Alaska Cruise

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

We're thinking of going to Alaska on a cruise next summer but I am completely overwhelmed with the choices. My DD will be 17 and my DS 16 so I want a ship that would be fun for them but my DH and I want to have a good time too.

We've cruised Mexico and the Caribbean before and have been on Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival and loved each cruise but for Alaska I'm just not sure what to choose.

For those of you who have cruised Alaska before, is a roundtrip best or is a northbound or southbound better? I'd love to hear your suggestions and experiences.

Thanks!

 

[SwedishMeatball]

We did the 7 night Inside Passage cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas in August 2001. It was round trip and we departed from Vancouver. We LOVED it.

 

[of the seas]

We did the 7 night Inside Passage cruise on Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas in August 2001. It was round trip and we departed from Vancouver. We LOVED it.

That's the one I would also suggest! Radiance of the Seas is beautiful!

 

[binny]

I used to work HAL in Alaska for 2 years. If you have any questions feel free to PM me. Im partial to HAL myself but celebrity also does Alaska well. I would say the top 2 to Alaska are HAL and Princess though.


Just MTCW

 

[castleview]

We did Holland America which I wouldn't do again. I think DH and I were one of 10 people under the age of 75 on that cruise.

This part is personal preference: Having done the Inside Passage tour, I would have done a cruise that had more ports. We would have gone all the way up to Anchorage rather than just Ketchikan (which I loved), Juneau, and Sitka. That could be just me though - I like being on land.

 

[NCRedding]

We did the Radiance of the Seas to Alaska in 2003, and were underwelmed by the ship and RCCL; however, Alaska was beautiful. At that time it ran round trip from Vancouver. I think it might be a one way cruise now, not sure.

When we go back to Alaska, we want to take a one way, to go further into Alaska, and will also plan to rent a car and travel thru the state more, like to Denali.

I think I had higher expectations for the ship than I should have; we had previously only cruised DCL, and I expected that level of service, food, entertainment, etc. It just wasn't there on our trip. I also noticed by the last few days of the trip, there were tons of teens hanging around--at one point they were cursing at each other across the centrum area--not an attractive sound or sight.

 

[bekkiz]

We also did Radiance of the Seas r/t out of Vancouver in May of 2005.

We had a fantastic time. We have a full trip report with pictures that you are more than welcome to check out. It has info from our pre and post cruise time in Seattle and Vancouver, you can skip that, if you're not interested! The cruise info starts on day 3.

http://www.adamlyon.com/trips/alaska2005/

My #1 suggestion is to kayak in Ketchikan with Southeast Seas Kayaks (we booked through them, not through the ship). It was our favorite excursion--totally awesome!
http://www.kayakketchikan.com/

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We took a northbound cruise on Princess and had a blast. I don't remember the ships name right now though. We flew into Seattle and left from Vancouver.

 

[Beth76]

My #1 suggestion is to kayak in Ketchikan with Southeast Seas Kayaks (we booked through them, not through the ship). It was our favorite excursion--totally awesome!
http://www.kayakketchikan.com/

We kayaked with them also and they were excellent. A great excursion with teens, I would think.! Another must-do is a helicopter/glacier tour! Expensive but oh-so-worth-it!!!!

Count me as another for Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas (or sister ship, Serenade, she's newer). We sailed July 2003, round trip out of Vancouver, and the the cruise as a whole was simply magnificent. The Radiance is mostly glass, so almost everywhere you go you'll have stunning views of Alaska--even the elevators. They have a rock wall, indoor pool, putt putt, basketball courts. The food we had was fabulous both at the dining room and the buffet.

 

[CPM]

You should go to the Cruise Critic message boards for tons of great info. I travel a lot, but my trip to Alaska in June has been the most difficult trip I have ever planned.
I chose the Carnival Spirit Soutbound. I love the CCL cabins, IMO they are the closest to DCL cabins. Very large and comfy. I liked the POC's too. And, my son likes Camp Carnival.
We have 8 days in Alaska before the cruise. This is what I like about the Southbound, it gives you time to explore Alaska before the cruise if you want to. Flights can be a bit tricky though with the one ways, but you get to see so much more of Alaska this way.

 

[bimshire]

We sailing the Dawn Princess from San Francisco to Alaska next summer for 10 days. But we have done Alaska twice before. I would recommend that which ever cruiseline you choose, pick an itinerary that includes Glacier Bay.

