If You Had To Choose???

[Hogladyrider]

If you were a 1st time cruiser to Alaska on Princess, what ship and itinery would you chose.

 

Figuring on at least 2-3 cruises to Alaska, would it be best for the 1st one to do a round trip from Seattle?

 

Thinking the 2nd trip to Alaska would include a cruise and land trip via Princess.

 

Would we be please with an Inside Passage cruise?

 

I'm posting here instead of on the Alaska destination because there is more activity here and most of the destination posts are for people who have already booked.

 

Does anyone know when Princess will announce their 2008 Alaska sail dates?

 

Thanks to all.

 

I have the Princess DVD which is just awesome and I have purchased the book Alaska by Cruise Ship by Anne Vipond and its full of great information as well. Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

[crusdiva]

In 2005 DH and I chose the Coral southbound from Whittier to Vancouver - Voyage of the Glaciers. We did a 4 day land tour first. It was a great trip and crusing both Glacier Bay and College Fjord was amazing.

[Mezzaluna]

Ditto! But we did a five-day. I definitely recommend doing the land tour first, then the southbound cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. You're usually on the move every day, so when the land tour is done you're ready to relax on the ship and enjoy the glaciers from your cabin.

 

Best ship for viewing the glaciers: Coral Princess. It's small and gets all the way into Glacier Bay and College Fjord. Be sure to bring binoculars to watch whales and cracking ice! We were in B309, which gave us a wraparound balcony. We could see almost all the way aft and it was up high enough to get a view of sea life, too. The balcony is completely covered as well, nice in case of inclement weather.

[ccrain]

Island or Coral Princess. Smaller ships, all the amenities and not too many people.

 

If I had to do it all over again, I would do the land tour on my own. Fly to Anchorage, rent a car, stay in a local hotel for two days in Anchorage. See the native center, bike the tony knowles trail, shop and eat in Anchorage.

 

Then drive to Denali, stay at one of the many B&Bs or even the Princess Lodge if you really want to. Stay two nights at at least.

 

The drive to Fairbanks, poke around there for another day or two and drive south east through the valley to Delta around the other way through the copper river valley back to Anchorage. Stay one night in Anchorage prior to cruise, take the bus transfer to the ship, sit back and relax until Vancouver.

 

Or for the ultimate, stay on the ship in Vancouver, come back to Anchorage and fly home.

 

Oh Yeah!!!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Here's questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you want the cheapest airfare? Then you need to consider a RT to Seattle; otherwise you would need to book a flight to Anchorage and from BC or vice versa. You can also book to/from Seattle and take the ferry into Vancouver, but would still need the Anchorage flight.

 

2. Do you have time considerations in which you can't really do a cruisetour? Then it's probably best to do the RT to Seattle and throw in a day pre-cruise in Seattle to relax before your cruise, pick up whatever you need at a store, etc. If you have the two-week time, then maybe the cruisetour add on will be best.

 

We selected the RT because we weren't interested in a cruisetour (figured our daughter, turning 7 before the cruise, would be bored). We were able to take the train up the West Coast...wouldn't been able to take a train to Anchorage. Worked out great for us. You just have to decide for yourself whether to do the RT or the one-way.