newbie seeks itinerary help please!

[asepin]

my husband and i are planning an alaska cruise but we are hopelessly confused about the different itinerary options:

1. assuming price is not an issue, how does a vancouver-vancouver itinerary compare with, say, a northbound vancouver to whittier or seward itinerary?

2. inside passage, college fjord, tracy arm, glacier bay, hubbard glacier -- are there any of these we should absolutely not miss? how would you rank them in terms of scenery?


i am sure that these are very basic questions. as a newbie to these boards, please feel free to point me to where others have already answered them.

i will be tremendously grateful for any help/advice you can offer!

[comxkid]

asepin,

If price (i.e. the cost of airfare) is not an issue, I would personally go for a Northbound (or Southbound) itinerary based on my research and recommendations from this board. I have found that there are some good cruise ship bargains for this itinerary also. This trip will allow you to see more of Alaska over the same period of time and give you the opportunity to add a land tour.

My personal ranking for the sites visited would be as follows:

1. Glacier Bay (Said to be the Best)
2. Hubbard Glacier (Very Actice Calving)
3. Tracey Arm (Beautiful Scenary)
4. College Fjord (Numerous Glaciers)

I hope this helps. I'm also an Alaskan newbie, but I'm an information junkie.

North to Alaska on the Radiance of the Seas
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=111111&cdt=2004;5;22;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

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Navigator of the Seas - March 2003
Destiny - July 2001
Magic - July 2000
Skyward - March 1987
Big Red Boat - March 1984

[DougH]

IMHO Vancouver to Seward/Whittier is the only way to go. The scenery gets better the farther North you go and is spectacular in the gulf. The portion between Collge fjord and Seward is my favorite. FYI I've sailed Alaska 9 times.

It's hard to pick a favorite glacier. Glacier Bay is overall the best full day experience, I think Hubbard is the best single glacier and College Fjord is one of my all-time favorite spots. I think on a perfect day College Fjord is the most impressive. Tracy fjords is OK but not in the same class.

My choice would be a Northbound trip stopping at Glacier Bay, College fjord and ending in Seward or Whittier.

For some of my photo go to the photo gallery section at [url="http://www.cruise-addicts.com"]www.cruise-addicts.com[/url] and look for galleries titled "Alaska by DougH" (there are several)

Doug

5/95 Crown Princess Alaska
1/96 Crown Princess S Carib
2/97 Crown Princess S Carib
9/97 Crown Princess Panama
6/98 Island Princess Alaska
10/98 Crown Princess Tahiti
6/99 Norway Norway
9/99 Mercury Alaska
1/00 Rhapsody Mexico
3/00 Grand Princess E Carib
7/00 Regal Princess Alaska
10/00 Dawn Princess S Carib
2/01 Millenium W Caribbean
5/01 Statendam Alaska
5/01 Statendam Alaska
10/01 Sea Princess Mexico
5/02 Summit Hawaii/Vancouver
7/02 Grand Princess W Carib
8/02 Legend Alaska
11/02 Prinsendam Australia/NZ
1/03 Splendour W Caribbean
3/03 Mercury Pacific Coast
5/03 Sun Princess Alaska
5/03 Sun Princess Alaska
1/04 Dawn Princess S Caribbean
1/04 Dawn Princess S Caribbean

[Coral]

Not as "experienced" as my friend DougH is (Hi Doug) but here is my input.

I have done (2) Alaskan Cruises - one RT from Vancouver (Radiance) and one Seward to Vancouver (Coral Princess). Some people say air is more expensive when you do the one way trips but I found the cruise significantly cheaper doing the one way so it can make up for the air being higher and in my case the air wasn't higher when I did the one way so definitely look at one way trips.

I found the scenary so much more beautiful sailing the one way trip. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenary on my North to South trip but will believe Doug when he says it is better to go South to North.

I loved Glacier Bay and College Fiords and strongly recommmend both. I did see Hubbard Glacier but due to lots of ice in the water we didn't get very close (7-8 miles) - so I can't really compare. The day sailing into Glacier Bay was incredibly gorgeous.

If you have any time - spend a few days up North and rent a car or do a land trip with the cruise line. So much to see there.

