Cruisetour -- Land or Sea First?

[ExDC]

Someone recently wondered whether to do the land or sea portion of a Cruisetour first. I couldn't really see much difference (people talked about packing issues, among other things), but having just completed the Vancouver to Anchorage Cruisetour on HAL Volendam I can see one reason to do the land portion first:

If you are traveling pretty much on your own, without family, friends or other entourage :), then doing the land tour first ensures that you have a new group of friends to enjoy the cruise part with! We started with the cruise part and met several people we enjoyed on the ship, but would very much have enjoyed the extra time at the end on the ship with our land tour buddies.

Either way, you can't go very wrong.

[Budget Queen]

I give little weight to some north/south comments. And many have only gone in one direction. :)

 

BOTH have enough pluses for an excellent adventure.

 

A second thought may be important to some, IF adding on additional Alaska touring time and going to Denali Park. Early season- it is far superior to go north so to put Denali at the end, for the most access. Best is planning the arrival there June1 or later.

 

In Sept, the weather drops off far more significantly on the inside passage compared to the main land of Alaska, that weather holds out far more predictably. But, watch your timing, If you want to get into Denali- the shuttle buses stop mid Sept, IF you want to enter the road lottery, that has a summer cut off date for admissions.

[geoherb]

My mother recommended doing the land portion first, so that's what I booked for us this year. It's also the cruise tour that worked out best with our dates. I can finish up a project at work on Monday and be in Fairbanks a little after midnight that night. And DH's vacation window is dictated by his job at a community college.

[Lookingforfacts]

Princess has a slightly different itinerary. Southbound cruises visit Hubbard Glacier and northbound cruises visit College Fjord. That might make a difference to some cruisers.BQ already mentioned the time of year considerations. Makes a lot of sense.

 

Some people think the land tour is more tiring. Do it first so you can then relax on the cruise.

 

Some people price the cost of the cruise and airfare. Sometimes there is a price consideration.

[Seminolevet]

We chose land first for a variety of reasons, one of which was the flight. Not so much cost, but rather flight time. Flying from the East Coast, the travel either to or from Anchorage was going to be a long day, so we would rather do that on the front end, getting it out of the way. We end in Vancouver (doing a SB after our land tour), flying out of Seattle, so we hope that won't make us too tired on the back end return home. At least that's our thinking. ;)