what's the best southbound for us?

[jetstorm]

My dh, dd (12) and I are looking to take a south bound Alaska cruise sometime between May30th and the end of July, 2009. I'm looking for previous cruisers to give us your recommendations for the best cruise line and the best time for us. Also, if we get a balcony, what should we look for (side of ship, etc.)?

[Budget Queen]

Overall, I have the preference for 2 glacier sailing days, so that means Princess or HAL. I do give a BIG edge to Seward, so to do my "necessary" Kenai Fjords boat tours- a must in my opinion since it is far superior to anything you see from a cruise ships and loaded with close up glacier views and varied wildlife.

 

I suggest you do your homework. Find out what ports offer you the most for your touring priorities. Read up on glacier differences, look at port times, price.

 

IF you only want your glacier viewing from your balcony AND you have a Glacier Bay/College Fjord itinerary , port side has the commentary and views combo. Do realize this is only a fraction of the viewing potential, if you want to take advantage of it? Hubbard is best viewed from the front.

[poolwife]

Sometimes the lower cruise fares in May aren’t worth it depending where you want to go for a pre-cruise inland trip. Our first trip to Alaska was May 19, 2001 and we were very disappointed when the train pulled out of Anchorage headed towards Denali. The landscape was very dry and the same up in Denali. It isn’t what we expected it to be like in Alaska. Also, like the previous poster we didn’t get to go very far into Denali. We asked many local people when the best time to come up was and they all said the second or third week of June, thus our last 2 trips to Alaska have been in June. Although, the weather in Alaska is very unpredictable we hit relatively good weather in both those other June trips. The first cruise left May 26 and the cruise itself was fine at that time. It was just because we went inland that I felt it was too early.

Maybe, it would be worth it to pay a little more for your cruise to go later (of course, if that fits your work schedule) so you can go farther into the park and see more. Also, we hardly saw any animals in Denali and I thought that was probably because of not getting to go very far into the park.

Other than that, I love cruising southbound. I like doing all of the land portion first cause you change places to stay every night or two and then not unpack for 7 days when you get on the cruise.

I think it is great you are considering cruising southbound. Try to get rooms on the port (left) side of the ship cruising southbound. You will get to see so much scenery from your room also.

If your cruise includes College Fjords be sure to Get up! early and go out on deck and enjoy the views. My husband missed most of it cause he didn’t want to get up at 6:00 a.m. He laid in bed and looked at it through the balcony windows. I wanted to get the whole dramatic effect so I didn’t just want to look off of our balcony so I got dressed and went out on the decks with my camera and looked at everything and it was so awe inspiring. I thought he really missed out by not getting up, but he did what he wanted. I was more excited about the whole Alaska experience and still am than he is. I think I could go every year and not feel bored just because of the awesomeness of the scenery.

I have done that route again taking it independently via a Prince William Sound Tour and because the boat is smaller carrying about 300 people you get much closer to the glaciers, etc. and it is a much more intimate tour than the one through the cruise ship, but you will still enjoy it through the cruise ship being it will be your first time seeing the glaciers in all their glory.

If you have time to include the Kenai Peninsula and driving to Homer and Seward, they are both so picturesque. If your group likes to fish, Halibut fishing is great out of Homer.

The Kenai Fjords boat tours are very scenic out of Seward and you see quite abit of wildlife on them also.

My two Alaska cruises were on Holland America and Celebrity. We enjoyed both. The HAL ship was smaller being the Ryndam and got a little closer to the glaciers. But, the Princess ships are also very nice cruise experiences. The Princess ships depart from Whittier and Celebrity and HAL sail out of Seward. Don't be swayed by not going to Seward over Whittier because it is a longer journey. The scenery is beautiful all the way and the 3 hours will pass in no time. We have only done the Anchorage to Seward route via the highway but people say the train route is even more scenic than the highway. Perhaps, you can rent a mini-van for your family (will need that for you and all the luggage) and drive to Seward and the Kenai Peninsula then return the car to Anchorage then when wanting to embark on the cruise ship go via the train.

