Alaska 2017

[annabug]

hi everyone!
I have begun to consider planning a cruise to Alaska. 2017. We have cruised Caribbean itineraries before on Dcl but Alaska is a new adventure

I am looking for any advice, experiences or tips for planning my trip.

Like which month is best to go?

Where do we fly into?

How far is port from airport? Overnight accommodations?

Is the wonder the only ship that sails there?

Room suggestions

Main or second dining?

Port excursions

We are traveling with my 2 children who will be 12 and 7. And my parents.
Thank you so much for any advice!!!
Annabug.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

hi everyone!
I have begun to consider planning a cruise to Alaska. 2017. We have cruised Caribbean itineraries before on Dcl but Alaska is a new adventure

I am looking for any advice, experiences or tips for planning my trip.

Like which month is best to go?

Where do we fly into?

How far is port from airport? Overnight accommodations?

Is the wonder the only ship that sails there?

Room suggestions

Main or second dining?

Port excursions

We are traveling with my 2 children who will be 12 and 7. And my parents.
Thank you so much for any advice!!!
Annabug.

"Best" month - really any month is great. Sorry, that's not very helpful.
You can fly into Vancouver, it's just across the city to the port. Or you can fly into Seattle, but then you have to figure out how to get to Vancouver.
There are hotels in the port area.
Well, the Wonder is the only Disney ship that sails there, to date.
Rooms - it really depends on what you want, inside (cheaper), verandah (balcony), Concierge (pricey). We prefer Oceanview rooms.
We do main dining, eating late just doesn't sit well with my tummy. But many others prefer late.
Excursions - again, depends on what you're interested in. We've taken the White Pass Railroad in Skagway. and loved it.

 

[Aby]

We've been on 2 DCL cruise to Alaska, and have a 3rd planned for 2016 - you will have a wonderful time!

The ship will be the Wonder, and you will fly into Vancouver. We like to stay near the port downtown, as there is easy access to shuttles to various places of interest to explore in Vancouver - on our first 2 cruises we stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront, but this time we're staying at the Pan Pacific which is attached directly to the cruise terminal! If you book a hotel through DCL, you can pay for shuttle transfer, or you can take a taxi or the Skytrain from the airport to the hotel/port. Lots of things to do in Vancouver, we like to go at least 1 full day ahead to explore.

May/September are usually cheaper, but the weather is usually colder, and due to ice you may not get as close to the glacier on Tracy Arm day. We've had great weather in August both times!

For the Alaska cruises, we love the Cat 7A rooms - the Navigator's Verandah rooms - and we like deck 7. The "enclosed" verandah gives a nice break from the cold and the wind and the aft location is awesome for getting up to the drink station quickly. Next year though, we opted to go Deck 2 aft in an oceanview room to save some $ as there was quite a jump up for the 7a verandahs this time.

For dining, we prefer second seating. For a couple of the ports, all aboard time is past or very close to main dining, and many people don't want to have to get back on board that soon to go to main dining. For us, main is just too early anyway.

We've done the All Aboard Steam Train, Neets Bay Bear Watch by Floatplane, Alaska Whales & Glacier Photo Safari, and Mountain Point Snorkelling Adventure excursions, all booked through DCL and they were all fantastic!

You have lots of time to start planning, so my best advice would be to just peruse these boards as much as possible. Read threads, search for topics on Alaska, etc, and you will find so much information. Even though our next cruise will be our 3rd to Alaska I still find that I am learning lots being on the boards as each year there have been tweaks to the dining rotations, ship activities, excursions, and by 2017, I'm sure there will have been many more changes.

Remember to keep an eye out for them to release the 2017 dates for Alaska so you can book early!

Hope this helps!

Aby

 

[sharksfinatic17]

I would recommend doing a search for Alaska trip reports and just Alaska in general. I must have read over 30 trip reports, tips on Seattle and Vancouver. I had about ten pages of notes. Ultimately through all of the reading I did, we flew into Seattle and spent two days there, took a train to Vancouver, traveled around Vancouver for three days, and then we went on the cruise. We went on three excursions all booked privately - Skagway - Chilkoot Tours - train up, lunch, dog sled, and bus down; Juneau - whale watching with Harv and Marv; and Ketchikan - float plane - with Island Wings. On our last day, we booked a day room at the Fairmont which is at the airport and then flew home late that afternoon.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

July and August are the nicest (warmest) months in AK weather wise, and are best for activities like fishing (September is late). (I'm from AK.) But when you should go really depends on what you want to do.

 

[annabug]

Thank you all for your advice!!! I spent a good part of the night reading trip reports. Which is a good thing. Because we are traveling with my parents, I now realize that this trip is a little too ambitious.
I think the stress of traveling to Canada will be too much on them.

Im moving my planning over to a carribbean on the Magic or Dream, out of Port Canaveral. Much easier for them.

Thanks again for your input!

 

[cruisehopeful]

I think the stress of traveling to Canada will be too much on them

Another option if you are still interested in doing Alaska, is to fly to Seattle, spend the night there and then take a train or a bus to the Vancouver port. In my case, it wasn't worth the effort, but many people do it that way.

There are other lines that sail out of Seattle.

 

[xlxo]

Like which month is best to go?

Where do we fly into?

How far is port from airport? Overnight accommodations?

Is the wonder the only ship that sails there?

Room suggestions

Main or second dining?

We are traveling with my 2 children who will be 12 and 7. And my parents.

Thoughts...

