SirTomster

My wife and I did Harv and Marv back in 2011 and it was fantastic. I have booked them for 2024 as we are heading back to Alaska. They are very popular on this board from what I have seen. Also, there is another boat but I cannot remember the name. I loved it as it was a boat of 6 people. Not some catamaran with my closest 150 friends. But you can search Juneau Whale Watching and find many discussions on it.

I have no experience to give but I have booked Salmon Berry Tours to take me from Anchorage to Whittier. You want the reverse and they have that option. So good luck in which ever option you decide.

I had the same question and ended up doing bus first. For two reasons: 1) I assume that if there is going to be wildlife, it is more likely to be seen in the morning and therefore I wanted the option that could stop to see the wildlife. AKA the bus. 2) Starting at 9:30 AM instead of 7:30 AM sounds better to me :) So for #1, that is just a pure assumption on my part and could be completely the opposite of what happens. I have no facts to back up my assumption. I might miss out on wildlife because of my assumption since 7:30 AM is earlier, so I might miss out on early morning wildlife.

I am following since I am on this cruise too and have the same questions. I am starting to plan. Here are my initial thoughts. Kahului, Maui - 1st Option: Road to Hana Tour 2nd Option: Whale Watching (But I will be seeing them in Alaska in June 24) Honolulu, Oahu - 1st Option. Waikiki Beach during the day. Luau at night 2nd Option. Maybe add a Turtle Trip and skip the Luau Nawiliwili, Kaui - Waimea Canyon Hilo, Big Island - Volcanos. Nuff said. Also, another question. Does anyone know when these start locking up? IE would prefer to start booking in July after my Alaska Cruise is over and I will have started saving up for this trip. So I hope it isn't like Alaska and you should book out as early as you can.

There is a YouTube channel I follow who did pretty much your itinerary. Search Paul and Carole Love to Travel and view their Canada and Alaska vlogs. So you can see what they did on their Cruise. It might help. I have been researching HAL for my cruise a lot because I received a free inside cabin. So I cannot comment on Princess and I am biased towards HAL due to that. I am not sure if a 14-day up and back is the best. It seems the only difference between the northbound and southbound is that the northbound goes to College Fjord and the southbound goes to Hubbard Glacier. Otherwise, you hit the same 3 ports on both cruises. Now maybe if you have plans to do multiple things in each port, hitting them twice is a good idea. Personally, if I could do what you are planning, I would reverse it. I would fly to Anchorage, go to Seward to do the Kenai Fjords 1 day cruise. I would then go to Whittier and do the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise that does College Fjord. Then I would do a southbound to Vancouver. Hitting Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Then once in Vancouver do the Rocky Mountaineer to Lake Louise and Banff. If you have more time/funds you can start even earlier in Anchorage and do Denali or other locations too. But it sounds like you are going to do a fantastic trip. I am one of those people who love to plan, so get a lot of enjoyment in the planning. So hopefully you are too and you can look at all the great options available.

Well they opened up 2024 bookings today and I am booked. Ended up doing the Bus first then the train. Train first was at 7:30 AM. Bus first is 9:30 AM. We are in port for 14 hours so I was good with starting a little later.

My wife and I are going on a cruise to Alaska in June of next year. We will be visiting Skagway and I plan on booking the Bennett Scenic Journey option which is half train and half bus. I am leaning towards the bus option going up and taking the train down and wanted anyone's thoughts on this option. My reasoning is that by taking the bus up first, we might see more wildlife and be able to stop the bus to take pictures. Then, take the train back down and enjoy the views and relax since this is an 8 hour excursion. Thoughts? Any pros/cons to the reverse?

Now I am not sure if this is a deal or not. I thought the prices were higher but they are cheaper now. For me, the price to fly home from Vancouver is 1K over the price of flying from Seattle. So I will be taking the QuickShuttle from the Canada Place pier to the Seattle Airport. Right now the prices seem to be 1/2 off. I had a price of $130 for the bus but I booked it for $70.98. I do not see them advertising any sale, but still it was nearly half of what I expected to pay. That includes 2 bags for each of us. So for those who end up in Vancouver at the end of the cruise, it might be an option to consider. Or for someone that leaves from Vancouver. Flying to Seattle and taking the bus to Vancouver to get on the ship. I ended up deciding to stay a night in Seattle and not trying to catch a flight that evening since you never know if traffic will delay the bus.

