Just got off the Sapphire Princess 32 day South America. On that cruise they announced that the Sapphire Princess won the Princess Trophy for best Princess ship, service, food, entertainment etc for three quarters in a row (Q3, Q4 2023 and Q1 2024). I also took the Sapphire Princess last year to Alaska. Great naturalists and extra Alaska experiences planned. Princess and HAL get priority for docking in the ports since they have been going longer than any other cruise lines. They also get more of the Glacier Bay slots than the other cruise lines. The Sapphire will always be my first choice of Princess ships. Also important for Alaska is the Sapphire, and Grand have a full promenade for better glacier viewing than the larger Royal Princess.
Thanks. Just found your Chanel and you've affirmed my reasoning. I'm booked 14 nights on The Sapphire north from Vancouver to Whitier and back. This is my second cruise. Chose it after my first last Oct, also on Princess. My thinking: Having been on Princess once and loving it, I felt comfortable with the ship. As a solo traveller, I got a relatively good price on an inside cabin in May--shoulder season. I want to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Figured with the variable weather it was good to hit each port twice. There also seems to me enough hiking to do from all 3 ports to sustain good visits twice at each if the weather is good. Thought about a 7 day cruise plus land trip but thought this was more cost effective with rt airfare to and from Vancouver and the high cost of land travel. And while the land trip looks great, I'm just as happy with no time on busses and being able to get off the ship and hike. And I especially liked the 3 glaciers and chance to hit Glacier Bay twice. So taking all into account, this seemed like excellent value for money and to maximize my time doing what I want. I didn't compare with the HAL and Carnival itineraries because I felt so comfortable continuing with Princess.
Princess has brought back the pre Covid round-trip from Los Angeles in 2025 itinerary. Sapphire is a great ship. I did a 32-day hawaii South Pacific cruise on her. I think the Grand is given a lower score due to its age and older design. I am doing a 32-day day Hawaii South Pacific on the grand in 2024 and then the LA to Alaska in 2025.
Nice. You'll have to let me know how that is! I think sailing from LA to Alaska is an interesting proposition. It's just a long way to get there. But that's not a bad thing... Just interesting I think.
My husband and I took the Princess 14 day round trip from Vancouver. One of my favorite ever. Saw the glaciers and cities in different weather. Some rainy on way up and clear on the way back or vice versa. Loved it. Would definitely do again.
The challenge with cost/point is how variable the cost can be even on the same sailing date. I try to grab the average over time, but that doesn't work in every situation. At least we get a different vantage and it provides an interesting factor when making a decision.
@ThisistheCruise Really great review, I think the point on a second chance in Glacier National Bay is a good point because if we missed the view because of fog or bad weather that would certainly be disappointing. Also Skagway and Juneau have a lot to do so more chance to explore. I am going to have to find out what Ketchikan offers. I think balcony of course would be amazing but the savings do allow for cruising more often so yes I agree inside is a great option. I like the sytem that you used to rank the cruises, it realy sets your chanel apart, I am an engineer and appreciate the analytical approach to your reviews. Thanks
Useful, thanks. We do North and South in a few weeks. When you spoke about 'inside package' versus 'sea-days', I think you are taking what they call it too literally. I think Princess, and maybe other companies, just call a day that's not a port-day, a sea-day. In this case, I'd see little difference. The shortest route looks like the inside package, I assume they'll take that. 🙂
That's part of the confusion I think. "Inside passage" cruising cruises somewhat slowly, the protected area known as the inside passage. I'm not sure if they have to, but most cruises that include the inside passage on the itinerary cruise close to land and quite slowly compared to a "get to the next port as fast as possible" sea day. It's definitely a different experience when going to Alaska with or without the calm and beautiful inside passage.. Our itinerary skipped it, and we could see other ships we were passing taking their time, allowing cruisers to appreciate the landscape, closer to land.
The Royal goes North from Vancouver on the outside of Vancouver Island, the other ships from Vancouver typically go up North on the inside of Vancouver Island. Seattle sailings are on Discovery and Majestic and go on the outside of Vancouver Island.
