First time going to Alaska! Questions/advice!

[Pwoodward54]

Hi all, so this is my boyfriend and my second cruise ever (first one was 4 years ago) and our first time to Alaska. we haven’t booked yet because we can’t seem to make a decision. Alaska seems to be such a complicated destination!

 

So we absolutely know we want to go with Holland America or Princess because of Glacier Bay. I’ve also read that roundtrip from Vancouver is better than round trip from Seattle.

 

1. It doesn’t seem like princess offers any round trip from Vancouver except for one or two times in May and once in September. Does that seem right?

2. I’ve read that Holland America is more for older couples? We are 26 years old. But also super laid back. Do you think we’d be fine with either cruise line? 

3. It is far cheaper for us to fly into Seattle instead of Vancouver. What’s the most affordable/best way to get from Seattle to Vancouver? 

 

Lots of questions but because this is a huge bucket list item for us we want to make sure we do it right! Thanks in advance!

Edited January 14, 2019 by Pwoodward54

[martincath]

Glacier Bay is recommended - it's basically as close as possible to 100% guaranteed glacier-viewing which does make for a nice positive start for a first-timer. Until you've seen all the glaciers though, you can't say that YOUR favourite will be there! I also agree that Vancouver is better than Seattle, in oh-so-many ways not just for cruising to Alaska;-)

 

HAL/Princess have MOST slots for Glacier Bay, but not ALL slots - I've been on NCL for example and if they did more cruises out of Vancouver/Seattle I'd likely have more cruises on them than on Princess as I really like the informality of NCL myself (especially no fixed dining times and no dress code other than 'clothes')

 

1) Yes, Princess RTs do seem to be early and late in the season from Vancouver whereas HAL plunk at least one ship here for most of the summer. Since budget is a concern for you, May is a good month to cruise making Princess RTs totally viable - September/October also cheap but with majorly reduced daylight hours and statistically way more rain than May.

 

2) Yes, HAL runs a little fogey-er than Princess in general but Alaskan cruises seem to flatten out the differences - the stereotypical 'no kids but craptons of Zimmer frames and scooters' HAL reputation will not be as apparent. While personally we disliked the HAL onboard experience, it was mostly about the awfully bland MDR food and comparatively few alternate dining options than a lack of interesting fellow pax (older = seen more of life = more chance of having good stories after all) or worse entertainment than Princess (but NCL beats both on these fronts, especially dining choices). If you are stay-up-late-clubbing types HAL would suck, but if you enjoy a piano bar or chillaxing with a book I'm sure you'll do fine on any ship.

 

3) Best way is too subjective - how much do YOU value your wasted time over a dollar saving? Cheapest can be answered fairly objectively though - Bolt Bus, as that can run as low as $1pp (and typical ticket pricing is about $20), assuming you can take LINK light rail downtown to get the bus that's only another $3pp. Newest buses, most legroom, WiFi on all vehicles and minimal stops also makes Bolt the best bus trip despite also being the cheapest. Next cheapest is probably Greyhound bus, who charge a little more than Bolt but also spend an extra hour driving due to the many more stops. Amtrak train if you book early enough to get the Saver tickets at $33pp is also a great deal - this is by far the least hassle border crossing option, as you do diddly-squat until you actually disembark the train. Once the Savers sell out the price jumps up - and the extra-comfy Business Class seats just aren't viable to consider as they're too pricey to begin with.

 

QuickShuttle comes in second-last in value, as even with their handy 'pick up at Seatac and drop right at the pier or downtown hotels' they just charge too much - as long as you are at least 2 people you can take a cab to and from bus stations on both the Seattle and Vancouver end, Bolt or Amtrak in-between, and still save enough for a beer (or an entire meal if you score a Bolt for a Buck ticket). Amtrak buses are the absolute worst possible option as they (at best) charter someone else's bus, but if you get an actual Amtrak one they are in terrible condition at times. Stops could be at literally every train station - all depends how many buses are running, if 2+ you may get lucky and skip some stops - and to put the cherry on top they charge more than the other folks too!

