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@martincath and TheCalicoCat: Great info, we are looking into it now. Thanks!

My opinion of a great adventure along the coast of Alaska would be a ship trip on the Alaska Marine Highway system.

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/sample/07_bel_anc.shtml

This actually looks really interesting, and it clearly says "No Passport Required!" I'm still not clear on how it works though... we have our own car, and these are ferries? Where do we sleep overnight? I think I have to research this some more.

Yes! We could totally fly into Alaska and take a "boutique" cruise from there. And more nature-based sounds great to me. I will definitely check out those links, thank you!

@Coral: So I just looked into these, there are a few where the dates would work but you weren't kidding these boutique cruises are significantly more expensive than the big ships'. That said their itineraries and and stops and what one does and experiences on them really seems unique and very different from the big ships, I guess b/c they are smaller and can get to places the big ships can't?

For example this Juneau roundtrip cruise looks amazing:

https://www.un-cruise.com/destinations/alaska-cruises/discoverers-glacier-country

And the dates would work out for us, but it starts at $7795 pp.

The other option is to do a land trip - have her fly to Anchorage and you can do Seward and Denali or any other combination of seeing Alaska's beauty.

Yes this is my backup plan, Alaska Railroad looks good

Depending on her citizenship she MAY need a visa, but that should be easy enough to obtain. HOWEVER if your trip is THIS July, you need to move on it NOW .... a month isn't a lot of time to apply for and receive a visa.

 

My recommendation would be for her to fly to Anchorage to meet you AFTER your hike. A cruise would be a nice relaxing way to end your vacation. And Princess typically has good deals on inside cabins out of Whittier in July. That will also buy you a little more time to sort out the visa requirements.

She's lived in the US for 18 years and she's here legally, but she's still a citizen of Mexico. And we were thinking to go the last week of June, not July. Not much time unfortunately...

What do you mean, like a roundtrip cruise from Whittier? I searched for this and I did not find anything ??

There are some American Cruise lines that don't have to stop in Canada. They are smaller ships and more nature/Alaska based and the reviews are amazing on them.

 

I will look at their schedules. Do you have to leave from Seattle? That may be the tough one. If you are willing to fly to Alaska you may have more of a choice.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1449

Yes! We could totally fly into Alaska and take a "boutique" cruise from there. And more nature-based sounds great to me. I will definitely check out those links, thank you!

As long as your gf is in the US legally, she should have little trouble arranging things to take the trip you want, albeit from Vancouver.

She is, so this inspires hope. She's looking into it now, will update y'all soon

The fact she's not a US citizen is irrelevant to her getting into Canada or cruising Alaska, it just means she might need some other paperwork arranged - look up the requirements here for what is needed to visit Canada: there are many countries whose citizens do not need a visa, and even if she does need one it's possible she might be able to get one in time.

EXTREMELY helpful. You are right I was making assumptions and I could be wrong. I passed your post and link onto my gf and she is excited to look into it and hopefully find a positive answer. Thanks a million

So is there any Alaska cruise she can do without a US passport?

So I could use y'all's help, this is my situation: I am meeting my buddies in Anchorage on 7/1 to go into Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias to do some backpacking for 10 days -- this is a "hardcore guy trip." But for the week prior to that, if possible, I'd like to do something else in Alaska with my gf, something more suited for couples. The obvious answer is a cruise!

So I figured "Great! My gf and I can fly into Seattle around 6/23 or so, then we can do a one-way northbound cruise from Seattle to Anchorage/Whittier or Seward, then she can fly out of Anchorage back to US, and I can continue the trip with my buddies. Brilliant plan!" But now I see that there are no one-way cruises b/w Seattle and Alaska ports. And as mentioned above my gf is not a US citizen so we can't do Vancouver.

I thought ok maybe instead I'll do that train from Anchorage to Fairbanks with her, which I guess would be ok, but honestly a cruise would be ideal, that is like the perfect couples thing to do -- no stress (so no fighting haha). Any other way we could do a cruise somehow, without using an Canadian ports, that ends in either Anchorage or Seward?

All great suggestions, the problem is that my gf is not a US citizen yet, so she cannot travel outside of the US. Heck even if there were a Northbound Seattle to Anchorage cruise it probably wouldn't be worth it for her to go b/c she wouldn't be able to disembark at any of the Canadian stops.

I'm looking for a one-way Northbound from Seattle to Alaska (Seward, Whittier, etc) cruise, but for some reason all the ones from Seattle to Alaska seem to be roundtrip ???

as it is easy to drive and do it yourself and I wouldn't have to get up so early for some of the tours on the land portion.

GREAT advice. We're pretty independent and free-spirited and I do think we could handle the land part ourselves.

Absolutely fantastic advice everyone -- THANK YOU.

So since these posts we've researched a bit more, this is what we are thinking:

1. 8/9 - fly to Anchorage, rent car (great suggestion mapleleaves, we're somewhat DIY too, and we like the freedom and flexibility of having a car)

2. 8/10 afternoon - Drive to Denali (i.e. only one night in Anchorage)

3. 8/10-8/12 - Denali (i.e. 2 nights in Denali)

4. 8/12 morning - drive to Fairbanks

5. 8/12-8/14 - Fairbanks (i.e. 2 nights in Fairbanks)

6. 8/14 - drive to Anchorage

7. 8/15 morning - scenic train to Seward, see Seward (i.e. only a partial day in Seward)

8. 8/15, 7p - Royal Caribbean 7-day North-to-South one way cruise

9. 8/22 morning - arrive in Vancouver, rent car, see Vancouver

10. 8/23 morning - drive to Seattle, see Seattle

11. 8/24 morning - fly back from Seattle

What do y'all think of this? Some concerns/questions we have are:

1. Do we need more time in Anchorage?

2. Do we need more time in Seward?

3. Is Royal Caribbean ok? Or is Princess better? Or Norwegian? We are yuppies in our 20's and 30's, no kids.

Regarding preferences, we are active and into outdoor activities requiring exertion. Dining, museums etc are ok but not necessarily priority.

Ok so I'm a total newbie to cruising. I want to go on a two week or slightly shorter sea + land cruisetour in Alaska in August, 2014 with my girlfriend. I figured there would be one maybe two options for this. I was wrong -- there are like literally hundreds -- different cruiselines, ships, slightly different lengths, directions, itineraries and ports of call, etc. It is all quite confusing.

Anybody with experience willing to help? Any really positive testimonial about a prior experience? Any pitfalls to avoid?

Thanks in advance,