How do you decide? LOL

[pampaul]

I've been reading and reading and reading these boards. I have gathered quite a bit of info!!!

 

Here's the thing. Unless we win this Mega Million jackpot tonight (or atleast a good chunk of it :D) we won't get to Alaska for another few years. We're thinking of doing a land/sea cruisetour traveling southbound.

 

Needless to say, the dates aren't out yet for the timeframe we're going so I'm just trying to get as much info as I can for now.

 

Here's my question....as I'm reading all these posts on which glacier is the best to see, what to do on land, where to eat, should we take a train ride, whick national park is best, etc, how do you decide which one to do? I know it all depends on the person's taste and what they'd like to do BUT how will I know if one glacier is better than the other if I've never been? LOL Or is it basically, you've seen one glacier-you've seen them all? Same with the national parks? It's all so overwhelming.

[zoeymo]

Hi. I have not made it to Alaska yet. I have been researching and planning for a year now. In regards to how do you decide which cruise to take? In my opinion, you gather as much info as possible as well as the opinions of those who have been, look at your own interests from the information gathered and then you just pick what looks like will work the best for you. I decided, based on the information from this board, that I would like to find a cruise that went to Hubbard Glacier as well as Glacier Bay so I will look for cruises that cover both of these. My plan is for a land tour before the cruise. We are looking at flying into Anchorage, renting a car and driving to Denali for a few days, returning to Anchorage and then taking train to Seward, staying in Seward for a couple days, then picking up our cruise out of Whittier. The cruise will be southbound ending in Vancouver. I am also looking at the possibility of taking a train or bus to Seattle and flying home from there instead of Vancouver. Good luck in all your research and planning.

[TallinnGirl]

I booked my cruise in 2 days and then did all the research after :D

[mapleleaves]

My suggestion is always ..... RESEARCH.

Borrow some Alaska travel books from your library, like Frommers, Fodors, Insight, etc. I prefer books with large glossy photos. There are also a few books specific to Alaska cruises, such as Ann Vipond's 'Alaska by Cruiseship' which provides info on ships, ports, excursions and DIY recommendations.

The internet provides lots of information. All parks have their own web sites. ie Denali is http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/index.htm

There is also a Denali Chamber of Commerce. Most towns have a web site to promote tourism. Google any town followed by the words visitor information. Most will send a free visitor guide. The Alaska railroad has a web site. The State of Alaska Dept of Tourism will also send info.

Read the Review forum, specifically MEMBER Reviews of Ships and Ports to get info on what travellers' activities and excursions. Go the Alaska forum of tripadvisor and read the 2011 trip reports.

You can spend a small fortune on excursions or you can budget for one biggie then DIY at other ports. Do your research to find out about each port and the activities available. If you have specific interests, like fishing or bear viewing it's important to know the peak windows of time for those activities and where they are available. Alaska Fish & Game is a good resource. Make sure your ship is in port long enough and at appropriate times for you to participate in activities.

It is very easy to get around Alaska on your own. There are very few highways and for the most part they're only 2 lanes. As a single woman I have no problem travelling around on my own or with with friends/family.

If a cruisetour is your preference, be VERY mindful of the details ... find out how long you actually spend at each location and how much time is spent getting there, and what is there to do at each location. Denali is the weak spot on many cruisetours as you're not there long enough to get into the park and view the wildlife and scenery.

Car rental can be very expensive, however most of us book a year in advance to get super deals. ie Enterprise has run a special every summer where an economy car is $100 a week, as opposed to $100 a day if you book late.

The more you know about the destination the better your trip will be. Have fun planning!

[sooper]

When I was researching for our cruise a few years back, I narrowed down the must-sees and the do-not-wants. Glacier Bay was a must for me, as it is the largest UNESCO protected biosphere, and Victoria was a "not" as we did a land trip there. Then we limited to July, to have better weather and maximize daylight. Then I looked at a few itineraries offered for the month and compared the prices and the ports. We picked Zuiderdam since the ship also included Tracy Arm and inside passage, and roundtrip as our time was limited. The flash sale helped too! :)

[AKman2495]

The first thing you have to understand is that there is no way you will be able to see it all in your lifetime. I have lived here for 36 years and have seen a lot-but what I have seen if far from everything out there.

