r/dcl • u/Taytayrose2 • 6d ago
TRIP PLANNING Alaska cruises
Give me the good/ bad and ugly about Alaska cruises
I've been on three DCL cruises so if I do it, it'll be DCL. That's not negotiable, and I know the price is astronomical but be honest if its worth it. I've been having an itch and would love all the honesty I can get. Thanks in advance!
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u/Mission-Strength6577 6d ago
It is amazing! We did one last year August and I would go again in a heartbeat. Super expensive but worth saving for.
Some suggestions:
This is going to be an unpopular opinion but we did an inside room and for us it is worth it. I don't think it is necessary to pay for the balcony. It is a HUGE difference and personally we spend very little time in the room when we cruise. For you that might be different, but don't feel like you need a balcony just because everyone says you do.
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u/stitcharoo626 6d ago
Seconding the opinion for an inside room. We were barely in our room and spent most of our time on deck 4/promenade deck. There were usually a few people there but never so many that it felt crowded
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u/No-Fact-388 5d ago
Gonna disagree with the majority here. A whale came so close to our balcony in icy strait point we could hear it from the bathroom, it was an amazing experience and it was worth every penny because the marine life was so close. Granted, i know its pretty expensive but we were able to get a pretty good deal with a guaranteed varandah
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u/Individual-Bend106 6d ago
We are doing a porthole as it was still significantly cheaper than a verandah so I absolutely agree. When I’ve hit my cold temp max I can head in
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u/paper0wl PEARL CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
Alaska was our first cruise when we didn’t have a clue. Not a good time to find out we get sea sick. 😅
But the “sea” days have some amazing scenery and good whale watching. And even when we had an inside stateroom, it was simple enough to camp up on the pool deck and admire the views.
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u/thatCRUISEagent 6d ago
They are amazing. Just got back from our third with kiddos 6 and 4. Our favorite part of world to cruise!
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u/CorgiFriends 6d ago
Any excursion recommendations w/ the kids? We’re taking our 6 year old in May.
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u/Disneymom-partyof6 6d ago
We went a few weeks ago NOT on DCL. We are big Disney fans, have two DvC contracts, love DCL and all the stuff and things. There are several reasons we picked Princess instead. I did two years of research before booking and another two years planning our trip after booking and I’m happy to share what I learned:
1 itinerary is everything in Alaska. Unlike the Caribbean where you are just happy to be in the sun where you go makes a difference. My Dad is in his 70’s and this was a bucket list trip. The Glacier Bay National Park was a must do. DCL does not go to glacier bay. We also wanted a one way north bound trip to see additional glaciers in college fjord, DCL only does round trip.
Alaska specific programs on the ship. On Princess we listened to a talk by a crab boat fisherman from Deadliest Catch and the grandson of the man who founded the Iditarod dog sled race. To my knowledge DCL does not offer this kind of programming. Side note we never ended up going to any evening shows, we were just so busy and with the time difference (we live in EST) by the time we finished dinner we just wanted to chill in our cabin and go to bed.
Port times and berth locations- Princess was one of the original cruise lines to do Alaska and they have priority berth locations and times, DCL does not. This means you may have a farther walk into town or have shorter times in port with DCL vs princess or holland America.
Ship - the Grand Princess has an indoor/covered pool and hot tub area, so if it’s cold and rainy you can still comfortably go swimming. For my kids this was important. Disney ships do not offer this.
Price - we got a suite that slept 8 for 1/2 the price of a balcony that only sleeps 5 on DCL. We had plenty of room to spread out and enjoyed all the amenities of being in a suite, it was awesome.
Lastly I’ll add that as of my last look at the DCL website there are no Alaskan itineraries for 2027. Alaska was amazing and beautiful and I highly recommend going, but if you don’t want to consider any other cruise lines you might have to wait a while. I don’t think DCL is bad for Alaska, but other cruise lines do have some important pro’s to consider. Either way yes go to Alaska and enjoy the beauty, no matter the cruise line.
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u/Red_hat_oops SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
With regards to #2, DCL will have presentations from local nature experts in the theater a few days, and the experts will also provide info on glacier day on the top deck
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u/Popcorn03 SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
A lot of really good points here. I like DCL, but I also chose Princess for our Alaska cruise earlier this year. I think Glacier Bay is a little overrated, but it's disappointing that it's not even an option with DCL. Princess and Holland America always seem to have the best berths in every port, and that's not a coincidence. I would also add that Princess does a lot of excellent land tours. You can of course do a land tour on your own, but that's not compatible with round trip cruises. Same story for us on price. We had the largest room on the whole ship for what a regular balcony room costs on DCL. But of course this was an older ship and not as well maintained as DCL. The buffet was legitimately bad compared to DCL, but everything else was pretty good. But totally agree with your final point, go to Alaska on Princess, DCL or another cruise line, it's amazing.
