I'm so overwhelmed! Not sure where to start....help!

[Tippy_Toes]

Hi everyone, 

 

I'm trying to get myself together to plan our dream trip and it's so overwhelming! We are not new to cruising, but new to Alaska and this is a BIG bucket list trip for us both. 

Firstly, hello all, We are Samantha and Dean from Australia. Mid 50's and love to travel. 

 

Our plan is in June/July 2025 to do the Rocky mountaineer train and explore Banff, Lake Louise etc, then join a cruise ship from Vancouver to sail Alaska. 

I've narrowed it down to either HAL or Princess. 

 

When I ask myself what's the most important things of the trip, it's the following (in no particular order) - Wildlife, Scenery/Glaciers, Dog sledding, history/education and food!

 

I'm lost with trying to choose the right itinerary and ship. I can't distinguish between Northbound and Southbound, so am thinking we should do both? 

 

Is it right that I can't choose a Grand class Princess ship as that doesn't do the inside passage? 

 

I've spent the entire weekend reading trip reports and watching you tube videos but I'm now more confused than ever. I think I'm at information overload point!! 

 

For anyone who has sailed both Princess and HAL to Alaska, which ship/itinerary was your preference? 

 

Thank you so much for any advice you can offer!! 

[wolfie11]

You don’t want a Royal class or to sail out of Seattle, as you will not do the inside passage.  You do want a cruise that goes to Glacier Bay. Princess does an excellent job in Alaska and has some really good naturalists and shipboard activities.  Look at their 14 day Grand Adventure cruise out of Vancouver.  The Queen Elizabeth also has a nice 10 day itinerary out of Vancouver and goes to Glacier Bay.

Edited December 17, 2023 by wolfie11

[SirTomster]

There is a YouTube channel I follow who did pretty much your itinerary.   

 

Search Paul and Carole Love to Travel and view their Canada and Alaska vlogs.

 

So you can see what they did on their Cruise.   It might help.

 

I have been researching HAL for my cruise a lot because I received a free inside cabin.  So I cannot comment on Princess and I am biased towards HAL due to that.

 

I am not sure if a 14-day up and back is the best.  It seems the only difference between the northbound and southbound is that the northbound goes to College Fjord and the southbound goes to Hubbard Glacier.  Otherwise, you hit the same 3 ports on both cruises.  Now maybe if you have plans to do multiple things in each port, hitting them twice is a good idea.

 

Personally, if I could do what you are planning, I would reverse it.  I would fly to Anchorage, go to Seward to do the Kenai Fjords 1 day cruise.  I would then go to Whittier and do the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise that does College Fjord.   Then I would do a southbound to Vancouver.   Hitting Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.  Then once in Vancouver do the Rocky Mountaineer to Lake Louise and Banff.

 

If you have more time/funds you can start even earlier in Anchorage and do Denali or other locations too.

 

But it sounds like you are going to do a fantastic trip.   I am one of those people who love to plan, so get a lot of enjoyment in the planning.  So hopefully you are too and you can look at all the great options available.

 

 

 

[Sarnia 432]

Sirtomster has it right, also southbound you will go through the most scenic parts of the inside passage in daylight, northbound you leave Vancouver in the evening and the best bits are while you sleep!

[Coral]

Grand class ships usually do inside passage. Royal class ships do not.

[GTJ]

14 hours ago, Tippy_Toes said:

Our plan is in June/July 2025 to do the Rocky mountaineer train and explore Banff, Lake Louise etc, then join a cruise ship from Vancouver to sail Alaska. I've narrowed it down to either HAL or Princess. * * * I'm lost with trying to choose the right itinerary and ship. I can't distinguish between Northbound and Southbound, so am thinking we should do both?

I assume that you are aware that Princess Cruises and Holland America Line are both the same company, the differences being the particular branding attributes of each.

 

From a logistics perspective, if you're traveling on the Rocky Mountaineer rail service prior to the cruise, then you should travel westbound on the train (Banff or Lake Louise to Vancouver) and northbound on the cruise vessel (Vancouver to Whittier). But if traveling on the Rocky Mountaineer rail service after the cruise, then you should travel southbound on the cruise vessel (Whittier to Vancouver) and eastbound of the train (Vancouver to Banff or Lake Louise). Should you choose to go round-trip on a cruise vessel, then travel round-trip from Vancouver (to Whittier and return), not from Whittier (to Vancouver and return), and travel either eastbound on the train following the round-trip cruise, or westbound on the train preceding the round-trip cruise. Handling the logistics in this manner means that your air transportation from Australia would involve a flight to or from Calgary (which is proximate to Banff and Lake Louise) and either Anchorage (which is proximate to Whittier), if cruising one-way, or Vancouver, if cruising round-trip.

