Best dam ship for Alaska?

[cescape]

As a Princess cruise lover and Alaksa cruise lover ( this one, if I can swing it wil be my fifth) I have always wanted to try HAL. I know a balcony is almost a "must" for Alaska which ship would you recomend? Is there much difference between them, I've tried to catch up by reading other posts. It seems the regular menu is available for room service? Princess changed that and now only full suites can enjoy that although I can't figure out why, unless they just want to push you to the "pay extra" dining. Thanks

[mtnmusic]

As a Princess cruise lover and Alaksa cruise lover ( this one, if I can swing it wil be my fifth) I have always wanted to try HAL. I know a balcony is almost a "must" for Alaska which ship would you recomend? Is there much difference between them, I've tried to catch up by reading other posts. It seems the regular menu is available for room service? Princess changed that and now only full suites can enjoy that although I can't figure out why, unless they just want to push you to the "pay extra" dining. Thanks

We plan to repeat our past voyage on Amsterdam. I don't think you can do much better.

[Assateague Island Princes]

We sailed twice to Alaska on the Oosterdam (Vista class) and loved it! BUT, we're taking the Amsterdam next year for HAL's new 14-day Alaska itinerary (round trip Seattle). Amsterdam is smaller and it is my hope, more intimate. We're not "crowd" people, so less folks on board, the better. Good things come in small packages, right? Really looking forward to it! Lots of great viewing areas, the Crows Nest is always a terrific place to be when sailing into ports or to the glaciers.

[RuthC]

I think the best ship for Alaska is the one leaving on the day you wish, to/from the port you want to sail in/out of, on the itinerary you want to sail. Everything else is secondary.

I have sailed all the HAL classes of ships, and prefer the smaller S-class, with the R-class running a close second. However, this is the one destination where I don't believe the ship is as much the destination. It's all about Alaska.

[Susie51]

IMO I enjoyed Glacier Bay more than Hubbard Glacier so I would choose a cruise that had Glacier Bay as a destination.

 

Also, I like cruises that leave from Vancouver rather than Seattle, because of Lions Gate Bridge and being able to cruise on the east side of Vancouver Island.

 

If I want to save costs on airfare, I would choose Seattle.

 

Both Seattle and Vancouver are great pre/post cruise cities to visit.

 

Choosing the ship can be a lot of fun as you do the research.

[brucory]

The only thing we regretted about our trip to Alaska is that we did not have long enough there. Next time, we will prob do 2 x 7 day trips. One NB and one SB. That said, if we had the opportunity in 2010, the Amsterdam's 14 day schedules would be hard to beat.

 

Definitely agree about the balcony...

 

:D:D:D

[Himself]

In my opinion all the ships of HAL are nice. However the best one of the whole dam fleet in my opinion is the Amsterdam

[SonomaDriver]

We've only been on Vista class ships but enjoy them very much. Next HAL cruise will likely be on a smaller ship to see what they're like.