???'s about Alaskan cruises.

I am so looking forward to my next cruise, which is going to Alaska. Not wanting to know anything about Alaska itself, I am working on that, but tell me about ship time on an Alaskan cruise. I am one of those cruisers who loves "ship life", the deck parties, music trivia, shows in the palace and love the music in the Red Frog Pub and also love the comedians at night. Will I still get the same activities, just minus the sun burns?

Alaska is more about the ports and scenery than the shipboard activities, but some of them will still be offered. Warning - you can get a sunburn in Alaska. Reflected sunlight off the glaciers, snow, and water can burn you. Skiers wear sunscreen for a reasons.

Roz

We have done a 1/2 dozen Alaska cruises and you will have lots of shipboard activities like you would anywhere else. In addition there will be a naturalist along who will point out wildlife and the sights and conduct several talks about the area. You will be well entertained on board.

Enjoy.

There is still music in the pub, there is still a piano bar entertainer, there are still shows.

Most of the stuff you are used to will still happen, but do spend the days outside if possible. It's really nice to have mountain scenery when going between ports!

What about the comedians?

Yes, I plan on being outside enjoying the beauty of it all. We have a balcony but if we stay out there will we will miss announcements of what we are seeing?

AK cruise had a lot of fun just like other cruises.

We spent a good amount of time with hot chocolate and blankets on serenity while going through the glaciers and it was truly relaxing!

The comedians come in and the regular shows go on too.

I can't say that many people hung out around the pool even though the dome was closed on the miracle so it was a little warm in there around one of the pools.

I have been on several Carnival cruises and last year we decided to give Alaska a try aboard the Carnival Legend. I will say it felt much different then the typical Cruise.

Probably the biggest thing you will notice is unlike a typical cruise, there is always something to see. You never have a day where there is just empty ocean. As someone already said you have a naturalist on-board. On our cruise she came over the PA very regularly(sometimes 4-10 times an hour) giving us information like island/location names, local history, and most importantly whale/wildlife sightings.

We had an Aft Balcony were we did most of our watching. On one occasion I went to the lido desk to get a pizza and I was amazed at the site of seeing people packed like sardines sitting in chairs facing the windows just watching eagerly awaiting the naturalist to say there was another sighting.

The best part of the cruise for me was the Tracy Arm fjord. I never imagined being on a cruise ship and having 2,000ft mountains towering on ether side of the ship. I highly recommend doing the Tracy Arm fjord glacier excursion, I didn't and I really regret it after hearing about it and seeing the picture of other cruisers.

I also recommend taking the highest power set of binoculars you can find. I forgot mine and ended up buying a pair from the photo lounge. To my surprise, they were actually very reasonably priced.

Lastly, funny you should mention "ship time", although its not want you meant, one thing that was different about this cruise is the ship's time actually changed 4 times. Twice we changed clocks back an hour and on the return trip we moved them forward hours 2 times. I will say they were very good about communicating the chance and there was absolutely no way you couldn't know about it.

Enjoy your trip.

I am on the fence about the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion, that will put my excursion total over $800!! When my daughter talked me into this cruise I had no idea how much the excursions were going to cost. Thanks for all your comments!

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I am going in 27 days, so very interested in this thread. Due to the amount of money needed for excursions we are not doing a balcony for the first time in years. We have one of the French door interiors between two lifeboats. I really hope I don't regret no balcony. It is just me and my 13 yr old daughter seeing as husband hates flying, cruising and the cold. On the plus, I have always wanted to try one of these rooms.

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Due to the amount of money needed for excursions we are not doing a balcony for the first time in years. We have one of the French door interiors between two lifeboats. I really hope I don't regret no balcony.

Same here. My husband and I are booked on the 4/30 sailing next year, and we are booked in a French door interior between two lifeboats in order to save money for excursions. I think we'll be find w/o the balcony. There's always the outdoor decks for viewing the scenery.

