Best round trip Itinerary from Vancouver

[MillbrookMom]

We are looking to do a round trip from Vancouver because we have friends on Vancouver Island that we also plan to visit, and friends in Vancouver itself so figure we will see one couple before and one after. Looking for suggestions on the ships (don't matter what line) with the best round trip itinerary???:confused: Not sure if it matters but would likely be late May or June

 

Thanks in advance

[Budget Queen]

It depends on you. Any round trip cruise could be great. I suggest you find out the details- review the ports- and determine WHAT you are going to do to occupy your time there. Each port is VERY different. What scenic sailing do you want? As an example- in the past HAL did both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm (some Tracy Arm access required the add on excursion). Look at port times.

 

Having your information about YOUR priorities will make the selection clear for you.

[xlxo]

• I recommend visiting your Vancouver friends first.... go to the island after the cruise. Sometimes there's a congestion delay (weekends? holidays?) that can have you missing your cruise.
  
• Consider riding the ferries Monday to Thursday.... traffic is lighter and there's a discount.
  
• Butchart gardens have summer fireworks on Saturdays
  
• Have you considered an Island circle tour/drive? Are you friends all around the Victoria area? There's a few ferries loops where you can go Powell River to Courtenay too...
  https://www.bcferriesvacations.com/packages/southern-vancouver-island-circle-tour
  

 

Late May/June has the best Alaskan weather. Different cruise lines depart for Alaska on different days of the week.

Edited January 23, 2015 by xlxo

[MillbrookMom]

• I recommend visiting your Vancouver friends first.... go to the island after the cruise. Sometimes there's a congestion delay (weekends? holidays?) that can have you missing your cruise.
  
• Consider riding the ferries Monday to Thursday.... traffic is lighter and there's a discount.
  
• Butchart gardens have summer fireworks on Saturdays
  
• Have you considered an Island circle tour/drive? Are you friends all around the Victoria area? There's a few ferries loops where you can go Powell River to Courtenay too...
  https://www.bcferriesvacations.com/packages/southern-vancouver-island-circle-tour
  

 

Late May/June has the best Alaskan weather. Different cruise lines depart for Alaska on different days of the week.

 

No, our friends live in Campbell River

[donaldsc]

We are looking to do a round trip from Vancouver because we have friends on Vancouver Island that we also plan to visit, and friends in Vancouver itself so figure we will see one couple before and one after. Looking for suggestions on the ships (don't matter what line) with the best round trip itinerary???:confused: Not sure if it matters but would likely be late May or June

 

Thanks in advance

 

Based on the limited information you have given us about your interests, disinterests, age, physical ability, budget, what you are looking for in a cruise and a thousand other things - there is no way that anyone can give you an intelligent answer to your question. Come back with specific questions and we would all be happy to try to help you.

 

DON

[Suzanne123]

We're taking the Volendam in June. I liked the times in port, the Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm extra boat excursion, and the mid-week schedule. --And HAL is always a great trip.

[MillbrookMom]

Based on the limited information you have given us about your interests, disinterests, age, physical ability, budget, what you are looking for in a cruise and a thousand other things - there is no way that anyone can give you an intelligent answer to your question. Come back with specific questions and we would all be happy to try to help you.

 

DON

 

Interests....seeing Alaska....lol

(we figure we will likely be back sometime in the future, so at this point, we just want to be able to see nature at it's finest)

Disinterest......being bored!

Age, we are both 43, but are planning for next year.

Physical ability, we can get around and do anything, we are relatively active and enjoy hiking etc.

Budget....I have no idea...lets just say unlimited....not that it is, but it will be a matter of saving for longer if need be.

Up until now we have only cruised Royal, NCL and Celebrity, so that is all we know. We enjoyed all those ships, but are open to whatever.

Just looking for the best itinerary for an all around trip. If I had to get specific on what we'd like to see (our dream experiences) would be a glacier calving, whales of somekind....and beautiful scenery.

Like I said we will likely return in the future, so we honestly aren't that specific with what we want to see.

[Budget Queen]

If I had to get specific on what we'd like to see (our dream experiences) would be a glacier calving, whales of somekind....and beautiful scenery.

Like I said we will likely return in the future, so we honestly aren't that specific with what we want to see.

 

Alaska is scenery. :)

 

Based only on your post at face value- with glaciers, then the "only" choice is to do a one way cruise with 2 glacier days, then adding in a Prince William Sound boat tour out of Whittier. Finally stacking the deck with more glacier tours with fly ins out of Juneau and/or Skagway and Seward. Add on mainland glacier trekking of Matanuska, Harding Icefield. etc etc etc

 

But, I will again suggest you find out more about Alaska with reference to post 2, because there is no "best" cruise.

[mapleleaves]

Start by doing a little research on the various ports to learn about the sights and activities available to you. Learning about ALL the options will help you with the decision. There are very few itineraries and very few ports so not a lot of research is involved.

There are books specific to Alaska cruises. Buy or borrow from the library, Ann Viponds 'Alaska by Cruisesship' or Fodors 'Alaska Ports of Call'. Both books discuss cruiselines, ships, ports, itineraries, etc

Port times are important ... you want to be in port long enough and at the right time of day for planned activities.

Some activities like bear viewing and fishing have peak time periods at each location so if these are priorities, additional reseach is required.

 

Another great resource are the trip reports located in STICKYs near the top of the page. There are some great photo journals with lots of details about excursions, vendors, activities, etc. The first line usually indicates the cruiseline, date, itinerary and who travelled.

 

Have fun with your research and planning!

