Which ship should I choose for our first Alaska Cruise (2019)?

Alaska is definitely not cheap, but it is an amazing place. My first trip I skipped a few things I really wanted to do because of price, and regretted it later. I realized that it cost too much in both time and money to just get to / from Alaska to worry about saving a few hundred dollars by giving up an experience I would remember the rest of my life.

 

Here are excursions we did and enjoyed:

 

Anchorage

 

If you have a chance to get to Anchorage at least 2 days ahead of time, I recommend taking the Alaska Railroad to Seward and doing a Kenai Fjords cruise. I would recommend a minimum of the 6 hour tour and preferably the 7.5 tour. You can take the train or bus back to Anchorage.

 

We booked a transfer from Anchorage to Whittier with a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Refuge on the day the ship departed.

 

Skagway

 

Our favorite excursion here was a Bus / Train Combo trip to Emerald Lake with Chilkoot Tours. We did the bus first and added the dog cart ride at Caribou Crossing.

 

Juneau

 

Our favorite here was the Tracy Arm excursion with Adventure Bound. You may be tight on getting back before your ship leaves, based on the schedule I saw (6:30am - 5:00pm). You may see if your ship offers a Tracy Arm excursion, then you have no issues since they will wait for you.

 

If timing doesn’t allow Tracy Arm, book a whale watching trip on one of the smaller independent boats. A visit to Mendenhall Glacier and Mt. Roberts Tram are also good options that can all be done with your port times.

 

Ketchikan

 

We did a kayak tour with Southeast Kayaks and then walked Creek Street, Married Man’s Trail and saw the fish ladder. Ketchikan is a good place to do shopping for souvenirs as well.

 

Vancouver

 

If you have the time (and budget) spend at least an extra night or two in Vancouver. We enjoyed the Hop-On-Hop-Off tour that included Stanley Park, downtown and other areas. We also took a combo tour of Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Thank you for these amazing suggestions! Was your time spent in Anchorage and Vancouver independent or as a cruise land tour? If there is little cost difference, would you recommend sticking with the cruise lines for the novice?

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Thank you for these amazing suggestions! Was your time spent in Anchorage and Vancouver independent or as a cruise land tour? If there is little cost difference, would you recommend sticking with the cruise lines for the novice?

 

 

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My first time to Alaska was a Southbound from Whittier. We arrived 2 days early and booked the Alaska Railroad and Kenai Fjords Tours and transfer to Whittier with the Alaska Wildlife Center independently.

Our cruise in May was a Northbound. We booked our Vancouver tours independently. The cruise ended in Seward and we booked the Kenai Fjords cruise and transfer to the airport with the cruise line. We used the cruise line tour since we had a large onboard credit to use and they handled the luggage directly from the ship to the airport, but independents can take care of it also.

I generally use independents, but if you feel more comfortable using the ships excursions, there is nothing wrong with that. I always use, and recommend, ship excursions if there is any question about the tour getting back to the ship prior to boarding. I like an independent tour to have a return time of at least an hour before boarding time, just to be sure. The ship will wait on your tour if it is late and you booked through the ship. They usually do not wait for those late that weren’t booked through the ship.

That being said, don’t be afraid to use independent tours as long as the times are not too tight and they have good reviews. They depend on cruise passengers and if they fail to get someone back in time, the backlash from reviews would put them out of business.

The advantage of independent tours is there may be options not offered through the ship, groups are usually smaller and touring times can be longer. For example, whale watching on a 6 passenger boat vs 100 passenger boat through the ship tour. There can be savings as well, but much more so in the Caribbean than Alaska.

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We decided on the Disney Wonder for May 2019. Thank you, everyone, for your help. We are so excited!!

My one regret about doing Alaska this year is that Quantum class isn’t there yet :( if I would have known they were coming, we probably would have waited a year. Really want to try a quantum class, but we aren’t interested in doing the east coast down to the Caribbean route. If quantum class still does a “fall colors” route in 2020, we might do that :)

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