Alaskan cruise

We just completed our first cruise on Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean and would like to plan a cruise to Alaska for 2019. Questions we have are; recommendations for cruise lines, routes, ports, best time to travel, and combined land tours. Any other information you are willing to share would be greatly appreciated.

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I would look for a cruise line that include Glacier Bay.

Very special.

I would pick a time that works fo you.

I have sailed Alaska many times and at different times of the year.

I am partial though to sailings in May because it is early in the season and less children on board and the ports a little less crowded.

When you look at itineraries look at the time in port. Don't pick itineraries with five or less hours in port.

Popular choices include itineraries that are R/T Vancouver where you sail the inside passage or if you want to spend time on land say a cruise that goes Anchorage to Vancouver or Vancouver to Anchorage. On some lines such as Princess and Holland America you can add a land package.

For more ideas on ports be sure to check out the Alaska Cruise Line Board at:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=55

Keith

I would look for a cruise line that include Glacier Bay.

 

Very special.

 

I would pick a time that works fo you.

 

I have sailed Alaska many times and at different times of the year.

 

I am partial though to sailings in May because it is early in the season and less children on board and the ports a little less crowded.

 

When you look at itineraries look at the time in port. Don't pick itineraries with five or less hours in port.

 

Popular choices include itineraries that are R/T Vancouver where you sail the inside passage or if you want to spend time on land say a cruise that goes Anchorage to Vancouver or Vancouver to Anchorage. On some lines such as Princess and Holland America you can add a land package.

 

For more ideas on ports be sure to check out the Alaska Cruise Line Board at:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=55

 

Keith

Thank for the great information

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If you want beautiful scenery with great waterfalls go in spring. If you want to see more animals go later in summer when they are getting ready for winter.

Definitely go on a cruise that goes into Glacier Bay. They limit the number of cruises that enter on a regular basis.

If at all possible add on the land tour up to Denali National Park. One of the best trips ever. I enjoyed the train ride and land tour actually better than the cruise ( and I LOVE to cruise.)

You can't go wrong with whomever or whenever you you go. We did Holland American in August and there were maybe a dozen kids on board.

One more thing, we had wanted to go South to Vancouver but it didn't wirk out. Glad it didn't because as we headed North from Vancouver the scenery just got prettier and prettier!

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Glacier Bay is the crown jewel of Alaska.

Not sure how much you want to spend on an Alaskan cruise. But if you want to do a land tour, do that first. Then get on a cruise ship for a weeks cruise -- usually in Whittier or Seward and sail down to Vancouver. Land tours can be long days -- that is why I suggest to that first and then rest up on the cruise before flying home. With the various one way flights, this can be very expensive.

HAL offers a 14 day round trip cruise out of Seattle that goes to Kodiak, Homer and Anchorage. You might want to check that out as it is not offered by other cruise lines.

Thank for the great information

 

 

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You are very welcome.

Keith

There is a ton of information out there. First off, get an Alaska tour book. Anne Vipond's Alaska by Cruiseship is highly recommended. I used Frommer's Guide to Alaska. Use these to get ideas of what you want to do and when. What interests you the most? What is the best time to see those things? If you want to get in to Denali National Park, I've seen posts where the road won't fully open until June 1 and if you are going to go to Denali, you want to go at least as far as Eielson Visitor Center.

Decide whether you want to do a cruise-tour or a DIY land tour. DIY isn't that hard to plan if you peruse the CC boards as well as the Trip Advisor boards. We chose the DIY because we could control where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do, and when we wanted to go and do. Plus as we were driving, if we saw something that interested us, we could pull over and take pictures, tour, whatever, and then be on our way.

We chose to do a Southbound cruise out of Seward on Celebrity. We did not go to Glacier Bay, so I don't know if I truly missed a great thing or not. Our cruise didn't get that close to Hubbard Glacier, but because we did our own DIY, we got to Seward a day early and did a Kenai Fjords cruise that was able to get up close to a glacier so we did get the experience of seeing the glacier calve.

As you get to planning, post over on the Alaska boards. There are a lot of great people there that can help with your timing and what not to make your trip extra special.

Here's my Alaska advice: Before even embarking on your first Alaska cruise, start saving for your second. I took a "once in a lifetime" cruise to Alaska about twenty years ago. I have returned four times, each time incredible.

If a land tour or school schedule is not an issue, I recommend May. There is still lots of snow on the mountains. Picture book Alaska.

Whatever else you do, go whale watching. Amazing.

I have been to Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. I find Hubbard Glacier more impressive than Glacier Bay. (I am in the minority on these boards in preferring Glacier Bay.) I was on ships that got close to the glacier when it was calving. I think that depends on weather, time of year, and maybe ship size.

I like Vancouver departures because they take a more inside route, more sailing with land on both sides. Beautiful scenery.

Oh, have a great trip!

Vicki

When we went to Alaska we took a South to North 7 day cruise the first week of September, and then spent 2 weeks seeing Alaska by rail in the dome cars.

If time is possible I highly recommend Alaska by rail. We did not take a tour, we made our reservations and went at our pace.

https://www.alaskarailroad.com/