Which route is preferred?

[Mary&Jim]

Good morning everyone,

 

This is my first cruise to Alaska and I am just beginning to research our options. My first question (of many, I'm sure) is there a preferred route when cruising Alaska, ie. northbound vs. southbound? Does it matter?

 

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Mary & Jim

[sunsetbeachgal]

Mary & Jim,

 

If you are doing a land tour in conjunction with your cruise, as we did, we chose Southbound as the tour is more rigorous (up early, moving around) and the cruise at the end much more relaxing. Also the flight home is shorter!

[NancyIL]

First of all - do you have any extra time to tour interior Alaska before or after a one-way cruise? I've done 2 northbound cruises followed by an independent land trip - and I loved the "wow" factor of cruising north. If you only have time for a 7-night cruise, then I would suggest a roundtrip out of Vancouver. Holland America Zuiderdam (Sat.) and Volendam (Wed.) have an excellent itinerary, going to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, and Tracy Arm Fjord.

[JerseyJaguar]

If you are doing a land tour in conjunction with your cruise, as we did, we chose Southbound as the tour is more rigorous (up early, moving around) and the cruise at the end much more relaxing. Also the flight home is shorter!

That's why I'm doing the interior first. With all the flying and traveling and packing and unpacking and staying in less than stellar places for a night or two, I figured that it would be nicest to be able to unpack for seven days and relax on the same comfy bed every night to end things.

[Budget Queen]

I have done both directions several times, and there are pluses to both.

 

I am NOT inagreement that a land tour should be so hectic like the decriptions above, but this is a fact of many cruisetours. IF going independent, I am always a clear advocate of suggesting itineraries to avoid this type of touring in interior Alaska. My trips never have the above descriptions and my pace is about the same on both segments.

 

The plus of a soundbound cruise for me, is the daylight sailing of Inside Vancouver Island, which is sailed at night on the northbound. Compare everything, port times, day of travel etc. Then pick one. :)

[vbmom87]

We liked going NB in mid-June. We chose the HAL Volendam which is a smaller ship. To our suprise, it cruised the "small craft route" through Grenville Channel. It was amazingly scenic. We ended up not taking advantage of any of the cruise ship amenities because we wanted to be viewing the beautiful scenery. With a mid-June sailing it stayed light a long time. It has been posted that there is no guarentee an itinerary will be the same even for the same ship from one trip to another. Someone who was on the SB Volendam this past year asked the captain about going through Grenville Channel, but was told that it did not go through Grenville Channel on the SB trip, only on the NB. All I can say is that we were so pleased with this small craft route. I was a pleasant surprise.

 

I would like some clarification on traveling SB and the scenic Vancouver Island Viewing. With cruise ships arriving in port at 7:00 a.m. doesn't that mean you would have to be up in the wee hours of the morning to view Vancouver Island, or am I missing something? Sailing out of Vancouver in June we were able to see a good part of Vancouver Island in daylight. It was a great trip for us.

 

I also do not agree that the land portion will be more tiring. We found the cruise to be far more exhausting than than our independent land tour. We paced the land tour in a way we knew we could manage. Nothing I would have changed except to add an extra day to our land tour. We had nine days in Alaska and needed ten.

[ChiLee]

After reading numerous posts about this subject I decided to take a Northbound cruise followed by a do it yourself land tour. I found that there are plus and minuses to either direction. My reasons for choosing the NB direction was that the cruise cost less and more importantly, I liked the idea that the scenery gets better as we head north.

 

Since we are touring at our own pace and our own schedule, we shouldn't be subjected to any "early up" and "early on the road" situations.

[Budget Queen]

 

I would like some clarification on traveling SB and the scenic Vancouver Island Viewing. With cruise ships arriving in port at 7:00 a.m. doesn't that mean you would have to be up in the wee hours of the morning to view Vancouver Island, or am I missing something? Sailing out of Vancouver in June we were able to see a good part of Vancouver Island in daylight. It was a great trip for us.

 

.

 

Take a look at a map, there is plenty to Vancouver Island. On northbound trips, it's iffy reach Campbell River/Seymour Narrows in daylight. On southbound, it happens frequently, with several times for me, being within sight of Vancouver the night before, with the ship just stalling out and waiting for the am docking. The bonus southbound, is northern Vancouver Island , Queen Charlottes, and some ships detouring to Robson Bight- frequently Princess and HAL. This is prime northern resident pod orca viewing. I have frequently seen them from cruise ships, with arrival in this area usually afternoon. I have also seen them on some northbound sailings- always by myself, 4:30 ish am, in twilight and no ship slow down.