What if Oceania doesn't go there?

[PurpleCow]

We'd like to do an Alaska Cruise Tour in September of '07. Oceania would be our first choice, but alas, Oceania doesn't go to Alaska. I'm hoping my well traveled and oft cruised friends on this board will have some suggestions. I'm looking at both Celebrity and HAL, leaning towards HAL. Regent doesn't do tours and has pretty much priced itself just out of our range anyway. What say y'all?

[LHT28]

I have heard HAL has a better route.

Never done Alaska so don't know. ;)

[Bruin Steve]

We did an Alaskan Cruisetour with Celebrity on the Summit in July 2004...

13 nights starting in Fairbanks, two nights there then Denali, Talkeetna, Anchorage and Alyeska before meeting the ship in Seward for the Southbound voyage...We then tacked on two additional nights at the Sutton Place in Vancouver...Had two Sky Suites (brought the daughters)...

 

Overall, I'd say it was probably about as good an Alaskan experience as one could have...

 

First, everything in the land portion was first class...The hotels Celebrity used were excellent (especially the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and the Alyeska Prince Resort)...the dome-covered train car was luxurious...the guide was great and the included excursions really filled the time...

 

The Summit is a great ship...the space-to-passenger ratio is actually slightly BETTER than the Oceania ships--approximately 2,000 passengers on a 91,000 gross ton ship...

 

If you're accustomed to Oceania, you'll have to get acustomed to almost three times as many people--but of course, there's over three times the space...And, of course, you'll have to put up with a couple of formal nights and assigned "traditional" seating...

 

The food and service are both excellent and there is a nice elegance to a Celebrity cruise experience...

 

I wholeheartedly recommend it...

[dougnewmanatsea]

If Regent is too expensive and you don't like large ships, I'd suggest you look at PACIFIC PRINCESS. She is an exact sister to the Oceania ships.

 

Mind you, the on-board product will not be up to Oceania levels, but neither will the price. I would say Princess' product is fairly similar to Celebrity or HAL, but PACIFIC PRINCESS is the only non-luxury ship in Alaska that's anywhere near Oceania's ships in size.

 

Otherwise I'd give the edge to HAL, if nothing else than because they are consistent. Celebrity can be great, but not consistently great, or even consistently good. I really want to like Celebrity but I feel like booking a Celebrity cruise, I'm in for a surprise - one never knows which will turn up, the great Celebrity or the "other" Celebrity.

 

If you do go with HAL, I suggest you stay away from the Vista-class ships (ZUIDERDAM, OOSTERDAM, WESTERDAM, NOORDAM) and stick with the others which are smaller and (IMHO) nicer.

[willmschen]

We have done two Alaska cruises on the Cruise West Spirit of Oceana. One was a Bering Sea cruise and the other was the inside passage. The ship is a 112 passenger former Renaissance ship. There is no casino and not much entertainment, but the small size of the ship allows it to get up close to the shore, to see closeup views of scenery and wildlife. They also do many excursions in small groups in inflatable boats to get even closer to wildlife and scenery. This ship is very nice and has standard staterooms of about 250 sq. ft. The food was excellent on both of our cruises. The cruise line also has other smaller ships. If you want to see Alaska up close, I don't think you can beat Cruise West.

[Spikesgirl]

We have taken two cruises on Princess because of the Oceania ships. The Pacific and the Tahitian are beautiful ships and we gladly sail them whenever we have the chance.

 

As for Alaska, we went on the now transferred Sky Princess and we were underwhelmed by the experience. We have friends who want to cruise to Alaska now and want us to go with them. If we do, you can be sure it will be on the Pacific.

 

Charlie

[nparmelee]

We did Princess to Alaska, Vancouver to Whittier, it was a great itinerary for seeing glaciers (my young nieces got very bored with glaciers by the end). We then did a private tour up to Denali and had a great time. Guess it depends on what you want to see up that way. With Princess you can have personal choice dining but we found the food to be mostly ok with sometimes really good. For food quality I'd probably look at Crystal, maybe Hal and Celebrity as second choices. We'd have to see an amazing itinerary to take Princess again and a good one that O doesn't offer to take Celebrity again. I occassionally saw Regent and Crystal sales for Alaska this last year, it may be worth watching for, you just may have to book a bit later than you normally might. We also noticed that May and September have the lesser weather but the cheaper fares with most lines, other benefit being less kids around since they'll likely be in school. Alaska cruises are big for family groups!

[dougnewmanatsea]

Crystal no longer operates in Alaska.

 

I agree that it can be worth looking for good sales on Regent - they do have them from time to time.

[Jancruz]

I guess I will add my 2 cents..I would say Princess..but I would also call around about Regent..there are often some really good prices and keep in mind you dont come off that cruise with any kind of a bill..all is included.

Jan

*****

[mosieposie]

We did Princess in September 2 years ago and were hugely disappointed. Not much animal activity - only saw in the whole 2 weeks, one moose, and that was at a distance. We booked a helicopter tour to see bears ($300+ each) and when we got there, the rangers said the bears had already moved on. Thought Princess should have known this and not offered a tour they knew would not deliver.

 

We did the one week inner passage cruise and then one week on the train. Train was very cramped and croweded. We did not enjoy it as we were squeezed into a booth with another couple with very little leg room. We did see the Celebrity train and it was very nice compared to the Princess train.

 

Also, the Princess hotels were not very nice. I remember one, I think near Denali, where the linens were threadbare and on the morning of our tour of the park, we were informed that breakfast was virtually non-exhistent as their "help" (college age kids) had partied hard the night before and didn't get up. It was a real problem having college age help. They were quite silly, taking the mike on the train and singing/fooling around.

 

Food was poor - one night they actually had meat loaf as a carving board item.

 

We had been on Princess before (Australia, South Pacific, New Zealand) and had great cruises, but Alaska was without question, the worst cruise we had been on.

[PurpleCow]

Thanks for everyone's help. Of course now I'm more confused than before, but a much better informed confused!

[willmschen]

We have taken 3 cruises on Oceania, with 2 more booked, and have also sailed several times on Regent and Windstar ships. As mentioned in my post above, we have done 2 cruises in Alaska on Cruise West's 112-passenger Spirit of Oceana. When cruising in Alaska on the big ships, you will see the mountains and glaciers and maybe whales and eagles. You will not get close to shore and therefore, will not see bears and other land animals up close. We very much enjoy seeing the wildlife and scenery up close, and that is the experience you get with Cruise West. They also have very knowledgeabe naturalists on board, who are constantly looking for wildlife. The ship will also stop or change course to maximize wildlife viewing. The large ships do not have this flexibility. It all boils down to the kind of Alaska experience you want; up close and personal on a small ship or more distant, with entertainment, casinos etc. on a large ship.

[digby]

Princess has an 11 day cruise round trip from San Francisco.

[Cruise Junky]

We did Princess in September 2 years ago and were hugely disappointed. Not much animal activity - only saw in the whole 2 weeks, one moose, and that was at a distance.

 

Please tell me you're not blaming Princess for only seeing one Moose?