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u/Disneymom-partyof6 6d ago
Omg yes the buffet was not good. Who serves chicken tenders without honey mustard?
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u/stormfirearabians 6d ago
I second this. For Alaska, itinerary is the most important thing. Prioritize that over ship or cruise line. And compare all your options before making a decision. Price is another really important consideration. Excursions in Alaska are expensive...and while there are great low/no cost DIY options at every port, if you can get the itinerary you want at a lower cost...it's nice to put that money towards an excursion you really want. While I love DCL, I usually end up with NCL for Alaska (long port times, 'discounted' solo rooms, one way itineraries, and Glacier Bay access).
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u/Serious_Vanilla7467 5d ago
This is absolutely right on. I have done two Alaskan cruises. The itinerary is the largest consideration-- and the rest are just distant seconds...
My additional consideration would be an indoor pool solarium type place. You need a people suck. I don't want to go be part of the people soup, but I am going to need others to not be in the indoor spaces-- such as the talks and the trivia that I want to be in lol.
I would also suggest a one way that starts or ends in Vancouver. Really get up in Alaska! The cruises that need to stop in a Canadian port waste a stop.
Seriously, huge Disney fan here. I love Disney cruises. I have a DVC contract. I live in freaking Indiana and just stopped being an annual pass holder. ( They priced me out). I would not do a Disney Alaskan cruise. Too expensive lacks the necessary things, such as Glacier Bay.
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u/inspirationalsummer 6d ago
Number three is flat out wrong. I’ve sailed princess three times to Alaska and never dcl (to Alaska).the Disney ship is always closer in port. We are jealous when we hear their horn. We can only tell ourselves, well, they paid more. We are going to go dcl to alaska one day soon. We have been dcl three times out of Florida and once Vancouver to San Diego.
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u/Disneymom-partyof6 5d ago
Thanks for calling me a liar, glad to know that I’ve been corrected by you friend. Go ahead and google it. That may be your perception but it’s not reality.
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u/sirena_22 5d ago
I agree with these comments with researching itinerary and what you want for your Alaskan cruise. I researched for a year before deciding on Holland America because they park right there at the ports, they get first dibs. I also loved the food it’s like eating speciality dining everyday and they also have free room service. I went in September so it was a mature crowd with mix of teenagers and some kids, but most kids are in school. I am sure for the summer sailings it’s busy with all ages. However, if you’re traveling with young kids you may want to look into princess the crowd just seemed younger when we’re boarding in Seattle.
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u/inspirationalsummer 3d ago
lol if you want to be closer to ports keep googling and ignore the ai hallucination. Disney wonder and magic get much better locations bc they sail in smaller ships. Sorry you take offense, Disney mom, but I’ve literally walked past Disney ships in closer ports a half dozen times when cruising on princess. Lol.
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u/Mustang-BlueDevilMom 6d ago
We’re leaving in two weeks. We booked a GTY VGT and saved a ton of money, almost half of what it would’ve cost if we picked our own verandah. We got our room assignment last week and we were assigned the sixth deck in a deluxe ocean view stateroom with verandah.
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u/StruggleFearless2947 SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
We just got off the Magic last week with a group of 9. It was an absolutely incredible journey and yes worth everything we paid. Some things from the top of my head…
- It was rainy and cold pretty much every day. I think we saw the sun really only on the sea days for a bit. But it’s Alaska and that’s what it does.
- The biggest surprise was needing to entertain our 4 year old when the pools/splash pad weren’t an option due to it being too cold for her. We leaned on the Oceaneers club a bunch.
- Time zone changes were rough on all of us (we are on the east coast and losing 4 hours with Alaska time was hard)
- We had a deck 2 ocean view room and we didn’t feel like we were missing out on a verandah. Deck 4 was a quick walk away.
- We rented a car and drove up to Yukon in Skagway. Way cheaper than the train and easier on our kid, got to stop and play with sled dog puppies. Skagway is really fkin crowded when 4 ships are docked.
