Cruise line best

[golfer1903]

Which is best for 7 days 

ship food 

ship entertainment 

longes port times

whats your reasons

 

rccl. Ncl. Princess. Or celebrity 

[cw2go]

IMO for a first time visit, Princess for Alaska is close to perfect. Glacier Bay, Hubbard and their Naturalists are all amazing. Recommend one way sailings north or southbound. 

 

I enjoy the longest port times so that I can explore and spend as much time as possible on amazing tours. Late port days in Juneau will limit you so I'd pick an early arrival port time. 

 

I encourage you do your best to avoid getting caught up on ship entertainment or food, all are pretty equal. Alaska is the star and will never disappoint. 

 

Enjoy whatever you choose, 

Patty 

[1025cruise]

Everyone has their own best. There's no proper answer here. Food can be subjective, as can entertainment. For the most part, all ships have the same port times, so nothing really to compare.

[Aquahound]

5 hours ago, golfer1903 said:

Which is best for 7 days 

ship food 

ship entertainment 

longes port times

whats your reasons

 

rccl. Ncl. Princess. Or celebrity 

 

Not focusing on itinerary and only what you listed...

 

I'm pretty familiar with the individual ships that are sailing Alaska. I've either sailed on them or on sister ships.  IMO, the best entertainment is on RCI's Ovation and Quantum of the Seas, and on NCL Norwegian Encore and Bliss.  Edge to Royal Caribbean, though.  

 

For food, I recommend Celebrity. 

 

Princess is a good all-around line.  I don't consider them best at any of those items though.  

 

Port times are pretty much the same for them all.   

[Coral]

13 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

 

Port times are pretty much the same for them all.   

I don't find port times similar on itineraries and lines. Definitely worth looking specifically at this. Some itineraries arrive at Juneau at 2 pm. Some have 2 glacier days and other 1. Some have Tracy Arm which isn't always accessible compared to Glacier Bay.

 

Definitely look at specific port times. I see people book by the ship and then find they have crappy port times.

[wolfie11]

NCL has terrible port times on some of their itineraries, and of course, the Dread Ward Cove.

[cw2go]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

I don't find port times similar on itineraries and lines. Definitely worth looking specifically at this. Some itineraries arrive at Juneau at 2 pm. Some have 2 glacier days and other 1. Some have Tracy Arm which isn't always accessible compared to Glacier Bay.

 

Definitely look at specific port times. I see people book by the ship and then find they have crappy port times.

 

I'll never understand why so many CC members post that the ports times are all the same but have given up trying to argue the point, a simple search proves how different they can be. 

 

The OP also posted on the Celebrity board, hope they get the sailing they are looking for. 

Patty 

 

[Aquahound]

3 hours ago, cw2go said:

 

I'll never understand why so many CC members post that the ports times are all the same but have given up trying to argue the point, a simple search proves how different they can be. 

 

The OP also posted on the Celebrity board, hope they get the sailing they are looking for. 

Patty 

 

I’ll happily argue it. It’s easy to compare port times at one particular port where times obviously vary (duh) but over the course of the full itineraries the times between mainstream lines tend to average out. The op didn’t ask about a specific port. They asked a general question, so a general answer is what I gave. 

[cw2go]

47 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

I’ll happily argue it. It’s easy to compare port times at one particular port where times obviously vary (duh) but over the course of the full itineraries the times between mainstream lines tend to average out. The op didn’t ask about a specific port. They asked a general question, so a general answer is what I gave. 

 

 

Why would you want to happily argue with me when I clearly said I gave up trying to argue the point?

 

Besides the fact that I'm not the one who quoted you? 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by cw2go

[Rothko1]

I believe that one of the advantages of Princess is that they've been doing Alaska cruises longer than almost anyone else.  They have things figured out, and they know what they are doing.  They have priority for certain places, piers, etc.

[Coral]

On 5/3/2023 at 2:56 PM, Rothko1 said:

I believe that one of the advantages of Princess is that they've been doing Alaska cruises longer than almost anyone else.  They have things figured out, and they know what they are doing.  They have priority for certain places, piers, etc.

Technically - HAL has been doing Alaska longer than Princess but since Princess and HAL are run by the same group (HAL group with in CCL) and their Alaska operations operate from the same office, they both have access to the same resources in Alaska. Both are good lines in Alaska and have quite a bit of investment and infrastructure.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Coral

[cruisinqt]

This is the equivalent to asking which car is better Toyota, Honda, or Nissan. Everyone has their preferences and everyone will give a different answer. 
 

