Northbound (cruise first) vs Southbound (land first)

[Luvtoteachell]

I hear a lot of people say that you should do the Northbound (land portion) first on an Alaskan cruisetour. Why is that so popular to do? We are new and trying to plan our first time to Alaska. Any help is appreciated.

[moki'smommy]

Your title seems to give different info than your post. There are generally advantages to doing the land portion of any vacation first. If something happens to your transportation and you spend the night in Houston (can you tell that I've been thru this?), it is far easier to catch up or miss one day of a land portion vs. catching the ship at the next port. If the airline manages to misplace one of your bags, again, it has time to catch up with you before boarding the ship.

 

Finally, land trips don't have the relaxation aspect of cruising. It is nice to do the "harder," more physical portion first and then relax on the ship.

[fishywood]

The northbound cruises sail to College Fjord rather than Hubbard Glacier. Strong preference there.

 

But the land first then southbound cruise gets the longer flight out of the way beforehand. And flight schedules work better for flying in early to Anchorage or Fairbanks and then home from Vancouver.

 

And some people just consider it preferable to do the land portion first then have seven days of no further unpacking/changing hotels rather than following the seven day cruise with a very early start on disembarkation day with up to 10 hours on a bus and/or train. Personally I found it no bother and would lean toward the northbound again if the price was right. (But I will be cruising then touring on my own next month, so take my advice for what its worth).

[mevs904]

I know that many people prefer the southbound land first itinerary, but we took the northbound and would probably choose to do it again. We enjoyed the gradual immersion into Alaska as we sailed north. We also spent three nights in Vancouver before the trip and enjoyed the city before sailing.

[kitkat343]

We had to do the Northbound trip because I was trying to sail out while I wasn't too far along in my first pregnancy, and the southbound would have put us in Denali before the buses started running in June. The two advantages of going Northbound are that they generally cost less, and that the scenery gets nicer as the trip goes along. But you do have the more grueling land portion at the end of your trip, instead of the beginning, and a longer flight back. The one thing I would note is that we saved a lot of money doing the land excursion as an independent tour, and booking all of our excursions privately. We had initially thought of this as a relatively inexpensive trip since the airfare and cruise fair were not that expensive, but the excursions added up really quickly! The tourism season is short in Alaska, and everything - including labor- needs to be imported - so it's all expensive.

[LibrarianMonroe]

I know someone mentioned this, but we chose to cruise after the tour because the cruise is the more relaxing part of the experience. That was pretty much the only factor in our decision, and we don't regret it in the least.

[paul929207]

Two years ago, we did the NB cruise, followed by a 7 day land package, followed by the SB cruise. Both cruises were great.

[memoak]

Why not just do a round trip ?

[Floridapenny]

Two years ago, we did the NB cruise, followed by a 7 day land package, followed by the SB cruise. Both cruises were great.

 

Last year I did a NB cruise, followed by one day on my own, then a 10 day cruise/tour (land and SB cruise). I found both cruises great (although I liked the Star better than the Island).

 

I did not do a roundtrip because I wanted to see more of the mainland in Alaska (and I do not fly - so I took trains to and from Vancouver).

[Thrak]

Two years ago, we did the NB cruise, followed by a 7 day land package, followed by the SB cruise. Both cruises were great.

 

Sounds like a great way to do things! I didn't realize the cruises would align so well. We did the 13 day tour - 6 days on land and then the 7 days southbound. The land portion was awesome but the second day on the ship we, along with a ton of others folks, came down with a terrible cold. By the end of the cruise almost everybody onboard was coughing and hacking. We hid in our cabin for a couple of days so the cruise portion wasn't that great - especially as it was on Island Princess and we didn't care at all for the modifications they had made on that ship.