Alaska never been what choices...

[dis2cruise]

Itineraries North/south

Inner passage??

and the best time of year??

[mapleleaves]

To learn more about the cruiselines, ships, ports, itineraries, excursions, etc I suggest getting a book specific to Alaska cruises.

Ann Vipond has Alaska by Cruiseship and Fodor has Alaska, ports of call. There are others as well. Buy, or borrow from your library.

One-way cruises are great if you want to spend some time touring in Alaska pre or post cruise. ( If you want to visit Denali, keep in mind that the park road doesn't fully open until June. Dates are on the park web site)

Some people like NB because the scenery gets more dramatic. Some prefer SB because they want to get the long flight to Anchorage out of the way first.

As for timing, earlier in the season (late May thru June) is statistically dryer and has more daylight . But if you want to take a bear viewing trip out of Ketchikan, the peak times will be July / August depending on the location.

 

Lots for you to research.

Edited June 15, 2017 by mapleleaves
nb sb

[dis2cruise]

Thanks so much 😉

[ski ww]

Lots to think about here. You can do a R/T from Seattle or Vancouver or a one way, what cruise line, what ship will depend on the itinerary, what price? The summer is normally the best weather but that is also never for sure. There are a lot of reviews posted here, read them to get a better idea. What ever you decide, enjoy.

Allan

[Kamloops50]

Itineraries North/south

Inner passage??Alaskan cruises do the inner passage in Alasks

and the best time of year?? The season runs from May to September

 

{/quote] t\

 

You'll need to decide a number of things

1 - Budget

2 - Number of days

3 - Cruise only or cruise with land

4 - Cruise only one way or round trip (Seattle , San Francisco or Vancouver)

5 - Which cruise line that suits your likes and dislikes

I would suggest getting a book about Alaska from your local library

Anne Viponde has a good book . Also Fodor's has a decent book as well

[TheCalicoCat]

Itineraries North/south

Inner passage??

and the best time of year??

 

Some of those are personal...

 

1. We chose Round Trip (easier/cheaper flights)

2. All of them sail the inside passage. Juneau, Skagway, & Ketchikan are all on the Inside Passage. (If you leave out of Vancouver, you sail between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada. If you leave out of Seattle, you sail in open waters going around Vancouver Island.)

3. Very personal preference here. I previously sailed in early June & loved it, but it was too early for salmon & bears, so we are sailing late July 2017 for out next AK cruise. Others love May - snowcapped mountains, early enough that the seasonal workers are not "over it." September may have better sales...

4. You didn't even mention Glacier Bay - not all cruise lines are allowed to enter Glacier Bay, some of the other glacier viewing options can be missed due to fog/ice.

 

If you plan on going to Denali (One reason to do a 1 way, is to afford yourself time to spend in the interior) the roads are not completely open in May.

 

Bottom line, you need to research all of the cruise lines & decide what you want to do... Do you want to visit Sitka? Prince Rupert? Victoria for more than just a few hours in the evening?

[new_cruiser]

Some of those are personal...

 

1. We chose Round Trip (easier/cheaper flights)

I read this a lot but I don't understand it.

 

Perhaps it depends your point of origin. Our tickets on Alaska Air from California to Victoria (visiting Buchart Gardens before heading to Vancouver for our cruise) and Anchorage back to California were a smidge over $ 300 pp (a bit under $400 with taxes). If we were flying into Vancouver, we could have gotten that ticket for $140 and the return from Anchorage for $145. We may have gotten lucky with our dates, but even looking at other dates, it looks like one could do the flights for a one way for $0 to 100 more than the cost of flights for a round trip.

 

The time of day you depart and arrive can add a lot more to the cost of flights than round trip vs one way. The flights to Vancouver on the day we are traveling run from $150 to $350.

 

So at least look at some pricing for flights before you assume this is true.

[new_cruiser]

Something else to look at when comparing the cruises:

What are the port times? Are they long enough for the excursions/exploring you might want to do in that port.

