Alaska - help me decide

[xlxo]

For Juneau, Disney has a free shuttle bus that runs from the dock to the start of town--where you can find all the private tour kiosks, the start of the shopping district, and the Mt Roberts tramway. The free shuttle buses ran about every 10-15 minutes. There was a covered area to wait for the shuttle bus back to the ship, so you don't need to wait out in the rain.

Either it was not available or I missed that announcement on my 2014 trip. I had an excursion bus pick me up at AJ and then thumbed a ride on another tour bus headed to AJ.

When and where do you see the characters dressed in their Alaska outfits?

Tip.... if you don't see the characters in Tracy Arm on Deck 9.... check out Deck 4! On my rainy trip... I heard later most photos were done on Deck 4 as it was dryer, while I was looking for them on Deck 9.

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

I don't think ship side matters either but that's always just my opinion. We did 2 great excursions with our 8 yo and one just so so but I also agree with the person who wrote to read trip reports. I think that is what helped me the most. My 8 yo was only interested in seeing a moose and that is extremely hard to find in southern Alaska. But we were very fortunate to see not only a moose but a mom and 2 babies in Haines (an excursion from Skagway). I wrote a trip report about all of it on here.

I will have to find your TR. DS8 is most excited about animals but fortunately the bald eagle is his #1. He will be excited about more too.
Good to hear about ship side not mattering. I want starboard but I'm not sure why...

Thank you everyone. Great tips all around and I'm so excited about the characters in Alaska outfits so we will look for them Tracy Arm day. I will definitely be reading more trip reports. DH is "on board" for Alaska. Now just waiting until the 2018 dates come out.

New questions:
1. I've read that a verandah is a great thing in Alaska and DH is interested in that. On my cruise with my friend in the Bahamas I went out on the verandah mostly just because we had it but we were generally so busy we would have been fine without it. I do think with the kids (youngest will be 3) it would be nice to be able to step out while they sleep/nap.
If you had a verandah, did you use it or feel it was wasted?
If you did not have one, did you feel you missed out?
2. Fly into Seattle and ride Amtrak to Vancouver? Or fly straight into Vancouver? I want to see it all so I'd love to spend a couple days in both Seattle and Vancouver plus we usually use SW and have lots of points to go through Seattle, but would that be too chaotic? If you have gone trough Seattle please share your experiences.

Thank you all!!

 

[Jess_S]

I echo what other posters said about being able to easily avoid the tourist traps with a little planning or effort. When we did Alaska, my son was too small for many excursions, so we bought a book on the ports and mainly did DIY tours. Even in Ketchikan, which another poster felt was touristy, we walked a little ways to the Totem Heritage Center and were pretty much the only people there.

We did not have a balcony for our trip and did not miss it. We had one of the rooms with a big window and I think I actually preferred it to a balcony because we got to see the view while staying nice and toasty. When we wanted to be outside, we were always able to find quiet places to hang out on deck, even on Tracey Arm day. Generally, just figure out where the activities are and pick someplace else if you want fewer folks around.

I did actually fly into Seattle and travel up to Vancouver for a cruise as a kid, but it was too long ago for my experience to be relevant. Having traveled to both Seattle and Vancouver, I think they are both amazing cities that deserve a few days each. Whether I would combine them would depend upon the amount of time I had for my pre-trip. If you would like to feel better about skipping Seattle, my husband and I felt that Seattle and Vancouver had a similar vibe.

 

[cruisehopeful]

If you did not have one, did you feel you missed out?

I did this cruise twice and both times just had an ocean view room. I was extremely happy and would not pay out that kind of money for a verandah in the future. I had a great window on deck 2 both times and I spent lots of time out on decks 4 and 9. I do not think I would have used my balcony enough to pay for it. I don't hang out in my room much and I like to move around the ship.

