Best Princess Ship to sail to Alaska?

[LarryF]

Hi Larry:

 

I found Herods Tours and Silvermoon Tours on the internet. Both tours look great. Which tours did you book on both tours, particularly with Herods? They both have a few to choose from. Also, from reading posts I have discovered there are many tours in Barbados to swim and snorkel with the turtles and they are shorter and cost a lot less than Silvermoon. Did you book Silvermoon for any particular reason?

 

Thanks for any information.

 

Regards,

Arlene

 

Arlene,

 

Please take a look at the link below. I found this review on the cc board and I couldn't have done a better job on the review for Herod's Taxi Tour.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=263536

 

The only difference on our tour is that we did not have lunch. I don't believe that is included any longer. But we did not go hungry at all. Herod stopped at various times along the tour and got us bannanas, fish cakes, johnny cakes and at the end of the tour he stopped by a local bakery and got hot loaves for fresh bread. Be sure to request the water taxi from Soufriere to the beach between the Pitons as it is a great experience you won't want to miss!

 

Not sure if you're going to Antigua, but we had a great tour their with Eli. The website is http://www.adventureantigua.com. He offers two tours; the eco tour and the extreme circumnav tour. We took the eco tour and absolutely loved it. There was plenty of room on the boat for everyone. It was a day of cruising on the boat with stops at "Bird Island" and "Hell's gate" and a stop for snorkeling over ship wreck. Bird Island is a small Island that is a sanctuary for birds and is supposedly shaped like a bird if you could view the island from a plane. The water is beautiful here. You can take s short hike to the top of the island (it is an easy climb) and there are breathtaking views of the water at the top. Hell's gate is really cool and was the highlight of the day. You wade/swim over to a small beach area and rock formation (it is not near as difficult as it looks, but you can stay on the boat if you wish). Once on the beach you can take a very short hike through a cave and view a pool of swirling water where the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean come together. It's really cool, but the hike through the cave is not for everyone. The rocks are razor sharp and you can get cut by the rocks if y ou're not real careful. There were a few people in our group that got small scrapes, but nothing serious at all. The guides are extemely helpful and it's very unlikely that you can get seriously hurt. I would recommend that elderly people (over 65 - unless in good physical condition) and over weight people not attemt this hike. Both my wife and I loved this tour and would do it again and again if and when we return.

 

I have also read great reviews about the extreme circumnav tour as well. However, a couple from our cc group took that tour and had a really bad time. The boat for this tour has limited seating and it was fiiled to capacity. They had no room to maneuver and walk around at all. The boat was not really a high speed boat like it is implied on the website. The tour goes to the same places as the eco tour and a few more places. As not everyone has the same likes and tastes, I am sure that this tour does appeal to many other people.

 

Now for the Silvermoon which was our favorite of all three. The reason I chose the Silvermoon was because I wanted to go on a relaxing excursion on the water. The year before we had taken a similar catamaran from St. Kitts to Nevis and it turned out to be the best tour excursion we had ever been on. It's the first time in 14 cruises that I allowed myself to spend over $100 per person on a tour. Well in this case, you definitely got what you paid for. The same can be said for the Silvermoon. What was even better about the Silvermoon was they only allow a maximum of 12 people on board. Ths provided plenty of room for all of us on the boat to sit anywhere or lounge anywhere on the boat in comfort. The service was incredible. The captain and his mate were there with your drink or food before you had time to ask for it. The food was very good and the rum punches were really good! The chocolate chips cookies were great! So in a nutshell, I really booked this tour as a getaway from it all experience. The fact that we snorkeled with the Turtles was just gravy on top of it!

 

Hope that helps with your choices. I am extremely budget conscience on our cruises especially with our two kids in college, but the money we spent on these three tours was worth the memories we will have for the rest of our lives!

 

Have fun on your cruise...

 

Larry

[Seacucumber]

Last September we sailed by Sapphire to Alaska inner passage from Seattle. We had a grand time despite of heavy rains in Ketchikan. We also sailed on Sun Princess (Panama Canal) , Grand (Carribbean) and Regal (NYC-Montreal)to other places. All the ships are excellent. We will be sailing on Crown Sept. 12 from Brooklyn.

[arlenez]

Hi Larry:

 

Thanks so much for all the info you posted. After reading everything we will definitely book with Herods and with Silvermoon. We also did the St. Kitts to Nevis tour and since then we try to book cat rides on all the islands. $100 a person is also a little steep for us, but after reading all the wonderful comments, I think we will splurge and go for it! Unfortunately, we do not stop at Antigua, but will keep that in mind for future cruises.

 

Thanks again and enjoy your trip to Alaska. That will probably be our next cruise after the southern Caribbean since we enjoyed Alaska so much two years ago.

 

Best regards,

Arlene

[Logie]

Hi,

 

I am one (by choice) who is only going to do the cruise portion. We are going early season mid may 2007 and choose the Diamond Princess. I am booked as a single right now so for affordability had to take an II inside cabin. There is more deck space on the Diamond and I don't like the cold much so I am a bid fan of the covered pool. But Island/Coral are great ships and I can see why people pick them. They have the absolute smallest showers I have ever seen and I am not kidding.

 

We are starting in Vancouver, which is fine because we get to Whittier on a Saturday so have time to fly home to be back to work on Monday.

 

Can anyone give me the top tour picks for what to do in Juneau and Skagway? If it is independant tours what is the web site or phone number. I have done this cruise before and will most likely walk arourd Ketchikan unless someone suggests a must do. I like the idea of glaciers, helicopters, maybe a train tour (it' warm).

 

Thanks for all of your help.

[Budget Queen]

Hi,

 

I am one (by choice) who is only going to do the cruise portion. We are going early season mid may 2007 and choose the Diamond Princess. I am booked as a single right now so for affordability had to take an II inside cabin. There is more deck space on the Diamond and I don't like the cold much so I am a bid fan of the covered pool. But Island/Coral are great ships and I can see why people pick them. They have the absolute smallest showers I have ever seen and I am not kidding.

 

We are starting in Vancouver, which is fine because we get to Whittier on a Saturday so have time to fly home to be back to work on Monday.

 

Can anyone give me the top tour picks for what to do in Juneau and Skagway? If it is independant tours what is the web site or phone number. I have done this cruise before and will most likely walk arourd Ketchikan unless someone suggests a must do. I like the idea of glaciers, helicopters, maybe a train tour (it' warm).

 

Thanks for all of your help.

 

 

Glacier helicopter landings are out of Juneau and Skagway, http://www.temscoair.com http://www.coastalhelicopters.com also if you want to Trek Northstar Trekking. The train is the White Pass RR, doing a one way combo bus offers you getting into the Yukon if of interest with narration and plenty of stops. Look over your shore excursion list, plenty of excellent tours to choose from . If you are interested in booking independent, look up operators. http://www.traveljuneau.com http://www.skagway.com

http://www.visit-ketchikan.com

[Logie]

Glacier helicopter landings are out of Juneau and Skagway, http://www.temscoair.com http://www.coastalhelicopters.com also if you want to Trek Northstar Trekking. The train is the White Pass RR, doing a one way combo bus offers you getting into the Yukon if of interest with narration and plenty of stops. Look over your shore excursion list, plenty of excellent tours to choose from . If you are interested in booking independent, look up operators. http://www.traveljuneau.com http://www.skagway.com

http://www.visit-ketchikan.com

 

Excellent web sites-thank you for all the time you saved me!!