alaska first timer

confused as to which cruise line and direction...land first then cruise? please help with info thanks to all

All those things are personal preference...there is no right or wrong. Some reading down the board will get you tons of comments on the choices.

We did both in our two sailings. Either is great! I personally liked cruising north then we did a DIY land tour which was wonderful, but it is certainly up to you what you choose. You can not go wrong! I would just say do not go too early if you are planning a Denali visitation.

It also may depend on time of year if going at the edge of the season. For instance, it would be better to do a late May North bound followed by land than land before an early June.

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Another vote to also pay attention to which month....

• price
  
• daylight
  
• temperature
  
• wildlife
  
• dry weather! http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2667
  

First- find out about Alaska. Knowing the details is essential, so when planning, you know what you are considering. I think too many people, simply, just jump in- where, I think is a big mistake when later- there is the "what should I do" questions. Best to know this before. Goes a long way toward planning a fantastic tour for you.

confused as to which cruise line and direction...land first then cruise? please help with info thanks to all

I did my first ever Alaskan cruise last year (first cruise of any sort - May 5, 2016) so I know how you feel from relatively recent experience. How I chose was doing research. I first read some about the different ports in Alaska to narrow down what was interesting to me. I quickly decided that a stop in Sitka was top priority. My next top item was seeing Glacier Bay. A majority of cruises will have Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan as standard. I also included deciding which part of the cruise season was to my liking - I picked May for various reasons that included fewer other ships & tourists, few kids since most schools aren't out yet, statistically drier weather, still some snow on the mountains, I actually enjoy cooler weather, etc. I then started researching the different cruise lines to choose what seemed my style - I read about them here on Cruise Critic, the company web pages, etc. In that I looked to see who did both of my two objective areas of interest, Sitka and Glacier Bay. I ended up choosing a 10-day trip that started in Vancover, BC and came back to Seattle on Norwegian. I was a little unsure about the particular ship (a wide array of opinions that were both positive and negative) that was doing this cruise (The Pearl) but it worked out perfect for us. Once I had the cruise and date nailed down I started doing my research on what there was to do in the various ports. We pretty much did everything that we thought we truly wanted to do (helicopter glacier landing, zipline, etc) so if we never came back we'd have no regrets. I would have liked to do a land tour in conjunction with the cruise but decided we didn't have enough time and we'd do it separately at another time. This past early summer we flew to Anchorage for a two week road trip around the interior of Alaska. Truly, no regrets in how we handled this. We thoroughly enjoyed our 10-days on NCL Pearl; we could have easily stayed on another several days. We are going back for another Pearl cruise this next May and can't wait! I'm pretty sure that no matter who you cruise with or where you stop that you'll have a fantastic time! Good luck!

I've only been with Princess so I always vote for Princess Cruises. I've done just the cruise and now the land first followed by 7-Day Voyage of the glaciers from Anchorage to Vancouver. I definitely recommend the land portion first. Although with princess if you do the land portion second it is a little bit cheaper because it is a less desirable option. While much of your time is spent on a bus, on a train or just hanging out in the lodge it is somehow extremely exhausting. Especially if you are traveling from several time zones east of the Rockies. We did Anchorage to Mount McKinley Lodge to Denali princess Lodge. Then transfer back to Anchorage and onto Whittier where we caught the cruise ship. The last day alone was eight and a half hours of traveling. I would not want to do that and then somehow get on a flight back home. But that is just my personal preference. No matter which direction you do it in, if you can do the land portion, you will not regret it. It is absolutely an amazing experience. Next time we would like to go to Fairbanks.

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We have done many cruises to Alaska. I have several articles on my blog....http://www.zest4travel.wordpress.com Maybe there will be some information there that will be helpful.

If you're doing a cruise tour, then I suggest Princess cruise tour. We did Vancouver to Whittier went through a cloth tunnel and boarded the train.

At Seward, there's no covered gangway between the port terminal and the ship. We had to board in the rain.

Princess is the only line that I know of that goes to College Fjord and Marienna Glacier as part of the main cruise, not a shore excursion. If you have a balcony, you get a private view of it!

We did the Escorted Cruise tour (now called Connissiur). It came with an escort that helped us make excursion reservations at the various stops. We had several meals included, and a final evening meal that rivaled the Chef's table on Princess.

Be sure to do something with the train in Skagway.

We've also done 7-11 day closed circuit from Seattle and San Francisco. With Royal Caribbean, they usually do Tracy Arm Fjord, which rivals Norwegian Fjords. We've seen Norway, Milford, Dusky and Doubtful Sound (New Zealand), and Tracy Arm is just as good, maybe better w/o the long plane ride.

If you have a balcony, go ahead and order room service on scenic cruising day(s).

Hope this helps.