 

If I were planning this type of travel for myself, then instead of considering a round-trip cruise, I would consider an overland extension on the Alaska end. In particular, I would consider overland travel, by bus or railroad, on the route Whittier - Anchorage - Talkeetna - Denali - Fairbanks, stopping off at any or all of the noted intermediate points. In effect, the trip would over land and by sea, one-way, from Calgary to Fairbanks, or vice versa.

 

(I might also consider continuing from Fairbanks, by Dalton Highway Express bus, to Prudhoe Bay, on the Arctic Ocean, just under 2,000 km from the north pole. For someone wanting to visit all the oceans, it would significant check mark going there. In sum, a one-way trip, overland and by sea, about 6,000 km, from Calgary to Prudhoe Bay, or vice versa!)

[disneyochem]

Have you considered doing the Princess Heart of the Rockies cruise tour?  It is a cruise tour that tours Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, a Rocky Mountaineer trip to Vancouver followed by a Northbound 7- day Alaskan cruise?  We did it this past summer—very enjoyable.  Stayed at all of the iconic Fairmont Hotels and only 24 people in our group.

We actually did a B2B so we ended up in Vancouver.

[Tippy_Toes]

Thank you for all your comments. It's giving me lots to think about,  but at least I have a better idea of which direction to go in now! 

I was considering an actual cruise/land tour due to the logistics involved, but Dean isn't sold on the idea as we have always travelled independently in the past as we like to be able to do our own thing.

 

Princess cruise seems to be winning out over HAL at the moment, mostly due to their enrichment program 

 

Glacier Bay is an absolute must. So is dog sledding on Mendelhall Glacier!! 

 

 

[nini]

We are Princess fans and from what you have described; you may find it more to your liking as well. HAL is more sleepy and did not have many activities. Princess always seem to have a wealth of Nature Commentators and lecturers onboard.

Our first Alaska cruise included Hubbard Glacier which we prefer over Glacier Bay, but take what you can!

[AKStafford]

On 12/17/2023 at 3:00 PM, Tippy_Toes said:

I was considering an actual cruise/land tour due to the logistics involved, but Dean isn't sold on the idea as we have always travelled independently in the past as we like to be able to do our own thing.

If you are considering a land tour of Southcentral Alaska, I highly recommend planning that yourself using a rental car to get around. You'll have more options in dining, lodging and activities. 

There's lots of great advice available here and at the TripAdvisor forum for Alaska travel: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g28923-i349-Alaska.html

[lynncarol]

You can have the best of both worlds.  Take the Princess Cruse out of Vancouver that ends up in Anchorage.  From there rent a car and do it independently for a week. This is what we did. We were able to visit Denali for two full days when the weather was absolutely perfect and then off to Girdwood, Alyeska (sp?) with its fabulous ski lift and Matanuska Glacier.  Then we returned the rental car in Anchorage (which saved alot of money)  to take the train down to Seward for an overnight and Kenai Fjords boat ride). Flew home from Anchorage.  

[nini]

If you do rent a car, be prepared for STICKER SHOCK! And reserve ASAP.

[BINDY31]

We are from Australia too, and are embarking on our bucket list trip in June 2024.

 

like you, we love scenery, wildlife, history and food.

we opted for a Cruisetour with Holland America.

 

this will be a one and done trip to this part of the world. Unless we win lotto we won’t be back again so have splurged a bit. 
 

we chose 18 day Yukon/Alaska trip with Holland land first.
 

why land first??  We will be touring the Rockies and doing the Rocky Mountaineer after this tour so it gives us land, cruise then land. Seemed to make sense at the time….lol

also gives us a Southbound cruise.more on that later.

 

we start off in Vancouver, fly to Whitehorse in the Yukon and overnight there.

next morning we have a tour to Caribou Crossing where they have a great museum with lots of displays. We get to see plenty of scenery as well along the way. 
then fly to Dawson City for 2 nights. Lots of gold rush history here. 
 

then fly to Fairbanks, 2 nights. We will go on a riverboat tour, see sled dogs, learn about how the First Nations people lived and survived here. 
 

then off to Denali National park. This time a Road trip. 3 nights.

 

hopefully on our tour of Denali the weather will be kind and we get to see the lovely mountain.

on a free day here we are taking a flight into the Arctic Circle where we will meet some of the residents we stay all year round, even when it gets to 80 below!!!

 

then board a lovely domed roof train for the scenic trip to Anchorage  2 nights.

our first whole free day here will see us helicopter up a glacier and go dog sledding. This can also be done while on the cruise. We chose to do it out of Fairbanks as Fairbanks receives less rain, therefore less cancellations due to the weather. 
 

then another canonic train trip to Whittier where we board our ship for 7 nights back to Vancouver.

