Alaska Newbie

We (family of 4, 2 boys 11 & 9)

Want to do Alaska next July/ August 2015

Any and all tips, feedback etc are welcome and appreciated. I know everyone has different opinions.

Open to any line, but looks like NCL is the only one with an itin that far out??

Looking at

glacier bay northbound on the Sun

Or

glacier bay roundtrip Seattle on the pearl

Is one better then the other? One have something we can't miss?

Ship amenities are nice, especially with younger people.. But we know the real trip will be out our front door.

First, there is no reason to book NCL just because their schedules are out first. The others will have their schedules out within the next 2 or 3 months. That is plenty of time in advance.

Second, each line goes to the same relatively short list of ports. A couple of locations, most notably Glacier Bay, are limited to just a couple of lines. For Glacier Bay, Princess and Holland America have most of the routes there, NCL being third with far fewer.

Taking some time to read through the many threads of info here will be helpful.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

I had no idea about the different cruise lines having different access, good to know!!

Off to read up on everything!

The Northbound trip looks to have you flying into Vancouver and probably back out of Anchorage after a road trip up from Seward.

You might want to check airfares, for around the same time this year to get an idea of the costs of those two flights, versus in/out of Seattle round trip.

The itineraries for Alaska cruises usually stay the same from one year to the next, so might compare 2014's NCL, HAL, and Princess to get ideas of ports and how long they stay in each location.

David

I'm going to Alaska this year on Royal Caribbean. Even though they may not have their 2015 dates out yet, look at 2014. It will be similar. And ports will probably be identical (2013 and 2014 are) so you can start planning.

Make sure you book early. I booked my trip a couple weeks ago and didn't get my first choice because the landtour was full. I didn't realize they would fill so quickly, but Alaska is only 'open' for a few months for cruises.

Good luck!

RCL booking for 2015 in Alaska is open and has been for about a week or so. I can't wait to get back to Alaska!

As for tips, count yourself warned as this can get a bit long. LOL

So far I have done four trips to Alaska, three of those were back to back cruises out of Vancouver. If you have the time, it can be a great way to have twice as much time in each port. There have been times it was about the same price to do a second week on the ship as it would have been to do transfers from the ship to the airport and fly out of Alaska to the lower 48.

All of my Alaskan trips have been in May/June. The weather can be iffy at times but I have learned to not let a few sprinkles (or down pour) dampen my spirits although my clothes are another story. lol I personally love to go as early as possible in the season for the wildlife. With the longer days the food supplies for the sea life is blooming and with that it brings everything you want to see. During the last three trips I have taken to Alaska we have seen humpback whales bubble feeding off the side of the ship in Icy Strait Point (Hoonah, AK). A sight that words can not begin to fully describe. We have seen huge pods of orca, humpbacks, seals, sea lions, sea otters and pretty much any sea critters you want to see.

The weather can range from 40's and rainy to the 70's and sunny, in one day. With some planning and packing you can easily get through the day in comfort. I have several tips that I follow and gladly share with others going to Alaska:

Dress in layers, I usually will have a long sleeved t-shirt, short sleeved t-shirt over that, fleece vest and rain jacket over that *gortex lined highly suggested* As the day warms up you can take off what is needed.

Carry a back pack! You are going to need someplace to put those clothes as you peal them off. And trust me the temp change during the day is enough you will wind up shedding a layer or two.

Keep a small, travel sized umbrella with you. The day may start out clear and sunny but the weather can change at the drop of a hat. It is better to have a small umbrella and not need it than to not have it and get nailed in a quick downpour. A small rain poncho is also a good thing to have just in case, usually they are small enough to fit in a pocket.

Camera, keep it very handy! This time of the year is perfect for wildlife watching with all of the animals coming out of hibernation and migrating back into the area. Not a lot of things more frustrating than seeing a sow and her cubs while you fumble through your pockets looking for your camera. Keep your camera in hand, keep it turned on, make sure you have extra batteries in your bag, make sure you have plenty of memory for the camera as well.

Ziplock bags. It may sound like a weird thing to have with you but if you get a rain storm roll through you will want some place safe and dry to keep your batteries, memory for your camera as well as cell phones and such. A few cents worth of plastic bags can save hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of electronics.