 

Rental Car pricing is very variable - for 2 people, you might still end up spending the same as the train or less on a one-way as any size of car will do you so whatever the cheapest one is works. Booked in advance it looks pricey, especially now, but once the season actually starts you'll see deals all over the places as company X ends up with a car in Seattle that needs to come back to Vancouver... rental cars also have total flexibility of timing, and you can choose any route you like and perhaps even do some sightseeing on the way.

 

Personally I ballpark it at $50pp and at least 4 hours for any kind of land-based Seatac to Vancouver trip - so if you value your own time at zero you only need to save about $50pp on flights to be worthwhile, but if you feel that you're worth even $10 an hour you want a saving of more like $100... but you may also find that there are 'better' flights to SEA (e.g. nonstops, or an airline you like/have miles with that doesn't fly to YVR) so make sure that you compare YVR flight options carefully with SEA ones and then choose the one with the best overall value by YOUR standards!

[SuperCrewBear]

On a 10 day cruise I took 3 years ago we left from Vancouver and returned to Seattle.  When I looked at the options it made more sense to me to fly to Vancouver then fly home from Seattle.  It's called "multi city" or "open jaw".  I knew we would have two check bags each because of the length of the trip (we went early and stayed late besides the 10 days on the ship).  By the time I factored in the baggage fees each direction the difference between coach and first class worked out to be $165 - in first class we got two free check bags plus each bag can weigh up to 75 pounds each versus 50 pounds in coach.  It made sense for us to go first class.  It was also less stressful trying to arrange transportation between Vancouver and Seattle.

 

Alaska isn't too complicated if you take the time to research what you want.  The way I did it the first time was decided which ports I felt was a must.  Then I figured out which cruise lines got me to where I wanted.  I think I had it narrowed down to two lines.  Once I got the cruise itself booked I then started narrowing down what to do at each stop.  We only did a couple excursions that were booked through the cruise line at one port - the rest was completely on our own.  We saved enough on doing our own arrangements to pay for a decent meal to go along with the excursion.

 

If you pick a cruise that stops at Skagway (most do...) I highly recommend Dyea Dave Tours.  Small and friendly locals who know what they are doing.  I've done their Emerald Lake Tour in conjunction with a ride on the White Pass train back from Fraser, BC Canada back to Skagway both times.  I give them two thumbs up!

 

Good Luck!

[Gardyloo]

Does it have to be a round trip?  (Maybe you can't afford more time or are concerned about additional costs for any land touring?)  Because if you could manage a one-way cruise you'd have a wider choice of cruise lines and itineraries than on a round trip out of Vancouver.

 

Are you on the east coast?  (In a previous post you mentioned CT.)  The reason for asking is that the "cheaper airfare to Seattle" thing can be misleading when you add up the "extras."  For example, flights from, say, New York to Seattle generally land in the evening, therefore requiring a hotel night before you could head north to Vancouver (and during cruise season hotels in Seattle, even around the airport, are extremely expensive.)  If you want to take the train, you'd need to get to the train station at the crack of dawn (the train leaves around 7:45 AM) and would probably need to use a cab or Uber - that's another $30 or so on top of the hotel.  Then of course there's the cost of the transportation itself - call it $50 to $60 per person (each way.)  So add everything up and compare it to the price of flying straight to Vancouver.

 

I just checked for mid-July from NYC and a round trip (American) from JFK to SEA is around $360.  A round trip from JFK to Vancouver (YVR) on the same days is $459 on Cathay Pacific's 777, probably the best transcontinental flight in North America.  So yeah, that's a hundred bucks more, but do an "all-in" budget and you might find it's not that bad.

 

An "open-jaw" ticket that would take you from JFK to YVR, returning from Anchorage to JFK, for the same days, would be $487 on Delta.  Again, more than the round trip to either Seattle or Vancouver, but not a huge difference, and for that extra you'd have the chance to see something around Southcentral Alaska - maybe the Kenai Fjords, even Denali if you have the time.  

