Alaska Cruise

We have never been on an Alaska cruise. We want to do land and sea. This will be a one time deal. Any suggestions on what to do and ship?

Search the threads on "Alaska" on CC. Buy the book/magazine 'The Mile Post' and read the details on Alaska towns and ports (or borrow an issue from your local library).

HAL and Princess have been cruising there probably longer than anyone else. Both offer land and sea options.

We have enjoyed HAL, Celebrity, and Disney in Alaska, as well as our own land excursions without a cruse.

Wow, this is a large question. Search Princess cruisetours. If only going one time, I would select the tour with the most complete and longest land portion you can afford coupled with sites you wish to see. Any ship is good, but personally I would not book the Island Princess. The Island had a major renovation which removed large public areas and replaced them with cabins for around 200 extra passengers. The Island also does not have an International Cafe.

Try to spend 2 nights at the Denali lodge and take the longer excursion into the park. Also do the land portion fitst then the sea portion. A little more expensive but well worth it in the long run.

Wow, this is a large question. Search Princess cruisetours. If only going one time, I would select the tour with the most complete and longest land portion you can afford coupled with sites you wish to see. Any ship is good, but personally I would not book the Island Princess. The Island had a major renovation which removed large public areas and replaced them with cabins for around 200 extra passengers. The Island also does not have an International Cafe.

Excellent answer! Many don't know that one of the options on Princess is to search "cruisetours" rather than just cruises. I also agree about Island. We booked on Island only because it was the only ship that worked with our land tour. We did a 13 day combo - 6 days on land followed by the 7 day southbound. Having sailed Island post-trashing I would sail any other Princess ship before Island. It wasn't a "bad" ship but having sailed on Coral (which used to be essentially the same) Island was a disappointment.

I agree about carefully selecting the land tour portion since this will be a "one and done" deal. I strongly suggest that one of the stops you have is at the Princess McKinley Lodge. It would seem that the Princess Denali Lodge would be where you would have good views of the mountain but that is not the case. The McKinley Lodge is where you will (maybe) see the mountain in all its glory. We got an unobstructed view our last day there but there were folks in our group who were there for the fifth time and this was the first time they had ever seen the mountain without clouds obscuring a bunch of it.

I would also suggest if budget allows the "conisseurs tours" (with meals included) seem to be a good deal. The individual meals can be pricey, however there is not a price limit with the conisseurs tours. Order what you want to eat and not to worry on the prices.

Have fun looking and planning.

I would also suggest if budget allows the "conisseurs tours" (with meals included) seem to be a good deal. The individual meals can be pricey, however there is not a price limit with the conisseurs tours. Order what you want to eat and not to worry on the prices.

Have fun looking and planning.

We did the connoisseur cruise tour. Pricey but we found it well worth the extra cost. Others will, of course, not agree. It is just one option. ;)

We also did connoisseur and loved it. We started in Fairbanks and moved south and then cruised. We liked that order. The Fairbanks lodge is ok but the ones in McKinley , Denali were lovely. Our favorite was Kenai. If you have time to go there as well I'd recommend it.

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Wow, this is a large question. Search Princess cruisetours. If only going one time, I would select the tour with the most complete and longest land portion you can afford coupled with sites you wish to see. Any ship is good, but personally I would not book the Island Princess. The Island had a major renovation which removed large public areas and replaced them with cabins for around 200 extra passengers. The Island also does not have an International Cafe.

We have never sailed Princess and we will be soon enough. What is the International Cafe? What does it offer, etc.?

Definitely aim for a cruisetour, so you can explore the coastal AND inland regions. A Connoisseur Cruisetour would take pretty much all stress off you as it's a well-oiled machine and includes most meals. The land portion is the most physically demanding, so decide if you'd rather have that first or at the end.

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Definitely aim for a cruisetour, so you can explore the coastal AND inland regions. A Connoisseur Cruisetour would take pretty much all stress off you as it's a well-oiled machine and includes most meals. The land portion is the most physically demanding, so decide if you'd rather have that first or at the end.

 

 

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Definitely do the land tour first! That gives you 7 days of relaxation on the way back south onboard. We loved our connoisseur cruise tour.

Definitely do the land tour first! That gives you 7 days of relaxation on the way back south onboard. We loved our connoisseur cruise tour.

We will second this! We do Disney World first and cruises second - to rest up and relax. Same with Alaska. Do and see everything in interior Alaska you can, and follow it with a North to South cruise.

Not sure for your choice of ships. We have done HAL, Celebrity, and Disney in Alaska and enjoyed them all.

I have started to look at Alaska Cruisetours. Thinking about a 4 or 5 day land portion before the 7 day southbound cruise.

Without knowing a lot of details about each city yet, it looks like I may have to choose between visiting either Fairbanks or Anchorage on the cruisetour. Also, I have read many times to get 2 nights at Denali. Makes the choices even tougher.

Opinions on what option to not go to and why? Fairbanks, Anchorage or McKinley lodge.

Thank you for the help. it is greatly appreciated!

Bumping in hopes of getting some advice. Still looking at Cruisetours and still confused.

We did cruisetour DB4. This is my review with explanations of why we did what

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2371972

Wow, this is a large question. Search Princess cruisetours. If only going one time, I would select the tour with the most complete and longest land portion you can afford coupled with sites you wish to see. Any ship is good, but personally I would not book the Island Princess. The Island had a major renovation which removed large public areas and replaced them with cabins for around 200 extra passengers. The Island also does not have an International Cafe.

Interesting... we were looking at a cruisetour next year specifically on the Island because it's the only Alaska ship that will be using the Ocean technology.

We did the connoisseur cruise tour. Pricey but we found it well worth the extra cost. Others will, of course, not agree. It is just one option. ;)

I agree with Thrak. We did a 3 day tour in 2002 and then the 8 day connoisseur tour in 2014. The longer tour was well worth the cost and the guide we had was great and really took all the worry and hassle out of everything. Alaska is fantastic so you will want to see as much as your can on your trip. Do the land tour first.