Princess Ships

Question

I’m thinking about going on the Grand Alaska tour but question how good the ships are. In June the following ships can be booked: Grand , Pacific, Royal or Coral. Any recommendations or thoughts about the trip in general would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Ken from Vegas · Accepted Answer

Please read my trip review (if you haven't already). It's in the Grand Alaska forum (posted last year). It will give you a lot of details.

You should take this tour, but not because of the ships, but because of the land tour portion. While we enjoyed the cruise portion, the land portion was really the highlight.  Princess operates most of the hotels you stay and they really have a lock on the best combination of lodges near the parks and cruises. You'd be hard pressed to find a land and sea combination tour of this quality without booking with Tauck or Princess.

That being said, the ship was fine. We were on the Golden Princess (so that's not on your list). We prefer small ships, but for a medium to large ship it was good. The only knock I have on the ship was the one time we tried the buffet for dinner, it was really bad.  The food in the main dining room and the specialty restaurants (which Tauck books ahead) was excellent. So stick with those for dinner.

If you need help picking between ships, try the cruise critic website:

cruisecritic.com/cruise-ships/

AlanS · Accepted Answer

Here is the link to Ken's review:

https://forums.tauck.com/discussion/12850/grand-alaska-review-and-tips#latest

Sealord · Accepted Answer

We just got back from ten days on the Grand Princess to Alaska out of San Francisco.  We booked that one primarily due to convenience and we wanted to take the ‘kids’ and ‘grandkids’ on a cruise, but did not want to have to deal with flights for six people.  Highlight of the trip was an animal refuge in Haines, AK accessed via boat and bus from Skagway.  The kids loved it.  We ate in the Michaelangelo Restaurant anytime dining, and we thought it was better than their specialty restaurant the Crown Grill.  We did not do the Italian specialty.  We had two mini-suites which were quite nice.  This is not a ‘new’ boat, but it is in pretty good shape. It carries around 2,600 guests.  Most of our trips are on boats that carry only a few hundred, but we needed a big boat for the kids facilities ... we thought.  The kids wanted to be with us not in a ‘kids’ facility.

cvc · Accepted Answer

I agree 100% with Ken - Alaska is fantastic.  We have been twice - and did the combination cruise/land tour both times. We were on the Coral Princess which was fine - but the ship is secondary to the itinerary.  We have been to many of the places Tauck includes on their itinerary (our trip was through Princess - it was before we discovered Tauck).  We especially enjoyed Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound - the wildlife was abundant.  I have attached a few of my pictures from Prince William Sound.  We have also used the cruise critic website for information about ships.

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Dixiechick · Accepted Answer

We have done a land/ cruise tour to Alaska twice, both times with Princess.  The first trip was for just my hubby and me, with Tauck- absolutely fabulous!!    Last summer, 2018, we took our daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren, ages 17, 15, and 12.  Because the Tauck tours are so expensive, we chose to do the virtually identical land cruise by booking it with Princess.  Really and truly, this trip is all about  the land activities.  You can do an Alaska  cruise with any cruise line, and it can range from acceptable to over the moon based on your level of expectation and luxury quotient.  But no cruise line does land land Alaska like Princess, mainly because they were the first to do it.  And they built their own very nice hotels.   Not to mention Glacier Bay National Park which is very restricted to Princess and only a couple other cruise lines.  The Princess ships are not luxury vessels, but they are just fine for this Alaska cruise tour.

Bottom lime, go with Tauck if it fits your budget, otherwise book through Princess.

Nancy

Dixiechick · Accepted Answer

Concerning which Princess ship, I don’t think it makes much difference.  Whichever one is the smallest of the ones that are available or the one that has the best cabin arrangement for you. If motion sickness is a potential problem, book a cabin on a lower deck in the middle of the ship.  If possible, get a mini suite, a really nice cabin.    Then go on whichever tour is mid to late July, early August.  Early summer is too cold. Late August is too late.  No matter what book a trip that begins in Anchorage with  the land tour first, cruise second.  You will be really busy on land and can relax while at sea.

Enjoy!!

Nancy