Quick General Alaska Question

[ollychelle]

We don't have extra time for a land portion this trip and we know what ports/sights we want to see (Glacier Bay included), so my question is.........

 

If we port out of Seattle or Vancouver round trip, will we miss a lot of scenery that is worth the extra airfare by porting out of Whittier/Seward area and heading southward. The ports/sights are very similar on all cruises, it just seems we miss a scenic day of cruising. Wondering if it is worth the extra travel time and cost for that small portion of the cruise?? Otherwise the seattle/vancouver round trips seems to meet our needs with ships that are a little more appealing to us. Thanks for your help in this decision : )

[mskaufman]

Do what meets your needs. We took a round trip out of Vancouver and were happy with the choice. We missed Denali and Hubbard Glacier but we saw a lot of great things on the 7 day cruise.

[heyya604]

We don't have extra time for a land portion this trip and we know what ports/sights we want to see (Glacier Bay included), so my question is.........

 

If we port out of Seattle or Vancouver round trip, will we miss a lot of scenery that is worth the extra airfare by porting out of Whittier/Seward area and heading southward. The ports/sights are very similar on all cruises, it just seems we miss a scenic day of cruising. Wondering if it is worth the extra travel time and cost for that small portion of the cruise?? Otherwise the seattle/vancouver round trips seems to meet our needs with ships that are a little more appealing to us. Thanks for your help in this decision : )

 

Hello. We have done 2 previous Alaskan cruises RT from Vancouver, and are going on our 3rd next Friday, RT from Seattle, so I can't speak from experience, re what you may miss but I will tell you that the RT from Vancouver was more scenic, and beautiful, than our 2 Caribbean, 1 Mexican Riviera, and 1 NY to Bahamas. From these boards, I have read that the RT Vancouver will probably be more scenic than our Seattle trip, but the price, and itinerary was perfect this time. I know this doesn't answer your question, but hope it helps. I am sure you will hear from others too.

[ollychelle]

Thanks for your input so far. All the cruises meet are needs, I have never put that much though into where I port out of before -LOL!!! This is new to me!!

[ollychelle]

Hello. We have done 2 previous Alaskan cruises RT from Vancouver, and are going on our 3rd next Friday, RT from Seattle, so I can't speak from experience, re what you may miss but I will tell you that the RT from Vancouver was more scenic, and beautiful, than our 2 Caribbean, 1 Mexican Riviera, and 1 NY to Bahamas. From these boards, I have read that the RT Vancouver will probably be more scenic than our Seattle trip, but the price, and itinerary was perfect this time. I know this doesn't answer your question, but hope it helps. I am sure you will hear from others too.

 

If you think about it come back and give your opinions of Seattle vs. Vancouver too :) Have fun!!

[Mrsdibs]

When we did our cruise in 2010 we went from Vancouver to Seward. I have to say I found Hubbards Glacier amazing so if you like Glaciers and watching them calve etc then I would say go from Vancouver towards Seward.

 

However saying that I think whatever way you go the scenery and place that you go to in Alaska are all amazing anyway!

 

I know this probably does not help much but that's my point of view!

[trophy_23]

IMO, Having done Vancouver and Seattle I think Vancouver is the better choice for scenery. The sail away from Vancouver is a lot nicer (and I'm not only saying that because I live here). You sail up the West side of Vancouver Island on the Seattle trip and you are wayyyyy off shore with land being a speck on the horizon until you are in Alaska. Glacier Bay is a wonderful experience and nice because it lasts most of the day. Hubbard is very impressive size wise. You really can't go wrong with either of these. I can't comment on the Seward trip I haven't done it.

[olemissreb]

We've only done a one way, but when I was researching our cruise, I was also told that the Vancouver round-trip would be more scenic than the Seattle round-trip. The other thing you may want to look at is the port times - is one longer than the other? Funny as it sounds, when I was doing my research on whether to go northbound or southbound, the southbound seemed to have a little bit longer time in port than northbound. It may be the same for the Vancouver vs. Seattle roundtrips. Maximize your time in port - Alaska is AMAZING and you don't want to short change yourself.

[jamminlion]

There are no bad trips to Alaska - IMO. There is also no bad scenery. Once out of Vancouver and once out of Seattle for us. We enjoyed both equally. Well, except for the Glacier Bay trip. That was the highlight.