[Kamloops50]

Flights to and from Canada are pricy compared to prices in the states. I pay $200 plus tax one way for a 50 minute flight to Vancouver from the airport nearest to me. If

I drive to Seattle, I can get a flight to Florida for $350 plus tax return.

US prices are much lower .

 

 

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[Kamloops50]

Something else to look at when comparing the cruises:

What are the port times? Are they long enough for the excursions/exploring you might want to do in that port.

 

 

 

Port times on cruises from Seattle tend to be shorter because of the stop in Victoria for legal reasons.

 

 

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[GradUT]

Another thing to consider is whether you want to travel with families or not. We did not want a bunch of kids on our cruise, so we chose to cruise in late May. So, in addition to the statistically drier weather (we only had a smidgen of light rain in Ketchikan and no rain anywhere else) and the long hours of daylight, I only counted 10 children on our ship.

[new_cruiser]

Flights to and from Canada are pricy compared to prices in the states. I pay $200 plus tax one way for a 50 minute flight to Vancouver from the airport nearest to me. If

I drive to Seattle, I can get a flight to Florida for $350 plus tax return.

US prices are much lower .

 

Not necessarily by that much. Flight prices are just very dependent on the particular airports (as well as on the time of day you want to fly and when you are booking your tickets.) We could have saved a bit by flying to Seattle, but no more than $50.

 

Port times on cruises from Seattle tend to be shorter because of the stop in Victoria for legal reasons.

And also because they have to travel somewhat farther to get to Ketchican (twice because the Seattle cruises are all round trip for similar regulatory reasons). Cruise ships aren't fast.

 

 

That matters more on 7-day itineraries.

On our 7-day, one-way cruise, the break down is day 0 departure day and day 7 is arrival day. One day will be a sea day cruising the Inside Passage due to the distance between Vancouver and Ketchican. One day will be cruising Hubbard Glacier along with covering the distance from Glacier Bay to Seward. One day is Glacier Bay. That leaves 3 pretty full port days.

 

 

On a round trip from Vancouver, there are two sea days on the Inside Passage getting from Vancouver to Alaska and back so one often there is one glacier day and 3 port days. Sometimes one port day is a visit to Tracy Arm Inlet with a drop off for a small boat excursion and afternoon in Juneau.

 

 

Cruising from Seattle, the extra cruise time and stop in Canada cut down the other time. The stop in Canada is often an evening visit to Victoria and too short to go to Buchart Gardens. (To my taste, an evening visit to Victoria isn't very interesting.)

[Coral]

I actually think the one ways are better itineraries. As stated above, you can often get 2 glacier days instead of one (more sea days on RT). You also get longer port times on one ways.

 

As far air goes - this I am sure is different for everyone. It is expensive for me to fly anywhere. I don't have the cheap flights that those in California get. And it takes me all day to fly to either coast. So if I am flying to Seattle, it is not much longer to Vancouver or Anchorage. As far as cost, it does cost me more to fly to Anchorage and Vancouver but one way cruises are usually less expensive than RT Vancouver, Seattle or SFO. So, it balances itself out for me.

 

I am willing to pay more for one way cruises as I want 2 glacier days (think if you happen to miss your one and only glacier day or get only within 9 miles of the glacier on your only trip to Alaska) and I want longer port times.

[TheCalicoCat]

I read this a lot but I don't understand it.

 

We may have gotten lucky with our dates, but even looking at other dates, it looks like one could do the flights for a one way for $0 to 100 more than the cost of flights for a round trip.

 

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that you leaving from Sacramento & me leaving from Baltimore might play into it. My flying into Canada or AK (not the lower 48) was quite a bit more than my RT to Seattle.

 

So much so on our previous cruise that left out of Vancouver, we took to train up & back & still saved money over a flying into Canada.

[jskinsd]

Once again nobody talks about money. What is your budget? $2000, $5000, $10,000, $20,000, maybe $50,000. The more money you want to spend, the more you can do. You can pay to see and do anything you want. You can pay extra to sail in a suite. You can pay extra for nicer dinners. You can pay extra to take helicopter tours. You can pay extra to take float plan tours. You can pay extra to go on whale watching/wildlife tours. You can pay extra to take the train in Skagway. You can pay extra to Zip line. You can pay extra to go fishing. And multiply those costs by number of cruisers. $$$$$ And I haven't talked about travel and lodging costs before and after the cruise.

