Alaska cruise 2023 - Other cruise lines?

[RysMomma]

Haven't gone yet but we have Royal Caribbean booked for prime-time this summer for 2 adults and 2 kids. It would have been $14,000 for a single balcony on the Wonder through Disney but we got 2 connecting balconies on Royal Caribbean for just less than $6,000. No brainer, we can purchase the Key if we want early boarding, reserved time for activities, reserved show seats, etc. and we can purchase upgraded dining and still come out thousands ahead. I haven't traveled yet so no reviews but the ship also has an indoor pool for kids, an indoor pool area for adults and was built for cold weather cruising. Hopefully the service will be just as good!

I'm looking at an NCL cruise for 2025 that is a lot cheaper, as well. Going to look into RCL. Please make sure to come back and update!

 

[DietCokeMommy]

We’re doing a 2 bedroom suite on Ovation of the Seas in July. It’s so much space and comparable to Disney verandah pricing. I also love the idea of sitting in a hot tub in the solarium watching the scenery. There’s other great inside spots for viewing like the concierge lounge and cafe 270. I know I’ll miss Disney but their prices in Alaska are just insane.

 

[tinkerbellmamma]

We go on DCL more than any other line, but Alaska is one itinerary where we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Last summer it would have been over $12k for our family of 4 to go on the Wonder to Alaska in a single balcony when I was pricing it. I was able to book 2 adjoining balconies on RCL Ovation of the Seas for $6k. The kids had a great time and the Ovation was a really nice ship for Alaska with kids and had great indoor spaces for colder weather.

I'm generally okay with paying a 20-30% premium for DCL Caribbean itineraries but couldn't stomach paying more than twice as much for a single cabin on DCL in Alaska.

We are taking Ovation of the Seas this July - any tips? I'm afraid of overpacking - is layering the best way to go? Any suggestions on the best excursions to take? My kids are older - 22, 19 and 17

 

[lklgoodman]

We have an Alaskan cruise booked on NCL's Encore June 2023, just 119 days to go. We've done 8 Disney cruises, including an Alaskan cruise. This will be our first non Disney cruise. Right now we are booked in family club suite, but will try to get a Haven cabin if we are sent an email to bid. When I booked our cruise in Feb 2022, it cost a little over $7k, that included pre-paid gratuities. The price of the cruise decreased 3 times since I had boozed I called each time and got a price adjustment each time. Finally price was $5,523. We pay more than that for a 7 night OV Caribbean on the Fantasy. I can give a ship review if anyone is interested.

 

[lklgoodman]

We are taking Ovation of the Seas this July - any tips? I'm afraid of overpacking - is layering the best way to go? Any suggestions on the best excursions to take? My kids are older - 22, 19 and 17

Layers is the way to go. When we cruised we had nice weather the entire cruise. On sea days I wore capris and short sleeve tops. Our Disney cruise went through Tracey's Arm, they go somewhere else now. It does get really cold on deck. We needed a heavy jacket, hat, and gloves. When we were in ports I wore jeans, t-shirt, and a 3 in 1 jacket. We all had 2 pairs of tennis shoes in case 1 pair got wet. My dd was 6 yrs old at the time(2014) so we were limited in the type of excursions. In Juneau we went to Glacier Gardens(really beautiful), Mendenhall Glacier(very nice), and a salmon hatchery(boring, wish we had skipped). This time we are going river rafting in Juneau. We had gone with extended family last time. They went zip lining at one of the ports and enjoyed it. In Ketchikan we went to the lumberjack show and to a totem pole park, doing that again. In Skagway we went to Liarsville to do gold panning and for lunch, neither were good. This time we are doing a canoe tour to a glacier. We booked all our excursions through NCL. I always see good reviews about the train trips in Skagway, but we aren't interested in sitting in a train for several hours. I've hear good things about some crab catching boat excursion. I think it's in Ketchikan and is from some TV show, the Deadliest Catch, I think.

