Which Alaskan itinerary is better

[Laszlo]

Like the title says, which one is better? Or does it really matter? Ships are basically identical. My wife and I plan to go to Alaska for our 25th wedding anniversary. We also plan to fly to San Francisco for 5-6 days right after the cruise. We'll be flying from PHL and plan to arrive a day or two before the cruise out of Seattle. Planning on Labor Day weekend to start the cruise. I did first post this in the Alaska section but got zip

 

 

Thanks

 

 

http://www.ncl.com/vacations/compare...ort=4294908689

Edited October 22, 2015 by Laszlo

[Roz]

Are you asking what is the best itinerary, ship, or cruise line, or something else? You probably didn't get responses because your question in unclear.

 

Roz

[Laszlo]

Are you asking what is the best itinerary, ship, or cruise line, or something else? You probably didn't get responses because your question in unclear.

 

Roz

 

Your right......best itinerary

[pizzalady1]

I understood it. See my response on the Alaska Board.

[deladypilot]

I would say look at the port times on all of them. Try to get the most out of your stop. We have done 3 Alaskan cruises with NCL now and each one has been different but each great in their own way.

 

You might start with the ports and see what interests you in each and how much time you might need to do them.

[sctexan]

We cruised to Alaska in June of 2014 and I was advised (it was good advice) to pick the itinerary you wanted first and then pick the ship. We decided we could not go without seeing Glacier Bay. Only certain lines are allowed in Glacier Bay so that narrowed down our choices. We also then decided we wanted to do a round trip, not one way. Narrowed down choices again. Then since we had never been to Seattle and wanted to go, that left only a handful of cruise lines. I don't think anyone can tell you which itinerary is "best" as that is a personal choice.

 

The advice I was given to pick the places you want to see first and then chose the ship was spot on. So that is my advice to you, as well. I can thoroughly recommend the Holland America Westerdam. That was the ship we took and our cruise was fantastic!

[HACKT]

We've done 3 Alaska cruises with diff cruise lines. Line and ship isn't that important as it's all about Alaska. If you go out of Seattle, almost all itineraries are round trip so you won't go past Skagway or Glacier Bay. So if you want to get further north to College Fjord and get off in Alaska, you need to cruise out of Vancouver.

That said, any itinerary is good the first time as it's all beautiful. We did Seattle round trip last time and it's easier since you aren't having to transfer to Anchorage for airport. Round trip airfare is cheaper too.

Our next Alaska cruise we plan to go out of Vanc and get off in Alaska and take cruisetour to Fairbanks. That's about 11 days and costs much more than round trip Seattle but gets us into interior.

So your first choice to make is round-trip or one-way. After that you'll see most stops are same (Ketchikan and Juneau) but some choices are Skagway or Sitka. Personally we like Sitka as it's further out and historic with Russian influence. But most cruises go Skagway.

Bottom line is any Alaska cruise is good and you can go back and do a different one later. Also try different times as early/late season is colder and rainier but more whales whereas mid summer is warmer and dryer with more salmon (and mosquitos).

[HACKT]

Didn't mention glaciers. Unf in last 20 yrs, we noticed glaciers in Juneau and Glacier Bay are receding big time. More dirt than ice. If you're all about glaciers you'll want to cruise further north to Hubbard Glacier and College Fjord and get off in Alaska.

[Laszlo]

Great info, thanks all. Gives us a little more to think about. Since we are doing San Fran for a week following the cruise we are sticking to a 7 day to save a little money. If we really like it will go back.

 

I see my "Compare Cruises" link doesn't work anymore. I guess they must have changed something.

Edited October 22, 2015 by Laszlo

[Heartgrove]

We are doing Alaska for the first time next year as well. This was our sequence for choosing our cruise.

 

Our preferred line is HAL, so then we started with itinerary. A RT was easiest having been to both Vancouver and Seattle so the embarkation port didn't matter. Both are great destinations by the way. Also I wanted to visit Skagway to ride the WP&Y so that narrowed it down even more with Vancouver for embarkation. It is the first season that the Niew Amsterdam is doing Alaska and wanted to try a Signature-class. We did vacillate on when to go - early in the season or late. We have a family function in September to travel to. So our choice is the last week of May into June on the NA out of Vancouver.

 

By the way, one-way (NB or SB) cruises tend to fill the cabins on the land side quicker. We are actually flying to Seattle as the distance to Vancouver isn't that far with good transportation, and a chance to revisit both cities.

[Laszlo]

Thanks all for the info. We picked the Jewel (Saturday - Saturday) Labor Day weekend it was really a flip of the coin. Flying to San Francisco right after the cruise for 4 nights and then taking 4 days to drive down the coast to LA and flying home from there

[sctexan]

Yay! You are going to have a great time! We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic for a few days before our cruise. It's in a great location and they offer transportation to the pier.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Laszlo]

Yay! You are going to have a great time! We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic for a few days before our cruise. It's in a great location and they offer transportation to the pier.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

We are staying at the Edgewater? It was the same price as the Sheraton