First time Alaska Cruise - Which route?

[MsBlues]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to plan a cruise to Alaska for the first time and still deciding if we want to leave out of San Francisco or another port. What is the best Alaska route to take for the first time? Inside passage or the glaciers?

 

Any advice or perspective is greatly appreciated!

 

MsBlues

[sassyredhat]

We have sailed to Alaska twice--once from Vancouver, and last Sept. from SF. Both were Inside Passage.

My suggestion is IP for your first one. The scenery is breathtaking, and there is more of it on the IP.

Now, if we go back for a 3rd time, we will probably do Glaciers because we haven't been to Sitka.

That SF itin was great. We took ships tours, and liked them all. Yes, it was very fun. :D

Pat

[gmann]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to plan a cruise to Alaska for the first time and still deciding if we want to leave out of San Francisco or another port. What is the best Alaska route to take for the first time? Inside passage or the glaciers?

 

Any advice or perspective is greatly appreciated!

 

MsBlues

 

Our 1st trip was out of Vancouver through the IP ending near Anchorage. If you are heading from Vancouver try for a starboard balcony.

 

Afterward we took a 5 day tour with the cruise line. The scenery in the interior is breathtaking. It is pricey with worth it. If you choose a "cruise tour" as we did I would suggest the tour 1st then cruise. More restful this way.

[iceleven]

A "true" inside passage generally only leaves from Vancouver. Many cruise lines will say "inside passage" but actually is as much out to sea as inside.

 

I have not taken a true inside passage as they are generally one-way cruises which requires a longer flight or are the two-week round trip cruises. However, if I had the time to spare and money was NOT an issue, I'd definitely take one of those.

 

That being said, I have cruised Alaska twice, 5/11 and 7/09 out of Seattle and loved both of them. The scenery and nature is awesome and we are booked again this August for the 10 day itinerary out of San Francisco just so that we can add a couple "ship days" to our trip. We also live just outside of SF so we are taking advantage of not having to fly.

 

Last year we had Hubbard Glacier on our itinerary but there was such fog that we were never able to get close enough to see it. What a disappointment but we simply told ourselves that it made a good reason to cruise again. Sitka was our favorite port city and we were blessed with clear skies that day.

 

Don't ever tell yourself that Alaska is a once in a life-time trip. That's what we told ourselves the first time and now we are certain that we will return again and again. There is so much to see and do. Let us know what you chose.

[no fuss travel]

The water down the Oregon coast to California can be quite rough. I was on one ship where they asked all female passengers to refrain from wearing high heels. If you were not holding on, you were sliding. The stabilizers just simply could not handle the swell.

[MsBlues]

Thanks everyone for the information. I was thinking the IP was the way to go as well. I didn't know most IPs or true IPs mean a Vancouver departure. I live near San Francisco so obviously it's nice not to fly to the port, but spending a couple of extra days checking out Vancouver wouldn't be bad either.

 

I don't know if we'll make it this year, but we're trying.

 

Thanks again!

[Michael Kays]

Some options we looked at when deciding which Alaska cruise to take were inside passage versus Glacier Bay and departing ports. R/T Seattle with Inside passage cruise was the least expensive airfare for us (we live on the West coast in Folsom, CA). Whittier (Anchorage) to Vancouver or Vancouver to Whittier cruises were much more expensive airfare, (you have multiple destination flights versus r/t), and from Anchorage you will need to get transportation to Whittier either using Princess shuttle or independant (same cost from Whittier to Anchorage)..that ranges from $39pp up. The bus ride to or from Whitteir can be up to 2 hours depending on the one way tunnel you must go through at Whittier which is only opened 15 minutes per hour each way.

WE deicded on Seattle r/t inside passage cruise..we were disappointed in not being able to see the glaciers up close without taking an expensive smaller boat tour for Tracy Arm Fjord..so we have already planned another cruise, this time R/t San Francisco which includes the Glacier Bay.

[mapleleaves]

there are a couple of books specific to Alaska cruises that might help with your research. The books provide info on the routes, the ports and actitivities. Ann Vipond has Alaska by Cruiseship, and I think Frommers has one too. You can also borrow Alaska travel books from your library to learn about the ports and what each one offers.

Other factors to consider with the cruise ... time of year if you have specific priorities (fishing and bear viewing have peak windows of time). If glaciers are a priority be sure the itinerary includes Glacier Bay or Hubbard.

And be mindful of how long the ship is in port and the time of day.

Some itineraries follow the route between Vancouver Island the BC mainland and this is much more scenic that sailing the west coast of Vancouver Island.

[Bruin Steve]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to plan a cruise to Alaska for the first time and still deciding if we want to leave out of San Francisco or another port. What is the best Alaska route to take for the first time? Inside passage or the glaciers?

 

Any advice or perspective is greatly appreciated!

 

MsBlues

 

Here's my take:

 

First of all, different cruise lines call these routes different things...Don't pay attention to titles...Look carefully at the itineraries...

 

When I did Alaska, I started with the notion that I many not make it all the way up to Alaska all that often, so I wanted to do the cruisetour thing to the extreme...

That requires a "one-way" voyage...Two reasons:

1) It allows an extended land tour in the upper part of Alaska.

2) No "backtracking" means more ports or longer and better times in port.

 

The round trips from Seattle, for example, are usually terrible...Due to the Jones Act, they need to stop in one Canadian port...This takes one day away from Alaskan ports. Vancouver or Victoria may be nice, but you can spend time there easy enough post-cruise. And look carefully, some cruises only make a brief two or three hour stop there to fill the requirements of the Jones Act...not like you get to see it.

 

Second decision was "Northbound" or "Southbound"...This became easy for me...The land portion involves more "work"--checking in and out of hotels, on and off buses...Better to get this part out of the way first, then relax on the cruise portion...So, Southbound it was...

 

When we picked which ship or line, it was interesting...A lot of folks push Princess in Alaska...The standard arguments are "They've been doing it longer", "They own their own hotels" and "They have a near monopoly on Glacier Bay"...my Sister had gone on Princess on one of their extended cruise tours and was not impressed... Doing it longer does not mean doing it better...Their own hotels, in comparing notes from my sister and others, were not as nice as the hotels Celebrity puts you into...And Glacier Bay, in comparing itineraries, was a trade-off for Hubbard Glacier and Icy Strait Point...Either Glacier Bay or Hubbard is impressive...there is no clear winner in that battle. We opted to go with Celebrity for the less crowded ships and the better food and service...

 

Then we decided to take it to the max with their longest length cruise tour...13 nights land and cruise...Flew into Fairbanks, two nights there, dome covered train from there to Denali and from Denali to Talkeetna and coaches from there to Anchorage, Alyeska and to the ship in Seward...Multiple tours and excursions included...Really a comprehensive Alaska inland trip...

 

Then, for the cruise Southbound, the common thought is a Port balcony cabin...Though note that in places like Hubbard Glacier (I'll assume same with Glacier Bay), they maneuver the ship completely around so all sides get that view...Going through the Inland Passage, there are views on both sides, though the common perception is that Port side is better...And, of course, you can always choose to go up top for those...

 

we completed our cruisetour with two nights in Vancouver to wind down...

 

And, if I had to do it again, I would do exactly the same...

[BenjiRodney]

We are doing are first Alaska cruise in June we are doing Rhapsody of The Seas r/t from Seattle.