any suggestions what cruise line

b4coco · #1 (**permalink**) September 23rd, 2008, 06:22 PM

any suggestion on what cruise line and what ship to sail on out of seattle?

Donna · #2 (**permalink**) September 24th, 2008, 09:55 AM

Besides cruising out of Seattle, what ports do you want to visit.

Just as a general observation, I notice Princess has the most ships up in Alaska, more choices, but there is Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. I'd look at all the different itinaries and decide from that.

sassyredhat · #3 (**permalink**) September 24th, 2008, 03:17 PM

We've been to Alaska once, but not from Seattle. I don't think any Seattle departures sail the entire inside passage. Everyone seems to think that the IP is pretty good.

But~~~we're going back, and my requirement is an itinerary that includes Sitka. DH wants glaciers.

Pat

Karen16 · #4 (**permalink**) September 28th, 2008, 02:18 AM

A top choice sailing out of Seattle is HAL. They have excellent itineraries that beat out most of the others. At the bottom of my list is Princess and RCI with Tracy Arm. A stand out for Tracy Arm is NCL, due to their exclusive add on jet boat tour, which in my opinion is a must do. WAY superior to anything seen from the crusie ship. This season, probably less than 25% of the ships got within glacier viewing, so if a priority, I definately suggest you consider booking a glacier excursion of some sort.

NCL Pearl has Glacier Bay which is fantastic. Carnival does not do round trip Seattle.

Overall, round trip Seattle, does sail the most open ocean and has the roughest sailing potential.

Round trip Vancouver is superior for sailing inside Vancouver Island. With an extra day there are transits available Seattle/Vancouver, one way rental cars, Amtrak, Quickshuttle and cruiseline contracted buses.

Donna · #5 (**permalink**) September 28th, 2008, 10:35 AM

You are so right Karen,
When cruising from Seattle, I had no idea we'd be be out in the ocean so much, unlike cruising from Vancouver where you pretty much do the inside passage. Next time, I will certainly try to go from Seattle or just do a one way and get farther north.. I'm still glad I went from Seattle, had never been there before.

Phil&Liz · #6 (**permalink**) September 28th, 2008, 10:52 AM

We just returned from Carnival Spirit doing a RT from Vancouver and went into Glacier Bay. We had what we feel was a very decent view of the glaciers there and we spent about an hour at each one. HAL Ryndam was with us along the way.

We privately booked the helicopter glacier tour with ERA and had an excellent time. Some offer the dogsled with it but they cannot always offer that as it turns out. We found out only days before sailing that they could not do dogsled when only 2 weeks prior they confirmed in email that we would be doing the dogsled.

I would have liked to have visited Sitka but it is not on this particular inten.

One thing of benefit to sailing from Seattle is avoiding Customs lines. We had an hour and a half wait in line at Customs on arrival at YVR due to there being 2 other flights arriving. Leaving YVR was much smoother and we did self assist with a 11am flight no problem. I would NOT advise cutting it so close though. Better to get a later flight.

There was no rough water on this iten but I could see where that might be the case with a Seattle sailing.

Do alot of research on just what it is you really want to see and do in Alaska then find a line that can best get you there.

Phil & Liz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karen16

A top choice sailing out of Seattle is HAL. They have excellent itineraries that beat out most of the others. At the bottom of my list is Princess and RCI with Tracy Arm. A stand out for Tracy Arm is NCL, due to their exclusive add on jet boat tour, which in my opinion is a must do. WAY superior to anything seen from the crusie ship. This season, probably less than 25% of the ships got within glacier viewing, so if a priority, I definately suggest you consider booking a glacier excursion of some sort.

NCL Pearl has Glacier Bay which is fantastic. Carnival does not do round trip Seattle.

Overall, round trip Seattle, does sail the most open ocean and has the roughest sailing potential.

Round trip Vancouver is superior for sailing inside Vancouver Island. With an extra day there are transits available Seattle/Vancouver, one way rental cars, Amtrak, Quickshuttle and cruiseline contracted buses.

b4coco · #7 (**permalink**) September 30th, 2008, 05:12 PM

So see glacier bay, it is better than inside passage? what about tracy arm. (Donna did u get the email i sent you)

KellyW · #8 (**permalink**) September 30th, 2008, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b4coco

So see glacier bay, it is better than inside passage? what about tracy arm. (Donna did u get the email i sent you)

If you want to do Tracy Arm you should choose an itinerary that gets into Juneau by 7am..That way you could do a day cruise via small boat through Tracy Arm..We did one last year with Adventure Bound..

