Alaska Cruise Suggestions

[mariemorgan]

We are looking into taking a cruise in Alaska in 2007 and have never cruised in Alaska before. We want to do a cruise that is roundtrip.

 

There are a couple of options such as Fjords and Hubbard Glacier cruise. Which one of these do you suggest? Also what port is better to sail out of Seattle or Vancouver?

 

Also inside cabin or balcony, which would you choose and why? Is there a better side of the ship to be on to see better views?

 

Also any suggestions for Shore Excursions would be helpful.

[Cruiseteach]

I personally thought Vancouver was one of the most beautiful cities I had ever seen. I want to go back there one day and spend more time. Seattle was just ok- basically just any other American city.

I don't think the side of the ship makes a huge difference, but, by all means, get a balcony. One other piece of advice- even though it is summer, take a warm coat for the cruise past the glaciers- it is cold!!! (I took my LL Bean insulated barn coat and gloves, and was very glad I did.) Also, be prepared for rain with a slicker or poncho. This cruise is spectacular. You won't be sorry.

[momthecruisedirector]

Be sure to look in the Alaska section of Ports of Call, look for BudgetQueen's advice as she has been many times.

[chasetf]

We are looking into taking a cruise in Alaska in 2007 and have never cruised in Alaska before. We want to do a cruise that is roundtrip.

 

There are a couple of options such as Fjords and Hubbard Glacier cruise. Which one of these do you suggest? My recommendation is pick a cruise with Glacier Bay and College Fjord. Unfortunately the Seattle Dawn Princess trip does not include those. Our next Alaska I would want to do a B2B from Vancouver. :)

Also what port is better to sail out of Seattle or Vancouver? Never have done Seattle. Vancouver is great if not crowded. :(

 

Also inside cabin or balcony, which would you choose and why? We go for inside for cost factors. We are always up and around port and starboard during the scenic times. Hate to miss anything stuck to one side of the ship. :eek:

Is there a better side of the ship to be on to see better views? It is generally felt starboard for northbound and port for southbound.

 

Also any suggestions for Shore Excursions would be helpful. Pocketbook might dictate if you do a glacier fly-in. Whale watching we enjoy and is pretty reasonable. If in Sitka, see the Raptor Center.

[Deanie]

We've cruised to Alaska a couple of times now and would provide the following recommendations:

 

Hubbard Glacier (much more likely to see glacier calving than Glacier Bay - an incredible site) & College Fjord is great for the glaciers and the chances for wildlife viewing.

 

Vancouver hands down!!

 

For Alaska I'd save your money & get an inside cabin. (We've done everything from low grade insides to suites). If you're really willing to bundle up then an outside balcony on starboard (heading north - yes your are correct) is fine - just can't eat breakfast out there on most days - windy & cool! Mostly, be very careful on your ship selection. Stay away from Celebrity in this respect as their ships do not have enough outside areas that are protected from the wind to enjoy the scenery - which is incredible. I'm a huge Princess fan however, for Alaska I'd go on Royal Carribean. They have very large areas for viewing (which is great around popular sites like the glaciers) so you can have a good view without standing 5 deep. Also, the thing we really liked were the clear glass screens that kept you sheltered from the wind. If anyone else has seen these on Princess ships - please let me know! Our favourite ship to Alaska is the Radiance of the Seas & her sister ships.

 

For shore excursions make sure you get on a whale watch out of Juneau. As an eco friendly person - I'd recommend you check out the multitude of tour providers on the internet and book yourself. There is one across from the port in Juneau (sorry can't remember their name but the captain's name was Larry) and they are very respectful of the whales. We were able to see humbacks breaching, bubble feeding, fin slapping and tails all in one day. Then we saw stellar sea lions, puffins & eagles on the way back to port.

 

In Skagway the train ride is a must! Enjoyable (a bit gimicky) and informative. We still had time to walk around the town.

 

In Ketchikan I can't recommend one thing. However I can say to avoid the sea kayak tour. They take you around the dock areas mostly - forget that! Just walking about town there is great! Good place to pick up gifts etc.

 

Enjoy your cruise! I'd go back to Alaska in a heartbeat. Probably my favourite destination!

[DALSAL]

I went to Alaska the end of May this past year,and it was AWESOME! We cant wait to go again.We were going out of Vancover,but had to change our date,and the only option was Seattle.I was very disappointed,as I had all kinds of things planned for Vancouver,but will have to do that another time! Seattle turned out to be just fine,we enjoyed our 2 days precruise.BTW..we did Celebrity Mercury,and LOVED it..but..we did have a balcony.I would,if at all possible,get a balcony.I can tell you,that I hated to go to sleep because I was afraid to miss the scenery.And,as it got dark around 11 pm and sun came up around 4ish,I didnt get that much sleep! Before leaving,I had seen other ppls pictures of Alaska,and I thought someone was just posting post card pictures.Well...now I have my very own picture post cards!

