Alaska Cruise??

[TLHB70]

Hey you Alaskan cruisers--great thread/info! We're booked for a 7-night southbound Anchorage to Vancouver on Princess next July. I'm curious about the excursions--do you recommend booking through Princess, or doing it on your own?
And any must-do's are greatly appreciated!

I highly recommend the float plane or helicopter tour over/to the ice fields and glaciers in Juneau. You can do a helicopter flight that will land on the glacier. You get to walk on the glacier! Plus you are able to fly over all of the ice fields and mountains. The view is GORGEOUS!!!!!!
If you don't want to walk on the glacier then you can just take the floatplane trip and fly over them. The aerial view will still be just as awesome!!!

Of course, whale watching is wonderful!

We went salmon fishing. We had a wonderful time. The eagles were everywhere! They flew down and grabbed fish right out of the water by the boat. We were fishing in water with eagles all around. Mountains were all around us. It was breathtaking!

 

[cybrkitn]

One thing I forgot to add were the glaciers! They were absolutely beautiful. The glaciers had a rich aqua blue color to them and right before a piece broke off, you could hear what sounded like thunder in the distance. It's a very unique experience.

During an Alaska cruise, you will most likely get to see dolphins and orca whales swimming around. DH got to see the dolphins one morning swimming next to our ship (RC Vision of the Seas) and at dinner one night we only got to see the tale of a whale.

Alaska has 6 months during the winter months where it's dark out and 6 months during the summer where it looks like dusk at night. I wasn't used to midnight looking like it was 6 or 7 pm with the sun still out. And I believe, we were told that the summer weather doesn't really hit until August. We went June 30 to July 6 or 7, and it was pretty cold for summer.

 

[lil mermaid]

I am loving the responses! Bumping up for more...

 

[TLHB70]

I have an awesome picture that shows the blue of the glacier ice.
I took this picture on our float plane trip to the glacier.

 

[kinntj]

What great information you guys provided on Alaskan cruises. I would love to go some day.

thanks for the links too as I will file them in my vacation links folder.

 

[Michigan]

We went on Princess round trip from Seattle in 2003. I loved it my kids loved it they were 5 & 13. Was going to go again in 2007 but prices are to good at Disney in Feb not to go there instead.

 

[Syrreal]

We went on Celebrity last year (on the Summit). It was an incredible trip! We spent a few days in Anchorage before taking the train down to Seward where we caught our ship.
DH and I found an all day kayak/wildlife cruise on our own and it was absolutely amazing (if anyone is interested I can give you the website). We were picked up in Seward and then the boat took us into a secluded area of Kenai Fjords NP where we got dropped off and rode the kayaks to a glacier that was so tall!! We got about 1/2 a mile away (as close as you can safely get with kayaks) and it still looked like it was towering/looming above us. We ate lunch by the glacier then eventually got picked up again by the boat. There were only 4 of us on this trip including the guide (and a guy that we had actually sat next to on the plane but hadn't spoken too- small world!). There was another group that went kayaking in a lake that was close to there but they weren't with us. Then the boat took all of us to go whale watching where we caught up with a pod of finn whales (2nd largest whales in the world). It was amazing!!!
Then we took the ship the next day and the cruise itself was amazing. We took a 7 night from Seward to Vancouver with stops in 5 diff locations. I think in Juneau we did a whale watching tour (and saw a bunch of hampbacks) that included lunch (which was yummy). DFIL and DBIL went salmon fishing, DH and I went snorkeling (so cool!), DMIL, DFIL, and DBIL went to a place that had the sled dogs. DH and I spent a lot of time at the spa.
The Summit is not as huge as other ships but it was beautiful (and I liked that it was smaller). We had a concierge cabin (highly recommend- it was NICE) and a balcony on the ocean side of the ship(where every time we looked out we saw whales). There were 5 of us in our party and didn't share a table at dinner with anyone (although some the time only DH and I would be at our table since DILs didn't feel like having big dinner or whatnot). They had 2 formal nights. The food was excellent.

 

[PigletsPal]

We are in the planing stages for a Alaskan trip next Sept on Princess Sapphire. Inside passage from vancouver to Whittier. I also use CruiseCritic, great website.