The above is my two cents only.

[jetstorm]

Thanks to you both for such helpful information. You've given me loads to think about. I especially thank you for informing me of the better routes and when to go. I'm now thinking of the middle of June. My dh won't be able to take off work long enough to take a land tour before or after the cruise so I guess it will have to be a 7 nt. cruise. If you have any further info. cruises in June or excursions such as the fishing and the boat to see the Kenai Fjords, please let me know. Do you book independently or through the cruise line?

I used to go on vacations and think I saw everything and then come home and find out I missed the best things and now with all the help you wonderful and insightful people give me, I am much more prepared before I leave home. Thanks to all those on Cruise Critic who give of their time to help fellow travelers.

[CaribQween]

Sometimes the lower cruise fares in May aren’t worth it depending where you want to go for a pre-cruise inland trip. Our first trip to Alaska was May 19, 2001 and we were very disappointed when the train pulled out of Anchorage headed towards Denali. The landscape was very dry and the same up in Denali. It isn’t what we expected it to be like in Alaska. Also, like the previous poster we didn’t get to go very far into Denali. We asked many local people when the best time to come up was and they all said the second or third week of June, thus our last 2 trips to Alaska have been in June. Although, the weather in Alaska is very unpredictable we hit relatively good weather in both those other June trips. The first cruise left May 26 and the cruise itself was fine at that time. It was just because we went inland that I felt it was too early.

 

Maybe, it would be worth it to pay a little more for your cruise to go later (of course, if that fits your work schedule) so you can go farther into the park and see more. Also, we hardly saw any animals in Denali and I thought that was probably because of not getting to go very far into the park.

 

Other than that, I love cruising southbound. I like doing all of the land portion first cause you change places to stay every night or two and then not unpack for 7 days when you get on the cruise.

 

I think it is great you are considering cruising southbound. Try to get rooms on the port (left) side of the ship cruising southbound. You will get to see so much scenery from your room also.

 

If your cruise includes College Fjords be sure to Get up! early and go out on deck and enjoy the views. My husband missed most of it cause he didn’t want to get up at 6:00 a.m. He laid in bed and looked at it through the balcony windows. I wanted to get the whole dramatic effect so I didn’t just want to look off of our balcony so I got dressed and went out on the decks with my camera and looked at everything and it was so awe inspiring. I thought he really missed out by not getting up, but he did what he wanted. I was more excited about the whole Alaska experience and still am than he is. I think I could go every year and not feel bored just because of the awesomeness of the scenery.

 

I have done that route again taking it independently via a Prince William Sound Tour and because the boat is smaller carrying about 300 people you get much closer to the glaciers, etc. and it is a much more intimate tour than the one through the cruise ship, but you will still enjoy it through the cruise ship being it will be your first time seeing the glaciers in all their glory.

 

If you have time to include the Kenai Peninsula and driving to Homer and Seward, they are both so picturesque. If your group likes to fish, Halibut fishing is great out of Homer.

The Kenai Fjords boat tours are very scenic out of Seward and you see quite abit of wildlife on them also.

 

My two Alaska cruises were on Holland America and Celebrity. We enjoyed both. The HAL ship was smaller being the Ryndam and got a little closer to the glaciers. But, the Princess ships are also very nice cruise experiences. The Princess ships depart from Whittier and Celebrity and HAL sail out of Seward. Don't be swayed by not going to Seward over Whittier because it is a longer journey. The scenery is beautiful all the way and the 3 hours will pass in no time. We have only done the Anchorage to Seward route via the highway but people say the train route is even more scenic than the highway. Perhaps, you can rent a mini-van for your family (will need that for you and all the luggage) and drive to Seward and the Kenai Peninsula then return the car to Anchorage then when wanting to embark on the cruise ship go via the train.

 

The above is my two cents only.