 

We did the Juneau,Skagway,Ketchican..in Juneau,we took the Helicopter/glacier trek,and that was a truly amazing experience! You cant imagine how beautiful that glacier is until you are actually on it! A little expensive,but worth it.I took good advice and covered a shoe box (just like I did when I was a kid for my valentines!) and put every dime and dollar that I could find it! We had about a year to save,so it wasnt that bad.If I broke a dollar,I put my changes in...If I had it to do over again,I would do the Whale watch with Capt Larry too!

 

In Skagway,we did the White Pass train.It was fun,but very cold to go outside.My brother who is so hot natured,was actually feezing! But,they do have a nice little stove inside each car to warm up by.I bought the video they were selling,and was very disappointed with it...

 

In Ketchican..we did the Misty Fjords Float Plane/with a lake landing with Michelle and Island Wings.She is AWESOME! And the 20 mins or so we were out on the land by the lake was incredible.

 

Also,in Juneau,do the Salmon Bake.They have buses going right from the pier area,and its not that expensive,and the food is wonderful and TONS of it! And,every kind of food that you can imagine!

 

The shops in Ketchican are so cute,so be sure and take a walk thru there little town...

 

Sorry,I got carried away! Didnt plan on this being this long! Dot

[GloriaF]

I recommend you check out the Alaska Board in the ports of call section on CC.

http://messages.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=7&f=55

Lots of posters and info. Budget Queen has lots of info and is willing to help you plan your trip.

 

There is a lot of outside sailing from Seattle, and a RT cruise just doesn't get to the best places further north. I would definitely do Vancouver - we did the SB cruise May 05 and would love to go back. We did pre and post cruise stuff on our own. Awesome adventure!

 

Check out the Alaska Board! :)

[GloriaF]

Forgot to mention the Naturalist on board - she was a wealth of information from culture to wildlife spotting. We had Barbara on the Coral and you could tell she really loves Alaska! Whatever ship you choose, be sure there is a good naturalist onboard.

[mii]

Another vote for visiting the Alaska Ports of Call Board. There is a wealth of info there.

 

marilyn

[mariemorgan]

I have posted this on the Alaska board as well but were not getting many responses so that is why I posted here. Thanks :)

[Tinknock50]

I have posted this on the Alaska board as well but were not getting many responses so that is why I posted here. Thanks :)

 

I know.....I get that too. I had posted a handicap question to this board and I got many answers. A couple of people suggested that I find the answer on the Handicap board and think I got one answer when I posted there.

 

The main board get many views of your post. The special boards are seldom visited.

[GloriaF]

I agree with that overall, but I found the Alaska board to be the exception and to be very helpful. The suggestion to visit the Alaska board was made simply to make you aware of the board, not to say you should not post AK questions here, but to say there is another source. It was simply a friendly helpful hint and I hope there are no hard feelings. :)

[Druke I]

I for one like the roundtrips out of San Francisco, on the Regal Princess, a lovely ship.

 

There are few thrills that match that of sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

[LisaH]

My brother lives in The Woodlands...we are going to do Alaska in 2007. It will be nice to get away from our Plano summer for a bit at that point. Of course it is summer now in January!

[mariemorgan]

What itinerary does the San Francisco boat have? That sounds interesting as well. I'm so excited about this cruise and we haven't even booked it yet and they dont' even have the schedules out for august/september 2007 yet, but I'm sooo excited.

[DALSAL]

Hi LisaH! I use to live in The Colony,and traveled to Plano quite a bit!

 

You will LOVE Alaska,we cant wait to go back.Just might make in 2007 since I will only have another week left after I take my cruise in Feb.I really want to do a cruise/land tour,but they frown on me at work if I take 2 weeks of vacation together! Who knows,maybe I wont be working then.But,if not,I might not be able to afford Alaska! Ha!

 

I talked to a lady that lives in The Woodlands,and she told me she went to Alaska in 1989,and spared no expense doing things since this would be her ONLY trip...she then told me she has been to Alaska every year since!

 

Enjoy Alaska! Dit

[LisaH]

Just wish 2007 wasn't so far away but that is the way it goes. My brother works for "big oil" do you? hahaha - sometimes I crack myself up.

 

We are probably going to do land/cruise in that order but only 3 day land. That is all we can afford to be away from work and otherwise if you know what I mean. What I do know so far is that we want the Southbound so that the shorter air trip is on the way home.

 

It also appeals to me to do the RT from somewhere but we want a newer ship next time and right now I think the Regal does an RT and so does the Sun. But we have been on the Sun twice and love it but want to try something else.