 

Go with what schedule and price works for you. If you still can't decide, flip a coin. Or book a second trip from the other city.

 

Enjoy!

[jer_l]

We have done R/T's and One-Ways. The biggest advantage of the one-way is the Land Tour option. The scenery from Anchorage to Seward is beautiful and the Kenai Peninsula has a lot to see if you have a day or two to spend there.

 

The Hubbard Glacier is amazing, but that is also available on R/T depending on which ship you sail. I prefer Hubbard Glacier to Glacier Bay, but many others will have the opposite preference. Very few itineraries would see both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.

 

Vancouver R/T is definitely better than Seattle R/T as far as scenery unless the R/T Seattle cruises the BC Inside Passage one direction. You can't go wrong with a R/T option.

[Budget Queen]

I am a big advocate of round trip cruises, if no plans for mainland Alaska touring. Round trip Vancouver is significantly more scenic compared to a round trip Seattle. it is simple and easy to get between the two cities.

 

Look at your route and port times. IF going with HAL, budget into your funds, the add on Tracy arm tour costs, "necessary". :)

[MermaidWatcher]

We don't have extra time for a land portion this trip and we know what ports/sights we want to see (Glacier Bay included), so my question is.........

 

If we port out of Seattle or Vancouver round trip, will we miss a lot of scenery that is worth the extra airfare by porting out of Whittier/Seward area and heading southward. The ports/sights are very similar on all cruises, it just seems we miss a scenic day of cruising. Wondering if it is worth the extra travel time and cost for that small portion of the cruise?? Otherwise the seattle/vancouver round trips seems to meet our needs with ships that are a little more appealing to us. Thanks for your help in this decision : )

As was posted in another reply, do what ever fits your time and budget. As for worrying about something that you won't see, don't worry. What you do see will leave you inspired and knowing that you have to go back. We have done two fairly extensive DIY land trips before, and are taking our first Alaskan cruise 8/31, up the inside passage. We chose RT/ Vancouver on Zuiderdam because the lower part of the route seemed like it would be more scenic, with the mainland on one side and Vancouver Island and the myriad of smaller islands in the chain on the other. The Seattle sailings go out of Puget Sound into the Pacific, and do not sail close to land until they duck inside farther north, so you are pretty much just cruising open ocean on that section of the trip. We also gave much positive weight to the fact that the Vancouver sailing provides much more time in waters protected from the open Pacific swells. We are flying into Seattle and taking the train to Vancouver. Not only is it convenient, it is a nice scenic route. As you will see, there is a good bit of discussion about train, vs bus, vs driving. And while there are some who talk about how nice the drive is, I have done it as part of our route from a Vancouver Island trip and thought it would never end.

[mskaufman]

Another reason we chose Vancouver is that we had already been to Victoria and wanted to spend our time in other places (since many of the Seattle cruises stop there). We also liked the idea of travelling inside Vancouver Island instead of on the Pacific.

[kamac56]

We did R from vancouver once and RT from seattle last summer. We are doing RT seattle again this summer but.... reason for that is the airfare for us, it was considerably higher to fly into vancouver for us and the money we saved doing that we didnt feel we were losing to much on scenery, as it was last summer on Rt Seattle I still took 2500 pictures LOL. The decision for me was made by....cost of airfare to vancouver and itinerary from Seattle, I wanted to go back to Glacier Bay and also wanted to go to Sitka so that's basically how I determined which one worked for us. If you have something in mind..go with it otherwise you will always second guess your choice!:D

[MSUcruisers]

I am a big advocate of round trip cruises, if no plans for mainland Alaska touring. Round trip Vancouver is significantly more scenic compared to a round trip Seattle. it is simple and easy to get between the two cities.

 

Look at your route and port times. IF going with HAL, budget into your funds, the add on Tracy arm tour costs, "necessary". :)

 

Can you estimate the price of this tour?

[heyya604]

If you think about it come back and give your opinions of Seattle vs. Vancouver too :) Have fun!!

