Alaskan cruising options

[Kaylacool]

We are sailing Sydney to Vancouver in April/May 2020.  We are also looking to book from Vancouver up to Alaska.  Can anyone offer advice on "inside passage" or "voyage of glaciers" that takes you up to Anchorage or Fairbanks?  Is the Connoisseur Tour the option to go with as includes both sea and land options with most food and accommodation catered for?

What would members recommend or has been their experiences of must do's in this location?

We are looking at Princess as our first choice.

thanks

Kayleen

[terrydtx]

If this is your first trip to Alaska I would recommend a cruise that does the inside passage from Vancouver to Seward (Anchorage). You will spend your first night and day cruising up a riverlike setting never out of the site of land and some beautiful scenery. For your land portion you want one that spends at least 2 nights in Denali park and takes the cruise train from either Seward or Anchorage to the park and back to Anchorage, otherwise you will spend hours on a cramped bus. Fairbanks is OK but as an ending destination, it is real problem flying out to anywhere. Anchorage has much better flight service. Both Princess and Holland America are great choices, they are owned by the same company and have great resorts in Denali. Both also do a very nice job cruising Glacier Bay, another must see on an Alaska Cruise.

[SuperCrewBear]

Since you have over a year to plan I think you should consider doing the land portion on your own.  Rent a car and see the interior of Alaska at your own pace.  On the planned group tours you are simply herded from point A to point B as quickly as possible.  Driving in Alaska is very easy and it's almost impossible to get lost because there are only a few main highways.  You do need to allow plenty of time between locations because travel time & distance is deceiving.  If you use Google Maps to route a path I would allow at least twice the amount of time to allow for potential snafus to your plan - most of the highway system is one lane in each direction where a wreck or construction can cause a backup.  Plus, you will be seeing plenty of scenery and other points of interest that you will want to stop to investigate or take pictures.  The sooner you reserve a car the cheaper it will be too - if you are somehow affiliated with one of the major car companies with a contracted rate (I qualify through the company I work for) there can be significant savings on the rental price - I get about half off and it includes extra drivers and the various extra insurances which makes it an even bigger savings.  You would need to research what you would find interesting to see - most everyone wants to visit Denali and that should include at least two nights in the area with the full day in between for the actual Denali park visit.  Good luck!

[Gardyloo]

Note too that May is quite early for much of inland Alaska; for example the buses to the interior of Denali National Park don't go too far into the park until early June, and it's not fully accessible until later in the month, or even close to the first of July.

 

You have plenty of time to research and you've come to the right place.

[thinfool]

Princess offers both the Connoisseur Tour and a 'regular' cruisetour.  Difference is that the Connoisseur Tour includes meals and an attendant (guide) that accompanies your group at all times.  There may be other differences...ask your travel agent.  All Princess one- way sailings begin or end in Whittier, not Seward

As you can imagine, the regular cruise tour is not as expensive.

Tacking the Alaska sailing onto your cruise from Australia is likely your only option, but the comment above about early (May) access to Denali, etc is correct.

Edited February 1, 2019 by thinfool