Help me pick an Alaska cruise.

[knittinggirl]

We’ve done several Alaska cruises: May, July, August and September. Be prepared for cooler weather. Our July cruise was colder than usual, and we had 80 degrees in Juneau in May. So you never know.

 

We’ve done several out of Seattle’s, San Francisco, Vancouver, as well as a Cruise Tour. (Princess) up to Fairbanks, and a Vancouver/Seward B2B. We loved the Princess cruise tour with Princess, because we got to see College Fjord and Glacier Bay. If you do the Kenai Fjord tour, be sure to do the one that goes into the park, not the wildlife cruise that just glimpses the park from afar.

 

Princess did not give us credit for our land days with the cruise tour.

 

Be sure your tour includes Skagway so you can take the White Pass Yukon Rail Road. One of our itineraries didn’t include Skagway.

 

 

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[Jimbo]

If you do your own tours make sure you reserve your hotel near Denali by March 2018. The hotels fill up fast. The hotels are expensive but still cheaper than an RCI excursion.

 

Is this advice for Summer of 2018 or the summer of 2019?

 

 

Jimbo:)

[olemissreb]

Is this advice for Summer of 2018 or the summer of 2019?

 

 

Jimbo:)

 

Could be for Summer 2019. I remember booking our hotel really really early. Hotels normally open bookings a year in advance, but for some reason I remember being able to book our Alaska hotels even earlier than that - about 15 months or so. Booking now for this summer you have a good chance of running in to sold out statuses.

[Hoopster95]

We are up to our ears in trying to decide what, where & how! All the info is overwhelming! We have Frommers book on Alaska cruises...helpful info but would like other's opinions. Here is what we have decided so far...

 

Date is May or June 2019

We want to do a PRE-tour then do the cruise.

We want to do the Southbound route ending in Vancouver so we can drive to visit our kids/grandkids in Seattle afterwards.

We want to definitely see Denali!

 

There’s been a lot of excellent advice here so far. You mentioned a land portion to Denali is a must, however a few have chimed in about a closed route from Seattle.....

 

 

I wish to point out to you that Ovation has a fantastic one of a kind 11-day itinerary May 13, 2019 if you end up choosing not to do a land tour.

[steveru621]

Is this advice for Summer of 2018 or the summer of 2019?

 

 

Jimbo:)

 

It's for 2019.

 

It's certainly not impossible, but trying to get a good hotel room for 2018 near Denali can be difficult. Especially late June-August. The last two times we booked a year in advance. When we arrived the hotel was sold out.

[steveru621]

Book your Denali tour ASAP. The best times sell out early.