Which ship should I pick for Alaska (decisions, decisions, decisions)

[Pickles61]

Hi,

 

I want to book a trip in August to Alaska and have narrowed it down to 3 ships. If this was a Caribbean cruise I'd know how to pick but this is my first trip to Alaska so I need some help. I'm limited to when I can go as my 17 year old son only has a few weeks off between work and school. I plan on spending a few days in Alaska (before or after the cruise-depends on which cruise).

 

The "sights/glaciers" are important to me, I'd like to see wildlife, since I've never been to Alaska anything we see will be new for us. I've only done limited research into what to do at each port, once I pick the cruise I'll figure out what to do.

 

Thanks for any suggestions :)

 

Star Princess - southbound

Day Port / Date Arrive Depart

0 8/19/2017 Anchorage (Whittier), Alaska* 8:30 PM

1 8/20/2017 Hubbard Glacier, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)* 3:00 PM 8:00 PM

2 8/21/2017 Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)* 9:15 AM 7:30 PM

3 8/22/2017 Skagway, Alaska* 7:00 AM 8:30 PM

4 8/23/2017 Juneau, Alaska* 6:30 AM 4:00 PM

5 8/24/2017 Ketchikan, Alaska* 10:00 AM 6:00 PM

6 8/25/2017 At Sea*

7 8/26/2017 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada* 7:30 AM

 

ms Zaandam - northbound

Day Port Arrive Depart

0 8/20/2017 Vancouver, B.C., CA* 4:30 PM

1 8/21/2017 Scenic Cruising The Inside Passage*CO*

2 8/22/2017 Ketchikan, Alaska, US* 7:00 AM 3:00 PM

3 8/23/2017 Juneau, Alaska, US* 10:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 8/24/2017 Skagway, Alaska, US* 7:00 AM 9:00 PM

5 8/25/2017 Glacier Bay*CO* 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

6 8/26/2017 At Sea*

7 8/27/2017 Seward (Anchorage), Alaska, US* 6:00 AM

 

 

 

ms Noordam - southbound

Day Port Arrive Depart

0 8/20/2017 Seward (Anchorage), Alaska, US* 8:00 PM

1 8/21/2017 At Sea*

2 8/22/2017 Glacier Bay*CO* 10:00 AM 7:00 PM

3 8/23/2017 Haines, Alaska, US* 6:30 AM 9:00 PM

4 8/24/2017 Juneau, Alaska, US* 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

5 8/25/2017 Ketchikan, Alaska, US* 11:00 AM 7:00 PM

6 8/26/2017 Scenic Cruising The Inside Passage*CO*

7 8/27/2017 Vancouver, B.C., CA* 7:00 AM

[AryMay]

Hi,

 

I want to book a trip in August to Alaska and have narrowed it down to 3 ships. If this was a Caribbean cruise I'd know how to pick but this is my first trip to Alaska so I need some help. I'm limited to when I can go as my 17 year old son only has a few weeks off between work and school. I plan on spending a few days in Alaska (before or after the cruise-depends on which cruise).

 

The "sights/glaciers" are important to me, I'd like to see wildlife, since I've never been to Alaska anything we see will be new for us. I've only done limited research into what to do at each port, once I pick the cruise I'll figure out what to do.

 

Thanks for any suggestions :)

 

Star Princess - southbound

Day Port / Date Arrive Depart

0 8/19/2017 Anchorage (Whittier), Alaska* 8:30 PM

1 8/20/2017 Hubbard Glacier, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)* 3:00 PM 8:00 PM

2 8/21/2017 Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska (Scenic Cruising)* 9:15 AM 7:30 PM

3 8/22/2017 Skagway, Alaska* 7:00 AM 8:30 PM

4 8/23/2017 Juneau, Alaska* 6:30 AM 4:00 PM

5 8/24/2017 Ketchikan, Alaska* 10:00 AM 6:00 PM

6 8/25/2017 At Sea*

7 8/26/2017 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada* 7:30 AM

 

ms Zaandam - northbound

Day Port Arrive Depart

0 8/20/2017 Vancouver, B.C., CA* 4:30 PM

1 8/21/2017 Scenic Cruising The Inside Passage*CO*

2 8/22/2017 Ketchikan, Alaska, US* 7:00 AM 3:00 PM

3 8/23/2017 Juneau, Alaska, US* 10:00 AM 10:00 PM

4 8/24/2017 Skagway, Alaska, US* 7:00 AM 9:00 PM

5 8/25/2017 Glacier Bay*CO* 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

6 8/26/2017 At Sea*

7 8/27/2017 Seward (Anchorage), Alaska, US* 6:00 AM

 

 

 

ms Noordam - southbound

Day Port Arrive Depart

0 8/20/2017 Seward (Anchorage), Alaska, US* 8:00 PM

1 8/21/2017 At Sea*

2 8/22/2017 Glacier Bay*CO* 10:00 AM 7:00 PM

3 8/23/2017 Haines, Alaska, US* 6:30 AM 9:00 PM

4 8/24/2017 Juneau, Alaska, US* 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

5 8/25/2017 Ketchikan, Alaska, US* 11:00 AM 7:00 PM

6 8/26/2017 Scenic Cruising The Inside Passage*CO*

7 8/27/2017 Vancouver, B.C., CA* 7:00 AM

 

Any reason you are not considering the Coral Princess northbound? The one-way Princess cruises include TWO glaciers whereas the HAL cruises only visit Glacier Bay. We did the Coral northbound a couple of years ago and I thought College Fjord was just as stunning (if not more) than Glacier Bay...just my opinion.

