What is your best advice for Alaska?

This will be my first trip to Alaska in the summer of 2018. My entire family is going and we want to make the most of this trip. What is your best advice on a cruise to Alaska?

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Choose an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay. Make sure there are great binoculars for everyone in the family. When planning attire, layer, layer, layer, have lightweight raingear, sunblock, gloves and a hat. As far as excursions, not everyone has to do the same thing (assuming this a multigenerational large family group), get out of town (the ports are small and the beauty, adventure, et al are generally in the wilderness), and research the excursions that are available at the various ports.

Once you have booked the cruise/have the itinerary, come on back....folks on here have lots info, advice, opinions on what is great as far as the shore excursions. We have our favs, having been there over half a dozen times, and we know what our adult kids enjoyed too.

If you choose Princess, they have some great kids programs going for Alaska. They bring National Park rangers aboard, do junior ranger programs, they have Puppies in the Piazza with sled dog puppies, lots of other interesting things.

Pack layers of clothing. Weather can change rapidly......one minute nice and sunny and warm and then cool and rainy. We carried small backpacks on our excursions with nylon jackets with attached hoods. Good water proof walking shoes are a must, too. The terrain can be rough, depending on where you go.

Onboard, everyone dresses quite casually day and evening. Formal nights are different and many people do get dressed up, but many don't bother. Alaska is much different that a typical Caribbean cruise. You will totally love Alaska!

Do the Glacier Bay route and research and book your private tours far in advance.

Thoughts....

• is this 7 day return? 7 day one way? 14 return? Yukon Denali?
  
• another vote to look for Glacier Bay. Alaska is famous for glaciers and GB offer's the best experience.
  
• also consider HAL for the GB sailings and alternative itineries.
  
• think Vancouver for your Canadian port with the Inside passage. The port is best explored weekdays. Look for hotels a few blocks away from the cruise terminal for multi day savings! You want extra days to take the port all in.
  
• think which month. May to July offers the driest port weather with daylight. August starts to get wet. September is discounted for storm chasers. http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2667
  
• balconies are popular for the endless forest views on sea days. However, if you are an indoor person.... oceanviews offer significant savings.
  
• in addition to the cruise... budget and plan your port excursions. White Pass railway? Mendenhall? Humpback viewings? Red Onion? Flight seeing?
  
• why wait until 2018? The glaciers are not getting bigger.
  

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If the $'s allow, take the helicopter excursion to the dog sledding camp on the glacier. I think it's offered from two of your ports, but check it out. See the dogs actually living on the snow and take a real sled ride with the dogs on the snow.

Book excursions on the pier or through Viator--the ship excursion prices are much higher, and they use the same companies.

Take several Memory Cards for your Camera (s). I took two Cameras and came home with 1,730 photos.

Also, think about a rain bag or other protection for the camera. I went out on a Photo Safari out of Juneau that included a boat ride to look for whales and then a hike through a rain forest that ended up overlooking Mendenhal Glacier. And it was raining most of the time. Had a great time. This was last week of May this year.

By the time we arrived at the upper end of Glacier Bay National Park the fog and rain had cleared and was out standing weather for photo's.

Bob

First TImer ... Do not do just a cruise, do a land and cruise combination. You will be happy you did.

with regards to excursions.... look at "combo tours" that has more than one activity. You save port time and money in not retracing back to the dock.

Whenever in your cabin tune the TV to the bridge cam. You will hear the naturalists' presentations plus any announcements of wildlife seen by the naturalists'/bridge crew. We saw several whales and a coastal brown bear we would have missed otherwise.

Most of the announcements piped to the public decks can not be heard while in your room unless you tune in the bridge cam.

Caribe deck balcony. Awesome.

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Look outside. Cruises have a ton of really fun things to do inside, but our favorite times in Alaska, on the cruise ship, have been seeing a pod of dolphins dance with the bow of the boat, or a mama/baby orca swim along side the ship. All of these were ad hoc, gone as soon as they started, and were only experienced because we were sitting at a place that we could see the water.

Granted, we're a bit of wildlife nuts... :)

Skagway is an excellent place to skip the group offerings and go get an Avis. I think the trip from Skagway to Whitehorse and back is one of the most spectacular drives you can take in North America and it's better with people you like than on a bus.

Be sure to check out the Alaska board for more ideas about what to do in every port. We enjoyed our two round-trip cruises from Seattle that went to Tracy Arm instead of Glacier Bay. I wouldn't say that going to Glacier Bay or not is a deal-breaker for booking a cruise to Alaska. There are still opportunities to see glaciers. For instance, in Juneau, I booked an independent kayaking excursion at Mendenhall Lake on our last cruise to Alaska. It gave us great views of Mendenhall Glacier. Princess also offers a small boat excursion in Tracy Arm that will take you much closer to the glaciers for those in your party interested in seeing them.

This will be my first trip to Alaska in the summer of 2018. My entire family is going and we want to make the most of this trip. What is your best advice on a cruise to Alaska?

 

 

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If by "my whole family", you mean a large family group, I will give you the same advice that I give to all large groups. Everyone does not have to do everything together all the time. You do not have to eat together every night. You do not have to feel that you have to do something just because a lot of the family group wants to do it.

Most important - do not ever take on the responsibility of being the planner for anyone else in the group. If you do, you will be bugged to death, dissatisfy half the group and generally have a really lousy time on the trip.

Also, if someone in the group chimes up with "we all should get matching shirts and hats, run away as fast as your legs can carry you. Cancel your reservation before you agree to matching anything.

DON

Take a good pair of binoculars!

Take a good pair of binoculars!

Yes!!!! My DH got me a compact pair with a self leveling button, and I enjoyed many hours looking at wildlife and scenery. Princess has the best Promenade decks for this.

I went panning for gold and found some :D it was so much fun.

Tony

I've done Alaska with an inside, OV, and balcony. IMHO, a balcony isn't necessary for a great experience. The views are much better on the open upper decks, which is where I spend most of my time regardless of the cabin I book.

You'll be back...

framer

IMHO If possible take the 5 day land tour and then the cruise. We did that last year and was able to stay at three lodges. Keep checking these boards, It is the Alaska "season" and there will be lots of posts.

Buy a cheap pair of rain pants.

Bring decent binoculars.

Bring hiking shoes. In addition to being great for walking and hiking, they keep your feet warm unlike tennis shoes.

Don't skimp on excursions. Even if you can only afford one really great one, do it.

Dress in layers. Bring one heavy jacket, gloves and a hat for Glacier viewing.

Have members of the family book balconies on the same deck but opposite sides of the ship. It's much easier to go back and forth between the staterooms to catch views than an upper deck or promenade dealing with other people crowding the rails.

Pay a visit to the camping section of Walmart for a $7 can of waterproofing spray. Use it to waterproof your sneakers, backpacks, and jackets. And as others have said, prepare to layer your clothing. Oh, also get yourself a dollar store rain poncho. If you don't use it, you're only out a buck. If you need it and don't have it, you'll pay 5X the price (at best) in Alaska!