Princess or RCCL

[adios]

Please help!!! My family of 8 is going to Alaska next summer (06). We will be doing a week of the interior (Denali, Fairbanks, Kenai, etc.) on our own and then will cruise. There will be 6 adults (2 age 50 and 4 in their late 20's) and 2 children (13 and 5). My parents are both 50 and will be celebrating their 20th anniversary (don't try to do the math, it's way to complicated!!!! :) )

They have graciously offered to pay, so price is not a big issue. They want it really nice, but fun for everyone. They will get the suite and us kids stuck in 2 interior rooms--oh well, I'm not complaining!!!! We have cruised with RCCL and really enjoy things like singing waiters, towel animals, and an overall fun attitude. We will board the ship in Seward/Whitter. My question is should we cruise with RCCL or Princess?

[Mary Ellen]

For Alaska I'd take Princess over RCI anytime.

[Shebbieal]

There are differences, we have done both RCI and Princess (but not Alaska) RCI fit us better. We are doing RCI to Alaska this summer.

 

IMHO Princess had a stuffier personna. Kids program bigger on RCI, food was about the same. We did NOT like personal choice dining, we like having the sme waitstaff every night.

 

From what I hear Seward has a lot more to offer than Whittier.

 

Look at each lines brochure and talk to a couple knowledgeable travel agents. Also look at their itineries (sp). I don't think you can go wrong with either RCI or Princess. I also would suggest you look at Celebrity.

 

I am so excited about this trip, these boards are loaded with info!

 

Sherry

[ahracer]

I prefer Princess but you won't find towel animals, singing waiters and such on Princess.

 

 

Scott

[Coral]

I have sailed both to Alaska and Princess wins for me hand down!

 

First, Princess has Glacier Bay and College Fiords. Princess has a better "Alaska experience" while on the ship. When I sailed RCCL, they did not have a naturalist onboard for the week. I didn't realize how much I really missed out on my first Alaska sailing with out having the naturalist onboard. Princess brought tons of speakers onboard through out the week (Libby Riddles - fist female Iditarod winner was on every ship that docked in Juneau the last couple of years). RCCL didn't do that. I felt like Princess does awhole lot more than just stopping at the ports (which is what I felt about RCCL).

 

Personal Choice dining in Alaska - while I prefer having the same waiter each night, in Alaska I want convenience in dining times and Princess offers that. On RCCL, we were in port late doing whale watching and we missed our dinner time. We ended up spending $20 a person to eat at Chops that night (I wasn't fond of the buffet on RCCL). I actually prefer Princess' food to RCCL.

 

 

Times in port were better on Princess (I didn't like the 1-10 in Juneau and we ended up tendering there on RCCL) than my RCCL.

 

Yes - RCCL does go to Seward (over Whittier) but the one time I did sail out of Seward, I did not speak to one person who actually saw Seward. Most got off the train or bus and got immediately on the ship and didn't see Seward at all. If you are going to do that - you might as well sail out of Whittier because it is closer to Anchorage.

 

Everything I have read puts Glacier Bay as an experience better than Hubbard Glacier. Princess has permits to Glacier Bay, RCCL doesn't. I wish I could compare the 2 glaciers but we were iced out of Hubbard Glacier on my RCCL cruise and got within 7-8 miles (though a Princess ship was able to see it that same day with out any problems). I sort of felt cheated on my RCCL cruise becuase there wasn't a 2nd day of glacier viewing (since we missed Hubbard) but on Princess' one way cruises, you get both Glacier Bay and College Fiords.

 

I came back from my RCCL Alaskan cruise really disappointed in how they do Alaska.

[Casey12]

We have sailed both cruise lines to Alaska and the Caribbean. While Royal Caribbean is a decent line for the Caribbean, they are inferior to Princess and Holland America in Alaska. I really would avoid Royal Caribbean and Celebrity in Alaska. Their lack of experience in Alaska shows.

[Host Caroline]

Ditto all of the above re Princess. If your options are only Princess or RCI, take Princess.. HAL in the mix is fine but RCI simply doesn't have the Alaska program down like the others do. We cruised once with RCI to Alaska and never again.. all others have been Princess/HAL. Not going to repeat what Coral etal have said... If you like RCI you will like Princess --

[Budget Queen]

It is a complicated choice. Seward is superior and it is a SHAME way too many pass though- it can be a significant highlight and not to be missed in my opinion. So HAL gets my vote, but RCI without College fjords is a negative but Icy Strait is a highlight. Princess does a good job on the routing. So any cruise will be a compromise. :) If your travels include Seward- then I would definately sail in/out of there.

[Giantfan13]

We sailed Princess last year, and we loved it. We loved the Personal Choice dining. We were able to eat when we wanted and didn't have to worry about missing anything, wither in port on on board the ship. We loved the idea of sitting with different people each meal and meeting so many diverse people.

Plus, we thoight College Fiord was a place NOT to be missed.

 

BTW though, we are both over 50 but we don't think we fit into that 'stuffy' category. Prinecess KNOWS how to do Alaska.