Alaska Cruise

[Contessa30]

Hello:

I am going to the experts.... I have never done a cruise to Alaska.

I need your advice. Have you done the Princess Land Tours with your cruise? If so, which ones did you enjoy the most. Should we book the land portion at the beginning of our cruise or at the end?

Which month do you think would be best?

I am also open to ports of call. Any suggestions?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[LindaKE]

If you go with Princess, as with most other lines, I think your choices of ports are Ketchikan, Skagway, and Juneau. The real choices are cruising Glacier Bay or not. You should definitely choose Glacier Bay and College Fjiord. Glacier Bay is spectacular and, because of eco concerns, only a limited number of ships are admitted. The one way trips are the way to go for a first cruise.

 

For an excursion, do a helicopter glacier landing. You can't appreciate the beauty of a glacier until you see it up close.

[Pia1913]

Hello:

I am going to the experts.... I have never done a cruise to Alaska.

I need your advice. Have you done the Princess Land Tours with your cruise? If so, which ones did you enjoy the most. Should we book the land portion at the beginning of our cruise or at the end?

Which month do you think would be best?

I am also open to ports of call. Any suggestions?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

We've been to Alaska twice, but we've scheduled something different this time by doing the Alaska land tour. We're taking the big one; 8 days, starting in Fairbanks on Sept. 6th. I would always choose land first, because then you have the cruise portion to basically relax and enjoy the slower pace.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We did the round trip out of Seattle as our kid was 7 at the time, and not interested in touring. Also, the transportation to and from the embarkation port was much easier.

 

I think Princess is now adding cruisetours for those going on the RTs.

[kittymom2]

We did a cruisetour last July. If I had it to do again, I would rent a car and do the land portion on my own. There is a wealth of information on the Alaska board if you want to plan your own landtour. For the cruise, it depends on when you want to go. If going early in the season, take a northbound as Denali doesn't open up all the way until later in May. If going later, it really doesn't matter. Some like to tour first, then cruise, some like it the opposite.

Have a great time.

[Host Caroline]

This May will be my 11th Alaska Cruise.. have done land portion twice. Last year we rented a car through a tour company so the car, hotel, tours etc. were all prepaid and set up but we had the freedom of having our own car.. Next time I would take the train if we were going to Denali and rent a car for Kenai.

If you go before June 1 and do a land portion whether on your own or a tour be aware that parts of Denali and some tours aren't open yet or may not be depending on the snow and road conditions.

If you are not doing a tour IMHO a roundtrip from Vancouver (incls. lovely British Columbia Inside Passage cruising) or Seattle is better for your first cruise.. Unfortunately Princess no longer sails roundtrip from Vancouver though.

And yes the Alaska boards are great.. just be aware that there are lots od differing opinions that are just that and don't second guess your choices based on them...

[kruzkid]

simple mathmatics..........princess+alaska=fun!

[Contessa30]

Thank you all very much! I knew you would have the answers.

Thanks again.

[cbcrpr47]

We are considering an Alaska cruise and cruise tour this Summer. I would be interested in any comments regarding the Princess lodging used at Denali for the cruise tour.

[NANCYR2]

Can anyone give us advice on the possible 4 day land tours after a 7 day cruise on the Sapphire or Diamond this August? We have the choice of days in Anchorage or Fairbanks, Denali Lodge or Mt McKinley Lodge.

 

This is a first for us to Alaska.

 

Nancy