A few cruise line questions

I am trying to pick an AK cruise for this summer. I have looked in detail at all the itineraries, even making a spreadsheet as someone suggested! This will be a trip for my mom and dad, my sister and her two boys ages 14, 12, and my family (me, dh, my two boys ages 18, 17, and two girls ages 13, 11). My family very much wants to see the sights and experience the culture of AK, with the cruise more of the way to get us to do that. I am not sure how the rest feel about that!

So, as for itineraries:

1)I really like the one way option better, both to see additional sights instead of turning back and seeing the same sights on the return and because I would really like to add on at least a couple of days in AK to see more of AK. HOWEVER, a quick look at airfare looks like that will be a good $300 + per person, plus an all day (or two) travel affair (we live in NC). I would probably pay that for my own family of 6 to get the benefits that we want, but I'm not sure the other 5 will want to do that.

2)As our first trip here, I am feeling like Glacier Bay is a must

3)Since we want to do lots outside the ship, I've looked at which ones give us the best port times.

From that, I have come up with these as looking like the best options (only one ways here, will revisit RT if I have to):

1)NCL Sun, Glacier Bay North (the south one has a shorter time in Juneau and Sawyer Glacier instead of Glacier Bay)

2)Princess, Star, Grand Princess, Coral- Voyage of the Glaciers, South (the north ones don't have as long in Ketchikan and it looks like a lot of stuff to do there)

3)HAL, OOsterdam or Zaandam, Glacier Discovery north or south

So now my questions!!

1)I see some posts mentioning naturalists on board, but I am having trouble finding out what the naturalist situation is on these boats. The only thing I know at this point is that they all with have a park ranger on board when going in Glacier Bay and that the Grand Princess has a junior ranger program (we've loved doing that at other parks). I would really love if our time onboard the ship could enhance our knowledge of the AK sights!!

2)I asked before about dining, but I need to revisit here to make sure. Dad likes the freestyle dining at NCL, both for the anytime dining and the more casual apparel. As far as I can tell, we can choose anytime dining with all the above choices on Princess and Holland, is this right?? And folks seem to say that the dress code is a little more lax on NCL, but not far off from most of the other lines (although HAL has been mentioned to perhaps be dressier). So would we be ok on all of those options in the MDR on the non-formal nights in say khaki pants and polo shirts for the males and comparable outfits for the females? And for the formal nights on all, is it true that we will be fine using the other (non MDR) options?

3)Dad also mentioned liking NCL best because of the "type of rooms". As far as I can tell, the rooms are all pretty much the same across the lines, or am I missing something??

Thanks so much for the help!!

Frankly, added time in mainland Alaska needs to be enough time which is at least 5 days in my opinion. You mention what appears to be a "negative" about the flight being $300 more. This is an insignificant amount compared to the overall trip. (per person) In my opinion, you need to determine WHAT you want to do with your land time and work that out, before you get into a ship choice. You may find, your time or budget isn't going to allow for an adequate plan? Not mentioned, but have the port tours been selected? Would there be omissions because of the added $300 costs? (not looking for your answers, these are questions to focus on yourself)

As for the open dining, yes, it is on all the ships you list. The formal nights involve a wide range of attire. I've seen it all from the tshirt to tux in line. :) Depends on you mostly. I skip a lot of meals so of no issue for me, so only my slant.

If you determine it is going to be a one way cruise- Princess is the only line who uses Whittier. All the rest use Seward.

NCL does not have ship naturalists on board, both Princess Celebrity, Carnival and HAL do. RCI sometimes. ALL ships sailing Glacier Bay will be escorted in with 3/4 park rangers who board the ship from Bartlett Cove. The Junior Ranger program is only available at the time in Glacier Bay.

Good point about the $300 being small in comparison to the overall price. Especially with the price of the excursions I am picking out!! I think it seems bigger because it's going from $682- $1076. As I said, I am willing to pay that for my family, not sure how the rest will feel, but I am hopeful. They may feel that they would rather spend that on some really nice excursions instead. My plan would be to do both- spend the extra on the flight AND do lots of excursions.

I have tried looking at AK excursions before or after a cruise, but I confess I have not gotten too far with that part. I guess I would love to spend 5-7 days extra, but depending which boat we take (the dates), we might not be able to do that many days. I was thinking if I added on a few days (but less than 5-7) that I might at least be able to do something like the 26 Glaciers Cruise in Prince William Sound, Resurrection River Kayaking, maybe the Kenai pennisula or something like that. As I said, I have not looked into the feasibility (ease to get to, timing, etc) of any of these things yet.

First, presently all my findings to dad and we will see what he decides. I am trying to guide him but since this is his bucket list trip, also trying to not be too overbearing, the latter part is particular hard for me! I wanted to verify the dining thing since that seems a concern for him, and I think we would all enjoy the naturalists. Thank you so much for this information!

