Cruise Suggestion from Vancouver?

[bert425]

Hey Robb & Elissa,

 

we are going to be in Vancouver in late May for a friend's Wedding.

 

Having visited my friends in the past, I know that Vancouver has a big Cruise Ship port, and I'd assume some decent Cruises (Alaskan?) that leave from this port.

 

Since we'll be in the city anyways, we are thinking of doing our first cruise (anywhere from a 4 to 7 day cruise) after the wedding, but before coming back to Texas.

 

Y'all plan amazing trips, and I very much respect your opinions -- so I figured y'all would be the best people to ask.

 

1) what is the best cruise line to take from Vancouver? (assuming there are more than 1 option).

2) what do you think would be a fun cruise to take from Vacouver?

 

although we are a gay couple, and our travel agent is pushing Gay or Gay-friendly cruises to the Carribean.. we're thinking since we'll be up North, this is a better option

 

any suggestion would be appreciated!

 

(I did a search and found a couple of posts referncing cruises ending in Vancouver, but not starting from there. . so hopefully I'm not asking something y'all have answered tons of times).

 

best,

bert

[SharkTums]

Hey Bert, happy to help you out a bit!

 

First off, your agent may be pushing you towards the Caribbean because Alaska cruising is VERY Different from other cruises. It's not so much a party every day, and it's really serene, quiet, geared to an older crowd and more about nature and crap. Now, this is all very fine and nice and Alaska cruises are fine by me, but I just want to make sure you know what you're getting yourselves into.

 

That being said, STAY AWAY from Holland America and Princess. These two lines are great for Alaska...if you're 80 years old or older and about to die. Seriously, there's an article out there somewhere that like an average of 15 people die on every Holland America Alaska itinerary just because soooo many old people are on the ship!!!! If I were you I would go with Royal Caribbean, NCL or Celebrity. Those should be very friendly to you, will skew younger than the others, and still provide a nice experience. I would shy away from Disney unless you're hardcore seriously into Disney. They also get quite the premium.

 

Secondly, you need to decide if you want to do round trip Vancouver or one of the one way Vancouver up to Alaska cruises. You'll see more going one way, but it will mess a bit with your airfare. I don't think there are any Alaksa cruises (especially from Vancouver) that are under 7 days, so that's what you're looking at.

 

You can look into round trip Seattle or Vancouver, or the one way Seattle/Vancouver up to Alaska. Keep in mind May is the very beginning of the season. Most ships don't even head up till mid-May and it will be quite cold.

 

Here would be my suggestions based on some additional criteria:

 

Cheap and Easy: Norwegian Sun, Jewel or Pearl

Willing to go one way and see more: Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas

Money is no option, want really nice: Celebrity Solstice

 

Hope this helps!

[bert425]

^^ Helps a TON!

 

thanks

 

 

(and although we aren't old fuddy duddies (I'm ~45, and Nick is ~54), we'd rather do the Nature crap, over a party nighclub anyways

 

tho woudln't mind if we could find a casino on the boat!

 

hehe

 

 

thanks so much.

 

bert

[SharkTums]

All the ships except for Disney will have a Casino so no worries there. As you plan more feel free to run anything by us!

[shivtim]

One option would be to fly to Anchorage, get a rental car and spend a day or two doing stuff in Alaska (like Denali National Park). Then take a one-way cruise South back to Vancouver, with stops in places like Glacier Bay National Park.

 

I took a one-way Holland America cruise, and yes it was FULL of old people, but it was still a lot of fun (and also we got a fantastic price - less than $50 per person per night). I think a more serene, relaxed atmosphere actually works a lot better when you're whale-watching and looking at Glaciers. I wasn't looking for a party cruise.

[bert425]

^^ that would normally be an option, but we have to start in Vancouver, since the reason for the trip is our friend's wedding.

 

we are much more seriously considering a 1-way trip, as Elissa mentioned, with a flight into Vancouver, do the wedding/reception, then get on a trip that ends in a city with an airport that has a flight back to Texas

[bert425]

ok. . heard back from our Travel Agent (he's a little fru-fru, so he always tends to go a bit high end, sigh. . but he knows what we like), and he's recommending:

 

Celebrity Century - 7 night cruise from Vancouver, day crising the Inside Passage, cruise Icy Strait Point, cruise Hubbard Glacer, Juneau, Ketchikan, cruise Inside Passage, back to Vancouver.

 

Really only 2 stops - Juneau and Ketchikan, but both are good ports, the other has amazing scenery of the Glaciers, depending how close the captain can get (last time was very close)

 

In regards to the Century, he says : "this is the ship we took for 19nights - they were going to renovate the whole ship, so was nice, but should be REAL NICE"

 

Now I don't recall what cruise he and his partner took for 19 days. . but it obviously was prior to the renovation of the ship

 

I'm curious as to your opinion, Elissa, of the itinerary mentioned above. My Agent points out it's only two stops, but says they are good ports. . and the idea of the cruise is to enjoy the Alaska Glaciers/atmosphere. . so it sounds like there's a bunch of that!

 

so what do you think?

 

we had him look into 1way and then flying back from Alaska. . but we couldn't get it to work with the Wedding (only option would have been to arrive way earlier than the wedding, and we can't because of work).

[SharkTums]

Everything he's saying is pretty right on. The 7 day round trip cruises cannot make it to all of the ports that the one way ones do, so that will be no different no matter what line you choose if that's the itinerary you're doing.

 

As to the ship, Celebrity is a nice company, but this is one of the older ships. In fact I was on one of its sisters on a South America cruise over 10 years ago. The two sister ships have both already been retired and this is one of (if not the oldest) in the fleet. It's had a lot of work done which is good, but you can only add on so much. To give you an idea it's about the same size as our Klassy Cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy, so don't go expecting some giant new big open space cruise ship. This is certainly an 'old style' build.

