Alaska cruise?

[TheCooksinCT]

Hubby and I taking our 18 yr old son to Alaska for his graduation gift in July. Jury is out on wether we fly into anchorage and do a rail tour and explore on our own or do a cruise from Seattle. My son wants to spend a lot of time fishing, ATVing, glacier viewing and a rail trip possibly. I'd love to see Denali as well. This is our first and probably only time going to Alaska so I want to do it right but spend a fortune. Also, if we cruise, what line do u recommend and should we spend the extra money on a balcony room. We've only cruised 1 other time on Norwegian out of NYC to Bahamas.

Thanks for your help!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Princess and HAL are the lines best known for their Alaskan cruises.

[Pudgesmom]

You may get more of his activities in by doing a land based vacation.

[cheeseclan]

We too are taking our DS on an Alaskan Cruise tour for his gift. We are going on the Coral Princess from Vancouver to Anchorage and then the land tour after. It will include trains and staying at the Princess lodges. This is what he picked so we are a go. We have been to AK many times before but this is the first for a northbound cruise and the cruise tour after.

 

Check on the Princess site and see if anything looks interesting.

[Scrapnana]

Not sure what other lines have but I know Holland America has "land-cruise" deals where you can stay at Denali for a couple of days (either at the beginning or end) and cruise, too. That way you have more time for outdoor activities (than a round-trip cruise would give you) and get to see more of Alaska.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Scrapnana

[Krazy Kruizers]

Alaska is not cheap.

With everything your son wants to do, it sounds like you should plan a land vacation. Then if you can still afford it, tack on a cruise. It won't be cheap.

[SadieN]

You may get more of his activities in by doing a land based vacation.

 

 

True

Parents did a bus tour in the mid-80's. it's still being offered.

 

Could do Alaska on your own, especially if he wants to do lots of fishing. Alaska State Ferry has many options available.

Edited December 14, 2016 by SadieN

[Sequim88]

Fishing - research the seasons for various species like Salmon or Halibut. That might determine trip timing.

 

Cruise-line Land tours... caution but they show lots of pictures of trains but often one direction is train and the other back to Anchorage (or Seward) is by motor coach (bus). Often the literature and web sites don't make this clear.

 

Land tours can be very confining as far as making own arrangements for activities due to rigid schedules. For that matter even port stops on cruise will limit options. For lots of activities cruises that make Skagway a port are good because the train trip there to the interior and Canada also have options for things like kayaking on the lake (Bernard Lake?) at the end of the line.

 

Sitka also has some activities like 4-wheeling or kayaking to view Otters. But Sitka and Skagway are generally (always?) on one-way trips to/from Vancouver BC.

 

A one-way with car rental and own land touring is by far the less expensive route but does require more planning. Find a copy of "The Milepost" for land ideas.

 

As noted Princess and Holland have the better inside scoop on Alaska as well as access to Glacier Bay NP. Balcony is nice but often in Alaska will be too wet or cold to hang out on a lot so a bit of a gamble versus the huge premium placed on them because it is Alaska. Sometimes an Oceanview is a better compromise.

[Cruisin'Christine]

I've done one Alaska cruise, but never a land tour. I loved the cruise!! It went from Seattle to Vancouver. If you go for a cruise, I would recommend a balcony, only because the scenery is so beautiful that it is worth it. I loved spending the day on the balcony (while going on and off into my room to warm up) when we toured Tracy Arm Fjord. I also went fishing at Icy Strait Point and caught a couple of halibut, which was a real treat! Whale watching in Juneau was amazing!! Enjoy your vacation.

[SPacificbound]

You don't say how long you have for the trip.

 

IMHO South to North one way, that's 7 days, then Alaska Rail to all the places you would like to visit that aren't on the cruise. We were able to spend two weeks by rail and it was the best time of the trip.

 

The furthest North we got by cruse was Seward. We mapped out where else we wanted to do and went by rail spend two or three nights in each. The farthest North we went was Denali.

 

Loved the dome rail cars. http://alaskatrain.com/

[RSLeesburg]

We have not done Alaska yet, but started researching and we are leaning towards Lindblad / National Geographic. They are more expedition type trip but it looks amazing.

 

 

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[zqvol]

Hubby and I taking our 18 yr old son to Alaska for his graduation gift in July. Jury is out on wether we fly into anchorage and do a rail tour and explore on our own or do a cruise from Seattle. My son wants to spend a lot of time fishing, ATVing, glacier viewing and a rail trip possibly. I'd love to see Denali as well. This is our first and probably only time going to Alaska so I want to do it right but spend a fortune. Also, if we cruise, what line do u recommend and should we spend the extra money on a balcony room. We've only cruised 1 other time on Norwegian out of NYC to Bahamas.

Thanks for your help!

 

We have sailed to AK twice and done one land based vacation. Based on what your son wants you would be better with a land based vacation. Go to Denali for a few nights, and then go to the Kenai. In the Kenai you can accomplish fishing, day trips to glaciers, that get a lot closer than the ships do, you can have whale watching out of either Seward or Whittier. The train is easy, take it to and from Denai, and then rent a car to go to the Kenai.

 

There is a lot of information on the Alaska board.

[TMLAalum]

There is so much more you will be able to experience on a land-based trip to Alaska.

 

Our itinerary pre-internet days was to fly into Anchorage, rent a car, stop at Portage Glacier, then onto Seward where we spent 2 nights at a B&B and our days there hiking Exit Glacier and taking a Kenai fjords cruise. From there we took the auto train from Portage to Whittier where we boarded an Alaska Marine Hwy ship to Valdez, driving north from there via the Richardson Hwy to the Denali Hwy, spending one night outside the park and 2 nights deep within Denali at the North Face Lodge (pricey but worth it!), on to a night at Hatcher Pass and its abandoned gold mine, then back down to the Kenai Peninsula, where we golfed under the midnight sun, DH took a guided river fishing experience, and visited Homer. 10 nights total.

 

In contrast on our 7 night SEA-SEA cruise we stopped in Juneau and visited the Mendenhall Glacier + St. Teresa's labyrinth and joined DH's cousin for a restaurant dinner there, Skagway where we rented a car and drove into Yukon Territory CA and Ketchikan, where I took a Misty Fjords ship tour and DH booked a private guided kayak fishing trip. Our stop in Victoria was cancelled due to azipod issued.

 

Big difference between the limited port time on a cruise and the freedom to set your own schedule on a land trip.

[GottaKnowWhen]

Hubby and I taking our 18 yr old son to Alaska for his graduation gift in July. Jury is out on wether we fly into anchorage and do a rail tour and explore on our own or do a cruise from Seattle. My son wants to spend a lot of time fishing, ATVing, glacier viewing and a rail trip possibly. I'd love to see Denali as well. This is our first and probably only time going to Alaska so I want to do it right but spend a fortune. Also, if we cruise, what line do u recommend and should we spend the extra money on a balcony room. We've only cruised 1 other time on Norwegian out of NYC to Bahamas.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

We did a B2B on Celebrity, south from Seward for a week, north from Vancouver for the 2nd leg. Then two weeks on shore.

 

We saw things from the ship that we never would have experienced doing just a land tour. E.g. Six whales bubble net feeding just off our ship in Icy Strait Point. We saw things on our land tour that no ship-based excursion could match. E.g., the green glow of the Northern Lights painting the slopes of Denali at 4:00a.m. In short, there are too many things to see/do. You will NOT be able to check all boxes. Choose an option, go and have fun and plan another trip and another...

 

 

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