First Time Alaska Cruise - Need Help/Advice Choosing

[geoburm]

My wife and I are planning our first cruise to Alaska, never been before, and are looking for advice on what itineraries to do, best time of year, ships, etc. We have been on 26 other cruises, mostly Caribbean and to Hawaii, but, this is our first Alaskan Cruise.

 

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[mapleleaves]

I recommend that you do some research. With an Alaska cruise the itinerary is the most important factor. First of all, are you going RT from Vancouver, or, one-way in order to explore on land when you reach Alaska? If you have specific priorities such as bear viewing or fishing, you need to find out the peak period of time for those activities and the best ports to visit. If glaciers are a priority be sure to include Glacier Bay and/or Hubbard Glacier. Make sure the itinerary is visiting ports that support your interests and is in port long enough and at the right time of day for your activities.

There are a couple of books specific to Alaska cruises which will help you with your decision ... Ann Vipond "alaska by cruiseship' and Fodors "alaska, ports of call'. Borrow them from your library and learn as much as you can about all the options available so that you can make an informed decision.

[olemissreb]

I posted this on another thread on the "Ask a Cruise Question" board. It echos alot of what mapleleaves has already said. In fact mapleleaves is one of the ones that provided me with such wonderful, valuable advice that the planning became much easier.

 

2 years ago, I was in your shoes. I thought I wanted to do a roundtrip from Seattle - simply because it was easy to fly to/from. I posted my thoughts on the Alaska board and got the most wonderful advice.

 

First - buy any of the guidebooks: Frommers Alaska by cruise, Fodors, Ann Vipond. Read through those and then:

Second - decide your priorities. What do you want to see and do - glaciers, bears, wildlife, whales, scenery? Where would be the best places to do that? Do you want to get inland? If you want to get inland, then you've narrowed down your cruise options to either northbound or southbound out of Vacouver, Whitter or Seward.

Third - look at port times. I noticed that the shortest port times were for the roundtrips from Seattle. Next shortest were roundtrip from Vancouver. One way trips were about the same with the Southbound trips have a very slight edge in some of the ports.

Fourth - Decide on the ship and book your cruise.

 

I found making an Excel spreadsheet really helped once we narrowed down our choice to a Southbound cruise with a DIY land tour prior.

 

Alaska is expensive, so you'll need to budget accordingly. That being said, you can do some inexpensive excursions - such as taking the city bus to Totem Bight/Potlatch Parks in Ketchikan for $1 each way on the city bus. Or hiking around Mendenhall Glacier Park in Juneau, by taking the bus for $8 each way, you can save money for maybe a train ride in Skagway.

 

As I said, this trip has been 2 years in the planning (I'm just weird that way) and I'm so excited to cross Alaska off my bucket list. When I started planning, I thought this would be a once in a lifetime trip, but there's so much I still want to see/do that we will probably be making many more trips!

[B Russo]

Go on one that goes to Glacier Bay for sure. We prefer the mid size ships that HAL has. Been on 12 HAL trips :) Bill

[Budget Queen]

Your first decision needs to be how much time you have for touring. That will cut out some choices. Route needs to be selected. Round trip or one way- with a one way, I recommend adding at least another week for mainland touring- take advantage of being there. :)

 

Find out about EACH Alaska port, there are only 6 on the Inside Passage. Each is noted for specific touring options and very different from the others.

 

Glacier, there are 4 glaciers sailed, find out the differences and what you wish to see.

 

Having these basic points known by you- will make what you are looking at clear. The point is for you to be able to make an informed decision. People get into a lot of trouble making the wrong assumptions.

 

Budget fully for costly excursions- they are half your trip. :)

 

Take your time, don't jump into booking, until you have thought it through and you've fine tuned your selections.

 

Alaska is very different throughout the cruise season. The first and last sailings, have more limits and higher chances of foul weather. Daylight is a big issue, mid Sept and later.

 

Figure out what made you choose Alaska- and what you wish to see and do- then go in the timeframe that offer those opportunities.

[bonvoyagie]

I agree with BQ and mapleleaves.

 

Here are some sites to help you with your planning:

http://cruiseportinsider.com/index.html good info on every port - including DIY tour suggestions as well as what the ships offer. Also average climate and daylight by month.

 

http://www.travelalaska.com/ the Offical State Travel site - covers all of the state.

 

Good Luck

[JimAOk1945]

We sailed on the Radiance last August on the southbound route. We loved it!

 

When we booked the cruise, we arranged to have transfers through RC and I'm glad we did. We didn't have any trouble at all.

 

When we flew into Anchorage, we asked for the RC representative. We were directed to a kiosk where the friendly RC staff checked us off their list, and then told us when the next bus was leaving for Seward. I think we had about a one hour wait.

