Two couples ( our 60th's) travelling to Vancouver for a cruise to Alaska, we have the option of two cruise ships leaving about 31st Aug 2013. Not sure if we should book on the Zuiderdam or Celebrity Century , both going to the same ports. Any suggestions???
Thanks
Pachet
Alaska
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First off, August 31 is a bit late in the season and it will be "colder".
Secondly, why those 2 ships? The Celebrity Century was an older ship debuted in 1995, mid size (about 70,000 ton) and carries 1800 passengers. Last refurb in 2006. Zuiderdam is slightly newer from 2002 slight larger (85,000 tons) and 1900 passengers, last refurb in 2008.
With that said, both ships are nice and comparable.
Are you sure about your itinerary? Zuiderdam has a stop in Skagway and the Century has a stop at Icy Strait Point. I will take Skagway over Icy Strait Point any day.
Also, Zuiderdam stops at Glacier Bay which is probably a "must see" stop and Century stops at Hubbard (which is nice but I will give the nod to Glacier Bay)
Glacier Bay Nation Park is tightly controlled and they only allow a few cruise ships to cruise through there with a quota system, which the cruise lines bid on, plus meeting certian enviroment impact criterias.
Based on your 2 choices, the itinerary favors Zuiderdam over Century.
Thank you I really appreciate your feedback, and we will reconsider.
Been to Alaska a few times and probably looking at heading back in Augsut 2013 again. Last time took Celebrity cruise and the reason was itenary and we wanted to go to Sitka (Old Alaskan provincial capital for Tsarist Russia before the "sale" to the US).
The food was good and entertainment average. Love that special brunch that they did after the Sitka stop. Some passeneger did not managed to get ashore in Sitka as tenders were cancelled half way through due to sea condition and excursions cancelled. We were the first group off the ship which we didn't know tender was a problem until we got back and spoke to fellow passengers. The on baord naturist is average compared to Princess (on the prior Alaskan cruise).
We picked cruises based on itenary. Most of the mass market ships offer similar quality in terms of food, entertainemnt and service if they are comapred in their own "category" (exmaple: HAL, Princess & Celebrity are comparable; RCL & Carnival are comaprable). There is not enough differences to pick one ship (or cruise line) over the other unless you have specific likes and dislikes, or enjoyed certain "familarity" with the ship's lay out or programs, entertianemnt venues etc.
We are looking at mid-August departure, don't know what ship or cruise line yet (will start looking in early April and see what kind of last minute deals are available) Maybe we will see you on board!