Which Alaska cruise is best?

[NewJersey222]

Hi. My hubby and I are planning our 25th anniversary celebration for July or August 2011 and are treating ourselves to an Alaska cruise. We have heard that the southbound cruises are best, but are looking for more pointers? Which Alaska cruises have you taken and what do you recommend as far as cruise line, itinerary, ports of call, land tours, etc? We have sailed Princess before, and would like to stay in the price range of that cruise line. (We can't afford the more expensive lines.) I want this cruise to be the best ever! Thanks for your help.

 

 

Hello Neighbor!!

 

We are in the planning stages of our Alaska cruise for July 2011!! We have also heard that Princess and Holland America do have Alaska down pat!! We have decided to do Tour 6, with Holland America, July 30, 2011: 15 day, land and sea.

 

This is our first trip to Alaska, but if there is anything I can help with, feel free to email me: mem775416@aol.com. It is a lot of planning, but I am sure well worth it!!! Just an FYI: USAIR flys direct to Anchorage from Phila. International!! 8 hour flight!! Coming back there is no non stop...About 13 hour flight!! Yikes!!

 

Happy planning,:D

 

NewJersey222

Marie (Voorhees, NJ)

[frugaltravel]

USAIR flys direct to Anchorage from Phila. International!! 8 hour flight!! Coming back there is no non stop...About 13 hour flight!! Yikes!!

 

I guess it just depends when one is traveling. USAir has a n/s from Anchorage to Philly most of the summer.

[MJN]

Budget Queen,

Thank you for providing the link to the Denali tour options. I am going to save that to my favorites list. We were originally slated to take the Tundra tour as part of our RCI cruise/tour package and then changed our tour to include Alyeska and the Resurrection Bay tour and in the process of doing that discovered that we won't be doing the Tundra tour but instead the Wilderness tour. I called to see if we could change back to the Tundra tour and was told no, that they were all package tours and could not be changed. I am not happy about that as we don't know if we will get back to doing a cruise/tour to Alaska again and want to really experience Alaska to the max. We are still debating the best way to handle this. My DH does not want to drive the vast distances of Alaska so we are trying to find another way to experience it all and see the things WE want to see. Any suggestions for the land portion that would allow us to tour it the way we want without driving it?

[Budget Queen]

Budget Queen,

Thank you for providing the link to the Denali tour options. I am going to save that to my favorites list. We were originally slated to take the Tundra tour as part of our RCI cruise/tour package and then changed our tour to include Alyeska and the Resurrection Bay tour and in the process of doing that discovered that we won't be doing the Tundra tour but instead the Wilderness tour. I called to see if we could change back to the Tundra tour and was told no, that they were all package tours and could not be changed. I am not happy about that as we don't know if we will get back to doing a cruise/tour to Alaska again and want to really experience Alaska to the max. We are still debating the best way to handle this. My DH does not want to drive the vast distances of Alaska so we are trying to find another way to experience it all and see the things WE want to see. Any suggestions for the land portion that would allow us to tour it the way we want without driving it?

 

As you probably know, I never recommend the Bay tours of Kenai Fjords, way too short a distance, definately not the wildlife opportunities and no glacier access. An easy fix to include the longer and better boat tour would be to use the regular Alaska RR and hook up with the cruisetour, before/after. Very simple.

 

As for Denali Park= the only company that does give "credit" for the Natural History tour is Princess. The other lines- that I have heard about, do not. So any changes would forfit the value of the NHT tour. The other problem is time, some one day Denali Park itineraries do not have time for anything other than the NHT.

 

I will speculate that you are heightening the "driving problem" you have noted. You state you "really want to experience Alaska", your current plan isn't. You need to decide for yourself, what path you are going to take and what you are going to compromise on. All visits have some features of this, there is never enough time, as a common problem. :)

 

A general comment from me, having no issues with driving, Alaska is darn easy simple, low stress driving. If you do not want to do the long distances, pretty easy fix, have plans in place and stop. Continue on later. This opens up so much more.

 

A final suggestion, perhaps look into a private, Alaska, local tour company, and get out from under the fixed schedule of the cruisetour, which isn't really your preference.

[jhunger]

Hey SamLH07,

If you are looking at Seattle because of roundtrip airfare Princess offers the Seattle Air Advantage. I believe the cost is $339pp to Anchorage and $439pp to Fairbanks.

Here is the description:

New Seattle Air Advantage-- With this new package, any Princess cruisetour can become a convenient roundtrip vacation from Seattle. This package includesmotorcoach transportation between Seattle and Vancouver, airfare between Alaska and Seattle, and an overnight stay in a Seattle-area hotel. All passengers will need to do is make arrangements to get themselves to and from Seattle

[Rockn Robin 251]

we took the Holland Zuiderdam may 15/10 on the inside passage from Vancouver and it was awesome. Many people told us before going it was the wrong time of the year to go etc...and we had the best weather ever. The temperature was 15-18C in ports(Juneau, Skagway and Ketchican) and the only rainy misty day was in Ketchican on our way back. The land excursions were amazing( we did dog sledding on a glacier by helicopter, walking on a glacier by helicopter and whale watching(we wouldnt do that one again in Juneau as you see enough whales on the ship) and lastly we did the Alaskan crab feast ( you either fly up by float plane or back..we went up in a bus and back by plane ). We never got to expierence the fjords by plane as the weather was not great that day. We were dissapointed in that one also as we felt we were rushed through the dinner and "feast" that was supposed to be all you can eat and the food was just OK. It was a bit misleading to say the least.