Royal and NCL will have a younger crowd with lots more late night activities and they’re cheaper but they aren’t luxurious and won’t pamper you like the higher end lines. Princess and Celebrity are more luxurious and will pamper you but you will have an older crowd and there won’t be much going on after 10 pm at night. All of them are great cruise lines that have good and bad points. It’s all according to what you’re looking for. 

[Coral]

9 hours ago, cruisinqt said:

This is the equivalent to asking which car is better Toyota, Honda, or Nissan. Everyone has their preferences and everyone will give a different answer. 
 

Royal and NCL will have a younger crowd with lots more late night activities and they’re cheaper but they aren’t luxurious and won’t pamper you like the higher end lines. Princess and Celebrity are more luxurious and will pamper you but you will have an older crowd and there won’t be much going on after 10 pm at night. All of them are great cruise lines that have good and bad points. It’s all according to what you’re looking for. 

This is more true IMO in other destinations. Overall, Alaska seems to attracts an older group across all lines. Even Carnival.

[cruisinqt]

13 hours ago, Coral said:

This is more true IMO in other destinations. Overall, Alaska seems to attracts an older group across all lines. Even Carnival.

Royal, Carnival and NCL will have more nightlife with late night activities like comedy shows, karaoke, and piano bar sing alongs. But you’re right about the age demographics it will definitely be a lot higher on an Alaskan cruise, especially when it’s a transatlantic or transpacific. 

[Coral]

1 hour ago, cruisinqt said:

Royal, Carnival and NCL will have more nightlife with late night activities like comedy shows, karaoke, and piano bar sing alongs. But you’re right about the age demographics it will definitely be a lot higher on an Alaskan cruise, especially when it’s a transatlantic or transpacific. 

My RCCL did not have more entertainment in Alaska.

[cruisinqt]

17 hours ago, Coral said:

My RCCL did not have more entertainment in Alaska.

No they don’t do anything specific for Alaska in general. But generally speaking RCCL, Carnival, & NCL have more night time activities going on than lines like Celebrity, Princess, & HAL. And there’s nothing wrong with that, I love the pampering on the higher end luxury lines. It’s just that by 10 pm things pretty much shutdown so if someone is a night owl and likes to stay up late and have fun then they need to keep that in mind when booking these cruise lines. 

[Coral]

1 minute ago, cruisinqt said:

No they don’t do anything specific for Alaska in general. But generally speaking RCCL, Carnival, & NCL have more night time activities going on than lines like Celebrity, Princess, & HAL. And there’s nothing wrong with that, I love the pampering on the higher end luxury lines. It’s just that by 10 pm things pretty much shutdown so if someone is a night owl and likes to stay up late and have fun then they need to keep that in mind when booking these cruise lines. 

My comment was that in Alaska - regardless of line, there is less late night entertainment. My RCCL cruise shut down at the same time as my Princess cruises. Alaska is a different beast all together. I have friends who would never sail on Carnival to the Caribbean but like it in Alaska because it is a different environment.

[Aquahound]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

My comment was that in Alaska - regardless of line, there is less late night entertainment. 

 

I can't say I agree with that.  My last couple AK cruises have been on RCI Quantum Class ships, and all the entertainment venues were alive and kicking well into the night.  

[wolfie11]

38 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

I can't say I agree with that.  My last couple AK cruises have been on RCI Quantum Class ships, and all the entertainment venues were alive and kicking well into the night.  

I’ve been on Princess and RCI to Alaska.  Princess provides a multitude of Alaska-centric programs and activities and has dedicated naturalists aboard.  RCI does not.  I agree with Aquahound that the Princess crowd does tend a bit older, and they roll up the piazza at 10pm, as most guests are in bed getting a good nights sleep before their next great Alaska adventure early the next morning.  RCI is more interested in catering to the hard-drinking party crowd who wants to close down the bars at 2am.  People should be able to do as they please on their vacation.

[cruisinqt]

3 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

I can't say I agree with that.  My last couple AK cruises have been on RCI Quantum Class ships, and all the entertainment venues were alive and kicking well into the night.  

