They are here! (Summer 2025 I mean)

[Geomom]

Can anyone show me the deck 2 aft Oceanview availability/quote for 4 adults on 8/11/25 7nt Alaska with Icy Strait Point on the Wonder? We can book tomorrow, just wondering how many deck 2 aft rooms are booked.
Thanks!

 

[Calantha]

Can anyone show me the deck 2 aft Oceanview availability/quote for 4 adults on 8/11/25 7nt Alaska with Icy Strait Point on the Wonder? We can book tomorrow, just wondering how many deck 2 aft rooms are booked.
Thanks!

 

[tee11]

How is Princess vs HAL for Alaska, like the biggest differences? Kids will be between 9-14.

 

[tee11]

2023 took my oldest granddaughter and niece on a 3 night Wish sailing Nassau/Castaway, ages 10/13. First cruise for everyone, myself included, and decided 3 night, since we didn't know if we would like it or have seasickness issues. Splurged on consierge to offset our newbieness. Did Atlantis swim with the Dolphins, didn't get a cabana, but it worked out fine on Castaway cay. We loved the lounge for bfast, avoiding the chaos and trying to find seats for buffet, enjoyed getting in early for show and the snacks in the lounge and the hosts. I feel I got my money's worth

Well we had a great time, and I promised my other 2 grandkids that summer 2025, I'd take them. So it would be me, my granddaughter that went before, and the 2 younger ones. Summer 2025, they will be 8, 10, and 12. Looking at late July, early August - has to be that date range.

So the new schedule is out, and I'm checking out the itineraries. We enjoyed the Wish, so I thought we'll, we can do the Treasure. See some different shows, but similar lounge set up.

But I looked and, wow the Treasure for the 7 night Eastern Caribbean for 4 people consierge is $22,000! Now I was expecting more than my 3 nights, 3 people Wish trip - but that is NOT in my budget!
I'm not real excited to go back to Nassau, but 4 night Wish is possible, or a similar itinerary on the Dream but Lookout Point instead of Castaway. Also saw a 4 night Magic that was just Lookout Point and Castaway Cay.

I know the Magic is 25 years old- would we be disappointed in a smaller ship when our first experience was the Wish? Maybe the Dream would be better, even if going to Nassau My granddaughter that went last time was looking forward to a longer cruise where she could check out the kids club and hero zone- we were off the ship more than on last time, looking forward to a sea day to explore ship more.

It looks like 4, maayybee 5 day would work budget wise. We are from Texas, I'm disappointed that DCL doesn't cruise from Galveston in the summer time.

Back to the Wish? Or try out Magic or Dream?

Would recommend the Wish (or Treasure) for you, if you liked the Wish previously, and want something similar for the kids that didn’t get to go before! The other ships will be too different, and the kids club on Wish is a notch above all the others, and there’s no Hero Zone on the others. The Dream/Fantasy are great, too, but very different in their layout. They also have great amenities for the kids, and one thing my kids loved (and missed on the Wish) is the “The Detective Agency” with several mysteries to solve. The new virtual game on the Wish is not a good replacement for that age set (not to mention it requires a nearly new smart phone), and they couldn’t get it to work right.
It’s just not the same as interacting directly with the ship/paintings.
The Wonder/Magic are much smaller, and one of the things people like is that you really notice the advantage of the smaller size on the private islands! For us, with younger kids we wanted all the extras (splash pools for under age 6, detective agency, aqua duck…) that the bigger ships offered, so we did it once and have been back to the bigger ships since. However, I wouldn’t mind going back to the smaller ones as they are getting older, or depending on the ports/weather of the destination.
I wouldn’t feel the need for concierge at all from all the descriptions. There are snacks and food all over the ship, we love the buffet despite the chaos sometimes, and we show up early for the shows we want to see anyways. Service is top notch on the ships… I would totally splurge on other aspects of the cruise, like certain itineraries, etc. but ymmv.

 

[WxKristin]

How is Princess vs HAL for Alaska, like the biggest differences? Kids will be between 9-14.

I've never been on either, which was my primary dilemma. Both go to glacier bay and bring National Park Rangers on board and even have special kids presentations with the rangers. In general, I've heard HAL caters to an older crowd and Princess is more multi-generational, but Alaska during the summer will have plenty of families on both. Cruise Critic and other forums here have had good things to say about the kids club on both HAL and princess as well (favorably comparing it to DCL). Both lines have ships with retractable roofs so people can still enjoy the pools in Alaska even when it is cold/misty. Neither has the huge resort water slides/go-carts/climbing walls, but I'm perfectly okay without those. I've heard evening entertainment on both is a bit lackluster, though Princess is probably slightly better for families.

Our boys will 8 and 11 next year and right now I'm leaning towards princess (sapphire), but having some commitment issues.