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I am going in 27 days, so very interested in this thread. Due to the amount of money needed for excursions we are not doing a balcony for the first time in years. We have one of the French door interiors between two lifeboats. I really hope I don't regret no balcony. It is just me and my 13 yr old daughter seeing as husband hates flying, cruising and the cold. On the plus, I have always wanted to try one of these rooms.

 

 

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We had one of those cabins on the Pride, great cabin for the price. Are you Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm?

I would love to see the fun times and hear about your experience when you return!

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I am on the fence about the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion, that will put my excursion total over $800!! When my daughter talked me into this cruise I had no idea how much the excursions were going to cost. Thanks for all your comments!

 

 

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Knowing what I know now, if I could only pick one excursion, I think that would be it.

We normally don't do a lot of excursions. For our cruise we did two inexpensive ones. In Skagway we did the tour bus that crossed into Canada and the night bus tour in Victoria.

I did buy a day pass for the mountain cable tram in Juno, I don't really consider that an excursion thought. I did get the all you can eat crab legs at the restaurant at the top and I was up there, I also snapped what was probably the best picture I've ever taken in my life, considering I'm not a photographer (see attachment).

Knowing what I know now, if I could only pick one excursion, I think that would be it.

 

 

 

We normally don't do a lot of excursions. For our cruise we did two inexpensive ones. In Skagway we did the tour bus that crossed into Canada and the night bus tour in Victoria.

 

 

 

I did buy a day pass for the mountain cable tram in Juno, I don't really consider that an excursion thought. I did get the all you can eat crab legs at the restaurant at the top and I was up there, I also snapped what was probably the best picture I've ever taken in my life, considering I'm not a photographer (see attachment).

Gorgeous!!!

We did the Alaska cruise several years ago on the first week of June. We are from Texas so we were already cold in Seattle. So first thing is wear a lot of layers. I was so glad I had tights and a lot of layers because it was really really cold. Going thru the mountains was even colder. It was never above 60 until the last day going back ...

The ship will pass thru beautiful mountains and glaciers. It is the most beautiful unspoiled land I had ever seen. The first day seeing blue ice float by was just unbelievable. We stayed outside nearly the whole time on the lido deck area. I had a balcony but didn't use it much for it was too close to the water and freezing out there. There are so many eagles and animals everywhere. We loved the whale boat tour. THey took us really close and they flipped their tale right in front of us. Our boat of people were in tears. It was on my bucket list for sure. so glad we did that one. The train trip was also good and went into Canada. Whatever is important to yu is what I would pick. We did do a tour to walk on the galacier and it was really great too.

We really didn't do many activities on the ship on that cruise. we saw the shows at nite and went to bed. It doesn't get dark early either so its hard to be sleepy. we enjoyed the cruise but its a whole different experience. We really like hot humid weather so it was hard to be in the cold. I still prefer beach cruises but I really enjoyed this one too. Have fun.

We are wimps when it comes to the cold - luckily for us, our Alaska cruise was accompanied by what they called "San Diego weather".

That was our first balcony stateroom, and DH & I spent so much time just hanging out on our balcony watching the mountains go by. We could hear the naturalist's announcements out there. Anyone who doesn't have a balcony can easily hang out on the deck watching, with a blanket if need be.

And we aren't big excursion spenders, though we did make exceptions on that cruise. One of our splurges was the Tracy Arm Fjord catamaran, and all 4 of us agreed that it was worth every penny. Try to find a way to afford that. We had whales breaching on both sides - spectacular! And the photos my husband got - wow! The guides kept my then 9 & 12 year old boys engaged the entire time, even scooped a piece of iceberg onboard and let them touch it. Fabulous time!!

Great thread, thanks to all for sharing these posts. 7 weeks and we'll be onboard Legend. First balcony; Tracy Arm excursion booked; ditto for White Pass train to Bennett Lake w/bus through Chilkoot Tours.

Always told myself I'd get a balcony for Alaska. Decision was made for me as only balcony cabins were left.

WOW thanks everyone for all the info! Getting so excited about our September Alaska cruise.

