please share Alaska Cruise tips

[Tom Paige]

Some very interesting advice here. Hope you don't mind if i ask some questions too

 

I've just booked a 7 day Oceania Alaska cruise for 30 June 17 which has a bit of a different itinerary than what seems usual. We are visiting Ketchikan, Sitka and Prince Rupert BC and cruising Tracy Arm and Sawyer glacier. The sole reason for booking this was to tie in with an 11 day Rockies self drive tour from Calgary to Vancouver so the timing was just right.

 

I've already booked the Misty Fjords floatplane with Island Wings as that seems too good to miss. Also want to do a whale watch trip and from what I've read Prince Rupert seems to be a good choice for this, but there's very little excursions that i can find. Anyone have any experience of this or can suggest an alternative for a whale watch excursion.

 

There was a comment above about Inside Passage cruising from Vancouver and if you depart from Seattle you go west of Vancouver Island. Is this still classed as inside passage as my itinerary shows inside passage cruising but we depart from Seattle. Apologies for my geographical ignorance, I am from Wales and have no experience of this part of N America.

Thank you for any advice you can provide

John

 

You will not be disappointed that you booked your flightseeing thru Island Wings. My wife and I flew with Michelle during our first Alaska cruise in 2014. She is a wonderful human being and a great pilot. Our glacial lake landing was beautiful. I even got pictures of another float plane taking off. Michelle's assistant Shona suggested a salmon fishing charter with a local captain while in Ketchikan on our upcoming cruise.

 

If you are in Juneau plan to eat at Tracy's Crab Shack. It's pricey but the food is delicious. As I remember, it's up the street from The Red Dog Saloon.

 

If in Icy Strait Point check out Misty Bay Lodge for either a whale watching or wildlife excursion. Owners Hope and Captain Dave gave us the thrill of a lifetime.

 

Enjoy and let me know how your cruise went. Happy Sails to You!!

 

Best Regards,

 

Tom

[flatlander321]

Most if not all cruises to/from Seattle go west of Vancouver Island and those going to/from Vancouver go east of the island. However geographically the Inside Passage does include Alaska. So going to those Alaskan ports you mentioned you are cruising the Inside Passage.

 

Hope that helps

 

We were on Carnival Legend May 16-24 last month. It left from Vancouver, but went on the west (ocean) side of Vancouver Island. It was a good trip with great weather, but I had wanted to cruise the Canadian inside passage that first evening.

Edited June 11, 2016 by flatlander321

[love2driveinct]

Not sure where you'd be flying in from, but one thing I found was that airfare from here to Seattle or to Vancouver did not really differ, so that did not become a factor in my choice. You might want to price out some sample flights to help you compare. Ultimately we decided that Vancouver was the city we wanted to see more and then the other step was deciding that we wanted a one-way itinerary because we wanted to go further north to see more of Alaska itself. Again, pricing out flights to go to and from different airports did not turn out to be a deal-breaker in any way. If you have a good travel agent, it's probably worth asking them to run a few different scenarios to see how things look.

 

Oh, and on that note, my one regret is that I didn't book with a TA. Although I've found my cruise line's vacation planner extremely helpful and love that I can call him up any time with any question or request, I realized afterward that I missed out on earning any OBC by booking direct. With a family of five, kids that love smoothies, coffee, etc, and plans for excursions in every port, that OBC surely would have come in handy!

 

Good luck with whatever you decide. My first Alaska cruise was round-trip Vancouver (flew into Seattle and RC provided a bus transfer to Vancouver), and this upcoming one is Vancouver Northbound. My final choice was based on itinerary, port of embarkation, and value (best cabins for the money at the time of booking).

[gpb11]

Holland America and Princess have the most Alaska experience, Glacier Bay permits, and on ship naturalists.

 

Remember that HAL and Princess are sister companies (under Carnival/CCL) and thus share a number of properties and resources, particularly on the land tour portions.

 

I believe the naturalists are only on board during Glacier bay; on our recent cruise they boarded as we entered GB and left as we departed.

[sherryf]

I believe the naturalists are only on board during Glacier bay; on our recent cruise they boarded as we entered GB and left as we departed.

 

National Park Rangers come on board all ships in Glacier Bay. Princess ALSO has full time Naturalists on board every ship. HAL does not. Some other cruise lines also do, but I don't have experience with them and don't know who does or doesn't. Budget Queen could tell you for sure.

[gpb11]

National Park Rangers come on board all ships in Glacier Bay. Princess ALSO has full time Naturalists on board every ship. HAL does not.

 

Good to know. We were on HAL. I personally don't feel that I missed out there, but we also had a lot of info from the guides on various excursions as well as my own research. (not suggesting what someone ought to do here)

 

 

Additional tip: Bring a bunch of Emergen-C Immune+ or similar stuff (Airborne) as well as Zicam or Cold-Eze. Especially for any land tours. We had various Bronchitis Bettys and Phlegmy Phils on our various coach rides to/from excursions and on the land tour. A few folks skipped the last day's excursions due to being sick.