Alaska. Any and all recommendations would be appreciated

[BugsyCruiser]

Hello everyone, hope all of you are doing well. I would appreciate some help, suggestions, recommendations for the following:

 

I am thinking about Alaska, probably in 2013(got two more Caribbean cruises booked for 2012) and would like to know the following:

 

1. Would you recommend just a cruise or a cruisetour and why?

 

2. Which cruise line and why? I understand I will get many recommendations and that's fine. The more to review and choose from, definitely the better

 

3. Favorite shore excursions? What is a must not be missed in your opinion?

 

4. Best time of the year to go? I know it's a limited season but what's your opinion on best time to go

 

5. Best place to sail out of?

 

Again, I understand I will get many suggestions, opinions, and recommendations and that is fine. That's what I want. The more choices and info to look over in my opinion, the better

 

Thanks in advance for your help friends :)

[donaldsc]

Hello everyone, hope all of you are doing well. I would appreciate some help, suggestions, recommendations for the following:

 

I am thinking about Alaska, probably in 2013(got two more Caribbean cruises booked for 2012) and would like to know the following:

 

1. Would you recommend just a cruise or a cruisetour and why?

 

2. Which cruise line and why? I understand I will get many recommendations and that's fine. The more to review and choose from, definitely the better

 

3. Favorite shore excursions? What is a must not be missed in your opinion?

 

4. Best time of the year to go? I know it's a limited season but what's your opinion on best time to go

 

5. Best place to sail out of?

 

Again, I understand I will get many suggestions, opinions, and recommendations and that is fine. That's what I want. The more choices and info to look over in my opinion, the better

 

Thanks in advance for your help friends :)

 

1. Cruise. Do the land portion on your own.

 

2. The smaller the ship - the better. My best Alaska cruise was on a ship that held only 50 people.

 

3. Anan - for the bears. Wrangell St Elias. Dalton Highway.

 

4. Any time. This year I am going to Fairbanks in March.

 

5. Depends upon whether you are going round trip or one way.

 

DON

[chipmaster]

0 ) Try the Alaskan ports of call, lots of opinions there

 

1) If you got time a must do. I have never been able to spare more than a week. Why, because alaskan is so beautiful, no brainer

 

2) Princess many sailings / choices. Then it helps I like Princes anyways!

 

3) This is YMMV depends on interest, budget etc. Ketchikan is for fishing, flight seeing. Juneau is for whale watching and Mendenhall, Skagway for the train, town, helicopter/glacier landing.

 

4) July for fishing, weather, blance of activities

 

5) Vancouver one way for inside passage East of Vancouver Island!

 

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, get a sailing that does GLACIER BAY

 

 

Hello everyone, hope all of you are doing well. I would appreciate some help, suggestions, recommendations for the following:

 

I am thinking about Alaska, probably in 2013(got two more Caribbean cruises booked for 2012) and would like to know the following:

 

1. Would you recommend just a cruise or a cruisetour and why?

 

2. Which cruise line and why? I understand I will get many recommendations and that's fine. The more to review and choose from, definitely the better

 

3. Favorite shore excursions? What is a must not be missed in your opinion?

 

4. Best time of the year to go? I know it's a limited season but what's your opinion on best time to go

 

5. Best place to sail out of?

 

Again, I understand I will get many suggestions, opinions, and recommendations and that is fine. That's what I want. The more choices and info to look over in my opinion, the better

 

Thanks in advance for your help friends :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Princess and Holland have been in the Alaskan business for years.

 

If you have the time -- do a land tour first and then the cruise. The land tours can be long days.

 

Sailing out of Vancouver -- most ships will stay in the Inside Passage -- beautiful views.

 

Helicopter tours -- glacier landings -- float planes -- whale watching from smaller boats -- all great.

 

We have sailed the Alaskan waters all months available and much prefer from the middle of June through the first couple weeks of August.

 

This past summer we did Holland's 14 day cruise -- hope to do it again.

[paul929207]

Princess & HAL have been doing Alaska for years and each has half a dozen ships each season.

 

We have sailed twice to Alaska with Princess and loved both.

 

If possible take a cruise that includes Glacier Bay

[flamomo]

Princess has just been named "the Best Cruise Line in Alaska" for the 5th year in a row!

 

I have done 2 AK cruises with Princess, and both were so wonderful that I hope to do another one in the near future.

[5326jan]

I agree with Paul, make sure your trip includes Glacier Bay.

 

We did the cruise tour that had us at Mckinley Lodge one night and Denali Lodge the second night. McKinley seemed like a "holding" spot. Unless you arrange a specific tour, there is really nothing to do. In fairness, it poured rain the whole time we were there. Denali has so much to do, we wished that we had more time there. Be sure to upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour, rather than the Natural History Tour which was pretty lame, IMHO. Avoid the "dinner theater", its like a high school production and the food is mediocre. There are some restaurants and shops across the street from the Lodge. Be prepared for the lodges, they are not fancy. No TVs or fridges in the room, but they are comfortable and clean. edit to say, on second thought I think there were small tvs in the room.

