Beginning planning help

Hello,

I am new to this board and apologize for asking the questions that have probably been asked before. I am not quite sure how to use this board yet.

I am planning a cruise to Alaska for next July for a family of 8, ranging from 3 years old to 80! Yes, a big spread. I am not a cruiser - have been on one, years ago and haven't cruised since.

We don't want to spend a year worth of college education, but also like to travel in comfort - I would say our travel style is low end luxury travel. We travel a lot, very active, love good food - what else?

There seems to be many different ship/cruise companies and by doing some research, it seems that Celebrity or Princess may be the better options. Any advantage to one over the other? Are there other companies that I should look into? Or is it more of a personal preference and I just need to make a choice one way or the other?

I'd like to sail out of Vancouver as we'd like to see as much as possible, vs. spending the time cruising. Am I wrong about this?

I read that one advice everyone is giving is the itinerary - but the itineraries seem very similar amongst the ships. Again, am I missing something?

Thanks so much for any information or tips.

Make sure to read a LOT on the Alaska forum here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

And there is a Family Cruise forum here that might be helpful re the younger ones

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=365&f=49

There are only a few ports, and a few glacier cruising opportunities, in Alaska. IMHO you need to compare information about the ports to find the ones that appeal most to you, and then try to find a cruise that goes to those ports. Also compare port times, the length of time in each port. Realize that you won't be able to do everything and see everything you want to, on your first cruise to Alaska. Everything you choose to do/see means you have to miss doing/seeing something else.

Do you know yet if you want to do a round-trip Vancouver, or one-way?

Thank you, and I am going to these threads right now. I don't, but it may make more sense to do a one-way.

For an Alaskan trip, the ports are the thing...not so much the ship. Either Celebrity or Princess will suffice. I don't know what you consider "low end luxury"...on ships, cabins are small...unless you pay for a big suite! The food is ample...but not 4-5 star....some meals are better than others...

If it's Alaska you want to see..then pick according to the ports you'd like to visit!

About ports - don't most of the ships stop at the same ports? Anchorage, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway? That's I guess is one of my main questions - it's not as if there are so many different ports. What am I missing?

Not all iteneraries will stop in the same ports. For example, my cruise went to Ketchikan, Juneau, Tracy Arm Fjord (one of the glaciers) and Haines, then Victoria BC. You can also take a round trip cruise out of San Francisco which is what I did.

I don't know where you live, but if you've never been out here, you might consider a few days before or after your cruise to check out this beautiful city.

Most of the Alaskan cruises fall into one of two groups.

First, Inside Passage. These go round trip from Vancouver, Seattle, SF mainly. They go to the ports in the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau, Ketchican, Skagway among others. If they do not originate in Vancouver, they will have to stop either there or in Victoria. All of these return to the port they started in.

Second is the Gulf of Alaska. These go one way between Vancouver and a port for Anchorage. I believe Whittier is the usual one.

These two lines are more similar than different, so I would choose based on which is cheaper. I would specifically choose a cruise with a land based tour as well going to Denali - usually by rail. I would also make sure the cruise goes through Glacier Bay as that is often a big highlight of an Alaska cruise.

Usually those who want to add a cruise trip before or after the cruise will select the one-way cruises. A bit difficult to do this with a RT as you'll have to make your way from SF, Vancouver or Seattle to Alaska and that would mean flying in to Anchorage.

About ports - don't most of the ships stop at the same ports? Anchorage, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway? That's I guess is one of my main questions - it's not as if there are so many different ports. What am I missing?

Not all itineraries are the same. Most of the ships that say Anchorage actually use Seward as the Anchorage port. I think HAL on their occasional 14 day AK itinerary are the only ones who actually port in Anchorage.

Although most ships do include the ports of Juneau, Ketckikan, and Skagway a few omit one of those ports.

Some itineraries include Glacier Bay, some don't. Some include Hubbard Glacier, some don't. Same is true of Icy Strait.

So it is important for you to look at various AK itineraries and see which one you prefer. That will answer your question about which cruise line. Choose by the itinerary you want.

Alaska is amazing....my mom took 19 of us....we flew to Seattle to see friends and then to anchorage......cruise line offered a bus to the port but we took a terrific train ride....much more comfortable....to seward.....stopped at several of the small towns and did the inside passage......we had an aft cabin....highly recommend one as you have a continuous 180 degree spectacular view.....we went early august and it was in the seventies and sunny.....we lucked out....just pick whichever is less expensive ....celebrity and princess are my favorites...our trip was on carnival and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was....salmon at breakfast lunch and dinner

We love to cruise on Celebrity - good food and excellent service. They do offer a kids club which gets good reviews but we have had no experience with that. There are less children on Celebrity in general but there should be enough during summer months. I'm a believer in the one way trip as you get to see more but it does potentially up your travel expenses.

We are booked on a one way north from Vancouver in May '16.

Inside Passage Cruising

Ketchikan

Icy Strait Point

Juneau

Skagway

Hubbard Glacier Cruising

Ending in Seward

From there we start an optional 6 night post cruise tour that ends in Fairbanks with overnights in

Seward

Anchorage

Talkeetna

Denali (2 nights)

Fairbanks

"Find a Travel Agent" link down at the bottom of the celebrity home page? Never used it but it might be what you're looking for.

