Alaska Question- Inside Passage or Dawes Glacier Itinerary?

[Bucket29]

I'm being optimistic and planning for my 2022 first cruise to Alaska (that didn't go in 2020 and likely will not go in 2021).  I am currently scheduled on Ovation end of July- have kids traveling so am opting for the bigger ship- roundtrip out of Seattle.  Will likely lift and shift and the itineraries I can shift to are slightly different.  I will be happy with all of the port options but my indecision is regarding the Alaska Inside Passage cruising option versus Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier cruising option itineraries.  Any thoughts?

[reallyitsmema]

Personally, I would pick the second option, but look at the times in port and viewing the glacier.  Are your kids going to get up at 5am to 10am to see the glacier?

[Ourusualbeach]

20 minutes ago, Bucket29 said:

I'm being optimistic and planning for my 2022 first cruise to Alaska (that didn't go in 2020 and likely will not go in 2021).  I am currently scheduled on Ovation end of July- have kids traveling so am opting for the bigger ship- roundtrip out of Seattle.  Will likely lift and shift and the itineraries I can shift to are slightly different.  I will be happy with all of the port options but my indecision is regarding the Alaska Inside Passage cruising option versus Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier cruising option itineraries.  Any thoughts?

Not sure what dates you were looking at but the July 22 only had 2 Alaskan port stops plus Victoria while the 15th and 29th had 3 port stops plus Victoria. 

[Bucket29]

57 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

Personally, I would pick the second option, but look at the times in port and viewing the glacier.  Are your kids going to get up at 5am to 10am to see the glacier?

I have read the inside passage can be during the night and early am- is this the situation for every cruise?

[Bucket29]

50 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Not sure what dates you were looking at but the July 22 only had 2 Alaskan port stops plus Victoria while the 15th and 29th had 3 port stops plus Victoria. 

Basically deciding between July 29 and August 5- both have 3 ports (plus Victoria) but one is Inside Passage and one is Endicott Arm/Dawes Glacier

[reallyitsmema]

2 minutes ago, Bucket29 said:

I have read the inside passage can be during the night and early am- is this the situation for every cruise?

 

You need to look at the specific itinerary for the weeks you are considering to see when you are likely to be sailing the Inside Passage.  

[BecAus]

Hi

Just wanted to let you know about our experience - we were on a 7n Alaska cruise on Ovation out of Seattle mid July 2019.

Our cruise included both Inside Passage and Endicott Arm/Dawes Glacier.

Unfortunately there was too much ice in the entrance channel and we were unable to go up to the Glacier - I believe the Captain said this was the 2nd or 3rd time it had happened during that season including the same cruise a fortnight earlier.

It wasn't just a problem for us in the bigger ship either - there was a much, much  smaller vessel that attempted to go in but also had to turn around due to the amount of ice.

This did not take away from our cruise at all.  We still enjoyed it.  We had booked the North Star Experience for the time we were supposed to be at the Glacier but still had excellent views from where we were just outside that channel - not the Glacier itself but could see lots and lots of ice and lovely scenery.

We travelled through the Inside Passage during daylights hours and had nice views too, that was the morning of Day 3 although some of it might have been during night but mostly daylight hours from memory.

 

So, we weren't overly disappointed even though we had got up early to go up top and see the Glacier.  We didn't feel not seeing it took anything away from our cruise but just wanted to let you know our experience and that it's not guaranteed to be able to get up to the Glacier - very dependent on the ice conditions at the time and the Captain says they don't know what it will be like until they arrive there on the day..

[Biker19]

40 minutes ago, Bucket29 said:

I have read the inside passage can be during the night and early am- is this the situation for every cruise?

Don't read too much into the Inside Passage bit, all ships do that and you'll get some views on every itinerary. The thing that will determine the experience, regardless of itinerary, is the weather, which you can't predict.

[Coralc]

I would go with the glaciers. I thought the Inside Passage was kind of boring. 

[twangster]

The entrance to Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier is located in the Alaskan Inside Passage.

 

Juneau can only be reached by sailing the Alaskan Inside Passage.

 

The cruise lines use the Alaskan Inside passage as a marketing concept to promote an itinerary and make it sound exotic but don't be fooled into thinking other itineraries don't also sail in the same Alaskan Inside passage simply because the cruise isn't titled that way.  

[Bucket29]

19 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

You need to look at the specific itinerary for the weeks you are considering to see when you are likely to be sailing the Inside Passage.  

Thanks- so I looked more closely at the itinerary and the Inside Passage Cruising is on the same day as Juneau (which is a 1200 port arrival).  So cruising of the Inside Passage will be a limited experience and/or early morning hours.  I also noticed this particular cruise is entitled ALASKA EXPERIENCE CRUISE where all the others are called ALASKA GLACIER CRUISE- think I'm going to go with the GLACIER option

[ryano]

10 minutes ago, Bucket29 said:

Thanks- so I looked more closely at the itinerary and the Inside Passage Cruising is on the same day as Juneau (which is a 1200 port arrival).  So cruising of the Inside Passage will be a limited experience and/or early morning hours.  I also noticed this particular cruise is entitled ALASKA EXPERIENCE CRUISE where all the others are called ALASKA GLACIER CRUISE- think I'm going to go with the GLACIER option

 

I have decided to go with the experience cruise over the glacier cruise, if they will allow the swap for my lift and shift.    It adds Sitka instead of the Dawes glacier. Both cruises list going through the inside passage though. The reason being is as BecAus said, sometimes the glacier isnt accessible.

[reallyitsmema]

20 minutes ago, Bucket29 said:

Thanks- so I looked more closely at the itinerary and the Inside Passage Cruising is on the same day as Juneau (which is a 1200 port arrival).  So cruising of the Inside Passage will be a limited experience and/or early morning hours.  I also noticed this particular cruise is entitled ALASKA EXPERIENCE CRUISE where all the others are called ALASKA GLACIER CRUISE- think I'm going to go with the GLACIER option

 

I would choose that one too.  I am, hopefully, sailing Quantum and ours is scheduled to visit Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier.  

[Hoopster95]

On 2/15/2021 at 3:03 PM, Bucket29 said:

my indecision is regarding the Alaska Inside Passage cruising option versus Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier cruising option itineraries. 

 

Difference between Alaskan Inside Passage and British Coumbia Inside Passage with map:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2760388-which-alaska-itinerary-would-you-choose/?tab=comments#comment-60356415

 

Outstanding time-lapse video courtesy of @Twangster of the Alaskan Inside Passage

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2760388-which-alaska-itinerary-would-you-choose/?tab=comments#comment-60356418

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Hoopster95

[Jingerwoppy]

On our cruise many years ago we went to Dawe's Glacier and it was great. The ship stopped and started turning in a circle so we could see everything without having to walk around to different sides of the ship. 

 

I don't usually link to anything of mine but I did a montage of our Alaska cruise in 2012 and there included some of the glacier pictures.