Alaska inside passage summer cruise- info. needed

[jetstorm]

I'm hoping someone here can give me insight to which cruise to choose. I don't know a lot about the Alaska cruises so someone enlighten me please. I would like a 7 day cruise sometime between May 24 and the end of July. What are the best routes and side of the ship for that route. I would rather travel to and from Seattle I think due to cheaper airfare, are the Canada routes better?

Should I be looking for cruises that do the "inside passage" or are there other names for this?

 

What's the best port to go salmon fishing?

[jrw]

If you have not yet posted this on the Alaska board, I would recommend doing so. There are quite a few who have been to Alaska several times and are on the boards all the time, helping with these types of Q's.

 

I went in 1999 but really don't have enough info to help w/your Q's. But you will get tons of replies if you post on the Alaska board. :)

[BigBearLady]

I was once told by a crew member that it is best to go northbound on the inside passage. He said it is sometimes rough seas on the southbound. I have done the inside passage twice and will be going again late May 2008. Love Alaska:)

[jrw]

I was once told by a crew member that it is best to go northbound on the inside passage. He said it is sometimes rough seas on the southbound. I have done the inside passage twice and will be going again late May 2008. Love Alaska:)

 

:confused: :confused: :confused: This crew member must be on something really good. The seas are the seas, you are following the same path regardless of direction. This is a coastal cruise (inside passage) and rough seas would be out of the ordinary.

 

The only difference with northbound is that it tends to be a bit less costly (southbound is more popular apparently) and, as others post, the scenery gets better the further north you travel. However, the OP seems to be looking for a round-trip ("to and from Seattle"), not a one-way.

[BJS]

I'm hoping someone here can give me insight to which cruise to choose. I don't know a lot about the Alaska cruises so someone enlighten me please. I would like a 7 day cruise sometime between May 24 and the end of July. What are the best routes and side of the ship for that route. I would rather travel to and from Seattle I think due to cheaper airfare, are the Canada routes better?

Should I be looking for cruises that do the "inside passage" or are there other names for this?

 

What's the best port to go salmon fishing?

 

The round trip Seattle cruises are called "Inside Passage- Round Trip Seattle" and are 7 days

 

The other 7 day cruises are called "Voyage of the Glaciers - Vancouver to Whittier" or Voyage of the Glaciers - Whittier to Vancouver"

 

Both of these cruises go to the same ports but the one-way cruises also go to Glacier Bay and College Fjord where the round trip just goes to Tracy Arm.

Both are very nice cruises and I can't say I preferred Glacier Bay over Tracy Arm. Air fares are usually much cheaper if you are flying round trip to Seattle.

 

Since both cruises go to the same ports you would not have any other port choices for Salmon fishing. If you plan on staying in Alaska and fishing then you would have multiple opportunities to fish and thus would want to take the Voyage of the Glaciers cruise.

[jetstorm]

Thanks to everyone who posted. You have given me some good info. already, but I will look on the Alaska board also.

[ggprincess2004]

IF you do Princess Air, you might be able to fly into Seattle and take their transfer to Vancouver to take a 7 day inside passage from Vancouver. I do not recommend princess air, merely mention it.

We did a b3b this past May/June and found that the weather was generally great, prices earlier in the season are lower, and the ports slightly less crowded. Whether going north or south, either way is great - you are on cruise ship and it Alaska. Try to choose the land side of the ship for interesting views during parts of the cruise, i.e. northbound or starboard and southbound on port.

There are lots of suggestions for getting to and from Seattle/Vancouver on the Alaska boards. Budget Queen is particularly knowledgeable about the Alaska cruise ropes.

[NAS-KARR]

We went sailed Southbound, because we opted to do our land tour first then rest/cruise homeward. It was called INSIDE PASSAGE and had three ports of call.

 

 

CIAO,

[NAS-KARR]

Yes......do go the the ALASKA boards, tons of confusing info.