 

Just sayin', maybe something to think about. 

[Pwoodward54]

8 minutes ago, Gardyloo said:

Does it have to be a round trip?  (Maybe you can't afford more time or are concerned about additional costs for any land touring?)  Because if you could manage a one-way cruise you'd have a wider choice of cruise lines and itineraries than on a round trip out of Vancouver.

 

Are you on the east coast?  (In a previous post you mentioned CT.)  The reason for asking is that the "cheaper airfare to Seattle" thing can be misleading when you add up the "extras."  For example, flights from, say, New York to Seattle generally land in the evening, therefore requiring a hotel night before you could head north to Vancouver (and during cruise season hotels in Seattle, even around the airport, are extremely expensive.)  If you want to take the train, you'd need to get to the train station at the crack of dawn (the train leaves around 7:45 AM) and would probably need to use a cab or Uber - that's another $30 or so on top of the hotel.  Then of course there's the cost of the transportation itself - call it $50 to $60 per person (each way.)  So add everything up and compare it to the price of flying straight to Vancouver.

 

I just checked for mid-July from NYC and a round trip (American) from JFK to SEA is around $360.  A round trip from JFK to Vancouver (YVR) on the same days is $459 on Cathay Pacific's 777, probably the best transcontinental flight in North America.  So yeah, that's a hundred bucks more, but do an "all-in" budget and you might find it's not that bad.

 

An "open-jaw" ticket that would take you from JFK to YVR, returning from Anchorage to JFK, for the same days, would be $487 on Delta.  Again, more than the round trip to either Seattle or Vancouver, but not a huge difference, and for that extra you'd have the chance to see something around Southcentral Alaska - maybe the Kenai Fjords, even Denali if you have the time.  

 

Just sayin', maybe something to think about. 

We are on the east coast yes. I looked again and realized the price actually wasn’t too bad of a difference. I would definitely PREFER to do a one-way Cruise, but was worried about cost of flying in/out of Anchorage but didn’t look into it much. Is southbound vs. northbound preferred or vice versa? We can only really afford to go a 7 days because of our jobs. 

[tiger belle]

I was about to start a similar thread as we are planning our first Alaskan cruise for this summer and have many of these same concerns.  Instead of starting a new thread, I am just going to follow this one and ask any questions I have.  I hope that's ok with the original posters.  I surely don't intend to hijack their thread--I just think maybe we can both benefit from the commentary here.

[Pwoodward54]

9 minutes ago, tiger belle said:

I was about to start a similar thread as we are planning our first Alaskan cruise for this summer and have many of these same concerns.  Instead of starting a new thread, I am just going to follow this one and ask any questions I have.  I hope that's ok with the original posters.  I surely don't intend to hijack their thread--I just think maybe we can both benefit from the commentary here.

Don’t mind at all! 🙂

[Gardyloo]

14 hours ago, Pwoodward54 said:

We are on the east coast yes. I looked again and realized the price actually wasn’t too bad of a difference. I would definitely PREFER to do a one-way Cruise, but was worried about cost of flying in/out of Anchorage but didn’t look into it much. Is southbound vs. northbound preferred or vice versa? We can only really afford to go a 7 days because of our jobs. 

If a week is all you have, then it becomes more complicated.  Could the "week" include two weekends and one extra day? 

 

Imaginary timetable, one-way option - 

 

Friday PM - overnight Cathay Pacific flight to Vancouver (dep. JFK 9:50 PM, arr. YVR 12:50 AM Sat.)  Overnight near YVR airport

Saturday - Morning in Vancouver, PM departure on cruise

Sun - Fri - Cruising

Saturday AM - arrive Seward, do Kenai Fjords cruise, overnight Seward

Sunday AM - travel to Anchorage, overnight flight(s) home, arriving Monday morning.

Tuesday - Back to work.

