Advice on Alaska cruises from a newbie

[chik1987]

We are in the early stages of thinking of doing an Alaska cruise in 2019 for my soon to be husbands 40th birthday.

 

We are currently planning our first cruise this October on DCL. We are getting married on the cruise which is the main reason we chose Disney. I really don't see the value in Disney for Alaska (plus Glacier Bay is a huge selling point for us) so we are looking into Princess.

 

What we are looking at now is round trip from Seattle to hopefully save a little on transportation costs. We may end up doing northbound from vancouver and biting the bullet on the higher transport costs.

 

Has anyone done this cruise or an Alaska cruise that would like to give me tips, hints or anything else I can be researching in the meantime?

[jb008]

Keep an eye on airfare, I'm in the process of booking a northbound alaska cruise now and with my dates I'm booking for the pricing on r/t airfare SEA versus multicity Home->Vancouver/Anc->Home is only a few hundred dollars difference. You get better itineraries sailing r/t Vancouver over Seattle, and best itinerary imho is a 1-way sailing (more time in alaska, less time near the canadian/us coastal border).

 

This far out, also keep an eye on itineraries. In Dec '16 Carnival Corp (Princess's parent company) plead guilty to felony pollution charges that included Princess ships. There's been some speculation that this may affect Princess' future ability to sail Glacier Bay when their access comes up for renewal.

 

Although I've not done it personally, feedback I received while planning was that the ground transport from SEA to Vancouver also isn't hard (or terribly expensive) so don't rule out a r/t sailing out of Vancouver if you're really set on flying r/t SEA.

[chik1987]

We aren't really set on doing the r/t out of Seattle or anything really. Just doing preliminary looking on stuff we can fly into Seattle for less than half than flying into Vancouver. I have looked at amtrak for transport from Seattle to Vancouver and it looks reasonable if the timeline will work with flights and such. We would LOVE to do the northbound from Vancouver and if we can get the transport to Vancouver down cheap enough.

 

I wasn't aware about the pollution thing thats unfortunate. I will be keeping an eye on things and see how 2019 plays out.

[Kamloops50]

We are in the early stages of thinking of doing an Alaska cruise in 2019 for my soon to be husbands 40th birthday.

 

We are currently planning our first cruise this October on DCL. We are getting married on the cruise which is the main reason we chose Disney. I really don't see the value in Disney for Alaska (plus Glacier Bay is a huge selling point for us) so we are looking into Princess.

 

What we are looking at now is round trip from Seattle to hopefully save a little on transportation costs. We may end up doing northbound from vancouver and biting the bullet on the higher transport costs.

 

Has anyone done this cruise or an Alaska cruise that would like to give me tips, hints or anything else I can be researching in the meantime?

 

 

If you decide to do a cruise Vancouver to Alaska. I would recommend doing it from Anchorage to Vancouver.

 

This way you get the longest flight at the start . Try and spend a few days in Alaska before you cruise back to Vancouver.

I've heard many people say they where glad they did Alaska followed by the cruise to Vancouver.

[LeeW]

For Vancouver cruises it is usually cheaper to fly Seattle and drive up (up seems to be about $50 but south is more like $200 so we took Quickshuttle back). It also may be cheaper to take a back to back 14 day from Vancouver than flying back from Alaska. Although for your first trip we would recommend doing some kind of land tour with the cruise.

 

With most Princess cruises you get Glacier Bay. On southbound you also get Hubbard Glacier (9 mile long face). Sailing out of Seattle is OK, but you do spend more time in the open ocean instead of the Inside Passage. Of course on our last Inside Passage it was so foggy one day you couldn't even see the shore.

 

Alaska cruise ports are expensive - a lot of tours use helicopters or float planes. So budget for your trip and decide what you want to do in advance. But Princess costs half of what you pay on Disney, so you are ahead there.

[CATGUY7]

Once you have decided on Princess, I would suggest that you start looking at the shore excursions offered by Princess. That will allow you to start planning what you might be interested in at each port, and then research what is offered privately. This is how I started planning our trip - that and looking at the Alaska board on CC.

[chik1987]

If you decide to do a cruise Vancouver to Alaska. I would recommend doing it from Anchorage to Vancouver.

 

This way you get the longest flight at the start . Try and spend a few days in Alaska before you cruise back to Vancouver.

I've heard many people say they where glad they did Alaska followed by the cruise to Vancouver.

 

 

We had looked into doing the land/cruise tours. For the 4 of us the 3 day pre cruise stay with princess looked to be around $2800. I think we would rather spend the extra $ on excursions rather than the extra days but we are open and keeping everything in mind.

[chik1987]

For Vancouver cruises it is usually cheaper to fly Seattle and drive up (up seems to be about $50 but south is more like $200 so we took Quickshuttle back). It also may be cheaper to take a back to back 14 day from Vancouver than flying back from Alaska. Although for your first trip we would recommend doing some kind of land tour with the cruise.