2. Fly into Seattle and ride Amtrak to Vancouver? Or fly straight into Vancouver? I want to see it all so I'd love to spend a couple days in both Seattle and Vancouver plus we usually use SW and have lots of points to go through Seattle, but would that be too chaotic? If you have gone trough Seattle please share your experiences

I flew direct both times. My first cruise was round trip from Seattle (I think DCL only did that for one year). The second cruise was round trip from Vancouver and I flew. If I go again, I would seriously consider taking a train from Seattle. Seattle is great and the scenery must be absolutely breathtaking from the train between Seattle and Vancouver B.C. I loved Vancouver, too. I agree with above poster that you could spend a couple days in each city. I don't like to be gone that long from my home and business, so I probably wouldn't do a complete trip seeing both, but if you can spare the time, do it.

 

[Geomom]

I will have to find your TR. DS8 is most excited about animals but fortunately the bald eagle is his #1. He will be excited about more too.
Good to hear about ship side not mattering. I want starboard but I'm not sure why...

Thank you everyone. Great tips all around and I'm so excited about the characters in Alaska outfits so we will look for them Tracy Arm day. I will definitely be reading more trip reports. DH is "on board" for Alaska. Now just waiting until the 2018 dates come out.

New questions:
1. I've read that a verandah is a great thing in Alaska and DH is interested in that. On my cruise with my friend in the Bahamas I went out on the verandah mostly just because we had it but we were generally so busy we would have been fine without it. I do think with the kids (youngest will be 3) it would be nice to be able to step out while they sleep/nap.
If you had a verandah, did you use it or feel it was wasted?
If you did not have one, did you feel you missed out?
2. Fly into Seattle and ride Amtrak to Vancouver? Or fly straight into Vancouver? I want to see it all so I'd love to spend a couple days in both Seattle and Vancouver plus we usually use SW and have lots of points to go through Seattle, but would that be too chaotic? If you have gone trough Seattle please share your experiences.

Thank you all!!

1. If you only want 1 room for your family of 5, on the Wonder, the family verandah is the only one that will fit you (or concierge rooms). If you're willing to do 2 connecting rooms (with an adult listed in each room), you could do 2 oceanview rooms. Some will say that insides are fine, but I needed to have a window! We loved our deck 2 (right at the aft elevators) oceanview with the big window. Our cruise was very cloudy/rainy/cool so even if we had a verandah, we wouldn't have used it much. It was no trouble for us to walk up 2 flights to deck 4 and walk around outside there, or hop up the elevator to deck 9. Alaskan cruises place a premium on verandahs, our cruise for 4 cost $6200, a verandah would have cost us $9300--not worth an extra $3,000 to us!
2. Depends on where you're coming from. Check out prices, time lost travelling from Seattle to Vancouver, if you'll need a hotel in Seattle as well, etc. For us, we flew from Boston and it was easier and cheaper to fly straight to Vancouver (with a change of planes in Toronto)...although we definitely missed flying Southwest for many many reasons! We wanted to have 2 full days to explore Vancouver before the cruise as we had never been there before and there is so much to see and do!

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

1. If you only want 1 room for your family of 5, on the Wonder, the family verandah is the only one that will fit you (or concierge rooms). If you're willing to do 2 connecting rooms (with an adult listed in each room), you could do 2 oceanview rooms. Some will say that insides are fine, but I needed to have a window! We loved our deck 2 (right at the aft elevators) oceanview with the big window. Our cruise was very cloudy/rainy/cool so even if we had a verandah, we wouldn't have used it much. It was no trouble for us to walk up 2 flights to deck 4 and walk around outside there, or hop up the elevator to deck 9. Alaskan cruises place a premium on verandahs, our cruise for 4 cost $6200, a verandah would have cost us $9300--not worth an extra $3,000 to us!
2. Depends on where you're coming from. Check out prices, time lost travelling from Seattle to Vancouver, if you'll need a hotel in Seattle as well, etc. For us, we flew from Boston and it was easier and cheaper to fly straight to Vancouver (with a change of planes in Toronto)...although we definitely missed flying Southwest for many many reasons! We wanted to have 2 full days to explore Vancouver before the cruise as we had never been there before and there is so much to see and do!