 

[jujubiee4]

We have an Alaskan cruise booked on NCL's Encore June 2023, just 119 days to go. We've done 8 Disney cruises, including an Alaskan cruise. This will be our first non Disney cruise. Right now we are booked in family club suite, but will try to get a Haven cabin if we are sent an email to bid. When I booked our cruise in Feb 2022, it cost a little over $7k, that included pre-paid gratuities. The price of the cruise decreased 3 times since I had boozed I called each time and got a price adjustment each time. Finally price was $5,523. We pay more than that for a 7 night OV Caribbean on the Fantasy. I can give a ship review if anyone is interested.

Yes please do. Especially a comparison. I'm hearing stories of lot of nickel and diming from NCL.
However my brother went Sept to Alaska and he and gf didn't report anything too out of ordinary.
They haven't been on Disney though. Is Haven a type of suite?

 

[lklgoodman]

Yes please do. Especially a comparison. I'm hearing stories of lot of nickel and diming from NCL.
However my brother went Sept to Alaska and he and gf didn't report anything too out of ordinary.
They haven't been on Disney though. Is Haven a type of suite?

Haven is what NCL calls their concierge area. It includes a private restaurant, pool, and sundeck. If you get a Haven cabin you get a stateroom host, butler, and concierge attendant. Our cabin isn't part of Haven, but it comes with a few extra perks that a regular balcony cabin doesn't include. We get a bottle of free sparkling wine, a few days of free treats brought to our cabin, free bag of laundry(NCL doesn't have self service laundry rooms. I never do laundry on cruises anyway), and our bathroom is slightly larger. The main thing that I see about people saying about nickel and diming is from the drink packages. They don't do free sodas like Disney, we don't drink soda so we don't care. They have free coffee, juice, lemonade, water, and tea. We were given a free alcohol drink package when we booked. We had it taken off because my dh doesn't drink alcohol and I only have 1 glass of wine with dinner. It will be cheaper to just buy it individually. You pay gratuities for the drink packages, but that's no different from DCL. The gratuities were removed since we had them remove the package. Every time you buy a drink on DCL there's a 18% tip added to it. The things like the race cars, laser tag, and virtual reality also cost extra, but so does Disney's golf simulator. We got 4 free dinners at NCL's specialty restaurants(2 for me, two for my dh). They charge you gratuities for the servers. Disney charges you for the meals plus gratituities. We also got 300 mins of free internet for me and my dh(150 for each). I know Disney gives free mins if you go to sign up for it on the first day, but don't remember how much. We also got $50 credit for every excursion we booked at every port that was booked through NCL. We always book through the cruiseline anyway. So while the race cars may cost me $15 to do them, our cruise fare came out to just over$5,500. An inside cabin for the same week on Disney was going to cost us $8k, that's without Palo dinner, glass of wine each day, or gratuities for cabin host and dining team. On NCL you can book your excursions anytime you wish. You pay for them when you book them, which is different from DCL, but you can get a refund similar to DCL if you cancel them or if NCL does.

 

[auntlynne]

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[auntlynne]

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[auntlynne]

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[auntlynne]

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[tidefan]

Done 3 Alaskan Cruises (Wonder, Emerald Princess, Crown Princess) and have enjoyed them all. I think that the itinerary is more important than the line. If you could R/T from Vancouver, it IMHO is better as you get a full inside passage. Also, Glacier Bay is amazing, so I would recommend that as well. I believe HAL may have some R/T Vancouver departures that do both.

 

[June Simpson]

We have sailed to Alaska three times, with Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Celebrity. My favourite of the three has been Celebrity. It really depends what you want from your cruise. Holland America had great food, but was old fashioned and the majority of the passengers were much older, the ship was so quiet after 9pm.

