alaska 7 day roundtrip, norwegian? princess or celebrity?

[redhydra]

hi

 

i already posted that topic elsewhere but it was brought to my attention that i should post it here instead, so here i am

 

now that i have my first cruise experience (norwegian sky) and that it is confirmed that i like cruising, i can go a head with my plan for cruise in alaska 7 day roundtrip in 2012 from vancouver

 

my first choise would be norwegian (with the norwegian pearl) as i cruised with them and as i like the freestyle cruising

 

my second choise would be princess cruise (probably with golden princess)

as i know people who cruised with them before and liked it, i also read alot about them, their anytime diner option seem interesting and quite similar to norwegian

 

my third choise would be celebrity but i am not as certain with them as i know no one who went with them

 

they have the best looking ship in my opinion but they also seem very traditional and formal, atracting a more sophisticated crowd

 

they also seem to offer anytime diner too

 

although i am well travelled, i dont know what exactly them mean by sophisticated crowd

 

and my dad who will be travelling with me doesnt like to dress formal as he has to do that often for his job

 

me, well, i never tried formal dressing exept for goeing to a marriage so i can't judge

 

and you, wich cruise like would you or have you taken for alaska and why?

 

also, how far in advance you recomend to book?? i've taken to check the cruise in 2011 to see how quick they book to get myself an idea for 2012

 

thanks in advance

[tracemyirishroots]

My first cruise was a Carnival 4 day Baja cruise, and I was not impressed. I felt like it was for a very young, sun bathing, drinking type crowd. This was in 2002.

Last year I took a 7 day Alaskan Cruise with Princess. We were on the Sapphire Princess. It was roundtrip from Seattle. ( We also got married on the cruise )

We loved Princess! The room was great, had a mini suite. Food was awesome. We had 2 formal nights, but you don't have to dress up. Some people were dressed with formals and tux's and others jeans or even shorts. Formal night just gives you the option of dressing up and having formal portraits taken. Our first formal night was the night we got married, so we wore our wedding attire.

Princess offers plenty to do, whether going on excursions or just staying on the ship.

We enjoyed it so much, we are going back this August. This time we are doing the cruisetour. 4 days on land before starting our cruise. We thought since we did excursions in every port last time, we would do our excursions on the land tour, and take the time to relax and the cruise portion and have time to walk around and explore the quaint ports in Alaska.

My personal opinion, but Princess is awesome!

[redhydra]

hi, thanks for your imput,

 

when i shoped for my first cruise, i did consider carnival but when i heard about the company from people i know who traveled with them and read about it, about how it was more a party ship and since i am not much of a party guy and i dont like spending my day sunbathing, i decided to go for either norwegian sky or majesty of the seas

 

both had good review but the majesty of the seas didn offer balcony so i went with the norwegian sky and i liked the cruise, the crowd was varied, all kind of food from steakhouse to french bistro and so

[markpark]

I don't think NCL does Vancouver except the first May sailing.

[c-cruise]

Do you mean round trip from Vancouver or Seattle? Neither NCL or Princess sail round trip from Vancouver. NCL's 2012 schedule has been out for a while and both ships are round trip out of Seattle. Princess does not have their 2012 Alaska schedule on their website yet, but they do not traditionally sail round trip from Vancouver either (only one way). HAL's 2012 schedule just came out and you might want to take a look at the Zuiderdam's round trip Vancouver itinerary.

 

We have cruised to Alaska with HAL, Princess, NCL and X. They all do a good job in Alaska and I would base my choice more on itinerary. All these lines offer at least some alternative dining option with flexible dining times and dress. I wouldn't put much emphasis on that when choosing an Alaska cruise.

[redhydra]

hi, sorry, i kind of misquoted when i said rountrip, considering most trip proposed by ncl, princess and celebrity, either leave from vancouver and end up at seatle or the other way

 

but it doenst matter to me, seatle is close to vancouver, so i can go back to vancouver on my own after the cruise

 

but if i were to base my trip primarely on the itinary, id choose celebrity, as its the only company of the three that interest me that go round trip from vancouver

[c-cruise]

hi, sorry, i kind of misquoted when i said rountrip, considering most trip proposed by ncl, princess and celebrity, either leave from vancouver and end up at seatle or the other way

 

but it doenst matter to me, seatle is close to vancouver, so i can go back to vancouver on my own after the cruise

 

but if i were to base my trip primarely on the itinary, id choose celebrity, as its the only company of the three that interest me that go round trip from vancouver

 

There are very few Alaska cruises that leave from Vancouver and end in Seattle or vice-versa. These are usually only at the very start or end of the Alaska season. Basically repositioning cruises for PVSA compliance reasons.