 

8/19/2017 Vancouver 4:30 pm

8/20/2017 At Sea

8/21/2017 Ketchikan 6:30 am - 2:00 pm

8/22/2017 Juneau 8:00 am - 9:00 pm

8/23/2017 Skagway 7:00 am - 8:30 pm

8/24/2017 Glacier Bay 6:00 am - 3:00 pm

8/25/2017 College Fjord 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

8/26/2017 Whittier 12:30 am (although you don't need to get off the ship until the next morning.)

I have LOTS of photos from our trip on my blog if you are interested. Here is the LINK to the beginning of my trip report...it might give you some ideas of what to do in the ports. We also spent a few days following the cruise in Seward and I covered what we did there as well.

 

We were very fortunate to see an abundance of wildlife, but partly because we were always looking.

 

Our trip was planned as a "once in a lifetime" sort of thing, but we fell in love with Alaska and have another cruise (14 days this time!!) booked for next summer!

 

Good luck on your planning!

[easyboy]

We also took the Princess cruise roundtrip from Seattle. We enjoyed Glacier Bay. Very nice trip blog AryMay and thanks for sharing.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Pickles61]

Any reason you are not considering the Coral Princess northbound? The one-way Princess cruises include TWO glaciers whereas the HAL cruises only visit Glacier Bay. We did the Coral northbound a couple of years ago and I thought College Fjord was just as stunning (if not more) than Glacier Bay...just my opinion.

 

HI,

 

No reason I wasn't looking at Coral Princess, I was looking at the Star Princess because it has Glacier Bay & Hubbard Bay. Is it "better"to go to College Fjord then Glacier Bay? And yes, I like Princess because it does have 2 Glaciers.

 

I have a feeling I'll end up going to Alaska again to see some of the sites I'll miss on my 1st trip.

[AryMay]

HI,

 

Is it "better"to go to College Fjord then Glacier Bay?

 

I have a feeling I'll end up going to Alaska again to see some of the sites I'll miss on my 1st trip.

 

No...College Fjord isn't "better" than Glacier Bay, but on the northbound Coral cruise you get BOTH!! But seeing BOTH Hubbard and Glacier Bay would be equally exciting.

[Pickles61]

Sorry, I meant Hubbard bay not glacier bay. The star princess goes to glacier bay and Hubbard bay the Coral princess to glacier bay and college fjord

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[martincath]

Hmmm - since you mentioned returning again, I'd be inclined to bump the HAL Noordam with Haines up in priority, purely due to the unusual port (Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway are all VERY easy to get to on RTs and one ways - so on a repeat visit you'd have way more flexibility in options that hit Skagway, the only missing one of the Generic Alaskan Port Trio).

 

That said - I'd take any Princess ship over any HAL in a heartbeat (yes it's irrational, on paper the product doesn't vary THAT much, but our one HAL experience was hands-down the worst cruise we've ever taken so it has very much coloured our opinion).

 

With port-intensive itineraries in Alaska though, I think we'd suck up a HAL ship if it meant getting to do a 'new' port for us, if all else were equal though - so I'd still favour the Noordam of these four options.

[AryMay]

Sorry, I meant Hubbard bay not glacier bay. The star princess goes to glacier bay and Hubbard bay the Coral princess to glacier bay and college fjord

 

 

 

I haven't visited Hubbard Glacier (yet) so can't say whether it is "better" than College Fjord. What I can say is that I enjoyed seeing the contrast between the glaciers in College Fjord compared to what we saw in Glacier Bay.

 

The glaciers in College Fjord were smaller, but were impressive to see cascading down the mountain side by side.

 

 

In comparison, Margerie Glacier (in Glacier Bay) was awe-inspiring due to its sheer size.

 

 

 

 

Good luck on your decision...either way you can't go wrong!

[Coral]

Sorry, I meant Hubbard bay not glacier bay. The star princess goes to glacier bay and Hubbard bay the Coral princess to glacier bay and college fjord

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

The Star and Coral does the same itinerary. Just realize it is different when going North compared to South. Going North it goes to GB and College Fiords. Going South it goes to GB and Hubbard.

 

I would also choose the Coral over the Star.

 

In 2018, Island Princess is doing a different itinerary one direction.

[TheCalicoCat]

Hmmm - since you mentioned returning again, I'd be inclined to bump the HAL Noordam with Haines up in priority, purely due to the unusual port (Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway are all VERY easy to get to on RTs and one ways - so on a repeat visit you'd have way more flexibility in options that hit Skagway, the only missing one of the Generic Alaskan Port Trio).

 

 

For this part I agree 100% (Caveat: Haines is now on my bucket list & my 3rd AK cruise will include it.)

 

But we LOVED HAL. (We were 30/40 somethings with a 4.5 year old on our first HAL cruise.)

 

Our next AK cruise will be on HAL 14-nights, so there wasn't any other cruise line to compare with that itinerary.

 

I'm not sure if Explore4 is still being offered on HAL, but with it we got a free drinks package. (you son may be a soda drinker...)

[mamasylvia]

Of the ships you listed, I too would take the Princess because of the 2 glaciers. I have read that for Alaska cruises, the itinerary is the most important and ship amenties are a distant second consideration, and Glacier Bay is a must-see. So seeing Glacier *and* another glacier would cinch it for me.

[NancyIL]

I would choose a southbound Princess cruise. You can see College Fjord from a small boat cruise out of Whittier, but you need to be on a cruise ship to see Hubbard Glacier.

[Sequim88]

Is it "better"to go to College Fjord then Glacier Bay?

 

Done both. Apples and Oranges but both very tasty, ;) I was far more impressed overall with College Fjord. Especially because HAL's Veendam was small enough to get very close to Harvard Glacier where it was actively calving. But the biggest impression over all was the rows of glaciers cascading (slowly) down the mountains and the waterfalls at their terminus. If there is any chance to do BOTH I would say go for it if you want glaciers.