oh boy, we are gettting confused!!!

[mmo]

Hello--any and all help would be appreciated...say you were going on your first cruise to Alaska, were early 50's, not really into "formal" nights, willing to try different excursions, figured on doing a land tour first.....would you do a land tour associated w/ the cruise ship you were taking?? Or would you attempt it on your own and hope you find your way back to the port in time for sailing?!! We are talking having @ 4 days for the land part. Where would you go on the land part? And, most importantly, what cruise line would you recommend? We know we want to do N to S, hope to go in late July. Now don't laugh at this question but are the waters fairly smooth (guess who gets motion sickness at times!!)? I know I am all over the place w/ the questions but we are so excited about this and at the same time getting a bit overwhelmed trying to decide on ship lines, etc. From what we have seen, the Island Princess route for the cruise looks interesting, but then someone recommends RCL, another the HA ships-everything sounds so good!! A radio talk host in Chicago was on the Mariner today and I was looking forward to hearing about his trip but the poor man's house caught fire and completely burned out so they are on their way home. Anyways, as time goes on I promise to be more organized in my postings but truly appreciate any help you may give now!! Thanks.

[garycarla]

All of your questions are very common (or at least the ones I read). You have lots of them, which is normal.

 

I strongly suggest you read through the quite a few pages of postings as you will find the same questions asked repeatedly. Though you will get some direct answers here, it will only be from the current group of posters, or the diehards that need to get a life (me).

 

Really, take some time and read through the past month of postings. Good luck and enjoy your trip.

 

Ps - When you have a SPECIFIC question that you need help on, put that QUESTION in the SUBJECT line. Everybody here is confused. - okay, most of us are anyway.

[alaskaprincess]

i would seriously reccommend the island princess. Just came off it. do the land part with them as well. their lodges are excellent. :)

[flashdog_1]

It's located right now immediately above yours. it there have been lots of posts by the time you read this, use the Search feature and put in jaspertl to find it, dated 6/23/05. They give a description of a longer pre-cruise tour, but they did it on their own and made the ship. hope their experiences will help you plan yours.

[Budget Queen]

I disagree on Princess land tours, AND you do not have enough time with only 4 days. You need at least 5 days INDEPENDENT or 7 with a cruisetour add on. Any shorter has way too much time in transit and rushed. There is PLENTY you won't know from the tour descriptions, educate yourself so you'll know what you are purchasing. It is extremely simple to plan going on your own and grossly superior for scheduling things YOU want to do and see. Clearly more cost effective. You NEVER see any reports on the independent travelers on this board EVER stating- "I was sorry I went on my own and wish I'd taken a cruise tour." :) GO with what is right for you, but research is needed any way you go.

 

My clear pick are also Seward ships with a big edge to HAL. BUT way too may Alaska visitors just pass though most of the areas, so then it wouldn't matter if you sailed Whittier or Seward. Just consider- Alaska may not be a frequent destination for you?? Don't miss out on the excellent touring opportunities and enjoy them!!!

[corniglia]

We have just returned from the roundtrip on Radisson. The remaining trips for them are all one way I think and I am not sure on the detailed itinerary. Firstly I cannot recommend this ship highly enough- everything was abslolutely perfect. Also, I would if possible take shore excursions organised by the ship as if there is a delay they will wait and on Radisson there was only nil or little ($10) mark up on doing it yourself. That said, I would assume most tourist operators would be fairly tuned in to people needing to be back by certain times. Sue

[katybird]

I was very confused as well when I started looking at Alaska cruises! We finally narrowed down our priorities after reading this board and looking at many itineraries.

We chose NCL Dream's 11 day sailing.

Reasons: [not in any order of priority]

#1 - Round trip Seattle - wanted to avoid the expensive airfare from the east coast for a one way cruise.

 

#2 - 11 nights - liked the longer cruise itinerary and also it included Seward where we wanted to do the Kenai fJords boat tour. We have 3 days at sea and 6 ports!

 

#3 - NCL - We like the freestyle dining and less formality.

 

#4 - Price - This cruise priced out at a very reasonable cost per day compared to the 7 day cruises.

