Sitka: is it worth it?

[peachycruiser]

Husband and I are wanting to take another Alaska cruise. The 1st one in August 2012 was cruisetour on Diamond Princess; 3 grandchildren were with us. This time it's just us. I enjoyed seeing Denali and going on a glacier landing on McKinley. My husband thinks he would like to see Sitka, which, from my research is only available on a couple of HAL 7 day Seattle RT. The Seattle RT has advantages: flying in and out of same place is more economical. But if I am going to all the trouble and expense of even going this distance(dread long flights-we live in Ga.)I would like to go back up to McKinley/Denali and we went to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Need some opinions: is the itinary that includes Sitka worth missing seeing McKinley and Hubbard and Glacier Bay?

[SadieN]

Sitka is an interesting town with a heavy Russian influence.

Out of Seattle you could tour the Mt St Helens area.

[utahtea]

Husband and I are wanting to take another Alaska cruise. The 1st one in August 2012 was cruisetour on Diamond Princess; 3 grandchildren were with us. This time it's just us. I enjoyed seeing Denali and going on a glacier landing on McKinley. My husband thinks he would like to see Sitka, which, from my research is only available on a couple of HAL 7 day Seattle RT. The Seattle RT has advantages: flying in and out of same place is more economical. But if I am going to all the trouble and expense of even going this distance(dread long flights-we live in Ga.)I would like to go back up to McKinley/Denali and we went to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Need some opinions: is the itinary that includes Sitka worth missing seeing McKinley and Hubbard and Glacier Bay?

 

Sitka is also on the HAL 14 day Seattle RT. http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?destCode=A&voyageCode=A427 One of the other ports is Anchorage and HAL shows a Denali National Park & Mt McKinley Flightseeing excursion. It also tours Tracy Arm and Hubbard Glacier....you really would only be giving up Glacier Bay. ;)

 

I'll know more about this cruise once we do it later this month. :)

 

 

Utahtea

Edited June 4, 2014 by utahtea

[Budget Queen]

Husband and I are wanting to take another Alaska cruise. The 1st one in August 2012 was cruisetour on Diamond Princess; 3 grandchildren were with us. This time it's just us. I enjoyed seeing Denali and going on a glacier landing on McKinley. My husband thinks he would like to see Sitka, which, from my research is only available on a couple of HAL 7 day Seattle RT. The Seattle RT has advantages: flying in and out of same place is more economical. But if I am going to all the trouble and expense of even going this distance(dread long flights-we live in Ga.)I would like to go back up to McKinley/Denali and we went to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. Need some opinions: is the itinary that includes Sitka worth missing seeing McKinley and Hubbard and Glacier Bay?

 

There is no "recommendation" what is going to be "right" for your choice. What ever you choose, you are "missing" something. Questions to ask yourself= how often are you going to get to Alaska? Can you extend your time and do a second cruise? What would be your plan, for each, with touring choices, fixed amount of funds? Time off? Do you want to see and do new things? Or want to repeat? Making lists and seeing choices on paper sometimes offer insight. Good luck.

[Alberta Quilter]

We were in Sitka, not even a week ago. It was lovely. It is a tender port so it could be that you won't be able to get there. I have no idea what percentage of the time the ship does or doesn't stop there.

 

The sail in was pretty, a little reminiscent of sailing through the Swedish archipelago but on a much smaller scale. We did a HAL tour, which took us to the Russian Orthodox church, the native museum, a Russian folkloric dance presentation, and the Raptor Centre. The Raptor Centre was very good. I highly recommend it. You can do all of it on your own as well. You don't need a tour.

 

I was on the May 18th 14 day Alaska cruise that Utahtea mentioned. And, yes, we could have done a flightseeing tour to Mt McKinley for $399 (three hours of flight time), through HAL. I was contemplating it but chose not to. The day we were in Anchorage, it was very smoky from the fires up there so it probably wasn't a good day to fly there, anyway. We also went to Kodiak, and Homer. I did a live thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2043085 if you care to read it.

 

Whatever itinerary you choose, enjoy your cruise!