So my question to the OP. Why do you want to go to Alaska? Wildlife, adventure, history, or maybe just tired of cruising other parts of the world. Is this a once in a lifetime cruise and you just have to do everything. And in Alaska you never can do everything.

I myself have cruised Alaska over 30 times and will be cruising again in July doing my third and forth weeks in Alaska this season. I am doing another B2B on the Sun in July. If you have two weeks, I would highly recommend this itinerary. You get Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier (twice) and you cruise Tracy Arm to Sawyer Glacier. Your port stops are Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway (you get these ports twice) and my favorite stop Icy Strait (Hoonah).

In 14 days you get three glaciers, seven ports (to spend all that money) and enough sea days to relax to.

[aloanldy]

dis2cruise - I live in FL, I leave to go on my first Alaska cruise in July this year. I found Alaska to be much more expensive than the caribbean and about as much/maybe more with the landtour than my Med cruise.

 

I booked almost 2 years in advance so that I could afford to go and budget myself to go, because I wanted to do it all since for me it's a trip of a life time, and i'm not sure i'll be able to afford to go again.

 

Having said that, my airfare from Florida on choiceair was $737. Thats' flying into Anchorage and flying home from Vancouver to Tampa. I chose to do a 5 night landtour before the cruise and I booked aqua class balcony and my cruise with insurance etc was about $8800. I'm going solo so mine is basically what someone might pay for two.

People will get lower prices and some will pay higher prices.

 

I did a lot of reading and research before I booked which way I was starting and ending, alot of info I received here on cruise critic.

I chose Celebrity because that is my cruiseline of choice. I have a lot of friends of sailed Alaska on Princess and RCL and loved them also.

 

Good luck in your planning and have a great time. I know I am going too!

 

Charlie

[Bo1953]

dis2cruise - I live in FL, I leave to go on my first Alaska cruise in July this year. I found Alaska to be much more expensive than the caribbean and about as much/maybe more with the landtour than my Med cruise.

 

I booked almost 2 years in advance so that I could afford to go and budget myself to go, because I wanted to do it all since for me it's a trip of a life time, and i'm not sure i'll be able to afford to go again.

 

Having said that, my airfare from Florida on choiceair was $737. Thats' flying into Anchorage and flying home from Vancouver to Tampa. I chose to do a 5 night landtour before the cruise and I booked aqua class balcony and my cruise with insurance etc was about $8800. I'm going solo so mine is basically what someone might pay for two.

People will get lower prices and some will pay higher prices.

 

I did a lot of reading and research before I booked which way I was starting and ending, alot of info I received here on cruise critic.

I chose Celebrity because that is my cruiseline of choice. I have a lot of friends of sailed Alaska on Princess and RCL and loved them also.

 

Good luck in your planning and have a great time. I know I am going too!

 

Charlie

 

Charlie,

 

We look forward to meeting you on-board, for sure!

 

 

It may be too late, but did you look at getting one-way tickets for your air travel? We did and found it to be about 15% cheaper overall, even if they are non- or partially refundable.

 

 

Thank you again for joining the cruise and see you soon!

 

SamuelS

[xlxo]

Itineraries North/south

Inner passage??

and the best time of year??

Thoughts...

• there are two Inside passages. If you go to Juneau and Skagway, you are in the Alaska inside passage. If you cruise to/from Vancouver, you are in the Canadian Inside passage. Vancouver is a great bonus port to spend a few days pre/post-cruise to explore.
  
• In addition to North/South.... Holland America also has a Yukon Denali option where you can travel beyond Skagway without a boat.
  
• I like the dry port weather between May and July. Oprah likes July too! http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2667
  

[snowmc]

http://www.zest4travel.wordpress.com has several posts on Alaska. Good information available and a packing list. Hope you have a wonderful cruise.