 

Round trip option

 

Friday PM - overnight Cathay Pacific flight to Vancouver (dep. JFK 9:50 PM, arr. YVR 12:50 AM Sat.)  Overnight near YVR airport

Saturday - Morning in Vancouver, PM departure on cruise

Sun - Fri - Cruising

Saturday AM - arrive Vancouver, day in Vancouver, redeye back to JFK (dep. YVR 10:55 PM, arr. JFK 7:00 AM Sunday)

 

(Note these are imaginary; you might not have suitable cruises departing on Saturdays in either direction, hence a staggered start to the work week days you'd need to take off.)

 

So would the additional day of Alaska sightseeing, plus the possibility of including something like the Kenai Fjords (and maybe both Glacier Bay and the Hubbard Glacier during the cruise) be worth the extra expense and the additional day?  It's something you might think about.

 

 

Edited January 15, 2019 by Gardyloo

[Schoifmom]

Just throwing this out there ... I am booked on a Carnival RT from Seattle that will go to Glacier Bay.  There are other cruises out there if you search for them 🙂  

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We are doing an 11 night cruise in May that begins in Vancouver and ends in Seattle.  Because of my work schedule I am going to have to get off work and get on a plane - literally.  To save time we are flying directly into Vancouver and home from Seattle.  The prices were not bad. If you are interested in saving time I would fly directly into Vancouver, if that is where you are cruising out of and spend that time seeing some of the city, rather then just rushing to make train or bus connections.  Spend an extra day there if you can.  You should always fly in the day before the cruise anyway.  If you decide to do a one way (which is what I would do if I was on a 7 night cruises) you can do the same thing on the other end and double your experience.  If you have to fly home the day you disembark I would recommend a later flight and do a post-cruise excursion that drops you off at the airport so you can still have a disembarkment port experience.  Have fun planning!

 

Also- for your age I would recommend Princess or NCL for your Glacier Bay experience.  JMHO.

[Melinda Brasher]

I've cruised HAL to Alaska several times, and on a summer-time 7-day cruise there will always be younger people and even kids on board.  And yes, there are a lot of age-advanced folk on board.  See if you can find some who have cruising stories from decades ago.  Things have changed a lot.  🙂 

 

As for one-way vs round-trip cruises, I think the itinerary is often better with a one-way.  You might even get to see Hubbard Glacier, one of my favorite things.  Prices for one-way cruises are always better, but the savings is often offset by the increased price of getting from Seward or Whittier to Anchorage and then flying home from there.  But airfares are crazy, so see if you can get a good Anchorage deal and consider a one-way.

 

And yes, Glacier Bay is amazing.  Some pics:  https://www.melindabrasher.com/2014/09/glacier-bay-alaska.html     

[Sunny AZ Girl]

8 hours ago, Melinda Brasher said:

I've cruised HAL to Alaska several times, and on a summer-time 7-day cruise there will always be younger people and even kids on board.  And yes, there are a lot of age-advanced folk on board.  See if you can find some who have cruising stories from decades ago.  Things have changed a lot.  🙂 

 

As for one-way vs round-trip cruises, I think the itinerary is often better with a one-way.  You might even get to see Hubbard Glacier, one of my favorite things.  Prices for one-way cruises are always better, but the savings is often offset by the increased price of getting from Seward or Whittier to Anchorage and then flying home from there.  But airfares are crazy, so see if you can get a good Anchorage deal and consider a one-way.

 

And yes, Glacier Bay is amazing.  Some pics:  https://www.melindabrasher.com/2014/09/glacier-bay-alaska.html     

We haven't paid full fare on air for quite awhile now.  We use credit cards with good travel awards (Costco is good), airline cards often have deals that give you a large number of miles just for signing up.  We just did that with Delta for 60,000 Miles.  We put everything on our credit cards and then make sure we pay them off completely when due.  Also, Air 2 Sea through the cruiseline often has good one way prices.   Most of our cruises the last few years,and our next 2 currently booked cruises involve one way flights in each direction and airfare is our smallest expense.  All upcoming were booked using airline credit card miles.  

