Any opinions on which is the best Alaska route?

[out2sea]

Keeping options and comparisons open. Any opinions on which itinerary is the best? They have a few minor differences in port. Thus, pending the route, which side of the ship is the best to be on? Any thoughts on the subject?

[negc]

If you are doing a one-way cruise which includes a land tour, there are two schools of thought. One says that since the scenery gets better as you head north, you should do a northbound itinerary and do the landtour at the end. The other school of thought is that, because the landtour can be very busy and tiring, you should do that first so that you can relax during the sea days at the beginning of the southbound itineray. They also feel that it is better getting the longer flight (to Anchorage or Fairbanks from your home airport) out of the way while you are fresh, and taking the shorter flight home from Vancouver or Seattle. If you do the one way cruise southbound, port is generally the preferred side of the ship since it faces the mainland. If you cruise north, the starboard side faces the mainland. You fly into Seattle or Vancouver and home from Anchorage or Fairbanks. Obviously if you do a round triip, both sides of the ship will face the mainland for half the trip. When the ship goes into Glacier Bay, College Fjords etc. the captain will at some point execute a 360 degree turn so the side of the ship your cabin is on will be less important.

Alaska is a fantastic place to visit and most people who have been there can't wait to return. However, it is an expensive trip so if you aren't certain that you will be able to return, and if you have the money and time required, I strongly recommend doing a one way cruise coupled with a land tour that takes you into Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks and other locations in the vast interior of this great land.:):)

[GMoney]

I just planned an AK B2B for 2007. Just a few suggestions:

 

+ You might want to post this on the AK board. It gets a little less traffic, but there are some great experts there.

 

+ I'm doing a cruisetour, and while RCI's offerings in that dept are good, they aren't great. I ended up on HAL and X. Check Princess too. Both P and HAL have been doing AK for some time and offer a good mix of ships and itineraries.

 

+ If you are thinking 2007, Radiance, Serenade and Vision are your choices.

 

+ Most people say that leaving from Vancouver offers a better experience than leaving from Seattle.

 

+ The 2 big glacier experiences are Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. RCI only visits Hubbard.

 

Research is really the key. There are so many choices and options its a bit overwhelming. Try downloading the AK brochures from the major lines' websites. Good luck!

[Ocean Boy]

 

Research is really the key. There are so many choices and options its a bit overwhelming. Try downloading the AK brochures from the major lines' websites. Good luck!

Boy do I agree with that. Every time I start thinking about doing an Alaska cruise it all starts to get very mind boggling and I end up picking up a Caribbean brochure again!

[dougp26364]

We've done the northbound and the RT out of Vancouver. This year we're doing the RT out of Seattle so that we can A. spend time in Seattle and B. Visit a couple of ports we haven't been to, Icy Straight Point and Victoria, BC. I have to say that I prefered the RT out of Vancouver over the northbound but, we didn't do a cruise tour on the northbound sailing.

 

Between the ships, I much prefer one of the Radiance class. If I'd never been on a Alaskan cruise, I'd be giving more serious consideration to one of the two ships sailing from Vancouver unless I was just wanting to spend time in Seattle. Radiance class ships just have more to them and then there's all that glass. They would be really great ships to sail Alaska on IMO.

 

As far as what cruise is best, you're likely to get a variety of answers between the Radiance and the Serenade. I doubt as many people will be as thrilled with the Vision out of Seattle.

[GMoney]

Boy do I agree with that. Every time I start thinking about doing an Alaska cruise it all starts to get very mind boggling and I end up picking up a Caribbean brochure again!

 

LOL me too! I wonder why the cruise lines don't make AK easier to figure out...

[katiel53]

We did the r/t from Seattle last year, and decided to the r/t from Vancouver next year. We also added in the re-positioning from San Francisco to Vancouver on Serenade, so we are doing a b2b.

 

Originally, we were only the Alaska cruise and it was going to be on Radiance, but the airfare from Orlando was exorbitant. We found that we could do 2 weeks for not much more than 1 week with air. We still have air to SF and home from either Vancouver and Seattle. We haven't decided on that yet.