That's my experience in general - though I can't say for certain because there are so many options - but typically, sailings from Vancouver often travel the inside passage and sailings from Seattle go around. That's typical, but I'm certain there are exceptions. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great Video. I'm taking this cruise at the start of June on Grand. I've been on this ship before and am very excited to be back. *The only thing I would clarify* is that Royal Princess follows a slightly different route, sailing the _west_ side of Vancouver Island and therefore only doing a Partial Inside Passage, while both Grand and Sapphire complete the full inside passage sailing along the east side of Vancouver Island. The Royal Class ships are unfortunately too large to do the southern half of the Inside Passage, which is why they take the longer less scenic route on the west side of the Island. Princess doesn't really identify this when you're looking up individual itineraries unfortunately, but they do outline it on their Voyage of the Glaciers page. (I would post the link to that here directly but I'm pretty sure my comment is flagged as spam when I do that)
We are taking our first Princess cruise in June to Alaska. 14 days on the Royal Princess. We aren't port fans and take cruises for the ship and view experience. Our first time to Alaska for our 25th anniversary. The issue with a point system is that they're weighted towards someone elses interests. We will be comparing against past Carnival and Disney cruises we have been on.
Congrats on 25 years! (My wife and I were married in 1999 too. ;-) One of the great things about cruising are the varying styles and reasons. Like resorts? Then they're great! Want to see new places? They have that covered too! We cruise more to go to new places vs the ships - and there are so many amazing youtube channels that cover ships, and have great "vlogs" - but I wanted to do something a bit different, and more akin to what matters to us. The challenge is trying to keep it as unbiased as possible. So I created a platform of rating ports that attempts to remove the bias, follows a strict rubric, and then weights it more towards the quality of the itinerary over the quality of the cruise line. My guess is, you'll like Princess more than Carnival, and maybe less than Disney - but it kind of depends on the strengths of Disney vs Princess - those may not matter to you. When our kids were of "Disney age" we couldn't afford their cruises. Now that we could, we're not really that interested. :-D - But we've cruised Princess, and enjoyed it quite a bit! Again - Happy Anniversary!!!! (and thanks for commenting!)
I love that you have a metric that balances the itineraries. I wish there was more to go off of for the ships themselves other than the CC rating, but yeah - without sailing every ship yourself what else could you do? Something that's worth considering if booking an inside or even ocean view cabin on this itinerary are the public viewing areas. Grand and Sapphire both have wrap around promenades with ample outside space. Royal Princess' promenade deck has much less unobstructed outside space and doesn't wrap around the ship. Sun deck on Grand and Sapphire also have fewer "tall" glass railings than Royal so again providing more opportunities for unobstructed viewing. I love the Royal Class Ships - they're beautiful, but between these three options I would personally say Grand and Sapphire are a little better suited to this itinerary.
Thanks so much for the kind words and input regarding the ships. The wrap around promenades are one of the reasons we tend to cruise Holland so much. On our Norway cruise last year, we stayed on an interior room on the 4th floor, then just went down a floor to the promenade for amazing views, few crowds (none actually), and some awesome relaxation.
Generally that's true. But as @wildwestdetectorist7235 also mentioned I've seen a handful of Celebrity and Norwegian itineraries that do visit Glacier Bay. However, there are fewer of those available than on HAL and Princess.
@@ThisistheCruise I've done 2 Alaska cruises (7 day) 2019 and 2023 NCL Pearl and Encore, both did Glacier Bay. Excellent Broadway shows too, but they are cutting back. Hope I'm not disappointed on the Coral Princess Panama Canal Feb '25... 17 day.
Those Alaska cruises sound nice. I understand what you mean about not being disappointed too. I try, not always successfully, but try, to remain grateful... We could be NOT on a cruise, and whatever one we're on, even if there are some changes we don't prefer, it's still a cruise. 😃 Sometimes things go wrong, and those times just need to be managed. I hope your Panama canal cruise is awesome though!
How a company can have ships in the fleet that are horrific and have other ships that are phenomenal is beyond me. Too expensive to take a chance, first, and only Princess Cruise I was on was one of the worst experiences ever never again with a company that cannot have consistency with food and quality across its fleet. Celebrity , on the other hand, has worked very hard to raise standards across their entire fleet, and it’s working. They are the best!
Just got off the Sapphire Princess 32 day South America. On that cruise they announced that the Sapphire Princess won the Princess Trophy for best Princess ship, service, food, entertainment etc for three quarters in a row (Q3, Q4 2023 and Q1 2024). I also took the Sapphire Princess last year to Alaska. Great naturalists and extra Alaska experiences planned. Princess and HAL get priority for docking in the ports since they have been going longer than any other cruise lines. They also get more of the Glacier Bay slots than the other cruise lines. The Sapphire will always be my first choice of Princess ships. Also important for Alaska is the Sapphire, and Grand have a full promenade for better glacier viewing than the larger Royal Princess.