 

we have scenic cruising of Hubbard Glacier, we booked the catamaran excursion here to get a close up view of the glacier.

 

scenic cruising in Glacier bay.

followed by a day each in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.

last day on cruise scenic cruising through the inside passage.

 

back in Vancouver we have 1 night then hit the road again, visiting Vancouver Island 2 nights, Whistler 2 nights, Sun Peaks, Jasper 2 nights Banff 2 nights the board the Rocky Mountaineer back to Vancouver. 
 

this an escorted tour with Globus for us as hubby didn’t want to drive over there but just as easy to do it yourself.

 

we then have 4 nights in Vancouver before heading home. A busy, busy time for us but ticking off those bucket list items.

 

hoping to see lots of wildlife during our travels, top of the list for hubby is bears, although we might be a little early but fingers crossed. For me, it’s Moose and Caribou.

 

i hope you find something suitable for yourselves.

 

any questions, ask away….

 

cheers

Belinda

 

[nini]

Hubbard Glacier is fabulous! We like it a bit more than Glacier Bay.

[Coral]

She problem with Hubbard glacier is that it is often not accessible - there are several times I have been 9 miles away (or farther) from the glacier.

 

If you can get close to Hubbard, it is great. I have probably been there 10x and only close 2-3x. The other times, we might have not just gone because it was so distant.

 

Booking a small boat gives you a better chance of getting closer.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Coral

[lynncarol]

On 12/29/2023 at 1:45 PM, nini said:

If you do rent a car, be prepared for STICKER SHOCK! And reserve ASAP.

Yes, renting a car can be very expensive, especially if you do it from the Anchorage airport.  When we were there, we used Alamo which had a much cheaper option if you rented downtown, plus Alamo had a great special going on for small business owners, of which our cousin's husband (both of whom were with us) qualified. All we had to do was email them a photo of his business card. 

[nini]

5 hours ago, Coral said:

She problem with Hubbard glacier is that it is often not accessible - there are several times I have been 9 miles away (or farther) from the glacier.

 

If you can get close to Hubbard, it is great. I have probably been there 10x and only close 2-3x. The other times, we might have not just gone because it was so distant.

 

Booking a small boat gives you a better chance of getting closer.

 

We got in the entire way on a gorgeous sunny day. However, it was toward the end of August. It was calving to its heart's content and put on quite a show!

[nini]

12 minutes ago, lynncarol said:

Yes, renting a car can be very expensive, especially if you do it from the Anchorage airport.  When we were there, we used Alamo which had a much cheaper option if you rented downtown, plus Alamo had a great special going on for small business owners, of which our cousin's husband (both of whom were with us) qualified. All we had to do was email them a photo of his business card. 

 

I did some mock bookings with our favorite TA which has always been the least expensive for us. I can get a standard car for a week in May for about $1200.00.

June through August is sold out. Early September is available at about half the cost.

 

It does not cost anything to make a reservation now.

[Coral]

53 minutes ago, nini said:

 

We got in the entire way on a gorgeous sunny day. However, it was toward the end of August. It was calving to its heart's content and put on quite a show!

I have been both - very close and very far. Hubbard is unpredictable. I have had July sailings where we were quite the distance. One year, Hubbard was not accessible at all to any ships. 

 

If you get close - it is truly amazing. It is horrible at 9 miles out.

[nini]

6 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have been both - very close and very far. Hubbard is unpredictable. I have had July sailings where we were quite the distance. One year, Hubbard was not accessible at all to any ships. 

 

If you get close - it is truly amazing. It is horrible at 9 miles out.

 

The Alaska sunshine must have been smiling down on us! It was our very first Alaska cruise.

P.S. We also saw the Northern Lights on that same cruise. Score!

Edited December 31, 2023 by nini

[wolfie11]

I find it depends more on the captain than the ice.  Some captains won’t go anywhere near the ice and stay several miles out (usually Italian captains) and some will get as close as the pilot is willing to go. I believe Norwegian put in a set of protocols following an incident a couple of years ago and can’t get really close unless ice and weather conditions are perfect.

[Coral]

12 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

I find it depends more on the captain than the ice.  Some captains won’t go anywhere near the ice and stay several miles out (usually Italian captains) and some will get as close as the pilot is willing to go. I believe Norwegian put in a set of protocols following an incident a couple of years ago and can’t get really close unless ice and weather conditions are perfect.

To some extent, I would agree. In 2002 (I believe) - no ships made it due to unique situation that prevented all ships from going.

