One-way Alaska - south- or northbound?

[travfirst]

We are planning our first Alaskan cruise in July-August, and want to do a 1-way 7-day cruise between Vancouver and Anchorage. Does it matter whether to do this southbound or northbound? To me, I think the only difference is whether we do land tour before or after the cruise.

I heard somewhere that southbound cruises provide a better scenery, but I really don't understand why, assuming that your cabin is on the correct side of the ship in relation to the mainland.

 

Thanks in advance!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We took a NB cruise on the Radiance this summer. We were not near enough to shore most of the time to see the shore.

 

One advantage of a SB cruise is that you get to Glacier Bay in the afternoon. We were there from 7-11 am.

 

An advantage of the NB cruise is doing the land tour after the cruise. I think the scenery gets better each day on a NB.

 

But--an AK cruise is so good you can not go wrong either way.

[WalleyeLJ]

We are planning our first Alaskan cruise in July-August, and want to do a 1-way 7-day cruise between Vancouver and Anchorage. Does it matter whether to do this southbound or northbound? To me, I think the only difference is whether we do land tour before or after the cruise.

I heard somewhere that southbound cruises provide a better scenery, but I really don't understand why, assuming that your cabin is on the correct side of the ship in relation to the mainland.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

LOL - good questions! We've have cruised Vancouver to Seward both north and southbound. I don't get the idea that one is better than the other, given the fact that when cruising the Inside Passage and SE Alaska, you are almost always surrounded by land/islands almost the whole time. On both trips, both sides of the ship ended up pier side and harborside, so I don't get that arguement either.

That said, we strongly found the southbound we did last summer the better option all things considered. The reasons:

1. Get the longer flight out of the way at the start of the trip. We did northbound in 2009 and the flight home Anchorage to Phoenix to Charlotte was something like 14 hours. 2012, flight home Seattle to Charlotte - less than 4.5 hours:D.
   
   
2. That may be less relevant depending on where you live, but it's a key for us. We do our land touring on our own, so all the baggage moving and hotel/b&b changing happens on the front side. That way, the cruise portion we get to just settle in and relax.
   

We've sailed on RCIs Radiance of the Seas both trips, and at least in our experince, the times in port seemed pretty much the same going both ways, with one more exception in favor of southbound - we were at Hubbard Glacier from 2pm-6pm, rather than 6am-10am like our northbound run - which was MUCH better in my expereince. Other cruiselines like HAL, or Princess or Norweign may have more significant differences. Hope that helps some!

L.J.

[travfirst]

So, do you think not being close enough to the shore was due to the Radiance, or is it specific to NB? Also, what significance does coming to Glacier Bay in the afternoon have? Just curious...

[travfirst]

Thanks LJ, this was very helpful!

[travfirst]

Also, one of the cruise lines we are considering (HAL) doesn't stop by Hubbard Glacier, while the other one (Princess) does. In your opinion, is Hubbard a "must see", or once you've seen a glacier, you've seen them all? We are planning to do a helicopter tour with a glacier landing at the beginning of the trip already.

[dabear]

We did a sb cruise last summer which imho is preferable for 2 reasons; getting the long flight out of the way in the beginning & if you are doing a land tour, it can be exhausting so that you can thereafter do some relaxing on the cruise.

[Kamloops50]

I would do a SB on Princess for the following

1 - Long flight at start of the cruise

2 - both Hubbard (afternoon) and Glacier Bay (All day cruise)

3 - The original cruise line in Alaska (HAL was 2nd)

[DragonOfTheSeas]

So, do you think not being close enough to the shore was due to the Radiance, or is it specific to NB? Also, what significance does coming to Glacier Bay in the afternoon have? Just curious...

 

The Radiance does not go to Glacier Bay. It goes to Hubbard Glacier.

 

We had to get up by 6:30 am to get breakfast and get on deck to see Hubbard Glacier. I do not like to set alarms on vacation.:D

 

When we left each port we saw the scenery. But, after some time we were too far away from shore. Also, several times it was foggy/rainy.

[vbmom87]

Also, one of the cruise lines we are considering (HAL) doesn't stop by Hubbard Glacier, while the other one (Princess) does. In your opinion, is Hubbard a "must see", or once you've seen a glacier, you've seen them all? We are planning to do a helicopter tour with a glacier landing at the beginning of the trip already.

