy to take them off your hands & reimburse shipping if you don't find anyone local to give them to? We are going on the same trip last week of Aug. 😃 

I changed our booking from Royal to another ship because of this. Not sure how big of a deal it is in reality but it really should be disclosed imho.

After changing the booking, I was seated next to a lady while getting my hair cut who did the trip on the Royal oddly enough... she had only great things to say about it and enjoyed the trip very much. On the other hand a neighbor whose cruise sailed on the west said her whole family was seasick that first day. 

Also knowing about the earlier departure is important for booking flights, I hope that is being disclosed too. It wasn't on my initial booking.

34 minutes ago, lstone19 said:

We've been on Coral twice (Panama Canal and Alaska) and Regal (Royal's near identical twin) three times and I love both but only when they're on the right itinerary. For an itinerary that includes scenic cruising such as in Alaska, Coral is absolutely the right ship and Royal the wrong ship. OTOH, for a cruise where there's not much to see when at sea, the additional amenities of the Royal-class ships make them the better choice (not that Coral would be bad on any itinerary).

that was my thought too, a cruise where there's not much to see except the same endless ocean the ship amenities may be more important and the viewing spaces less so. 

54 minutes ago, donswife said:

We are going on our first Royal class cruise in September to try it out on the 3 day from Vancouver to San Pedro. I have concerns about the size and lack of promenade, but figure I can handle it for 3 days, to see if I would ever consider booking a longer voyage.  DH is looking forward to the expanded food options!

sounds like a good way to get a better sense for the big ships. we don't know if we even like taking cruises to be honest so we'll probably learn a lot on this trip :P

@french fries at night and anyone else if i may ask...which of the alaska-specific/naturalist talks did you find worthwhile on the ship, were there any you would have skipped in retrospect? 

13 minutes ago, cougaraz said:

Of all the functions on Cruise Critic, I find the stand-alone reviews to be of the least value.  I find the banter and discussion on the boards to be great and the ability to set up Meet&Greets to be second.

 

Here are some truths about cruising and reviews:

1) Everything is subjective, shaded by perspective and experience and shaped by attitude

2) People cruise for very different reasons (some go for the ship, some go for the food, some go for the ports, some go for the booze, some go for family, some go for their own different reasons)

3) The anonymity of the internet encourages hyperbole and exageration

4) Being an experienced cruiser does not make you an expert on ships, ports or maritime operations

5) The guests on a cruise are widely diverse in age, home, gender, travel experience, education, income, health and upbringing'

6) Nothing onboard is more subjective than food

 

That means that you and I could be in cabins next door to each other on the same cruise, with the same steward, same waiter, go to the same activities and visit the same ports on the same excursions and one of us have a fabulous time and the other hate it.  You read a review and the one that pops up is the one who hated it and the one who loved it doesn't write a review so you never know the whole story.

 

Cruising is a great adventure, meant to be enjoyed by you, the way you want to enjoy it.  If you decide to go and have a great time, you will.  If you go to be miserable (and apparently there are those who do), you will.

 

 

 

 

i totally get that. we are generally easygoing and probably would have a good time on either ship tbh. this is likely the only time we will go to alaska so of course i have the feeling that i want to optimize it 😃 and make the best choice re which cruise and which ship to the extent possible

12 minutes ago, french fries at night said:

I just finished a cruise on the Coral in Alaska.. happy to answer questions.  We loved it. The promenade deck is great and it was often better to be closer to the water when you're looking for wildlife.  (This also made me, personally, glad that I got a balcony on a lower deck.)  We spent a ton of time on the back of the promenade and were surprised that it was hardly ever crowded.

I woke up at 6am on Glacier Bay day, stepped onto my balcony and saw an otter! 😍

cool thank you! we will be on the dolphin deck near the back, i thought lower to the water would probably be good so glad to hear it - hoping to spot a whale or 2....!

27 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

As someone who just returned from a B2B Alaskan cruise on the Royal --- I agree that the Royal is not meant for Alaska.  We didn't like the fact that there was no real promenade, photo op locations were hard to find and lots of uncovered spaces --- if it rained, outside viewing would have been a mess. 

 

Also, the smoke from the casino would rise up through the atrium area and made it uncomfortable at times --- they need to come up with a better system to alleviate this issue.

 

We are taking a B2B Alaskan cruise on the Coral next May and are looking forward to our adventure.

that's super annoying about the smoke. i am glad it sounds like you had good weather at least to get some good outdoor viewing.

i wonder why they put the Royal in the Alaska lineup, my guess is to compete with the Bliss/Joy. Those NCL cruises look like they are more meant to be about enjoying the ship to me with the short port times etc. so we ultimately decided against them and it was down to Princess or Holland America.

and i only found out that the Royal didn't sail east out of Vancouver from reading these boards btw so thank you all for that. 

11 minutes ago, Pepper0074 said:

No ship is perfect, but you can make it perfect for you.

 

Relax and enjoy, Alaska is amazing!

This is great advice, thank you 😃

13 minutes ago, toads45froggy said:

I take reviews in this manner, If the bad review states the ship or service or item is bad, I look for examples. If its just a the steward was rude. and nothing else given I ignore it. same with good reviews. the less thats there in the review the less I listen I dont mind bad reviews if they are thought out and dont seem angry there are and is nothing wrong with bad reviews or good reviews that are thought out and not done over a perceived issue.

 

I also have no issue with overlooking reviews and finding out for myself. Learning is all part of the fun of life. even if it means we didnt have the greatest time but honestly life is all about how we choose. soooo... if its bad we hve to choose to have our vacation ruined ive had "ruined" vacations for some of my brothers as a kid but that was my best vacation ever. that got more deep then I wanted. but still.

yeah good point. it's difficult since we haven't been on a cruise before. i see consistent themes in the complaints but don't know how much those things will actually bother or appeal to us specifically and probably impossible to know until we are actually there. so we are going to find out for ourselves in any case =D 

4 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

The Coral is a one of a kind gem.

The balconies on the Regal and Royal are the worst. I have shoes that are bigger than those balconies, lol.

We were going to do one of the forward balconies which looked extra large. The normal balconies on the Royal did look really cramped. 

(By bi-polar i don't mean anything to do with bipolar disorder, but literally that reviews seem to run very positive or very negative)

We are newbie cruisers heading to alaska and i moved us from the royal to the coral b/c i thought we'd want to see the full inside passage and have the smaller ship/more deck space. Hard to tell how important that will be for us but hubby loves to take photos so seemed like the better fit.

Am seeing reviews where people either love the coral or find it very lacking (run down, bad food, bad service, etc.) 

We reserved what looked like a nice room with a big balcony in both cases but the royal would have been ~500$ less in total so secondguessing myself. 

I'm sure we'd have a good time on either but mainly wanting to know if I made a mistake I should be mindful of in the future. Should we be prepared for a sad, tired ship?

Thanks in advance!