 

With most Princess cruises you get Glacier Bay. On southbound you also get Hubbard Glacier (9 mile long face). Sailing out of Seattle is OK, but you do spend more time in the open ocean instead of the Inside Passage. Of course on our last Inside Passage it was so foggy one day you couldn't even see the shore.

 

Alaska cruise ports are expensive - a lot of tours use helicopters or float planes. So budget for your trip and decide what you want to do in advance. But Princess costs half of what you pay on Disney, so you are ahead there.

 

 

I know timewise we wouldn't be able to do a 14day with time off from work unfortunately. We have looked into the land tour offered through Princess and our general consesus at this point is we would rather use the extra $ to do better excursions rather than extra days. If the budget changed (since its a long ways out) we are open to doing the extra land days.

[caribill]

I know timewise we wouldn't be able to do a 14day with time off from work unfortunately. We have looked into the land tour offered through Princess and our general consesus at this point is we would rather use the extra $ to do better excursions rather than extra days. If the budget changed (since its a long ways out) we are open to doing the extra land days.

 

 

The land tour part of a Princess cruisetour is not simply a matter of extra days.

 

Alaska is much more than what you can see/do along the coastline. The cruisetour takes you into some of the interior parts of Alaska and is a quite different experience.

 

If you have the time and the budget, make the most of your visit to Alaska by having the cruisetour.

[LucyR.]

I have cruised several times to Alaska on Princess, Celebrity, NCL and Carnival.

I do want to cruise again this year. What is more important to me is how much time will be spent at each

port. Some cruise lines have more time spent in some ports and that is very important to look at when

cruising to ALASKA.

My advise is to also look for how long you will be in port and if the time is compatiable with what type of tour you want to take.

You must also consider the weather. It is sometime rainy in some ports. I remember meeting people who went on a canoe ride in the rain and got cold and wet. That was a wasted tour. The ship does tell you what the weather will be like in each port.

 

I enjoy visiting Victoria B.C. as part of my Alaska cruise port. If the ship stops at night time that is a waste for me since I enjoy shopping at the Centre Mall during their open hours. Remember that I will be shopping for Canadian products that are not selling in my country of America. Some people may laugh at me for wanting to shop in Canada but it is important to me.

 

My advise is to look at what is most important to you and your husband. LucyR,

[tinybiny]

I cruised Alaska twice with DCL. The normal ports (Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway) are pretty touristy. They seem to be the main stops for all the cruise lines. I'm currently booked on a 9 night DCL Alaska for 2018, but am hoping I will like Princess better (will be on Princess for a short cruise soon) and then I'll cancel the DCL and switch to a northbound on Princess.

 

Be sure to look at the intineraries and how long you'll be in each port. Sailing the inside passage is gorgeous just about the entire time, but I get bored on ship. One of my cruises had some really short port stops. I wanted to be in Alaska, not floating next to it looking at it. So, it depends on what you like to do. Alaska is great for active people who love nature and wildlife. People who like to sit on their balcony and read were unhappy with the cruise because it was too cold to that most of the time.

 

Read about the ports and activities in the ports. If you see something you want to do, google the same tour and you can book directly from the tour operator for less than booking via the cruise ship. Many tour operators will guarantee your return to the ship on time and will say they will pay to get you back to the ship if you are late (which never happens). In Skagway, I booked the train direct and was seated in the same train car as the people who paid more by booking on the ship.

[LoriPhil]

Princess offers 7-day round-trip out of Vancouver in May and September, that combines the splendid inside passage views into/out of Vancouver. Some pals are taking the May 2017 voyage which includes Glacier Bay, Juneau, Ketchikan, with a stop at Icy Straits instead of Skagway. It looks like a terrific option if you don't want to fly in and out of separate airports.

[AF-1]

my wife and I booked roundtrip Seattle inside passage with Princess. We did Seattle verses Vancouver because airfare for four was $500 less per person. We used that savings for shore excursions.

[jeromep]

Time in port for Inside Passage cruises that are R/T Seattle can be limited. If you get 8 hours in a port you are doing well. The distances you have to traverse to get form Seattle to your first port, which is often Juneau, is about a day and a half. Once in the area of the Inside passage you are only 8-12 hours travel distance between ports with most of the transit done overnight.

 

Cruising Alaska is a bit of a trade off, one I happily make, but a trade off for folks who really want the Alaska experience. If you want to deeply experience Alaska; spend days camping in the wilderness, hiking and climbing, I don't think that a cruise is going to do it for you. Cruising Alaska is about small tastes of local culture provided through the lens of tour operators and locals who are in the business of promoting the high points of Alaskan lifestyle. This isn't a bad thing, but it is what mass-market tourism is.

