Cruising Alaska - RCCL/Celebrity vs Princess or Holland America......

[zdad59]

My group is beginning to consider our 2018 group cruise. we generally think we want to do Alaska, with a 3-4 day land portion as well. Our travel agent says don't consider Royal Caribbean or their upscale sister Celebrity if we want to do a land portion as well. He says Princess or Holland America, since they own and run their lodges in Alaska are a much better choice.

 

There is a lot of RCL knowledge and experience on this board. I am interested in your thoughts and experiences with an Alaska Cruisetour. we usually book while on board, and we travel on Adventure OTS in mid February. Now RCL wont have their Alaska itineraries for 2018 out by that time but we'll still talk with the NextCrusie folks.

[negc]

We have done cruise tours with both Princess and Royal Caribbean and while both offer a superior experience, we were considerably happier with our RCI cruise tour for several reasons: the tour in Denali with Princess was the limited Natural History tour while the RCI tour we chose offered the Tundra Wilderness Tour which took us deeper into Denali and showed us much more wildlife including a mother bear with her two cubs who actually walked past our bus and down the road as we watched in amazement. RCI tour was fully escorted which was not the case with the Princess tour, and included several land tours which matched what Princess also included. Some of the properties that RCI used to lodge its guests were IMO superior to the Princess-owned properties. (Specifically the property used by RCI in Fairbanks and the Talkeetna Lodge in that little Alaskan community.) Princess put us up in the Captain Cook in Anchorage while RCI used the Marriott Downtown Anchorage - both good properties close to good restaurants and sites of interest. Our RCI tour guide and bus driver were with us for the whole land journey and added immeasurably to our enjoyment of that part of the trip. An added feature of our RCI experience, and one that I am not sure is available through Princess, was the ability to upgrade from the coach transfer from Anchorage to the ship to the Alaska RR train which was a highlight of our trip. Equipment on the train cars used by both lines was similar although on our Princess trip the seating arrangement had two people facing backward towards two people facing forward with a table in between. Much preferred the forward facing arrangement of all seats on the RCI train cars.

Both lines offer a good product but we thought that Royal Caribbean's beat Princess' hands down.

[WisconsinFan]

We did HAL, no land so can't comment on that. We chose them because we wanted to get to Glacier Bay. Limited permits are granted to Glacier Bay, HAL and Princess get the majority of the permits. Something to consider. Very happy with our trip, and we had kids along.

 

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[davis0056]

We've cruised Alaska eight times, using Princess (wouldn't use them again), Celebrity (in last time in 2016) and HAL. Hands down HAL was best (elegant, yet friendly service, excellent food). We weren't on the newest HAL ships, but all were well maintained. We like the smaller ships up in Alaska because they can get into smaller ports, like Homer and Kodiak.

Edited January 15, 2017 by davis0056
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[Gradelady]

Have done both princess and Celebrity. Both with land tours. A three day land tour may limit your ability to do the tundra wilderness tour just because of travel time to Denali with either company. Liked the lodge in Denali much more with Princess than with Celebrity. For Talkeetna, I think the lodge Celebrity offered was better, but the princess one was nice.Our five day land tour (Celebrity)also offered us a fabulous stay at Alyeska ski resort which was outstanding. Preferred embarkation on Celebrity (Seward) to Princess (Whittier). Food and drink was MUcH better on Celebrity. Princess did offer Glacier Bay which we loved! Celebrity took us to Hoonah, which we liked very much! So, it's good and bad with both. Did enjoy having the guide who was with us for the whole land tour on Celebrity...she was amazing! Also, we had same bus driver throughout.

[LisaT91403]

How do you know if a ship goes to Glacier Bay? Is that listed as a "port" when you are checking itineraries? Or is there another way to tell?

 

We have the same question as the OP. We are D/D+ on Royal, but are not sure they are the best way to go to Alaska.

[thinfool]

How do you know if a ship goes to Glacier Bay? Is that listed as a "port" when you are checking itineraries? Or is there another way to tell?

 

We have the same question as the OP. We are D/D+ on Royal, but are not sure they are the best way to go to Alaska.

 

No RCL or Celebrity ship goes to Glacier Bay. They have no permits to enter the National Park.

 

HAL, Princess, Carnival, NCL, Oceana and possibly Crystal have permits and available sailings for GB.

[kalliekae]

We also cruised HAL to Alaska and had a wonderful cruise. We did not do the land tour, but I've read where HAL opened a new land resort and the pics look very nice. We had read that HAL and Princess obtain the majority of the Glacier Bay permits so we chose HAL. We also enjoyed having a Ranger join the cruise and provide commentary as we cruised Glacier Bay.

 

Our friends went on Princess this past summer and were bored to tears. They said the ship was dead after 10pm. They were the only ones in the bar one night and said they would never sail Princess again. They had a land/sea cruise tour and thought the Princess lodge was ok, but nothing out of the ordinary. All things considered, we would enjoy going back to Alaska and we would take a Royal ship next time.

[WisconsinFan]

Glacier Bay will show on itinerary as scenic cruising.

 

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[negc]

Our Princess cruise had Glacier Bay on its itinerary, while our RCI cruise obviously did not, but I really didn't feel its absence detracted from our enjoyment of the cruise or our appreciation of the wonders of Alaska. Hubbard Glacier more than compensated for the absence of Glacier Bay. We will be returning to Alaska this June on Radiance of the Seas and looking forward to it with great anticipation.:)

[LisaT91403]

Glacier Bay will show on itinerary as scenic cruising.

 

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Okay, I will look for that!

 

We also would have our kiddo with us (who will be either 9 or 10 at the time of sailing), and I know he enjoys Adventure Ocean. I'm worried about Princess or HAL, as if he doesn't want to go to the club at night, I'm not sure what there would be for him to do.

[zdad59]

Thanks for some great topical discussion. From what I am seeing, I should not count RCL or Celebrity out, and also consider HAL.

[Gradelady]

If you have the time, consider doing a longer cruisetour than three days. Three days was just not enough!

[zdad59]

If you have the time, consider doing a longer cruisetour than three days. Three days was just not enough!

 

I'd love to, but in our group of 6, I am the only one retired. The others are stretching it when doing 11 days

[cookiersmom]

We did a 6 day land tour w/ Celebrity and most of it was good. As someone else said, the hotel at Talkeetna was wonderful. The one at Denali was horrible. At Denali, the "owned" Princess hotel is right in town, the horrible lodge we stayed at w/ Celebrity was quite far from town, needed $15 shuttle to get there. The restaurant at the lodge was a disaster, and the rooms not much better. BUT, we did like everything else, including our driver and guide and the train cars were terrific. We optimized the tour we chose for 3 train legs, from Fairbanks to Denali, Denali to Talkeetna and Talkeetna to Anchorage. Also, Hubbard glacier was amazing, and Hoonah is pretty much only available to RCI/Celebrity ships.