[raffo1981]

Hi, we are a group of 6 (2 families) going on a cruise for the first time and we're doing Alaska in May. The question is: do you need tours in Alaska ports? I can understand getting a tour in Rome, where there's lots of history, but would we need a guide or can we explore things ourselves? Our foremost motivation was the views, scenery etc

[Tourist1292]

We are going to take a 7 night cruise in May from Vancouver to Alaska and back to Seattle. We are flying to Seattle and take the Amtrak Cascades to Vancouver. It is only $34 for one way but there are only two scheduled train each day. One departs early and arrives around noon. The other one leaves Seattle in early evening and arrives around 11pm.

[martincath]

12 hours ago, raffo1981 said:

Hi, we are a group of 6 (2 families) going on a cruise for the first time and we're doing Alaska in May. The question is: do you need tours in Alaska ports? I can understand getting a tour in Rome, where there's lots of history, but would we need a guide or can we explore things ourselves? Our foremost motivation was the views, scenery etc

Rome, and any other large city, is EASIER to do on your own than most Alaskan ports IMO! Guidebooks abound, there are transit systems, and tons of attractions are within close proximity making walking around often the best way to go.

 

Alaskan ports though... well, Skagway, Ketchikan, ISP, Sitka, you can certainly walk around and there are some nice (and very reasonably priced) sites, but Juneau is VERY spread out. It does have buses - but even this, by far the largest population centre among the SE ports, can feel really busy with thousands of cruisers besieging the same few spots! The really small places, especially Skagway with well under a thousand year-round residents, feel packed with even one ship in town - every sidewalk will be hoachin', the popular stores and the bar likewise. It's like a really old Disneyland Main Street at times, just a sea of tourists all funneling through a very limited space.

 

Sure you can rent a car, get an audio guide, and get out of town to where the things you want to see are without an actual tour - but you do need to get out of town in order to visit glaciers and see wildlife (well except for Eagles which are everywhere). To be blunt if the view of surrounding scenery from the downtown of the ports is good enough for you, then you may as well just stay on the ship where you'll have better views than from the streets because you're higher up - and there will be very few others onboard so you can wander the top decks to take snaps.

[raffo1981]

On 1/23/2019 at 11:02 AM, martincath said:

Rome, and any other large city, is EASIER to do on your own than most Alaskan ports IMO!

Whoa! I guess we're in trouble then! Rome is pretty confusing even for locals!

 

I think we're gonna stick to sights, come down in smaller cities, probably gonna research and try some local food.

 

But for Juneau we're probably going to try to find someone since:

On 1/23/2019 at 11:02 AM, martincath said:

but Juneau is VERY spread out

 

If you know any good people who could take care of our little private party with kids and you've used them let me know we might consider hiring some locals

 

Thanks a lot for the info

[mas67]

Reading as much as possible. Thinking of booking for Aug with Costco Alaska tours. Is Aug good time for the weather ? 7 land 7 sea. Is land better before sea ? Is balcony worth the extra money. This is our bucket list trip. Ages range 51-70ish. 4 of us 

[martincath]

6 hours ago, raffo1981 said:

If you know any good people who could take care of our little private party with kids and you've used them let me know we might consider hiring some local

Sorry, our guided trips have involved booking seats on a boat or coach (just not through the cruise line) with others rather than a private tour. Juneau tends to be a favoured spot for whale-watching, as it and Icy Strait Point are the two commonly-visited ports where you cannot fail to see whales - since your party is 6 people total you could book any of the 'six pack' private vessels used by e.g. Harv & Marv and get the boat all to yourselves (some independent vendors, including H&M, refuse to take kids except if you book the whole boat so that works out perfectly for you!) Personally we'd rather share a Gastineau boat, as these are the best-set-up local vessels for whale-watching, but they run 14-20pax so you'd pay a very hefty premium to book the whole thing - but there are plenty of people who give great reviews to the experience on the more generic boats of H&M and others too.

