28-day Alaska Cruise - looking for the Princess news release

[Ken the cruiser]

I recently saw a Princess news release “somewhere” about an awesome 28-day Alaska cruise (itinerary date yet to be determined) that Princess is planning to offer that among other places goes up into the Bering Sea as well as to Kodiak, Homer and other seldom visited Alaska ports. If someone remembers seeing this particular article, could you please post a link to it or at least point me in the right direction. I’ve done all kinds of internet searches and can’t seem to find it again. Thanks!

[Ken the cruiser]

My DW just reminded me where we saw it. We each recently got a Princess survey asking us a variety of questions. Based on my specific answers, which were different in some cases than hers, the survey asked me what I thought about this 28-day Alaska cruise, which I of course said it sounded awesome and gave it a 10.

 

Now I’m just curious. Did any of you reading this thread get a similar survey, and if so, did you see a reference to this extra long Alaska itinerary as well? 

[PacnGoNow]

25 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

My DW just reminded me where we saw it. We each recently got a Princess survey asking us a variety of questions. Based on my specific answers, which were different in some cases than hers, the survey asked me what I thought about this 28-day Alaska cruise, which I of course said it sounded awesome and gave it a 10.

 

Now I’m just curious. Did any of you reading this thread get a similar survey, and if so, did you see a reference to this extra long Alaska itinerary as well? 

Yes, but it is confidential. 
End of discussion.

 

[R**T]

Holland America.  June 2024,  Nome.  Kodiak.  Dutch Harbor.  Summer Solstice.

[beg3yrs]

6 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, but it is confidential. 
End of discussion.

 

Maybe OP has experience with the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

[PacnGoNow]

17 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

Maybe OP has experience with the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

You’re bad! 🙄

[Ken the cruiser]

9 hours ago, R**T said:

Holland America.  June 2024,  Nome.  Kodiak.  Dutch Harbor.  Summer Solstice.

Their itinerary looked very similar to the one we saw on the survey. In fact we would have probably booked that one if it wasn’t for it being a HAL cruise. Even though we’re 4 star, their lack of quality production shows and guess entertainment and professional speakers on their longer cruises turned us off to them back around 2017 when they implemented their Music Walk strategy.

 

But that itinerary does look awesome, especially if you enjoy longer 3-4 week cruises like we do. 😁

[startedwithamouse]

11 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

My DW just reminded me where we saw it. We each recently got a Princess survey asking us a variety of questions. Based on my specific answers, which were different in some cases than hers, the survey asked me what I thought about this 28-day Alaska cruise, which I of course said it sounded awesome and gave it a 10.

 

Now I’m just curious. Did any of you reading this thread get a similar survey, and if so, did you see a reference to this extra long Alaska itinerary as well? 

We took a confidential survey too.  And we don't talk about it or post about it. 

[sirclean]

not 28 days, and perhaps I didnt look for anything longer.  Here is a link to an interesting looking HAL cruise:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/A4L14A/I434.html

 

IF It were Princess, it would be a no brainer (as I have elite status on Princess, but no status on HAL). 

[Ken the cruiser]

11 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, but it is confidential. 
End of discussion.

 

 

8 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

We took a confidential survey too.  And we don't talk about it or post about it. 

I’m sorry. Where did it say we could not mention what questions we encountered in the survey? I get why Princess said they wouldn’t share our answers. But where specifically did it say I couldn’t mention one of the itineraries we saw?

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

I’m sorry. Where did it say we could not mention what questions we encountered in the survey? I get why Princess said they wouldn’t share our answers. But where specifically did it say I couldn’t mention one of the itineraries we saw?

It said it on the first page. Strictly confidential.

 

[geocruiser]

I would love a longer Alaskan cruise.  We did a 14 night one once and it was great.

[beg3yrs]

12 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes, but it is confidential. 
End of discussion.

 

 

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

We took a confidential survey too.  And we don't talk about it or post about it. 

 

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

It said it on the first page. Strictly confidential.

 

Despite my silly comment earlier, a company sending you an email and asking you to keep it and/or your answers confidential can't really expect the receiver to honor that request unless there has been some kind of formal agreement. This is usually called a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and that then becomes a legally binding civil document. Sometimes they'll insist you agreed to the request by clicking through to the next page but it's easily defensible in a jury trial. That said, the receiver may from their own background and character honor the request but really doesn't have to.

