mahasamatman

Has anyone taken an Alaska cruise tour on Princess? They have so many options (On Your Own, Denali Explorer, Off the Beaten Path, and Connoisseur) it makes it difficult to schedule an efficient cruise-land-cruise itinerary.

gretchendz

Yes. I have.

Alaska has 17 cruise lines offering over 800 sailings this summer and Princess is a BIG part of that. As you imply, there are almost too many choices, making it stressful and difficult. First questions are:
--Date range?
--What's most important to you? For example, Denali? Rail to the Wilderness? Kenai? Glacier Bay? Juneau? Skagway? Ketchikan? Fishing? Whale-watching? Inuit culture?

With so many many different itineraries, it can be very difficult.

If you prefer not respond here, you can PM me and I'll try to help. I spend a LOT of time helping people sort through their Alaska choices.

abraxis

I'm going on my first cruise on the Sapphire Princess, Vancouver to Whittier (Alaska) soon. Got a last minute booking for $329 and am wading through the add-ons, excursions, drink packages and so forth. Will try to take notes and report back.

Vancouver, Ketchikan (half day onshore), Juneau, Skagway (both all day onshore), Glacier Bay, College Fjord, ending at Whitter.

BamaVol

We are following you in a couple months. Our embarkation date is 9/6. Please post your impressions when you get back.

HPN-HRL

I did Denali Explorer last summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. The highlight for me was adding on a Denali/McKinley flightseeing tour - theoretically the flightseeing and the bus tour into Denali could be done on the same day, but I was glad that I had two full days in Denali after riding the train up from Whittier.

As an example for you, I see Royal Princess departing Vancouver on 1 Jun 2024, arriving in Whittier on 8 Jun. This could be followed by the Denali Explorer tour with a train ride to Denali on the 8th, staying in Denali on the nights of the 8th/9th/10th, riding a bus back to Anchorage on the 11th, and staying in Anchorage that night. This would leave you available to take Grand Princess departing Whittier on the 12th and arriving in Vancouver on the 19th.

Whatever you choose to do, have fun!

Rare

Note that many of these land tours can be booked separately through Gray Line Alaska (owned by Princess and Holland America). We did that a few years ago. By booking them separately, we were able to get a combination of # of nights that wasn't available with the cruise booking, and saved money in the process because they had a 2 for 1 sale (which they are doing again right now for tours this summer).

Delta Hog

I am on the Discovery Princess in September. Why does the Princess cruise line put the name of the boat first? Every other line I know of, plus just basic English, it would be the Princess Discovery.

Brighton Line

Princess didn't start that way, SS Princess Patrica was their first ship. Goes back to the railroad days Candian Princess Railway. Check out this website: https://www.cruiselinehistory.com/hi...ncess-cruises/

mahasamatman

We must have learned English differently. English generally puts the adjective first. Princess simply decided that the cruise line's name is the noun, while other lines have decided that the ship name is the noun. Neither choice is any more "correct" than the other.