Millennium Alaska Glacier N/B or S/B

[sasset]

Holding reservations on Millennium for next August and September on the Glacier cruises; southbound August 12 and northbound September 2. Is there any advantage to S/B vs N/B other than where you want to start and end the cruise?

[Mark_T]

Very much a personal choice, but we greatly preferred the southbound route as it made it easy to fly in early and spend time in Anchorage and Seward along with a few private tours before boarding the ship.

 

Then at the Vancouver end it is very simple to head to the airport and home.

 

Yes, you can do the same the other way around, but we prefer to do the complex traveling and private tour stuff before the cruise then keep it simple at the other end.

[coolyu]

definitely northbound 

scenery gets better every day

the Kenai National park followed by the train ride to Anchorage is a great way to spend the last day

 

if you don’t plan;to spend more time in Alaska the train ride connects with the late flights 

out.  Judy

[sasset]

Thanks to both of you, Mark and coolyu.

 

[Northern Aurora]

Even though we live in Alaska we periodically do Alaska cruises.  We've done both north and south bound cruises and do not have a preference.

 

But I wanted to note that the train referenced by "coolyu" is the cruise line chartered early morning run from the Seward cruise terminal to the Anchorage Ted  Stevens Airport.  Not only is it convenient for flights out that day but is the airport is a handy location to pick up rental cars.

 

The Alaska Railroad will also offer a later run from the Seward ARR terminal to the Anchorage ARR terminal.  This run does not take the spur line to the Ted Stevens Airport.

[NetwrkEng]

Assuming both are the same “paths” ie inside passage vs outside I guess I would lean to August. September is getting very late in the season and the weather is more likely to be dicey. That said you just don’t know and we’ve spent nearly an entire cruise in Alaska in the gray and rain and still loved it. Can I assume this is your first trip to AK?