Alaska or Norwegian Fiords???

[pepsicruiser]

Trying to decide which cruise to pick next. If you have done both please let me know which one you enjoyed more. I know both would be great but would like some input.

[Madison Madhouse]

We've done both and you are correct, both are awesome. Yet, in our book, the Norwegian Fjords win hands-down. Just more breathtaking and, yet, unmatched tranquility. We loved Norway so much we repeated this cruise (British Isles and Norwegian Fjords) within about a five-year period. We also enjoyed one of the best excursions we've had -- taking the Flam train into the mountains, and then hiking back down. The Alaskan and the two British Isles/Norway were on Royal.

[Bruin Steve]

Trying to decide which cruise to pick next. If you have done both please let me know which one you enjoyed more. I know both would be great but would like some input.

 

I've done both...and I am going back to the Norwegian Fjords in July...I've also done New Zealand and its "Sounds"...

 

All three are impressive in terms of scenery...and, obviously, have some similarities...

 

But, they are all different as well...

 

For Alaska, we did an extended 13 night (plus 2 nights post-cruise) cruisetour...So, the total experience was pretty cool...

We flew into Fairbanks--where we were greeted by the "Royal Celebrity" (The combined land tour arm of Royal Caribbean and Celebrity) and take on a six-night land tour by glass-domed rail car and luxury coach--two nights in Fairbanks, one in Denali, one in Talkeetna, one in Anchorage and one in Alyeska before meeting the ship in Seward for the Southbound cruise...The land tour included a number of excursions and kept us pretty busy...The ports on the cruise portion provided some great excursion opportunities...we did Whale watching in Icy Strait Point, rode horses in Skagway, did a helicopter glacier landing out of Juneau...and just did a city bus tour of Ketchikan...We also got very "up-close" with the Hubbard Glacier on the cruising day into the inlet...

 

Pretty incredible scenery...

 

OTOH, the towns were pretty dull...fairly ordinary, no large amount of history or culture...

 

Norway, OTOH, gives you a little foreign culture along with the beautiful scenery...Of course, in Norway, we never seemed to get that close to any glaciers--just viewed from a distance...

 

But, we never got to the far north of Norway, just to the section of Geiranger, Olden, Hellesylt, Bergen...

 

...because the itinerary we took last time combined those Norwegian ports in a 14 night cruise with ports in the British Isles--Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow...and with Copenhagen and Le Havre--making it a much more interesting cruise all-around...

 

This time, we are doing a 14 night cruise on Celebrity Eclipse that goes to Reykjavik and Akureyri, Iceland and to the Faroe Islands before going to Molde, Geiranger, Flam and Bergen, Norway...

 

And, by doing these European cruises, it allows us to expand our vacation with some time in the UK...

 

It's that little bit more of diversity and foreign culture that makes me enjoy the European itineraries a bit more...but, if you are looking for just straight scenery--and the added adventure of some of the more exciting excursions, the Alaska route may be more to your liking...

Because

[Janet524]

Another vote for the Norwegian Fjords. They are breathtakingly beautiful.

[Elequieu]

And don't miss Flam and Geiranger. If you can find a way to stay in Flam, take the Norway in a nutshell tours. Also the ferry from Bergen to Balestrand, then Flam is outstanding. Stay overnight in Balestrand at the smaller hotel there and sit on the balcony watching the ferries go by.

[SeaPeaInn]

Norway the winner by a mile.

[mek]

Glad the OP started this thread. Been to Alaska 2X and we are thinking of doing Norway next year. There is a great price on Brilliance OTS for this June, but we are doing a TA in April, so that's just a little too soon for us

[pepsicruiser]

Thank you for your replies. I found them very helpful.