Help from you experts on choices please.

[Joie]

I know I will probably get many different answers here...but it is a start for us.

My son ( 28yrs old ) wants to see Alaska by cruising and he is taking my 15-yr old grandson with....proably in August ( maybe July)..... Now the questions are:

What ship or itinerary would be the best for a first time trip there. Not worried about the cheapest, but also don't want the most expensive. They want to see glaciers and the scenery and hopefully whales.

We have always done the Caribbean in the past....so this will be quite a change for him.

I believe he would probably want to do round-trip sailing as they would be flying from Chicago, and the alternative might be too much money and or confusing travel arrangements with all the plane changes.

But we are open to all and any info that you can help with.......and thank all who reply.

[wolfie11]

An itinerary that includes Glacier Bay is usually recommended. Otherwise, you should read up on the ports and what might appeal to you there.

 

Alaska Airlines has direct flights from Chicago to Anchorage, so the flying part of a one-way cruise shouldn't be a big problem.

[Travel-Jen]

Roundtrip out of Seattle has very rough waters, so choosing either a northbound or southbound one way itinerary may be better. This means one with Glacier Bay National Park, College Fjord, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan (most common ports but can include others). The itinerary may change a little, depending on the cruiseline you will travel. Not sure which is your favorite, but the most experienced cruiselines in Alaska are either Princess or Holland America. Can't go wrong with either.

 

One way itineraries are more common for people who want to do a pre or post cruise stay in Alaska, to see more of Alaska's interior by land. That's why we chose it. We wanted to start off in Alaska, then end up in Vancouver after our cruise (for a cheaper one way flight home).

 

If your family wants a roundtrip, rather than doing an itinerary of roundtrip out of Seattle, the roundtrip out of Vancouver with Holland America is supposed to be a great itinerary. HAL is the only one that does a roundtrip out of Vancouver, so I've read on these boards.

 

We have never been to Alaska, but have received great info. off of these boards. We are also from Illinois, suburbs outside of Chicago, and the PP was right, Alaska Airlines does have one way flights from O'hare. Non-stop one ways too! It is more expensive for one way flights, but was worth it for us since we were doing a southbound itinerary (Anchorage to Vancouver). With precruise few day stay in Alaska (Anchorage to Denali National Park / Mt. Mckinley).

 

I would start by choosing a cruiseline, then narrow down which itinerary based on what you want to see. Then once you do that, you can start researching excursions...very important part of Alaska! This trip is definitely one that requires lots of research, but again, this board is a great resource!

[dfitz]

Royal Caribbean also does roundtrip out of Vancouver. We have always been happy w/ Royal Caribbean ... it fits/suits our needs. Our 19 year old daughter traveled w/ us on RCCL recently had had a good time, wants to go again. We met some other girls her age on one of our excursions, the other girls were traveling on another ship/cruise line and said there were not many people their age (can't remember if they were on HAL or Princess). Not sure if this is normal or unusual ... I believe RCCL was rated #1 for family cruises.

 

Back to Alaska, we went RCCL, r/t out of Vancouver, inside passage ... all highly recommended by people we know and our TA ... our TA says inside passage is gorgeous. We don't go to Glacier Bay, but do go to Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier, Icy Strait Point which I hear is pretty and a great place for whale watching (we are booked w/ FISHES), Juneau we will be doing a glacier trek for some REAL close up glacier exploration, and Skagway we are undecided on our plans.

 

Good luck w/ your decision ... when I was in the beginning planning stages, from all my research and the input I got, it sounds like you can't go wrong w/ any Alaska cruise :)

~Denise

[brunolvr]

Roundtrip out of Seattle has very rough waters, so choosing either a northbound or southbound one way itinerary may be better.

 

Roundtrip out of Seattle has a "chance" of rough seas, but not always! We have cruised RT Seattle every year since 2003 (6 times with #7 booked for May 30th), and the only place we've encountered rough seas (3 times) was after leaving Ketchikan.

 

However, on our 2007 cruise, the seas were so rough on the west side of Vancouver Island that the Captain of the Pearl made the decision to go on the east side which we thoroughly enjoyed. We made sure we mentioned how much we appreciated it to the Captain when we saw him at the Captain's cocktail party. That route is more costly to the cruise lines as a Canadian pilot must be onboard while cruising in Canadian waters.

[Budget Queen]

A round trip Alaska cruise can offer a great choice. With some of the above posters not having sailed there- I'll assume the information is generated from those who have?

 

Anyway, with glaciers a priority, HAL offers an excellent itinerary with Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm. I would make a selection for this with Glacier Bay then Hubbard preference. They also may want to add a glacier excursion. Scenery is less on round trip Seattle sailings, BUT it can offer convenience with this port. Again, I would limit to HAL with Glacier Bay/Hubbard, or NCL on the Pearl. A secondary choice would be NCL Star, and the purchase of the add on Tracy Arm jet boat tour.

 

The whale priority is definately BEST suited with a tour purchased out of Juneau. These have 100% chance of humpback sightings.

 

I do not agree with "starting" by choosing a cruiseline. With your listed priorities, the itinerary is more important. Then fit in a ship that offers it.

 

Frankly, if the ship and line are important then decide if this is the case for you?? For some, it's Alaska that is the preference. In those cases, you are far better off fulfilling that rather than worrying about what ship you are on. There is no way to predict ship demographics, how many kids etc until you are there. All lines are similar.

[Budget Queen]

Roundtrip out of Seattle has a "chance" of rough seas, but not always! We have cruised RT Seattle every year since 2003 (6 times with #7 booked for May 30th), and the only place we've encountered rough seas (3 times) was after leaving Ketchikan.

 

However, on our 2007 cruise, the seas were so rough on the west side of Vancouver Island that the Captain of the Pearl made the decision to go on the east side which we thoroughly enjoyed. We made sure we mentioned how much we appreciated it to the Captain when we saw him at the Captain's cocktail party. That route is more costly to the cruise lines as a Canadian pilot must be onboard while cruising in Canadian waters.

 

However, on averages, round trip Seattle does have the roughest sailing potential, of all the Alaska routes. So it certainly is a valid statement. Add to this the least scenic sailing, also a fact of the routing.

[Travel-Jen]

Sorry, the cruiseline was important to "us", which is why "we" started there.

 

But everyone is different. For us it immediately narrowed things down, knowing little about Alaska when we started. For us, that worked best because we are particular about our cruiseline. Everyone is different.

 

We then looked at itineraries, and researched the ports, and chose the "best" with the cruiseline we wanted. We are happy with our choice.

 

It just depends on what "personally" works best for you.

 

And no, I've never been to Alaska, as many people on this board. But find people who have never been there just as helpful in ideas. Not all of us are here because we are "experts", or travel agents maybe? ;) Kidding!

 

You will have a great time no matter what you choose. There is no "black and white", right or wrong. Alaska is beautiful, and the planning should be fun!

[judyf]

This is our first time to Alaska, and from reading lots here on cc and we also wanted R/T air to Seattle as it was a much better price flying from New York, we decided on the NCL Pearl.

 

Budget Queen is a great resource of infomation. She suggestion to include Glacier Bay and NCL provides that and hits Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. We have cruised NCL before and love the freestyle, especially with Alaska port times I thought this was important also.

 

If I could have included a land tour then I would have choose something different. But that wasn't to be this trip.

 

Have fun planning, it's half the fun.