Hey there! I’m trying to find the appropriate fit and asking for your opinion. The situation is as follows:
*alaska cruisetour (land plus 7 day cruise)
*family group, adults only, mostly 60+ some 40+ (10-15 people max)
*inexperienced travelers make up most of the group, trip of a lifetime kinda deal *casual bunch that may not be comfortable with a stuffy or too luxury feel.
*likes the evening shows and entertainment, and everything figured out for them. no need for water alides/gocart massive ship.
*a few of them are used to much more luxurious trip and prefer small ships and great food. 2000 passemgers would be great as max.
*ideally ability to not be foreced to eat with others (even for parties of 2) and to go at whatever time we want to eat rather than 6 or 8pm
unsure if everyone in the group would be willing to wear slacks and collared shirts at dinner.
a few love golfing (nor sure it is relevant lol)
Any suggestions on the best line to take? They’re examining Norwegian. Looking at Holland because of their knowledge (park ranger on board) and glacier bay.
Ensure that Glacier Bay is included in the itinerary. We are not cruisers, yet we had a great time on our Princess trip last month. With two sisters who are around 70 years old, our group couple in our 50s had an amazing time.
Holland America is the best line when it comes to Alaska. They were its pioneers. Their port times and placements are optimal. They exert great effort to make Alaska unique. During the days of the glaciers, they have nature talks and invite park rangers.
The interior passage is the ideal place to watch glaciers, in my opinion. It’s also less formal.
Princess. If some of them just want to experience this once, then sail north from Vancouver to Whittier and complete the land component at the finish. I think College Fjord is one of the highlights of the northbound scenery, which gets better and better.
Reserve a Royal-class ship from Vancouver, please. They are compelled to sail Vancouver Island’s less picturesque and rougher west coast. Something other than Caribbean/Ruby/Emerald/Crown would be my choice, just so you have the midship pool area covered in case of drizzle on sea days. For the least crowded/intimate atmosphere with all the desirable features, I would recommend Sapphire or Coral.
@Camilla Oh, that’s intriguing. I’ve been told to land first because the cruise can be utilized to take a little more rest, and it’s really tiring. However, I did question whether it would be wiser to start with the best and work your way down to the crescendo.
These cruises are rather sedate in the evenings, to put it mildly. Most people are going to be in their jammies pretty early.
They’re going to be flying in at least a day prior. (this is a non-negotiable - you can’t board the ship at the next port, airline reliability is near historic lows). So they’re going to board the ship and then instantly have a day off. (sea day). Then Ketchikan, which is not a particularly “active” port (small downtown, not going hiking on a glacier or anything). Then Juneau (a little more active usually). Then a sea day for Glacier Bay. Then an active day in Skagway, then a sea day/College Fjord. They won’t be too tuckered out.
Yes, the land tours are hectic. You’ll feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. But better to recover at home on the cheap than be too tired to enjoy southeast Alaska. That extra haul at the start of the vacation can really, really wear you out.
@Candy superior to Holland? Although I still think Holland is the finest, it seems like Princess might be somewhat superior when it comes to entertainment and nighttime activities.
I’ve cruised Alaska six times and Holland is the way to go. They get priority berth in ports (less tendering and no buses like Norwegian), great food, very chill and casual vibe and many of their itineraries include glacier Bay national Park (a must see).
That said I really can’t recommend the land tours by any company. I did a super long cruise+ full Yukon and Denali (21 days total I believe) and it was merely meh.
Very stodgy, generally boring and very few interesting sights. Even Denali, which I was really looking forward to, was a let down. Our group preferred either glacier national Park or Rocky mountain over Denali after visiting (and both are a lot less money to see). We even went on an intensive hike in the park (on our own) and it was nice but nothing really special.
I’ll definitely cruise Alaska again but unless I’m camping across the state I wouldn’t bother with the land tour again.
In fact we plan to do a Seattle round-trip cruise again next year because it the scenery is just gorgeous along the coast.
Edited to add: you can certainly dine as a party of two with Holland at any time (although popular times can come with a wait). And no collared shirt is required. For formal nights we either wear a nice shirt and jeans or dress up for group photos. We did roaring 20s last time and it made for some awesome group photos!
Families in the 26th season with Princess are looking at a handful of these now; the cost per double occupancy cabin is about $5,600, so I would suggest arranging your own airfare. Don’t just reserve eight distinct cabins if you want a real group; instead, work directly with the cruise line or an advisor to arrange everything.
We had an awesome Cruisetour with NCL. Very pleased that everything was taken care of on our tour, our bags went from the ship to our hotel room, we put them outside our hotel room door, and they were transferred to the next hotel room. We had an excursion to Denali that seemed included for us, but we picked up a couple of Princess passengers to join us, and it seemed like it was an option for them since our Cruisetour was all on one bus together and then these few random Princess tour people.
The cruise is not at all a stuffy feeling, NCL is very casual, no formal nights, I don’t even take dress shoes anymore, just nice sandals for dinner, only the French restaurant (my favorite) has a dress code, and even that you could get away with pants and a polo. I actually wore the 32° pants from Costo that are casual pants, but look dressy enough. There are usually 4-5 free places to eat, with 2 main dining rooms, buffet, a 24 hour pub, and an Asian-Fusion restaurant, and your reservation almost always comes with 1-2 specialty dining nights. My favorite part of the ship for Alaska, several of them have a lounge with floor to ceiling glass views 270° on the front of the ship, and they have a buffet and bar outside on the back of many of their ships, including the one we were on, that’s outside, so we could see sea life swimming behind our ship as we ate, look at all the mountains on either side of the ship, it was amazing. We had a balcony and went on it only about 2 minutes the entire cruise because there was so much deck space, the lounge and the outdoor buffet. They have themed bars throughout the ship, one for Martinis, Whiskey, Champagne, and Mojitos, some have a wine bar, I was on one that had a Margarita bar; it’s a nice way to relax with the family going through those fun menus. It was my in-laws’ first cruise and they absolutely loved it, they booked another one with NCL as we were on board.