dib Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 My wife and I are looking into this cruise. I'd appreciate any eyes-on, boot on the ground help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWVaBeach Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 My wife and I are looking into this cruise. I'd appreciate any eyes-on, boot on the ground help. I have not cruised HAL to Alaska but I have cruised HAL. The question I have to ask is - How old are you and your wife? This is why I ask - Four years ago I took my wife on a HAL Southern Caribbean cruise for 11 days for her 40th birthday. We were on of the 5-10 youngest couples on the ship which had 2000 passengers. I am not exagerrating when I tell you that there was walker parking at the buffet. If you're under 60 I wouldn't recommend it. Everything is tailored for an older crowd. Luxurious ship, great to amazing service but BORING. That's my $.02. Hope it helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 (edited) I have cruised to Alaska, but not on HAL. We took Celebrity and had a great time. Based solely on the people I saw in port: - HAL passengers definitely were older than average. This really stood out. Their ships in Alaska also looked a lot older than the other lines. - Royal Caribbean seemed to have more families than average. - Celebrity had a good mix of people. I do know that they're the costlier division of Royal Caribbean, and yes, it did seem like the audience tilted a bit more affluent there. - Carnival only had one ship, and it looked nice, but never saw any passengers. Their reputation when I was doing research was that they skew younger, but Alaska cruises always skew older, so I don't really know what the Alaska experience is like with them. Edit: Oh, forgot about NCL, not sure why. The audience seemed similar to Royal Caribbean. They seemed to have at least 2 different ships in port when our ship was there. Honestly for an Alaska cruise, I wouldn't recommend them. Alaska caters to an older, more refined, traditional crowd than do other locations. NCL's "Freestyle Cruising" gets rants and raves... so if you're looking for set dinner times, non-buffet food, etc... look to a traditional line. Edited April 7, 2011 by sullim4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob's House Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 (edited) Edit: Oh, forgot about NCL, not sure why. The audience seemed similar to Royal Caribbean. They seemed to have at least 2 different ships in port when our ship was there. Honestly for an Alaska cruise, I wouldn't recommend them. Alaska caters to an older, more refined, traditional crowd than do other locations. NCL's "Freestyle Cruising" gets rants and raves... so if you're looking for set dinner times, non-buffet food, etc... look to a traditional line. Beware of NCL's pricing. Their fees are considerably higher than the competition's, so their posted prices are very misleading for comparison. Edited April 7, 2011 by Rob's House Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWVaBeach Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I have cruised to Alaska, but not on HAL. We took Celebrity and had a great time. Based solely on the people I saw in port: - HAL passengers definitely were older than average. This really stood out. Their ships in Alaska also looked a lot older than the other lines. - Royal Caribbean seemed to have more families than average. - Celebrity had a good mix of people. I do know that they're the costlier division of Royal Caribbean, and yes, it did seem like the audience tilted a bit more affluent there. - Carnival only had one ship, and it looked nice, but never saw any passengers. Their reputation when I was doing research was that they skew younger, but Alaska cruises always skew older, so I don't really know what the Alaska experience is like with them. Edit: Oh, forgot about NCL, not sure why. The audience seemed similar to Royal Caribbean. They seemed to have at least 2 different ships in port when our ship was there. Honestly for an Alaska cruise, I wouldn't recommend them. Alaska caters to an older, more refined, traditional crowd than do other locations. NCL's "Freestyle Cruising" gets rants and raves... so if you're looking for set dinner times, non-buffet food, etc... look to a traditional line. I agree with everything you've said. BTW I have cruised HAL, RCL & NCL. RCL is by far our favorite. I actually have another cruise booked on Enchantment of the Seas out of Baltimore next Nov. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Haven't been yet. Wifey and I want to go. They have a strange mix of cruises. One week one way (up or back), two weeks up and back. One week shorter cruise back and forth. Had some friends that did this a few years ago. I need to get some info from them. I think they did a lot of side trips too. You could parlay the cruise with a side trip of fishing or hunting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I'm looking into going on an Alaskan cruise in a few years. Princess (and I know other lines) offer Cruise Tours, part cruise, part land tour. That's what I'm looking at doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Haven't been yet. Wifey and I want to go. They have a strange mix of cruises. One week one way (up or back), two weeks up and back. One week shorter cruise back and forth. Had some friends that did this a few years ago. I need to get some info from them. I think they did a lot of side trips too. You could parlay the cruise with a side trip of fishing or hunting. My Aunt and Uncle came here in 2005 on a cruise like that. They flew to Fairbanks and took the Alaska railroad down to Anchorage with stops on the way [i remember them saying something about rafting]. Thats a cool trip from Fairbanks to ANC on the railroad, about 250 miles total and right though the Alaska range. Day stop in Anchorage shown around by their beloved nephew, Then back on the train to Seward [also a cool ride] then on the ship for the cruise to Vancouver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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