 

I think Princess does a good job of paying tribute to the nature and culture of Alaska by bringing top notch presenters on board and also invites on the park rangers from Glacier Bay to do presentations nearly all day while in Glacier Bay. The on board presentations are highlights of these cruises and I recommend that you seek them out when offered.

 

Also keep in mind that the vibe on an Alaska cruise is very different from the Caribbean. In spite of the limited port times in Alaska, these cruises are port intensive. Most of your fellow cruisers are itching to get off the ship as soon as the ship is tied up and has been given clearance to disembark passengers for the day. Port mornings can be a little bit of a zoo with everyone running around to get a quick breakfast and be in line to get off the ship and to their excursions or to explore the port.

 

When everyone gets back and the ship leaves port, everyone is exhausted and looks to have diner, take in a show and go to bed. Some don't even have enough energy for a show. Therefore, evenings are very subdued and there is lots of empty space in public spaces, on account of so many having already retired for the evening. If you have the energy to stay up and dance and entertain, you will find plenty of options and few places will be jam packed.

 

I think you'll have a great time on an Alaskan cruise, just don't expect the Caribbean cruise experience.

[Rellim1960]

We are doing RCCL Radiance out of Vancouver to Seward, 7 night. My flight from Boston was $139 😳. We are taking a bus to Anchorage from Seward which does photo stops. We are then flying the red eye from Anchorage to Seattle for $41 😁, spending 2 days in Seattle then home to Boston. We have no at sea days and have ports every day, this way we get to see more. I did tons of research and was torn between this one and Celebrity but I like the itinerary of not returning to the home port.

[Kamloops50]

We are doing RCCL Radiance out of Vancouver to Seward, 7 night. My flight from Boston was $139 😳. We are taking a bus to Anchorage from Seward which does photo stops. We are then flying the red eye from Anchorage to Seattle for $41 😁, spending 2 days in Seattle then home to Boston. We have no at sea days and have ports every day, this way we get to see more. I did tons of research and was torn between this one and Celebrity but I like the itinerary of not returning to the home port.

 

The Radiance has one sea day leaving Vancouver . They can't get from Vancouver to Ketchikan overnight .

[alwalaska]

We are in the early stages of thinking of doing an Alaska cruise in 2019 for my soon to be husbands 40th birthday.

 

We are currently planning our first cruise this October on DCL. We are getting married on the cruise which is the main reason we chose Disney. I really don't see the value in Disney for Alaska (plus Glacier Bay is a huge selling point for us) so we are looking into Princess.

 

What we are looking at now is round trip from Seattle to hopefully save a little on transportation costs. We may end up doing northbound from vancouver and biting the bullet on the higher transport costs.

 

Has anyone done this cruise or an Alaska cruise that would like to give me tips, hints or anything else I can be researching in the meantime?

 

 

We did a Princess cruise in 2006 to Alaska and loved it. Princess is one of the biggest vendors in Alaska.

 

A couple of my personal thoughts and recommendations - others will likely feel differently.

1. Either you need a balcony or be certain that you are on a ship with lots of good interior and unobstructed exterior views. Some of the ships have limited space for viewing the glaciers, so the public areas get very crowded. Plus, some of the ships have blue glass around most of the exterior deck space making it very hard to get good photographs.
   
2. We did a short Disney cruise for our very first cruise then switched to other lines. Disney has some amazing features, but to me, it isn't worth the cost for most situations.
   
3. Finding Cruise Critic is a great thing and use it extensively to explore best ships, cabins, etc. Most people out here are extremely helpful and friendly.
   
4. Look at the itineraries - especially time in port and whether you are docking or tendering (although this can change after you book). On Princess, all aboard is 30 minutes before the time listed when docked and 1 hour before the end time listed when tendering. Plus tendering can take a lot of extra time. Some of the itineraries leave you barely enough time to do anything in port.
   
5. We did the one-way southbound and loved it. To save transportation money, we flew round-trip to Seattle. We booked a one-way Alaska air flight to Anchorage, spent some time on land, then did the 1 week southbound cruise. We rented a car in Vancouver and drove back to Seattle. There were 6 of us, so it saved us a ton of money.
   
6. To me, Glacier Bay was a must do and I am really glad that I did it.
   

Have fun planning and please feel free to ask me any questions, here or via email at annjunk at sbcglobal dot net.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I recommend the one way Voyage if the Glaciers. It gives you a more complete experience. You might be pleasantly surprised with airfare; pretend you're going this summer and plug in your city in an airfare search to see what it would cost to fly into Vancouver and home from Anchorage. In the summer, Delta, Alaska, and Jet Blue compete for low fares to/from Anchorage. Also, Princess EZ Air shines at offering lower airfares for those tricky airfare scenarios like multi-city tickets. Good luck!

