Most cruiselines travel to Alaska – which to choose?

Most major cruiselines offer cruises (and/our cruisetours) to Alaska. Only five have permission from the National Park Service to enter Glacier Bay National Park: Holland America, Princess, Carnival, Norwegian, and Crystal.

To narrow your choices further:

Holland America and Princess have the longest history and most experience in Alaska.

So looking at Holland America and Princess as the industry leaders, which to choose?

We chose Holland America for our three previous Alaskan cruises.

Holland America offered essentially the same itinerary as Princess — at hundreds less per person, especially when purchased on a sale.

Princess offered sales too, but the savings and/or extras (such as drink packages or reduced deposits) weren’t comparable enough. We put these savings towards our preferred excursions.

We grabbed the best sale prices in the fall prior to our expected cruising summer.

(Holland America’s “Explore Four” sale netted us the most savings on our two most recent Alaskan cruises.)

However, be on the look out for other sales during “wave season” – the time when cruiselines offer savings or extras during January – March bookings. (I’ve seen some wave sales start in December, so if your holiday shopping hasn’t maxed out your budget, that may be a time to put down a deposit.)

If you’ve followed my Five Tips to Choose an Alaskan Cruise Itinerary, you’ve seen that there are multiple decisions beyond cruiseline choice.

In fact, I’d recommend using my tips to create a backbone for your cruise before getting swept into the cruiselines’ beautiful brochure photos. Having this backbone in place will help you study the itineraries with a keen eye. You’re looking to see if they fit your plan: budget, number of vacation days you can use, etc.

If (like us), you have a limited travel budget, making informed choices is key. Which month you cruise, which airport(s) you use, even which direction you sail – can bring you savings – regardless of which cruiseline you choose or which sale you nab.

My Five Tips to Choose an Alaskan Cruise Itinerary lead you through these decisions.

Similarities between Holland America and Princess itineraries

Holland America and Princess are owned by the same parent company, Carnival Corporation (which also owns Carnival, Seaborn, and several non-US based lines).

Both Holland America and Princess offer:

• roundtrip cruises from Seattle
• Inside Passage cruising
• visits to Glacier Bay National Park
• northbound or southbound cruises that start/end in Vancouver
• what you’d expect from a major cruiseline (entertainment, casino, alternate dining venues, multiple bars, sea day activities, a formal night or two, etc.)
• Alaskan-themed dining opportunities (salmon bakes, Alaskan beer, etc.)
• cruisetours (the land portion before or after the cruise – in this case, into the interior of Alaska) (See FAQ: Cruisetours in Alaska)
• their own private railcars on the Alaska Railroad
• their own lodges in the interior of Alaska

Differences between Alaskan Cruises on Holland America and Princess 

Holland America

pro: McKinley Chalet Resort is Holland America’s lodge near Denali National Park. Several itineraries go straight there to/from Anchorage, maximizing your vacation days.

As an added bonus:

Denali Square, which opened for the 2016 cruise season, is the new “basecamp” for the 60-acre McKinley Chalet Resort. It includes a restaurant, a few shops, firepits, and walking trails overlooking the Nenana River. This definitely enhanced our stay. (By comparison, during a visit years earlier we found very little to do at the McKinley lodge that didn’t involve expensive excursions.)

We ate both breakfast and dinner at Denali Square’s Karsten’s Public House restaurant, and considering we were there only the second week it was open, were pleased with the varied menu, good food, and competent service.

con: permits passengers to smoke on their balconies. (Update 10/3/16: Holland America has announced all balconies will be non-smoking; this will roll out between January – May 2017, just in time for the 2017 Alaska cruise season!)

Princess

pro: if you skip the main dining room for dinner, you’ll still find white tablecloths and waiter service at the buffet’s tables; offers On Board Credit to all current and former military members.

And Alaskan sled dog puppies visit the ship! It’s hard to believe this fact alone didn’t drive my cruising decisions!

con: some cruisetour itineraries include an overabundance of land-based travel with little to show for it. For example, some itineraries stop overnight half way between Anchorage and Denali before finally getting to their Denali lodge. (More to come about which cruisetour itineraries to reject if you hope to maximize vacation days.)

What about the ship itself?

For a cruise to Alaska, the glacier viewing and ports will be more memorable than your time on board. A well-chosen itinerary – with well-planned port excursions – gives you a fantastic vacation regardless of which ship.

If a balcony is in your budget, it’s a relaxing vantage point for glacier viewing, whale spotting, and early-bird views of port arrivals.

Just plan to bundle up.

What about other cruiselines to Alaska?

We are Platinum level cruisers on Royal Caribbean and are big fans.

We’ve never tried Royal Caribbean for Alaska due to our preference for Glacier Bay National Park. But we’d be willing to try them. Now that we have three Alaskan itineraries under our belt, this may be a good line on which to see other glaciers.

We haven’t sailed on Norwegian, so admittedly, I’ve done little research about what they offer.

Please feel free to comment below if you have some experience with Norwegian in Alaska. But a quick glance at their website shows that they offer a particularly nice itinerary – the “12-day Denali/Alyeska Explorer”. This itinerary includes a stay at the Alyeska Resort in the Chugach mountain range outside of Anchorage, a hotel I’ve always wanted to visit.

This itinerary also includes a two-night stay in Denali National Park – see here why the two-night stay is key.

We sailed on Carnival years ago and preferred Royal Caribbean. So we weren’t willing to consider Carnival for our Alaskan trips. However, some extended family members are frequent Carnival cruisers, and they greatly enjoyed their Alaskan cruise.

We will consider Holland America for our fourth cruise to Alaska due to our past positive experiences and good deals.

And if we can find a comparable Princess fare, I would cruise with Princess to get first-hand experience on the line.

Let’s make the most of our vacation days!

Have you cruised to Alaska?

Let us know which cruiseline and what you thought.