 

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the food court, then went back to the waiting area at the RC desk. When the bus arrived, we got in along with several other people and the driver loaded up all the baggage.

 

I'm not sure how long the drive was but it seemed to pass quickly. The scenery was fantastic and the driver gave information about what we were seeing from time to time.

 

Before we knew it, we had arrived at the Seward terminal. The Radiance was the only ship there! Check in at the terminal was a breeze. We walked right in, went up to the counter to check in, and went right on to the ship!

 

The quickest embarkation we have ever had.

 

The ship is fantastic and the cruise was the best we have ever had. The itinerary includes 4 ports of call. Icy Strait Point was and still is our favorite. We went on the Bear and Whale watch combo excursion through RC. We saw two bears catching Salmon and countless whales! It was absolutely breathtaking!

 

When we went through the Hubbard Glacier area, we witnessed numerous "calving" which is when great chuncks of ice break off with loud cracking and rumbling then fall into the water.

 

I could go on and on. As you can see, even now I get excited just thinking about it and trying to describe what we saw.

 

We went in August and had beautiful weather all week, even in Ketchikan where it rains so much.

 

At the end of the cruise, going though the Vancouver terminalwas no trouble at all. We also had a transfer that took us to the Vancouver airport.

 

You might be interested in seeing my wife's picture slideshows. Here is a link to the page where you will see slideshows about the different ports of call as well as the ship. The slideshow will start when you click on the link, but you can also go through the pictures if you want to by clicking on the thumbnails one at a time.

 

2012 RC Radiance of the Seas ~ Alaska Southbound

 

HAPPY SAILING! It's a great way to explore the world!

[bigeagle12]

Here is another option. We are doing 10 day roundtrip on Princess out of San Francisco in May. Next year it will be an 11 day with a different ship.

[Alberta Quilter]

HAL brought back their 14 day round trip Seattle for 2014 so you might want to consider that, too. The port times are good, some nice long days. It goes to Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier.

[cassamanda]

We are from Australia and will also be first timers to Alaska and have already received invaluable advice on these boards. We have booked a late August southbound on Radiance for 2014 and plan to do some land touring of Alaska and Canada pre & post cruise.

My question is under the Jones Act, can we reboard Radiance for a Vancouver/Hawaii cruise a few weeks later? We wish to join up with cruise friends.

Second: Our friends will actually be doing Vancouver/Vancouver Sept b2b Vancouver/Hawaii. Would it be feasible to do the same and do both our land portions precruise? It does mean first flying to ANC and then back to YVR. Does RCCL have a cruisetour of the Rockies etc attached to the Vancouver return? We don't mind doing this ourselves.

These are just options we are considering and need to finalise by Apr 10 when the next cruise booking come out for Hawaii.

[cruiseonecer]

G'day cassamanda,

 

For a start, the Jones Act has absolutely NO application to cruises. It only applies to cargo shipping, but is often incorrectly cited as being applicable to cruises. The law which does apply is the US Passenger Vessel Services Act 1886 (PSVA). Just being pedantic.

 

If you would be sailing Vancouver to Hawaii then the PSVA has no work to do as you would be sailing from Canada to the US.

 

I can't help with the scheduling question, that is up to you to work out, but if you want to do the Rockies, which I highly recommend, it is very simple to organise by yourself, but that is more a topic for Trip Advisor than this forum. I do not have much regard for organised tours of the Rockies as many tend to be purely whistle-stop trips, and the Rockies deserve far more than that.

[Budget Queen]

We are from Australia and will also be first timers to Alaska and have already received invaluable advice on these boards. We have booked a late August southbound on Radiance for 2014 and plan to do some land touring of Alaska and Canada pre & post cruise.

My question is under the Jones Act, can we reboard Radiance for a Vancouver/Hawaii cruise a few weeks later? We wish to join up with cruise friends.

Second: Our friends will actually be doing Vancouver/Vancouver Sept b2b Vancouver/Hawaii. Would it be feasible to do the same and do both our land portions precruise? It does mean first flying to ANC and then back to YVR. Does RCCL have a cruisetour of the Rockies etc attached to the Vancouver return? We don't mind doing this ourselves.

These are just options we are considering and need to finalise by Apr 10 when the next cruise booking come out for Hawaii.

 

 

The Passenger Services Act only prohibits embarking and disembarking in 2 DIFFERENT US ports, continuously. IF you have at least 1 overnight between doing so- then that satisfies the requirement.

 

RCI, in the past has had Ca Rockies cruisetours, which I don't recommend. It is far superior to go on your own, taking the train/renting cars. :)

[In Toronto]

JimAOk1945 - Beautiful pictures!

