Alaska Cruise/Tour

[martyjob]

My wife and myself are planning on an Alaska Cruise-Tour/Sea-Land June of this year and have a couple of basic question about some conflicting advice we have been receiving.  Some of this is tough because not many people I know of have taken more than one trip to Alaska but here goes.

Should be we do the cruise or land portion first.  Cruise first means that the “best” is saved for last or land first which means we do the more strenuous part first and then relax.  Thoughts?

We have also been told that that Princess is the way to go and also Royal Caribbean is the way to go.  Here again thoughts?

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

[CruiserBruce]

The "way to go" is totally subjective. If you look around the board here, you will see that Glacier Bay is an important site to see, if at all possible, and RCI doesn't go to Glacier Bay. Princess does, as well as several other cruise lines.

[mapleleaves]

There are hundreds of trip reports posted near the top of the page.  Read thru some and get a feel for which ship/line is the best fit for your priorities.  The major lines are more alike than different, but pay CLOSE ATTENTION to port times.  You want to be in port long enough and at the right time of day for planned activities.  ie lots of whining about Ketchikan 7am - 1pm.  

 

As for the land portion, again, pay close attention to the details.  With many of the cruisetours, esp the short 3-4 days tours, you spend most of your day in transit with little time to enjoy the destination once you arrive.  Plus bags at the door by 6am !  If all you have is 3 or 4 days,  DIY is a better option.  There are few hwys in Alaska so it's VERY easy to get around by car. But if you don't want to drive, you can also do DIY by train or bus or a combo.  The Railroad offers pkg tours, and the bus company offers pkgs by train and/or bus.

 

As to which direction..... personal preference.  Some people like NB because it gets more scenic as you head north.  Some people prefer SB because they feel like they can relax more on the cruise portion. 

 

Good luck with your research !

[Vagabond Knight]

Like others have said, it's a very subjective decision... it it wasn't, we'd all be taking the same cruisetour, right?  😁

 

We have booked a 13-day southbound cruisetour (land tour first) on Celebrity for August 2021.  We chose that particular itinerary because the land portion has three rail legs and we really like rail travel.  We chose the southbound version (land tour first) because we feel like the cruise portion will be a more relaxing way to finish up our trip.  We've been on two previous 7-day Alaska cruises on another cruise line, but haven't done a cruisetour yet, and loved just hanging out on the balcony enjoying the beautiful scenery and watching for wildlife... sooo relaxing!

 

A bonus for me is that when we finish up in Vancouver, it's much easier for me to be able to take a train down into California to visit relatives afterwards if I choose to do so.

Edited January 5, 2020 by SunsetPoint

[adkcruiser]

We did the 15 day Princess Connisseur Cruise Tour in June of 2019, with the cruise portion first and then eight days on land.   Honestly, we chose the cruise portion first because it was a little cheaper.  If we were to do it again, we would definitely do the land portion first and then the cruise.  While the land tour was as near perfect as any trip could be, it was tiring - early mornings and several hours travel by bus/train.  By the end of the eight days we were exhausted and still had to fly from Fairbanks to Seattle to Detroit to Albany.  The land portion was magnificent and we highly recommend it but do the land first and then have time to relax on the cruise back.