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Edited Date/Time
1/20/2012 11:51pm
I'm not a big cruise guy, have been on one short one, but the missus would like to try and put something together for a Vancouver/Seattle to Alaska cruise with our two adult kids and youngest, who's a HS sophomore, next summer.
Just about all the lines seem to do this. So, questions:
1) Which lines to avoid and which to count on for a great experience?
2) The general info seems to suggest the best time for this is May or September for the best combo of weather and crowds. Any personal experience on the Alaska/Inside Passage cruises from this or any other perspective?
Just about all the lines seem to do this. So, questions:
1) Which lines to avoid and which to count on for a great experience?
2) The general info seems to suggest the best time for this is May or September for the best combo of weather and crowds. Any personal experience on the Alaska/Inside Passage cruises from this or any other perspective?
Party?
Sophisticated?
Pamper?
No kids?
Older fellow cruisers?
Give an idea of what you want and your expectations?
My own personal agenda beyond family time is to get close enough to Kodiak to get a chance to get off the boat and see the big bears. But that's secondary.
What you describe sounds more like something along the lines of Celebrity or Norwegian, maybe even Royal Caribbean.
I strongly suggest you hang around a website and forum called www.cruisecritic.com these people know their stuff and are hardcore cruisers....almost as nutty as moto people.
But I think Celebrity or Norwegian is up your alley. More laid back, more adult oriented, and while they have night clubs and stuff, it's not an all night party til you puke or get laid (or both) atmosphere. Both usually have nice extensive spas and are very laid back in general, but dinner services are a little more upscale and dressing for dinner is "a thing"
Check out cruise critic
The ONLY way I will ever cruise again if its an adult only cruise line.
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from daves description, im ready to buy a ticket tomorrow.
from racer92's, it sounds like circus circus.
I will say this, their food is damn good. Better than Royal, not by a large margin, but is better.
Carnival has tried to play down the party boat reputation, but it's there. Drink, dance, stagger back to cabin, sleep, go see some port, nap, party, dance, sleep and start over again.
Not casual by any means.....Carnival is go go go go go
You can be mellow if you want, like my parents, but it is the party boat
The only advice I can give is, pay for the room with the sliding glass door so you have your own balcony. The fresh air would have been a huge difference in my trip, and trying to avoid 2500 people really isn't easy. We had a window, but it didnt open and the floor was a nightmare of ahole people.
Rooster, actually all of my family is from Vancouver and BC generally (my youngest sister and I the only ones born down south). My folks came to Cali basically because they wanted away from six months of gray, rain and slush. The weather I am looking for primarily is the Alaska end with Vancouver a port of call. I love Vancouver, been there tons, and have been there in all sorts of weather enough that I really don't think about it (but damn the nice days are spectacular there).
BTW Michael, spring for the balcony cabins, especially for an Alaskan cruise. Nothing like waking up, and sitting on your private balcony in your robe, having a cup of coffee and a danish, just relaxing...your own private world
I had forgotten you were a closet Canadian. Can't say I blame you for moving south. The weather in California is too nice to pass up. I bought a place in Palm Desert last year to escape the snow here in Alberta. Can't say I'd make a permanent move, but it's a great place in the winter months when home is buried 5 feet under the white stuff.
S
Pit Row
S
Carnival and Disney is kidsville
Royal is less then as you go through Celebrity, Norwegian and the like, it gets less and less.
Once you get to Seabourn and Cunard, kids are non-existant
Dave, you kinda lost me on what you said, "go thru Celebrity ?" Can you dumb all that down so a Texan can understand?
S
My dad spent a good part of his childhood north of Edmonton, first in the 20's as a young boy in a coal town that I don't think exists any longer ("Cardiff"), and then for a winter in the 30's on a 160 acres near Bonneyville when my granddad decided to homestead. A little chilly there.
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