Water bottle. With all the walking that can be had in the area it is a good idea to have a supply of water close at hand. There aren't always places to buy a bottle of water on some of the tours so it is a good idea to have at least a small (20 oz.) bottle of water in your bag. My backpack has a Camel Back bladder in it, it makes for quick access to needed water while keeping my camera at the ready.

Small towel. I can't count the number of times I have needed one and not had it. Everything from getting rain drops off your camera *or you* to getting rid of some sweat. If you are out on a hike or even walking around town and the temp is in the 50s or 60s you can still break out in a sweat. It is best to dry off if possible because when you start to cool down, your sweat can cause you to start chilling and that is no fun at all. Again, another reason for a ziplock bag.

Well broken in shoes. It doesn't matter if you are just walking around town visiting the shops or out on a 6 mile hike, if you are in new shoes you very well may wind up with blisters and sore feet. Leave the new shoes at home and take those old ones you have been wearing for months and save you and your feet the pain.

Wool socks. I always carry an extra pair of wool socks in my backpack. even when wet the wool will keep your feet warm but you can still get wicked blisters. A fresh pair of dry socks can save you a lot of pain later on in the trip. This is where one of those ziplock bags comes in handy.

This all may sound like a bit much but when it comes to Alaska it is better to be a little over prepared than under prepared. If packed right this will take up very little space in your back pack and can save you a lot of headaches.

Things to do:

Juneau, Mendenhall and Salmon Bake is a fun one. You get to visit the glacier and if you are up for a fast paced hike you can make it to the waterfall. I took the time for the hike and it was WELL worth it, not many make that treck for a wonderful view. As far as I know it will also go to Gold Creek Camp Salmon Bake, which is a blast and you can return to the ship when you want as they have several buses running back to the ships during the day. Great salmon, a nice little hike to a small waterfall and even firepits for roasting marshmallows but if you want smores you will need to bring your own graham crackers and chocolate bars (I have done it).

Icy Strait Point: I did a whale watching tour the last two times I was there and all I can say is take a look through the photos from my Alaskan trips in my signature on here. At times we had 15 to 20 whales around our boat. Breaching, feeding and playing. From all that I have read the Icy Strait Point whale tours are some of the very best with lots of whales in the area. The whales migrate up to the area for feeding during the summer and are coming into the area from May to June (when the food is most plentiful) then leaving in September to run back to their southern birthing grounds. Very cool indeed and I am going to do that tour again if I can.

Helo tours: I hear that the ones out of Skagway are pretty darned good. Keep in mind there is an amazing train ride out of Skagway as well. If you work it right you might be able to do both. If you do one of the train rides, be sure to do one that includes a ride up to or back from the Yukon on a bus then the second half of the trip is on the train. LOTS of stops for photos and the train ride is always great for the views too. If you do a helo tour I would love to hear your review on it.

Lunches: Well worth the time to get OUTSIDE the port areas. Get alway from the touristy stuff, if you still are seeing stores with International in the name keep walking. There are a lot of really great local places if you search for them.

Seward: If you have the time by all means do the Kenai Fjords Cruise with Lunch & Sealife Center. I got to see orca as close as five feet from me as I stood on deck for the tour. Lunch wasn't the main reason for this one and it kind of showed. It was ok but I was there for 5-6 hours of wild life watching and was NOT let down. The tour took us all the way out into open water where we saw several pod of orca and a lot of humpbacks as well. We were also able to visit some groups of sealions and saw more wildlife than you can imagine.

I tried to include a lot of photos from the tours in my album linked in my signature and feel I pretty well captured the spirit of Alaska in the images. If you have questions about any of the tours I did feel free to ask and I will answer them as best I can.

Joe W.

Thanks Joe! What wonderful tips I never even thought of!!

Appreciate it!!!!!!!:)

Joe, did you do the Wilderness exploration & crab feast?

Boat ride or seaplane?

We are signed up to do that in Ketchikan. How was it?

Thanks

Lynn

We just booked a cruise to Alaska for next year . I am looking for some help with tours. what is really worth the trip and you wont want to miss it ?

