Alaska - favorite cruise line

[LC30]

Hello everyone. We just got back from a magical cruise on the Disney Wonder to Alaska. We are already planning to go back but am wondering if we should look at other cruise lines in addition to Disney. So for those of you who have traveled to Alaska on different cruise lines...would love to hear your opinion. We will have a 12 year old with us, so entertainment for a 12 year old would factor into this for sure.

Thank you all for your insights.

 

[dcassetta]

I would recommend Princess on a northbound itinerary followed by a land package including Denali.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hello everyone. We just got back from a magical cruise on the Disney Wonder to Alaska. We are already planning to go back but am wondering if we should look at other cruise lines in addition to Disney. So for those of you who have traveled to Alaska on different cruise lines...would love to hear your opinion. We will have a 12 year old with us, so entertainment for a 12 year old would factor into this for sure.

Thank you all for your insights.

Well, I've only been on Holland America for Alaska. HAL and Princess have been cruising Alaska the longest and have most of the Glacier Bay permits.

I can't speak as to how good the Princess kid's activities/club may be, but I believe it's more attended than HAL. HAL does tend to have fewer young children.

 

[Karlzmom]

We've done DCL twice and will be going on Celebrity before the end of the season. Ill be happy to do a comparison after.

 

[Dug720]

I've only done Alaska with Holland America and Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean wins by default because of the uber liberal smoking policy on Holland America (still allowed on balconies, seemingly more outside areas where it was allowed, and the casino (which I had a challenge figuring out how to get to the dining room without either going down a guest hallway (awkward) or through the casino) reeks of nasty stale smoke even when it's closed).

 

[jdb in AZ]

We've cruised Alaska on HAL, Princess (twice), and Royal (twice.) Our favorite was a two-week land/sea vacation with Princess where we cruised for a week, then toured Denali, stayed at the Princess Lodge at the base of Mt. McKinley, and ended up in Fairbanks.

Mt. McKinley (has the name been changed back to Denali yet?) is often shrouded in clouds; it wasn't til our 3rd day at the lodge that the clouds cleared and we were able to see the peak.

 

[xlxo]

In addition to lower cost by skipping DCL's pixie dust.... you have a Glacier Bay option. I like HAL a little more than Princess.

• HAL offers a Yukon Denali option where you can travel between Skagway and Central Alaska without a boat.
• The photo package....

 

[cmph]

We've done DCL twice and will be going on Celebrity before the end of the season. Ill be happy to do a comparison after.

I'm not the OP, but yes please! I'm looking into Alaska for my family in maybe 2018. Celebrity is on my short list.

I went on a Princess northbound as a young teenager. I can't imagine the traditional cruiselines bothered to put much effort into kids' clubs back then, so won't comment about that. We sat in loungers and watched the icebergs with mocktails of the day and blankets from the crew - perfectly happy. We still remember the food as the best cruise food we ever had. We went to afternoon tea nearly every day with my grandma and mom and thought we were regal. I'm sure much has changed in many ways over the last 20 years, so take this with many grains of salt, but even with lackluster kids' activities - we enjoyed ourselves quite a lot. HAL - well, I'll never get DH to agree to that with kids. (We were bored to tears on a HAL southern Caribbean in our 20s, his first cruise.) I'm going back and forth between Princess and other lines (not DCL) for Alaska for 2018. Part of me thinks I should avoid Princess and preserve my memories.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I recommend looking at the itineraries. Once you know what itinerary you want, then look at the lines and ships. I know people always say Alaska is about the ports and not the ship, but I am one that gets bored on sea days and the ship becomes more important because of that. Most will go to Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. Since you've already seen all of those, maybe look for a cruise that goes other places.

 

[LC30]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the insights and info.

We've done DCL twice and will be going on Celebrity before the end of the season. Ill be happy to do a comparison after.

Would love your comparison after!

The land and sea combinations sounds really wonderful too! One thing we missed about our Alaskan cruise was seeing more of Alaska. The port towns were cute but its the beautiful wildlife and landscape that we loved so much.

 

[wombat_5606]

The land and sea combinations sounds really wonderful too! One thing we missed about our Alaskan cruise was seeing more of Alaska. The port towns were cute but its the beautiful wildlife and landscape that we loved so much.

Highly recommend you do a land tour! Since you've done a cruise, I say skip that part next time and just do a trip to Alaska. If you have any interest, let me know and I will tell you what we did. We stayed 2 weeks and it was one of the best trips of my life!

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

My wife and I along with two other couples did the Celebrity Millennium: Seward to Vancouver cruise over the Fourth of July. I typed up four separate reviews earlier that you may be able to find. We had a great time but, because you have a 12 year old son I am not sure this would work for you. We did run into a few children on board and they do have a area devoted to them (we could hear them in there) we saw very few of them just wandering around like you do on DCL ships.

All of our children are grown up so I never looked on Celebrity's web site to see what they have to offer for families with children. Hopefully adults with children that have sailed the Millennium can answer your question on if there is enough to fill your sons time.

 

[LC30]

Highly recommend you do a land tour! Since you've done a cruise, I say skip that part next time and just do a trip to Alaska. If you have any interest, let me know and I will tell you what we did. We stayed 2 weeks and it was one of the best trips of my life!

Yes! I would love to hear more about this. This is great.

 

[wombat_5606]

Yes! I would love to hear more about this. This is great.

I hope I haven't mislead you. We did independent travel, not a land tour, per se. I researched our route, hotels and attractions. We rented a car and drove ourselves everywhere, but I will be glad to tell you where we went and what we did, if you are still interested.

A good resource is Alaska.org. They have information on tours if you would rather go that route.