That’s exactly what has been my experience with Royal, no matter where the ship is cruising to there’s lots going on well into the night. And it’s not the “hard drinking party crowd” either. Not everyone that likes to stay up late is doing it to get drunk. There’s lots of fun stuff to do like sing alongs in the piano bar, late night karaoke, munching on pizza while chatting with friends on the lido or just relaxing in the hot tub. With some cruise lines everything just shuts down around 10 pm but with others there’s lots going on well past midnight. One is not better than the other it’s just that they cater to different clientele. Personally, I expect lots of night time fun on my Quantum cruise in 2 weeks. 

[Aquahound]

5 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

That’s exactly what has been my experience with Royal, no matter where the ship is cruising to there’s lots going on well into the night. And it’s not the “hard drinking party crowd” either. 

 

I totally agree. I actually thought that comment above was pretty ridiculous.  

[cruisinqt]

12 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

I totally agree. I actually thought that comment above was pretty ridiculous.  

Me too. I’ve gotten used to the cruise snobs that like to think that the more reasonably priced cruise lines are party cruises full of drunks while the luxury cruise lines have a higher class of people. That’s just not true. I could easily go on numerous cruises with luxury lines every year. I choose not to not because of money but because I like the lively atmosphere on Carnival, Royal, and Norwegian better. To each his own. One is not better than the other, they all have pros and cons. You just have to find which one fits you best. I hope the OP figures out what’s the best option for them and has a great cruise. Thanks for your input. 

[cruisinqt]

Well I’m on my Royal Caribbean Alaskan cruise on Quantum of the Seas and I thought I’d update you. Despite being told that “in Alaska, regardless of cruise line, there is less late night entertainment” this cruise has had quite a bit of late night entertainment. As is usual with cruise lines with a younger demographic (like Royal, Carnival, NCL) there has been lots of late night activities. Last night the Love & Marriage show didn’t even start till 11:00 pm. The piano bar and karaoke bar have been going strong well past 1:00 am. There’s a live band called Rhythmocracy that puts on a show every night starting at 11 pm. And the night club doesn’t open till 12:15 am every night but it’s still packed.
 

And the comment that “Overall, Alaska seems to attract an older group across all lines” was way off. This ship has the normal younger age group that Royal Caribbean always has. And the bumper cars, laser tag, skydiving simulator and rock climbing wall were always busy with lots of young ones (and those young of heart.) As I said, the biggest difference between the cruise lines you mentioned is the age demographics. A cruise line that caters to older passengers is very different from a cruise line that caters to younger people. Both are great so it’s up to your personal preferences and what you’re looking for in a cruise. I hope this helps. 
 

 

 

[Coral]

4 hours ago, cruisinqt said:

Well I’m on my Royal Caribbean Alaskan cruise on Quantum of the Seas and I thought I’d update you. Despite being told that “in Alaska, regardless of cruise line, there is less late night entertainment” this cruise has had quite a bit of late night entertainment. As is usual with cruise lines with a younger demographic (like Royal, Carnival, NCL) there has been lots of late night activities. Last night the Love & Marriage show didn’t even start till 11:00 pm. The piano bar and karaoke bar have been going strong well past 1:00 am. There’s a live band called Rhythmocracy that puts on a show every night starting at 11 pm. And the night club doesn’t open till 12:15 am every night but it’s still packed.
 

And the comment that “Overall, Alaska seems to attract an older group across all lines” was way off. This ship has the normal younger age group that Royal Caribbean always has. And the bumper cars, laser tag, skydiving simulator and rock climbing wall were always busy with lots of young ones (and those young of heart.) As I said, the biggest difference between the cruise lines you mentioned is the age demographics. A cruise line that caters to older passengers is very different from a cruise line that caters to younger people. Both are great so it’s up to your personal preferences and what you’re looking for in a cruise. I hope this helps. 
 

I can tell you that I just got back from Princess. Everyone wasn't senior citizens and we also had several things past 10 pm on our schedule (music events in the night club, karaoke, etc..)

 

I have also sailed on RCCL to Alaska.

 

Most importantly we had amazing enrichment speakers. The person who won the Iditarod this year, Libby Riddles who was first female to win Iditarod, an excellent speaker on whales (Rachel Cartwright who has written a favorite Alaska cruise companion book and is featured on a National Geographic show coming up), several regional experts, etc.... Part of the Alaskan experience.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Coral

[Octavias]

Keep in mind that only a few of the lines go to Glacier Bay which I have heard is a must see.  I didn’t realize that and booked ours on Celebrity (because I want the pampering) but if I had it to do again, I would book with princess which does go to Glacier Bay.