First Time To Alaska

[soaddictive]

Hey Everyone,

 

My friend and I were interested in cruising to Alaska. This will be our first time going there, and in the past, I have sailed Royal and just recently got of the NCL epic. We are both in our early 30's (29,31) and the thing that I loved about the Epic the most was all the different type of nightly entertainment and shows that they had on board.

 

I know that by going to Alaska, we may be giving up the hot weather and lounging by the pool all day for breathtaking views and excursions, however, I am not sure what ship I should go on!

 

I was looking at Celebrity and it seems that they do not offer much entertainment on board at all and the same for the ones with Royal. NCL doesn't seem to be that much better or it could be the way I perceive it. What I ideally want is a ship with a lot of hot tubs, good entertainment at night with a club that is busy not dead and for any sail days a variety of activities to keep us entertained in the event that it is too cold to lounge around.

 

What ship do you guys recommend?! and what itinerary would be the best to do? We can only go for about 7 days!

[Budget Queen]

Taking your post at purely face value and what you claim are your priorities- Alaska is not for you. Pick a different itinerary.

 

If you wish to further consider and compromise- some facts. The "entertainment" is outside the ship- Alaska. All ships have a nightly show- but the evenings are very subdued with a lot of people in bed earlier due to early arising/touring.

 

All ships have hot tubs. Activities are a LOT less on Alaska itineraries. A ship naturalist is a plus- if of interest and their programs during the day- very informative.

 

You have a LOT of notations- that just aren't going to happen on an Alaska cruise.

 

Demographics are similar on all the ships- including Carnival, there are no party ships in Alaska. :) Bulk of passengers are middle aged and above- with all ages sailing.

 

If you change your mind and find yourselves with an Alaska priority- I strongly suggest you find out about the ports- determine what is your priority for enjoying it and making the best use of your time. Budget fully for touring- it isn't the Caribbean and have plans and reservations in place before you go.

 

Take some time and read several trip reports of each- on NCL Pearl/Jewel, RCI Rhapsody, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess and HAL. (you'll have to look up the Alaska ships :) )

 

With 7 days, a round trip Alaska cruise may be a good choice.

[soaddictive]

Hey

 

So I guess I came off wrong when I said I wanted a party ship. I just meant I did not want to get to bed at 8 or 9pm because everything closes down. I am all for excursions and activities in Alaska which is one of the reasons why I wanted to go. Having travelled extensively on land to places like South East Asia and Africa I am a bit curious to know how it will go with cruising and excursion balance. I generally don't go with shore excursions with the cruise line, I find it cheaper if we do it on our own through outside suppliers. Is this true for Alaska as well? Since the demographics are more or less the same on all cruise lines, which ones do you recommend? People who have gone, thoughts on your ship? I generally avoid Carnival, but am open to all the other lines.

[CatgirlNC]

Come hang out with us on the HAL Volendam, r/t leaving Vancouver on August 14th. :)

[bonvoyagie]

I presume that on the Epic you liked the Cirque and Blue Man shows - well you won't find them on any other ship NCL or others. If you liked the rest of your NCL experience NCL has the Pearl, Jewel, and Sun in AK this year and next. As for the Pearl, they have two shows/night as well as the bars and casino - you can choose when you want to go to bed - or not.:D I think that you will find the demographics on all AK cruises is skewed to the high side as traditionally they are a tad bit more expensive and usually a "bucket list" item. Again these are generalties and YMMV.

 

For AK in general you need to first determine how much time you have to spend on the whole trip - this will answer the one way vs round trip question. Cruisetours are becoming very popular and if you have a full two weeks you can get a reasonably good tour of both SE and the interior of AK. Obviously the more time you have the more you can see. I suggest that you take a long look here to learn more about AK as a whole: http://www.travelalaska.com/

 

Another thing you want to consider is for the cruise or cruise portion of your trip, there are several different ports that different cruise lines like to visit - here is a great site to discover more about the ports and give you a different take on the excursions in them: http://cruiseportinsider.com/index.html

 

In addition to the ports there are scenic crusing in places like Glacier Bay, Tracy Arm fjord, and Hubbard Glacier. Glacier Bay is the trump card and only Princess, HAL, and NCL go there on a regular basis. The rest usually visit Tracy Arm and some do Hubbard Glacier as part of one way cruises (I think that one line does it on a RT).

