TATraveler

I'm a nature lovin' girl and thought I'd seen it all here in the Pacific Northwest, where you see a glaciated mountain every time you turn around. I've also been to many of the national parks. Gorgeous. Then I cruised to Alaska, a trip that ruined me for the lower 48. It is so ruggedly beautiful up there.

I wouldn't cruise anywhere else. Hot and humid tropics aren't for me. I'm a melanoma patient so no long days of sunning. Old ruins would be fine, but I'd rather see the beauty that nature brought, rather than man-made structures.

I doubt I'll cruise again at all, but I'll definitely see Alaska again.

Someone asked about best time of year. May has statistically lowest rainfall, but it can sometimes be hard to get into some of the bays where glaciers are that early in the season. So I'd say early June might be best. We went in May of this year. It is a particularly warm year up there, but it was perfect for the balance between good amount of snow on peaks and accessibility of our inlets. And the weather was perfect, I must say.

We cruised out of Seattle this year. On the outside of Vancouver Island, we saw puffins and whales on the way up. On the way back, we got our first chance to do some things on board the ship. In Alaska, we had hardly any time for the ship activities so it was nice to have that relaxing shipboard day before disembarking. And if you want to see wilderness, there is nothing more wilderness than open ocean. Seeing puffins was a trip highlight for me. I've never seen them in the wild. So it was totally worth it to go that way.

We debated. But realistically, we're local to Seattle metro and could drive up Vancouver Island and see the narrows. The convenience of leaving out of Seattle was worth it....even though I'm probably in the minority when I say I could miss Victoria, IMHO, a wasted day. And I would have liked to have spent more time up north, since I'm from here and can see the beauty of this region anytime, so the fact that the Vancouver itinerary includes Sitka might be justification.

Sooooo I would say, if you think you might cruise to Alaska again, then use your free plane tix. You'll enjoy the outside of Vancouver Island for the reasons I listed and maybe more. But if this is a one time deal....mmmmm.....it's probably worth $1600 for more Alaska via Sitka plus the narrows.

Same with Hoonah. We took the free shuttle there from Icy Strait Point and saw more than 30 eagles in the little harbor hanging out like pigeons or seagulls, as someone said. You don't have to take a special tour to see eagles.

You'll see them everywhere, starting with Seattle. I live in a Seattle suburb and have a few resident eagles right here.

We are two couples celebrating our 25th wedding anniversaries.

 

We have cruised lots but I, personally, have little desire to see Alaska. I am a Caribbean type and love beaches and hot weather! Anyway, I know I will see beautiful sites and will enjoy it. A cruise is a cruise, right?

 

Anyway, I have been put in charge of finding this cruise!

 

One does not have a passport so we must leave and return from a US port.

 

We are past Disney, Carnival and Norwegian cruisers (I know, I know but they do the beach cruises well!)

 

I have found a cruise on Royal Caribbean and one on Holland that will fit the requirements. I have not even considered stops, excursions, etc. (only dates, departure port and price)

 

It must be end of August or September.

 

Any suggestions for us? Any words of caution, things to avoid?

 

Thanks so much.

A tip, checking weather history, of the time period in which cruise ships go to Alaska, September is the rainiest season and the shortest day season. August is a better bet (although rain-ier too). I would postpone until May, especially since you're a "Caribbean person". May is statistically the least rainy and has 19 hour days.

Don't forget to ask for the AAA rate (if you have AAA). It can save you enough to pay for a membership after 3 days in Alaska....plus then you have AAA!

We always use Comfort Inns, semi-consistently clean and good, decent "breakfast" and decently priced.

There's an expensive Comfort Inn (Ship Creek) by the train station and a less expensive one (Airport) near the airport. Both have shuttles.

Of course, in Alaska, prices are high. However, both hotels have an advanced booking rate that is significantly less.

HAHA, mama didn't raise no fool. I don't waste money and cancelling a cruise 20 days out would certainly be a waste. Luckily it will be my first time in Alaska so I'm sure the scenery will distract me enough from having to be on an NCL ship to make the cruise passable.

 

Now, if you or one of the other cheerleaders is offering to make up the loss then we could probably work something out. ;)

 

Good thing for you, after this cruise my sailing days on NCL are done and unlike some trolls out there, I don't frequent the boards of cruise lines that I don't sail so at least you have something to look forward to as do I with my upcoming CCL and RCCL cruises. :)

Good answer. Some people feel that valid complaints are whining. I wish they would understand that defending the lousy policies of a large corporation isn't really in their best interests.

Given that cruise lines can add fees any time they want, yes, they can make the gratuities retroactive to people who booked before the new charges take effect.