Very good point about the cabins and family size. If my mom does not go we will get one cabin with a verandah I suppose or maybe two porthole cabins. If my mom goes, and currently I am assuming she is going we would definitely have two cabins and that is where verandah pricing starts to scare me. From estimating on 2017 prices 1 large cabin is cheaper than two smaller verandah cabins for 6 but that isn't a fair comparison...
I loved having a verandah but I didn't feel it was worth the cost for me. I love the idea but the cost is considerable.

As for Seattle, I love the idea, but I love long trips seeing lots of things. Growing up we did lots of road trips two weeks at a time and once did two weeks on Amtrak from the Mississippi to Seattle and so much in between. But DH is more interested in the destination than the journey and I can see lots of transfers bothering him... he and I will have to talk about options. We want to spend a few days in Vancouver for sure (total of two weeks out of work for this trip), I guess Seattle would have to come from somewhere in time and budget.

 

[gotomu212]

If money was no object I would have loved a verandah because we really did spend a TON of time on deck (Tracy Arm day we spent 6 straight hours on deck 9). That being said given the cost of excursions we needed to make some trade offs and I was much happier with higher end excursions and an ocean view.

Not to keep beating that drum but we spent at least $1k each port day for a family of 3 (you can do it much cheaper but we wanted the really wow factor excursions). So for us we needed to save the verandah money for increased excursion budget.

 

[havoc315]

I booked a place holder on my first cruise and we are looking at going June 2018 (my family of 5 and possibly my parents). My oldest loves animals and nature and I have always dreamed of an Alaskan cruise.
My question was going to be :
1. port or starboard side? We have limited experience and mom and I think opposite sides.
2. and any suggestions for excursions that are good for all ages (3, 6, 9, and adults) and doable for a "pooh" sized man?

Then we talked to family that did a RC Alaskan this summer and hated it. They felt the ports were fake and overall would not do it again or recommend it. They have previously enjoyed warm weather cruises on a few different lines and loved DCL, but their complaints were vague and not about RC, more about the destinations. They did love the White Pass train. So now I'm wanting other opinions on Alaskan cruises... I've read a few trip reports and it seems amazing!
If you have negatives I do want to hear it, but mostly I'm hoping to be reassured that we'd love it.

Don't stick to the ports!! There are true wonders to see in Alaska.... but the ports are nothing but lumberjack shows and tourist shops.

For Skagway, I highly highly highly recommend a private tour of the Yukon.... "Beyond Skagway" was fantastic. A private tour guide and vehicle, customizing a tour to the interests of you and your family.
http://www.beyondskagwaytours.com/

Road through the Rain in the Yukon by Adam Brown, on Flickr

alaska-875.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr



Unlike riding the railroad.... if you see a bear or something interesting, you can stop, walk around.


For other ports, I would suggest a whale watch. Can book through DCL or on your own. We loved doing a Float plane over Ketchikan, but not sure that's workable with young children and a pooh sized adult.

Alaska-127.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Alaska-152.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Alaska excursions are a chance for real adventure... don't waste it wandering around the ports.

 

[havoc315]

We LOVED Alaska. That said there was some big time sticker shock when we looked at excursions. We knew we really wanted to get out of the ports and explore so we did a lot of research and booked thing privately (we typically go through Disney for excursions) and that helped. We talked to a lot of people that skipped excursions due to the price and they really did not like the ports and had a negative experience.

I think Alaska is one destination where you really want a plan instead of a more laid back walk around the port and just poke into shops. My only advise is to factor in excursion prices in your budget (and you can get an idea of types and costs through disneys port adventures on the website and then compare with private companies in trip reports).

This. If you are spending the price for an Alaska cruise, excursions are not the place to save money. It's not like going to the Caribbean where you just want to wander off the ship, his a jewelry store and take a bus to the beach.
If you spend $5,000-$15,000 on an Alaska cruise (including airfare, etc), you can't expect excursions to just be $20 per person. Realistically, if you are going to experience excursions that make you appreciate Alaska, you likely need to be prepared to spend $500-$1000 per person, between the 3 ports. (And you can easily spend more).

