Alaska HAL experiences?

[killsport]

Looking for advice regarding an Alaska cruise / tour. 
Aside from being cooler (cold?) is a May trip enjoyable? Any suggestions for 9 or 10 day cruise / tour? Anything to stay away from? Should I do the land portion on my own? Is there a particular itinerary to take or avoid? Is HAL a good option or should Princess be considered?

Thank you!

[kwb101]

I think your first considerations should be 1) how long overall; 2) how long on a ship; and, 2) what do you want to see? 

We took the 14-day Alaska-Yukon triple Denali trip in '17 (with the 4-day cruise last). HAL has several variations of length, direction, and days in Denali. I highly recommend more days in Denali (the day-long Tundra Wilderness Tour is well worth your time). We also appreciated having the four-day cruise from Skagway at the end of the trip, giving us a chance to relax and not have a schedule for several days. 

I think the 9- or 10-day itineraries won't include Yukon, and will probably only include a quick trip from Fairbanks to Denali to the cruise ship for a 7-day voyage, so you won't see much outside ports. Still, it's a beautiful place with much worth seeing. 

Good luck planning.

[Oceansaway17]

To see Alaska you need to go at least twice.

Trips go round from Seattle sailing inside passage. Good for reasonable flights and taste of Alaska.

Then try sailing out of Vancouver one way to anchorage area and do land tour for Denali and whatever else of interest.

At least once a year HAL offers 14 day r/t from Seattle that does many ports including Anchorage which depending on length of time, you could get to Denali for quick trip.

 

Also try one trip in Spring to see snow on mountains, then a trip another time in August for the longer days. Juneau is nicer after noon time and fog lifts. Good luck.

[AV8rix]

Another consideration for the Alaska cruises might be the issue of children -- with regards to considering which dates to sail.  a) Do you have children or grandkids that may be accompanying you?  b) Do you mind sharing the ship with lots of kids?

 

a) If your young'uns will be accompanying you then you'll definitely want the summer sailings.  Will be many playmates/companions available for them and as well as good shipboard programs.  b) If you don't enjoy lots of kids, then the first and last sailings would be more appropriate for you.  School is still in session for those "shoulder of season" sailings and there will be many fewer children aboard.

[Alberta Quilter]

May and June are the driest months.  I've gone three times in May, once in June.  Loved every one of them.  My friend got sunburned in Glacier Bay in mid May.  One neat thing about June is that the days are very long.

[Seasick Sailor]

We took the 2 week Alaska Explorer in mid July this year on Amsterdam, and I don't think there were as many kids as previous times. Maybe the 1 week cruises have more kids. HAL is well known for the Alaska cruises and I would recommend them. As for May, it's pretty darn cold. My cousin was stationed in Alaska several times over the last 10 years and May can be quite icky..

[VennDiagram]

8 hours ago, killsport said:

Looking for advice regarding an Alaska cruise / tour. 
Aside from being cooler (cold?) is a May trip enjoyable? Any suggestions for 9 or 10 day cruise / tour? Anything to stay away from? Should I do the land portion on my own? Is there a particular itinerary to take or avoid? Is HAL a good option or should Princess be considered?

Thank you!

 

May can be cool, cold, pretty warm, or surprisingly warm,  like every other month that offers cruises to Alaska.  😉 Sunny or rainy.  Our preference is mid-May.  We've done multiple trips to Alaska at that time of year.

If you want to do a land portion, check out the Alaska board here on CC.  There are many posters there who have done land on their own and are happy to help.  It's also worth checking out for other info about Alaska cruising

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

 

If you want to do a land tour, the usual suggestion is do land first, then do the cruise, because the land touring can be quite exhausting.  If you want to do land touring, make sure you understand what is open and what is closed at the time of year you are thinking about going. 

 

When comparing itineraries, check to see how long you spend in each port.  You want to see as much of each port and area as possible, so longer port times are better.

 

Someone up thread said something about going in August because the days are longer??? Solstice is around June 20/21, so the further away you are from that date (either before or after), the shorter the days are. 

 

Edited to add:  regardless of when you go, you will need to be prepared for all kinds of weather.  And you will need to pack that way, also 😉 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by VennDiagram

[Cruise Suzy]

We did the land portion on our own. Very easy to do if you don't mind driving and much less than the difference between the cruise and cruisetour. Whether you do the land portion on your own or not, I would do it first and then relax on the cruise portion. Our 5-night trip outline:

 

Arrived in Anchorage late evening, rented car and drove to nearby motel.

 

Explored downtown Anchorage until Alaskan Native Heritage Center (highly recommend) opened. Stopped at Eklutna (church and cemetery) and Talkeetna on way to Fairbanks motel - several roadside pullouts with magnificent views

 

Discovery sternwheeler (met several who would also be on cruise but were doing the cruietour), pipeline exhibit, town of North Pole (I'm a year-round Christmas enthusiast). 2nd night in Fairbanks

 

Drove to Denali NP, hiked Savage River Trail. Stayed at Grande Denali Lodge

 

Tundra Wilderness Tour. 2nd night at Grande Denali

 

Toured Anchorage Museum before turning in rental car at airport and taking bus to ship

 

[RMurp007]

We did a 19 day triple Denali with Holland in early June 2019 and could not have been more pleased.  It started with a 3 day inside passage cruise, then the land portion with the full day Wilderness Tour in Denali (not to be missed) and ended with a 7 day cruise back to Vancouver.  A host was with us throughout the land portion and she was extremely organized, helpful and knowledgeable.  It was great to have someone in charge of everything.  The land hotels with Holland were comfortable and within walking distance to most attractions.  I would highly recommend doing it as a package as you don't have to worry about anything.

