Port or Starboard side?

[Yochell]

Hi. My husband and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next summer and have decided on an Alaskan cruise. Since this is a big occasion for us, I would like it to be the best possible experience. So I have 2 questions for all of you experienced cruisers out there:

1. I am wondering whether I should book a cabin on the port or starboard side of the ship in order to get the best views. (scenery and wildlife)

2. I would also like to know whether the Inside Passage Cruise or the Voyage of the Glaciers Cruise on Princess is more scenic.

I know the scenery is supposed to be gorgeous on both sides of the ships and on both cruises, but for the times when we are just getting up in the morning, or the times when hubby falls asleep early and I want to watch the sights, I'd like to know which side of the ship is the best.

Thanks in advance for your help! :)

[Texas Tillie]

If you are settled on going with Princess, I'd do a one way south bound. The Princess round trips are just so-so since their glacier experience is usually just Tracy Arm with the Sawyer glaciers at the end (but VERY often the ships don't get close enough to really see a glacier). The Princess south bounds are especially good as you see both the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park. The Hubbard is a HUGH glacier with an over 6 mile wide face and lots of calving. Glacier Bay is an all day sailing experience with several glaciers (none as big as the Hubbard) and the chance of seeing wildlife on the shore.

[Yochell]

If you are settled on going with Princess, I'd do a one way south bound. The Princess round trips are just so-so since their glacier experience is usually just Tracy Arm with the Sawyer glaciers at the end (but VERY often the ships don't get close enough to really see a glacier). The Princess south bounds are especially good as you see both the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park. The Hubbard is a HUGH glacier with an over 6 mile wide face and lots of calving. Glacier Bay is an all day sailing experience with several glaciers (none as big as the Hubbard) and the chance of seeing wildlife on the shore.

 

 

Hi Tillie,

I was wondering why you mentioned being "settled" with Princess. I just began looking into cruises, and since I previously cruised with Princess, I started there. Haven't decided on anything definite yet. Have you had a problem with a Princess Alaska cruise? Do you prefer another cruise line, and if so,why? I'm not here to "bash" Princess, my first cruise with them was wonderful. But like I said in my first post, I would like this cruise to be the best, so I am open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

[Texas Tillie]

Hi Tillie,

I was wondering why you mentioned being "settled" with Princess. I just began looking into cruises, and since I previously cruised with Princess, I started there. Haven't decided on anything definite yet. Have you had a problem with a Princess Alaska cruise? Do you prefer another cruise line, and if so,why? I'm not here to "bash" Princess, my first cruise with them was wonderful. But like I said in my first post, I would like this cruise to be the best, so I am open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

 

Perhaps settled was not a good choice of words. Sorry. You referenced 2 Princess routes (by name), so I just made an assumption. I've done 4 Alaska cruises (3 Holland America and 1 Princess). I don't like "big" ships - the largest I've sailed are the Island Princess and the Oosterdam - with just a little over 2000 on each cruise, which most don't classify as large - but it's really too large for me!

 

Anyway, Alaska is all about what's "outside" the ship, so you need to look at ports visited, time in ports, glacier experience. Princess and HAL have the most ships doing Alaska each summer - and have been doing Alaska for a long time, so they must be doing something right. :D

 

I really do like the Princess southbound itineraries. If you decided on that, could you spend some time in interior Alaska before your cruise?? The part of Alaska you see on a cruise is just a taste of what Alaska offers. If you can at least make it to Denali National Park, you won't be sorry.

 

Good luck with your planning. Alaska is an amzing place - I'll be back next summer for my 5th time in 5 years!! :)

[nasa1974]

Yochell, Texas Tillie is passing on some nice information. My wife and I did a Princess cruise/tour of Alaska in 2007. We started in Fairbanks and picked up our ship, the Diamond Princess, just outside Anchorage and sailed the inner passage to Vancouver, BC (you do need a passport). We stayed in three of the Princess lodges and traveled by train between the various stops. Denali was beautiful and Mt. McKinley was awesome. We had a balcony room on the port side and really enjoyed watching everything pass by. If you can bring a pair of binoculars. We debated whether to do the cruise first or last. The land portion was somewhat hectic so we were glad the cruise portion was last because we really relaxed onboard and enjoyed the pampering. Good luck and happy anniversary.

[account4fun]

We will be cruising in June 2011 and got the same advice to do the land portion of our cruise tour first and then do a southbound cruise. We are very happy with the itinerary we picked because it offers the "big highlights" for a first time cruise. We are sailing on the Diamond Princess and the ship looks beautiful. Besides that we have a great itinerary...Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchikan, Juneau for the cruise and Fairbanks, Denali and Mckinley for the land tour. At these different places we are able to do things like glacier dog sledding, glacier trekking, kayaking, hiking, flightseeing etc. These were the things that were important to us in deciding about Alaska and Princess fit the bill for us.

 

We booked a balcony room and were told either side is good. At the glaciers the ship will turn around so both sides can see and when you are cruising one side can see more of the water and possibly whales etc and the other side can see more land. As I haven't gone yet I can't confirm but either sounds good to me!

 

Good luck!

[LindaKE]

If I were wanting a one way, I'd choose Princess Southbound because of getting to see both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier. A land tour first is an added benefit if you have the time. You get to see more of the "real" Alaska. If you do a SB, the land side (port) may have better scenery, but I understand the only place that it is really noticably better is entering Glacier Bay where the best place to be, if viewing from your balcony, is port side. (This is from Budget Queen, the Alaska expert.)

 

We're doing a round trip this time, because the flight to/from Anchorage can be brutal. We chose HAL because, to us, it has the best itinerary. It leaves from Vancouver rather than Seattle, so has 2 more scenic cruising days, and goes to both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm. Doing a round trip, you get to see both sides. The only consideration would be port for Glacier Bay.

 

Congradulations on the Anniversary! Any way you go, you'll have a fabulous cruise!

[Putterdude]

I always recommend Starboard side for northbound and Port side for southbound. There is just more scenery on mainland side of the ship. Some will argue that you need port side for glacier watching but I have found that the ships generally swing but you will miss a lot glacier viewing if you are not up on deck somewhere.

Having just completed a Princess b/b Voyage of the Glaciers I would have to say that is would be pretty hard to beat. Southbound is superior as you visit both the Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.