I need help with Alaska

[RIP27]

I want to surprise my husband with a cruise to Alaska, All input is greatly appreciated. I have no idea, inside, outside, north, south, June, July, August, September. I think you all get the picture! Thanks for all your input

[greydog]

There is an "Alaska" port-of-call board available for researching info about trip planning. Read other's AK cruise reviews and answers to similar questions already posted. Tons of tips from others waiting to be read. Good Luck

[Got2Cruise]

Definitely go to the Alaska board, there are several Alaska experts there. But, if this is your first time to Alaska, I recommend that Glacier Bay be part of the itinerary. It is a must see.

I want to surprise my husband with a cruise to Alaska, All input is greatly appreciated. I have no idea, inside, outside, north, south, June, July, August, September. I think you all get the picture! Thanks for all your input

[the2006Junket]

RIP, planning for an Alaskan cruise is complex, I have found. The Alaskan board is extremely helpful. But a couple of the decisions you'll need to make before you go much farther are:

 

- Do you want to go all the way up? The round trip cruises out of Vancouver or Seattle do not go all the way up to the Anchorage ports of either Seward or Whittier. If you want to explore some of Alaska's interior (Denali, Kenai peninsula?) before or after a cruise, you'll need to look at either a Northbound or Southbound sailing.

- Timing. It's cheaper to go in Sept or May or early June and the reason is that the weather is cooler. Decide for yourself what's most important to you...to save some $ or go when you have the best chance at warmer, sunnier weather.

- Ship and Itinerary. One of the big differences in the itineraries is whether the sailing goes to Glacier Bay or to Hubbard Glacier. Research the pros/cons on the Alaska board and decide for yourself...then you can move to deciding among the ships that sail your selected itinerary.

 

We ended up choosing to do a Southbound (Seward to Vancouver) sailing on 8/6/09 on the Radiance of the Seas because we wanted to see the interior and wanted to do our land-based touring before the cruise (when we'll have more energy!). So we'll fly into Anchorage a week before sailing. I figured that I may not go to Alaska ever again and wanted to see as much as possible. And we chose Radiance because we are traveling with kids and hope that this ship will be a little more fun for the kids than some of the other ships/cruise lines.

 

Good luck!

 

Lynne

[emilygrace]

Just wanted to put in my 2¢ about the weather. A lot of people go in July/August, thinking they will have the best weather then. They are disappointed when they encounter a lot of rain. I am not saying it always rains then and not at other times, but be prepared.

 

We have gone in both September and early May.

 

On the September cruise we wore shorts every day except at the glaciers. No rain.

 

On the early May cruise it was cooler, so no shorts, but out of 14 days we had rain (and a very light one at that) on two afternoons (Sitka and Icy Strait Point). The last day, a sea day, was very warm and we arrived in Vancouver to a heat wave.

 

Of the two times we went, I felt the May cruise was the TRUE Alaska experience, with lots of snow still around and the lake in front of Mendenhall Glacier still partially frozen.