1st time cruise to Alaska from Australia. Few questions please???????

[portcbob]

Hi fellow cruisers.

Have cruised a couple of times with Princess and enjoyed it. We need to tick one off our bucket list, the cruise through the Inside Passage of Alaska.

Can anyone of you great people steer us in the right direction of the best Princess Ship for this cruise please. Also what is the best cruise as I see there is a few different ones. Everyone in Australia is telling us we must do the one with Glacier Bay????.

We have also noticed a 10 nighter from San Francisco and would love to see that city also pre cruise.

Is August a great time to do this cruise?????

Sorry for all the questions however coming a long way and just want to get this all right.

Kind Regards Bob and Christine.

[Captain Canuck]

my suggestion would be to do a round trip cruise because airfare out of Alaska is expensive and choices limited. we just did an Alaskan cruise with Holland America and did one way as we did the Denali land package as an add on. unless you want the Denali tour I would stick to round trip. Just did a quick check and the Ruby out of Seattle looks good to me. SEATAC a good airport with lots of connections. Seattle itself is worth a day or 2 of exploration. this cruise does glacier bay.

[WAussieSFO]

As an Aussie living in the San Francisco Bay Area I can honestly say sailing out under the Golden Gate Bridge never gets old.

 

Unfortunately, the only ship that sails out of San Francisco is the Grand. I have been on the Grand 5 times in the last 3 years and have no complaints, yes the ship is getting on in age but I've not experienced anything that put a damper on any of the cruises. The crew are great!

 

Definitely do Glacier Bay over Tracy Arm Fjord since this is a bucket list item. We had an awesome experience in Glacier Bay a few years ago. I've done the Tracy Arm Fjord itinerary twice (last year and this year) and neither time we were able to go up Tracy Arm. We cruised up Endicott Arm instead. I don't believe any ships went up Tracy Arm last year and this year it was not until July/August that ships were able to go up.

[towhee]

We've sailed with many Aussies to Alaska and all of them have had a great time.

 

Yes, you want to see Glacier Bay. To my mind it is the best glacier experience. I rank the glaciers as 1) Glacier Bay, 2) Hubbard Glacier, 3) College Fjord, and 4) Tracy Arm (only because it's iffy whether you'll get to the glaciers or not).

 

The "Inside Passage" goes from Vancouver, BC to Ketchikan, AK (approximately). Cruises leaving from Seattle will "go outside" meaning they will traverse the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island rather than take the passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. However they do the northern part of the Inside Passage once they reach the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Cruises leaving Vancouver, BC sail the entire Inside Passage. The Inside Passage is rather interesting because you have land on both sides of you. Depending upon the tides and timings your ship may go through some of the side passages and pass by some "First Peoples" villages. There is one point in the passage that can only be navigated during "slack water", so you'll be in a parade of several ships in that area.

 

August is a good month for cruising, but so is May, June, and July. The weather can be very changeable and unpredictable, so bring rain gear (or buy a poncho at your first cruise port). We have been in Juneau when it was 24C in May and when it was 2C in July with snow. There will be more families and children in June, July, and August, than in May or September.

 

We've done the round trip from San Francisco and the 2.5 sea days up and 2.5 sea days back are only "OK" (really nothing to write home about). I would recommend flying to Vancouver, BC or Seattle, WA take the cruise, then fly on down to San Francisco afterwards. Even better would be to fly to Anchorage, AK take a 3 or 4 day land tour, then take one of the cruises south.

 

Whatever you decide to you, I hope you enjoy yourselves.

[Thrak]

My only suggestion is to sail any other ship before booking Island Princess. Coral Princess would be my first choice but any of the others would be fine. Island Princess would be my last choice and then only if it was the only one that fit my schedule.

[Wishing on a star]

Highly recommend sailing either North or South bound, to see so much more. All the way up to Anchorage.

Not sure if that is easily combined with a Coastal from SanFrancisco????

Can that be done in August?

But, for Alaska, that to me, along with Glacier Bay, is highly recommended.

 

We enjoyed sailing earlier in the season, when there was still plenty of Alaskan ice/snow on the mountains.

We sailed the Coral Princess in late May.

August would be fine, if that is not a big factor for you.

Late summer is when the Salmon run and the bears come out to feed. That is when you can do bear viewing excursions.

 

Look at the itineraries first, as with Alaska, this might be more important than which ship.