 

If you're taking the train trip to Whittier from Denali, go across the street to the 24 hour Subway sandwich shop and get a picnic lunch for the train ride.

 

The best recommendation I have is to be sure that each member of your group has their own pair of binoculars! If someone points out wildlife, you don't want everyone grabbing for the one pair you have. Keep them with you at all times, you never know when you'll need them. Our first Moose sighting was at the Anchorage airport! It is a great trip!

[Trainer]

1. Would you recommend just a cruise or a cruisetour and why?

Just a cruise, the tours spend too much time on a bus, although you do see lots of gorgeous scenery. Go to Alaska before or after the cruise on your own. Do a one-way cruise that starts or ends in Vancouver or in Anchorage. The ones that start and stop in Vancouver only go part way up the coast and then turn around. You go to lots more places on the one-way ones.

 

2. Which cruise line and why? I understand I will get many recommendations and that's fine. The more to review and choose from, definitely the better.

Princess or Holland America do the most recommended cruises. I've done a Princess cruise and a H-A cruise tour. Much preferred the Princess trip.

 

3. Favorite shore excursions? What is a must not be missed in your opinion?

I liked the sled dog excursions. There are several of them. I suggest you avoid the helicopter tours as there have been several fatal accidents in Alasks.

 

4. Best time of the year to go? I know it's a limited season but what's your opinion on best time to go.

Early June is nice. It was very hot! when we were there. Cool evenings though, and cool near the glaciers.

 

5. Best place to sail out of?

Vancouver!

 

But, Alaska is great. I've been twice on cruises, one a cruise tour, and I would do another cruise there in a minute.

[BugsyCruiser]

Thanks for the responses so far friends! Sounds like Princess or HAL is the way to go. I've read and seen so much on Princess being the best one for Alaska. Sounds like they might be the way to go :D

[agabbymama]

I'm not really going to answer your questions, as everyone has different opinions. What I liked is not necessarily what you would like.

 

I've been to Alaska twice. The first time was just a Southbound 7 nt cruise on HAL from Seward to Sitka to Glacier Bay to Juneau to Ketchikan. We loved it (and we didn't do one excursion). So much so when we decided to go a second time we did a cruisetour on HAL. Again, we didn't do any of the expensive excursions. I made sure the cruisetour went where I wanted to go, and what they showed us was enough for us. No need to go see bears at Anan (we saw them in Juneau & Denali). No need to go whalewatching, we have seen them in the past. And I'm not interested in walking on a glacier (after seeing them crackling and calving) I'm a big chicken. The only thing I paid extra for was the Jeff King Husky Homestead. Jeff is a 4 time Iditarod winner, and when I booked the cruise, I told the folks going with me I was going to go meet him and his wife (if I had to walk). Fortunately HAL offered it as an excursion.

 

I'm going to suggest going to your library and checking out Fodor's or Frommer's travel guides on Alaska. Decide what it is you really want to see. (For me the Yukon & Alaska go together since the Gold Rush Days, I wanted a cruisetour that did both). I happened to find it on HAL. We left from Vancouver (3 nights on-board) debarking in Skagway, up the White Pass Yukon Railroad to Fraser, Whitehorse, Dawson City (we fell in love with), riverboat to Eagle Alaska, Chicken, Tok, Fairbanks, Denali and ending in Anchorage. This was an 11 night total trip. It was awesome!

 

Then make a graph chart with the cruiseline/ships across the top. List the things of importance down the side (ship size, ports, times in port, # of days you can go, cabin and cabin price, excursions, etc). Then as you research put an "X" in the conjoining box. As you near the end of your research, one should have more x's than the other others. By researching, you should certainly gain an idea as to just what you want to see and do. If Glaciers are important pick an itinerary that includes either Glacier Bay or Hubbard. Tracy Arm doesn't compare in my book. If you want to see whales, then do an excursion including whale watching. If you want to do fishing be sure your cruise is in fishing season.

 

Others advocate doing the land portion on your own, and it is relatively easy to get around in Alaska. There aren't a lot of roads to get lost on. I purchased the Milepost magazine/guide planning to do just that, but after trying to use it, ended up putting it in the recycle bin, and going with a cruisetour. I felt the cruisetour showed me so many small out of the way places that I'd never heard of and probably wouldn't have known to stop at.

 

Go for as long as you can, the longer the better. Have a great trip!

[Talisker92]

Dear Bugsy,

I would recommend Princess and a cruisetour. We did them at different times, and if we had it to do again, we would opt for the cruise tour.

The Denali tour was fantastic, and taking the Alaskan Railroad was a treat. Princess has their own cars on the train.

The White Pass and Yukon train trip in Skagway should not be missed

We cruised Alaska in 2007 and took the land trip this year. Both stories are on our website.