[santaharry]

I agree with Coral that the Northbound is the best for the first cruise. The Hubbard glacier is imperssive but based upon how active it is the cruise ships do not get very close. I have taken Princess, Holland America, and RCCL and the itenerary of Pincess IMHO is the best. You have the opportunity to go to the Tracy Arm from Juneau through Gold belt tours on the high speed catamaran Auk Nu. This trip will include whale watching and sight seeing and is well worth it. This has to be booked seperate from the cruise line and it is NOT offered by any of the cruise lines.
As for ships the Holland American ships are smaller and more intimate but I don't know about their time in Juneau. RCCL only does the Hubbard glacier and does not get into collerge fjord or glacier bay. Also most of their land tours are operated by Princess.

Enjoy!

[Mezzaluna]

My husband did southbound many years ago on Princess and liked it. When we decided to go this year we chose southbound again because we also chose to do the land tour. We reasoned that we might be tired after the land tour and be glad to have the more relaxed part of the trip (the cruise) afterwards. Our TA agreed. We'll see this June if we made the right choice.

Stella Solaris '80
Carnival Celebration '92
RCCL Majesty of the Seas '01
Coral Princess '04

[Coral]

Mezzaluna -

I think you will have a great trip! A lot of people do land touring first and then do the cruise part after.

[Budget Queen]

Ok my take. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] 10 cruise to Alaska. I prefer southbound or a round trip. You do NOT see the same scenery on a round trip because of routing. Southbound offers much more scenery sailing Vancouver Island- it's during the night on north bound. I am puzzeled by Dougs' preference for Seward- College Fjord cruising- a lot of this is done at night? I always add days interior touring on one way cruises- take advantage if you can of being all the way there. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] Seward also gets a big edge for me- so much so, I probably won't cruise Alaska this year since HAL doesn't fit my time frame. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img]

[DougH]

If you sail Northbound the ship generally stops in College Fjord in the late afternoon, and then heads North to Seward. By sailing in late May/June you have the long twlight hours to watch the coastal scenery. Even if you leave College Fjord at 6pm you still have many hours of twlight to enjoy, but I'm always amazed that I'm the only one on deck watching. On a Southbound route I stay up on deck late after the sail from Seward, at least a ways out into the gulf. I then get up an hour before the "official" sunrise to enjoy the approach to College fjord. IMHO I'd love a 6-7pm sailing from Seward to get out into the gulf with more daylight.

Doug

5/95 Crown Princess Alaska
1/96 Crown Princess S Carib
2/97 Crown Princess S Carib
9/97 Crown Princess Panama
6/98 Island Princess Alaska
10/98 Crown Princess Tahiti
6/99 Norway Norway
9/99 Mercury Alaska
1/00 Rhapsody Mexico
3/00 Grand Princess E Carib
7/00 Regal Princess Alaska
10/00 Dawn Princess S Carib
2/01 Millenium W Caribbean
5/01 Statendam Alaska
5/01 Statendam Alaska
10/01 Sea Princess Mexico
5/02 Summit Hawaii/Vancouver
7/02 Grand Princess W Carib
8/02 Legend Alaska
11/02 Prinsendam Australia/NZ
1/03 Splendour W Caribbean
3/03 Mercury Pacific Coast
5/03 Sun Princess Alaska
5/03 Sun Princess Alaska
1/04 Dawn Princess S Caribbean
1/04 Dawn Princess S Caribbean

[Budget Queen]

Seward is south of College Fjords.

[DougH]

OK. south west but you knew what I meant.

Doug

5/95 Crown Princess Alaska
1/96 Crown Princess S Carib
2/97 Crown Princess S Carib
9/97 Crown Princess Panama
6/98 Island Princess Alaska
10/98 Crown Princess Tahiti
6/99 Norway Norway
9/99 Mercury Alaska
1/00 Rhapsody Mexico
3/00 Grand Princess E Carib
7/00 Regal Princess Alaska
10/00 Dawn Princess S Carib
2/01 Millenium W Caribbean
5/01 Statendam Alaska
5/01 Statendam Alaska
10/01 Sea Princess Mexico
5/02 Summit Hawaii/Vancouver
7/02 Grand Princess W Carib
8/02 Legend Alaska
11/02 Prinsendam Australia/NZ
1/03 Splendour W Caribbean
3/03 Mercury Pacific Coast
5/03 Sun Princess Alaska
5/03 Sun Princess Alaska
1/04 Dawn Princess S Caribbean
1/04 Dawn Princess S Caribbean