[lstrong]

Another viewpoint-we rented a motor home in anchorage for 10 days then picked up a southbound cruise out of Seward. So fabulous we again rented a motor home - this time for two weeks to see more of Alaska. Lots of info on Alaska boards to help with itinerary!  

[crystalspin]

I'll take another side to the story: We cruised with HAL from Vancouver to Seward, took the train to Anchorage, picked up our rental car (for two weeks) and headed back to Seward, then to Palmer, then to Healy (for Denali), and finished in Fairbanks. This allowed my husband to relax (on the ship) before taking the wheel for the self-drive.

 

The crazy-good thing about doing it in this order was each port and day was more and more deeply Alaskan! 

 

Recommendations from what we did would be to return the car to Anchorage and skip Fairbanks -- we specifically did it that way because when I was making the arrangements, flights were being cancelled in Anchorage due to volcanic activity up-wind, and after three weeks of vacation, my DH couldn't risk not being able to fly home!

 

In 2009, the only car we could rent from Seward to Fairbanks was a van, and way expensive. This may have changed.

 

Stay on the waterfront in Seward, IN Palmer, and as close to Denali as you can afford. 

 

The Noordam and the Westerdam are doing that sailing: 7-Day Glacier Discovery Northbound in 2020. They are Vista ships, our favorite size and deckplan.

 

ETA: HAL takes you by train to Anchorage at the end of the cruise. If you can't spend as much time as we did, do a whale watch excursion combined with a stop and hike at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and don't go back to Seward. We really enjoyed Palmer as well, but Denali is the must-do. You could JUST make it in 10-days.

Edited December 29, 2019 by crystalspin

[PSR]

10 hours ago, RMurp007 said:

We did a 19 day triple Denali with Holland in early June 2019 and could not have been more pleased.  It started with a 3 day inside passage cruise, then the land portion with the full day Wilderness Tour in Denali (not to be missed) and ended with a 7 day cruise back to Vancouver.  A host was with us throughout the land portion and she was extremely organized, helpful and knowledgeable.  It was great to have someone in charge of everything.  The land hotels with Holland were comfortable and within walking distance to most attractions.  I would highly recommend doing it as a package as you don't have to worry about anything.

 

It sounds like you did some sort of back to back cruise tours with 2 separate ships, since there appears to be 9 days between the cruises. Was there a tour at the end of the 3-day cruise and a second tour at the beginning of the 2nd cruise? We just did a cruise tour (which we loved) last August with 2 nights in Anchorage before our Triple Denali and ending with a 7-night cruise to Vancouver. Never thought of connecting 2 cruise tours.

[RMurp007]

It was booked as a package from one of the larger travel agencies.  Yes, we were on the Volendam for the first 3 days, then a land tour ending with a 7 night cruise on the Westerdam.

[ottahand7]

On 12/28/2019 at 8:09 AM, killsport said:

Looking for advice regarding an Alaska cruise / tour. 
Aside from being cooler (cold?) is a May trip enjoyable? Any suggestions for 9 or 10 day cruise / tour? Anything to stay away from? Should I do the land portion on my own? Is there a particular itinerary to take or avoid? Is HAL a good option or should Princess be considered?

Thank you!

Someone mentioned before to see Alaska you have to go at least twice and I can't wait to go back to see some more.   

 

If you are using Holland's lodging in Denali it will be underwhelming but the lodge where the meals are served and the central area is beautiful.  

 

I don't know where you live but if you are returning to the east coast and do not like red eye flights I would recommend that you start in the Northern ports and end up in Vancouver or Seattle to be able to get a mostly daylight flight. 

 

Since you are traveling in May you will have hungry animals looking for spring's food.   They probably will be more prominent than mid-summer than when they have the ability to avoid tourists.  We had the opposite in Denali in mid-September when they were loading up for hibernation and the hard winter.  

 

They say mosquitoes are bad in Alaska.  I have never heard complaints about them on CC but that may be a negative for May they are infernal at our cabin in the UP of MI in May.   

[PSR]

14 hours ago, PSR said:

 

It sounds like you did some sort of back to back cruise tours with 2 separate ships, since there appears to be 9 days between the cruises. Was there a tour at the end of the 3-day cruise and a second tour at the beginning of the 2nd cruise? We just did a cruise tour (which we loved) last August with 2 nights in Anchorage before our Triple Denali and ending with a 7-night cruise to Vancouver. Never thought of connecting 2 cruise tours.

 

4 hours ago, RMurp007 said:

It was booked as a package from one of the larger travel agencies.  Yes, we were on the Volendam for the first 3 days, then a land tour ending with a 7 night cruise on the Westerdam.

 

Thanks for the info! Might have to try that sometime. 😊

[Tom O.]

We did an 11 day "Triple Denali" land/sea tour last August. We flew into Anchorage, took the train to Denali, stayed 3 nights there, and then there was a long bus ride from Denali to Seward for a 7 day cruise to Vancouver.

We loved the train ride from Anchorage to Denali. On the Tundra Tour, we got to see bears close up, but it was a very long day in an uncomfortable bus.

The bus ride from Denali to Seward was really boring and exhausting. I wish we could have done that part on the train again.

We loved the 7 day cruise from Steward to Vancouver.

Our impression of the interior of Alaska: The wilderness areas are beautiful, but we found the towns to be sprawling and unattractive, and that includes Anchorage.