 

Since the dock for whale-watching trips is miles away they all offer a coach pickup at the cruise ship, and they can also include a visit to Mendenhall glacier before/after the whale-watch - which is efficient as you drive by going to and from the ship. It does cost extra to visit, as parking/access fees were brought in a few years ago, but it's a pretty negligible increase to the whale-watch tour (and you save at least a few bucks per person by booking all seats on the boat anyway).

[bemis12]

On 1/14/2019 at 7:06 PM, Pwoodward54 said:

We are on the east coast yes. I looked again and realized the price actually wasn’t too bad of a difference. I would definitely PREFER to do a one-way Cruise, but was worried about cost of flying in/out of Anchorage but didn’t look into it much. Is southbound vs. northbound preferred or vice versa? We can only really afford to go a 7 days because of our jobs. 

 

Look into the Alaska Airlines credit card companion fare.  You can easily get a free round trip ticket for a companion.  Makes it danged affordable to fly there. I got the credit card just for the freebie.

[masterdrago]

Another cost thing that we considered when looking at flight cost comparison (Seattle or Vancouver) to Houston was the passport cost. We already have passport cards - cruised Caribbean several times. So we had to add in the cost of the passport book to the price comparison. That might not even be a consideration for folks that already have the book. And as martincath mentioned, there are less costly ways to make the Seattle-Vancouver trek. We have been cruising Cruise Critic and planning our Alaska adventure since June '18 and have researched so much that I'm going blind and Joy has capped my computer time!

And as bemis12 said, we are definitely using the Alaska Mileage credit card for the companion fare. Although it may be too late to get much benefit from that card if you do not already have it depending on when you book cruise.

Edited January 25, 2019 by masterdrago

[Tourist1292]

5 hours ago, masterdrago said:

Another cost thing that we considered when looking at flight cost comparison (Seattle or Vancouver) to Houston was the passport cost. We already have passport cards - cruised Caribbean several times. So we had to add in the cost of the passport book to the price comparison. That might not even be a consideration for folks that already have the book. And as martincath mentioned, there are less costly ways to make the Seattle-Vancouver trek. We have been cruising Cruise Critic and planning our Alaska adventure since June '18 and have researched so much that I'm going blind and Joy has capped my computer time!

And as bemis12 said, we are definitely using the Alaska Mileage credit card for the companion fare. Although it may be too late to get much benefit from that card if you do not already have it depending on when you book cruise.

Passport card would also work in Canada.

[Ferry_Watcher]

On 1/25/2019 at 10:22 AM, Tourist1292 said:

Passport card would also work in Canada.

 

If the traveler is flying into Canada a passport book is needed.  The passport card would be sufficient for crossing the border by train, bus or car.

Also, any cruise passenger planning to take the Skagway Train excursion  into the Yukon needs a passport (birth certificates, enhanced drivers licenses are not enough).

[masterdrago]

3 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

If the traveler is flying into Canada a passport book is needed.  The passport card would be sufficient for crossing the border by train, bus or car.

Also, any cruise passenger planning to take the Skagway Train excursion  into the Yukon needs a passport (birth certificates, enhanced drivers licenses are not enough).

Just to add, the excursion into the Yukon by train, van, or jeep will only require the passport card (not book). It's the crossing the border by air that requires the book. Go figure. I guess if flying, someone wants to know where you have been...

[martincath]

6 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

 

If the traveler is flying into Canada a passport book is needed.  The passport card would be sufficient for crossing the border by train, bus or car.

Also, any cruise passenger planning to take the Skagway Train excursion  into the Yukon needs a passport (birth certificates, enhanced drivers licenses are not enough).

Flying info correct - land border info completely wrong. The train does not fly, and ONLY flying requires a passport! EDL, passport card, NEXUS are perfectly adequate for ALL other modes of border crossing (land or sea).

[masterdrago]

All the excursions I read info on that go into Canada (bus, train, van, or jeep) say passport required. The letters I have from VISA Central and NPIC, Passport say the book is only needed to cross the border when flying and the card is all that is needed for any land travel.