Alaska Ports- will they change?

[quickcat]

Do any of you 'itinerary experts' think that Disney will ever change up their itinerary for Alaska.
We just got back and did the same ports as Disney does but cruised with Princess. While we had a good time, it didn't compare to Disney. I found myself wishing I would have paid the difference and went with Disney to Alaska.
However, now that we have been to the 3 ports, I am hoping in the next few years they'll change it up a little bit.
Any hope in this or am I just dreaming?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Do any of you 'itinerary experts' think that Disney will ever change up their itinerary for Alaska.
We just got back and did the same ports as Disney does but cruised with Princess. While we had a good time, it didn't compare to Disney. I found myself wishing I would have paid the difference and went with Disney to Alaska.
However, now that we have been to the 3 ports, I am hoping in the next few years they'll change it up a little bit.
Any hope in this or am I just dreaming?

There really aren't that many ports in Alaska for the large cruiseships. Pretty much all cruiselines that "do" Alaska do Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway/Haines. Unless you take one of the one way cruises from Seward to Vancouver. And those aren't on DCL. And, while they might have one or two other ports, they still hit the "standard" ports (as well as Glacier Bay on some of them).

 

[ImprovGal]

Last year, Disney tried out a 9-night itinerary that added Sitka to the mix. Who knows? Perhaps in the future, they may revisit that itinerary.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Do any of you 'itinerary experts' think that Disney will ever change up their itinerary for Alaska.
We just got back and did the same ports as Disney does but cruised with Princess. While we had a good time, it didn't compare to Disney. I found myself wishing I would have paid the difference and went with Disney to Alaska.
However, now that we have been to the 3 ports, I am hoping in the next few years they'll change it up a little bit.
Any hope in this or am I just dreaming?

Well they had a five year agreement with the ports 2011-2016 so anything is possible, if we are going to see changes then it would be 2017. On a seven day cruise it's hard to go to other ports but who says all Alaska cruises will be seven days in 2017?

Do consider cruise lines must have a permit to sail Glacier bay and DCL do not have that, at this moment.

 

[dcassetta]

I will second Shmoo's comment that there just aren't all that many ports in Alaska where a ship the size of Disney ships can be accommodated. Possible other port stops could be Valdez, Seward, and Anchorage. Disney could also add Sitka to an itinerary again. I don't think Homer or Unalaska could support a ship the size of the Disney cruise ships, Nome possibly could but that would be a very long cruise! If Disney continues to run round-trip cruises from Vancouver, the itinerary they have now will continue to be the itinerary. And, if they shift to one-way trips from Vancouver to Seward or vice versa, they will still visit Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway.

 

[NancyIL]

DCL could do one-way cruises or longer cruises. They don't have a permit for Glacier Bay, but Hubbard Glacier might be a viable alternative to Tracy Arm. Icy Strait Point (Hoonah) is another port option.

I enjoyed my Alaska cruises on Princess and HAL. My most recent Alaska cruise was a 14-night roundtrip on HAL in 2011 with a wonderful itinerary, and HAL still does those cruises: http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-...s=1&portCode=&shipCodeSearch=&voyageCode=M655

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

DCL could do one-way cruises or longer cruises. They don't have a permit for Glacier Bay, but Hubbard Glacier might be a viable alternative to Tracy Arm. Icy Strait Point (Hoonah) is another port option.

I enjoyed my Alaska cruises on Princess and HAL. My most recent Alaska cruise was a 14-night roundtrip on HAL in 2011 with a wonderful itinerary, and HAL still does those cruises: http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-...s=1&portCode=&shipCodeSearch=&voyageCode=M655

Agree!

 

[dcassetta]

I haven't sailed with HAL but did do Alaska on one of the smaller Princess ships about 15 years ago. We visited Kodiak, but not Homer. I think the above itinerary on HAL looks great, but the challenge again may be that the Disney ships are just too big for some of those ports. The Wonder is more than 200 feet longer than the Maasdam.

 

[grimgrinnin]

I would love North/South bound itineraries in 2017. I want to do a 14-day B2B. I'll be looking at Princess/HAL/NCL if Disney doesn't do this, or at least a 9-day.