 

I ordered all the cruise catalogs and looked over all the itineraries. I signed up for emails from many agencies for specials.Also...good to read the Fodor's, Frommers Alaska tour books.

 

Reading this board was a HUGE help with deciding what excursions we would book.

 

Everything is in place now...WHEW! Now to get on that ship 9/1!!

 

Are you going this year??

[eeniemeenie]

i certainly know how you feel. before your first cruise it all seems so overwhelming. after the first cruise you will be much more confident about the whole experience and the remaining problem of selecting excursions will be your greatest concern. i too am planning my first cruise to alaska but i have sailed on several different cruise lines, so making my choice in that respect was easier. for this trip i chose RCI ,serenade of the seas roundtrip from vancouver. all of these ships are beautiful and most have similar amenities. i had been on the serenade before on a cruise to nova scotia so that helped in making my descision....i knew the ship. the most important factor however was getting the time i wanted and the best price. that ultimately made my descision for me. royal caribbean was running a happy hour special which they usually run every tuesday for several hours. they offered a great price. it wasn't everything i wanted. would have like to go to seward, but it had lots of time traveling the inside passage...two full days and one cruising the hubbard glacier...with stops in ketchikan, juneau and skagway. i compromised the itinerary a bit in favor of the ship..the price...and the date. the excursions can get mighty expensive so that was a factor to be figured in as well. as for the motion sickness thing. most of these large ships are very stable and after the initial feeling of movement you will probably have no problem. but there are several things you can do in preparation just to make sure . you can come prepared with bonine...the wristbands that use accupressure seem to work also or you can have your doctor write a prescription for the transderm patch. that works very well. as for the formal nights. "formal" can be broadly interpretated. to some it's a dressy pantsuit or dress you would wear to dinner...for others it's a ball gown. wear what you feel comfortable with and don't spend too much time worrying about it. if you really want to avoid it ,there are always more casual altenatives for those nights like room service or the buffets etc. there are people that never get out of their shorts. there is something special however, to be said to dressing up and walking the deck at night under the stars. for me it's kinda very "cruisey". that "ocean liner" thing. but, it's you vacation ...do what makes you feel good. you will have a great time on any of the cruise lines you are considering. they are all just a little bit different and a lot the same. i have found that the very,very big ones are just too large for me. i don't like all the distances to walk . i have personally never heard of anyone that actually missed the ship in port. when you book an excursion tell the company the time of your departure..they will have lots of other folks leaving the same time and will be very conscious of your departure time. planning through the cruise line just adds a little more to the expense and often the groups are larger. there are some people on this board that are experts in alaska travel...having done lots of it. budget queen ...who posted somewhere above me...is one. she has been most helpful to me and lots of others. ask specific questions... you will get answers. if you need further help with cabin selection, meal time selection, tipping advice , packing tips etc. it's all here on this board and if you can't find it...just ask. wishing you a wonderful first cruise and many more to follow

 

eenie

[lavdh]

I just returned from the Dawn Princess. This was my first Alaskan cruise. I very much enjoyed Princess. The inside passage was very smooth, but we did have one day of rough sailing. I am prone to motion sickness, but it was not a problem because I took bonine each day as a precaution. I do recommend going to formal night, because the food is spectacular those nights. Take one outfit and wear it both nights. As for the land tour, we skipped the Princess tour and went out on our own, which I highly recommend. We were able to stop where we wanted and pick and choose what we wanted to do. On the other hand, my parents opted for the Princess land tour so I'll compare notes with them this weekend and let you know.

[hvsteve1]

I also recently returned from Radisson and second the recommendation. No formal nights. So far as land tours,it depends on what you want to spend and if you want a "door-to-door" package,i.e. they provide the air,transfers land tour and cruise. We took our land tour with Premier Alaska who filled in for Ship 'n' Shore which stopped operating. Four days WAS too short as it was a lot of rushing from place to place. If you have only that amount of time,book independently and decide what two or three things you really want to see. So far as tours,Radisson turned out to be superior to Premier,who also provided busses and guides for Radisson. It had better hotels,included many meals and stayed two nights in Dinali to give people a little less hectic four days. So far as port excursions,they can range from risking your life to riding around in a bus,so a little insight regarding your preferences and abilities might help.