 

I have been on cruise ships where I think we will get close and the Captain turns it around and I don't think there is anymore ice around the area compared to when I was there previously (and we got close). Depending on the Captain of the ship, some ships don't make it close at all while he/she is Captain. Other ships do. Though one has no clue who will be Captain when they book the cruise.

 

On the other hand - going to Glacier Bay doesn't seem to matter who is Captain. The only time people seem to struggle here is with fog.

Edited January 1 by Coral

[wolfie11]

Margerie is a really easy glacier to get close to.  There are no strong currents and the tide tends to clear out the ice with each cycle.  Very predictable ice behavior. Hubbard is much trickier as the ice sticks around longer and moves around a lot.  There’s also a wicked current that flows through the gap between Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fjord that brings in a lot of ice. The pattern of ice movement is much less predictable.  I’ve only been to Dawes once so I don’t know much about it.

 

[Coral]

56 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

Margerie is a really easy glacier to get close to.  There are no strong currents and the tide tends to clear out the ice with each cycle.  Very predictable ice behavior. Hubbard is much trickier as the ice sticks around longer and moves around a lot.  There’s also a wicked current that flows through the gap between Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fjord that brings in a lot of ice. The pattern of ice movement is much less predictable.  I’ve only been to Dawes once so I don’t know much about it.

 

Dawes is easy to access. I have been several times (on a ship and small boat). That is why several ships who can't get into Tracy Arm go to Endicott Arm.

Edited January 1 by Coral

[Tippy_Toes]

On 12/31/2023 at 4:09 PM, BINDY31 said:

We are from Australia too, and are embarking on our bucket list trip in June 2024.

 

like you, we love scenery, wildlife, history and food.

we opted for a Cruisetour with Holland America.

 

this will be a one and done trip to this part of the world. Unless we win lotto we won’t be back again so have splurged a bit. 
 

we chose 18 day Yukon/Alaska trip with Holland land first.
 

why land first??  We will be touring the Rockies and doing the Rocky Mountaineer after this tour so it gives us land, cruise then land. Seemed to make sense at the time….lol

also gives us a Southbound cruise.more on that later.

 

we start off in Vancouver, fly to Whitehorse in the Yukon and overnight there.

next morning we have a tour to Caribou Crossing where they have a great museum with lots of displays. We get to see plenty of scenery as well along the way. 
then fly to Dawson City for 2 nights. Lots of gold rush history here. 
 

then fly to Fairbanks, 2 nights. We will go on a riverboat tour, see sled dogs, learn about how the First Nations people lived and survived here. 
 

then off to Denali National park. This time a Road trip. 3 nights.

 

hopefully on our tour of Denali the weather will be kind and we get to see the lovely mountain.

on a free day here we are taking a flight into the Arctic Circle where we will meet some of the residents we stay all year round, even when it gets to 80 below!!!

 

then board a lovely domed roof train for the scenic trip to Anchorage  2 nights.

our first whole free day here will see us helicopter up a glacier and go dog sledding. This can also be done while on the cruise. We chose to do it out of Fairbanks as Fairbanks receives less rain, therefore less cancellations due to the weather. 
 

then another canonic train trip to Whittier where we board our ship for 7 nights back to Vancouver.

 

we have scenic cruising of Hubbard Glacier, we booked the catamaran excursion here to get a close up view of the glacier.

 

scenic cruising in Glacier bay.

followed by a day each in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.

last day on cruise scenic cruising through the inside passage.

 

back in Vancouver we have 1 night then hit the road again, visiting Vancouver Island 2 nights, Whistler 2 nights, Sun Peaks, Jasper 2 nights Banff 2 nights the board the Rocky Mountaineer back to Vancouver. 
 

this an escorted tour with Globus for us as hubby didn’t want to drive over there but just as easy to do it yourself.

 

we then have 4 nights in Vancouver before heading home. A busy, busy time for us but ticking off those bucket list items.

 

hoping to see lots of wildlife during our travels, top of the list for hubby is bears, although we might be a little early but fingers crossed. For me, it’s Moose and Caribou.

 

i hope you find something suitable for yourselves.

 

any questions, ask away….

 

cheers

Belinda

 

Thanks for sharing your amazing itinerary! That sounds absolutely fantastic. Like you, this will be a one and done trip for us too, so looking to spend 4 to 5 weeks travelling over there. I'm trying to decide if we should do Rocky Mountaineer and self drive around Bsnff, Jasper etc and 2 weeks cruise, or do Aladka land for 1 week taking in Fairbanks, Denali etc then cruise for a week Southbound to Vancouver. 

I'm also flip flopping back n forth about time of year to visit, May/June or late Aug/Sep to hopefully see the Northern lights.

I'm thinking September might be too late for bears though? I definitely hope to see bears!!