 

IMHO the survey does two things for Princess. 1) It gets them some information as to what new itineraries might sell well and .. 2) It generates "buzz" on Cruise Critic and other similar social media sites.

Edited April 28, 2023 by beg3yrs
Deleted redundant wording.

[cruisingrob21]

2 hours ago, sirclean said:

not 28 days, and perhaps I didnt look for anything longer.  Here is a link to an interesting looking HAL cruise:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/A4L14A/I434.html

 

IF It were Princess, it would be a no brainer (as I have elite status on Princess, but no status on HAL). 

Today's HAL is quite similar to Princess from 10 years ago - especially their Pinnacle class ships which feel like an evolutionary mix of Vista class ships and Princess Grand Class ships, in my opinion anyway.

 

We sailed to Alaska last year on the Eurodam and 3 comedians and a few game shows at night was NOT the HAL I remembered in the 2000s and 2010s.  There were activities past 10pm!  I'm joking a bit, but its true that I didn't remember much later evening night life on HAL voyages 5 years ago.

[Coral]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Their itinerary looked very similar to the one we saw on the survey. In fact we would have probably booked that one if it wasn’t for it being a HAL cruise. Even though we’re 4 star, their lack of quality production shows and guess entertainment and professional speakers on their longer cruises turned us off to them back around 2017 when they implemented their Music Walk strategy.

 

But that itinerary does look awesome, especially if you enjoy longer 3-4 week cruises like we do. 😁

I have to say my last 2 longer Princess cruises (since COVID) have been severely lacking in entertainment and speakers.

[Ken the cruiser]

39 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have to say my last 2 longer Princess cruises (since COVID) have been severely lacking in entertainment and speakers.

Sorry to hear that. For us we have found it all depends on the itinerary and believe it or not the assigned cruise director. On the Panama Canal cruise we went on last May on the Caribbean Princess, we had a great time! They had a very entertaining lecturer who talked on 10 different subject areas associated with outer space. The production shows as well as the guest entertainers were all top notch, for the most part. We really enjoyed the Rock and Roll Show!
 

We then went on the 21-day Love Boat cruise on the Regal, which was packed with young adults, and of course the filming of the various first season episodes of the New Love Boat TV series. But the theater shows were very entertaining and our CD, Dan France, was also top notch performer, which also makes for a fun cruise. We definitely laughed a lot at the game shows every night. They even had a British lecturer that spoke on each sea day, even though our cruise was actually 3 different 7-day cruises and only us old folks would show up to watch. 😂

 

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

I’m sorry. Where did it say we could not mention what questions we encountered in the survey? I get why Princess said they wouldn’t share our answers. But where specifically did it say I couldn’t mention one of the itineraries we saw?

 

4 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

It said it on the first page. Strictly confidential.

 

Often happens with surveys where company is known.  They probably don't want competition aware this is something they are considering.  

[Coral]

48 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Sorry to hear that. For us we have found it all depends on the itinerary and believe it or not the assigned cruise director. On the Panama Canal cruise we went on last May on the Caribbean Princess, we had a great time! They had a very entertaining lecturer who talked on 10 different subject areas associated with outer space. The production shows as well as the guest entertainers were all top notch, for the most part. We really enjoyed the Rock and Roll Show!
 

We then went on the 21-day Love Boat cruise on the Regal, which was packed with young adults, and of course the filming of the various first season episodes of the New Love Boat TV series. But the theater shows were very entertaining and our CD, Dan France, was also top notch performer, which also makes for a fun cruise. We definitely laughed a lot at the game shows every night. They even had a British lecturer that spoke on each sea day, even though our cruise was actually 3 different 7-day cruises and only us old folks would show up to watch. 😂

 

Honestly - on my last 2 cruises, it wouldn't have mattered who the CD was. There literally was very few entertainers on the ship. They can't pull them out of a hat - they have to be on the ship to perform. And then the production show dancers got sick, etc.... One of the cruises was a 16 night TA.

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Coral

[Ken the cruiser]

29 minutes ago, Coral said:

Honestly - on my last 2 cruises, it wouldn't have mattered who the CD was. There literally was very few entertainers on the ship. They can't pull them out of a hat - they have to be on the ship to perform. And then the production show dancers got sick, etc.... One of the cruises was a 16 night TA.