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Don't stick to the ports!! There are true wonders to see in Alaska.... but the ports are nothing but lumberjack shows and tourist shops.

For Skagway, I highly highly highly recommend a private tour of the Yukon.... "Beyond Skagway" was fantastic. A private tour guide and vehicle, customizing a tour to the interests of you and your family.
http://www.beyondskagwaytours.com/

Road through the Rain in the Yukon by Adam Brown, on Flickr

alaska-875.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr



Unlike riding the railroad.... if you see a bear or something interesting, you can stop, walk around.


For other ports, I would suggest a whale watch. Can book through DCL or on your own. We loved doing a Float plane over Ketchikan, but not sure that's workable with young children and a pooh sized adult.

Alaska-127.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Alaska-152.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

Alaska excursions are a chance for real adventure... don't waste it wandering around the ports.

Thanks! Your photos are beautiful. We are definitely excited to see unique things as long as we can all do it. I like your Skagway suggestion but my youngest absolutely loves trains. If we do the private excursion I guess we'd need to fly into Seattle and take Amtrak to Vancouver ;-)

 

[havoc315]

Thanks! Your photos are beautiful. We are definitely excited to see unique things as long as we can all do it. I like your Skagway suggestion but my youngest absolutely loves trains. If we do the private excursion I guess we'd need to fly into Seattle and take Amtrak to Vancouver ;-)

Take a look at beyond Skagway. They run a tour where you do the train one way.

 

[TestingH2O]

For Skagway, I highly highly highly recommend a private tour of the Yukon.... "Beyond Skagway" was fantastic. A private tour guide and vehicle, customizing a tour to the interests of you and your family.

Thanks for the suggestion! We've been trying to decide what to do in Skagway but the gold rush fields seemed awfully touristy. Trip Advisor reviews are great!

The ship is scheduled to dock at 7:15, are they pretty good about adjusting to cruise schedules?

 

[havoc315]

Thanks for the suggestion! We've been trying to decide what to do in Skagway but the gold rush fields seemed awfully touristy. Trip Advisor reviews are great!

The ship is scheduled to dock at 7:15, are they pretty good about adjusting to cruise schedules?

They are a family outfit, and totally customize to your needs. I emailed back and forth for months, fine tuning our planned tour, asking questions about lunch, etc.
There is a reason they get such universally strong reviews. We had the absolute worst weather you can imagine, and still had a great tour with them.

You have a difficult situation with the ages of your kids -- Too young for many of the more adventurous activities, but you really don't want to be stuck doing cheap stuff in port. Now, everything is "touristy" --- But some of the stuff is, "this is WHY we came to Alaska tourism."

 

[amberwc]

Very good point about the cabins and family size. If my mom does not go we will get one cabin with a verandah I suppose or maybe two porthole cabins. If my mom goes, and currently I am assuming she is going we would definitely have two cabins and that is where verandah pricing starts to scare me. From estimating on 2017 prices 1 large cabin is cheaper than two smaller verandah cabins for 6 but that isn't a fair comparison...
I loved having a verandah but I didn't feel it was worth the cost for me. I love the idea but the cost is considerable.

As for Seattle, I love the idea, but I love long trips seeing lots of things. Growing up we did lots of road trips two weeks at a time and once did two weeks on Amtrak from the Mississippi to Seattle and so much in between. But DH is more interested in the destination than the journey and I can see lots of transfers bothering him... he and I will have to talk about options. We want to spend a few days in Vancouver for sure (total of two weeks out of work for this trip), I guess Seattle would have to come from somewhere in time and budget.

We went to Alaska in June 2016 and we were surprised how expensive everything in Vancouver was. If I had it to do over, I would have flown into Seattle and taken the train--the kids would have loved it.

 

[tnshsms]

I will have to find your TR. DS8 is most excited about animals but fortunately the bald eagle is his #1. He will be excited about more too.
Good to hear about ship side not mattering. I want starboard but I'm not sure why...