 

Seattle is close to Vancouver, but it is still a 4+ hour transfer depending on the border crossing times. Probably makes more sense to just find a round trip Seattle or Vancouver itinerary that you like.

[vbmom87]

For round trip Vancouver, I would choose HAL. Their round trip itinerary goes to Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Bay. Two of the most scenic places I have been. Their ships have great viewing areas. Of course, it depends why you are going in the first place. Is it for the ship, or is it for the scenery?

[kalliea]

I've been on many cruises and although each has their own personality you can find a wide variety of activities on any cruise. Alaska in general brings a more mature crowd. I found Celebrity to be the most reserved of the lines I've cruised on which I really liked. People were just in general more curtious. I'm booking my first Princess cruise for Alaska in June. I took RCCL on my last Alaska cruise and was very put off by them allowing the children to invade the adult only pool. These big ships have so many public areas that there is always a hot spot for the party animals and a quiet spot for the more reserved passengers with many options in between. I really like assigned dining, we love getting a large table and meeting new people, you can really get to know people when you see them every evening for a week. I stopped bringing formal wear on cruises since a simple dress for the ladies and a shirt and tie for guys seems to satisfy most cruise lines. I must say the food was better on Celebrity than RCCL or NCL by far. I generally choose by ports of call, dates and price more than anything else.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

i did consider carnival but when i heard about the company from people i know who traveled with them and read about it, about how it was more a party ship and since i am not much of a party guy

 

We've sailed Princess and Carnival. All of our cruises to Alaska (third one is coming up) have been on the Carnival Spirit. She's a beautiful ship and this will be our fourth time on her. When I hear of Carnival's reputation as a party line it makes me laugh--people say there are drunks everywhere, etc. We saw more drunk people on Princess than we've ever seen on Carnival! Well, except for a four-day Baja cruise over Spring Break years ago. The seven-day cruises are like any other mass market line and don't have that party atmosphere, especially the Alaska cruises. Anyway, all of our Carnival cruises have been great! :D And, they have Your Time Dining, as well.

 

I know Princess has a great reputation in Alaska. That would be my second choice if Carnival left that route. And, I have friends who absolutely love Celebrity.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!! :D

[redhydra]

me, well i admit, i give importance to both the itinary and ship

 

when i shopped for my first cruise, one of the main reason i choose the norwegian sky was du to its balcony, if i wanted a balcony on the similar ships i looked from other cruise line , i would have to book a suite because they didn have simple room with balcony

 

 

if carnival has a reputation of party and drunk ship, i also read that they have toned down on that reputation, it could be a nice alternative with carnival spirit

[chipmaster]

Each line works hard to live to their marketing angle IMHO

 

Carnival, still have memories of dancing waiters on the dining room tables, endless playing of the hairy man contest, fun annoucments all day and night over the intercome. They try hard to be the "fun" ship. Had no negative experience with drunks but true to the image there were more fun people

 

Princess, I would say do a good job of to the "escape completely" now what escape means only you can do the research and decide. They are a favorite line for me, and do Alaska really well given the number of ships, schedules and best scenic cruising.

 

HAL gets rave reviews and ditto for sailings.

 

IMHO the best ship that doesn't have the best port times or scenic crusing is the worst thing for Alaska. I'd say for Mexico or Caribbean less important.

 

Dressing up can be viewed as half empty or have full. Yeah kind of drag to lug all that stuff. Kind of neat to get all dressed up a couple times in 7 days for pictures and formal dining. You find it neat to get dressed up once or twice say anniversary / valentines ?

 

Happy planning

[Prairie_Gal]

Look at the itineraries. For me, I knew I wanted to see Glacier Bay. Hubbard Glacier is also supposed to be beautiful. Some of the ships only go to Tracy Arm Fjord, which is supposed to be nice too, but not as beautiful as Glacier Bay or Hubbard Glacier.

 

The HAL Zuiderdam that we ended up choosing goes to both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord. The trade-off is that we arrive in Juneau rather late (2:30), but still early enough to do excursions. HAL also has Anytime Dining, and the Zuiderdam has lots of balconies.

 

It's cool that you are going to experience Alaska with your Dad. I'm sure you will have a great trip!