Joe W: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I just booked Alaska 2015 for our family and was wondering about exactly what you posted. I'm sure I'll have tons of questions as we plan. Appreciate all the insight!

Be it from me to throw cold water on some of the cruise lines, but we sailed the NCL Pearl a couple of years ago, and their itinerary was terrible. Looking quickly at it for this season, nothing really has changed. We cruised mid August.

First of all, you are in Juneau till 10:00PM. They basically roll up the sidewalks at 7:00 or so, so there is nothing to do there that late.

In Ketchikan, you are there way before most shops and things are open and leave about 1:00, right in the heart of the day. Skagway has a great time frame and we rented a car to travel to Emerald Lake. Even Victoria, you get there at 6:00 in the evening and leave at 12:00 at night. hardly time to do much of anything, especially if you want to get the Buchart Gardens. I understand they have to do what they have to do, but if we hadn't been there before, we really would have been pissed about not being able to do many of the things we would have liked to do.

Check the other lines. If this is your first cruise to Alaska, you want to have the most time as possible in ports. NCL stinks.

Cheers

Len

Glaicer bay is a must and you are right to insure you get that.

IMHO all the major lines should have sailings into that wonderful place. When I was researching a few years ago Princess and HAL have the most sailings/boats with the other lines a much lower number of sailings. I think the one line that has nothing is still Disney going to Tracy.

We did Princess with kids similar in age and during summer I suspect all ships will have good activities, the most memorable will be pick the right port activities!

Must respectfully disagree with Giantfan13 - went on the Pearl in 2012 & enjoyed every minute in every port. Had plenty of time to visit Buchart Gardens in Victoria. The ship is lovely & crew was fabulous. Entertainment was good but scenery was even greater. As far as the itinerary - as we were leaving most ports the Princess ship was behind us. Wish we had a little more time in Ketchikan but it was adequate. Been on several NCL cruises & was never disappointed. I would highly recommend the Pearl. Also loved the NCL ebags program. They took our luggage for our return flight the night before & all we had to do was pick it up at our home destination. They printed our boarding passes so all we had to do was go through airport security at SeaTac.

What a great thread. Looking at the first week of Sept from Seattle, what will we hopefully see for wildlife? Thanks ahead. :)

Thanks Joe! What wonderful tips I never even thought of!!

 

Appreciate it!!!!!!!:)

I am glad to be able to offer some helpful tips. :)

Joe, did you do the Wilderness exploration & crab feast?

Boat ride or seaplane?

We are signed up to do that in Ketchikan. How was it?

Thanks

Lynn

I have done the crab feast twice, LOVE me some dungoness crab. The last time I did that tour I had six servings *three whole crab* and I even got to help pull a crab pot while on the boat. :) One word of advice if you do that tour, skip breakfast! lol If you have time during the day, do the duck tour. Not a really long one but you will get a chance to explore areas of Ketchikan that you can't get to any other way. The first time we did the tour our group saw so many eagles and quite a few as close as 15 feet or so away.

Joe W: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I just booked Alaska 2015 for our family and was wondering about exactly what you posted. I'm sure I'll have tons of questions as we plan. Appreciate all the insight!

I am so glad I could help!! Feel free to ask any questions you may have, I will do my best to answer them as fully as I can. :)

I was just doing a search and found this thread...we are booked for July 2015 and this is such great info!

Joe,

What a great list. Thank you very much for taking the time to post it and the reasons for taking everything.

Great Info Thanks Joe!

Joe,

 

What a great list. Thank you very much for taking the time to post it and the reasons for taking everything.

You are very welcome. If you are anything like me, I hate it when I see a list of suggested things to bring and no real reason given for them. Yeah, you should bring 5 one quart zip lock bags, two tea bags and a spork. What the what???

Great Info Thanks Joe!

My pleasure, I hope it helps you pack for Alaska. :)

Joe W.

Hello. Joe if you're reading this, you sound like as close at an Alaska expert as I can find. Looking to book for May 2015. We're not doing a land tour.

For an inside passage itinerary, would you recommend Vancouver to Anchorage, or the reverse?

Also, any thoughts on a Vancouver/Vancouver round trip? From what I see, a few ships run that.

Any info appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hello. Joe if you're reading this, you sound like as close at an Alaska expert as I can find. Looking to book for May 2015. We're not doing a land tour.