 

[tee11]

I've never been on either, which was my primary dilemma. Both go to glacier bay and bring National Park Rangers on board and even have special kids presentations with the rangers. In general, I've heard HAL caters to an older crowd and Princess is more multi-generational, but Alaska during the summer will have plenty of families on both. Cruise Critic and other forums here have had good things to say about the kids club on both HAL and princess as well (favorably comparing it to DCL). Both lines have ships with retractable roofs so people can still enjoy the pools in Alaska even when it is cold/misty. Neither has the huge resort water slides/go-carts/climbing walls, but I'm perfectly okay without those. I've heard evening entertainment on both is a bit lackluster, though Princess is probably slightly better for families.

Our boys will 8 and 11 next year and right now I'm leaning towards princess (sapphire), but having some commitment issues.

Thank you, super helpful! We were on HAL long ago (not Alaska), and I will say that their food and service was excellent. They also have/had advanced medical capabilities on board, which I thought was a reason many of their itineraries skewed older. I have to check out Princess for the future though, both sound like great choices for Alaska! Especially the retractable roofs, and the National Park Rangers!

 

[LGWJ]

Could anyone help to get the availability and price for two adults and two children (11 and 7) of a verandah room on deck 9 midship on the 8-night Norwegian Fjords cruise on 8/10/2025? Many thanks!

 

[Calantha]

Could anyone help to get the availability and price for two adults and two children (11 and 7) of a verandah room on deck 9 midship on the 8-night Norwegian Fjords cruise on 8/10/2025? Many thanks!

 

[Dug720]

Alaska during the summer will have plenty of families on both.

At least when I was on HAL for a running cruise in Alaska, there were only a few families with kids. And the kids were super bored (like swinging off the sculpture at the pool bored) because of limited kid club hours and them declaring the club "boring" when their dad asked if they didn't want to go to their club.

 

[WxKristin]

At least when I was on HAL for a running cruise in Alaska, there were only a few families with kids. And the kids were super bored (like swinging off the sculpture at the pool bored) because of limited kid club hours and them declaring the club "boring" when their dad asked if they didn't want to go to their club.

This is helpful; many other comments have said that it's different for Alaska so I appreciate the counter-example.

 

[Dug720]

This is helpful; many other comments have said that it's different for Alaska so I appreciate the counter-example.

This was 10 years ago so it might have changed. But at least that cruise had very few kids.

 

[croschek05]

Booking a 4 nighter on the Disney Magic tomorrow for Summer of 2025! Very excited!

 

[Tink1987]

Silver bookings have opened early too. Booked 9 nights Alaska, Cat 10B deluxe inside midship.

Had a few IT issues, had to use my phone in the end to book, wouldn’t accept Chrome on my laptop.

 

[CeCe0906]

Opened up to book at ~ 745 Eastern today.

 

[Lorana]

I debated added the 5-night Spain cruise before or the 4-night Spain cruise after the 8-night Fjords cruise we have booked, but wow those cruises are expensive for only 2 ports on the 5-night and 1-port on the 4-night. i guess it saves my wallet some and I can decide if we’re going to spend some time in England ahead of the cruise, or if I’ll have us stop along the way over in Iceland for 3 days since the cruise isn’t stopping there. I’ve got plenty of time to plan, though!

 

[Guapy]

Silver bookings have opened early too. Booked 9 nights Alaska, Cat 10B deluxe inside midship.

Had a few IT issues, had to use my phone in the end to book, wouldn’t accept Chrome on my laptop.

Anyone get the error message “Staterooms are not available or staterooms for your party are not available” ? Any way to get around that?

 

[Tink1987]

Anyone get the error message “Staterooms are not available or staterooms for your party are not available” ? Any way to get around that?

That’s one of the error messages I kept getting. Safari let me book on my iPhone but Chrome on a laptop would not. Cleared history, changed browser, tried private browsing but nothing would work.

 

[DisneyBelle_x]

I debated added the 5-night Spain cruise before or the 4-night Spain cruise after the 8-night Fjords cruise we have booked, but wow those cruises are expensive for only 2 ports on the 5-night and 1-port on the 4-night. i guess it saves my wallet some and I can decide if we’re going to spend some time in England ahead of the cruise, or if I’ll have us stop along the way over in Iceland for 3 days since the cruise isn’t stopping there. I’ve got plenty of time to plan, though!

Those very short sailings from the UK are really targeted to the UK audience to entice them in to trying DCL or to get a fix, after how popular the UK staycations were in summer 2021 I think they took advantage of the hype, the price is absolutely crazy for what they are but they seem to get booked up so quickly and last years were crazy busy especially as they’re during our school holidays

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I'm trying to call because I have a placeholder and it's solid busy signals. Just wanted to confirm, I have to call right? I can't do this online?

 

[nightwing12]

im silver but i just get 'coming soon' on the new itineraries still..