We looked at the balcony and an ocean view. My husband is not someone who could sit still for long, he would want to be up moving around to see this, now this, and over there, therefore the decision was made to do Ocean View. With the savings we could do more on our holiday.

I am a little worried about the cold though! Will have to wear layers as suggested, but have packed beanies and gloves.

My daughters are looking forward to seeing the huskies and ice (however I so should not have let them watch Titanic!!!).

Hey, I got sunburned on our last sea day! Have fun-there will be too many activities.

We went this past September. Temps were upper 50's day and upper 30's night

Several people have mentioned the cold. I'm also from Texas(Fort Worth specificity). While on our cruise, it never felt colder than the average winter day here.

That said, I'm probably a little bias. I am addicted to cabins with an extended aft balcony and that is what we booked for our cruise. On a normal cruise in the Caribbean these balconies can get quite warm during the day, but on the Alaskan cruise it was really nice. For most of the cruise I was able to sit out there with just a t-shirt and shorts.

I did venture to the front of the ship once or twice and it was quite cold up there. Everyone up there was bundled in heavy coats. I'm sure looked very out of place in my t-shirt and shorts and I'm sure people even questioned my sanity.

One thing I discovered on the Legend is if you don't like the cold, but still want an good view. Go to the hot tub on the Lido deck and just stand next to it. Its elevated a little bit and gives you a good view all around and it will keep you a little warmer.

I am from Kentucky, so mid August I will be welcoming cooler temps.

What about dining, currently I am on anytime but not sure if that's the best. I know we have a few long days and will miss the early sitting but I am guessing most are on anytime and that will make the wait very long. There is only 1 dining room if I remember correctly.

We have one of the French door interiors between two lifeboats. I really hope I don't regret no balcony.

In Alaska, I would go for an unobstructed window before getting a fully obstructed French door stateroom.

Before taking our first cruise to Alaska, I didn't realize that there's amazing scenery to look at pretty much 24 hours a day once you hit the inside passage (and more importantly, that there's close to 20 hours of sunlight a day to help you enjoy those views!) Unless you're planning on being outdoors the entire time, undoubtedly you'll be enjoying some of those views from your stateroom, whether it's at 5am or at 11pm. You just don't want to stop watching.

After taking an Alaska cruise and witnessing the never stopping amazing scenery, I'd go bonkers with a fully obstructed view, knowing what's beyond those lifeboats.

In Alaska, I would go for an unobstructed window before getting a fully obstructed French door stateroom.

 

Before taking our first cruise to Alaska, I didn't realize that there's amazing scenery to look at pretty much 24 hours a day once you hit the inside passage (and more importantly, that there's close to 20 hours of sunlight a day to help you enjoy those views!) Unless you're planning on being outdoors the entire time, undoubtedly you'll be enjoying some of those views from your stateroom, whether it's at 5am or at 11pm. You just don't want to stop watching.

 

After taking an Alaska cruise and witnessing the never stopping amazing scenery, I'd go bonkers with a fully obstructed view, knowing what's beyond those lifeboats.

I just found a Juneau webcam docking a Holland ship. Not like a Caribbean docking.

 

The best part of the cruise for me was the Tracy Arm fjord. I never imagined being on a cruise ship and having 2,000ft mountains towering on ether side of the ship. I highly recommend doing the Tracy Arm fjord glacier excursion, I didn't and I really regret it after hearing about it and seeing the picture of other cruisers.

 

Is this considered inside passage?

Is this considered inside passage?

Cruises out of Seattle are not considered inside passage if they sail on the west side of Vancouver Island. In this case, you'll spend the first day out at sea and won't start enjoying the scenery until the following day as you approach your fist port of call and join the inside passage.

On our particular sailing from Seattle, we sailed on the west side of Vancouver Island on the way north so we were out at sea (and in very choppy waters) that day, but from day 3 until our return to Seattle we enjoyed nonstop scenery. The ship transited the inside passage from Ketchikan to Victoria and then on to Seattle.