• Travelling to Canada shouldn't be much stressful as any other destination. Once you are on the plane..... just relax for a few hours and you can be anywhere.
• Month? May to July is dry in August. July to August is dry in Vancouver. Some like May/June to feel the Alaskan cold. August/September is best for storm chasers. I like July, however it's also premium priced. Late July has a fireworks competition in Vancouver.
• Airport to cruise terminal is 30 minutes by cab or train. Cab is $35 Canadian (USD$25) for the carload!
• Accommodations? Pan Pacific and nearby cruise terminal hotels offer best convenience. But you can find significant savings staying a few blocks away for multi-day stays to explore the bonus port.
• The Wonder is the only boat DCL boat able to fit through the Panama canal. There are other cruise lines that does the Alaskan run with significant savings without the pixie dust.
• You have a really large group.... consider two cabins. You will find savings with oceanview and inside accommodations. Love Deck 2 for the large climate control porthole.
• Most go for main dining. I love second dining.
  • extra time at the ports
  • can sample some of the local port foods before coming back
  • extra hour to sleep in on debarkation morning for breakfast. You can wait for your debarkation time comfortably in the dining room
  • great for night owls.

 

[annabug]

xlxo.thanks so much for your advice. i think if we do go it will be july, right in the middle of the summer months. If we do decide to go, we want every convenience. Staying at the Pan Pacific will be perfect. We would not be interested in exploring Vancouver at this time. Although I would love to do that another time.

As of now, we are waiting for Summer 2017 Itineraries to be released. I am hoping for something to spark my interest.

My fall back plan is an Eastern Carrib on the Fantasty.

 

[missyp]

Alaska has ruined me for every other cruise. I can't wait to do it again. You will LOVE IT!!
Best excursion for us was Float Plane in Ketchikan.
Restaurants we enjoyed- Tracy's Crab Shack- Juneau, AnnaBelles in Ketchikan, Skagway Brewing Company- All Delicious!!
After the Cruise we took Amtrak to Seattle and spent 3 days there

 

[Hundredacre]

xlxo.thanks so much for your advice. i think if we do go it will be july, right in the middle of the summer months. If we do decide to go, we want every convenience. Staying at the Pan Pacific will be perfect. We would not be interested in exploring Vancouver at this time. Although I would love to do that another time.

As of now, we are waiting for Summer 2017 Itineraries to be released. I am hoping for something to spark my interest.

My fall back plan is an Eastern Carrib on the Fantasty.

Everyone is different, but if I was traveling with older parents I would do Caribbean. We have not cruised Alaska yet but have travelled around it for a month and it was generally quite cold. Beautiful, but also a bit dreary.

 

[NancyIL]

I have cruised to Alaska in late May, early June, late July, and the middle two weeks of August. I liked the June weather the best, but there is no way to predict the weather from one year to the next. Alaska cruises are full of "seasoned citizens," so other than needing a passport - it isn't much different to fly to Vancouver than it is to fly to Orlando.

 

[pillow]

It all comes down to what you and your parents enjoy doing. We did a July, 2015 cruise with my parents and they adored it due to the scenery. We picked July as it is USUALLY the dryest/nicest month. Of course it rained the entire week! The entire trip was wonderful though, regardless of the weather! We enjoyed traveling around Canada on our own almost as much as the cruise. Here is our report. Good luck!

http://www.disboards.com/threads/pillow-family-alaska-canada-mega-trip.3430739/

Jodie

 

[courtneydisney]

We're sailing this May, and taking Allegiant Air from SFO - it flies into a smaller airport between Vancouver and Seattle called Bellingham (BLI). It's about an hour away from Vancouver, and there are shuttles to/from the airport to Vancouver.

 

[xlxo]

taking Allegiant Air from SFO

Pay close attention to Allegiant surcharges... especially on luggage.
https://www.allegiantair.com/popup/optional-services-fees

 

[jdb in AZ]

Thank you all for your advice!!! I spent a good part of the night reading trip reports. Which is a good thing. Because we are traveling with my parents, I now realize that this trip is a little too ambitious.
I think the stress of traveling to Canada will be too much on them.

Im moving my planning over to a carribbean on the Magic or Dream, out of Port Canaveral. Much easier for them.

Thanks again for your input!

Truthfully, the Caribbean with its heat and humidity are harder on the elderly than a cruise to Alaska. All the pine trees and cool weather soothe my soul. DH and I are checking into doing a 6th Alaskan cruise. We've been on 5 Caribbean cruises and it would really take an unusual itinerary to lure us back.

 

[courtneydisney]

Pay close attention to Allegiant surcharges... especially on luggage.
https://www.allegiantair.com/popup/optional-services-fees

Yeah, even though I hate the nickel and diming, I factored in their baggage fees, and they're still about $200 less than the next lowest flight, plus they fly in closer (BLI vs SEA) than the other airlines. I wish Jetblue or Virgin flew straight there, but they route SFO flights through southern California, then back up - that's crazy!

 

[Lunarias]

I didn't cruise Disney but I loved our Alaska trip! We went in May and the weather was perfect! (we beat the mosquitoes) also the sun is up much later so our lucky window seat during late dining was unbelievable! Plus we had a lot of long port days so there is no way we would have made dinner half the nights with main dining. The only bummer is that Disney does not go to Glacier Bay as that was spectacular. Excursions are great, we did lots of adventure things like hike on a glacier, dog sledding, and Zip lining..... I can't wait to go back

 

[KristiMc]

We loved our June 2015 cruise to Alaska. We were very lucky and only had rain on our Tracey Arm day. I know you said you were not interested in touring Vancouver, but I suggest that you fly in at least Saturday night/Sunday morning (cruises leave on Monday) to make sure you get there. We stayed at the Pan Pacific and Vancouver is a beautiful city. We flew into Seattle and did two one-way rentals to get to/from Vancouver. It was very easy.

 

[Rambler5678]

How close did you get to the glacier in June?