Alaska Cruise Recommendations

[dalitos]

Hello everybody,

We are now planning our 2nd cruise, this time to Alaska.

I know it's a very broad subject, but I would appreciate some general recommendations from all the experts in this board. :) We don't have a preference in regard to company at this point, so any of the ones doing AK could work (RCI, HAL, X, NCL, Princess), except I think Carnival and Regent.

I read somewhere that the best cruises are the one way ones, starting in AK and arriving to Vancouver/Seattle, or vice versa.

Favorite ports, ships, departure and arrival points, whatever! will come very in handy. :)

I already have an excel list with all the cruises for 8-9/07, and there is just too much to chose from (45+).

Thanks!! :D

[vacationfool]

We did the Seattle round trip to Alaska last year and it was great! We sailed the route thru Glacier Bay,unbelieveable scenary! The ship's free style dining was very easy to use and never crowded. The food was wonderful. We also enjoyed the entertainment on board. There is a movie theatre onboard too. We are a married couple in mid 40's and traveled in early September. It only rained one day for a few hours. The best way to dress is layered. The best item to take is Binoculars! :) There is so much to see in Alaska, and very easy to rent a car for the day if you are just wantiing to tour around, we found this much easier then the group tours. Our stops were in Ketichan, Skagway, and Juneau. We did the tram way in Juneau, the Train in Skagway, and rented a car in Ketichan. Alaska is so beautiful! We are ready to go back this year!

[Toyz711]

many people will say that the 1-ways are best. i say that it's what fits the budget and time. we ONLY had 7 days, seattle to seattle worked great. plus we got really good airfare to seattle.

i agree with above the NCL star was a great ship, the family loved it. but i would look into the NCL pearl for it's route (newer ship, better route)

try to pick something with glacier bay on the route. wonderful day for 1st timers.

[Chat Noir]

If you have time to visit interior Alaska, great, if not, there are wonderful round-trip cruise itineraries which allow you to book the less costly round-trip air.

Any pluses of a one-way cruise are offset by the more expensive and time consuming Anchorage flights, if you don't plan to tour interior Alaska, in my opinion.

Most SE Alaska ports visited by a one-way itinerary are also visited on round-trips. In addition, some of the round-trip itineraries offer Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm cruising on the same sailing... both areas are fabulous. I believe HAL offers this, and someone will correct if I'm wrong.

Personally, I don't care for Princess or RCCI Seattle (no Glacier Bay or Hubbard) round-trip itineraries for a first Alaskan cruise. Some of the other lines offer better.

If you do have time to visit interior Alaska, by all means go for it!!! It's a beautiful state!