My husband and I are back and forth on whether to book the Crown Princess to Alaska next May. Seems every day brings a new concern about whether Costa Rica or Hawaii would be better. One of our biggest concerns is that we are active adults in our mid-30's and will be sailing without our daughter and not sure if we will be (for lack of a better term) bored. I know the excursions we are looking at will be a blast and Glacier Bay will be awesome I am sure but what about the rest of the time. Walking around in ports, being on the ship, etc. I am curious what others in our age group have thought of this trip. Would you go again or wait until you were a bit older as the vacation itself is not as active as some other options. I realize everyone's opinions are different but I just am hopeful to hear others opinions. I appreciate any feedback.

If you like to do things like hike, several of the ports of call have good or great hiking. Many kinds of outdoor activities can be done at port. I'm not 30, but I feared being bored on ship. I don't drink, gamble or like to spend time sitting in the sun (past melanoma patient). I'm also not a foodie, and don't care about specialty restaurants. However, I found I wanted to get up at 4:00am every morning to go watch for wildlife off the ship and tried not to go to bed until sunset. I think a month on ship would have bored me, but in a week on ship, there were enough interesting things to see along the way that I wasn't bored. Also, some of the entertainment was interesting.

But you would likely have a better "active" trip via flying up to Juneau and ferrying around. It's what I wish I had done....

A small pod of whales often takes residence off Whidbey Island too. They are typically off the Eastern shores, but nothing says they won't roam elsewhere. It pays to keep an eye out!

http://www.whidbeycamanoislands.com/thingstodo/beaches_waterways/graywhales/

We saw quite a few whales on our cruise. Some were off the starboard side of our ship as we cruised past Western Vancouver Island. Some were in various places along the inside passage (don't remember exactly where). We saw several at the opening of Glacier Bay. We saw several in the bay in Hoonah.

I'm from the Seattle area. As for the San Juans, yes you can see whales there. June through October is the best time. I don't know if you'll see them from your ship. However, this year, some orcas came all the way down into Elliott Bay (the Seattle waterfront area). You have potential (sometimes small, sometimes better) for seeing whales throughout Puget Sound. Look for spouts. Keep your eyes open. You could very well see them.

This web site gives nice whale reports: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs183/1101447505873/archive/1121192834428.html

In Hoonah, we saw literally dozens of eagles. Just go walk out on the harbor road near where the free shuttle lets off. We also whale watched right on shore from the walking path on our way back to Icy Strait Point.

We saw sea lions in the lower part of Glacier Bay, so if you're visiting there, you'll see them there.

I haven't been to Sitka. I'm sure I'd love it. But Hoonah was definitely one of my favorite places.

As our ship cruised near Western Vancouver Island, we saw both puffins and whales. One whale stayed extremely close to our ship for awhile.

We saw whales in quite a few places along our cruise. Some were reasonably close, others farther.

In Hoonah, a whale mom(?) and infant came very close to shore. Another put on quite a show a ways off shore, but certainly close enough that the binoculars and zoom camcorder could find them.

If you're on a budget and you want to do a whale tour, you can do tours out of both Puget Sound near Seattle and Vancouver/Victoria. The price is much less than in Alaska.

I am extremely prone to motion sickness, so I took Bonine on the night before the at-sea day on the way up to SE Alaska. I was sleepy until 3:00pm the next day. (I'm pretty sensitive to many meds.) I was pretty miserable from the sleepiness. On the way back I skipped the Bonine and was fine sea sickness wise and could stay awake all day!

If the weather is going to be good, I'd strongly consider going light on the seasick med, if I were you. You want to be awake to see the puffins and whales that hang out on the West Coast of Vancouver Island ;-). We saw 'em! ;-).

Thank you for the review of Juneau Car rental. We were thinking about doing pretty much the same thing. Hearing that the check engine light was on is pretty disconcerting though, especially when you have a cruise that you need to be on time for. Wondering how safe it is to leave a car with the keys in the visor upon the return, there would be no proof to show that you really returned the car and that you brought it back in the same shape.

It ran fine. And as I said, if you stay pretty much in town, their office is no more than 15 minutes from anywhere, including Mendenhall. Buses break down too, and after hearing those horror stories, I had no problem with the car.

You leave the keys on the visor and lock the door...safety would still be a concern no doubt. Maybe they have cameras? I don't know. I suspect an outfit with that policy could not make you responsible for a stolen car, but who knows. The other thing is it's Juneau. If someone steals the car, Juneau Car Rental simply reports it to the ferry system and then look for it around town. Trust me, I suspect car thefts in these island communities is low. There's no place for people to go with the stolen car, given the only way out is by ferry.

A friendly reminder: the stateroom attendant who has to remove dishes because people are too lazy to do their own are already working upwards of twelve hour days.

Personally, I'd love knowing of a place to take my dishes. It would soothe my conscience.