Thanks Michelle. We are so excited for Friday. I will try and remember to give my opinion after the trip. I seem to spend so much time reading these before the trip and always forget to come back after. The planning is as much fun as the holiday for me.:)

[Saving Up To Be Eccentric]

What I would do is take a look on the websites where the cruises trace their route. If one route is inside passage from the southern port and between Vancouver Island and the mainland, that will be much more scenic than if they call 'inside passage' between Graham Island or Prince of Wales Island and the mainland. Whittier itself isn't very pretty; it was never designed to be, though. Turnagain Arm is scenic. But here's the thing about a round-trip cruise: it gives you twice the opportunity to hit the glaciers when the tide lets you go in farther and the weather cooperates. I have no worthwhile pictures of Hubbard Glacier, but the people who did a round trip had great viewing the following week.

[WarumistdieBananekrumm]

We don't have extra time for a land portion this trip and we know what ports/sights we want to see (Glacier Bay included), so my question is.........

 

If we port out of Seattle or Vancouver round trip, will we miss a lot of scenery that is worth the extra airfare by porting out of Whittier/Seward area and heading southward. The ports/sights are very similar on all cruises, it just seems we miss a scenic day of cruising. Wondering if it is worth the extra travel time and cost for that small portion of the cruise?? Otherwise the seattle/vancouver round trips seems to meet our needs with ships that are a little more appealing to us. Thanks for your help in this decision : )

 

 

 

copy:

below are some thoughts I like to share in case someone is interested ....

 

 

Thank you, Celebrity Millennium June 7 cruisers, so very much for your input and valuable suggestions;

 

 

Considering all points raised, I changed my mindset and plans somewhat to accommodate a more leisurely schedule that allows for enjoying a variety of sightseeing while up there – .

 

So, I now explored the option to sail up north to Whittier on the 3rd of June with NCL SUN (which I used years ago for a pleasant South America cruise) to do a full day tour of Prince William Sound upon debarkation, before catching the evening train to Anchorage.

 

I plan to stay 3 nights discovering Denali & other sights further afield by rental car, then boarding the morning train on the 13th to Seward for a full day Kenai Fjords tour before settling down in Seward to get on the Southbound “Millie” after visiting the SeaLife Rescue Center sometime the following day.

 

That way, it seems one ‘catches the most flies with one swat’

without ‘breaking an old bat’s back’!

 

I picked up on previous comments utilizing the “Kirkland - Membership” through which I got a substantially lower rental car rate as well as single OV / GY cruise fares.

 

Thus, the total damage stays within less than $2500.00 after all discounts which incl. - 20% senior’s discount on the tours in Whittier/Seward.

 

Regretfully, I won’t be able to participate in the “Millie’s”

northbound sailing Meet and Mingle, but do hope to meet those of you doing a BTB, on the southbound leg.

 

Again, thanks so much for your help – hoping everyone has a wonderful cruise and Alaska experience.

end of copy

__________________

 

I did complete the trip exactly as planed, out of Vancouver, after an earlier RCCL sailing 7 day R/T up to Skagway several years ago, including Sitka.

 

Aside from being blessed with spectacular weather throughout the 18 days this time around, versus atrocious weather mid/late July during the earlier trip - I would definitely recommend going up from Vancouver to Seward or Whittier (or vice versa) exploring both Prince William Sound and the Kenai Peninsula and then flying back from Anchorage,(Alaska Air has incredibly low airfares between Anchorage and Seatac.) instead of doing a 7 day round trip out of Seattle.

 

The gap Seattle/Seatac to Vancouver Port can be cheaply bridged with a most scenic Amtrak ride or on Quick-Shuttle.

 

What really makes up Alaska are not the Ports or excursions on route, but the spectacular scenery starting from Icy Straight Point sailing North with cruising Glacier Bay and Hubbard en route.

 

Wishing you a wonderful cruise and perpetual sunshine.

[heyya604]

If you think about it come back and give your opinions of Seattle vs. Vancouver too :) Have fun!!

 

Hello, we are back from a fabulous Alaskan-Caribbean cruise. The weather was fantastic every day. The departure from Seattle was pretty but I still feel that sailing from Vancouver was prettier. Also we headed out to sea right away and from Vancouver you hug the coast line. Our DD's friend did suffer with for the first day and 1/2. I have seen the Hubbard Glacier twice so although the Dawes Glacier is smaller, our Captain Rob got us within 1/2 mile and we had never seen one that close. Very spectacular. The Rhapsody is a smaller, older ship but the crew were the best we have had in 7 cruises.