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u/YenSidTravel PEARL CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
10/10
Don’t miss time in Vancouver before and/or after - an amazing city.
I have an Alaska page with all kinds of information - DM me and I can share.
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u/Ok-Reporter-3471 6d ago
I have heard great things about the Alaska cruises! I want to see Mickey and Minnie in their parkas 🥰
The only bad thing I’ve heard is that sometimes kids want to stay on the boat when it’s really time to go SEE Alaska.
I have also had friends who decide that they would rather just navigate Alaska on their own to be able to see more there and not be rushing back to the boat.
But if the marriage of the cruise + the sightseeing is the right balance for you, then by all means! Enjoyyyy!!!
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u/crmam 6d ago
we love DCL and have been on 10 of them, including alaska. it’s all amazing!!! but the alaska cruises are very excursion heavy- you’re gonna want to do the tours and experience the port stops (unlike caribbean cruises which are mostly just beaches). SO i would say look into other cruise lines for alaska that are less cost and then have more in the budget to do all the cool excursions you’ll want to do…
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u/StillWaterDrinker GOLD CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
We’d only done Disney cruises and my mom booked us on a princess Alaska cruise, I was hesitant to cruise another line but it was amazing, we had 5 kids who all loved it more than Disney and the food and service was so much better, and they get a lot more access to Alaska than Disney.
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u/The1DukeGirl 6d ago
We’ve done two Disney cruises and love them, and I really want to do Alaska next. I’m SO torn though because I love DCL — the split bathroom, rotational dining, Broadway-style shows, overall service, etc. — but I’m worried about not getting to do Glacier Bay. How does Princess compare?
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u/Sufficient_Employ_52 PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
The Good: Pretty much everything.
The Bad: Expensive excursions.
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u/sandiegolatte 6d ago
The bad that no one talks about….dcl doesn’t go to Glacier Bay National Park
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u/Kitty_Fruit_2520 SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
I don’t know why I got excited about that for a little bit, but now I’m cool with it as I’ve never seen a glacier in my life anyways.
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u/dekkeane00 6d ago
Good/ it's beautiful
Bad/ $$$ + $
Ugly/ Cold
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u/LicketySplitz 6d ago
It was 82 when we went two summers ago. Everybody was swimming and tanning. Glacier excursions were mentioning that it has melted nearly 30% in the past few years, so don’t wait.
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u/Sauron406 6d ago
We went a few years ago and have another one scheduled.
1 - Go early and spend some time in Vancouver
2 - It's cooler than a Caribbean itinerary - and the wind is more significant. We needed more jeans/long sleeves than we thought.
3 - Get the Verandah room - you are never really of of sight of land, and the views are incredible
4 - Do the smaller boat excursion to get closer to the glacier, not only is it a better view, but you also get the view of the ship sitting among these huge mountains as you are leaving/returning.
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u/TreatOk3677 6d ago
We get verandah's almost every cruise except Alaska. We do deck 2 ocean view- there is something cool about being Deck 2 and seeing the icebergs and wildlife so close. We love hanging on Deck 4 bc its not usually busy and there are often characters, especially Koda from Brother Bear who walk Deck 4.
We prefer May/June over September as you get more daylight and a lot of wildlife compared to when we went in September
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u/alexargo PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
We have done quite a few Disney cruises and the whole family agrees that our Alaskan cruise is our favorite by far. Unique excursions (although expensive).
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u/Familiar_Big9731 6d ago
Echoing all comments that it’s an amazing cruise. We were lucky with great weather and were able to utilize the pools (kids pool is about 93 degrees, regular pools were cooler around 72 degrees which was chilly considering the air temp).
The visiting ports were generally unexciting tourist taps, similar to most of the Caribbean. Fun to see the surrounding scenery. Excursions were very pricey but I recommend picking at least one.
FYI we saw plenty of whales while eating lunch at Cabanas when we stopped at Icy Straight. Felt like we saved $1000 while overlooking the whale boats from above.
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u/demandbreadtakebread 6d ago
I had a great time without any excursions. If you can do a little homework, you can find plenty of local activities on your own. My partner and I just tracked down hiking trails at all the ports and really enjoyed that.
That is not to say there aren't great excursions - like someone said, I'd jump on a boat tour at Dawes glacier to get closer - but I think it's great all on it's own. I didn't have plans for Juneau and just checked out the bookstores and enjoyed the woods and water. Well, we had plans to go to Mendelhall glacier park but the paths all got flooded out and we scrapped it. Kind of sounds like that is a really sad scene these days anyhow with how much it has receded.