Ok , ok I will take sapphire ❤️❤️
Thanks. Just found your Chanel and you've affirmed my reasoning. I'm booked 14 nights on The Sapphire north from Vancouver to Whitier and back. This is my second cruise. Chose it after my first last Oct, also on Princess. My thinking: Having been on Princess once and loving it, I felt comfortable with the ship. As a solo traveller, I got a relatively good price on an inside cabin in May--shoulder season. I want to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Figured with the variable weather it was good to hit each port twice. There also seems to me enough hiking to do from all 3 ports to sustain good visits twice at each if the weather is good. Thought about a 7 day cruise plus land trip but thought this was more cost effective with rt airfare to and from Vancouver and the high cost of land travel. And while the land trip looks great, I'm just as happy with no time on busses and being able to get off the ship and hike. And I especially liked the 3 glaciers and chance to hit Glacier Bay twice. So taking all into account, this seemed like excellent value for money and to maximize my time doing what I want. I didn't compare with the HAL and Carnival itineraries because I felt so comfortable continuing with Princess.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! I hope you'll give me an update when you get back and let me know how it went!
Princess has brought back the pre Covid round-trip from Los Angeles in 2025 itinerary. Sapphire is a great ship. I did a 32-day hawaii South Pacific cruise on her. I think the Grand is given a lower score due to its age and older design. I am doing a 32-day day Hawaii South Pacific on the grand in 2024 and then the LA to Alaska in 2025.
Nice. You'll have to let me know how that is! I think sailing from LA to Alaska is an interesting proposition. It's just a long way to get there. But that's not a bad thing... Just interesting I think.
My husband and I took the Princess 14 day round trip from Vancouver. One of my favorite ever. Saw the glaciers and cities in different weather. Some rainy on way up and clear on the way back or vice versa. Loved it. Would definitely do again.
Love it! Thanks for sharing!!!
Cool itineraries. The points per dollar is a helpful factor.
Yeah I haven't seen someone else do this methodology!
The challenge with cost/point is how variable the cost can be even on the same sailing date. I try to grab the average over time, but that doesn't work in every situation. At least we get a different vantage and it provides an interesting factor when making a decision.
Thank you for answering my question. Watching now just in the 1st minute.
It was a fun one to put together!
@ThisistheCruise Really great review, I think the point on a second chance in Glacier National Bay is a good point because if we missed the view because of fog or bad weather that would certainly be disappointing. Also Skagway and Juneau have a lot to do so more chance to explore. I am going to have to find out what Ketchikan offers. I think balcony of course would be amazing but the savings do allow for cruising more often so yes I agree inside is a great option. I like the sytem that you used to rank the cruises, it realy sets your chanel apart, I am an engineer and appreciate the analytical approach to your reviews. Thanks
This is very helpful!
Awesome, thanks for the comment!
Useful, thanks. We do North and South in a few weeks. When you spoke about 'inside package' versus 'sea-days', I think you are taking what they call it too literally. I think Princess, and maybe other companies, just call a day that's not a port-day, a sea-day. In this case, I'd see little difference. The shortest route looks like the inside package, I assume they'll take that. 🙂
That's part of the confusion I think. "Inside passage" cruising cruises somewhat slowly, the protected area known as the inside passage. I'm not sure if they have to, but most cruises that include the inside passage on the itinerary cruise close to land and quite slowly compared to a "get to the next port as fast as possible" sea day. It's definitely a different experience when going to Alaska with or without the calm and beautiful inside passage.. Our itinerary skipped it, and we could see other ships we were passing taking their time, allowing cruisers to appreciate the landscape, closer to land.
The Royal goes North from Vancouver on the outside of Vancouver Island, the other ships from Vancouver typically go up North on the inside of Vancouver Island. Seattle sailings are on Discovery and Majestic and go on the outside of Vancouver Island.
That's my experience in general - though I can't say for certain because there are so many options - but typically, sailings from Vancouver often travel the inside passage and sailings from Seattle go around. That's typical, but I'm certain there are exceptions. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great Video. I'm taking this cruise at the start of June on Grand. I've been on this ship before and am very excited to be back.
*The only thing I would clarify* is that Royal Princess follows a slightly different route, sailing the _west_ side of Vancouver Island and therefore only doing a Partial Inside Passage, while both Grand and Sapphire complete the full inside passage sailing along the east side of Vancouver Island. The Royal Class ships are unfortunately too large to do the southern half of the Inside Passage, which is why they take the longer less scenic route on the west side of the Island.