 

[RAD]

We did DCL Alaska back in 2017 and Celebrity last year. If you just need that Disney touch you just won't be happy with any other cruise line. But if you want to prioritize the Alaska experience then I'd say to look at other cruise lines that will go to the places you want to go to. We like our Celebrity cruise, we did a one-way from Vancouver to Seward which they also had an option of a land portion that went to Fairbanks. Back when we booked that cruise with the extension the price was very close to what DCL wanted for a regular 7 day cruise in a 4A cabin. When it comes to the port excursions that each line offered they were basically all the same.

 

[Pens Fan]

We have an Alaskan cruise booked on NCL's Encore June 2023, just 119 days to go. We've done 8 Disney cruises, including an Alaskan cruise. This will be our first non Disney cruise. Right now we are booked in family club suite, but will try to get a Haven cabin if we are sent an email to bid. When I booked our cruise in Feb 2022, it cost a little over $7k, that included pre-paid gratuities. The price of the cruise decreased 3 times since I had boozed I called each time and got a price adjustment each time. Finally price was $5,523. We pay more than that for a 7 night OV Caribbean on the Fantasy. I can give a ship review if anyone is interested.

Just a tip - while I would definitely recommend bidding on the Haven (it's amazing!), on our cruise on the Joy last Oct we bid on several Haven categories, but I still kept checking Haven prices online (daily). One day they reduced the price quite significantly for several categories that we'd bid on. On some categories it was cheaper to just go ahead and switch to the Haven than if we'd actually won the bid. Plus, we got to pick our cabin, that way. I texted my TA and she immediately grabbed one for us.

Now, that particular sailing was only slightly over half full, so I'm sure that is what prompted the reductions. Still, I always recommend checking the prices closer to sail date to see if you can just outright upgrade for a price you're comfortable with in addition to going the bidding route.

 

[beckicnm]

Just a tip - while I would definitely recommend bidding on the Haven (it's amazing!), on our cruise on the Joy last Oct we bid on several Haven categories, but I still kept checking Haven prices online (daily). One day they reduced the price quite significantly for several categories that we'd bid on. On some categories it was cheaper to just go ahead and switch to the Haven than if we'd actually won the bid. Plus, we got to pick our cabin, that way. I texted my TA and she immediately grabbed one for us.

Now, that particular sailing was only slightly over half full, so I'm sure that is what prompted the reductions. Still, I always recommend checking the prices closer to sail date to see if you can just outright upgrade for a price you're comfortable with in addition to going the bidding route.

You can do this on Celebrity too. The call it Move Up. Many people bid up for Aqua Class or suites.

I ended up in a Concierge Class room cheaper than inside once just from watching prices closely.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

We're going on HAL this summer to Alaska. We chose by the itinerary (Glacier Bay was a big plus).

 

[lilsonicfan]

We're going on HAL this summer to Alaska. We chose by the itinerary (Glacier Bay was a big plus).

We did this on Koningsdam last year. Beautiful ship, it was definitely NOT super quiet after 9pm but a lot of the evening entertainment is music-themed. Glacier Bay was so so worth it. Put on your parka and head to the bow of the ship in the morning!

 

[lklgoodman]

Just a tip - while I would definitely recommend bidding on the Haven (it's amazing!), on our cruise on the Joy last Oct we bid on several Haven categories, but I still kept checking Haven prices online (daily). One day they reduced the price quite significantly for several categories that we'd bid on. On some categories it was cheaper to just go ahead and switch to the Haven than if we'd actually won the bid. Plus, we got to pick our cabin, that way. I texted my TA and she immediately grabbed one for us.

Now, that particular sailing was only slightly over half full, so I'm sure that is what prompted the reductions. Still, I always recommend checking the prices closer to sail date to see if you can just outright upgrade for a price you're comfortable with in addition to going the bidding route.

Thanks for that info. I'm hoping to book a cruise on the Joy for spring break 2024. I'd book it now, but my dh wants to make sure we like NCL before doing so.

 

[auntlynne]