Alaska : Stick with Cunard or move?

[babs135]

Should have been on board the Queen Elizabeth but instead we're at home  dreaming of what might have been.  Transferred to the Canary Islands over Xmas and the New Year.  Thoughts now turn to next year and I'm wondering if we should stick with Cunard or look at another cruise line.  

Would value your opinion.

 

[cruisemom42]

Have you been to Alaska before?  Are you mainly interested in the cruise portion? (Some lines offer a combined land/sea trip that shows you more of Alaska...)

 

I would always put ports first, but having said that there are a lot of ships doing Alaska now and you should be able to get a nice itinerary on a nice ship.

 

I would say the first thing is to ensure you're on a ship that cruises Glacier Bay.  Only some ships do this; others cruise different areas.  I've done at least three different Alaska variations and hands-down, GB offers the best "cruising day" experience of Alaskan glaciers. 

 

Other than that, I would recommend an itinerary that includes Sitka, my favorite stop. 

 

Some lines have a stronger Alaska "program" than others, with lectures and on-board naturalists who point out wildlife and interesting natural elements along the way. Princess had a very strong program when I did Alaska on that line; Celebrity less so. I imagine Cunard probably has a decent program/lecturer as well.

 

[SargassoPirate]

After a couple of Alaska cruises, we figured out we were seeing very little of Alaska.  One year we decided to see more of it, so we flew to Anchorage, rented a car, and drove just about every paved and a few unpaved roads.  At the end of the tour, we hopped on the Coral Princess and sailed southbound to Vancouver.

 

Don't limit yourself to just a cruise - see the interior too.

[donaldsc]

3 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

After a couple of Alaska cruises, we figured out we were seeing very little of Alaska.  One year we decided to see more of it, so we flew to Anchorage, rented a car, and drove just about every paved and a few unpaved roads.  At the end of the tour, we hopped on the Coral Princess and sailed southbound to Vancouver.

 

Don't limit yourself to just a cruise - see the interior too.

 

Best idea yet.  We spent almost 3 months driving AK.  However we drove from Las Vegas to AK on the Alcan Highway which was cool.  Then on the way home we put the car on one of the Alaska Marine Highway ferries from I believe Haines to Prince Rupert and drove home via BC.   We also used the marine highway ships to get to towns that were not accessible by road.

 

One of my best trips ever.  Even more amazing was that after spending more than 3 months in a Honda Accord w my wife we were still talking to each other.

 

The sad thing about all of the people who only do AK cruises is that many of them think that they have really seen AK.  

 

You sound like my kind of people.  Shame that we can't get together to share a few beers and a lot of travel stories.  Did you drive the haul road?

 

BTW - we just got back from a small ship (190 passengers) cruise in southern AK.  Have you ever been to a town such as Kake?  We also got to experience a July 4 celebration in Wrangell which was lot of fun.

 

DON

[babs135]

6 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

After a couple of Alaska cruises, we figured out we were seeing very little of Alaska.  One year we decided to see more of it, so we flew to Anchorage, rented a car, and drove just about every paved and a few unpaved roads.  At the end of the tour, we hopped on the Coral Princess and sailed southbound to Vancouver.

 

Don't limit yourself to just a cruise - see the interior too.

 

3 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Best idea yet.  We spent almost 3 months driving AK.  However we drove from Las Vegas to AK on the Alcan Highway which was cool.  Then on the way home we put the car on one of the Alaska Marine Highway ferries from I believe Haines to Prince Rupert and drove home via BC.   We also used the marine highway ships to get to towns that were not accessible by road.

 

One of my best trips ever.  Even more amazing was that after spending more than 3 months in a Honda Accord w my wife we were still talking to each other.

 

The sad thing about all of the people who only do AK cruises is that many of them think that they have really seen AK.  

 

You sound like my kind of people.  Shame that we can't get together to share a few beers and a lot of travel stories.  Did you drive the haul road?

 

BTW - we just got back from a small ship (190 passengers) cruise in southern AK.  Have you ever been to a town such as Kake?  We also got to experience a July 4 celebration in Wrangell which was lot of fun.

 

DON

Very appealing but I'm not sure that we aren't a bit too long in the tooth for a lot of driving, especially as it's on the wrong side of the road for us. However, if we were interested how and where would we start looking and the bottom line, is it expensive ?

Edited July 16, 2022 by babs135

[donaldsc]

4 minutes ago, babs135 said:

 

Very appealing but I'm not sure that we aren't a bit too long in the tooth for a lot of driving, especially as it's on the wrong side of the road for us. However, if we were interested how and where would we start looking and the bottom line, is it expensive ?

 

With regard to the wrong side of the road issue although I might say that you are on the wrong side (LOL!!) we did a 2 month driving trip in Australia and have driven on several trips in the UK w/o problems.  The things to remember are 

 

1)  Be very careful when pulling out of parking lots

2) Be very careful when entering roundabouts although the US has much fewer roundabouts than the UK

3) When the non-driving person in the car starts screaming you are probably doing something really wrong or dangerous.

 

Regarding setting on setting up the trip get out a bunch of good guide books, the Milepost Book which is the bible for driving in AK, a good map and a lot of patience.  You will spend hours on the internet planning the trip.  With regard to costs - we did it maybe 10 years ago so costs are certainly higher now than we spent and we never bothered to figure out how much we were going to spend.  The trip certainly was not cheap but we figured out what we wanted to do and didn't worry about costs.  We did drive about 12,000 miles on the trip.