 

 

CIAO again,

[qiangf2]

I'm hoping someone here can give me insight to which cruise to choose. I don't know a lot about the Alaska cruises so someone enlighten me please. I would like a 7 day cruise sometime between May 24 and the end of July. What are the best routes and side of the ship for that route. I would rather travel to and from Seattle I think due to cheaper airfare, are the Canada routes better?

Should I be looking for cruises that do the "inside passage" or are there other names for this?

 

What's the best port to go salmon fishing?

 

As many others have recommended, you should pay a visit to Alaska forum, tons of information there.

 

If you decide to cruise out of Seattle, you might want to prepare for rough seas on the 2nd day since the ship is actually sailing in open sea. The route out of Vancouver is more scenic. But again, It is impossible to make it black and white in terms of which one is better. I would go with the priority list when I narrow down my options: itinerary, cost, then cruiseline. Enjoy your trip

[DrivesLikeMario]

I was once told by a crew member that it is best to go northbound on the inside passage. He said it is sometimes rough seas on the southbound.

 

That is the best laugh I've had all day!! LOLOLOL

[Lodger]

I just posted my VERY STRONG - POSITIVE feelings about going to Alaska as the trip of a lifetime - see what I wrote at : Princess - Alaskan Cruise - HELP!! posting.

Lodger

PS - Caught 2 Kings and 1 Silver.

[MercedMike]

I think you have ALREADY found out that there are a wide variety of varying opinions about Alaska cruising. The questions you are asking are the very basic ones. The best way to get the answers to these basic questions is to use a good local Travel Agent who is a CLIA Accredited Cruise Counselor. You can get many brochures, and a lot of information and expert advice on those basic questions. Once you have the basic information, the Alaska board is a good place to get answers to questions on the details, such as "outside cabin or balcony?" or "which excursions?" But it is best to learn about the basics from an expert.

[flynrph]

There will be a lot of opinions on this one. However, I would not rule out the Vancouver option. Worked out very well, timewise, pricewise, and ease of movement. At that time I used an online booking agent, for which I was able to beat Princess air by a large amount.

For example, I did a northbound from Vancouver with stops at Ketchican, Juneau, and Skawag, and of course Glacier Bay, and College Fjord. With the northbound trip I found that each day the scenery just kept getting better and better.

A real neat thing Princess has going at Vancouver, even if you buy your own air, is you can buy the Princess transfer. It's called "Air to Cruise". If you are a US citizen coming from a US airport, put your ship luggage tags on your luggage at your originating airport. The next time you see your bags, they will be in your stateroom. You also get to bypass the normal customs and immigration lines, and go through a special area where you very quickly pass immigration and wait for the bus to take you to the boat. From the time I landed from Chicago, through the airport, on the bus, and onto the ship (including check in), it was about 1 hour and 10 minutes. My luggage showed up around 5 in the afternoon, right before dinner. (What a pleasure not to have to search and haul the luggage after landing.)

Not matter what anybody says, this is a trip of a lifetime, and no matter which route you take, you will not be disappointed. Go for it!:cool:

[MercedMike]

A real neat thing Princess has going at Vancouver, even if you buy your own air, is you can buy the Princess transfer. It's called "Air to Cruise". If you are a US citizen coming from a US airport, put your ship luggage tags on your luggage at your originating airport. The next time you see your bags, they will be in your stateroom. You also get to bypass the normal customs and immigration lines, and go through a special area where you very quickly pass immigration and wait for the bus to take you to the boat. From the time I landed from Chicago, through the airport, on the bus, and onto the ship (including check in), it was about 1 hour and 10 minutes. My luggage showed up around 5 in the afternoon, right before dinner. (What a pleasure not to have to search and haul the luggage after landing.)

 

Just to be perfectly clear, the name of this program at Vancouver airport is "US Direct" and those are the signs you will follow when you arrive at the airport. As this poster says, it works great!!