Have you considered Princess?
No! Should I? I don't think I've heard of Princess before!
Have you considered Princess?
Princess is a large cruiseline with something like 18 ships. It would be perhaps a slight bit more upscale than RCCL and definitely Carnival. They (and HAL, though HAL skews slightly older) are known for their Alaskan itineraries. Princess will definitely have ships that cruise into Glacier Bay.No! Should I? I don't think I've heard of Princess before!
You have received some good advice, but let me play the other side for a change.Hi. New here! I came across this thread via a google search for the same question. Did you end up making a decision?
We priced out an Alaskan cruise for 2019.
NCL Bliss @ $5108, floor 10 mid-ship balcony, plus free Wifi and $350 port excursions.
RCCL @ $4813, floor 9 mid-ship balcony, $200 on board credit
Disney topped in at over $9100 for an aft balcony, no incentives
We could afford either, but I'm having a hard time understanding the value ....
No! Should I? I don't think I've heard of Princess before!
You have received some good advice, but let me play the other side for a change...But, if you want a themed cruise in Alaska - a combination of Disney, Alaska, glaciers, and a cruise - you really don't have much choice. That's why there is that premium.
You made some really good points, and you had me until the very end. (And I'll preface this with saying the only cruise we've taken to Alaska was on the Disney Wonder several years ago, and it was great!).
But...to me the theme of an Alaskan cruise, more so than other locations, is Alaska itself. While Disney theming is great, on this cruise it seems to take more of a back seat to Alaska itself. When we look back in the rear view mirror of that cruise now 7 years ago, the highlight wasn't dinner at Animator's Palate, the pre-dinner shows or character meets, it was the stunning beauty and uniqueness of Alaska.
That isn't quite as true as with, for instance, a Bahamas cruise where a clear highlight of the trip is a day at Disney's Castaway Cay.
As I've said before, I'm certainly willing to pay some premium for a Disney cruise, when I see something like what @mm824 quoted ($5000ish for RCL/NCL vs. $9000 Disney), I can't see justifying Disney.
- Disney throws in lots of freebies on board, which others may include only as incentives. Whether you will make use of the freebies is really up to you.
I think that is a bit of an overgeneralization. Princess probably does skew a bit older, but I don't think it's near what HAL may be. We've done 4 Princess cruises and felt that there was a very good mix of ages on board. The food is definitely better than RCCL or Carnival though (although, I will say that I LOVE Carnival's included comfort food options such as Guy's Burger, Blue Iguana, and the Mongolian Wok. I think that RCCL really lags behind in terms of comfort food - at least it does to me on the Radiance class ships...). We will be on Emerald Princess out of Seattle later on this summer and I will let you know what we find out... Getting back to the original post, we paid about $3,300 for 3 people in an inside cabin for a 7-night RT out of Seattle, which I think is downright reasonable...Princess is beautiful and definitely upscale. BUT I’ve done two Princess cruises to Alaska both when I was in my 30’s and we were by far a handful of the youngest people on the ship. My boss and her husband went last year (she’s 58 he’s 63) they both said they felt like they were very young compared to other passengers. I would recommend RC or Norwegian if you’re not comfortable with Disney prices. Plus RC is sending a Quantum Class ship to Alaska to match Norwegians new ship so the fun onboard for you and yours kids will be endless (IMO).
Freebies like soda, soft serve ice cream, room service...
I’m sure there’s more, but I can’t think of them off hand.
For us, we don’t use $1,000’s worth of these (who could??) to justify the price difference.
My simple question is, what made you sail on the Wonder back then? If you feel prices were better, well - then we agree that there is a real market for Disney themed Alaskan cruising - the only question being whether you can justify the premium. Back to my previous post.You made some really good points, and you had me until the very end. (And I'll preface this with saying the only cruise we've taken to Alaska was on the Disney Wonder several years ago, and it was great!).
But...to me the theme of an Alaskan cruise, more so than other locations, is Alaska itself. While Disney theming is great, on this cruise it seems to take more of a back seat to Alaska itself. When we look back in the rear view mirror of that cruise now 7 years ago, the highlight wasn't dinner at Animator's Palate, the pre-dinner shows or character meets, it was the stunning beauty and uniqueness of Alaska.
That isn't quite as true as with, for instance, a Bahamas cruise where a clear highlight of the trip is a day at Disney's Castaway Cay.
As I've said before, I'm certainly willing to pay some premium for a Disney cruise, when I see something like what @mm824 quoted ($5000ish for RCL/NCL vs. $9000 Disney), I can't see justifying Disney.
To answer the question, NCL, RCL, and Princess charge you for room service.I've asked a couple of times recently when I've seen a similar comment but no one has yet to reply. What are the freebies?
To answer the question, NCL, RCL, and Princess charge you for room service.
To answer the question, NCL, RCL, and Princess charge you for room service.
RCL has some for-fee items on its MDR menus.
The Cirque Dream and Dinner show on NCL has a fee. As does Deal or No Deal.
Princess and HAL charge for some of their adults-only sun areas and cabanas.
None of them has free drinks (non-alcoholic).
And some more.
That wasn't the point though.
My simple question is, what made you sail on the Wonder back then? If you feel prices were better, well - then we agree that there is a real market for Disney themed Alaskan cruising - the only question being whether you can justify the premium. Back to my previous post....
We just returned from our first trip to Alaska and our first cruise on Princess. For slightly more (maybe $600pp) than DCL, we were able to get a full aft suite on Princess with a huge wraparound balcony and all of the attendant perks that come with their suite. DS (9) was one of 14 kids on the entire sailing, yet they continued with all of the scheduled kids’ club activities and he enjoyed it so much that we barely saw him except when in port. To note, he found the DCL kids clubs to be too jumbled in age and chaotic. I would recommend sailing Princess to Alaska in a heartbeat. We found the service to be as good as Disney’s, though it had a different feel to it. The age definitely skewed older and the activities were planned accordingly, but we spent most of our time on the amazing balcony anyway. For those in this thread who were wondering about whether this is a good line to cruise Alaska with- I would say absolutely yes! Glacier Bay was incredible and I would say that it would be a dealbreaker for me if I ever went back as it was really that spectacular, and DCL does not sail there.