Good point about the $300 being small in comparison to the overall price. Especially with the price of the excursions I am picking out!! I think it seems bigger because it's going from $682- $1076. As I said, I am willing to pay that for my family, not sure how the rest will feel, but I am hopeful. They may feel that they would rather spend that on some really nice excursions instead. My plan would be to do both- spend the extra on the flight AND do lots of excursions.

 

I have tried looking at AK excursions before or after a cruise, but I confess I have not gotten too far with that part. I guess I would love to spend 5-7 days extra, but depending which boat we take (the dates), we might not be able to do that many days. I was thinking if I added on a few days (but less than 5-7) that I might at least be able to do something like the 26 Glaciers Cruise in Prince William Sound, Resurrection River Kayaking, maybe the Kenai pennisula or something like that. As I said, I have not looked into the feasibility (ease to get to, timing, etc) of any of these things yet.

 

First, presently all my findings to dad and we will see what he decides. I am trying to guide him but since this is his bucket list trip, also trying to not be too overbearing, the latter part is particular hard for me! I wanted to verify the dining thing since that seems a concern for him, and I think we would all enjoy the naturalists. Thank you so much for this information!

Being you seem to be researching for a group, it is essential you gain some expertise about mainland Alaska. My overall mention will always be TIME. Way too many plans simply do not allow enough and are pretty poor plans in my opinion. As mentioned, money is spent, and I just can not support "wasting" it. Many people are on budgets. And I'm a firm believer is doing it right to begin with. :)

if it isn't in your budget to spend 4-5 days in Alaska pre/post cruise, RT's from Vancouver are a good option to explore. Vancouver sailings offer better scenery since they cruise between Vanc Island and the mainland, and less chance of rough water since it's more sheltered.

If flying to Vancouver is pricey, look at flights to Seattle instead. Amtrak Cascades offers a lovely train trip between Seattle and Vanc, or rent a few cars as a more economical transfer. Spend a day or 2 in Seattle and Vancouver pre and post cruise.

There are several family/ multi generational Trip Reports in the STICKYs above. They can provide some ideas about a family cruise as well as activities in each port. You don't need to spend a fortune at every location ... you'll find some great DIY options in the trip reports.

There are a couple of books specific to Alaska cruises. Buy or borrow from your library , Ann Viponds 'Alaska by cruiseship' or Fodors ' Alaska Ports of call'. Both books discuss, cruiselines, ships, itineraries, activities, etc

Thanks maple leaves! My library had Frommer's Alaksa Cruises and Ports of Call, which I have read. It's a little old though. Was thinking of getting something more up to date.

The potential limitation on the extra time spend on land in AK is due to actual time. Scheduling. My husband has an important event that he must be at that will be towards the end of June, date not set (we are trying to find this out right now). My daughter is going to a 2 week sleep away camp, already paid for and not cheap, starting July 19. It seems like I have ample time.... but I may not. I definitely could do a few extra days, just not sure about 5 days to a week. Still hoping for that though!

Van prices are the same as Seattle on a quick search today.

I have looked through some of those reports but plan to do more soon.

Thanks!

Hi KKbrig,

Fellow NC resident, we have our first AK cruise/land tour scheduled for May 26th starting in Fairbanks, I really wanted to get there a day early so looked at the cost of flying in on 05/25 and was NOT cheap so I just did another day earlier 05/24 and it was 350.00pp cheaper on the 24th instead of the 25th for the same flight, we actually got a great flight. Take off from Charlotte and land in Seattle with a hour lay over and then straight to Fairbanks. Leaving Charlotte at 9:30am and arriving in Fairbanks at 4:30pm for 390.00 per person. Just finding as good a deal and flight option for the return flight has been a problem! Wish you the best and hope ya'll have a wonderful trip!

Thanks lfcruising! We live near RDU so typically fly out of there, but my folks and sister will be out of CLT so I will check there as well. Once I know which tour date, I can play around with the dates and times more.

Are you doing your land tour through HAL as well?

We are actually closer to Greensboro but Charlotte had the best flights out, I wish I was closer to RDU they have a great flight for our departure.

Yes we are, tried several ways on our own and just always seemed to be better with the tour they offered. We are doing the DL1 tour, really wanted more than 2 days in Denali and really wanted Glaicer Bay. I can tell you the prices for the flights were pretty fair through HAL with the Travel Ease program.

For more up to date port info look at www.cruiseportinsider.com

For interior tours ideas and info look at www.alaskatravel.com

For a quicker return flight (assuming you do a NB cruise) AK airlines does have a flight from Anchorage to Chicago - which gets you closer to NC than Seattle.

We flew from RDU to Fairbanks a few years ago. It was a long flight followed by an even longer one after a change of planes in Minneapolis. I worked all day and we flew out in early evening. We arrived after midnight, which was around 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time. And it was worth it. We had a great time. We took a five-day tour before our cruise. We went with Princess because we got a great price.

Our previous two cruises were round-trips from Seattle. We had a great time on them as well. You don't see the exact same sights on the return trip. For one thing, a lot of the time is spent sailing west of Vancouver Island the first day at sea. There's not a lot of scenery there.