 

So, there will always be choices.

 

As for the "best", take it from me, what is available on cruses and tours is always the "best". There is no way to judge whether one glacier is really better than any other because there will ALWAYS be people who will tell you "gee, you could have done better if you went here or saw that.

 

Decide for yourselves what you want to see-based on research, as others have said. You can probably find u-tube videos of the major sites, you can look up the websites of parks and other places. You can review the material provided on cruise company websites.

 

Ultimately, you will say again that that is too much information....

 

Too Bad-Alaska is a BIG state that will overwhelm anyone -especially when you can only see if for a few weeks.

 

Ultimately you must make a choice. Know that when it comes to cruise tours of Alaska there are very few bad choices.

 

Good luck

[dread_pirate]

I've been overwhelmed, too, looking at our trip for August, 2012. But I've finally just bit the bullet and decided.

 

I wanted Glacier Bay & Hubbard Glacier. I wanted a slightly smaller ship. And we can't do a land excursion - not enough time from work. I wanted it for our anniversary. So I booked the cruise that I think will work best for us.

 

Now, of course, I read posts saying, "Well, if you're not doing a land tour, do a round-trip" or "This ship is better than that ship" or what not. Do I second guess? Better believe it! But then I take a deep breath and say, "OK, but this is what I booked, and I believe it'll be great anyway."

 

For excursions, I booked one per port - 2 from the ship and 1 independent.

 

Sometimes you just have to pull the trigger - "analysis paralysis" can strike at any time!

[Budget Queen]

It can be of great benefit to read trip reports. With the trip years off, you should be able to find several. They will give you a sense of time and features.

 

It is far better to do your homework prior. There are a lot of poor choices made by posters. Most won't change, a few will. Some spend their time making every excuse talking themselves into, the choice not being so bad. :)

 

All kinds of people, and this is a publc board. :)

 

Use your library, request visitor guides. Take a range of opinions, and find YOUR preference. Look at first hand reports- there are a lot of "recommendations" from people who haven't even been there- look further for their source information.

 

The more you know, the better your chocie will be for your trip.

[rummenroman]

I too just pulled the trigger and booked a cruise to Alaska.

 

There is sooooooooooooooooooooo much information out there there was no way we could get through it all, and remember what we needed to remember so this is what we did:

 

1 - Sat down as a couple and figured out what we wanted to do.

2 - Figured out the financials of the trip.

3 - Started on Trip Adviser, and looked at the higher rated excursions based on point 1.

4 - Ruled out things from point 3 based on point 2 (no chopper tour this time :()

5 - Took the short list from 4 and came to CC and looked at what other cruisers have said.

6 - Booked based on point 5.

 

With that said we will always be looking for things we aren't able to afford this time around to see if there is a way we can fit it into the budget, but for the most part once we book something we stick to it. We have been talking about an Alaskan cruise for several years. We were able to afford it for 2013, and just decided one night to book it. Less than 2 weeks later we have booked a couple of excursions, and have the others picked out. We are constant over planners, and even beat a couple of operators to the punch with wanting to book an excursion in 2013.

[TheCalicoCat]

With the caveat that I have not been there (Nor will I probably be abel to return multiple times to have the knowledge base to compare all of the basic cruise options.)

 

I made a table that listed the things that were important to me (If they are important to me & are an available option - then they possibly are important to someone else so I share here on CC.)

 

I then looked at the lines & ships to see which one(s) matched the most with my needs.

 

With that said & with the understanding that your needs & mine do not meld together, here is how I made my choice.

 

1. I have limited time off from work - so no cruise/land tour. (As it is, we arrive the day before & leave the day after.)

 

2. I earned free flights in the 48 states. So I had to fly to & from Seattle or San Francisco. So I needed a round trip cruise. (Vancouver o.k. port - several options on getting there from Seattle.)