But the cruise line does an awesome job. We truly enjoyed it especially Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay. If we went again we would do the 8hr rail ride in Skagway. There were rave reviews on that one.

Have a great trip

I'm also looking at the HAL roundtrip from Vancouver. The only problem I see is it doesn't get to Juneau until 2:30pm. Is that enough time to do 2 excursions?

[LindaKE]

It doesn't leave until 10:30 pm. That gives you 8 hours for excursions.

[Budget Queen]

I'm also looking at the HAL roundtrip from Vancouver. The only problem I see is it doesn't get to Juneau until 2:30pm. Is that enough time to do 2 excursions?

 

It depends- when are you going, what tours are you looking at and how are you booking?

[Rockn Robin 251]

Thanks for the info. I'll look at the excursions I want to do first before deciding.

 

Budget Queen: Having been in Alaska so many times, I have a question maybe you could answer for me: I looked at the routes the different round trips take (Seattle vs Vancouver) and the Seattle routes go more outside. There in lies my delima: the Vancouver route which goes more inside has the shorter time in Juneau. Which issue is more important, going inside or more time in Juneau???

[Budget Queen]

Thanks for the info. I'll look at the excursions I want to do first before deciding.

 

Budget Queen: Having been in Alaska so many times, I have a question maybe you could answer for me: I looked at the routes the different round trips take (Seattle vs Vancouver) and the Seattle routes go more outside. There in lies my delima: the Vancouver route which goes more inside has the shorter time in Juneau. Which issue is more important, going inside or more time in Juneau???

 

As you can see, every cruise has compromises. :) I give an edge to a long Juneau time, especially, if you want to take advantage of a Tracy Arm day trip.

 

Figure out your touring priorities, then go with a ship itinerary that allows it.

[Yochell]

Hi Marie! I've been away from this board for quite awhile - I was getting overwhelmed with all the cruise possiblilites, as well as planning Christmas activities. But now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to planning. Which cruise line did you decide on? I'm still looking for opinions, so I'd like to hear your plans. Maybe that will help us finalize our decisions. We are leaning towards a 'one-way' with Holland America. We cruised Princess before, and loved it, but thought we'd try Holland to compare for future trips. But we can't afford a cruise tour, so we are just doing the cruise. That's fine. Next time we'll do more. I've never been to Alaska, so anything will be new and I'm sure awesome! Thanks for the info!

[vbmom87]

Hi Marie! I've been away from this board for quite awhile - I was getting overwhelmed with all the cruise possiblilites, as well as planning Christmas activities. But now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to planning. Which cruise line did you decide on? I'm still looking for opinions, so I'd like to hear your plans. Maybe that will help us finalize our decisions. We are leaning towards a 'one-way' with Holland America. We cruised Princess before, and loved it, but thought we'd try Holland to compare for future trips. But we can't afford a cruise tour, so we are just doing the cruise. That's fine. Next time we'll do more. I've never been to Alaska, so anything will be new and I'm sure awesome! Thanks for the info!

 

If you are on a budget and won't be spending time on land, you might want to at least price out the round trips. HAL has some nice ones. From Seattle you can visit Sitka. From Vancouver you can cruise both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord.

[Yochell]

Hello Neighbor!!

 

We are in the planning stages of our Alaska cruise for July 2011!! We have also heard that Princess and Holland America do have Alaska down pat!! We have decided to do Tour 6, with Holland America, July 30, 2011: 15 day, land and sea.

 

This is our first trip to Alaska, but if there is anything I can help with, feel free to email me: mem775416@aol.com. It is a lot of planning, but I am sure well worth it!!! Just an FYI: USAIR flys direct to Anchorage from Phila. International!! 8 hour flight!! Coming back there is no non stop...About 13 hour flight!! Yikes!!

 

Happy planning,:D

 

NewJersey222

Marie (Voorhees, NJ)

 

 

Hi Marie, I responded to this post, but apparently hit the wrong response button. :( (It's been awhile since I've posted. Need to remember how!) Anyway, my response is below. Also, thanks for the info on the flights.

[Yochell]

If you are on a budget and won't be spending time on land, you might want to at least price out the round trips. HAL has some nice ones. From Seattle you can visit Sitka. From Vancouver you can cruise both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord.

 

 

I definitely want to visit Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord. I'm not sure about the Seattle RT since I don't want to spend as much time in the open sea - just in case of rough water. Does the Vancouver RT go into the open sea as much as the Seattle RT?

[vbmom87]

I definitely want to visit Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord. I'm not sure about the Seattle RT since I don't want to spend as much time in the open sea - just in case of rough water. Does the Vancouver RT go into the open sea as much as the Seattle RT?

 

Typically your Vancouver sailings are much smoother than Seattle. The problem with Seattle is the first and last days for the most part. IF you take a look at the cruiselines maps for the individual itineraries you will see the difference.

[Putterdude]

Ships sailing out of Vancouver sail the whole route in the Inside Passage staying on the east side of Vancouver Island between it and the mainland...so waters are much smoother than sailing out of Seattle where they are out in the Pacific on the west side of Vancouver Island for a day or so in either direction. In either case the ships must ply the waters of Queen Charlotte Sound between Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands and Dixon Entrance which is north of the QCIs. When crossing these water you can expect some rough water but we are speaking of a few hours, not days.

[wonlife64]

My wife and I are also taking a cruise for our 25th. We just recently booked the 14 day cruise on the HAL Amsterdam (Our first time on HAL). We have previously been cruising in Alaska. We had a great time and can't wait to visit again. Hope all goes well with your planning and decisions.