 

We are planning a southbound one-way for 2010. We are planning on doing an independent land portion prior to the cruise that would include at a minimum Whittier, Seward and Denali. We have some very certain things that we would like to do, but obviously we can't make any concrete plans yet since most of the Alaska schedules for 2010 are not even out yet. And of course when we put ideas out and we get replies, we often end up making changes because we might find that something isn't feasible or something else might be better for certain reasons we hadn't thought of.

 

The things we definitely want to do (without making this too long) are the Prince William Sound Wilderness Explorer Glacier Cruise in Whittier which is a 6 hour, 100 mile boat trip that is highly recommended. In Seward, we are planning a boat trip into Kenai Fjords National Park for a lot of marine wildlife viewing (hopefully) as well as glacier viewing. We would also like to make some stops such as Exit Glacier and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Stopping along the arm and at Portage Glacier visitor Center have been highly recommended also. We will definitely spend a minimum of 2 days at Denali. Experienced Alaska cruisers of course recommend taking the Denali shuttle that goes at least to Eielson which is 66 miles into the park. They have also warned against taking the Natural History Tour which is offered by some of the cruiselines (if any of this looks familiar to you, both Budget Qween and Poolwife, I have posts from both of you saved in my Alaska research folder:D. Hope you don't mind but when I see good ideas, I save them). I can't think of the name of the Denali tour that is recommended though (any help there would be appreciated for other readers).

 

For the cruise portion, we are still trying to decide between an itinerary that includes 2 glacier sailing days and 3 ports or 1 glacier sailing day with 4 ports. If we take the 2 glacier itinerary it will include Glacier Bay and College Fjord with most likely Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. If we take the 1 glacier itinerary it will probably include Hubbard Glacier and will add on Icy Strait Point to the 3 ports listed above. There is one 2 glacier itinerary that has Haines with Juneau and Ketchikan and there are also a couple of 1 glacier itineraries that have Sitka instead of Icy Strait Point, but the port times are not the best, by far. Some have only 6 hours in Ketchikan with okay port times for the rest and others have 8 hours in Ketchikan but only 6 hours in both Sitka and Juneau. With other itineraries out there that have at least 9 hours in all ports and some with 13 or 16 hours for Juneau, we can't rationalize taking one with shorter port times unless there is something we're not thinking of (which is why we post our ideas on here :)).

 

Budget Qween, if you don't mind, please tell us why you prefer the itineraries with 2 glacier sailing days and would it be as important to you with the land portion we are considering. We really do value your opinion because of all of your experience and we know you'll be brutally honest with us and we appreciate that :)). We very much appreciate everyone else's opinions too.

[Budget Queen]

Thanks to you both for such helpful information. You've given me loads to think about. I especially thank you for informing me of the better routes and when to go. I'm now thinking of the middle of June. My dh won't be able to take off work long enough to take a land tour before or after the cruise so I guess it will have to be a 7 nt. cruise. If you have any further info. cruises in June or excursions such as the fishing and the boat to see the Kenai Fjords, please let me know. Do you book independently or through the cruise line?

I used to go on vacations and think I saw everything and then come home and find out I missed the best things and now with all the help you wonderful and insightful people give me, I am much more prepared before I leave home. Thanks to all those on Cruise Critic who give of their time to help fellow travelers.

 

IF you do not have any time for any interior Alaska traveling, then from mid May on is fine, in my opinion. At the least, you can include a Kenai fjords boat tour, if sailing from Seward, or a Prince William Sound boat tour if sailing from Whittier.

Since you won't have the time for Denali Park anyway, this timeframe can work out well, with cost savings.

 

I book everything independently and direct with the vendor's. Verify with fishing charters, what the fishing is like, in your timeframes.

[Budget Queen]

We are planning a southbound one-way for 2010. We are planning on doing an independent land portion prior to the cruise that would include at a minimum Whittier, Seward and Denali. We have some very certain things that we would like to do, but obviously we can't make any concrete plans yet since most of the Alaska schedules for 2010 are not even out yet. And of course when we put ideas out and we get replies, we often end up making changes because we might find that something isn't feasible or something else might be better for certain reasons we hadn't thought of.

