Which RCCL ship to cruise Alaska?

[Sweetly]

My family (14 of us will be going) will be taking a cruise to Alaska in celebration of my father's retirement:o . Which ship do you prefer? Where do you prefer to go out of? I am trying to help my mom make the best selection.

[AFT_LOVER]

if so then 9/14/2007 is a member cruise on Radiance called Ultimate Alaska which is 2 weeks from Vancouver ending up in LA since we sail NY Pacific coast also.

[critterchick]

Take Radiance or Serenade - they have the best setup for viewing, with a ton of glass everywhere. Vision is also a very nice ship, but isn't quite as spectacular, IMHO, and this is a spectacular occasion, isn't it? The Radiance class ships are also newer, larger & have more things to do on your sea days.

 

As to where to sail from, it depends. We have only done round-trip out of Vancouver or one-way to/from Vancouver to/from LA. The Inside Passage trip we took from Vancouver on Radiance was just wonderful, with 3 ports (Juneau, Skagway & Ketchikan) and our Hubbard Glacier viewing day was magnificent.

 

My understanding is that you get the best of an Alaska cruise if you take a one-way north or south bound trip, but that the airfare for open jaw travel can be quite a bit more expensive than flying R/T to one city. I also understand that the ship does most of its provisioning in Vancouver, so if fresh produce is important to you, booking a northbound itinerary gives you a better shot at that.

 

Vancouver is a wonderful city to spend some time in pre-or post cruise, so that would be my choice over Seattle, which is also very nice, but not quite as "magical" to me. Just a personal preference.

 

If your group has the time, I think MACOP is right that the 14 night Radiance YVR-LA or 13-night Serenade YVR-San Diego would be awesome - we're booked on the Radiance trip & can't wait! When we booked at least, the price was comparable to one of the 7-night itineraries, so you get a lot of bang for your buck. But if they don't all have that much time, I'd vote for a 7-night northbound on R or S with some extra time in Vancouver to enjoy our neighbor to the North.

 

Happy planning!

[Sweetly]

Thanks for the info will keep it in mind.