The walk to Nugget Falls is a little over a mile, is pretty flat and definitely worth the time. It gets you closer to the falls (which is HUUUGE) and to the glacier. And you can get a better look at the goats on the rocks.

When we went last week, we rented a car from Juneau Car Rentals, which has a kiosk at the AJ Dock. The cars are old and a bit junky (the firm used to be affiliated with "Rent a Wreck"), but the convenience factor was huge. Our cost was about $70 for a mid-sized, which would easily hold four. And it was no hassle. We picked up the car at the kiosk, dropped it off at the cruise ship parking lot. If you have at least 4 and happen to be docking at the AJ Dock, it's absolutely a no brainer to do the car rental. If you stay in cell service range (and the glacier is in cell range), if something goes wrong with the car, it would take no more than about 15-20 minutes to pick you up anywhere in town. We saw people waiting for shuttles and realized how unbelievably lucky we were to have the car. Awesome.

We did a bus - only round trip to the Yukon last week. We're photographers and the buses stop at turnouts. We got great photos at the turnouts and of the three bears we saw. Train pix wouldn't have been nearly as good.

You don't stop on the train except to head back down. The stops make the ride.

We used Frontier Excursions. Brooke was our tour guide. She was GREAT.

We watched whales from shore at Icy Strait Point. Just look where you see the whale watching boats go and you'll see them. Pro tip: If you're cruising out of Seattle, we have whale watching for about half or less of the cost, especially with a groupon. Victoria also has Groupons for whale watching.

June and July are supposed to be the worst months for mosquitos, but this year late May might be worse than usual because of the unseasonably warm weather.

Thank you for the info. I realized it's a US state, just not connected so I wasn't sure how it worked. A few years ago my parents cruised to Hawaii and had to get an International Sim card, so I thought it may be like that.

Yours is a valid question. It's only recently that Verizon started bragging about their Alaska coverage. Before that, it could be hit or miss.

We had absolutely terrible Verizon coverage in Hoonah, if your ship goes there (Icy Strait Point). Could barely make a call and IX for internet. (We needed to call and email for business purposes.)

Sure, that is true for some.

But for some others, there are four of them in an inside cabin, they drink iced tea/coffee/water, use their cameras to get what photos they want, don't book excursions, don't buy in the shops, no gambling and no art auctions........ :)

 

It's so hard to generalize about any group. All are different in their own ways.

 

That was us. We tipped our stateroom attendant a little extra, but otherwise, didn't spend a dime on board! We aren't drinkers and heard the specialty restaurants aren't worth it.

What don't you see? If they lowered the single supplement by just $1, they would lose that $1.

 

The bigger loss would come from having just one person in a cabin that could hold two, and that one person spends what one person spends on a cruise instead of having two people each spending what one person spends -- and such on board spending is where the big profits are.

 

Every cabin sold to a single passenger is a cabin that cannot be sold to two passengers -- and it makes no difference that some other cabins might hold three: that one cabin sold to a single passenger generates less revenue.

 

Of course, if just before sailing date there were many unsold cabins, the line would cut fares - but the fact is that with their pricing models the lines are pretty good at selling all their cabins.

Every cabin sold to two passengers is a cabin that can't be sold to four passengers. So by your logic, there should be a double supplement as well. :D

To those of you who have cruised Alaska what would do different? Would you leave from a different port, do a different excursion, book different room type? I am hoping to learn from those of you who have been and maybe wished they would have done something different on their cruise!

We just got off a 9-day Alaska Itinerary. If I had it to do over again, I'd have flown up and used the ferry system, rather than cruising. HONESTLY. Even on the extended cruise we took, we didn't spend enough time in the ports I loved and spent way too much time in the ports I didn't care about (Victoria and to a lesser extent, Skagway).

If cruising is a must, do a one-way cruise. We cruised Seattle to Seattle. I'm from Seattle, so we spent more days in familiar territory than in Alaska. Do the cruise where you go from Vancouver to Glacier Bay AND Hubbard (Yakutat), then cruise through Prince William Sound. I think Princess offers that one.

Hoping someone can help - Anyone done the combined White Pass Train and Bike ride back down hill in Skagway? Did something similar in Hawaii a couple of years ago and wish to book this but wondering wether to book the early morning departure 7:30am or later 12noon. We will be in Skagway early August so just wondering if it will be more likely to have low cloud first thing in the morning ?

Last week, I took the bus trip to the Yukon. We passed the bicyclists who were coming down from the pass. My driver kidded that the bike riders never smile. She was right. I'd say it's not a great trip. The shoulder is fairly small, and the ride is steep enough that you spend a ton of time braking, and watching to make sure you aren't going too fast or over big rocks or something.

I highly suggest taking a bus up and back. We stopped several times for bear, etc. I would never take the train, since the train doesn't stop until the end.

I used Frontier Excursions for the bus/shuttle trip, driver Brooke.