Alaska 2017 - Any other line as good as DCL?

[Krissy22222]

Which NCL ship were you on? I think I saw a few in Alaska and want to make sure I price the one you went on. Thanks!

We were on the Jewel but I think all three are comparable, the price depends on itinerary and time of year.

 

[Krissy22222]

Princess has one weakness compared to HAL/DCL... no photo packages. If you love pictures... you might spend more on photo's than your Princess cruise. Good thing Princess does not have character pictures.

NCL's pictures were sad. Walking through the photo gallery, the quality was laughable, even. And they had these sad characters at every port, like an eagle or whale you might see as a high school mascot, begging to take a picture with each person disembarking, not many did.

 

[Jess_S]

NCL's pictures were sad. Walking through the photo gallery, the quality was laughable, even. And they had these sad characters at every port, like an eagle or whale you might see as a high school mascot, begging to take a picture with each person disembarking, not many did.

This brought back a happy memory. I actually bought one of the mascot photos on my NCL Hawaii cruise. I was attempting to avoid the sad looking dolphin in a coconut bra when it grabbed my hand and did a little shimmy with its coconuts this close to my face. My husband and I cracked up and that's just when the photographer snapped a photo. (Incidentally, the Hawaii itinerary is the once place where I recommend NCL without reservation. We considered sailing with them to Alaska, but booked our first DCL cruise instead at the last minute and the rest is history).

 

[Lunarias]

I can't speak for others but we did have a naturalist on our Carnival cruise, she did a number of presentations plus jumped on the loudspeaker if they saw any notable wildlife (whales, bears..... ). It was great!

 

[sayhello]

This brought back a happy memory. I actually bought one of the mascot photos on my NCL Hawaii cruise. I was attempting to avoid the sad looking dolphin in a coconut bra when it grabbed my hand and did a little shimmy with its coconuts this close to my face. My husband and I cracked up and that's just when the photographer snapped a photo. (Incidentally, the Hawaii itinerary is the once place where I recommend NCL without reservation. We considered sailing with them to Alaska, but booked our first DCL cruise instead at the last minute and the rest is history).

I'm thinking of doing the NCL Hawaii cruise in 2018. I'd love to hear more about your experience on that cruise!!

Sayhello

 

[Jess_S]

I'm thinking of doing the NCL Hawaii cruise in 2018. I'd love to hear more about your experience on that cruise!!

Sayhello

I don't want to totally hijack this thread, but if you start a Hawaii specific one I will definitely post answers to any questions you have and share details about what we did on our trip. My husband says it is his favorite vacation that we've taken. (Mine is DCL to Alaska).

 

[tup1830]

We sailed Alaska with a 1 year old and 3 year old on Celebrity out of Vancouver...this being a DCL platinum...and wouldn't think twice of doing it again. The kids had a blast in the kids club. Bigger doesn't always mean better...at least not for my kids, since the attention was amazing and less kids so more interaction with the counselors.

Glacier bay was amazing...they literally opened up every viewing area on the ship (restricted or not) and the views were breathtaking.

The kids really enjoyed going to the front of the ship and looking down at the sea animals sitting on the ice and the calving of the glacier.

Overall, while there will always be pluses and minuses, we got a suite and still saved over $2000...but most of all, had an amazingly memorable vacation!

 

[mousemamma]

We sailed Alaska with a 1 year old and 3 year old on Celebrity out of Vancouver...this being a DCL platinum...and wouldn't think twice of doing it again. The kids had a blast in the kids club. Bigger doesn't always mean better...at least not for my kids, since the attention was amazing and less kids so more interaction with the counselors.

Glacier bay was amazing...they literally opened up every viewing area on the ship (restricted or not) and the views were breathtaking.

The kids really enjoyed going to the front of the ship and looking down at the sea animals sitting on the ice and the calving of the glacier.

Overall, while there will always be pluses and minuses, we got a suite and still saved over $2000...but most of all, had an amazingly memorable vacation!

That sounds amazing.....which ship were you on? I think I see three Celebrity ships next summer there.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We sailed Alaska with a 1 year old and 3 year old on Celebrity out of Vancouver...this being a DCL platinum...and wouldn't think twice of doing it again. The kids had a blast in the kids club. Bigger doesn't always mean better...at least not for my kids, since the attention was amazing and less kids so more interaction with the counselors.

Glacier bay was amazing...they literally opened up every viewing area on the ship (restricted or not) and the views were breathtaking.

The kids really enjoyed going to the front of the ship and looking down at the sea animals sitting on the ice and the calving of the glacier.

Overall, while there will always be pluses and minuses, we got a suite and still saved over $2000...but most of all, had an amazingly memorable vacation!

You did Glacier Bay on Celebrity? When was this?

 

[phinz]

The SEA route is rougher.

I kept hearing this, and then our Princess cruise in late May/Early June was the smoothest cruise we've had yet. Crossing the Gulf Stream has always been a miserable experience for those of us who have motion issues. Our Princess cruise was like we were sailing on glass.

A friend of mine who has been a travel agent for years said, "Princess owns Alaska." They've been doing it so long that they have it down to a science. Our trip was pretty much flawless, and for about 75% of the cost of a Disney Wonder verandah we got a 600 sq. ft. Vista Suite.

