ALASKA Pre/Post question

[gisaacs]

This question is for anyone that has done an ALASKAN cruise, and specially, if they also know about Anchorage/Denali/Seward.

 

My girlfriend and I (we are both 29 years old) will be taking the ALASKA cruise on RCCL serenade of the seas in June. Roundtrip Vancouver itinerary. My question is the following:

 

1. Before the cruise, Is spending some days in Anchorage/Seward/Denali a good idea? Or are these places more or less the same thing as the stops the cruise will have (Skagway, Ketchikan, Juno)?

 

2. Supposing we were to decide to spend some days in these areas, which is the most "cool" one?

 

P.S.: I know that there are other itineraries that start or end in alaska, so it a lot less expensive to do one of those instead of the vancouver round trip. But, lets assume that we MUST do the vancouver round trip.

 

Thanks... Gabriel

[Happy ks]

It's kind of like taking 2 separate vacations, right? Not that it could not be done, but check out the airfare between Vancouver and Anchorage, or where ever you will be flying to. If you are taking the round trip Vancouver cruise, plan on spending a few days in Vancouver, it's a wonderful city.

 

Since I have only been on the 7 day VAN round trip, I cannot answer your specific question about these places. My suggestion would be for you to spend a few hours on the Alaska Ports of Call Board, there are some wonderful people with lots of info over there. I learned so much before our Alaska cruise from that board, it's invaluable.

[jrask]

The interior is very different than the ports on the inside passage. The topography, plants and wildlife are completely different. For instance, on the cruise your wildlife will likely be whales, dolphins, seals, otters, and bald eagles (with bears as a possibility typically only be an expensive excursion specifically for this). In Denali, a shuttle into the park will get you very close (right outside of your bus) to grizzly, caribou, Dall sheep, etc.

[42trvl]

We spent about a week in Alaska before our Southbound cruise to Vancouver, and the week "inland" and the week on the ship were like two completely different trips. We did some day trips from Anchorage, went up to Talkeetna and spent a couple of days in Seward. Included were some day cruises into college fjords and Kenai Fjords National Park - all wonderful trips and very different than anything experienced as part of the cruise. We then spent a few days in Vancouver after our cruise. While I highly advocate the time in Alaska, not sure how you could do that practically if you are doing the R/T, unless you fly between Anchorage and Vancouver before or after your cruise. At that point, it would seem to make much more sense to do a one way cruise, but I guess that depends on your specific circumstances.

[Coral]

If you want to do Anchorage/Seward/Denail - then you will want to switch your ship to one that goes one way from Seward or Whittier to Vancouver.

[Budget Queen]

I agree- if you are interested in Denali park then you NEED to look at a one way cruise. RCI has the good point of Seward, but no College Fjords or Glacier Bay- any trip will be a big compromise. :) If you want to tour both distinctly DIFFERENT areas then plan on 2 weeks. Easy to tour and highly recommended for you to go on your own with a rental car. Request each area's visitor guide. use cruise brochures as a guide for ideas, but fine tune your own planning. If you "must do" the round trip Vancouver cruise, then rethink interior Alaska. The round trip cruise packs a lot of great traveling into 7 days- so you won't be disappointed. Perhaps consider a round trip Anchorage land trip for another time?