 

 

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[ggprincess2004]

Some of my thoughts - randomly but based upon experience:

 

1. Time in port matters, but plan on getting out of town when you get there, as the ports are pretty tiny and there is so much more to see/do out in the wild.

2. If you decide to start your voyage in Whittier/Anchorage, take a look at Princess E-Z air for the Anchorage flights, as you might find a pleasant surprise. I did when I had to fly some of our kids home from Anchorage (they only could do a week of our 2 week cruise) and the fares were much friendlier than I expected.

3. If you go out of Vancouver and want to fly into SeaTac, which is what we do, Princess offers transfers from SeaTac to the pier in Vancouver. The busses are comfy, which is a huge statement coming from me, and you get them at baggage claim around 8 in the morning, assuming you fly in the day before, and come back to the airport in the morning to get the transfer. They take your luggage and you see it again in your stateroom. Also, going through the border crossing is usually quick and simple this way.

4. Our experience has been that weather earlier in the season - late May, early June - is usually better than the weather toward the end of the season. This has only been our experience and is definitely not a guarantee. What I mean by better weather is clear skies, not the temperature, but that has not been an issue either. My niece was in the hot tub while we were in Glacier Bay (don't ask) in late May.

5. Favorite excursions include anything that takes you into the wilderness areas outside of Haines, Alaska, which means the fast ferry from Skagway over to Haines for the air boats, the small group bus tours, and other options. We also have gone into the Yukon on 4wd vehicles, and done the trip up the highway. I looked at the railroad bridges for the Whitepass and I would have a panic attack, but lots of people also love that excursion.

6. Juneau - Auke Bay is THE place for whale watching, but there I commend an excursion which is a flightseeing tour over the Mendenhall Glacier field, which is huge and fascinating, that lands on the water in front of the Taku glacier, and includes a salmon bake at the lodge there. It is exceptional, and as promised, the bears showed up on schedule for photo ops. Best salmon ever, too. If you have a long day in port there, and if it is a clear day, you can get tickets at the entrance to the tram up to the top of Mt. Roberts for some photos and exploration, but wait til you see what the weather is like and do it if you time after the other excursions (or before). If you have horrible weather, and cancelled tours, there is still the Mendenhall Glacier with its visitor center and also the breweries in Juneau. We have also done the photography tour out of Juneau, which included whale watching on Auke Bay, and it was excellent. We still would do the Taku Lodge salmon feast and flightseeing.....some friends would do the helicopter landing and dogsledding on a glacier....which is also awesome.

7. Ketchikan has a number of options. We love the flightseeing trip to George Inlet with the Dungeness crab feast. Wow. There are a few ways to get to the crab feast at George Inlet....whichever you choose we recommend getting there. Misty Fjords flightseeing is great, but very weather dependent, they also do tours by boat. We have taken another boat tour - Eagles and Totems - which we enjoyed, too. Usually there isn't a whole lot of time in Ketchikan before or after your tour, but if you have a chance to walk around a bit, it is kind of cute. We have also been to the Lumberjack Show, which is entertaining, but IMHO should not be THE excursion you take in Ketchikan.

8. If you have a stop in Victoria on Vancouver Island go to Butchard Gardens. Period. Just go.

 

Disclaimer - we've been to Alaska over half a dozen times now, we will go back in 2018. The above are my opinions based upon our experience there. Others may, and likely will disagree. We have gone by ourselves, and taken larger groups- like 8 family members. Either way, we use the Princess transfer to Vancouver...moving a crowd works smoothly that way, and having someone else worry about the luggage makes us happy.

 

Enjoy the planning and anticipation - and congratulations and best wishes on your marriage. DH and I were married on Grand Princess by the captain a while back.:)

[cruisincdns]

We are in the early stages of thinking of doing an Alaska cruise in 2019 for my soon to be husbands 40th birthday.

 

We are currently planning our first cruise this October on DCL. We are getting married on the cruise which is the main reason we chose Disney. I really don't see the value in Disney for Alaska (plus Glacier Bay is a huge selling point for us) so we are looking into Princess.

 

What we are looking at now is round trip from Seattle to hopefully save a little on transportation costs. We may end up doing northbound from vancouver and biting the bullet on the higher transport costs.

 

Has anyone done this cruise or an Alaska cruise that would like to give me tips, hints or anything else I can be researching in the meantime?

 

 

If you do wind up booking an Alaskan Cruise, I would highly recommend purchasing the following book which contains details about the Alaskan ports, wildlife, excursions, maps, etc. Here is the link to Amazon:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Alaska-Cruise-Handbook-Mile-Mile/dp/0979491576/ref=pd_sim_14_2/155-7725188-4583327?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0979491576&pd_rd_r=Q2H9K31GXDVJKADCGRG9&pd_rd_w=Nfd8E&pd_rd_wg=pZUJe&psc=1&refRID=Q2H9K31GXDVJKADCGRG9

 

 

Paul