Jump to content

Northbound vs. Southbound


cwstar

Recommended Posts

i have only done the roundtrip glacier bay cruise so i do not know from taking the trip.

but i have very good friends and others here on the board have said they would do the southbound trip the next time. do your land tours first and then relax on the ship on the way back to vancouver. my friends said they were very tired when they got home because they cruised first. as i said, this is only from what i have heard here on the board. any time you can cruise is a real treat though. have a great time.

DUSTY

Carnival Spirit, 9/10/03 Alaska glacier bay

Carvival Spirit, 5/11/05
Alaska glacier bay again
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We took the southbound route, but I think that northbound route would probably be more exciting, since you would be going from the familiarity of the Vancouver trees to the drama of the glaciers. Also, returning to the US from Vancouver was a pain with gathering luggage, long lines going through customs, etc.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] Southbound

If you are taking a land tour, you get those long bus rides done before the cruise. This way you have time to rest on the cruise before flying home.

Among our many trips to Alaska, we did the Southbound and enjoyed it.

Know some people who did the Northbound and then took the land trip. They said that they hardly had time to rest because they were up early to eat and get on the buses and a couple of nights they didn't pull into the hotel until around 7 - 8 PM.

[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The scenery gets more dramatic as you go north. That is the advantage of going north. As said above, the southbound has the advantage if you plan to do a land tour also.

LindaKE

Sun Princess(Alaska)
Carnival Inspiration
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been on Northbound twice. I would recommend Southbound if you are doing land tour in Alaska. Get the rush-rush and bus/train rides out of the way, then relax on the ship. We did the land tour on the first cruise (Dawn Princess May 2002) and wished we had reversed the order. When we cruised the second time (Sun Princess May 2003, we did a few extra days in Vancouver at the beginning and really enjoyed the scenery change from South to North.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...