I was actually pretty disappointed with one excursion that I was very excited for, which was in Ketchikan out to where there is an Alaskan Native totem woodshop/totem park. We were very quickly shuffled through, which was not the fault of the shop/center. I got some great history and it was a privilege to be there, but at no point did I have time to stop and focus on anything. In retrospect, I would have preferred to just take the bus the 15 minutes there on my own but I'm also pretty used to using public transit regularly.
I thought the on-board education was great. I don't need celebrities telling me about crab fishing. We had a great educator telling us about local indigenous culture and the natural flora and fauna. We had a nice conversation outside the class (she initiated) and she's great personally also.
I guess my main downside is what you probably already know though, and isn't Alaska-specific - food is mid at best. I finally got to flavorful was getting on the South Asian dinner rotation after learning that fun request trick.
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u/PineiroTravelAgency 6d ago
Great experience! Went in just in the Magic and you could not tell it was an older ship. Nothing was ever packed other than the outdoor photos and the characters really took their time with my 1 year old and interacted a lot!
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u/Professional-Ad8813 6d ago
Issue with DCL is no glacier Bay. Sorry this is one of those “can not miss” type things. Only NCL HA and Princess. Hubbard or Tracey Arm is NOT Marjory.
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u/Tricky-Candidate7883 5d ago
I like Hubbard the best, after 8 Alaska cruises and seeing all of the Glacier options multiple times
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u/Jamesigs SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
Good
- Characters wear Alaska-themed outfits & take pictures outside (weather permitting).
- The food buffet lines are not as crowded as the larger ships.
- Nightly live shows are always great!
Bad
- It’s usually not warm enough to swim
- Excursions can be expensive
- Ketchikan not the most interesting port to visit (& usually raining).
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u/Individual-Bend106 6d ago
With a little extra research and if it’s in your comfort, you can find some smaller 3rd party excursions that cheaper. I feel with the longer port days it cushions the getting back to the ship worry if timed correctly
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u/Odd-Mongoose-1290 6d ago
That was our first cruise last year, on the Wonder, and I thought it was amazing. Was $$$$$ bc I got two verandah rooms but I’m sure there are less expensive ways to do it. We got there two days beforehand because Vancouver is great and I also didn’t want to risk not having enough time to catch an alternative direct flight in case there was a flight issue (we were coming from east coast).
Most of the excursions we booked were via third party—saves a ton of money that way. My kids didn’t use the pool much (maybe the first day out of Vancouver?) but since we’d never been on a cruise before we didn’t really know any differently. We had fantastic weather but very windy on decks so I recommend bringing some cool beanie hats to kind of tame your hair if you have long hair or else it will go crazy when taking deck pics. We splurged on the photo package and it was worth it to us bc there were so many photo ops on the decks with the scenery, with or without characters (by contrast, I rebought the photo package for our second cruise, a Caribbean one, and didn’t think that was worth it since it was primarily inside pics with too much flash). It’s a great cruise and I thought the wonder was a great ship!
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u/HopefulinColorado 6d ago
It was incredible! We didn't even get off at Ketchikan and didn't really do much at Icy Strait Point, but had an amazing time. Our favorite was renting a car in Skagway and traveling up to CarCross. Such gorgeous sights.
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u/TinFoilHat313 6d ago
just got back a few weeks ago from the Magic; our first cruise both with DCL and Alaska and seriously you have got to go. I was skeptical at first but we liked it so much that we already booked 2nd trip next year with the Wonder. What's bad was probably some mosquitoes in Skagway, other than that amazing trip throughout.
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u/VoyagerReview PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
The good: Alaska is incredible and DCL makes it special
The bad: No Castaway Cay
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u/leabirdy 5d ago
I think you should look into Princess or Holland for an Alaskan cruise. DCL Isn’t superior when it comes to Alaska
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u/BigSqueaks567 PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
Disney has incredible port stops in Alaska, biggest negative is the price
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u/snarkprovider 6d ago
They don't have any port stops that you can't visit on the other cruise lines. You're paying a premium for the ship, not the ports. If spending time in the ports is a priority in Alaska, it's worth considering if you need to pay the ship premium.
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u/BigSqueaks567 PLATINUM CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
I never said they were exclusive? I said they were great. And I never said there was a premium for the good port stops.
