1st Alaska cruise. Help needed

[wags111]

Hi y’all! We have cruised alot in the Caribbean. We are interested in cruising to Alaska. I don’t know where to start without reading for days LOL.  which itinerary, which cruise line, which ship, what to do, which month etc. I am very overwhelmed. Help! 4 50ish year old adults

[donaldsc]

Come up with some specific questions and we will be glad to help you. Bottom line is that you are going to have to do some of your own research or take some books out of your local library.   My only response at this point is that Alaska is totally and completely different from the Caribbean and IMHO much much much better.

 

DON

Edited Thursday at 06:33 PM by donaldsc

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, wags111 said:

Hi y’all! We have cruised alot in the Caribbean. We are interested in cruising to Alaska. I don’t know where to start without reading for days LOL.  which itinerary, which cruise line, which ship, what to do, which month etc. I am very overwhelmed. Help! 4 50ish year old adults

Doing some reading will in fact benefit you, as your questions are extremely general. This sort of question is asked frequently...there are many threads on the topic. In fact there is a "which cruise line" thread just two below this one as I write this.

[zqvol]

Read some books to get an idea what you want. There are things that people insist are must dos, but not for us, in fact they are must avoids. Only you and your family know what you like. Get the ideas from the books and then ask how to implement those plans. I recommend Alaska by Cruise Ship as a starting point. 

[edinburgher]

21 hours ago, wags111 said:

I don’t know where to start without reading for days LOL

As others have already pointed out, reading is a necessary evil especially so  if you are starting from nothing.

 

Some basics to get you started:

 

How many days will you have available including travel days?  This will determine whether you can do only one way, usually 7 days, or a round trip of 14 , or even two separate directions of 7 days each  with a stay somewhere inbetween.

 

Would you want cruise only or would you want to add a land tour? And if adding a land tour your number of available days becomes important.

 

Most will sail from either Seattle or Vancouver.  Would one be a better match for flights from your home or would either work for you? Would one of them cost a good deal more than the other or are costs similar?

 

Once you can answer these basic questions you can move on to cruiselines and itineraries. The two with most experience and generally considered to be amongst the best in Alaska  are Holland America and Princess who generally have good docking locations and port times, in addition to having a generous allocation of permits to sail Glacier Bay which many consider a "must see" in Alaska..  Note that NCL in Alaska have very mixed reviews and a bit of a reputation for inconvenient port times, and in eg Ketchikan they dock several miles outside of town at Ward Cove instead of in Ketchikan itself which means using shuttle buses. And they don't have many sailings to Glacier Bay.

 

You have plenty of time to read read and read more until you have a better idea of what might suit your interests, available time and budget.😀

 

And prepare to be shocked to some extent, as Alaska excursions are far more costly than those in the Caribbean although it isn't necessary to take the most expensive in every port, as it is possible to explore independently with only the occasional big spend along the way for those experiences which make Alaska truly special.

Edited Friday at 02:51 PM by edinburgher

[Oakman58]

I always tell a first time to Alaska cruiser to book a cruise that includes Glacier Bay National Park. That will rule out both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity since neither of those two lines go to Glacier Bay.  Holland America and Princess have the most experience with Alaska.

[Visitors4]

Hi, think about how you got to be interested in possibly sailing Alaska and why. There's a whole world to see, and you thought of Alaska! Are there sights and experiences that you've heard about and interest you? From that, you should be able to get lots of guidance from the Cruisecritic community. 

[aussielozzie18]

You’ve gotten great advice so far.  This might help with when to cruise Alaska

 

ps we cruised Alaska for the first time this year.  Highlight of our cruise was Glacier Bay NP