Seward vs Whittier

Hello---I've noticed in some posts that people have mentioned preferring Seward over Whittier. Since we are just in the beginning stages of choosing our cruise we were wondering why? I guess we thought it was just the port you embarked out of and wonder why the preference? Any thoughts, as usual, are appreciated. Thank you.

Seward is much larger than Whittier with more to do and see. Which you leave from will be determined by which cruise line you use. We visited Seward - the Alaska RR trip is beautiful - but departed from Whittier because we prefer to cruise on Princess. There was a little backtracking to do both, but we enjoyed it all.

If you spend time before your cruise, Seward is better. If you're flying in and going straight to the ship, Whittier is better.

We sailed out of Whittier on Princess in June. We really enjoyed Whittier, we spent one night at the Inn at Whittier, it is a wonderful hotel. There is not much to do in the town, there are several good full/half day glacier tours. We took a 6 hour glacier tour that we really enjoyed, got much closer to the glaciers than on the big boat. We did not get to Seward so I can't compare the two. The people in Whittier are very nice.

I have been to both and have enjoyed both.

If you plan on doing the cruise line transfers to the ship - you are going to have a very long transfer (half day) and you will most likely miss Seward. The majority of people who sail from Seward never see Seward. Whittier is about 60 miles from Anchorage.

If you plan on spending some time touring Alaska - Seward is worthy of visiting. I have also done the glacier cruise from Whittier and that was excellent also.

Seward has far more activites, and excellent ones. My top recommendation is a Kenai Fjords boat tour, just excellent opportunity for close up varied wildlife and glacier viewing. Seavey's sled dog cart ride is a well run tour, very reasonably priced. Godwin's helicopters are less cancelled here. Exit Glacier offers a cheap close up view. Whittier has superior glacier tours and endless scenery.

But as mentioned, few people see either place- just passing through, a big waste of some excellent touring opportunities that I would never consider missing. :)

Seward is a 3 hour bus ride to Anchorage 4 + hour train ride with superior scenery. (not half a day)

Seward is a 3 hour bus ride to Anchorage 4 + hour train ride with superior scenery. (not half a day)

I think of "half a work day" as "half a day".

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When planning - also look at your glacier days. I love Princess' combination of Glacier Bay and College Fiords. If going to Alaska only once, definitely try to fit 2 glacier days in with one being Glacier Bay.

We went sea kayaking in Whittier after our Princess cruise and it was beautiful. Our flight home didn't leave until the next morning from Anchorage and we decided at the last minute to join a kayak group in Whittier. We don't regret it and, in fact, it was one of the highlights of our cruise even though, technically, it was after the cruise was over! We booked it right next to the bait/Avis shop. Alaska Sea Kayaks I think?

Seward has some pretty awesome sea kayaking, too. You can take multi-day kayaking trips out of Seward if you want.

I don't recommend you choose your cruise based on the port of embarkation but the remainder of the itinerary. If you are arriving a day or so early and should you be inclined to take a day cruise before boarding the ship, the Kenai Fjord Tour from Seward and the Prince William Sound Tour from Whittier are both excellent choices. In fact they are owned by the same company. If you are flying in 'day of' the transfer to Whittier is a little more than an hour and the transfer to Seward is about 3 +/- hours and is a beautiful drive down the Kenai Pennisula. If you have the option to take the train transfer to Seward you won't be dissappointed. It's the prettiest part of the Alaska Railroad!

SourdoughSteve