Alaskan Cruises

[Finzo4]

Ok I've never done an Alaskan cruise only Caribbean- so I need to know the MUST SEEs?? 

Im leary and need info and who better to ask than people who have been there.

Please give any info and thanks in advance

 

[cruisestitch]

A good place to start would be to read trip reviews and there are dozens and dozens on Cruise Critic and elsewhere.

 

also letting us know a little bit about you will help.....it’s hard to make recommendations otherwise.  Do you like hiking or do you want history tours or whale watching or flightseeing or?????

[Finzo4]

Hubby and I are both 50ish and we are more into a lot of things other than History tour- I wanna go do fun new things. I've whale watched before in Hawaii and would do it again in a heart beat.  As far as the other excursions - I just wanna do some MUSTs Sees and Dos

[awaywego0000]

5 minutes ago, Finzo4 said:

Hubby and I are both 50ish and we are more into a lot of things other than History tour- I wanna go do fun new things. I've whale watched before in Hawaii and would do it again in a heart beat.  As far as the other excursions - I just wanna do some MUSTs Sees and Dos

I went to Alaska with a group of friends last June. We went on NCL Bliss. Our favorite thing was the White Pass Railroad. We would do it again in a heartbeat!!

[AmberCascades]

Or get the book Alaska Ports of Call by Frommers.  One man's "must see" is another man's "not on your life".  For example, I spent a great deal of time researching whale watching tours only to find out that my husband wasn't the least bit interested in this "Must Do" that I read about on cruise critic.  LOL    It turns out that our must dos were to see glaciers and totem poles and hike.   There's a lot to see and do in Alaska.  There's no one right way to do it. 

[Northern Aurora]

Finzo4:  Please go to the Cruise Critic Alaska forum (located under "Ports of Call").  At the top of the Alaska forum index page you will find trip reports organized by year.  Read all of those reports -- even the reports on ships and cruise lines you are not considering.  They are a wealth of information.  There are descriptions of excursions, vendor information and many have a number of photos.  You will quickly find excursions which interest you and eliminate what is of no interest.  Something is a "must see" only if YOU want to see it.

 

Since you have mentioned whale watching, the two Alaska ports which offer great whale watching excursions are Icy Strait Point (Hoonah) and Juneau.

 

 

 

 

[shipshape sam]

Want to echo getting a book on Alaska from library, actually 2-3 and see what peaks your interest.  Also, the Alaskan port forum  on CC has lots of good info too. I used in on our Alaskan cruise this past August, our 4th Alaskan cruise, so whether its your first or beyond trip, there is always good info there.

 

As to specifics, the White Pass train ride in Skegway is neat for a first time excursion.  Also depending on how long you are cruising and if you are doing a north or south inside passage cruise or one that starts in Seattle and returns to Seattle will help determine when and where to do some excursions.  If you can swing it, try for a 10-12 day vacation and at a minimum have a few (if you do the north/south  inside passage cruise my recommendation if possible) land based days to tour.  If you fly into Anchorage you could take a train to Denali and back over a 3 day period, then take a train to Seward or Whittier for boarding your cruise. We did the above  thinking it was our first, last and only trip to Alaska. We have now done 4 cruises and 1 land based only trip and will go back again in a few years for another  land based only trip, I hope of 14+ days. Recent cruise from and back to Seattle was for 7 days.

 

Lots of choices with lots of decisions.   Have  GREAT time planning and then experiencing Alaska!

[kctwinmommy]

Yeah, definitely read people's trip reports! That gives you some idea of the things that are out there and what might interest you. We did mostly glacier related trips, on a boat, some hiking, and a helicopter ride onto one - which would be the one thing I would say not to miss. But everyone has their own opinion!

[ABQrobin]

The whole reason we started cruising back in 2014 was because we wanted to go to Alaska.  We decided to do a cheaper, Caribbean cruise to start with to see if we liked it.  Well, we were hooked.  Cruising is a great way to go.

 

We didn't get to Alaska for various reasons until 2016 summer, but WOW WOW WOW.  We travel a lot, I mean a lot, and it is still one of our Top 5 trips ever.  Do it.

 

Our two favorite excursions were the Juneau helicopter to Mendenhall glacier with walk on the glacier...and...the small boat tour of Tracy Arm fjord (ended up being Endicott due to iceberg issues.)  Both were stellar and both were $$$.

 

Don't let the cost of excursions deter you.  Alaska is all about getting off the ship and going into the adventure!  We loved it so much we are booked again for this summer, July 2020.  We didn't book a whale watching last time, just not enough time, so we're doing that this trip to Juneau.  We are doing the small boat fjord trip again, loved it that much.  

 

So.... my opinion... half the cost of Alaska cruise is the excursions.  But DO THEM!  

 

My video:

 

[donaldsc]

On 1/9/2020 at 9:25 AM, Finzo4 said:

Ok I've never done an Alaskan cruise only Caribbean- so I need to know the MUST SEEs?? 

Im leary and need info and who better to ask than people who have been there.

Please give any info and thanks in advance

 

 

I will bet that there are lots of books in your local library about touring Alaska.

 

DON