Princess or Celebrity to Alaska?

[LarryF]

Hello everhone...

 

We have decide to cruise Alaska next May. We have been on Grand, Golden and Caribbean Princess as well as 12 other cruise on NCL, RCL and HAL. Have never been on Celebrity but have heard very good things about them.

 

We're considering Diamond, Sapphire, Coral or Island vs Summit, Inifinity and Mercury in Alaska......We are in our mid 50's, very active, middle class and down to earth people....Would love to hear opinions and Alaska stories especially from those of you who have sailed both lines....

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

[spongerob]

I can't review Celebrity other than by hearsay. I suggest you take a look at the Celebrity forum to see what's going on. Some of it isn't pretty, but all cruise lines have their rough spots.

 

Are you considering a cruise-tour package, in other words, a cruise line sponsored tour on shore before or after your cruise? That might influence your decision. Princess has some great tours and lodges and gets high marks for their land tours. Of course, you can also do the land part on your own, if you desire, if you want to do all the legwork yourself.

 

My complaint about Princess' Alaska offerings is that their itineraries are mostly 7-day cruises. That's just not enough. Celebrity might have some others options worth looking into. Princess does have 10-day roundtrips from San Francisco. They have more sea days, but at least you won't have to deal with longer flights.

 

Our first cruise was a Princess cruise-tour. I had no interest in cruising prior to that. We've been on 10 more since then. I guess you can say I was quite pleased! We chose Princess for the first one only because they had itineraries that fit our schedule.

[Coral]

If you want to go to Glacier Bay - Princess does it, Celebrity doesn't have permits to enter Glacier Bay.

 

IMO - the Princess Voyage of the Glaciers 7 night from Vancouver to Whittier or Whittier to Vancouver is excellent and one of the best itineraries out there for Alaska. It includes 2 glacier days (Glacier Bay and College Fiords).

 

I have sailed Celebrity but not to Alaska. Princess offers some great things in Alaska - combo Glacier Bay and College Fiords, Anytime dining which is great when the ships are in port late or you are at the glaciers - you can go to dinner ANYTIME, you can eat with anyone or just get a table for 2 - your choice.

 

The Coral and Island Princess are the prettiest ships Princess has IMO and a great size. They are about the same size as the Millennium class on Celebrity (Summit, Infinity, Millie, Constellation).

 

Good luck in your research. The Alaska board on CC is very good.

[howard6933]

We were on Diamond from May 20-27 and also took a pre-cruise tour with Princess. We flew to Fairbanks and stayed at Bear Lodge the first night. Then we went on to Denali National Park and stayed at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, then next night at the McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. All of the hotels were first class and the tours were excellent. The vista dome cars on the trains were wonderful for seeing all the sights with great mountain views, including Mt. McKinley. The three ports (Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan) were good and the visits to College Fjord and Glacier Bay were wonderful. We even lucked out and saw one of the glaciers calving. The weather was great and all in all, it was a wonderful cruise-tour. I would recommend this trip to anyone. ;)

[mr green]

Do a back to back on the Coral, we did it in May and had only one day of rain, in Whittier, great cruise, great ship. We tried Celebrity only once, that was enough, there seemed to be somthing wrong with the organization, they just can't survive on their past record forever. john

[kkorman]

If you are going to do a RT, I would try Celebrity. If you are going to do one way or two weeks Princess' itinerary is better. I am a fan of Princess, but would really like to try Celebrity. I had 2 trips cancelled because of their M-Class bearing issues. lol

[texastravelers]

Hey, Larry. In July, we're taking our 2nd Alaska cruise - this time with Princess! We were on the Celebrity Mercury a couple of years ago, and will never go with Celebrity again! Their northbound inside passage cruise was dry docked (lots of rumors on that one - I won't even go there!), so, in order to cut losses and not have too many unhappy customers, they gave many of those passengers an opportunity to join our cruise (southbound). A lot of them agreed to, and we were filled to the brim with people. Not one mention was made by the line to explain why we were so packed in. Families were separated and almost everyone aboard griped the whole cruise - no matter where you went, someone was angry about either their cruise being cancelled or our cruise being over stuffed. Even at the ports, that's all everyone talked (griped) about. You couldn't escape! The waitstaff was overworked, and we didn't have anywhere near the quality or quantity of food that we had hoped for. They did have crab legs on the midnight buffet one night, but no lobster - at all, because there wasn't enough to feed everyone. We had done quite a bit of research and felt happy about our choice until we sailed. Oh, by the way, no apology whatsoever, just a reply thanking us for "communicating our concerns." I realize that things happen, but we have a real sour taste now for Celebrity. They could have handled the situation so much better than they did. We would have given them another try - as I said, things do happen - but their management just had a real bad attitude. The people at Princess seem to have a more people- friendly attitude, so we are really looking forward to a great Alaska cruise this time! I hope that if you do choose Celebrity, you have a MUCH better experience than we did! Good luck to you whatever line you choose!

[newmexicoNita]

As a TA, if you were my client I would suggest Princess for Alaska and second NCL. These are the two lines that do it best. I do like Celebrity, but that being said: they have gone down hill in the past year or so and they are not noted for their Alaskan cruise experience. I am not trying to discourage anyone from sailing Celebrity: I sell the line more than any other, second one I sell is NCL. These are also the two I personally cruise the most, but I would not take Celebrity to Alaska. This is just my opinion. NMNita

[Druke I]

Only been on Celebrity once, on their Mercury, RT San Francisco to Mexican Riviera. Nice ship, very comparable to Princess Sun class vessels.

 

As noted above, Princess has a much larger presence in Alaska, and has been there some time.

 

I personally prefer Princess to Celebrity, but opinions are very subjective, at best.

[LarryF]

Thanks for your comments everyone...I think we've decided on Princess! Now the question is...which Princess ship?

[florisdekort]

I do like Celebrity, but that being said: they have gone down hill in the past year and they are not noted for their Alaskan cruise experience.

 

What a ridiculous statement. Where do you base this on? Celebrity is constantly rated #1 in almost every ranking of Premium Cruise Lines and had 8 of its 9 ships listed in the Conde Nast top 10. Infinity is by far the best large ship in the Alaska market, and the Hubbart Glacier experience is not to be missed. I sure hope that my travel agent gives me more balanced advise, instead of making these unfunded general statements.