[JimAOk1945]

JimAOk1945 - Beautiful pictures!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed them. It will make my wife very happy to get the feedback.

 

She's the photographer in our family and does a great job putting her pictures into slide shows.

 

Happy Sailing!

[cassamanda]

G'day cassamanda,

 

For a start, the Jones Act has absolutely NO application to cruises. It only applies to cargo shipping, but is often incorrectly cited as being applicable to cruises. The law which does apply is the US Passenger Vessel Services Act 1886 (PSVA). Just being pedantic.

 

If you would be sailing Vancouver to Hawaii then the PSVA has no work to do as you would be sailing from Canada to the US.

 

I can't help with the scheduling question, that is up to you to work out, but if you want to do the Rockies, which I highly recommend, it is very simple to organise by yourself, but that is more a topic for Trip Advisor than this forum. I do not have much regard for organised tours of the Rockies as many tend to be purely whistle-stop trips, and the Rockies deserve far more than that.

Your comments are much appreciated. I had already planned to do the Rockies ourselves either by car or by train. My main planning concern is trying to match up one the last Alaska southbound cruise with the Vancouver/Hawaii without excessive flight staging.

We only have 30 days giving us either 4 days around Seward/Anc and 7 days in the Rockies & Vancouver or 5 days around Seward/Anc and 6 days Rockies. Decisions, decisions.

[sanditoes4]

So my plans to cruise Alaska are off in the distance (about 5 years out due to 2 graduations in that window of time) Anyway, it'll be just DH and I for our 25th Anniversary.

 

This thread has OPENED my eyes I had no idea there were so many routes.....in looking at them I found a question, it's probably stupid but I'm often good at that.

 

When the ship is "cruising" does it just drive by so to say or does it sit and spin?? Does that make sense?? I ask because if you are sitiing on your own balcony could you get just as good of view as if standing out on deck with everyone else?? I just feel if I fork out that much money for a balcony I'd use it on this day??

 

Thanks for your help!!

[Budget Queen]

So my plans to cruise Alaska are off in the distance (about 5 years out due to 2 graduations in that window of time) Anyway, it'll be just DH and I for our 25th Anniversary.

 

This thread has OPENED my eyes I had no idea there were so many routes.....in looking at them I found a question, it's probably stupid but I'm often good at that.

 

When the ship is "cruising" does it just drive by so to say or does it sit and spin?? Does that make sense?? I ask because if you are sitiing on your own balcony could you get just as good of view as if standing out on deck with everyone else?? I just feel if I fork out that much money for a balcony I'd use it on this day??

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

I assume you are referring to the glacier sailing which is included with just about all Alaska cruises. this is a slow sail, and the ship does turn, allowing both sides to view. However- this thinking, has you missing over 50% of the potential views, so, people with a priority of enjoying the scenery won't be staying in one place. :) They move with the ship.

 

If your reference is a general "cruising" the ship doesn't stop and moves along. The decks are mostly empty, but they can be a jackpot of scenic/wildlife opportunities. :)

 

If your priority is sitting out on a balcony, be certain to be well prepared in your attire and forget those "balcony breakfasts" :) It rarely would be considered warm. Best to have hat and gloves along with a lined jacket.

[Budget Queen]

I ask because if you are sitiing on your own balcony could you get just as good of view as if standing out on deck with everyone else?? I just feel if I fork out that much money for a balcony I'd use it on this day??

 

Thanks for your help!!

 

"This day" reference- if Glacier Bay- a port side has the commentary and views matching up.

[OzKruser]

We are from Australia and will also be first timers to Alaska and have already received invaluable advice on these boards. We have booked a late August southbound on Radiance for 2014 and plan to do some land touring of Alaska and Canada pre & post cruise.

My question is under the Jones Act, can we reboard Radiance for a Vancouver/Hawaii cruise a few weeks later? We wish to join up with cruise friends.

Second: Our friends will actually be doing Vancouver/Vancouver Sept b2b Vancouver/Hawaii. Would it be feasible to do the same and do both our land portions precruise? It does mean first flying to ANC and then back to YVR. Does RCCL have a cruisetour of the Rockies etc attached to the Vancouver return? We don't mind doing this ourselves.

These are just options we are considering and need to finalise by Apr 10 when the next cruise booking come out for Hawaii.

 

Hi Guys, we are also from Australia, my husband Trevor, son Michael and I will be on Radiance on the sailings 22 Aug and 29 Aug in 2014! Maybe we will be on the same sailing?

We can't wait but it is a big job getting over there and planning it all, I will need every minute to do that in the next year or so....

Ally