[bert425]

hmm. . ok, thanks for the feedback.

 

the pricing seems a little high (to me at least), but that's for either the suites, or for an outside room w/ balcony (i'm thinking that's likely the way to go). The inside rooms seem reasonable: ~$1800 for the two of us . . .but again, I'm thinking outside is way to go.

 

Smaller ship doesn't bother me tho. . .as long as it has Casino and restaurants we're happy regardless of size (heh).

 

Do you think it's worth it to try and get a more "current" ship?

 

we absolutely can push back on our agent and tell him we don't like this, what else do ya got?. . hehe

[SharkTums]

I'm not a fan of travel agents.

 

If you give me the dates you're looking at I can give you an idea of pricing, what he should be offering you, etc.

 

Personally, I would go for an interior cabin on a bigger, newer ship. But plenty of people will ONLY cruise in balconies. It's really what you feel you would enjoy the most. On a cruise like this with so few port days and a lot of days where you're supposed to just look out the window you'll probably want at least an outside cabin with window. Make sure to do the research as to which is the better side for views!

[bert425]

^^ Larry is a total sweetheart, and we've been using him for over a dozen years now (he's the Brother of one of my friends, so I was using him for solo travel even before Nick and i met). As I noted, he knows what we like, and it's great having 'family' as our travel agent. . tho as I noted, he's a bit fru-fru (we were ready to kill him on our Hawaii trip when we thought he had booked us on Gay only tourgroups. . LOL. . but it turned out we just happened to be on the buses with several groups of lesbians). .

 

He has always done an incredible job for us (Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Hawaii, Vegas). . he typically gets us a really, really good deal.

 

but sure!. .if you don't mind looking for us, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

we have to be in Vancouver on 5/25 for a wedding, so we are looking to fly in on 5/24, and be available to leave on a cruise starting 5/26.

 

we advised Larry that we can do anything from a 7-12 day trip. Whatever would work.

 

here's the pricing he gave us for Celebrity:

Inside Cabin including taxes - Total for 2 - $1860

Outside Cabin with Verandah OR Concierge Level Verandah Cabin - Total for 2 - $3380

Celebrity Suite - Total for 2 - $3720

Sky Suite - Total for 2 - $3820.00

 

 

THANKS!

[SharkTums]

^Yeah, that's going to be about right (though he should be able to include gratuities at least for you as well and some on board credit if you book a balcony or higher).

 

With your dates you're pretty much stuck with a Sunday or Monday departure which limits your ships to the slightly older ones. If you're willing to go to Seattle you could get on a bigger, newer, cheaper NCL or Princess Ship, but that may be too much effort if you're going to be based in Vancouver.

 

It will be fine whatever you choose. I would not spring for a suite for sure.

[bert425]

k, so I think we are about to book.

 

we ended up flying into Vancouver early (weirdly, our flight out has a stop in Houston, then direct to Vancouver, but the flight back goes thru San Francisco).

 

We have a full day in Vancouver for sightseeing before the Wedding on Saturday, and then the cruise leaves on Sunday.

 

We are going with Celebrity Century, and based on his recommendation, doing the room w/ the concierge (he says the upgrades you get by going with that one make it worth it, even tho the price is ~the same as a room w/ just a verandah).

 

we don't really know what the excursions offered are (I'm gonna wait until he gets back to me), but from the Celebrity site, it just mentions there are some in Juno, but doesn't specify. So we'll just play it more by ear, I suppose.. worst case, we can find SOMETHING to do in Juno -- as the ship is docked there for 10 hours.

 

the other stop is only for 6 hours, so I expect that will be shopping

 

I see "drink packages" offered on the Celebrity site as well, but again, not prices, or descriptions. So I guess you do that upon checking into the Ship.

 

Nick is still kinda iffy.. he thinks it's a lot of money, and what if the boat is late getting back? (since our flight out is 3 pm on the day the ship returns). . . but the Travel Agent assures us that this is plenty of time to make it, and he's sure the cruise line offers a shuttle (for pay, I'm sure), to the airport from the dock, so we shouldn't worry.

 

but truth is, we can afford it (all in all, w/ airfare, cruise, hotel (3 nights), and wedding gift. . it's gonna end up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of 8K, and that's without $$ spend in casino, on alcohol, shopping, tips, etc). . . and also go while we can. We both got the time off work, and we're both in good health at the moment

[bert425]

being Cruise virgins, we went ahead and booked the suggested Excursion "package". . that bundled 4 of the Excursions offered together.

 

I'm wary of stuff like this (the "suggested" things). . but they all SOUNDED like things we would like, even if all were rated as "mild". . . LOL. . I'll bet we're gonna be on tours with a *bunch* of elderly folks.

 

not quite sure how the Excursions work, but I guess they'll tell us on the boat, since they all seem to start less than 30 minutes after we dock in places.

[SharkTums]

^Nothing to worry about, you'll get your tickets when you get to your room and they'll tell you when and where to meet. Usually it's in a location on the ship and you walk off together or sometimes you meet right on the pier.

[bert425]

we just got back yesterday, and had a FANTASTIC time.

 

we will definitely be cruising again in the near future. it could have been that we were on Celebrity, but the food was fantastic (easy 4-star in the main restaurant, and 5-star in the specialty restaurant), and we got sooooo close to Hubbard Glacier, and got to walk on Mendenhall Glacier.

 

just wanted to pop back in and thank Elissa for the advice, as it was EXTREMELY helpful!