Alaska Bound July 2011 and need help with which line, ship, itinerary, etc.

[riddle]

We are just starting to look into cruising the last week of July 2011. I have a deposit with NCL, cruised Princess last April and loved it and would like to try RCL.

 

Please...anyone with Alaska experience. I really do not know where to start. Here are my parameters.

 

Cannot be more than one week (work, of course). Want a ship with a casino. Definitely want a free style or other similar dining option available.

 

We are on a budget but would like a balcony for Alaska.

 

Please help me with with what worked best for you on itineries, ship, shore excursions, anything you can think of that will help us out.

 

And by the way, do any of the ships cruise to Alaska have a covered swimming pool?

 

Thanks to any and all experienced Alaska cruisers.

[Cheryl H]

We're doing our first cruise to Alaska so I can't answer all your questions....but I can say that Royal Carribbean has a solarium pool (Radiance of the Seas). It's indoor and is so warm in there that it feels tropical to me, or it did the last time I was on there.

 

As far as dining on that line...most nights my husband wears dockers and a nice shirt and I wear slacks and a blouse. But there are 2 formal nights. Perhaps you could go up to the buffet (the Windjammer Cafe) or do specialty dining one of those nights. Radiance is getting ready for a dry dock. They are adding a brazilion steakhouse, a new Italian place (Giovannis), a mexican cantina, plus adding a sandwich place at the solarium pool area. There's also my time dining available. We haven't tried that yet, but I believe it's where you can set a different time to dine for each evening.

 

Radiance does the northbound and southbound sailings (Vancouver - Seward).

[Budget Queen]

You want to try RCL for Alaska?? Not sure about your post???

 

But, frankly, your priority is the ship? All have casino- regular lines, all have balconies, all have "freestyle" dining. So your basic question, is, pick any line. As for the pool, you will need to look at each ship sailing and find out. This could make your list very small, and make your choice for you on the selection.

 

However, you "might" want to do your homework and find out about Alaska. I always recommend a trip to your library and taking out Alaska By Cruiseship, along with other Alaska travel books. Finding out what is available in each area, can significantly impact on your cruise choice.

 

I suggest you find out about routes, ports, glaciers. Shore excursion lists are available online from cruise web sites, there are 100's of tours and too many to "suggest" any this early in the game. :)

 

Figure out your priority and narrow down your selections. But with the more you know about Alaska, you would be able to make an more informed decision. Don't shortchange yourself.

[Coral]

On Princess - the Sea Princess (out of SFO) doesn't have a covered pool. All the other Princess ships (in Alaska) do.

 

Disney doesn't have a casino, nor a covered pool.

 

I would look at RT trips out of Seattle and Vancouver. I would suggest you looking at itineraries that have Glacier Bay or Hubbard Glacier and skip those that only have Tracy Arm as an itinerary.

[BIG_Steve]

We are just starting to look into cruising the last week of July 2011. I have a deposit with NCL, cruised Princess last April and loved it and would like to try RCL.

 

Please...anyone with Alaska experience. I really do not know where to start. Here are my parameters.

 

Cannot be more than one week (work, of course). Want a ship with a casino. Definitely want a free style or other similar dining option available.

 

We are on a budget but would like a balcony for Alaska.

 

Please help me with with what worked best for you on itineries, ship, shore excursions, anything you can think of that will help us out.

 

And by the way, do any of the ships cruise to Alaska have a covered swimming pool?

 

Thanks to any and all experienced Alaska cruisers.

 

We went on the Pearl, and had a wonderful time. However, if I were to do it again, I'd put all my attention towards the itinerary and port times. The Pearl has a Juneau time of 2pm to 10pm. In late June that was fine, with so many daylight hours. Put, the Star is berthed in the same place as the Pearl, and if for some reason the Star leaves late, the Pearl can't get in on time. She also has a port time of 6am to 1pm in Ketchikan. While there are plenty of good excursions to take at that hour, I would have preferred a longer day there. Pearl does not have a covered pool.

 

As others have mentioned, every line have casinos, and the equivalent of freestyle dining. When you get back from some of these all day excursions, you might be too pooped to go out to dinner anyway. Buffet and room service are always available.

 

I got my rear-end reamed in a different thread for sharing my feelings on balconies. If that person reads this, I hope they'll keep that stuff on the other thread. You said you're "on a budget." IMHO (and I'm not going to argue it) if you can afford a balcony, and nice ($$) excursions, then do it. A balcony on an Alaskan cruise is marvelous. *BUT* if your budget makes you choose between a balcony OR nice excursions, then skip the Balcony. Put the funds into excursions.

 

Go to your line's excursions area and see what they offer. Then do local searches for tours ie; Google "Tours Juneau" when you find something you like, come here and ask specifically about tours. Chances are, several folks have gone on any tour you can find. A lot of folks are down on Cruiseline tours, but we did 2 independent, and 2 ship tours. They were all fine. In Ketchikan, the ship tour provider was the best of the lot, but all 4 were very good.

 

To get you started......... Most folks do Whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. The White pass railway in Skagway. Ketchikan doesn't seem to have any 1 favorite amongst the regulars here. But I recommend an excursion to Misty Fjords. Flightseeing is probably best, but we took a boat tour and loved it. Not much time in Victoria, we took a short bus tour. Didn't get to see a whole lot because traffic was heavy. Would recommend a longer bus tour, or something else altogether.

[chipmaster]

Most if not all ships leaving from Vancouver and Seattle roundtrip and one way are one week, no problem there.

 

Casino, hmm I'm not a gambler but I think all the ships except Disney have these money sucking entertainment.

 

If on a budget do remember that some of the best excursions in alaska run easily 100-500 bucks/person. If budget is tight factor in plane fare, and what you want to do in port. It would be a pity to have a balcony but not enough for a helicopter tour if that is what you need to complete your dream vacation.

 

As to Pool, YMMV, but on our ship on Princess had a a covered pool. As to freestyle if you don't want to dress up NCL would be the one I look at.

 

Good luck,

 

We are just starting to look into cruising the last week of July 2011. I have a deposit with NCL, cruised Princess last April and loved it and would like to try RCL.

 

Please...anyone with Alaska experience. I really do not know where to start. Here are my parameters.

 

Cannot be more than one week (work, of course). Want a ship with a casino. Definitely want a free style or other similar dining option available.

 

We are on a budget but would like a balcony for Alaska.

 

Please help me with with what worked best for you on itineries, ship, shore excursions, anything you can think of that will help us out.

 

And by the way, do any of the ships cruise to Alaska have a covered swimming pool?

 

Thanks to any and all experienced Alaska cruisers.

[5waldos]

Might suggest one way starting either in Vancouver or Anchorage- you see more that way. Be certain that the cruise visits glaciers- the more the better. Most ships have casinos- except the Disney.

 

I would suggest that you figure out what week you want to go, or weeks, and then go to a general website and see who is going at that time, and compare prices The similarities are greater than the differences. Prices vary, sometimes widely. You will not have an unlimited number of choices. Find the ships then look at the cruiseline website and see which one appeals to you. You will enjoy whichever cruise you take- Alaska is a very different cruise experience than the Carribean, for example. You really are along for the view- no beach lounging for sure.