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Agree that you should investigate and plan according to your interests. However, in our 15 annual trips we have chosen the following as our "can't miss" excursions. Ketchikan, floatplane to Misty Fiords; Juneau, whale watching with Orca Enterprises; Skagway, rent car and drive to Yukon and Emerald Lake or take ferry to Haines; Hoonah, bear watch with Teckk Outfitter's; Sitka, great walking town; Haines, scenery, bears eagles; all glaciers-Tracy Arm and Sawyer glaciers, Glacier Bay, Hubbard glacier-are all spectacular in different ways. Whatever you do, you will love it, and probably return.

Have rented there for many years. Just booked again last night. They were showing 6th Street address instead of 3rd street. This is still very close to port-everything in Skagway is close to port.

Any chance you might want to do Denali or Kenai peninsula? We're on our 14th Alaska cruise, 2nd Denali visit. We cruised up to Whittier, rented a car for a week, and will cruise back next Saturday. We also are somewhat limited in our traveling by medical issues but this trip is wonderful and easy! Denali in early September is incredible with the fall colors.

Definitely agree about rental car. Took a family group of 8 and had wonderful day driving to Carcross and Emerald Lake. My granddaughter said it was her favorite day of the entire cruise. We rented 2 cars from Sourdough Car Rental in Skagway for total $160. Great day-reasonable price!

We did this two years ago with a family group of 8, 4 adults and 4 grandchildren, ages 4, 13, 17, 19. We left from Seattle because flying 8 people there roundtrip was much more reasonable than flying to Vancouver.

We took the Norwegian Pearl, basically because it went to Glacier Bay. My husband and I have been to Alaska many times and been to all the usual glaciers. My favorite is Tracy Arm (for the fjord scenery) but since it was early in the season I wanted to make sure we got all the way to the glacier. If I was taking my grandchildren to Alaska, they had to see a glacier! The Pearl was great for everyone, my husband and I enjoyed the forward viewing lounge, my son and children loved the back deck off the buffet where they could eat while enjoying the scenery. MY 4 year old granddaughter loved the kid's club.

For excursions, we rented 2 cars in Skagway since the drive through the Yukon to Emerald Lake is one of our favorite excursions. My 17 year old granddaughter said this was her favorite experience on our trip! In Juneau we always go whale watching with Orca Enterprises--arranged ahead of time and in Ketchikan we took a tour with Ketchikan Taxi Company--also prearranged. There are many more expensive excursions that my husband and I take when just the two of us but I was trying to treat everyone!

Truthfully, the teenagers might have preferred the Caribbean beaches but we love Alaska and if I was taking my grandchildren on a cruise, it had to be Alaska! It was a great experience to be there with them all!

Adventure Bound allowed us to do this last year and we will be doing it again this year on Sept 1st. They docked by the green building and sent someone to our Princess ship to walk us down. The staff and captain were very welcoming and the trip was a highlight of the cruise!

We did the Rainbow nature and bear watching tour in early September last year. We had been to Haines several times before and always love viewing the beautiful mountain and lake scenery. We did not see any bears on that tour, however, Haines is a great place to see eagles. If you haven't been to Haines, it's well worth seeing, just don't count on seeing bears.

Last year we rented a car from Avis in Whittier and explored Kenai peninsula. Since ship doesn't leave until evening, we drove to Seward and Exit Glacier. We thought it was a great day with wonderful scenery.

Not to confuse you more but we will make our 14th annual trip to Alaska in August and if you like/love Alaska, I'm sure you will be back in the future. For your trip in 2016, you have free airfare to Seattle and limited time. Seattle is a great city (as is Vancouver) so enjoy seeing Seattle and save yourself $1600! As someone else said you can use that money for your next trip to Alaska. I bet there will be a next trip because you'll want to see Denali and mainland Alaska! And yes one of our trips was round trip Seattle and we loved it. So will you!

We compare cruise line price with airline price. We have used Princess Air and Celebrity Choice Air many times. One thing to consider is that transfers may be covered with cruise line airfare while they are an additional cost if not using cruise line airfare. Even with cruise line airfare, we pick the flights we want. We compare all costs and choose the most reasonable.

We have been to Alaska on Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Norwegian and enjoyed them all. I realize others may not agree but our choice is always based on itinerary rather than ship. Our family included a 5 year old (loved children's program), 3 teenagers who loved sitting on back deck at buffet, eating and watching scenery, 4 adults. We rented cars in Skagway to drive to Yukon (saw a bear along road), used Ketchikan Taxi Tours (terrific), and whale watching with Orca (great success) in Juneau. We all enjoyed variety of restaurants on NCL. This year we leave Aug 30 for northbound/southbound on Crown Princess. No matter what you choose, you will love it!

We did a wonderful 3 generation trip last year on Norwegian Pearl, Round trip out of Seattle. It was our 9th trip to Alaska. I chose this ship because it included Glacier Bay and big savings on 8 people flying round trip Seattle instead of Vancouver.We've done every combination of Alaska travel in previous years but for our large family group this was perfect combination of reasonable airfare and great itinerary.