[TITISSA]

We just came back from Alaska this week. We took The Westerdam, HAL, round trip out of Seattle. We loved Seattle and Victoria, B.C. Hubbard Glacier was awesome! Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan were somehow a disappointment. Lots of t-shirt stores and our helicopter and dog sled tour in Juneau was cancelled. Apparently the sun never shines in Juneau. In Sitka we went whale watching and saw a lot of marine life. In Ketchikan we went to the Lumberjack show and it was very funny and entertaining. Didn't do any land tour due to time and money matters. We would go back to Alaska and try different ports. Nature is just gorgeous up there. Too bad it's so far from the east coast!!!

[jander]

Sailing Tracy Arm to Sawyer Glacier.

[M.Gardener]

Keeping options and comparisons open. Any opinions on which itinerary is the best? They have a few minor differences in port. Thus, pending the route, which side of the ship is the best to be on? Any thoughts on the subject?

 

Hi out2sea,

I did the Seattle RT last year. We went north on the west side of Vancouver Island the first night and it was pretty rough. Quite a few people looked pretty green the next morning :eek: The rest of the trip was calm.

This year I'll be on the Vision RT out of Seattle, which looks like it will go west of Vancouver AND the Queen Charlotte Islands. It'll be interested to see how the seas are for that!

[cruisePRN]

we did alaska on the vision with the land tour. I did not like RCl's choice of hotels, particularly in Denali. They were up steep hills and required a shuttle to town if they could get down the hill without sliding. The hotel was comparable to a motel 8. princess hotel and their cabin night dinner show was fabulous. For the cruise only I wouldn't hesititate to use RCl but not for their land package.

[MGilly]

Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan were somehow a disappointment. ... Apparently the sun never shines in Juneau.

We sailed on Vision of the Seas from Anchorage to Vancouver and LOVED it! We didn't stop in Sitka, but we thoroughly enjoyed Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. Our excusion in Icy Strait was cancelled, and it was, at that point, a VERY new port. We stayed onboard that day, so I can't really tell you about that port. Juneau was definitely sunny and enjoyable. Too bad it was so warm that day! (We went in June, and the temperature was at least 85 degrees in each of the ports.) Ketchikan was really fun, but I think our favorite port was Skagway. Talk about rustic Alaska! It was great! Hubbard Glacier was an experience we will never forget. Truly amazing! And Misty Fjord - Wow! Alaska was my husband's choice for a cruise, and what a terrific choice it was! We'd LOVE to do it all over again!

[out2sea]

Thanks for all the info! Lots to think about...and money to be saved : )

Not my ideal vaca (too cold for me) but hubby is thrilled....thanks again...

hmmm now how to pack for 3 seasons and keep the weight under 50 lbs!

[MercedMike]

Without a doubt, the best Alaska route is one that includes Glacier Bay!

 

Unfortunately, RCI is not allowed to go there. Seems they got caught dumping gray water in Alaskan waters a few years ago, and the Federal Govt pulled their Glacier Bay permits for doing so.

 

For Alaska, I would positively recommend either Princess or HAL on a Glacier Bay itinerary.

[bluedevil72]

We have cruised NB out of Vancouver on Carnival and RT out of Seattle on NCL. We enjoyed both trips, but I have one huge suggestion. Go out of Vancouver if at all possible. The first day of sailing is awesome when you go on the east side of Vancouver Island, which is what we did out of Vancouver. The first day out of Seattle, the ship goes on the west side of Vancouver Island. There is no comparison in the amount of scenery you see. In fact the first day out of Seattle is almost like a Caribbean sea day. We saw a couple of hours of the Inside Passage and that was it.

[Barbiegator]

We cruised Princess in August for Alaska. We flew to Fairbanks a day early and were so glad as the river boat cruise was the highlight of our trip.Rode the train for 2 stops in Denali Park. Saw the 5 major animals on school bus trip in the park.

We cruised south from Sitka. Loved the glaciers that only Princess can tour.The Alaska cities on cruise are very touristy so glad we took tours out of the cities.Rained in Ketchikan and our float plane trip to Misty Fjords was cancelled.

We departed in Vancouver and stayed one extra day to do Victoria- which we really loved.

I highly recommend the land tour if you can afford it.You see more of old Alaska.