Then once you narrow that down, posters here can help you compare ships, if more than one ship are an option.

 

If you do decide on an itinerary on either the Coral or the Island... Most people here will steer you towards the Coral, which was not structurally changed with more cabins added.

 

As mentioned above, Vancouver sailings would probably have a better route than those from Seattle.

 

We have not done any coastal out of San Francisco, but I would tend to agree with these comments above:

"We've done the round trip from San Francisco and the 2.5 sea days up and 2.5 sea days back are only "OK" (really nothing to write home about). I would recommend flying to Vancouver, BC or Seattle, WA take the cruise, then fly on down to San Francisco afterwards. Even better would be to fly to Anchorage, AK take a 3 or 4 day land tour, then take one of the cruises south."

 

I think in most cases, If sailing southbound from Anchorage/Whittier, one can take a boat tour of Prince William Sound and College Fjord just before boarding.

If sailing northbound there is a longer time at Juneau, which enables one to do the Adventure Bound tour.

[XBGuy]

This is not going to help the OP narrow down his choices, but I hope it puts his/her mind at ease about the fact that any decision he/she makes is going to turn out great.

 

Next week we will be sailing the Grand Princess out of San Francisco on the 10-day roundtrip. This will be our second cruise on the Grand Princess. Our previous experience was a very similar 10-day Alaska roundtrip out of San Francisco. While I understand the sentiments of people who seem to not have much choice out of San Francisco and have sailed her five times, rest assured we think she is a great ship. The idea of your spending a few days in San Francisco is excellent, and, of course, sailing under the Golden Gate bridge is a wonderful and memorable experience.

 

Now, to add more confusion, Seattle is also a terrific city to visit for a few days. A seven-day roundtrip out of Seattle before or after a two- or three-day visit is an excellent vacation. I do notice that there is a roundtrip out of Seattle on the Ruby Princess (Mrs. XBGuy's favorite) in August 2018 that does include Glacier Bay.

 

If you truly feel this will be you one and only trip to Alaska, then, of course, taking one of the CruiseTour packages, where you can truly get deep into Alaska, should also be considered.

 

Bob/Christine, I have all the confidence in the world that regardless of itinerary you take, you will have an outstanding cruise that will meet your highest expectations.

[rowrow]

Our first cruise in that region will be in 2018. It's a fair trip from all of us downunder just to get to your chosen departure port and from all reports the inside passage cruise highlights will be well worth it. But for us we decided to addon an Alaskan land tour, "CruiseTour", since we may never get back over there. We chose Princess but there are other cruise lines, but not many can venture into Glacier Bay. So many great cities to see as well and we chose Vancouver port as recommended to get more of the 'inside passage'. Whatever you choose book early to get a preferred cabin.

[adstz]

If this is to be a "once in a lifetime" trip, I would make a different suggestion.

Our first trip to Alaska was a 14 day cruise tour with Princess. It was fantastic! We flew to Fairbanks and joined our tour group. By train and bus, we made our way south and finished in Anchorage 7 days later. The next day we took the train south to join our ship for a 7 day south bound cruise that included Glacier Bay and ended in Vancouver.

To me, the ship isn't as important as the itinerary.

If you have the time and the means, do the cruise tour then head to San Francisco on your way home.

By the way, I'm heading your way in January. Doing 8 days on land through Australia (Sydney, Ayers Rock, and Cairns) then heading to New Zealand for 13 day cruise.

Enjoy Alaska! Been there 6 times and will be going back in 3 years.

[Thrak]

The 10 day round trip from SF was our first cruise. I absolutely, positively, without a doubt, knew I would loathe everything about cruising. That cruise changed my mind and we have been hooked ever since. :D

 

We did it on Sea Princess when she was still here but will be doing it again one day on Grand Princess.

[portcbob]

Thank you so much to all you posters. Your information has been very valuable. Now we have to sift through it all and come up with a packaged itinerary. We are flexible and can go may, June, July or August. We would like to see snow as we have never seen any, lol.

 

Regards bob

[Aus Traveller]

Several years ago our Alaskan cruise left Vancouver on 18th August. We deliberately went late in the season so we would have a chance of seeing the Aurora while in Alaska. In mid summer the sky doesn't get dark enough to see it properly. It was so cold on deck while we were looking at the glaciers that I thought my nose and ears were going to drop off! I bought a warm hat at the next port.