Can't help but reply-go with inside. Have had 10 Alaska cruises with inside once, balconies three times and outside 6 times. No matter what cabin, we were either outside on deck with 360 degree view of scenery or in front observation lounge. Enjoy your trip!

We've been on ten trips to Alaska. Have had balconies, outside cabins and once an inside cabin. No matter which cabin we had, we were outside (rain or shine) on the topmost deck to see the 360 degree range of scenery. I didn't want to miss a thing--if I sat on the balcony, I always wondered what was on the other side. Each to his own, but I'd definitely extend my vacation and take a few days in and around the beautiful city of Vancouver!

Whale breaching in Auke Bay with Orca in Juneau.

Denali and Mt McKinley in September.

St.Elias in Wrangell-St Elias National Park

You may see them from the ship but they won't be as close as a whale watching excursion. If it's important to you to really see whales up fairly close, take a whale watching trip from Juneau. Doesn't have to be from the ship, Orca Enterprises is right across from dock and offers several trips daily. It really is a thrill to see them!

We did Danube River cruise on Gate 1 in April. Only English was spoken. Most passengers were American or UK. We loved our pre cruise hotel in Prague, service, tour guides were excellent. We are going to take Gate 1 to China next!

Went bear watching with Keith several years ago and saw 5 bears on 3 different viewings. Keith was very careful about safety but knew where and how to find them. This was early September and the salmon were running so chances to see bears were enhanced.

We went to Haines on excursion from Skagway and saw bears with cubs fishing in the Chilkat River for salmon the first week of September.

Does inside passage but at night. Northbound gives an incredible scenery day in inside passage.

We haven't been to Dyea but agree, doesn't sound like much out there. Have you taken the ferry to Haines? Wonderful town, great scenery and wildlife. Just a thought!

If you've been to Skagway before and done the usual excursions from there, then go to Haines. We've been 3 times to Haines, once doing ship tour to wildlife sanctuary, once a port stop where we saw bears scooping salmon out of river (September) and many eagles, once just seeing the lovely scenery. Plus the trip over by boat/ferry from Skagway is lovely. Or rent a car in Skagway (Avis or Sourdough) and ride out to Emerald Lake in Yukon.

We have cruised Alaska 6 times in May and 4 times in September. Weatherwise, doesn't make much difference. We have generally had beautiful weather in both months but there are no guarantees in Alaska, including June, July, and August. I watch the webcams all summer and often in the summer there is fog and rain so just because a travel agent says you "must" go in July or August, don't believe it! Both May and September are less expensive and offer a wonderful experience.

In May, you have the big advantage of longer days to enjoy the wonderful scenery. There is snow on the mountaintops, which in our opinion, is more scenic. We go to the Yukon, from Skagway, and think the scenery is more attractive with snow. The downside of May is that the salmon are not running, therefore there is less chance of seeing bears down by the rivers catching salmon. Having said that, there is more chance of seeing them near the roads looking for berries after their hibernation. We have seen them at both times. The resident whales are always in Auke Bay but the traveling whales sometimes are not there by early May, however, we have had good whale watching experiences in both months.

In September, the salmon are running and often the streams and rivers look as though you could walk across them on salmon. It is the time when we have seen the bears scooping the salmon out of the rivers to give to their cubs. We have been in Denali in September and seen the incredible fall colors and viewed Mt. McKinley without a cloud in the sky.

Pick the month that works best for you; no matter when you go, you can't predict the weather and you will love it, no matter what! We leave Aug 30th for a 2 week B2B.

Tell them what ship you are on and AB will usually work with you. Make sure you are in line early so you are one of the first off the ship. If you have a cell phone contact them as soon as you can, sometimes they may even send a car to pick you up, I usually just run down to their boat. Last trip they had sent a crew member up the dock looking for me and another couple off another ship. In every case as soon as I have boarded the AB boat they have immediately taken off. Just be aware that they are probably holding their tour just for you and there is a need to be off the Crown immediately, they don't have 15 minutes to wait if you are stuck in line getting off the ship. It is a fantastic tour.

 

Thanks for the advice, DougH. I'm still reluctant since my husband uses a walker and is one of the slower folks but I will contact AB and see what they say.

Princess Northbound cruises are in port from 8am-9pm and they are my preferred line so it happens to work out for me. The ship excursion might be better as it would allow you some time in Juneau afterward. It only has to sail one way and I believe their boat is also faster.

The AB tour is an all day affair but I love the time on the water.

Have been down Tracy Arm twice by ship and would love to do the AB tour. We are on Crown Princess and the port time is 8am to 9pm, however, AB website says boarding at 7:45am and leaves at 8:30am. Have you ever had a problem getting to AB in time to board/leave? Seems like it's cutting it very close if the ship doesn't arrive in Juneau until 8:00AM. Please advise.