Radiance or Coral Princess for Alaska

[bioengr]

We're planning our first AK cruise in late June '14. We (2 early 50s adults + 2 young adult kids) have cruised twice before, both times (Caribbean and Europe) on RCCL. We enjoyed both but would like to try other lines at some point. Just not at the expense of a bad experience. We are going to do a Southbound itinerary, spending a few days on land prior to departure. I really like the Coral Princess itinerary... particularly having both Hubbard and Glacier Bay. Cost is about the same. I totally get the comments about "choose the AK cruise by itinerary" but since an AK cruise is less about the ship activities, it seems the stateroom quality and food become even more important. Should we try Princess for this AK trip or try another line on a future cruise?

[lakelorain]

We elected to go on the Radiance because of all the views. You won't miss any of the beauty of Alaska on a ship that has so many windows. The travel channel has an old show(reruns are on often) about the Radiance in Alaska.

[dplusd]

I haven't cruised Alaska yet, so this is not from first hand experience. But, I have researched Alaska and in my opinion Princess offers better itineraries.

 

Since the cruise experience on Princess and RCCL is very similar, we will probably sail Princess to Alaska. One thing to be aware of, Princess standard balcony room is smaller than RCCL, especially the category D balcony that we sail. When we cruise Princess we choose to go with a Junior Suite, but on Royal a category D balcony is fine for us.

[uncleah]

Having gone with both, I don't expect you will have a problem with either. We did love Glacier Bay so that might be a consideration. We prefer the Southbound cruise as you have chosen.

 

Getting their early is good too. If you are going to be in Anchorage I'd suggest a visit to the cultural center outside of town. It was very interesting. We had time to do a heli ride out to a glacier and flew up to Barrow for a day.

 

Alaska is quite an experience. You will love it whichever ship you chose.

[hollon]

Even though I like rccl better than princess, for alaska I would pick princess so that you can see glacier bay.

[beachnative]

The Coral Princess has two fantastic covered public balconies that stretch across the entire aft. Although we had a huge, extended balcony with our Caribe deck cabin, we would go to the aft public balcony with a bottle of wine in the evening, stretch out on a lounger with a lap blanket, and watch the scenery drift by. It was magical. The bonus was that the rain or drizzle never touched us.

 

We are doing Alaska on the Rhapsody this August and the Radiance in 2014 but neither will touch the pleasure of the Coral's public aft balcony.

 

There is also a public balcony at the bow.

 

The Coral Princess has public laundries.

 

Glacier Bay was fantastic.

 

I hope this helps.

[Love2Dance4Me!]

We took the Island Princess (Coral Princess sister ship) in Sept 2008 and LOVED the cruise and the land portion. We sailed northbound and then took the train to the Princess McKinley, Princess Denali and finally the Princess Fairbanks lodges. The transfers, train, luggage handling, room key distribution was all first class. We never touched our luggage once we got off the ship. Our bags were in our rooms when we arrived and picked up from the door when we departed. Princess has it's own train cars and everyone was assigned a car and seat so there was no need to jockey for seats. Everything was very very well organized. I can't speak for RCL's Alaska cruisetour because we have not done one, but I can't imagine it being better than Princess. The Princess ships are not as grand as RCL but we were just on Island Princess again in Dec for a partial transit of the Panama Canal and the ship was in good shape and was not showing it's age.

[Love2Dance4Me!]

Forgot to add to my post above, Glacier Bay is the highlight of the cruise. There is only one ship allowed in the bay per day (when we were there, things may have changed now) and the ship just pivoted on itself turning around so we never had to move from our observation area. We also had a balcony but we spent the day up on the top deck with everyone else. Nothing can compare to Glacier Bay.

[Markanddonna]

There are only two ships allowed in Glacier Bay each day. Holland and Princess has 80% of the permits. I saw that the Pearl also is there. I heard the RCL has no permits but don't know if that is really true. It is unfairly (IMHO) based on seniority.