All 3 hit Glacier Bay. Check All 3 are one-way cruises. Check HAL in June Princess in September. Not sure on NCL if the links are the exact cruises you want. June is high season, September is shoulder and weather can be iffy. My first (and only) was in September and had a blast. Even on the 2nd night when it was stormy and 3/4 the passengers missed dinner because they were in their cabins puking. My wife and I were in the Crows Nest having a blast. Missed dinner because we would not leave the Crows Nest (HAL Westerdam) HAL and Princess are the Longest cruise lines to Alaska. Not sure if you care about that. I have heard boarding in Vancouver can be a pain on days when there are multiple ships. So the NCL one worries me. -1 The NCL one ends up in Seward and you could stay there and do Kenai Fjords the next day. That is a plus in my mind. +1 So it is close. HAL Noordam 1924 people. Grand Princess 2600. For me, less is better. you might choose the opposite. A quick view of the two ships.. not sure if one or the other has more entertainment. HAL skews to the older crowds but I do not think Princess is far behind. NCL? Not a clue. Plus it is Alaska, in Summer. There will be kids. Look at the port times and see what works for you. I like the HAL times more than the Princess. They are close but HAL seems slightly longer and slightly later. For me, when I was choosing, I chose southbound. I chose to fly into Anchorage 2 days before the cruise and drive to Seward to do a Kenai Fjords cruise. Then drive back to Anchorage and take the train or bus to Whittier then board the ship. Then cruise and fly home. Have some fun in Alaska, have an awesome cruise then go home. That was my thought on Southbound. FYI, I am on the HAL cruise you selected. So take everything I say with a grain of salt. With you being in your 30's, I would lean more towards Princess. But nearly 700 more people is a thing. I could have done the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam which is slightly bigger than the Noordam. But decided to go with the older and slightly smaller Noordam. All in all, I think you have 3 great itineraries. I lean towards HAL or Princess due to the experience they have in Alaska, and then you are comparing some pretty small differences. But one of those small differences might be very important to you. Enjoy your cruise!

I have opted for the Chilkoot Charters Lake Bennett one. Most train time, but also the furthest into the Yukon and get to see Emerald Lake. I like to do photography, so the photos I have seen of Emerald lake look cool. Another bonus is that it is $50 pp cheaper than the equivalent on Holland America. Second Bonus is Chilkoot has smaller busses than the motorcoaches the cruise lines use. Now, if you are in Skagway on June 19th, I recommend another option

So is anyone aware if someone has missed their cruise because of a delay on the 26 Glacier Cruise? You get back 1.5 hours (or so) before the ship leaves. Which just seems too close to me.

Another Black Friday deal for a Kenai Fjords cruise out of Seward. Kenai Fjords Tours is having a 40% off sale. From November 27 to December 1, 2023, book your coastal Alaska adventure with code CYBER40 to SAVE 40% on your next Alaska day cruise. It’s a trip (and a deal) you won’t want to miss. https://www.alaskacollection.com/day-tours/kenai-fjords-tours/#openseason=false And as posted earlier. Major Marine has 30% off. So some great prices to cruise Kenai Fjords with either company. https://majormarine.com/specials-packages/

I love to plan too. For me, part of the enjoyment is planning the trip. Then living vicariously through others who do the same. Why? It extends the enjoyment. For some, planning an event can enhance the experience. For some, planning is a 4 letter word. To each their own. For instance, my wife is quite happy with me doing the planning. Which means I get to do something I enjoy and she does not have to do something she does not enjoy. In this case, by posting about what she is doing, she is also helping others with ideas. Which hurts nobody.

Curious what happened. I am booked for the Noordam southbound in June 2024.

I am doing a southbound trip out of Whittier. But we will be flying to Anchorage 2 days before the cruise and traveling to Seward for two nights. We will be taking a one-day cruise to the Kenai Fjords. I recommend you look into it. My research shows that it is very popular and can be the trip's highlight. I am not sure when the ship arrives and if you could take the Kenai Fjords cruise the same day or not. But something to consider.

Hehe, all these posts about Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales are making me regret booking my trip for next year. But too late, I jumped on booking my time to be safe. I will just have to avoid their site when the sales happen.

I am in the same boat. I can only hope it does not happen to me next year. I even waited for the price to increase a little because the first price I had was stupid low. My rate is still very low, but closer to reasonable. Though today it is a LOT higher for June. So maybe my great price will still be too low. I booked directly with them to avoid any third party issues.

