Glaciers

It’s most certainly a better experience on the small boat. Last year on Princess we only made it as far as College Point so missed up close viewing of Harvard Glacier. The 26 Glacier Cruise also transits Esther Passage which is very nice. It did sound though that the OP was looking for a little different experience. With the covid issues and related difficulties of finding employees in 2022, hopefully those b2b excursions will return.

Princess used to offer dedicated tours for b2b passengers in Whittier. We had 700 b2b passengers on our May trip last year with many struggling to find something to do. A rental works the best and there’s only one road to Anchorage so not a difficult drive but spectacular along Turnagain Arm. Since you’re on Princess you will most likely be doing College Fjord and the 26 Glacier Cruise may be a bit of the same although a much better experience on the small boat. If you do one of these trips check out the Glacier Quest Cruise from Phillips if you don’t want to revisit College Fjord.

Haven’t stayed there but live nearby. I love the area as it’s in the heart of Belltown. A 10 minute walk to both Pike Place Market and the Seattle Center/Space Needle with many restaurants/bars particularly along 2nd Ave. A little less touristy than the downtown core area. You’ll see a smattering of homeless along Bell St. but the area is as safe.

Juneau Whale Watch has combo tours. They have multiple buses and you can stay at the glacier as long as you want. As long as you don’t miss the last bus.

@SSAtlantic Unless you’ll be doing any exploring before you board the ship the next day, most certainly stay near the airport. The hotel prices can be substantially less expensive. Use Seattle Express to get to the pier.

The only true fine dining restaurant in Alaska that we've eaten at is Marx Bros. Cafe in Anchorage. There's many more that you could squeeze into that definition but it's a tight fit.

We dropped our bags with the valet at the Pan Pacific which is the hotel at Canada Place Terminal. They are located inside near the street entrance. After storing the bags we went to Stanley Park as well as Granville Island Public Market. You might consider a rental with an entire day to explore. There's a lot to do in Vancouver.

Glacier Bay and College Fjord are wonderful and Skagway would be a bonus. This would be my choice. I don’t care for ISP as there’s little to do there of interest, for me, other than whale watching. Hubbard can be difficult to get to due to ice. There is an expensive excursion from the ship that takes you closer to Hubbard but is usually sold out early.

Finding fine dining in SE Alaska can be a trick. Look at Annabelle's in Ketchikan. Please know too that the Alaska Red King Crab season has been canceled the past two years. They’re prohibiting crab being imported from Russia where, in the past, they supplied 70% of the king crab in the US. They are apparently getting it from the southern hemisphere now and some other countries. You will see some local seafood but much of the crab has been frozen and from someplace else.

It looks like at least one of these tours is actually be operated by Juneau Whale Watch. If so, the tours can be booked direct through the vendor at: https://www.juneauwhalewatch.com/ We’ve also been out with them 4 times. We’ve had about 25 individuals on each trip on the two-deck boat with plenty of room at the rail and they also drop at Mendenhall Glacier with their combo tour and then take you back to the ship.

We’ve done a few of these as well and agree the 26 Glacier Cruise is very good. Another option is the Spencer Glacier Iceberg Float. You can also just stay on the train which travels up the very scenic Placer River Valley. It returns to Whittier at about 6pm. We also rented a car once for the day and explored Turnagain Arm and into Anchorage which worked well. If you end up staying in Whittier there’s a dandy hike called the Portage Pass Trail that gives you spectacular views. https://alaskanrafting.com/product/spencer-iceberg-placer-river-float/ https://www.alaskarailroad.com/travel-planning/day-trips/spencer-iceberg-and-placer-river-float

Hopefully they will be offering the shuttle to both the museum and the Heritage Center this year. I do see the shuttle is still noted on the Heritage Center website. Possibly old news. “We are located at 8800 Heritage Center Dr. in Anchorage, around a 7 minute drive from the Tikahtnu Commons. We offer a convenient shuttle service from Downtown Anchorage.”

This is the Allen Marine vessel, the St. Nicholas, in front of the North Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord. They are the same operator who does the Hubbard Glacier excursions from the ship. They also do tours from Juneau like Adventure Bound.

Most people have clothing that would be adequate for Alaska and don’t need to purchase anything. Most places you’ll be cruising in SE Alaska will have temps of 40-60f in May. Maybe similar to Oct/Nov in Delaware. I do understand this is a special trip for you and having something new to wear would be nice.

You may not be bothered by the potential heat being from Scottsdale but the Moore has no air conditioning. For most it means keeping the windows open at night and the Moore is also a concert venue and can get a bit noisy after events, and just general downtown street noise. We broke a record last September with a temp of 92F.

Look at Juneau Whale Watch. They can drop you at the glacier after the whale watch and then back to the ship.

It is refreshing that with all of the cruise traffic, Seward still has some semblance of Alaska without the unnecessary touristy glitz. A bit more like Sitka in those terms.

Another option for whale watch tours in Juneau is Juneau Whale Watch. We have had about 25 people on the two-deck boat with plenty of room at the rail for everyone. We’ve been out with them 4 times and they are our preference over Harv n Marv and Jayleen. They can also drop you at Mendenhall Glacier to explore and then take you back to the ship. Other than the size of the boat, most of the operators are more similar than different. They all go to the same places which are primarily between west of Douglas Island and the north end of Shelter Island. The advantage of Harv n Marv and Jayleen is that they spend more time on the water.

There was a lengthy and exhausting thread regarding this a year or two ago. You may be able to find it by searching although GTJ seems to sum it up well.

@VelvetSkeeter We were on the Royal Princess last May. After the first presentation by the naturalist, he collected cabin numbers and offered to call people in the middle of the night if the northern lights appeared. They didn’t, but it was a great offer.

It seems by your post that you’re really only interested in the ship when Alaska is mostly about what’s off ship. If that’s not the case you should look at the ports and what there is to do in each. Most of the main cruise lines are more similar than they are different and, at least for us, we don’t really care what line it is as long as it gives us the best ports and times. If it’s all about the ship there are certainly cheaper places to cruise. One thing we consider about the ship is if they have a naturalist. Both Princess & Holland have top-notch “true naturalists” and not just someone vaguely familiar with the ports. You will hear from many that a balcony is mandatory. When we first started cruising Alaska 20 years ago we always booked an interior room and used the savings on excursions. We don’t need to do that these days but glad we did as it maximized the Alaska Experience.

I’d never heard of the main lines offering this excursion either. We were in LeConte Bay on a small ship but even the skiff couldn’t make it to the glacier through all of the ice. We had a wonderful time motoring around the bergs though. You might check the Wrangell forum at Trip Advisor. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g31165-i4344-Wrangell_Alaska.html

You’ll see that people make early flights although noon is usually safe. Port Valet won’t accept luggage with a flight departure of earlier than noon. Earlier flights will work most times but there are also times that it can get congested at SeaTac and they won't. The demand for travel looks to be very high in 2023 and it’s hard to tell what airport wait times will be. This is from September this year. https://mynorthwest.com/3645776/sea-tac-long-security-lines/

And a 3rd rec for the Locks tour. I hear it's very good and we plan to do it. Another option for Elliott Bay tours is Salish Sea Tours.

Most vendors have some sort of guarantee that you’ll see whales on a tour and I’ve not heard of anyone not seeing a humpback. Although, it may only be a back, tail or some blow. The breaching and bubble net feeding opportunities occur much less often.