Golden Princess Northbound vs Nieuw Amsterdam Vancouver round trip

We are travelling from Australia on a cruise that finishes in Vancouver and looking at 7 night cruises narrowed it down to these 2 cruises, however husband is unsure of Nieuw Amsterdam, heard stories of bad food, no entertainment. Itinerary as follows: Both cruises 18/5/19.

Nieuw Amsterdam

Vancouver, Inside Passage, Juneau (1pm-10pm), Skagway (7am-9pm), Glacier Bay,

Ketchikan (10am-6pm), inside passage, Vancouver.

Golden Princess

Vancouver, inside passage, Ketchikan (6.30am-3pm), Juneau (8am-9pm), Skagway(7am-8.30pm), Glacier Bay, College Fjord, Anchorage.

Other issue is flight from Anchorage to Vancouver as unfamiliar with Canada any advice greatly appreciated.

The one way flight is an added cost...so that is a consideration. The Princess cruise won't end in Anchorage, it will end about 3 hours away, so a minor logistical issue there. The Princess cruise gets College Fjord, a plus.

There is plenty of entertainment on N. Amsterdam. Personally I think HAL food is better than Princess food.

Have been on both routes. I would take Princess simply for College Fjord. Otherwise the cruise lines are far more alike than different.

The one way flight is an added cost...so that is a consideration. The Princess cruise won't end in Anchorage, it will end about 3 hours away, so a minor logistical issue there. The Princess cruise gets College Fjord, a plus.

 

There is plenty of entertainment on N. Amsterdam. Personally I think HAL food is better than Princess food.

 

Have been on both routes. I would take Princess simply for College Fjord. Otherwise the cruise lines are far more alike than different.

Thank you for your feedback appreciate it, sounds like either ship will be great, just if we do Princess have to work out transport

Haven't ever been on Holland, and only once (to Alaska!) on a small Princess ship. Wasn't crazy about the Princess experience, but others seem to like Princess, so who knows?

In 2007, Anchorage WAS hard for us to come back from, even though we live in the U.S. (east coast) rather than Australia. But I think Denali is accessible from there, which would be tempting to me if I ever go again.

Just did Vancouver back to the U.S. and it wasn't a piece of cake, either. If you haven't been, Vancouver is a beautiful city, so you might want to spend the night there before starting a long trip home. Canada has pretty good air service.

The two cruises seem very much alike.

In Juneau, extra time is probably not an advantage.

I cruise on lines that aren't known for great entertainment (Oceania and Viking Ocean) and that never bothers me. If the itinerary is port-intensive, I'm usually too tired at night to care!

These cruises don't include two of my favorite ports - Sitka and Icy Strait Point (Hoonah). Maybe you should google Oceania Cruises' Alaska cruises to see if the timing is right for an Oceania cruise. They charge a bit more though - although perhaps not much more when you consider the freebies they offer.

Thank you for your responses, we have decided to do the Nieuw Amsterdam round trip as it does Glacier Bay,and will do a tour in Juneau that does another glacier.

If you do a week later, the Nieuw Amsterdam RT on May 25 does both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm. I just back from the Nieuw Amsterdam 3 weeks ago and booked for that itinerary for next year. It is a beautiful ship.

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We just returned from our second Vancouver-Vancouver trip on the Nieuw Amsterdam to Alaska and love this itinerary --- we are booked on the same itinerary and ship for next year. Glacier Bay had some beautiful scenic viewing and the side boat excursion to Tracy Arm was wonderful. Also, for the second year in a row, the ship was filled with a very large travel group from Australia --- just thought I would put this in since you mentioned Australia in your post. We found the food to be very good and the entertainment was better than it has been in the past. Why not go over to the Holland America board and see if anyone can add some comments to your post.