The fist time to Alaska

[xeroxme]

3 glacier bay is a must see. Then 1 or 4.

 

 

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[xeroxme]

Thoughts....

• Statistically... Alaska is driest April to July, Vancouver is driest mid-July to mid-August. One thought would be to start with a July Alaskan cruise and spend your extra days in Vancouver late July to time yourself for the dry weather. You might even get a chance to catch the annual fireworks competitions.
  
• Vancouver is an incredible hub.... you can fly in/out of Calgary to include Banff. Others may be interested in adding Seattle. What I'm trying to say is think "open jaw" in your flight planning. Example.... fly into Calgary, one way bus to Vancouver including the Rockies. Go on the cruise and then return to Vancouver to continue your journey to Seattle (via Victoria?).
  
• if you have family.... think at least a week in Vancouver... lots visitor activities.
  
• if you need hotel ideas.... staying a few blocks from the cruise terminal offer value savings.
  

 

 

Excellent advice. Been to Alaska twice and used open jaw philosophy both times and made it even better vaca

 

 

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[marysb]

We have cruised out of both Seattle and Vancouver. We much preferred Vancouver as you are cruising up the east side of Vancouver island and have little open water and some incredible views of scenery very close to the ship. Cruising the west side of Vancouver island can be rough , cool, and windy.

Also Glacier Bay is a must see.

 

Seattle and Vancouver and Victoria are all beautiful cities, so if you want to specifically see one or the other, that may help your decision.

 

I would go with 4 or 3

Mary

[gph2020]

When taking an Alaska cruise, I recommend taking a land portion before your cruise. Doing the land part is very busy and tiring. Then you have your Southbound cruise to relax more.

 

 

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[denatravels]

When taking an Alaska cruise, I recommend taking a land portion before your cruise. Doing the land part is very busy and tiring. Then you have your Southbound cruise to relax more.

 

 

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I totally disagree. The northbound cruise gets more spectacular the further into Alaska. The southbound would be more anticlimactic. And I don’t understand why people say Alaska cruises are relaxing— I’ve done two and I found them very active to see everything I want to see.

 

 

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[kawagama]

We did Alaska with an identical itinerary as #4, also with HAL, but with a different ship (Noordam) in 2016 in early May. I think we were one of the first ships up. We bypassed Tracy Arm (I guess because of ice), which was disappointing, but the other ports were great. Loved Skagway! Such a great old town. It also allows you to take the White Pass train trip which was the most popular excursion when we went. We didn't do that; instead we hiked up part of the Chilkoot Trail and then floated down the river in a rubber raft. There were only 4 of us along with the guides. It was awesome! We enjoyed the HAL ship; even more so since our recent trip on an RCI ship of the same size. HAL was just classier, in our opinion.