college fjord worth it?

[thenars]

Currently trying to decide between a 1 way northbound cruise on Princess from Vancouver to Whittier and a roundtrip Seattle Inside passage/glacier bay Princess cruise.

 

Stops on the one way include Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and scenic cruising in Glacier Bay and College Fjord.

 

Stops on the round trip are exactly the same, except instead of College Fjord we get a full day in Vancouver.

 

Obviously the roundtrip itinerary would save us considerably on airfare (maybe 200$ per person for 6 people)...and it would also save the East Coast people from having to take a redeye home from Anchorage. For those reasons, I'm leaning toward the RT right now, but would like to get people's opinions...thanks!!

[DougH]

I like College Fjord a lot but a full day in Vancouver might be nice. What cruise line are you looking at, I hadn't seen that before. Are you sure its Vancouver and not Victoria?

[thenars]

Oops you're right, Victoria not Vancouver. Let me see if I can fix that.

[thenars]

Nope, won't let me edit the first post. Oh well.

 

Anyway, in that case, what do you all think of Victoria?

[vbmom87]

Depends on your priorities. Although College Fjords is a beautiful area, I found it pretty similar to Glacier Bay. If you are not going to be able to spend time in the interior of Alaska after the cruise, the added expense is probably not worth it.

 

Now if you are open to another suggestion, take a look at the HAL RT out of Vancouver that goes to Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm Fjord. This is an awesome itinerary if scenery is your priority. Not only do you get to see the beauty of both Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm, you will also get to sail to the east of Vancouver Island for another absolutely gorgeous scenic sailing day. The typical Seattle cruise sails to the west of Vancouver Island. This is not a scenic day, but rather a sea day with an increased chance of rough waters. You can have rough waters anywhere, but you do increase your chances sailing in rough seas when you sail in and out of Seattle. To help defray air costs, some people fly into Seattle and transfer to Vancouver by train, bus or rental car.

 

If interested in the HAL cruise, many say the itinerary that leave on Wednesday puts you in the ports with less cruise ships, which many seem to enjoy.

 

What dates are you looking to sail?

[karatemom2]

I really loved College Fjord. In some ways I found it even more spectacular then Glacier Bay. However, I don't know that I would pay a great deal extra and make air travel difficult just to work it in to an itinerary. Victoria is a nice stop and a full day would be enjoyable.

[thenars]

Thanks vbmom for that suggestion. Unfortunately for this cruise we're set on taking Princess to take advantage of some future cruise and referral credits... Your input on the sea day out of Seattle and scenic cruising out of Vancouver is great though, we'll really have to carefully weigh all of these the trade offs!

[vbmom87]

Thanks vbmom for that suggestion. Unfortunately for this cruise we're set on taking Princess to take advantage of some future cruise and referral credits... Your input on the sea day out of Seattle and scenic cruising out of Vancouver is great though, we'll really have to carefully weigh all of these the trade offs!

 

With any cruise you take, you will be missing something. You just can't do it all in one trip. I know I spent a lot of time deciding which cruise to select my first time. I ended up with the HAL itinerary from Vancouver to Seward with stops and Glacier Bay and College Fjords. It was an amazing cruise. If you are open to the SB Princess cruise from Whittier to Vancouver, you could get both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. That is another great option for someone with scenery and glaciers as their priority. If that had been in available in 2008, it would have been a no-brainer for me.

[gertz]

We will be doing our 5th trip to Alaska this summer so we have done our share of research. In our opinion there is nothing like College Fjord and Glacier Bay. This is the upside.

 

But there can be downsides also. A night owl flight out of Anchorage is just plain terrible, and breakfast in that airport is also not too great. And top it off with a 5 hour flight to Denver for us is not so great either. And the goofy hotels there are not too cheap either.

 

And another upside $1200.00.

 

In this particular case save the money.