For AK Cruisetours do you prefer south or north?

[harrypotter01]

We are going to do an AK cruisetour in summer of 2026.  It will be our first AK cruise and we haven't been on Princess in many years.  I know that we want to do a 10-day tour with 3 nights in lodges and 7 nights cruising.  Or at least that's what we have chosen for now based on our research so far.  Curious if anyone has a preference for either south or north bound.  I'm leaning towards south bound because I LOVE cruises so I like the idea of starting with the lodges and having the cruise to look forward to. But just curious if there are other perspectives that I'm not seeing yet.  Thanks!

[Rick&Jeannie]

I don't think you can go wrong with either one...

[wallyj]

I believe the southbound is more popular as many like the ideal of a cruise AFTER doing the land portion. Have been told, southbound is also usually a little more $, compared to northbound. Airfare to/from Anchorage is limited and expensive.

[Melcort10]

I went back and forth on this before booking our trip on the Discovery in 2026. I agree with the PP that you probably cannot go wrong but here was our thought process. I have two young boys who will be 7 and 10 on the time of travel so that was a big factor. We ended up doing northbound.

 

Our first thought was to do the southbound for the idea of relaxing after the land excitement, but we were worried that it would be a little bit of a let down/boring for the kids. We thought that the cruise could just build excitement for the land portion. Also, if any excursions were cancelled or had poor conditions on the cruise portion we would have the ability to hopefully do one on land, like a whale watch or the sled dog experience.

[Melcort10]

4 minutes ago, wallyj said:

Airfare to/from Anchorage is limited and expensive.

You run into this either way though with the one-ways, don't you?

 

One other thing is that if we got off the ship in Vancouver after a southbound then we would have to kill time before an evening flight back to the east coast. Not the end of the world but it felt like we could manage our time in Alaska a little bit easier.

[voljeep]

start with the lodges - yes

we've only been to alaska once - our first 'big' cruise - 7 days - Diamond P in 2007

 

If/when we go back - it will definitely be a cruisetour - at least 3 lodges - so I guess that will be 5-6 days plus the cruise. 

 

but 3 days is still a great cruise time

[WisCruiser2]

If you can swing it, look into a cruisetour with a longer land portion, depending on where your first night is, which is after your travel day. We've done cruisetours twice, once in 2002 and in 2018. The first started in Fairbanks for just overnight, then one night at Denali and two at Mt. McKinley lodge, then cruise -- wanted to get the Long travel day out of the way first, and then after the lodges being able to unpack on the ship. Second time we started in Anchorage, went to Copper River for two nights, Fairbanks for two nights (getting to both those were long bus days, but so worth it), then one night each at Denali and Mt. Mckinley, and southbound cruise again.

 

If you do a northbound you then go from Whittier to Anchorage for your flight home. Whatever you choose, have a wonderful time!

[andimark]

We have done the southbound twice, both starting in Fairbanks. We have gone in a day early and rented a car. Our flight always came in late and we stayed at a regular hotel. Since we could not check in at the Princess lodge until 4, we drove around the outskirts of Fairbanks and went to Pioneer Park. After checking in at the hotel, my husband took the car back to the airport and took the Princess shuttle back to the hotel. Hope this gives you some more ideas!

[arizonaperson]

@harrypotter01 I prefer the land tour first and then cruise southbound. I find the land tour portion, a little bit more intensive and then you can get on the ship and relax and look at scenery.

[wolfie11]

South because Hubbard Glacier.

[Elizabeth K.]

We did the northbound in 2017 with the cruise first. One comment from our group is that the scenery just kept getting better. We did the 5 day land tour with 2 night in Talkeetna, 2 nts at Denali NP , and 1 nt in Fairbanks so it didn't feel frantic at all.

[azbirdmom]

We've done two cruise tours with Princess and another two on our own.  All have been southbound.

 

• We like getting the longer plane ride out of the way at the beginning.
• We like doing the busy days first so we can relax on the ship.
• We love the long train ride from Denali to the ship in Whittier.
• We love both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay.
• We like having the shorter plane ride(s) at the end and there's lots more flight options at earlier times (we dislike the red eyes which we'd have to take from Anchorage).

 

Depending on where you are located some of this may not apply.  It's just so much more relaxing for us to do it this way and not have to kill time at the end of the cruise waiting for a late night flight.

 

[Torfamm]

I would pick the southbound cruise. The land tour is busy with packing nightly and touring all day so having the cruise afterwards is a nice way to end on a more relaxing note. We started our six night land tour in Fairbanks and it was definitely better for me to get the longer, more difficult, flight out of the way at the start of the trip. For most people, returning from Vancouver is a much shorter flight than returning from Alaska.

[Eleanor Rigby 14]

These are all interesting and helpful perspectives. For myself I would only want to choose the land portion first, followed by the cruise because we had at least 5-7 days on land to get to know the people on the bus tour with us and then when we had the 7 day cruise afterwards we knew quite a few people as we walked around the ship. It’s a really good feeling to be greeted onboard the ship at various locations as if we were part of some family reunion. DH felt the same.

[Panhandle Couple]

We just booked the northbound from Vancouver 7 days, then 7 days on land for May 2025.

BTW, we are retired, so any given day for travel is OK with us.

 

We think airline travel will be better that way.  Our flight choices get us in later in the day in Vancouver, so we plan on arriving 2 days before embarkation.   If there are delays or cancellations, we have a full day to catch up.  Plenty of hotels there if everything is on time, and we have never been to Vancouver, so a day of sightseeing is OK with us.

 

With fewer flight options (which also get in late at night) to Anchorage or Fairbanks (we haven't been to either), any delays/cancellations could have a larger impact on the whole trip. An extra day there might be harder to plan for due to fewer hotels.  We are OK with the longer flights home, similar to Hawaii or Europe return flights. 

[memoak]

We opt each year for b2b starting in Vancouver. Who wants to have to go through that tunnel and deal with Anchorage’s airport. Done the land portion years ago no need to repeat

[DougH]

The land trips require a lot of travel time, I would sure look at more days. My preference is actually a B2B cruise North and Southbound. Probably cheaper than the land portion and you can not be rushed in the ports as you will have a second visit. You will also get more glacier viewing