 

3. Did not want to cruise at the begining or end of the season (& other limitations based on "ne vacations during this time" restrictions.) No May, August, or September.

 

4. Wanted to go to Glacier Bay.

 

5. Wanted smaller ship.

 

Based on all of that we chose HAL Volendam.

 

Just providing a perspective on how you can choose your Alaska cruise.

[TheCalicoCat]

FWIW - I did not look into excursions until I had already booked my cruise. I also had not idea about Hubbard Glacier & a couple others until after I had booked. I knew what my limitations were, so I chose what I though was the based within those limitations. (I did not need to read in Frommers, etc. about x, y, or z first.)

[vbmom87]

My suggestion is to read, read, read. Before you know it, certain things about Alaska will jump out at you and you will soon have a good idea of what you want.

 

After I did all my reading, here is how I came to my decision:

 

I wanted a one-way cruise so we could do an independent land tour.

 

I wanted to make sure the road to Denali was fully open and I wanted to travel in June (hoping to decrease chances of rain). Therefore we chose a NB cruise and did our land tour after.

 

In 2008 no cruiseline I was aware of visited both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay like Princess currently offers on their SB itineraries. Therefore I did a lot of research on which we should visit. In the end I chose Glacier Bay because I read of just too many cases where Hubbard was either fogged out or iced out. My priority for our Alaska trip was scenery. I figured if I went all the way there and I was unable to get to Hubbard, I was going to be one unhappy camper/cruiser. From all my reading there are definitely cheerleaders for both Glacier Bay and Hubbard. We absolutely loved GLacier Bay. Last summer we were fortunate enough to get back to Alaska and saw Hubbard. Although we appreciated it for what it was...a huge, massive glacier, neither my DH or I liked it anywhere near as well as Glacier Bay. However, others will say their absolute favorite was Hubbard. Like I did, and like everyone else who plans an Alaskan cruise, you will have to decide what appeals the most to you.

 

If you do want to go to Hubbard, I suggest you follow trip reports from returning cruisers this summer. Last year it was reported that there will be tighter restrictions on cruise ship access to Hubbard to insure the wildlife is not disturbed. I have been unable to locate any followup reports on this matter. I, along with many others, are curious as to what this will mean. I know I will be trying to follow up on this, so I ever do return to AK, I will be well informed as to what to expect in regards to Hubbard.

 

Good luck with your planning. Time is on your side. YOu will have plenty of opportunity to be well-educated on Alaska.

[bonvoyagie]

Back in 2002 we decided to take a cruise for our 25th wedding anniversary - the destination of choice Alaska. We did very litle research on what to do. We looked over the ship's tour offerings and chose items based on our interests. Simply put we enjoyed ourselves and had a wonderful experience. Did we see all of AK - no, did we see all of the SE portion - no. Did we have a good time and enjoy ourselves - YES.

 

Our interests are in nature, history, and native culture. In our past two cruises we got a little of all three. I hope to add to this on cruise three by visiting one of the Totem parks in Ketchikan.

 

I really don't think you can take in all of Alaska in a single trip - unless you have several weeks like my friends who spent 6 weeks in AK driving thier motorhome from Portland OR up and back. The spent a week in transit each direction and 4 weeks touring the interior of AK - they did however stop in Skagway as their only town in SE.

 

A good site to visit would be http://www.travelalaska.com/

 

There you will find several suggestions on how to best spent the time you have in AK - from a few days to a few weeks.

[mickeysgal]

Read, read, read cruise critic and research all that you can. However, read cruise critic opinions with a grain of salt. Make a list of what you think interests you and then look at your personal restrictions.

 

I came to this Alaska board a few years back with the intent of booking. After reading of so many people's wonderful trips that included land portions, I fell into the mindset that Alaska can only be done "right" if you do a one way cruise with land time before or after. We couldn't afford a grand trip like that nor be away from work in that large of a chunk of time so we postponed the trip. Now we're taking the trip - a 7 day round trip - because that is what fits my husband's very particular work schedule and our budget. I regret to this day that we postponed that prior cruise because of what I had been reading.