[Cruzin-K]

Alaska is still on my list of must do cruises. I'm waiting until I can afford a 14 or 15 night cruise tour and if itineraries are the same way they are now, in a few years I'll be going on Princess. I want to see Glacier Bay, and based on all the reviews on CC, Princess seems to do a better job with the land portion of the trip. I like both lines, and certainly prefer RCI for Caribbean cruises but for Alaska I'd lean towards Princess.

[Beach4me]

Choose by port preferences or you'll be disappointed. "I wish we would have seen...in Alaska". Then don't compare the ship to RCCL while you're aboard - leave that for future cruise decisions.

 

Personally, I prefer RCCL. I've done Alaska on both Princess and RCCL. Radiance class ships are my favorite ships at sea. My Radiance Alaska trip was the best cruise out of the 51 I've taken. The Radiance class ships were built for Alaska itineraries (hence, all the glass).

 

Of the Princess ships, Island/Coral are my favorite ships. I was glad to see you were considering Coral if you were considering Princess.

 

Glacier Bay is beautiful and I wish that RCCL hadn't blown it so they aren't allowed in. I also love Sitka. And, RCCL doesn't do it any more, either. (The last Radiance Alaska voyage I was on was the last call at Sitka.)

 

I do want to add that RCCL does call at Icy Strait Point. They offer some trips that go into the mouth of Glacier Bay. I have taken some absolutely wonderful trips in Icy Strait Point. Beautiful scenery, lots of whales (orcas and humpbacks). Absolutely gorgeous. But, if you call at ISP, you do need to take a trip because there's not a lot to do at the port.

 

Alaska is one of the places that is about the ports first and foremost. So, compare ports, port times, etc and go with the one that delivers the most of your desires. It's Alaska. It think it would be pretty difficult to go wrong. :)

 

Enjoy!

[Beach4me]

There are only two ships allowed in Glacier Bay each day. Holland and Princess has 80% of the permits. I saw that the Pearl also is there. I heard the RCL has no permits but don't know if that is really true. It is unfairly (IMHO) based on seniority.

 

Unfortunately, RCCL brought this upon themselves. They discharged wastewater from a couple of their ships in both 2008 and 2009. You can't do that in Glacier Bay!!!!! They also violated some air quality standards several times during those 2 years, too. All that added up to a ban from Glacier Bay. I don't know when/if the ban is scheduled to be revisited. But I'd love to cruise GB on the Radiance!

[Canard]

Unfortunately, RCCL brought this upon themselves. They discharged wastewater from a couple of their ships in both 2008 and 2009. You can't do that in Glacier Bay!!!!! They also violated some air quality standards several times during those 2 years, too. All that added up to a ban from Glacier Bay. I don't know when/if the ban is scheduled to be revisited. But I'd love to cruise GB on the Radiance!

 

Now I heard this story as well, but one part of it doesn't make sense to me. If you Google ANY of the major cruise lines (including Princess), you get a number of stories about all of them being caught discharging waste water in Glacier Bay at one time or another. However the penalties listed for all the other cruise lines were only fines, so why would RCI get a complete ban (with no end date) for doing exactly the same thing? I think that the seniority thing with the cruise lines who have been in Alaska longer getting the preferential treatment is probably the deciding factor on who gets permits rather than any past transgressions.

[bioengr]

Thanks everyone for the honest and helpful comments. In particular, the comments on itinerary. We chose the Coral Princess based on itinerary. Looking forward to comparing it to our RCCL cruises.

[H2Go]

I came upon your thread while doing research for my first RCI cruise...

 

You've made a great decision, and I hope you have a wonderful time.

 

I've done the Southbound Coral twice, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. For me, the itinerary was definitely the deciding factor. I HAD to see Glacier Bay, and it didn't disappoint.

 

Just make sure that you have a lot of room on your SD cards. Between the humpbacks on the way into GB and the calving glaciers, I took close to 100 pictures each time I was there.