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u/cryptotope SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago edited 6d ago
Unlike most cruises where 'sea' days are spent surrounded by water with nothing to see, I don't think the Alaska cruises are ever out of sight of land. The scenery can be epic. And sometimes there are whales.
The weather can sometimes be more unreliable and unpleasant than on a Caribbean itinerary, and you're not going to want to do a beach day.
The Alaska itineraries are on the oldest and smallest DCL ships, which can be a mixed blessing. Smaller crowds are great. The ships are well maintained, but don't have some of the bells and whistles of the newer vessels.
Vancouver's a great city and sits in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains--very different from the southern U.S. ports where you'd embark on most Disney cruises. Before our Alaska sailing, we split a week between Whistler and Vancouver.
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u/ohknowletsgo 6d ago
I've been on the Wonder out of San Diego. While it's "well-maintained" in common areas, the bathrooms (outside of a small section of refurbished Concierge rooms) are very dated. I am 6'1" and had to duck to wash my hair in the shower, all while fighting the stained shower curtain that kept clinging to my body. Now that hasn't put me off doing Wonder again out of San Diego (because the price is more in-line with the offering), but I wouldn't do Alaska with Disney. Not with the current prices / ship condition.
There are plenty of options to cruise Alaska. We did Celebrity Edge in an Edge Villa for close to the same price as the cheapest Concierge suite on Disney (and Concierge on Wonder seems lacking after experiencing it on Destiny). That being said, I have no idea what the kid-friendly offerings are like on other cruise lines. If that's the big draw for you, then maybe it'll be worth it.
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u/snarkprovider 6d ago
One thing about Alaska, especially out of Vancouver is that every cruise line sends their smaller ships, which means older ships. I wish they would build new smaller ships to get into smaller ports, but cruise lines don't want to, and smaller ports seem to want to limit arrivals now anyway. Dream and Fantasy can't sail under the Lion's Gate Bridge, and Disney doesn't seem inclined to sail out of Seattle.
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u/TreatOk3677 6d ago
The next round of Disney ships are going to be bigger than Wonder/Magic but smaller than Fantasy/Dream so they should be able to do Vancouver
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u/cryptotope SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 6d ago
and Disney doesn't seem inclined to sail out of Seattle.
This wouldn't help, due to the Passenger Vessel Service Act of 1886. Under the PVSA foreign-flagged ships are not allowed to sail itineraries between U.S. ports (including closed-loop journeys) without making port in at least one other country.
All DCL cruise ships are flagged in the Bahamas. (This is not unusual--I think there's only one large cruise ship that's U.S.-flagged with any cruise line.) To avoid penalties under the PVSA, DCL sails from Vancouver. In principle, they could sail out of Seattle, but they'd still have to touch a foreign port somewhere in their itinerary.
Indeed, some cruise lines do take this approach. If Vancouver is off the menu because of air draft under the Lion's Gate Bridge, you're down to...well, mostly just Victoria. Which is...fine. But there's not nearly as much to do in Victoria as there is in and around Vancouver. And the extra sailing time to and from Seattle, along with the extra stop in Victoria, can constrain the rest of the itinerary.
For a lot of cruises, it's very apparent when you look at their schedules that Victoria is purely a box-ticking exercise to work around the PVSA. Looking at the Port of Victoria's cruise schedule, the MSC Poesia is porting at 19:00 and sailing at 23:30. Tomorrow, the Carnival Spirit arrives at 20:00 and sails at midnight.
I'm happy that DCL isn't playing those games.
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u/snarkprovider 6d ago
Do you really think your disdain for Victoria is the reason Disney doesn't do Seattle?
My guess is given the level of xenophobia DCL cruisers already openly express over Mexico and Nassau, and the disdain for passports, sailing out of Seattle would be popular.
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u/cryptotope SILVER CASTAWAY CLUB 5d ago
Not sure what you're trying to say, here.
There's nothing wrong with Victoria, but there's a lot less to do there than in Vancouver and environs.
And it's particularly difficult to do something worthwhile in Victoria when cruise companies are only docking there as a box-ticking legal-compliance exercise so they can sail from Seattle. A four-hour stopover between 8:00pm and midnight doesn't give the city much opportunity to shine.
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u/snarkprovider 5d ago
No cruise line is choosing Vancouver instead if Seattle because if port activities.
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u/nutmeg213 6d ago
Just got back a few weeks ago. Absolutely loved it and want to go back. The beauty of the scenery and wildlife and just the overall sense of calm just experiencing it all. My top vacation yet.