 

It was a really wonderful trip.  Get back to me w more questions if you get serious.

 

DON

[mom says]

Getting back to the original question, I would agree with Cruisemom that the itinerary should be a main factor in selecting an Alaska cruise.  And a Glacier Bay day is certainly something you would want to look for. Holland America has been doing Alaska the longest, and has been noted for their lecturers.  Princess also has a good history there as well. You could look at them to see how they stack up against whatever Cunard has to offer.

[hueyjudy]

13 hours ago, babs135 said:

Should have been on board the Queen Elizabeth but instead we're at home  dreaming of what might have been.  Transferred to the Canary Islands over Xmas and the New Year.  Thoughts now turn to next year and I'm wondering if we should stick with Cunard or look at another cruise line.  

Would value your opinion.

 

We've only done one Cunard cruise, on Victoria around Norway.  We think that Cunard is the best ever.  We just loved everything about it.  She is so elegant, versus the garish decor of other cruise lines.  We can't wait to book our next cruise, but of course are busy using up all the credits from all the cancelled cruises.

[SargassoPirate]

18 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Best idea yet.  We spent almost 3 months driving AK.  However we drove from Las Vegas to AK on the Alcan Highway which was cool.  Then on the way home we put the car on one of the Alaska Marine Highway ferries from I believe Haines to Prince Rupert and drove home via BC.   We also used the marine highway ships to get to towns that were not accessible by road.

 

One of my best trips ever.  Even more amazing was that after spending more than 3 months in a Honda Accord w my wife we were still talking to each other.

 

The sad thing about all of the people who only do AK cruises is that many of them think that they have really seen AK.  

 

You sound like my kind of people.  Shame that we can't get together to share a few beers and a lot of travel stories.  Did you drive the haul road?

 

BTW - we just got back from a small ship (190 passengers) cruise in southern AK.  Have you ever been to a town such as Kake?  We also got to experience a July 4 celebration in Wrangell which was lot of fun.

 

DON

 

Don,

 

I'll take you up on that beer someday.

 

I've still got two Alaska-related items on my bucket list - and yes, I keep an actual list and I'm still adding to it.

 

The first is to ride the Harley to Bellingham, catch the ferry to Anchorage, and stop at every little port and get off for a day or two in some of the larger ones.  The ride to Bellingham is a long way from where I live, so that in itself would be an adventure.

 

The second is to drive the Alaska highway from the lower 48 to Fairbanks and maybe on up to Coldfoot.

 

The Pirate

 

 

 

 

[donaldsc]

5 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 

Don,

 

I'll take you up on that beer someday.

 

I've still got two Alaska-related items on my bucket list - and yes, I keep an actual list and I'm still adding to it.

 

The first is to ride the Harley to Bellingham, catch the ferry to Anchorage, and stop at every little port and get off for a day or two in some of the larger ones.  The ride to Bellingham is a long way from where I live, so that in itself would be an adventure.

 

The second is to drive the Alaska highway from the lower 48 to Fairbanks and maybe on up to Coldfoot.

 

The Pirate

 

 

 

 

 

A good plan but I will suggest a few modifications based on personal experience.

 

1) If you take the Marine Highway you will have to stay at some of the small towns for a few days as the ferries don't run every day.  You might be stuck in some of the towns for a week.  Definitely plan to spend several days in Prince Rupert in BC.  It is a great place to visit.  We enjoyed our stay there even though it poured for the 3 days we were there.

 

2) We drove from Las Vegas to Fairbanks and then headed north on the Dalton Highway.  Don't plan to stop at Coldfoot.  It is nothing but a big truck stop.  You can overnight in Wiseman AK (look it up) which is a very very small town a few miles north of Coldfoot w a single B&B.  Just don't make a mistake on the date which is what we did so we had to spend one night in a raised tent.  If we ever have that beer I will tell you the rest of the story about Wiseman.  It is too long to wrote about.

 

3) On the Dalton drive at least as far north as the Atigun pass (look it up).  That was one of my goals on the trip.  If you have ever watch the early episodes of Ice Road Truckers you will know why.

 

4)  Coming south get off the ferry at Prince Rupert.  Head east to get to the town of Hyder AK (map it out in Google maps) (look it up in Wikipedia) ,  My wife found the place.  Hyder is the only town in southern Alaska that you can drive to.  It is right across the border from Steward (not Seward) BC.  It is a unique funky little town and you go there just because of where it is and what it isn't.

 

5) If you are into wine, come back to the US through Kelowana.  I never knew that they had a wine growing area in BC and again my dear wife found the place for us.  Part of our trip was not totally planned in advance.  The place is beautiful and there are lots of good vineyards.  Their wine is not exported to the US.  We managed to find space in our car for several cases of wine.

 

You can now see why we put 12,000 miles on the car on that trip.  BTW - where is home?

 

DON

Edited July 17, 2022 by donaldsc

[SargassoPirate]

Thanks, Don.  I'm gonna print that out and stick it in my planning folder.  

 

East coast is home, in the mountains.  That's all I'll say on social media.