 

The things we definitely want to do (without making this too long) are the Prince William Sound Wilderness Explorer Glacier Cruise in Whittier which is a 6 hour, 100 mile boat trip that is highly recommended. In Seward, we are planning a boat trip into Kenai Fjords National Park for a lot of marine wildlife viewing (hopefully) as well as glacier viewing. We would also like to make some stops such as Exit Glacier and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Stopping along the arm and at Portage Glacier visitor Center have been highly recommended also. We will definitely spend a minimum of 2 days at Denali. Experienced Alaska cruisers of course recommend taking the Denali shuttle that goes at least to Eielson which is 66 miles into the park. They have also warned against taking the Natural History Tour which is offered by some of the cruiselines (if any of this looks familiar to you, both Budget Qween and Poolwife, I have posts from both of you saved in my Alaska research folder:D. Hope you don't mind but when I see good ideas, I save them). I can't think of the name of the Denali tour that is recommended though (any help there would be appreciated for other readers).

 

For the cruise portion, we are still trying to decide between an itinerary that includes 2 glacier sailing days and 3 ports or 1 glacier sailing day with 4 ports. If we take the 2 glacier itinerary it will include Glacier Bay and College Fjord with most likely Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. If we take the 1 glacier itinerary it will probably include Hubbard Glacier and will add on Icy Strait Point to the 3 ports listed above. There is one 2 glacier itinerary that has Haines with Juneau and Ketchikan and there are also a couple of 1 glacier itineraries that have Sitka instead of Icy Strait Point, but the port times are not the best, by far. Some have only 6 hours in Ketchikan with okay port times for the rest and others have 8 hours in Ketchikan but only 6 hours in both Sitka and Juneau. With other itineraries out there that have at least 9 hours in all ports and some with 13 or 16 hours for Juneau, we can't rationalize taking one with shorter port times unless there is something we're not thinking of (which is why we post our ideas on here :)).

 

Budget Qween, if you don't mind, please tell us why you prefer the itineraries with 2 glacier sailing days and would it be as important to you with the land portion we are considering. We really do value your opinion because of all of your experience and we know you'll be brutally honest with us and we appreciate that :)). We very much appreciate everyone else's opinions too.

 

 

For first timers, 2 glacier days can be a better opportunity for them to experience a range of glaciers. Certainly 4 ports can offer plenty as well. With your plans of including the Esther Passage glacier tour out of Whittier, it probably would be less important for you to give a priority to Glacier Bay and College Fjords? 4 ports may be more of your interest? I am impressed with Carnival in Alaska and definately recommend them with their itinerary of 4 ports. :)

 

So you are headed in the direction of a fantastic Alaska visit, because you are doing your homework. It will pay off many times over. :)

[jetstorm]

Budget Queen,

Thanks for the info. You are highly regarded when it comes to Alaska cruises so I know you'll steer me straight. I really appreciate the help.

[Budget Queen]

Budget Queen,

Thanks for the info. You are highly regarded when it comes to Alaska cruises so I know you'll steer me straight. I really appreciate the help.

 

Thank you for your kind words. :)

[CaribQween]

Budget Queen,

Thanks for the info. You are highly regarded when it comes to Alaska cruises so I know you'll steer me straight. I really appreciate the help.

 

Budget Queen is very highly regarded. Its so apparent that she has a very dear and extra special love for Alaska and she wants to share that with everyone else. If she tells you that you're doing something that doesn't make sense, don't take it the wrong way, go back and look at it all again. She just doesn't want you to be disappointed in the end. And she has done it all so many times and learned her lessons along the way and she's willing to let everyone benefit from it without having to learn it the hard way for themselves. You have no idea how many times we've changed our plans for an Alaskan cruise that is still 1 1/2 years away. I know whatever you choose, you'll have a great cruise.