 

If you decide on taking a cruisetour then heed the advise of the people on this board (ie Budget Queen). The ship's tours are lots of travel and not the best tour for the $$. Take a good look at this site: http://www.alaskatravel.com/ BTW they come highly reccommended by my TA and their prices seem quite reasonable. If you compare their descriptions to those of the cruise line you will easily see the differences in the product descriptions.

 

BTW my dream AK tour is their #3422 coupled with a Sun northbound cruise.

 

I hope you come back with some more specific questions about your AK cruise plans.

[mapleleaves]

There are books specific to Alaska cruises .. Ann Vipond has "Alaska by Cruiseship" which discusses the crulselines, ships, itineraries, ports, activities, excursions, etc. Fodor's book is called 'Alaska ports of call' or something similar.

Do a little research and learn about all the options to consider with an Alaska cruise, especially the ITINERARY. What do you want to see and do? Does the ship visit ports that meet those interests? is the ship in port long enough and at the right time of day to accomplish your activities? (6am-1pm might not work as well as 9am- 4pm) are you sailing at the peak time for specific priorities such as bear viewing or fishing or hiking? Did you look at MEMBER REVIEWS of Alaska cruises to read the comments about the various ships and cruiselines? Also, there was a thread going, maybe on the next page by now, that had links to a bunch of detailed trip reports, some with photos.

[thinfool]

Glacier Bay is usually a 'must do' for first timers...this eliminates Royal Caribbean and Celebrity as they have no permits to enter.

 

Carnival and NCL have very limited access.

 

Princess and HAL have the lions share of permits (of the mass market cruise lines).

[Budget Queen]

 

Carnival and NCL have very limited access.

 

QUOTE]

 

Not true, NCL has two ships, going to Glacier Bay every week, and has had a weekly trip for years.

[Budget Queen]

Hey

 

So I guess I came off wrong when I said I wanted a party ship. I just meant I did not want to get to bed at 8 or 9pm because everything closes down. I am all for excursions and activities in Alaska which is one of the reasons why I wanted to go. Having travelled extensively on land to places like South East Asia and Africa I am a bit curious to know how it will go with cruising and excursion balance. I generally don't go with shore excursions with the cruise line, I find it cheaper if we do it on our own through outside suppliers. Is this true for Alaska as well? Since the demographics are more or less the same on all cruise lines, which ones do you recommend? People who have gone, thoughts on your ship? I generally avoid Carnival, but am open to all the other lines.

 

EXPECT a lot of people in bed starting at 9pm. This is a skewed itinerary- which has massive benefits to early starts.

 

Alaska is rarely much cheaper booking independent tours. The benefit is the direct link with the vendor, smaller groups, longer tours- which are a big plus.

 

You are going to find, your replies will report "their" cruise/line is the best. :) I will still encourage you- first to find out about Alaska. Knowing this- will open up the ability to recognize what you want and what you don't.

 

I have cruised Alaska on all the major lines sailing there, with the exception of Disney. I haven't seen anyone else post they also have. Some people frequently stay with what they have liked in the past, there aren't a lot of mulitple line cruisers that I have noticed. These selections- in my opinion, mean little for "recommendations".

 

First- you need to determine- round trip or one way. A one way is difficult to consider with only 7days- so that may already be determined?

 

With round trip, there is Seattle and Vancouver. Easy to get between the two with time. Round trip Seattle is the least scenic and has the roughest sailing potential. Check the port times- round trip Seattle, has to have the "foreign" port for the Passenger Services Act, which impacts on the overall time for the itinerary.

 

In the overall mix- figure out what activities are your interests- I'm not suggesting you "select" any, but at least, have 3-5 picked out as possibles in each port and verify they will fit.

[soaddictive]

Thanks for all the responses! I will do my research on what I want to see first and foremost and the type of activities I want to invest in. All of you have posted a lot of resources here for which I thank you all. Once I pinpoint an itinerary down I hope that I can figure out the ship next!