Thank you everyone. Great tips all around and I'm so excited about the characters in Alaska outfits so we will look for them Tracy Arm day. I will definitely be reading more trip reports. DH is "on board" for Alaska. Now just waiting until the 2018 dates come out.

New questions:
1. I've read that a verandah is a great thing in Alaska and DH is interested in that. On my cruise with my friend in the Bahamas I went out on the verandah mostly just because we had it but we were generally so busy we would have been fine without it. I do think with the kids (youngest will be 3) it would be nice to be able to step out while they sleep/nap.
If you had a verandah, did you use it or feel it was wasted?
If you did not have one, did you feel you missed out?
2. Fly into Seattle and ride Amtrak to Vancouver? Or fly straight into Vancouver? I want to see it all so I'd love to spend a couple days in both Seattle and Vancouver plus we usually use SW and have lots of points to go through Seattle, but would that be too chaotic? If you have gone trough Seattle please share your experiences.

Thank you all!!

Here is my trip report. http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...ise-in-all-carry-on-luggage-may-2016.3515261/

1. We had a navigator's veranda. It was cheaper and it was very nice for it to be more enclosed because of the wind on Tracey Arm day. I have pics in the report. We loved having our veranda but I understand why people say its not necessary. I feel like if you are adults only or have older kids then I would do an inside or ocean view no question. But with even our 8yo it was nice to have the option to go on our veranda to view the scenary with her in the room watching cartoons or playing with her new gift shop toys than trying to get her to go up on a higher deck. We went up right when we got to the glacier and you would have thought we were poking her eyes out it was so "booorrriiinnngggg". I think its up to each family and their budget. Like I said the Navigator's is cheaper but harder to get so book on opening day for sure. They don't have a ton of them.
2. We flew straight to Vancouver and spent two days exploring. I considered the Seattle/Amtrak/Car Rental/bus option and it just seemed like too many things for error. We wanted time to explore Vancouver and it was only a savings of $100 TOTAL for our family of 3. Again, I think its family preference and you know how your family will be. Will they be cranky with less sleep than normal (that's our 8yo) and make the trip less fun that you had in your head? Or are they pretty go with the flow? You know your family best....

 

[woodynjessiesmomma]

Here is my trip report. http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-...ise-in-all-carry-on-luggage-may-2016.3515261/

1. We had a navigator's veranda. It was cheaper and it was very nice for it to be more enclosed because of the wind on Tracey Arm day. I have pics in the report. We loved having our veranda but I understand why people say its not necessary. I feel like if you are adults only or have older kids then I would do an inside or ocean view no question. But with even our 8yo it was nice to have the option to go on our veranda to view the scenary with her in the room watching cartoons or playing with her new gift shop toys than trying to get her to go up on a higher deck. We went up right when we got to the glacier and you would have thought we were poking her eyes out it was so "booorrriiinnngggg". I think its up to each family and their budget. Like I said the Navigator's is cheaper but harder to get so book on opening day for sure. They don't have a ton of them.
2. We flew straight to Vancouver and spent two days exploring. I considered the Seattle/Amtrak/Car Rental/bus option and it just seemed like too many things for error. We wanted time to explore Vancouver and it was only a savings of $100 TOTAL for our family of 3. Again, I think its family preference and you know how your family will be. Will they be cranky with less sleep than normal (that's our 8yo) and make the trip less fun that you had in your head? Or are they pretty go with the flow? You know your family best....

Thank you! DS8 and I just looked through your TR and I'm going back to read it. The pictures looked great and we are very excited. DH really wants a verandah and I imagine we would use it. We will definitely be looking at booking opening day. My placeholder is with a TA so hopefully that is doable.

 

[tnshsms]

Thank you! DS8 and I just looked through your TR and I'm going back to read it. The pictures looked great and we are very excited. DH really wants a verandah and I imagine we would use it. We will definitely be looking at booking opening day. My placeholder is with a TA so hopefully that is doable.

Great! Let me know if you have any questions! I'd be happy to help!