Alaska cruise tour: how best to do our homework

[SueO]

Hi - We have cruised Alaska in the past (HAL) and loved the inside passage cruise. We are planning a trip in 2007 for a cruisetour. I know that many here recommend independant travel for this but because of the people we are going with - it WILL be a cruisetour and most likely with HAL. The other recommendation here is always to do our homework. My question is: how best to do that? We love active excursions, wildlife, etc. To get a feel of what all those itineraries actually represent - what do we need to do? Will studying the HAL website tell us enough details to help here or is there a really good guidebook that might help. The number of itineraries available is overwhelming when we don't really know which places have what we want. We are looking for two weeks, the land part longer than the cruise, with the most activity we can get. Any advice on where best to learn what I need to know? THANKS, sue

[NancyIL]

There are two books that I really like: Frommer's Alaska by Charles Wohlforth, and Alaska By Cruise Ship by Anne Vipond.

 

As for cruisetours - the cruiseline brochures are very skimpy on the details. Make sure you get a Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali rather than the Natural History Tour - because HAL does both.

[Chat Noir]

Do you have a copy of the HAL 2006 Alaska brochure? In looking at mine, at least for this year, I do find it to be quite comprehensive, with grids showing what's offered, and what's optional on the cruisetours.

 

The brochures are so much easier to read and reference, in my opinion, than using the website.

 

Besides the typical 7 day cruise with a choice of cruisetours, HAL offers just an inside passage cruise, with disembarkation/embarkation at Skagway, with more land than sea (3 or 4 night Inside Passage cruise). It hits some Yukon highlights in addition to interior Alaska. The focus seems to be on gold-rush history and highlights, along with Denali.

 

Perhaps make a list of what's most important to you and your traveling companions (flightseeing, dogsledding, helicoptor tours, museusm, history, scenic touring, railroad, glacier cruising, etc) then decided where you'd like to do these (Denali, Skagway, Juneau, etc) and see what matches up.

 

In addition, to the above mentioned books by NancyIL, I enjoy Fodor's Alaska. Alaska for Dummies is a quick overview book that I have found helpful. The MilePost yearly publication might be nice for you to read prior to deciding, and use as a guide to choose which itinerary best follows what your interests are.