First time to Alaska 2010

[medic526]

Never been to Alaska-looking for advice on cruisetours and ships:)

[sweetcruiser106]

Try checking the Alaska board in the ports of call section. They will provide you with lots of useful information on tours and some on the ships that sail there. Hope this helps.

Anne:)

[NorbertsNiece]

We're booked on Radiance of the Seas 2010 on a cruisetour that still doesn't appear on the website. Don't know when all the itineraries will be loaded up. Very excited about it though. From what I've read I've decided to do the land tour part first then the 7 day cruise.

[lesnpatty]

We were on the Radiance last year for the 14 day ultimate crusie. It was a repositioning crusie so we got to see AK and the pacific coast. The ship is not new, but it is beaultiful and has so much glass you have a view from anywhere. I know we didn't do a land tour but seeing the west coast especially San Fran and San Diego mad for a beautiful crusie. We did a float plane and bear watching excursion in Ketchican that was awesome. We got rained out of our helicopter excusion to the glaciers, so now we have a resaon to go back :) The Crown Grill was great as was Portifino's. The crew was much more friendly than the last Princess cruise we took.

[CruiseQueenie]

You will LOVE Alaska - I am a Caribbean girl so when my husband wanted to book Alaska I was soooooo against it because I hate the cold. Very pleasantly surprised. 72-74 everyday. Still wore shorts and tshirts. Tours were fabulous. We did the whale watch tour, the sled dog tour, the train tour - we even missed out on seeing any of Juneau because we had back to back tours.

Enjoy!!!!!

[beachnative]

The Alaska board gave us all the information we needed for us to have a fantastic cruise.

 

What we like the best:

 

We did a "one way" cruise from Vancouver to Whittier (Princess) (Seward if RCCL). Had we not done so we would have missed some of the best scenery of the trip. If you can book on a cruise line that goes to "College Fjord" you will be booking the absolutely best trip for viewing glaciers; we also went into Glacier Bay and watched glaciers. Research that before you book.

 

In Juneau we booked a private dogsled ride using Coastal Helicopters. This was one of the all time best things we've done on ANY vacation!!!!!!! It's expensive but worth every dollar. When we returned to the ship we discovered that the ship's dogsled tours had been canceled due to weather...ours went further inland and the weather was perfect.

 

Book a cabin on the starboard side if doing a one way going north. If using the line that docks in Whittier, book a cabin on the Caribe deck...the balconies are as large as aft balconies.

[Budget Queen]

Defiately go to the Alaska board. With any cruisetour, be CERTAIN to do your homework. There are way too many factors that most people just do not realize, and when they find out, it's not what they want, and may be too late to change. Book the right cruisetour to begin with. Some basic points- go for as long as you can afford. ONLY get a cruisetour with the Tundra Wilderness tour, NEVER anything else. Be willing to "ditch" the cruisetour on south bound trips in Anchorage and pay for an book yourself on the Alaska RR so to get into Seward earlier enough for touring. Cruisetours- are poor choices for Seward overall, and it's a top touring area. Don't miss it. :)

 

If you are open to it. It is far superior and simple to go on your own. Fixed point to point touring via cruisetour is the most costly seeing the least. Budget 50% more than you would at home for meals.