 

[TiggerPiglet]

We also did the Radiance of the Seas inside passage cruise roundtrip out of Vancouver in July 2005. We had a great time and the kids loved the kids club that they had, although they are younger than your kids. They were 9 and 6 at the time. I agree with others that www.cruisecritic.com is a wealth of information when it comes to cruises

 

[TLHB70]

DH and I did a couple's only Alaskan cruise (NO KIDS!!!!!!!!!!) on HAL's Westerdam! We loved it! We, too, had done the DCL and were very happy with HAL. We did notice a wide range of ages. Fewer families with young kids were there than DCL of course. However, because HAL has 5 star rated ships the service was incredible! There was not the teenage,party type of atmosphere. I liked that.
I agree with another poster about Cruise Critics. It is a lot like the DIS but it is all about cruising. I did lots of reading and research before our cruise on those boards. There is a whole board dedicated to Alaska cruises so you will get lots of helpful information from people that love to cruise just like we DISers love Disney.

 

[m&m's mom]

We just got back at the beginning of August.
We sailed on RCCL Radiance of the Seas. There were 31 of us that ranged in age from 6 to 72 and everyone LOVED it!
I researched extensively beforehand and haunted cruisecritic.com constantly.
There were 5 girls around the ages of your kids in our party and they loved the teen disco and teen programs.
We had an unbelievable trip but there are some things I would do differently.
We went in late July - cheaper to go in late May (and they had better weather in May vs. July this year).
I would do roundtrip. We did northbound and, again, loved it but it was more expensive.
We got a suite so all of our family could have rooms on the same floor together and I have been in an inside cabin before and was fine.
The excursions are expensive in Alaska as well.
Just FYI - for the 5 of us (we took MiL) we spent around $17-18,000.00 in a week trip. You can definitely do better than that.

 

[Beth76]

Just FYI - for the 5 of us (we took MiL) we spent around $17-18,000.00 in a week trip. You can definitely do better than that.

I was thinking HOLY CRAP until I realized it was 5 of you! Our entire trip for the two of us was around $7000. So your figure seems about right. That includes airfare, extra night at a hotel, 7 night cruise, excursions. Oh and ALCOHOL!

 

[binny]

If you are doing a pre-post tour I would also recomend that you do a Southbound tour. That way you can relax on the ship.

I send lots of families on HAL it has changed a lot over the years.
The Oosterdam is my personal favourite. It does a RT Seattle.


DOnt forget your passports! You will need them!

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

THANK -YOU everyone for all of the info. I actually am a sort of regular at CruiseCritic but I wasn't sure where to post about the generic questions. I'm leaning towards RCCL Serenade of the Seas because it is round trip so airfare will be more reasonable so it is good to hear the glowing reviews of Radiance of the Seas since it is a sister ship.

Any other advice or must sees or must dos are welcome.

Again, thank you!

Elise

 

[TLHB70]

The Oosterdam is my personal favourite. It does a RT Seattle.

We loved HAL! Our ship, the Westerdam, was beautiful!!!!!!!
We sailed RT from Seattle too.
Loved it!!!!!!!!

Any other advice or must sees or must dos are welcome.

We did the float/flight plane trip over the ice fields and glaciers in Juneau. The view was breathtaking! It was the best part of our trip. I highly recommend this!!!!!!!

We went salmon fishing in Ketchikan. That was super!
Of course, we did whale watching excursions in Juneau and Sitka. That was great! We saw more whales in Sitka in case that helps any.

 

[Syrreal]

We went on Celebrity and did a southbound cruise from Seward to Vancouver. It was an amazing trip. DHs little bro was 20 and found plenty of stuff to do. The tours are nice and we hit I think 5 or 6 ports (not counting Seward and Vancouver). We did a whale watching tour and went snorkeling. DHs parents also went on a couple of other tours- a train tour and a sled dog tour. i will let you know that the tours are much more expensive than ones you'll find on Caribbean cruises. The spa on the ship was wonderful and the service all over the ship was impeccable.
If you go out of seward and want to get an AWESOME kayaking trip in before going on the cruise, PM me. We we in Seward 2 days before the ship and did a combination wildlife cruise and kayaking trip to a glacier. I don't even have words to describe it.

 

[Jynohn]

I'm surprising DH with an Alaska cruise this May to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Just hoping his military schedule will cooperate! I did a lot of research on cruise critic too and eventually decided on the Diamond Princess Gulf cruise, Vancouver to Anchorage. I'm really excited about the trip, so wanted to join your thread for more tips. I can plan a WDW vacation in my sleep, but this cruise thing has my head spinning with all the different choices