Go to the cruise line's website and find the excursions they have for Alaska. They will always have the popular options. Now you do not have to go through the cruise line, but you can get ideas. For instance. Whale Watching in Juneau is big. But there are many local companies that will charge less or have less people on the boat. So seeing all the whale watching options on the cruise line shows it is very popular and now you can research. Many stick with the cruise line due to the security of them promising to not leave the port until the tour returns. But you generally pay more. But you can get ideas after seeing what the cruise lines offer in those ports. This will also allow you to see approximate prices and see what is in your budget. Juneau has a helicopter ride to a glacier and dog sledding. Sounds awesome. But it is pricy. If you see that price and go, next! I understand. I did the same thing. It is still sounds like a cool thing, but I will survive without it.

I am looking at Quick Shuttle https://quickcoach.com/ The price was about $50 per person but there would be some baggage fees. I will be picked up at the Cruise Port in Vancouver and dropped off at the Seatac airport. They do the reverse too. Currently, for me to fly from Vancouver to Salt Lake is about $700 more than Seattle to Salt Lake. So paying $130 (ish) for a bus to Seattle sounds like a deal. Granted my Sunday will be getting off the ship, hopping on a bus for a 4 to 5 hour drive to Seattle, then flying home from Seattle. But with that price difference, I am leaning towards that. If the price was closer, I would fly from Vancouver, but right now a bus ride looks a lot better to my wallet.

Look into Glacier Bay. We have only done one cruise and that was to Alaska and I LOVE Glacier Bay. I would not consider a cruise without it. Both Princess and Holland America have the longest history in Alaska and that can be a plus. If you have the time/money, I would look into a one-way cruise so you can start/stop in Alaska and do some touring before the cruise. These start/end in Vancouver and either Whittier or Seward in Alaska. Check out this thread of ideas to do in Alaska either at the beginning or end. Ports to research: Ketchikan Juneau Skagway Sitka Icy Strait Point The first three are the most common with sometimes one of the last two being a replacement. There might be others on some lines but I think I got the most common ports. So you can research locations and activities and see what sounds like the most fun. Then find a cruise that makes that port and also has enough time since some ships do not stay in the port the same amount of time. Some are shorter than others. This can help you decide what itinerary you want to do. To give you an idea, here is my itinerary for June 2024. Check the above thread for other great examples. Holland America Nordam Southbound 7/14 Fly to Anchorage 7/14 Rent a car and drive to Seward. Visiting various sights on the way including the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center 7/15 8.5 hour Cruise in the Kenai Fjords with Major Marine 7/16 Drive back to Anchorage to drop off the car 7/16 Bus to Whitter to board the ship 7/17 Hubbard Glacier 7/18 Glacier Bay 7/19 Skagway, doing a train/bus ride up the Yukon 7/20 Juneau, doing a whale watching excursion. 7/21 Ketchikan, doing a walkabout unless I change my mind and do the Rain Forest hike. 7/22 Sea day 7/23 Arrive in Vancouver, take a bus down to seattle and fly home. By adding a short land tour before the cruise, my costs are going up by around $2,000. So it can be cheaper if I cut out that Kenai Fjords part but heck no! The one-way options also seem to have more time in ports than a round trip. But the one-way will cost more than a round trip from Seattle or Vancouver. Including flights. In case you do not know it. Alaska is expensive. You might be able to do two Caribbean cruises for the price of one Alaskan one. So be aware of that. My personal view is that Alaska is a cruise for people who want to see nature. Either the landscapes or the wildlife. Thus, if you are more into hitting a beach and chilling, then Alaska might not be the option for you.

Thanks. I checked for my June cruise and Harv and Marv have opened up 2024. So I booked my date.

I would check out this thread by @no1racefan1 They plan on doing some Denali plus you can see their plans and get some ideas. Plus others have added their plans.

Oh, I should also qualify, that finances are the reason I am skipping this one. If that was not an issue, I would book in a heartbeat. I would have already purchased my $500 & $100 Holland American gift card through AARP for $400 & $90 and used those. My budget is already screaming at me at how much I am spending already. Therefore, I had to skip this.

$299 pp on Holland America for my Cruise in June 2024. If I was not doing the Kenai Fjords cruise at about the same price, I might consider it. But that one is 8.5 hours (Northwestern Fjord) so much more bang for the buck.

I just noticed an excursion I am planning on that was $300 is now $315 through the cruise line. So they can also increase the rates. Or maybe decrease (but I doubt that happens). But for the excursion above, I am going local so saving $65. However I cannot book until I get our passports back since it will cross over the Canadian border. White Pass Train/Bus Excursion