Alaska - Gulf of Alaska Cruise Reviews

We would do this cruise with NCL again in a heartbeat! The cre of the Sun was professional in every way. Our expectations were met and exceeded. The Freestyle Cruising with flexibilty in eating places and times was ideal for giving us the choices that made everything very relaxed for us.

The nature view is priceless. We all enjoyed with the family and friends. The buffet place does not provide much variate through the 7 days period.

Entertainment poor schedules and the show too short, and piano lady only playing sound with peoples tips and buy her CD. The television was old fashioned.

The weather was just fantastic for our early July cruise. Fortunately for us this was following three weeks of rain for all the prior cruises. Weather can cancel your excursions which is unfortunate, but you would rather that than waste your money not seeing anything or worse put yourself in danger. It's expensive to go to Alaska, but well worth it if your looking for tall mountains, wildlife, and great seafood. Also consider the land portion for those that really want to get closer to the animals and see more of them.

Overall, enjoyed the experience very much. As first time visitors to the area, the uniqueness of the Alaska terrain and history, the equally unique "way of life" of the port city residents, and the genuine hospitality of everyone we encountered (both the local Alaskans, excursion hosts/guides, and the Princess staff) made the experience very special.

Fun, relaxing, great dancing & fun entertainment. Good food & drinks and very friendly and attentive staff. A+ for our first cruise. Would definitely recommend them to anyone looking. Did a lot of research and found nothing but reviews that were true

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overall a good experience. Very friendly and experienced staff. Was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and entertainment 

Very enjoyable.  I was impressed by the captain and his staff during our interactions.  Some of the entertainment was average. Overall I would recommend the cruise and many of the excursions we took (whale watching, fishing, flight to a fjord, Denali). 

We had a great time.  The staffs are very attentive, ship was clean, hats off to their housekeeping staff.  We enjoyed the food from the buffet, in the dinning room and at the specialty restaurants.  The wait staff at all the restaurants were very accommodating.  We participated in many activities and find the shows entertaining.  The view of the glacier was magnificent!  Would do it all over again.

Loved the various stops along the way to explore to cities of Skagway, Ketchikan and Juneau, Alaska.  Would recommend spending a few extra days in Anchorage, Alaska to go to Denali National Park.  It's 5.5 hour trip each way so plan to spend a day or two there.  The excursion by rail and bus to the Yukon was absolutely beautiful...just wish we had seen some wildlife such as moose, elk, bear.

Enjoyed the pre-cruise tour, some of the ports we visited were nice, the entertainment on the ship was excellent, and the train ride from McKinley to Anchorage was fun....Loved all the windows and enjoyed the dining on the train.  Enjoyed Denali and McKinley Lodge; however, Copper River Lodge too secluded and menu too limited and pricey. 

My cruising experience says, this is the bottom of the barrel.   The ship was old and it showed - problems with the commodes not flushing (almost daily) and other signs of needing a re-haul - peeling paint, cracking shower walls, etc.    The food was more like a basic diner.  Obviously pre-frozen and cheap.   Yes, there were a few nice touches thrown in, but really only one night was good.   Costco has better cheesecake, the chicken breast was no better than a McDonald's sandwich, the ice cream was really ice milk.   The entertainment was so so.    And at every turn, they were trying to get you to spend more.   Internet service for the week was $260!    Alcohol and soda all cost astronomical amounts.     They tried to have some extras...   you come back to the ship and they offer you ice water or hot cocoa, but they only gave you about 1/8 a cup of cocoa!    Even when you are observing the glacier, they come around with cocoa, BUT, you had to buy it!!    Not once did I hear them announce any wildlife sightings.   A few passengers saw whales, even an entire pod of orcas, but the crew sure wasn't there to help point out these amazing creatures.     Last, but not least...   while the staff was friendly, it was hard to find people that could answer your questions.   Either their knowledge was limited to their very specific area or they didn't speak English!     Even asked the dining room staff about one of the entrees and they didn't know what was included with the dish.      The excursion and port 'expert' was unaware of the brewery at Icy Straits...   even said if there is one, he would know about it!   Well there is one, and obviously he didn't know about it.     Needless to say, we were very disappointed in the cruise! 

Taking this adventure with friends and family made this trip extra special.  I've been on several cruises with large groups and having just the 6 of us I really enjoyed quality time with them.  I would recommend always traveling with 1 to 2 couples, I don't think I would enjoy this kind of adventure as much if others were not along to share with.  Our stateroom attendant, Cristian did a fabulous job and took care of our needs, we really appreciate him.  Franc and Elmer our My Time Dining table service team were fun, efficient, excellent service.  We hated to say goodbye would have loved to stay in contact with these two guys they were great!  Our excursion stops were breath taking, the terrain of Alaska . . . I had no idea of the beauty, I thought Tennessee was beautiful but when flying back home opening the plane window was shocking of the environment change.  When planning my trip I generally purchase the alcohol package but I thought the price that Royal Caribbean charged was excessive and now having a soft drink package too, when does the charges stop?  I would like to see less push of sales of items, i.e. Diamonds International, it was a bit of overkill.  All and all our trip was fantastic and I don't think I would change a thing about Royal Caribbean stay.

