Celebrity Summit with four stops or Island Princess with three stops

[lovethecaribbean31]

I am trying to decide between two one way cruises: the Celebrity Summit which has four cruise stops-Sitka, Skagway, Juneau, and Icy Strait; with cruising of the inside passage and Hubbard or Island Princess with stops in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketichikan, and cruising of Glacier Bay and College Fjords.

 

So with Summit I get one more port day, but see the Hubbard Glacier instead of Glacier Bay (is it true that Glacier Bay is more spectacular than Hubbard?)

 

With Island I go to Glacier Bay and to Ketchikan (I really want to do a bear excursion), but have one less port day.

 

I can't make up my mind. Please help! Thanks so much!

[TravelnAl]

Did the trip on the Island this past June. Glacier Bay is spectacular and would recommend that you don't miss it. Haven't seen Hubbard so I can't give you a comparison.

[flashdog_1]

Are you going to go on any excursion that will take you on a glacier? Like a walk on a glacier, or dog sledding on a glacier. Either of those will give you good really close up views of glaciers galore.

 

I ask because some people say Glacier Bay is not to be missed. Also, I've read that occasionally a ship is unable to make its glacier viewing because of too much ice in the water, so a trip with two glaciers is a better bet (Princess) since if one were cancelled you'd be able to see the other.

 

if you will be leaving from Seward, arrive a couple of days early, not only to catch up from jet lag and the time difference, but so you can take the Kenai fjords national park trip where you will see more glaciers from a small boat that can get up closer.

 

The newest port of call on Celebrity, Icy Strait Point, is not offered on Princess and is really a high point of any cruise that goes there, because it is unspoiled, not at all like the tourist traps in the other ports. It is the feeding ground for whales, and there are bears there, too (and excursions to do both). No guarantees in either case, though. We thought we'd see them both there and saw neither, but really, really enjoyed talking to the "natives" there.

 

Please read my review to help you decide. I was on Summit out of Seward (and you see glaciers on the way from Anchorage to Seward, too) and we visited Glacier Bay. Go to the blue line at the top of Cruise Critic and click Reviews. Put in Summit, then member reviews, and see July 05 Flashdog_1. On our cruise we visited Ketchikan, not Sitka, which it will be next year. I think the northbound out of Vancouver next year goes to Ketchikan and not Sitka.

 

Then do the same for the Princess ship you are thinking of sailing.

[SEPyle]

Any answer you receive will be a very subjective viewpoint, so here's mine: We sailed on the 5/20/05 Summit and loved it and Alaska so much we're going back next year! A biggie for me was to choose Grlacier Bay or stay with the Summit. I actually held space on the Island Princess and thought we would be going that route next year. Then after much comparring and contemplation, we decided to stay with the Summit. What can I say...I love Celebrity! But here are some other reasons we've decided to not jump ship...sorry for the pun:) .

 

This year we chose the flight seeing excursion out of Icy Strait to view Glacier Bay. To say the trip was amazing was an understatement! I know others will say it's not like seeing the glaciers up front and from the ship is the way to go, but I loved being able to see the whole path from the air! It was an expensive excursion, but everythings expensive in Alaska, right??? A big reason we're going back on the Summit though is because of Icy Strait. It's hard to put into words, but all I can say, it was the highlight of our trip!

 

We're going to be on the Northbound Summit next year and a big change will be that she'll be visiting Sitka on Northbound itineraries next year. Here's another reason we're staying with the Summit. I also like the idea of ending up in Seward as we want to spend time in this great area after the cruise!

 

Good luck with your decision...

 

Sharon

 

In case you want to view some of my pics, here the link:

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/sepyle

[CruiseIsGood]

I can't help at all. I thought Hubbard was spectacular and Sitka was a great little town. I also thought Glacier Bay was very pretty and really like College Fjord. It's all good!

[Cruisehiker]

indeed everything is personal and here are my views having done the glacier bay itinerary this july, and have been reading about the hubbard one to help me decide a route for next summer. for me the awesome feature of glacier bay (where on Dawn Princess we had almost a whole day) and College Fjord (even more spectacular than GB for me) was being completely surrounded by high mountains and alpine glaciers. the tidewater glaciers were also spectacular although we were disappointed to see no calving - this cant be relied on anywhere I guess. I get the impression that hubbard is at least as good in terms of seeing a tidewater glacier but perhaps less so for the 'surroundview' effect of the mountains. one disappointment for me about both GB and CF was limited marine or shore mammals. the marine life is better when you hit the Icy Straight - we saw lots of whales spouting here which was fantastic. Of course you can take shore excursions from Juneau but its also nice to see large numbers from the deck (where you have of course a great vantage point). Both ships will go through Icy Straight but perhaps those berthing at icy Point spend longer there? If marine life is important this might tilt it but you could always take an excursion from Juneau, which seemed from my ship conversations to be the best spot for them.

 

On towns I found skagway and ketchikan to be kind of similar - both fascinating mining era survivals but one would have done me fine. Personally I am happy to trade time in towns/excursions for being in wild places so I think glacier bay/college fjord is tops. On either trip you might want to consider what we did in Skagway which was to hire a car and drive into Yukon for amazing scenery.

[robbinsca]

We went on Summit in July, 2004. I haven't been on the Princess line, or seen Glacier Bay.

 

That being said, I think my favorite stop along the way was at Ice Straits Point. It was not as commercial as many of the other stops. The beauty of the land and sea there was spectacular. We had already been to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan and were tired of the same tourist districts.

 

And then......we couldn't say enough nice things about our Summit experience. We will be frequenting them again!

[JPCruising]

I can only speak about the Summit because that was what I was on last June 04' and would agree with the other posters about Icy Strait. If you would like to see photographs of my trip including Icy Strait and Hubbard Glacier I have posted 207 photos broken up into 13 chapters on my photo website: www.jprphotos.com just click on the Alaska album and please let me know what you think by signing my guest book.

[Host Caroline]

IMHO only if you are not sure you will be going back to Alaska (but you will.... you will fall in love with the place..) .. hands down the Princess ship.. I agree that Icy Strait Point has been a boon for Celebrity BUT you don't want to miss College Fjord and Glacier Bay.. just simply can't....

[Coral]

Definitely Princess - Glacier Bay and College Fiords are going to be your 2 best days!

 

I consider it is a plus that Princess offers you 2 glaicer days. Celebrity would love to go to Glacier bay but they are unable to get the permits.