 

 

If scenery/glaciers are a priority I would choose either the NB NCL or the SB Princess. They both include Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, the two premier glacier areas along the cruise route.

 

HAL has been watering down their itineraries. They used to stop at College Fjords along with Glacier Bay, but have eliminated College Fjords and have not included anything else. Although College Fjords is beautiful, I consider it too similar to Glacier Bay. I would go for an itinerary that includes both Hubbard and Glacier Bay.

[travfirst]

Thanks a lot for your advices.

[Ashland]

We prefer the N.B and one of the many reasons is the sail out of Vancouver past Stanley Park and under Lionsgate Bridge..an awesome way to start a cruise !!!!

[DougH]

I prefer Northbound as the scenery gets more spectacular. NB on Princess gets you visits to Glacier Bay and College Fjord, SB Hubbard and Glacier Bay. Hard choice. A nice solution is a B2B and see it all, and then use one of the stops in Juneau for an all day small boat trip to Tracy Arm

[biker1972]

DougH is right on and if you can, add in some land time in Alaska that includes Denali. If you cruise two different lines that use Seward and Whittier you will even get Turnagain Arm. Princess uses Whittier so you miss the scenery between Seward and Anchorage. Round trip gets rid of the obscenely long flight to Anchorage or Fairbanks.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done it both ways -- most times as a back-to-back.

First thing I would check to see if there were any differences in ports in the 2 directions. Also check the times you are in port.

JMO -- get the long flight over first -- do the land portion -- long days here. Then you can do the cruise and rest up.

[Kamloops50]

If you have the time and the compare costs a RT from Vancouver might be the same or cheaper flying to/from Anchorage..

NB they visit Glacier Bay and College Fiord .

SB they visit Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.

[lar]

As you see from all the replies, what matters most is what you want to see on your cruise.

But I think the 2nd most important consideration is if you are spending any time touring on land pre/post cruise. If you are thinking of spending time touring Anchorage/Denali/Kenai Peninsula as part of your trip I would do that first. Doing the land touring is a lot more strenuous than cruising - so take the southbound trip. That way you have your driving/moving hotels/packing and repacking all done by the time you hit the ship, and you can just relax on your floating hotel for the last 7 days of the trip.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

If you are thinking of spending time touring Anchorage/Denali/Kenai Peninsula as part of your trip I would do that first. Doing the land touring is a lot more strenuous than cruising - so take the southbound trip. That way you have your driving/moving hotels/packing and repacking all done by the time you hit the ship, and you can just relax on your floating hotel for the last 7 days of the trip.

I think it is interesting that you found the cruise to be relaxing. We were up early everyday. It was fun--but, not relaxing.:rolleyes:

[vbmom87]

I think it is interesting that you found the cruise to be relaxing. We were up early everyday. It was fun--but, not relaxing.:rolleyes:

 

We also found that the cruise was not for relaxing. Our DIY land tour was more relaxing for us.

[bonvoyagie]

I hope that you are planning on spending some extra time in AK - otherwise you are better off taking a RT out of either Vancouver or Seattle. But if you insist on doing a one way then I would select on that goes through Glacier Bay - that narrows your choice to Princess, HAL, or NCL - all offer both RT and one way cruises that include GB - and either of them would be an excellent choice (I prefer NCL but would probably pick Princess as a second choice). As for NB vs SB I really don't think there is too much difference - you will be in open ocean between Seward/Whittier and Icy Point Strait/Hubbard Glacier - however cruises going to Whittier probably have a better chance of seeing shorline as it is further north - take a look at Google Maps ;).

[travfirst]

Many thanks again for all the advice. We settled on SB on Princess, because I wanted to see Hubbard Glacier. Planning to spend a week on land before, so hopefully will get to see DNP, areas of national parks between that and Anchorage, and also go to Seward and Whittier for some day cruises. It should be fun!

 

This is a trip we wanted to do for years, so really glad we booked it.

[bonvoyagie]

Not sure if you are looking at doing the land tour DIY or through Princess. I found these guys and while I have not used them, there product sounds very good.

http://www.alaskatravel.com/

 

Here is a specific tour that starts in Whittier and ends in Fairbanks (I think it can be done in reverse too.

 

http://www.alaskatravel.com/tours/tour-x422.html