[Len3]

On August 3rd, we sailed on the Sun Princess out of Vancouver. We just can't say enough about it. Princess was simply wonderful - our cabin w/balcony was a real treat, the food was wonderful and the staff couldn't have done more for us. Previously, we have cruised on RCCL and Carnival. Neither came close to our experience with Princess.

You may not see much action on the Alaska site as the season is over, but it will really pick-up after the winter months. Whatever cruise ship you select, Alaska is a real treat.

[bdjam]

What itinerary does the San Francisco boat have? That sounds interesting as well. I'm so excited about this cruise and we haven't even booked it yet and they dont' even have the schedules out for august/september 2007 yet, but I'm sooo excited.

The San Francisco round trips are 10 day voyages and are currently covered by Regal Princess, one of the smaller ships in the fleet. It does not do the Inside Passage, but goes outside with the first port being Sitka or Skagway. The Canadian stop is either Victoria or Vancouver. The glacier viewing is in Tracy Arm, which isn’t quite the same as Glacier Bay – not as majestic, but smaller and more intimate – I actually like Tracy Arm better, but I think I’m in the minority. If you check the Princess website for the 2006 itineraries, you should have a good idea of the 2007 itineraries. However, Regal Princess is slated to leave the fleet (a dirty rotten shame) in the latter part of 2007, so she may not actually be positioned for the same run then. The itinerary is a good one, so hopefully Princess will position a ship to do it.

[Druke I]

Some wags are saying that Golden Princess will be doing the San Francisco RT to Alaska in 2007.

 

Could be, as she terminates a South American season with a trip from Valparaiso to San Francisco, 3-20/4-12-07, on which we are booked.

[LisaH]

I sure hope what you are hearing is right about the Golden, that would be awesome. We could do 10 days away from work but not 15...hopefully it would be 10 days. It would also make our decision tougher. DH really wants to do land for a few days but I would rather cruise. We shall see.

[DALSAL]

LisaH...no,dont work for big oil..but I do support them!! I think the land first and then the cruise is the ONLY way to go! Three day land is all the time I can afford to be away from work too.Right now,Im trying to get my Feb 4th cruise set up.I just got my excursions booked (just under the deadline).I have inventory the weekend of the 26th,so I will be ready for my cruise!

 

Smooth Sailings e1! Dot

[mariemorgan]

I'm so jealous of you all that are able to cruise this year. We just came back from the Rhapsody and I'm already ready to go again, but funds and vacation time do not allow me to go again so soon. I guess that just makes the anticipation and planning much better. Please keep me updated on how your cruises went. Also I was looking at Princess website and was looking at the different cabin options, I noticed that hte balcony cabins do not have couches in them or allow for a third person, so we would have to get a mini-suite and i'm not sure we can afford that. *sigh*

[lbcrosby]

We took the roundtrip from Seattle and enjoyed it. However, the reason we did this was so that we could utilize our frequent flyer points and not have to pay for airfare. Here is links to some pictures we took as well as the Patters on the Diamond Princess. http://community.webshots.com/user/loricrosby I would agree with the other posters that Vancouver is a pretty city to visit. The Seattle trip was really nice but we only had one day of seeing the glaciers in Tracy Arm. So, it all depends on what you are looking for in an Alaskan adventure.

 

We were quite cost conscious but we decided to go for a balcony cabin on the Aloha deck and loved it. When we were going through Tracy Arm we had the TV turned on and were able to hear the naturalist point out things along the way and then had our balcony door open and watched from there. The Aloha deck wasn't as expensive as the lower decks and was completely covered which was very helpful when it is drizzly in Alaska (which don't be disappointed if it rains - whales still come out in the rain).

 

We didn't splurge as much on the excursions as much but found ones that were great for each of the ports. You can spend just as much as the cruise cost on the excursions if you are not careful. In Skagway we did the Street Cars. In Ketchikan we did the horse drawn carriage and we would have done the same in Victoria if we knew we liked it as much as we did. All of these excursions gave you the history of the town as well as a tour and wasn't that expensive. We splurged in Juneau by doing the whale watching excursion with Captain Larry's. We even coordinated with them so that we could go to the Mendanhall Glacier and then they would pick us up from there and take us to the boat. The excursion through Princess was cancelled several times due to the late arrival into Juneau and Captain Larry went even when they were late.

 

Well, any other questions let me know.

[bdjam]

Some wags are saying that Golden Princess will be doing the San Francisco RT to Alaska in 2007.

 

Could be, as she terminates a South American season with a trip from Valparaiso to San Francisco, 3-20/4-12-07, on which we are booked.

Right – could be. But can you imagine flat bottomed Golden Princess driving through the Potato Patch? I think Dawn Princess would be much better suited for the itinerary and bucking the currents…since she’s on the West Coast for the Mexican runs and now calls San Francisco home.