Alaska Cruise - NCL vs Princess

[kruzinkimmie]

I am looking to book a cruise in August and right now it is between Princess and NCL.

Any thoughts on the difference? The itineraries are the same so that's not a selling point. Anyone been on both and would recommend one over the other??

 

Thanks!!!

[oaktreerb]

Which itinerary?  Which ship?  Princess has the advantage in relation to experience but both cruise lines have more than one ship sailing Alaska.  Compare time in port.  Princess would have the best dock location in Juneau.  

 

 

[Coral]

I would definitely look at times in port.

 

Princess often docks at Franklin and AJ docks. The Franklin Street dock was the first dock in the world that allowed ships to hook up to the city grid. Princess and Juneau worked together on this which saves energy.

 

So Princess usually gets Franklin dock and also AJ dock which is farther out. I think the walk from these docks is gorgeous and it is not that far.

[Budget Queen]

Look carefully,   Likely the cruise are not the exact same.   🙂    Are you sailing out of Seattle or doing a one way or round trip with Vancouver?     I suggest-   you look carefully and figure out-  before you book,  what touring you are going to do.   Then make sure it is offered on the day you are in port.   

[abbiep]

As far as ships go we have done both round trips out of Seattle. For us Princess is the way to go. They have naturalist and rangers. Loved the staff. They seemed genuinely happy to be on the ship and happy we were on the ship and then there are the puppies. Although I wouldn’t pick Princess just  for the puppies.  They also seem to have more permits to the areas that need permits. One excursion I would highly recommend is the one where you leave the ship and take a small boat that gets really close to the glaciers. It’s on Juneau day. If you are heading into Juneau in the afternoon you will leave the ship before you get to Juneau then meet back up with it in Juneau. If you dock in Juneau in the am you will leave from the dock and then meet back up it’s ship at the glacier