Not every cruise line can get into Glacier Bay..We just got back from a R/T Carnival Spirit Cruise out of Vancouver that went to Glacier Bay..(Carnival offers airport transfers from Seattle to Vancouver and visa versa)After being to both places its a hard call for me as to which is better..They are so different..IF you want to see a lot of Glaciers go to Glacier Bay..IF you want to see fjord type scenery with the sheer straight up and down cliffs water falls with a Glacier at the end Go for Tracy Arm...Now after Reading what I wrote I think I preferred Tracy Arm..We saw more wildlife there also with Orcas, seals, eagles, humpbacks and mountain goats..BUT in Glacier bay we saw alot of Glacier Calving.....

I myself would go on the cruise that didnt have alot of open sea time..I get seasick..

Oh I envy you with all these decisions you have to make..Planning is half the fun..You can view a few of my webshots albums here
http://community.webshots.com/user/kellywhitehills
There a photos of both Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay

Have fun planning!

Kelly

Donna · #9 (**permalink**) September 30th, 2008, 09:12 PM

We were super fortunate when cruising into Tracy Arm, it was only the second time this year that they got so close, absolutely beautiful day, I was pleasantly suprised too.

b4coco · #10 (**permalink**) September 30th, 2008, 10:45 PM

THANKS KELLY so now were down to tracy arm vs inside passage, any one else have an opinion, thanks.

subtropic · #11 (**permalink**) October 1st, 2008, 12:13 AM

If you can do this plan to go round trip from Vancouver B.C. Even though I am a big RCL backer, I would pick Princess on this one.

Divemaster · #12 (**permalink**) October 1st, 2008, 09:18 AM

And don't forget Holland America Lines, too....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donna

Besides cruising out of Seattle, what ports do you want to visit.

Just as a general observation, I notice Princess has the most ships up in Alaska, more choices, but there is Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. I'd look at all the different itinaries and decide from that.

Karen16 · #13 (**permalink**) October 2nd, 2008, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by subtropic

If you can do this plan to go round trip from Vancouver B.C. Even though I am a big RCL backer, I would pick Princess on this one.

Princess does NOT do any 7 day round trip Vancouver sailings.

Divemaster · #14 (**permalink**) October 2nd, 2008, 11:09 AM

Princess does do a 4 day RT cruise from Vancouver though.....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karen16

Quote:

Originally Posted by subtropic

If you can do this plan to go round trip from Vancouver B.C. Even though I am a big RCL backer, I would pick Princess on this one.

Princess does NOT do any 7 day round trip Vancouver sailings.

katlady · #15 (**permalink**) October 2nd, 2008, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by b4coco

any suggestion on what cruise line and what ship to sail on out of seattle?

I like the end of May for an Alaskan cruise so that gives you these cruiselines who sail out of Seattle to chose from:
Celebrity (Hubbard Glacier)
Holland American (Glacier Bay)
Royal Carribean (Tracy Arm)
Norwegian (Saywer Glacier)
Princess (Tracy Arm)
We did Celebrity to Alaska I didn't care for Celebrity itself, but the Hubbard Glacier is wonderful. The reason I didn't care for Celebrity is there was not enough to do on board and the service and food wasn't as great as I had heard. It maybe I picked a bad week to cruise. I hope something in here helped you make a decision.

Kamloops Cruiser · #16 (**permalink**) October 2nd, 2008, 03:25 PM

We did 14 day round trip to Seward on HAL from Vancouver.

We visited Sitka & Hubbard Glacier twice.

Had great time and are planning(booked) for June 2009.

Karen16 · #17 (**permalink**) October 3rd, 2008, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by katlady

Quote:

Originally Posted by b4coco

any suggestion on what cruise line and what ship to sail on out of seattle?

I like the end of May for an Alaskan cruise so that gives you these cruiselines who sail out of Seattle to chose from:
Celebrity (Hubbard Glacier)
Holland American (Glacier Bay)
Royal Carribean (Tracy Arm)
Norwegian (Saywer Glacier)
Princess (Tracy Arm)
We did Celebrity to Alaska I didn't care for Celebrity itself, but the Hubbard Glacier is wonderful. The reason I didn't care for Celebrity is there was not enough to do on board and the service and food wasn't as great as I had heard. It maybe I picked a bad week to cruise. I hope something in here helped you make a decision.

NCL also sails Glacier Bay.