 

[aymekae]

This is the exact question in my mind right now. We've been planning on a DCL Alaska cruise for summer 2018 since January 2015. I am getting to anxious to cruise, though, and we have enough saved up, that I thought, "Hey, why not 2017!" But the absolute cheapest cabin on the cheapest route right now is $4,400 for 2 adults and 1 4-year-old. I can't do it. My travel agent gave me some options, and I like Princess's 10 night cruise out of San Francisco. I'm all for it, my husband's against (he thinks we should wait till 2018 so we can get the best price for DCL), and my dad doesn't care either way. I've been on 2 DCL cruises, and the thought of going elsewhere makes me really sad, but I have been waiting on an Alaska cruise since 2012, when my family booked one that I proposed initially, but couldn't go because I got pregnant and my son would have been 3 months old. Oh, decisions, decisions!

 

[Karlzmom]

Hi! Which Celebrity ship were you on? I'll check that one out Thanks!

We were on Infinity. I forgot to mention, we moved several room categories to concirrge, had a drink pack, tips and more than $700 obc for $2500 less than DCL.

 

[roobug]

For most places I say DCL would win but for Alaska in my mind princess wins because of going to glacier bay. Plus they have lots of nature and local activities. Our kids loved the kids club. They got their junior rangers badges when we were in glacier bay. Plus they painted totem poles which they had fun doing. They liked the smaller kids clubs for a change of pace too. we did the cruise out of Seattle this summer. They also had a photo package that we purchased this summer it was cheaper then the Disney photo package which I guess without characters is good but we had a lot of great pictures including some from glacier bay.

 

[IncredibleboysMom]

We are platinum DCL cruisers, with #16 booked for Feb 2017. However, we sailed on the Carnival Legend this past May to Alaska. My children are 10, 12 and 16. Our Carnival staterooms were 40% less for a veranda and an inside versus two inside rooms on DCL. Bear in mind that Alaskan excursions tend to be very pricey. Our Carnival cruise was one of their few that visited Glacier Bay which I consider a MUST DO. If I were to sail to Alaska again, not doing a Glacier Bay itinerary would be a deal breaker. My kids LOVE the kids clubs on Disney. They did visit the "clubs" on Carnival, and while they were clearly inferior, my kids still made friends and had a good time. The primary motivation for NOT doing DCL to Alaska (other than Glacier Bay and the cost) was that I did not want to my kids holed up in the clubs all of the time, I wanted them to experience Alaska. We spent hours on our veranda as a family (yeah it was a big veranda!) watching whales breach and glaciers calving. I do not regret our choice one bit. I don't think the Carnival Alaskan itineraries are as much of a "booze cruise" atmosphere. Ours certainly was not. The food was good, the shows were awful but Alaska is mind blowing. Enjoy!

 

[kendall]

When working your budget, the price of excursions is a good point. We found excursions to be generally more expensive in Alaska. If you want to do something like hiking on a glacier, it will be pricey. But where else will you have the opportunity to do that! Explore your ports and excursions while planning so you aren't surprised by the prices. Also be sure to include in your budget the soft expenses such as tips for guides and drivers. On cruise line websites you can peruse excursions, and we found TripAdvisor to be helpful in vetting excursions.

 

[darwinsrule]

We are platinum DCL cruisers, with #16 booked for Feb 2017. However, we sailed on the Carnival Legend this past May to Alaska. My children are 10, 12 and 16. Our Carnival staterooms were 40% less for a veranda and an inside versus two inside rooms on DCL. Bear in mind that Alaskan excursions tend to be very pricey. Our Carnival cruise was one of their few that visited Glacier Bay which I consider a MUST DO. If I were to sail to Alaska again, not doing a Glacier Bay itinerary would be a deal breaker. My kids LOVE the kids clubs on Disney. They did visit the "clubs" on Carnival, and while they were clearly inferior, my kids still made friends and had a good time. The primary motivation for NOT doing DCL to Alaska (other than Glacier Bay and the cost) was that I did not want to my kids holed up in the clubs all of the time, I wanted them to experience Alaska. We spent hours on our veranda as a family (yeah it was a big veranda!) watching whales breach and glaciers calving. I do not regret our choice one bit. I don't think the Carnival Alaskan itineraries are as much of a "booze cruise" atmosphere. Ours certainly was not. The food was good, the shows were awful but Alaska is mind blowing. Enjoy!

We are doing the exact same thing next summer. We had AK booked for this summer but cancelled in the early spring when the CAD - USD dollar exchange got really bad. Ended up doing 11 nights Universal/Disney combo which was a blast, but we spent just as much as we would have going to AK. Booked Legend, extended balcony, Glacier Bay leaving August 15th, 2017. Is it the ideal ship? No. But we got the itinerary we want at a great price. It won't be any worse than NCL Dawn to Bermuda, but like Alaska Bermuda is all about destination. Tack on a couple of days in Seattle and excursions for the amount we are saving.

 

[KashasMom]

We've done Alaska once with Celebrity (and a child) and once with RCI (no children). Both were excellent cruises. For me I can't justify paying DCL prices for Alaska (or any port-intensive cruise). During the summer we did an amazing 13 night Baltic on RCI. We literally slept and ate breakfast and dinner on the ship. We were similarly busy on our Alaskan cruises. The difference in prices between our Baltic cruise and a DCL European cruise was insane (we paid about 1/3 the cost of DCL). If I was going back to Alaska I would definitely make sure I saw Glacier Bay and it wouldn't be on Disney!

 

[KashasMom]

Just read all the replies here...some very good and helpful responses. One note I wanted to add about excursions - whatever cruise line you choose - do your own excursions!! There are so many great options (and you'll find plenty of reviews) and going on your own means more freedom, a lot less $$, and less unwanted bathroom/shopping breaks - oh and no waiting time for a bunch of people to get back on a bus!

Oh and one other thing...I can live without a balcony but we had one each time in Alaska. I LOVED sitting out very early in the morning with coffee and binoculars...even saw whales from the balcony. Totally cool.