You put in your zip code and a list of agents near you will come up. Try to find a five-star

one. They have good relationships with the cruise lines.

That said, I do use a large agency that specializes in online vacations. But they are a real agency and I have a favorite agent that I have used for years and lots of cruises.

I would head to your library and get a couple of tour books (Fodor's or Frommers) and see just what in Alaska has an interest for you.

Then I like to start a graph chart with the various cruiselines/ships across the top. Then down the side I put the things of importance to me (size of ship, cost, cabin, ports, times in port, sites to see, length of cruise, etc). As you research, put an "X" in the conjoining box. As you near the end of your research on should have more x's.

I chose HAL as I like the size of their ships and they went to Sitka & Glacier Bay on my first cruise, then included the Yukon on my 2nd cruisetour. I have also cruised Celebrity and Princess. I don't believe Celebrity goes to Glacier Bay. And Princess ships are usually much larger. We can only tell you our preference, which may be totally different than yours.

I would not do a cruisetour with children. If you want to extend your stay in Alaska, I'd do car/van rental. Not everyone is going to want to do the same things.

You have plenty of time to do your research and plan a trip that is what YOU want to do. Enjoy Alaska, it is an awesome destination.

Thank you for your inputs. Will keep on researching!

Since you asked about Alaska, and we did a cruise on Princess in Alaska:

When we went, which has been a while, we went on the Pacific Princess. It was fairly small (maybe 700 pax?), which we really liked. We're just not into the big ships, and when we cruised Celebrity Summit (2000 or more pax) in the Caribbean, even that ship was too big and crowded for us. Anyway, Princess wasn't fabulous, but basically it gave us a decent cruise, and got us awesome places we wanted to see, so it was fine. We flew to Vancouver and back from (I think) Anchorage. Vancouver is well worth seeing, although just to fly there for a cruise may not afford you much time to see it. We flew in a day early. That's a good thing to do anyway, just in case there's a long delay in your flight and you're sweating to make it to the ship on time.

I'm one of those folks who care a lot about the ports visited, including whether there's adequate time there to see a lot, rather than the ship itself. I also don't like to spend a lot of money on a balcony stateroom, as it's pretty easy to just go up top if there's something to see. In Alaska there's more to see from the balcony than in, say, the Med, but still, much of the time there's just water to look at until you get to a port. That port could be nice to look at or a basic industrial port with not a thing to look at. I prefer to save my money for more travels, or more expensive travels, so I book an inside cabin.

As a new cruiser you may feel safer just taking the ship's excursions, but in many ports, you can save money and have a great time by doing things on your own. Ketchikan is one of those ports, for example. We kind of splurged and did a helicopter ride in one port, a floatplane onto a glacier in another, and the rest of the time, planned DIY activities. Once you've booked a cruise, join the Roll Call and maybe find a few people to share a private excursion. There's a lot of info on ports in the "Port of Call" section of Cruise Critic, plus a site called tomsportguides.com has great info (look for Alaska ports). That might also be a good starting place to see if there are particular ports you want to visit.

Our favorite cruise line is Oceania, but it's probably a bit too pricey for someone who is kind of starting out, especially for 8 family members. However, Oceania is probably considered a low end luxury line, and gives you a lot of bang for your buck, so it's worth considering. Azamara is another, although they're pretty limited in where they go. I know that O goes to Alaska. We only used Princess in Alaska because at the time, Oceania didn't go there. O, however, has great food and service, and isn't as expensive as you'd think when you realize that air fare, specialty restaurants, sodas and bottled water, etc. are included. Celebrity and a lot of the mainstream lines don't include everything in their cruise prices, so know what's included and what's not when comparing cruise prices. Oceania, however, doesn't get too many kids, as it's a fairly old passenger base, so that may rule them out for you.

Definitely get a travel agent, as sometimes they will offer you goodies. We use one who's associated with one of the big national companies. He provides discounts, free gratuities, and other good stuff. I usually find the cruise I want and then ask him to book it. Yes, I could book with the cruise line, but then I don't get the goodies.

Good luck, and enjoy. Alaska is awesome.

Itinerary will rule in that area.

And while we prefer Princess with that range I would lean towards Celebrity.

Thank you. I decided and booked us on a one way Celebrity from Seward to Vancouver. Got a family veranda room, which from reviews, seems to be a nice option. Now, on to planning the pre-cruise portion!

Once again - lots to choose from. We decided to rent a car in Anchorage and drive to Homer, spend a day or two in Homer and drive to Seward, where we will board the ship.

I will try to book most port trips on our own. Does anyone know if there is a good place to watch a native Alaskan dance performance? Are there any troups that perform? I saw there a cruise option in IS, but was wondering if there are any others in Anchorage or anywhere in the SE Alaska?

Also, if someone has good accommodations recs, please do share - something with character, clean, comfortable, in the $300-400 range with all amenities.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to respond.