That’s too bad, and hopefully you’ll have a lot more fun on your cruises in the near future. In our case we’re currently on the Celebrity Eclipse on a 33-day TP from Sydney to Vancouver by way of Hawaii, and so far there has been a wide variety of entertainment. I’ve got a Live From thread going on over on that forum if anyone is interested in seeing what it’s like.

[Ken the cruiser]

53 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

Often happens with surveys where company is known.  They probably don't want competition aware this is something they are considering.  

I just checked the survey emails we received and there was no reference to the survey being strictly confidential. But unfortunately when we clicked on the link, it had expired or recognized we had completed the survey and didn’t take us to the first page. In any event, neither my DW nor I remember reading that we were swore to secrecy with regards to what the survey contained. 
 

But rest assured if we ever get another one and we see that specific statement, our lips will be sealed! 😉

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Today's HAL is quite similar to Princess from 10 years ago - especially their Pinnacle class ships which feel like an evolutionary mix of Vista class ships and Princess Grand Class ships, in my opinion anyway.

 

We sailed to Alaska last year on the Eurodam and 3 comedians and a few game shows at night was NOT the HAL I remembered in the 2000s and 2010s.  There were activities past 10pm!  I'm joking a bit, but its true that I didn't remember much later evening night life on HAL voyages 5 years ago.

We like going to production shows and special guest entertainment in the evenings in the main theater, laugh at game shows every night, and go to 1-2 lectures/port talks on sea days. HAL just doesn’t do that with any consistency any more. They used to, though, before they implemented their Music Walk strategy on most of their ships. We had a great time on an Antarctica cruise on the Zaandam in 2018 and on the Maasdam in 2019 when we circumnavigated Australia! But that was then.

 

This is why we still very much enjoy booking long Princess and Celebrity cruises. And, yes, even an NCL cruise if the itinerary is super awesome like the 38-day one to Africa we just went on. So, fingers crossed Princess continues to provide awesome 3-5 week itineraries to unique locations! 😁

[donaldsc]

9 hours ago, sirclean said:

not 28 days, and perhaps I didnt look for anything longer.  Here is a link to an interesting looking HAL cruise:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise/A4L14A/I434.html

 

IF It were Princess, it would be a no brainer (as I have elite status on Princess, but no status on HAL). 

 

I pick my cruises based on itinerary and port times and not on status.  I have never been able to figure out why people let their status on a cruise line have so much influence on who they cruise with. 

 

To answer the OP and not Sirclean, Hurtigruten has a cruise that might fit their needs although not 28 days - https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-us/expeditions/cruises/inside-passage-bears-and-aleutian-islands-northbound/  .  I was booked on that cruise and then Covid hit.  Goes to lots of really interesting posts and stops.

 

DON

[caribill]

45 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

I pick my cruises based on itinerary and port times and not on status.  I have never been able to figure out why people let their status on a cruise line have so much influence on who they cruise with. 

 

 

If itineraries are essentially identical on multiple cruise lines, then the benefits that come with loyalty status come into the decision making process.

 

If I am going on a 7-day Caribbean cruise out of south Florida, I can choose from multiple cruise lines that offer similar itineraries and experiences.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

I pick my cruises based on itinerary and port times and not on status.  I have never been able to figure out why people let their status on a cruise line have so much influence on who they cruise with. 

 

To answer the OP and not Sirclean, Hurtigruten has a cruise that might fit their needs although not 28 days - https://www.hurtigruten.com/en-us/expeditions/cruises/inside-passage-bears-and-aleutian-islands-northbound/  .  I was booked on that cruise and then Covid hit.  Goes to lots of really interesting posts and stops.

 

DON

Thanks for the Hurtigruten link! However, expedition cruises just aren’t our thing unless it’s on the Celebrity Flora in the Galapagos. And as far as loyalty status goes, we are almost Elite on Princess and can’t wait to enjoy the unlimited free laundry perk on their 3-5+ week cruises! 😁

[Greysandy]

I am booked on the 28 day Alaska cruise June 2024 on HAL and it sold out pretty quickly, considering it is over a year away. We booked immediately but others commented that the pricing was going up almost daily. After seeing that much demand, my guess is that Princess will also offer a similar cruise. We have done several 2 week cruises to Alaska (no land portion) and really enjoyed them so we cancelled other plans to go on this itinerary.