 

In Alaska we hire a motorhome for 11 days. That was fantastic. On a few nights we saw the Aurora in its full glory. The best area to see this is around Fairbanks (not further north as you would think). When we arrived in the Denali Nat Park we booked our full day tour for the next day (we had to go in their buses, not our own vehicle). The earliest time we could get was 11am for the 13 hour tour. When we fronted up the next morning we were told that the road was closed by snow. We could get a refund or go on the tour and take our chances as to how far up the road they could get. We could get a partial refund if the tour was cut short. The road cleared and we were the first bus through, right to the end. Denali was 'just sitting there' head and shoulders above the nearby mountains. It was gorgeous. The point of this story is that if you plan to do a land tour in Alaska, be prepared for snow - maybe lots of it.

[Coral]

If you want to see SFO, fly there before or after the cruise. I probably wouldn't sail out of SFO unless I lived there. I would spend more time in Alaska.

[Wishing on a star]

If you have never seen the snow, then DEF go on the earliest date in June, or late May.

Travel to/from the North (Anchorage)...

 

With as much flying and traveling that will be necessary for you to do this trip... I would def., fly thru San Fran, instead of cruise.

[xlxo]

Thoughts....

• another vote to include Glacier Bay for the best glacier viewing experience.
  
• I've done two mid-August cruises and my future Alaska trips will be July or earlier in the season. August is the start of the wet season before the September storms.
  
• there are TWO inside passages. The Alaskan one and the Canadian segment that can only be done with a port start/end in Vancouver. Vancouver deserves a few days to experience all the tourist attractions.
  
• things are done differently than in Australia.
  
  

[Britter16]

we did a b2b from Vancouver so if we missed anything due to weather or too many excursions we could catch it on the way back. We did Mendenhall Glacier on our own using a local bus so we had lots of time, spent about 3-4 hrs there compared to 45 mins for the ship;s excursion. Friends did a local whale watching tour and saw bubble feeding for a great price. We hiked up to Lower Dewy Lake cause we had the time on our second half of the trip.

I would recommend a ship with Skywalkers for the view and you won't be cold.

The ship sells a polar fleece wind proof jacket for around $30.00, so saves you packing one.

[bigchid]

You can take an excursion that will land you on a glacier and include a dog sled ride on the snow, doesn't mater which month you choose.

Aug is our wet month and was quite rainy this year. (I live in Alaska).

At Portage just thru the tunnel from Whittier there are glaciers you can hike to.

Edited September 8, 2017 by bigchid

[katisdale]

If time is not an issue, I would check the itinerary for the "Circle the Pacific" cruise from Sydney. We did that in 2016, leaving Sydney on the Sun Princess sailing to Darwin and then several stops in Asia before crossing the North Pacific into Seward. We did go to Glacier Bay among other stops in Alaska and Canada before ending in San Francisco. The ship did return to Sydney for a total of 75 days but we got off in San Francisco after 50 day.

[Captain Canuck]

would love to do the Circle Pacific but time is the I$$ue

 

also 2 more points

 

1. snow is overated...have had more than my fill

 

2. our first cruise was to Alaska in September. end of the season so last cruise for the year to Alaska...last cruise so prices in all the stores marked down..also Salmon run was on so LOTS of eagles...salmon run varies year by year so never a sure thing

[mexicobob]

When in Alaska do a glacier landing excursion. Is expensive but worth it. Something you will remember on your deathbed.

[portcbob]

Thankyou guys for all your help.

 

Regards Bob.

[SFPORT]

Be careful re: month. If you get close to off season, you will have weather conditions in the Gulf of Alaska. SF Bon Voyage party is fantastic with the GG Bridge as back drop. Visiting SF the night before allows day touring and fine dining in the evening. Easy to get to pier. Grand is wonderful, it was dry docked just recently due to issues on a Hawaiian cruise a year or so a go.:)

Thank you so much to all you posters. Your information has been very valuable. Now we have to sift through it all and come up with a packaged itinerary. We are flexible and can go may, June, July or August. We would like to see snow as we have never seen any, lol.

 

Regards bob

[cruiserfromalabama]

My only suggestion is to sail any other ship before booking Island Princess. Coral Princess would be my first choice but any of the others would be fine. Island Princess would be my last choice and then only if it was the only one that fit my schedule.

 

Just curious Thrak, but why is your last choice for a cruise ship the Island Princess? I am trying to plan an Alaska trip and Island Princess was one of the choices, but I am not sure what ship to pick.