Favorite parts :

1. Great assistance from , Great thanks to Kyra Phillips who has made the entire arrangement and made our cruise great....

2. Great view with great crew staffs. 

3. great excursion, especially during Helicopter Icefield Excursion at Juneau 

note : I was suggested by shore excursion to take : White Pass Summit Rail and Bus Excursion at Skagway. I love the white pass summit, however the bus excursion is almost the same. We can't avoid seeing the same place twice.

If you want to see southeast Alaska, this is the way to do it. Much of the territory is inaccessible via roads, and ferries or seaplanes are the only mode of transport. If you are looking for a more convenient way of getting to a number of popular and deserved spots - Hubbard glacier (among many others), towns of Sitka and Ketchikan, national parks, etc. - this is a great way to do so. 

Celebrity made everything very easy. They didn't over-explain everything or require you to think too much so you could get on with the business of relaxing.

The food was excellent, and I'm a particular eater. We really loved the excursions which we had purchased from , and they beat the prices offered by Celebrity directly. They also varied a little bit so that we only had a small number of people on the actual excursion.

Staff and crew were very friendly, they had a variety of entertainment options on board, the rooms were good, and the fitness/spa facilities were more than adequate.

The food and service in Blu and the shows in the Celebrity Theatre were our highlights.  

Small bathroom in Aqua Class was not our favorite.  Solstice Class Concierge bathrooms are better.  

We would highly recommend this cruise to others.

If you want to go to Alaska and see some beautiful scenery a cruise is a great way to go. Do your research so you see what you want. Timing is everything for weather and seeing wildlife. I am not a seasoned cruiser so I cannot speak for which is best but Princess did live up to their expectations.

The scenery through Alaska was amazing!  The ship was disappointing.  We found quite a few of the bartenders and front desk personnel rude.  The food in the buffet was tasteless, the Dazzle seating was stained and cushions crushed down to the springs in the seats.  The windows throughout were dirty and streaked so not easy to see out.  The activities were very minimal.  We watched videos of the Sun ships and they were superior compared to our trip.  This is our first cruise and it can only get better from here.  We ordered the romance package also and didn't get the roses because they said they couldn't get fresh ones for us and the cake was left in our room thinking they forgot to serve it to us and no silverware to eat with.  

My favorite part of the cruise was Alaska and discovering its beauty.

I was disappointed in the unfriendliness of the entire staff...except for one employee.  Deo, our room attendant was wonderful.  He called us by name from day 1 and got us a different pillow because my husband has neck issues.  Norwegian Sun  did not make a positive impression on me due to the lack of helpfulness and friendliness of its staff.

Thank you for listening and hope it will help to make a positive difference.

We cruised on the Coral Princess from Vancouver, BC to Whittier, AK in June of 2017.  My husband and I had an unobstructed view room (P542) and my folks were in one of the balcony suites (D702). 

The ship was easy to navigate, and in good repair, however perhaps a little dated (brass hardware was on all the things!).  The staff we interacted with was always friendly and approachable, and hard working. 

Food was good, but not great.  TONS of fresh fruit, vegetables, and salad... but most of the cooked dishes were overly salted.  We adhere to a none-to-low sodium diet, so while it may taste fine to those with a habit of adding a dash of salt to things, to us it was overly sodium flavored.  Also, ALL fish was WAY overcooked, even the lobster at the Bayou Café.  Put the salmon on the grill, count to 10 and call it good.  Any longer and it is rubbery. 

We only booked one excursion through Princess, a zip line in Ketchikan.  When you get off the boat you have to find a person with a number for the tour group you are booked with.  Well, when the cruise ship does not give you that number ahead of time it becomes a bit chaotic (think unorganized carpool lane at an elementary school where the kids don't recognize their parents and vice versa).  We ended up finding a little hut with the name of the zip line park and they directed us to the numbered agent with the waiver forms. 

The alcohol package was not a good fit for my husband and me as a combined $104 per day was more than we would be consuming in drink-by-drink prices, but the selection was decent.  They listed Alaskan IPA on the menu, but it was never in stock.  Disappointing as that was the only IPA on the menu.  And if you have a desire to drink something other than beer flavored water, avoid the beer buckets.  Dos Equis, Heineken, Miller Lite, Coors Light and Bud Light were all that was offered at five for the price of four.  Boooo.  Margaritas were always on point though! 

Our captain made an effort to always notify the ship when whales were spotted by us, or other ships around us, which was great.  He would meander around the ship, even performing a couple magic tricks in the card room for some kids.