[Host Caroline]

Hello--any and all help would be appreciated...say you were going on your first cruise to Alaska, were early 50's, not really into "formal" nights, willing to try different excursions, figured on doing a land tour first.....would you do a land tour associated w/ the cruise ship you were taking?? Or would you attempt it on your own and hope you find your way back to the port in time for sailing?!! We are talking having @ 4 days for the land part. Where would you go on the land part?

 

If you are tied to four days for the land tour and cannot extend that IMHO only the land tour would be preferable. I agree that at least 5-7 days is idea but some folks simply don't have the time and that's understandable. You can read back on these boards and there is so much info on both options -- on your own vs. the cruise line tours.. It simply boils down to how much you want to research and plan on your own, budget, time, preferences (some people just don't want to do that much driving -- others don't mind it and enjoy it)... there just isn't a "right" answer but what fits for you. That being said, also IMHO, the way to go is the land part first, cruise second. You'll hear people say the scenery gets better as you sail north and that's true but it is for the most part the same scenery and I prefer the more active part prior to the more laid back cruise.

If you have time to read back here a couple of weeks you will see posts from people who have done both.. Pick an itinerary that goes to Glacier Bay for your cruise though!

[mmo]

how long did you go on the land part for? We would be most interested in hearing where you went and also how your parents liked their tour through Princess. Thank you!

[lavdh]

I just spoke with my parents. They really wish that they had done the land tour on their own like we did. We both had the same amount of time, approximately 5 days. They said there was too much time on the road, and that there wasn't a lot to do at the lodges unless you booked one of the expensive Princess excursions. Their tour went to Copper River and Denali. Of course, the land tour on your own does involve some research and planning, but I feel that we got more for our time. We also spent less than my parents by using the toursaver. The places we went to include: Talkeetna, Denali, the Iditarod Headquarters in Wasila, Anchorage, and Seward. For a more detailed account, read my review of the Dawn Princess, Part 2 on these boards.

[tee_wrecks]

Lots of opinions here. I spent months online researching different tours through the cruise line vs setting up our own. We decided to arrange our own tour because we're just not the type of folks that like to have our schedule determined by others. That being said, I think you can save a ton of money by arranging your own land tour particularly if you utilize the toursaver book. As far as the 4 days being not enough time for a land tour, that's what we had and it fit perfectly into a 2 week vacation period. If you don't work or have more vacation time to burn, take more time.

 

We were on the same Dawn Princess cruise as ladvh and had a great time. Terrific weather most of the time and only 1 rough sea day. There were some minor glitches during the cruise but you would have similar things on any type of vacation trip you planned.

 

As far as formal nights, we debated it a lot before going and ended up taking appropriate clothing but in the end elected not to participate. The food in the Horizon Court buffet was sufficient for us and, frankly, we dress up for work every day of our lives and elected to be totally casual on our vacation. Once again, personal opinion rules.

 

I can't really comment on Princess vs other lines because this was our first cruise. If we cruise to Alaska again I think we'll probably investigate other lines because I really liked Seward a lot more than Whittier and we spent some time in both places.

 

I'd suggest you spend some time perusing the threads here. Ladvh has posted a cruise review as have I and a lot of other folks. If you have any more detailed questions about our land tour, e-mail me at the address below.

 

Most of all, don't be intimidated by the wealth of information out there...have fun with it. Planning is half the fun anyway.

[zonicruiser]

I am approaching my 3 Alaska trip on Princess-Island, north-bound. First time Holland America was recommended for my mom. Older passengers, it was really her trip. She put on the 10 lbs I lost.

 

2nd time-again for mom-Cruise West. EXCELLENT if you can afford the higher price. 86 passengers, very personal, mom couldn't get lost, and the wildlife was out of this world with out ever leaving the ship. One night dinner was delayed (no formal nights) so the ship could slowly maniveur in close to a pod of humpback whales. We were close enough to learn the different sounds of each whale. One sounded as if it had asthma. Last morning we opened our window to a full breech of an orca outside our window. WOW! Warning - if you book over the engine room take ear plugs for sleeping.

 

It all depends on what your priorities are. This time we got a screaming price for the cruise, so we are spending on our excursions.

 

Happy sailing.