kellycambp

We took the train (gold dome service) a few years ago and LOVED it. We arrived into Seward a day early and were able to take one of the glacier/whale watching tours. We boarded the ship the next day at 11 with no line because most people arrive later in the day due to an 8 pm departure time. We were the first people to board the ship.

We did a mid-May cruise on Holland America from Seward to Vancouver a few years ago and it was amazing. We did a fabulous glacier tour in Seward on our own and it got up close to some lesser known glaciers. It also included a prime rib buffet. The train ride from/to Anchorage is also a great experience - I recommend splurging for the Gold Dome/first class if your budget allows. We had no trouble getting into Glacier Bay though there are never any guarantees. It was a much older crowd on the ship. My 12-year-old son and I were repeatedly mistaken as staff on the first day 😆.

We did CVS for a Caribbean cruise a few months ago and plan on going back to them for our Alaska cruise. No out-of-pocket cost and our results were emailed to us within a few hours.

I think the cruise lines are going to have to re-evaluate how they bring in their workers for these summer Alaska programs. My college-age son looked into it and I was surprised to find out that they didn’t pay for housing or airfare for their seasonal employees. Maybe that’s how they’ve always done it; I have no idea. But a lot of nice young people probably decided against going there to work for this reason.

We did this pre-Covid in Seward, Alaska. We were the first people to board at 11 am and the ship wasn’t leaving until 9 pm. We realized we forgot a few toiletries - it was easy to get off the ship, go shopping, and get back on.