[MillbrookMom]

Alaska is scenery. :)

 

Based only on your post at face value- with glaciers, then the "only" choice is to do a one way cruise with 2 glacier days, then adding in a Prince William Sound boat tour out of Whittier. Finally stacking the deck with more glacier tours with fly ins out of Juneau and/or Skagway and Seward. Add on mainland glacier trekking of Matanuska, Harding Icefield. etc etc etc

 

But, I will again suggest you find out more about Alaska with reference to post 2, because there is no "best" cruise.

 

so, just to clarify, am I to understand that none of the round trip itinerary's see glaciers? :(

 

If that is the case, then either we'd have to save enough to do a 2 week cruise, north and south....or else I guess we'll be looking at waiting on the alaska cruise and not combining it with out visit west.

[bonvoyagie]

Based on what you have said, you are going to be very limited as there are only three ships on two cruise lines that do 7 day RT out of Vancouver BC. The lines are Disney and HAL.

 

Here is the Disney Wonder Mon-Mon cruise:

Cruise Schedule: Vancouver, Canada (d1600); Skagway, Alaska (0715-1945); Juneau, Alaska (0645-1645); Ketchikan, Alaska (1115-1945); Vancouver, Canada (a0800)

 

The Wonder visits Tracy Arm on the way to Skagway no small boat add on.

 

And the HAL Volendam Wed-Wed cruise:

Cruise Schedule: Vancouver, Canada (d1700); Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska ( 1000-1030); Juneau, Alaska ( 1300-2200); Skagway, Alaska (0700-2100); Glacier Bay, Alaska (0700-1600); Ketchikan, Alaska (1000-1800); Vancouver, Canada (a0700)

 

And the HAL Noordam Sat-Sat cruise:

Cruise Schedule: Vancouver, Canada (d1700); Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska (1000-1030); Juneau, Alaska (1300-2200); Skagway, Alaska (0700-2100); Glacier Bay, Alaska (0700-1600); Ketchikan, Alaska (1000-1800); Vancouver, Canada (a0700)

 

The Tracy Arm is simply a service stop for the people taking the small boat tour of Tracy Arm - the small boat returns the PAX to Juneau to meet back up with the ship in about 6hrs so you will loose port time in Juneau.

 

Since HAL visits Glacier Bay - and also adds the small boat tour of Tracy Arm the Wed to Wed schedule would allow you to spend several days with your friends on both ends of the cruise.

 

I suggest that you also look at www.cruiseportinsider.com for more information about all of the AK ports. As others have suggested there are many more one way cruises out of Vancouver to either Whittier or Seward and you can easily fly back from Anchorage - or do a 14 day back to back.

[Budget Queen]

so, just to clarify, am I to understand that none of the round trip itinerary's see glaciers? :(

 

If that is the case, then either we'd have to save enough to do a 2 week cruise, north and south....or else I guess we'll be looking at waiting on the alaska cruise and not combining it with out visit west.

 

No, I responded with what would be the "most" for a glacier priority. More equals more. :)

 

You need to look at each itinerary. Every one, goes to at least 1 of 3 on the inside passage glacier sailing areas, Glacier Bay, Hubbard, Tracy Arm (which you need to budget for the add on ship tour).

[martincath]

RTs do see glaciers - we've gone both Princess and NCL to Glacier Bay in May (the latter also offer a not-quite-RT, it starts in Vancouver and goes to Seattle once in May - if you can spare an extra 3 days then the additional port(s) of Sitka and/or Hoonah are a change from the bog-standard Juneau/Ketchikan/Skagway that virtually every 7 day RT offers. But as this is you first trip, not a big concern).

 

Glacier Bay is where I'd recommend ensuring you get to if you do come in May - the other popular stop on RTs, Tracy Arm, can be too ice-filled to allow cruise ships to get all the way up early in the season. It's possible, but less likely, that the same issue will occur with Glacier Bay so there's never a guarantee of close-up glacier viewing. Looks like NCL also have a 7day Vancouver RT visiting Sawyer Glacier this year, but that's one I've never seen so can't compare.

 

On our 3 trips which included Glacier Bay so far, we've seen calving all three times - on one of the trip there were 3 separate calving events within a very short time, so our side of the ship was facing them all before it turned around. Blind luck though - as BQ says, if you really want to see glaciers, especially calving, then you need to maximise your time spent near glaciers which means longer trips that take more time.

 

As bonvoyagie noted above, Princess aren't basing a ship in Vancouver for RTs this season, and it looks like their start-of-the-season trip on Coral is sold out already, but the NCL May trips are still available as well as the HAL & Disney options - it's also easy to get from Seattle to Vancouver or Victoria, and there's always the option of getting off early in Victoria if you wanted to take a 7 day RT out of Seattle or the NCL 10 day pseudo-RT (no PVSA violation issues, as long as you start and/or finish outside the US).

[xlxo]

so, just to clarify, am I to understand that none of the round trip itinerary's see glaciers? :(

 

I was on the HAL 7 day going through Glacier Bay. There was caving and I believe there are 5 glaciers to see. Not enough? There are excursions to fly over, walk/hike, climb and paddle over glaciers at some ports.

 

If you go to Juneau, Mendenhall visitor centre regularly brings up chunks of glaciers to touch.... not sure if it's a good idea to try licking one.

 

Sent from the Blackberry Passport w/ Snap

[Budget Queen]

I was on the HAL 7 day going through Glacier Bay. There was caving and I believe there are 5 glaciers to see. Not enough? There are excursions to fly over, walk/hike, climb and paddle over glaciers at some ports.

 

If you go to Juneau, Mendenhall visitor centre regularly brings up chunks of glaciers to touch.... not sure if it's a good idea to try licking one.

 

Sent from the Blackberry Passport w/ Snap

 

All ships can see 4 glaciers, the 5th isn't likely until Sept. on most ships. In the past cruise ships used to sail up to the entrance for a view of the 5th, but hasn't been the case for several years on most cruises.