Princess doesn't really identify this when you're looking up individual itineraries unfortunately, but they do outline it on their Voyage of the Glaciers page.
(I would post the link to that here directly but I'm pretty sure my comment is flagged as spam when I do that)
Thanks for the tip!
just started watching this video, i'm borrowing some tips for my sales pitch.
What are you selling? :-D (and glad I could help!)
We are taking our first Princess cruise in June to Alaska. 14 days on the Royal Princess. We aren't port fans and take cruises for the ship and view experience. Our first time to Alaska for our 25th anniversary. The issue with a point system is that they're weighted towards someone elses interests. We will be comparing against past Carnival and Disney cruises we have been on.
Congrats on 25 years! (My wife and I were married in 1999 too. ;-)
One of the great things about cruising are the varying styles and reasons. Like resorts? Then they're great! Want to see new places? They have that covered too!
We cruise more to go to new places vs the ships - and there are so many amazing youtube channels that cover ships, and have great "vlogs" - but I wanted to do something a bit different, and more akin to what matters to us. The challenge is trying to keep it as unbiased as possible. So I created a platform of rating ports that attempts to remove the bias, follows a strict rubric, and then weights it more towards the quality of the itinerary over the quality of the cruise line.
My guess is, you'll like Princess more than Carnival, and maybe less than Disney - but it kind of depends on the strengths of Disney vs Princess - those may not matter to you.
When our kids were of "Disney age" we couldn't afford their cruises. Now that we could, we're not really that interested. :-D - But we've cruised Princess, and enjoyed it quite a bit!
Again - Happy Anniversary!!!! (and thanks for commenting!)
I love that you have a metric that balances the itineraries. I wish there was more to go off of for the ships themselves other than the CC rating, but yeah - without sailing every ship yourself what else could you do? Something that's worth considering if booking an inside or even ocean view cabin on this itinerary are the public viewing areas. Grand and Sapphire both have wrap around promenades with ample outside space. Royal Princess' promenade deck has much less unobstructed outside space and doesn't wrap around the ship. Sun deck on Grand and Sapphire also have fewer "tall" glass railings than Royal so again providing more opportunities for unobstructed viewing. I love the Royal Class Ships - they're beautiful, but between these three options I would personally say Grand and Sapphire are a little better suited to this itinerary.
Thanks so much for the kind words and input regarding the ships. The wrap around promenades are one of the reasons we tend to cruise Holland so much. On our Norway cruise last year, we stayed on an interior room on the 4th floor, then just went down a floor to the promenade for amazing views, few crowds (none actually), and some awesome relaxation.
Enjoyed the video, subscribed!
Awesome - thanks so much!!! Let me know if you have any itineraries you'd like reviewed or compared, I'm always looking for ideas. :-D
I just subscribed. Because I had questions about the 14 day which I. And get on , so I have to take two ships .
Looks like you're all set. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Princess and Holland America are the only lines who get licensed to travel in glacier bay
Celebrity had a ship in Glacier bay last year.
Generally that's true. But as @wildwestdetectorist7235 also mentioned I've seen a handful of Celebrity and Norwegian itineraries that do visit Glacier Bay. However, there are fewer of those available than on HAL and Princess.
@@ThisistheCruise I've done 2 Alaska cruises (7 day) 2019 and 2023 NCL Pearl and Encore, both did Glacier Bay. Excellent Broadway shows too, but they are cutting back. Hope I'm not disappointed on the Coral Princess Panama Canal Feb '25... 17 day.
Those Alaska cruises sound nice. I understand what you mean about not being disappointed too. I try, not always successfully, but try, to remain grateful... We could be NOT on a cruise, and whatever one we're on, even if there are some changes we don't prefer, it's still a cruise. 😃 Sometimes things go wrong, and those times just need to be managed.
I hope your Panama canal cruise is awesome though!
Princess and hal both have resorts in Denali for land portion........that stands out to me
How a company can have ships in the fleet that are horrific and have other ships that are phenomenal is beyond me. Too expensive to take a chance, first, and only Princess Cruise I was on was one of the worst experiences ever never again with a company that cannot have consistency with food and quality across its fleet. Celebrity , on the other hand, has worked very hard to raise standards across their entire fleet, and it’s working. They are the best!
What princess ship were you on and where and when was the cruise. Thanks
Princess has a 17 day Alaskan cruise from Seattle that hits three glaciers and 8 ports
Do you recall the date(s)/ship? I was keeping it to just 2024 sailings, and not including repositioning itineraries.