 

Just book the trip YOU want based on YOUR needs and enjoy!

[Budget Queen]

 

I came to this Alaska board a few years back with the intent of booking. After reading of so many people's wonderful trips that included land portions, I fell into the mindset that Alaska can only be done "right" if you do a one way cruise with land time before or after. We couldn't afford a grand trip like that nor be away from work in that large of a chunk of time so we postponed the trip. Now we're taking the trip - a 7 day round trip - because that is what fits my husband's very particular work schedule and our budget. I regret to this day that we postponed that prior cruise because of what I had been reading.

 

Just book the trip YOU want based on YOUR needs and enjoy!

 

I strongly advocate the round trip cruises. They offer plenty and pack in at least 3 great ports and a scenic glacier sailing in 7 days. The round trip routing out of Vancouver is superb.

The mention does have to put out, with the round trip Seattle choices, the routing, which can be significant, depending on what kind of trip is wanted.

 

I do state- I never would consider any one way, without added time to take advantage of being there. But, plenty of people do just this.

[agabbymama]

Rather than just read and try to remember (I'm 66 and the memory ain't what it used to be), I start a spreadsheet for all of my trips. I put the cruiselines/ships across the top of the page and the things of importance to me down the side (dates of cruise, # of days of cruise, size of ship, price of cruise, cabin type, ports, times in port, excursions I want to do, etc). Then as I research the different websites, read the different books, I put an "X" in the conjoining box on the spreadsheet. As you near the end of your research, one should have more x's than the others.

 

Our first cruise to Alaska was last minute, I booked about 3 weeks before sailing. Flew from LAX to Anchorage and cruised Southbound to Vancouver. We didn't book one excursion, just walked around the ports and did two small local tours booked right on the dock. We loved our trip!

 

Decided to go back 8 years later and did the big 11 day cruisetour, flying from LAX to Vancouver and sailed Northbound. Only 3 days on the ship, but then 8 days on land to the Yukon and Interior Alaska. LOVED IT EVEN MORE!

 

Having cruised both Northbound and Southbound, I don't really see a big advantage for either one. Just go with what works for your needs.

 

Alaska is awesome, anyway you can do it! Short 7 day cruise only, nice 14 day cruise, or cruise and land together. Only you can decide what is the best way to go for you and your family. And know that it probably won't be a one-time trip!

 

Have fun planning your trip, then taking it!

[OJ46]

I do state- I never would consider any one way, without added time to take advantage of being there. But, plenty of people do just this.

 

And there is nothing wrong with plenty of people doing this. If someone finds the itinerary they want on a one-way and don't have the time or money to spend time on land, that is their decision to make. Why should anyone be chided for doing what they want. I am mainly a lurker on this forum, but statements like yours drive me crazy. I know you have been to Alaska many times, but your way is not the only way to experience Alaska. Please don't constantly criticize those who do it differently. They have their reasons and I trust they will enjoy their trip. I know of several who have done the one-ways without land and they came back with great praises for their experience. I don't think anyone has the right to tell them they did it wrong, or could have done it better another way. Choices are great and we don't all have to select the same choice.

[Budget Queen]

And there is nothing wrong with plenty of people doing this. If someone finds the itinerary they want on a one-way and don't have the time or money to spend time on land, that is their decision to make. Why should anyone be chided for doing what they want. I am mainly a lurker on this forum, but statements like yours drive me crazy. I know you have been to Alaska many times, but your way is not the only way to experience Alaska. Please don't constantly criticize those who do it differently. They have their reasons and I trust they will enjoy their trip. I know of several who have done the one-ways without land and they came back with great praises for their experience. I don't think anyone has the right to tell them they did it wrong, or could have done it better another way. Choices are great and we don't all have to select the same choice.

 

Read the post- I "chided" NO ONE. I am NOTcriticzing ANY ONE. I am stating WHAT I DO.