Discovery Princess Alaska - Vancouver to Seattle

[ChanaC]

We're looking at potentially booking our first Princess cruise, our second one to Alaska (first was with Royal). One of the dates we are looking at is April 30th, which seems to have a bit of a unique route. It's on the Discovery Princess and it leaves out of Vancouver and returns into Seattle. This is interesting to us because it's hard to fly in and out of Vancouver (we're in the US), so with this route we would only need to do it once and then we can hopefully fine an easier flight home out of Seattle. 

 

Has anyone done this route before? It says there are two sea days to and from Alaska, but they don't indicate if either would be through the inside passage and be scenic, although on the map (attached) it looks like the return sea day back south might be scenic. Anything we should know as a pro or con to this route that may not be obvious before we book? Personally I like that we wouldn't have to "waste" a day in Victoria (it's a lovely city but with so little time in the port it doesn't feel worth it). Also, it looks like Discovery Princess it brand new. Has anyone sailed on her, especially in Alaska, and have any thoughts? And if I'm not asking too many questions (sorry in advance lol) anyone have any thoughts about how Royal and Princess compare? It seems like Princess is more of an Alaska "expert", and will have more nature and culture talks on board, which is better than Royal which had none, to my disappointment. 

 

[JeffT237]

40 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

Also, it looks like Discovery Princess it brand new. Has anyone sailed on her, especially in Alaska, and have any thoughts?

We just sailed on the Discovery in October on the California Coastal itinerary.  We really liked the ship, the service was great as well as the food.  We don't typically eat at the buffet but we has a few lunches and breakfasts there and thought the quality was good.  We typically sail on cruise lines newer ships and the Discovery did  not disappoint.

 

40 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

Has anyone done this route before? It says there are two sea days to and from Alaska, but they don't indicate if either would be through the inside passage and be scenic, although on the map (attached) it looks like the return sea day back south might be scenic

We have not sailed this route however and keep in mind it's other cruisers opinions, many seem to not favor the Royal class ships for Alaska.  The reason I'm told is they are too big to do the true inside passage which is east of Vancouver Island.  Another common complaint I hear for the Royal class ships is the lack of a wrap around promenade deck and other viewing areas for Alaska.  After sailing the Discovery I could see the argument.  My personal opinion only, as much as I enjoyed the Discovery on the CA Coastal I probably would not sail it to Alaska.  There is another itinerary map on the Princess web site that specifically shows the route of the Royal class ships out of Vancouver that indicate they go west of Vancouver Island.  Our next Alaska cruise we're planning for 2024 we are looking at only ships on princess and other lines that travel the true inside passage.  This does limit us to older smaller ships but the trade off for the scenery is what is important to us.

 

40 minutes ago, ChanaC said:

And if I'm not asking too many questions (sorry in advance lol) anyone have any thoughts about how Royal and Princess compare? It seems like Princess is more of an Alaska "expert", and will have more nature and culture talks on board, which is better than Royal which had none, to my disappointment. 

We did sail the Crown to Alaska last May and Princess did have the rangers on board, an Alaska specific dining menu as well as the puppies in the Piazza program. We did not attend any lectures but they were scheduled.  As far as a comparison we found Princess and RCI to be very similar as far as food, service, staff, fellow passengers etc.  We prefer the entertainment on RCI over Princess but not sure it really makes a difference on an Alaskan cruise.  We really liked the Princess Plus program, great value for everything you get as opposed to RCI's prices for beverage package, wifi, etc.  Also I liked how Princess has set pricing for add ons as opposed to RCI's dynamic pricing.  Hope that helps, enjoy!

[ChanaC]

Awesome, thank you this is very helpful! Unfortunately we are limited on times to really that first week of May, which limits our options in general. One of the other options is Brilliance of the Seas which is a smaller ship and might have a better inside passage route, and two Holland America ships, one from Vancouver that goes east of the island and one from Seattle that goes west. But Princess does look promising! At this point I think we just need to price all the options out.