 

For an inside passage itinerary, would you recommend Vancouver to Anchorage, or the reverse?

 

Also, any thoughts on a Vancouver/Vancouver round trip? From what I see, a few ships run that.

 

Any info appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the kind words. I am far from an expert, I am just very passionate about Alaska.

If you can do a round trip from Vancouver I would go with that option. If not you will have to pay for airfare either to or from Anchorage and that additional cost can sometimes be more than a second cruise. This is why I usually do back to back cruises starting in Vancouver then cruise to Seward then stay on the ship to return to Vancouver. If you can plan far enough in advance you should be able to book the same room for both cruises so you won't even have to move rooms in Seward.

Yes you will likely visit the same ports, sometimes in different orders, but that gives you twice as much time in each port and allow you to do several things in each stop. A big plus for me is that the weather may be iffy one week and amazing the other (although the last time I was in Alaska we were blessed with amazing weather both weeks in every port).

I hope this is helpful. :)

Joe W.

Just got back a couple weeks ago from the Norwegian Sun Southbound from Whittier to Vancouver. I like Norwegian because of the freestyle cruising, have no desire to dress up for dinner or anything else.

We visited friends in the Kenai peninsula for a few days before leaving on the ship and got to see glaciers there. I really enjoyed the trip - saw Hubbard Glacier up closer, really liked the scenery in Tracy Arm Fjord. Stopped also in Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. Seward is a nice town with the Sea Life Center and charter boats you can take fishing or sightseeing

We also really enjoyed and recommend the excursion at Icy Straight Point called In Alaska's Wildest Kitchen. Had a woman who had lived in the area for 20+ years show us her favorite recipes for salmon dip, salmon patties and fish soup and we got samples. Then each of us got a piece of salmon and halibut and could season it and cook it ourselves on the outside grill.

Tracy's Crab Shack in Juneau has good food, and like another poster says definitely eat in the towns -always good to get local food.

Here's my review and link to photos.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2097501

Thank you for the kind words. I am far from an expert, I am just very passionate about Alaska.

 

If you can do a round trip from Vancouver I would go with that option. If not you will have to pay for airfare either to or from Anchorage and that additional cost can sometimes be more than a second cruise. This is why I usually do back to back cruises starting in Vancouver then cruise to Seward then stay on the ship to return to Vancouver. If you can plan far enough in advance you should be able to book the same room for both cruises so you won't even have to move rooms in Seward.

Thank you for your reply. There is a RT from Vancouver (Coral Princess) but the date isn't quite right. I wish we could / back to back but my husband can't be away from work that long, we're going to do a Northbound only. There are some promotions now, so we're going to book soon. We certainly are looking forward to the trip.

Thanks again!

Thank you for your reply. There is a RT from Vancouver (Coral Princess) but the date isn't quite right. I wish we could / back to back but my husband can't be away from work that long, we're going to do a Northbound only. There are some promotions now, so we're going to book soon. We certainly are looking forward to the trip.

 

Thanks again!

I hope you two have a very wonderful trip!! :)

Joe W.

Thank you for the kind words. I am far from an expert, I am just very passionate about Alaska.

 

If you can do a round trip from Vancouver I would go with that option. If not you will have to pay for airfare either to or from Anchorage and that additional cost can sometimes be more than a second cruise. This is why I usually do back to back cruises starting in Vancouver then cruise to Seward then stay on the ship to return to Vancouver. If you can plan far enough in advance you should be able to book the same room for both cruises so you won't even have to move rooms in Seward.

 

Yes you will likely visit the same ports, sometimes in different orders, but that gives you twice as much time in each port and allow you to do several things in each stop. A big plus for me is that the weather may be iffy one week and amazing the other (although the last time I was in Alaska we were blessed with amazing weather both weeks in every port).

 

Joe W.

Some people say it is nice doing a northbound cruise because you are going towards the better scenery and others say it is better doing a southbound cruise because it is a more relaxing way to end your trip (I guess that assumes some land time).

The Princess ships got to Glacier Bay and College Fjord on the northbound trip and Glacier and Hubbard on the south bound trip.

Would you say one is preferable to the other given these views?