Alaskan Cruise info needed

[Evil Genius]

I'm assuming that someone here has taken an Alaskan Cruise. Can you tell me which cruise line you went on, what ports you visited, anything else I should be looking for/at??

Dh and I are thinking of doing this next year and I'm a little overwhelmed. This will be our first cruise ever.


Thanks a bunch for your help!!

EG

 

[NCRedding]

We cruised Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas. Ours was a round-trip from Vancouver, going to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We also cruised by Hubbard Glacier. Alaska was awesome, so beautiful. When we go back again, here's what we plan to do:

1. Cruise one-way, to see more of Alaska.
2. After the cruise, we'll rent a car, and see more of interior Alaska.
3. Definitely have a balcony on the cruise.

Remember that excursions can be very expensive. We went whale-watching in Juneau, and saw a bubble net feeding (cooperative feeding of at least 10 whales). In Ketchikan, we walked around the port, and went to the lumberjack show. In Skagway, I would recommend either renting a car, or taking the White Pass train. I refused to take any excursion that involved a small plane, or a helicopter.

Check our cruisecritic.com--lots of good information there. Have fun planning.

 

[kaseyC]

We cruised R/T from Seattle on NCL in 2000 and on Princess in 2004. We plan to cruise Alaska again in a few years when our girls are older. We plan on doing one of the Cruise Tours - about 14 days or so.

Excursions can be expensive, you can do much better booking them yourself than through the cruiseline. We have done Whale Watching w/ Capt. Larry, an awesome Glacial Flightseeing and Dogsledding and just some basic tours we picked up from some locals once we got to port.

Cruise Critic is a great resource and Alaska is so beautiful.

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

I'd agree with cruisecritic.com Lots of great info.

We are going to Alaska this summer on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas. We picked a round trip cruise so we could fly in and out of Vancouver

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

We went years ago with Costa and really loved the itinerary. Alaska is so beautiful! We are considering going again this summer and taking our two kids (one of which was a souvenir from the first time around!). We want to go in July or early August and would prefer to leave out of Seattle as we are close enough to drive. NCL has a brand new ship, the Pearl, that will going to Alaska this summer. Also, there is a DIS'er that is an agent that has been getting information for me. Feel free to PM if you would like her name.

 

[kaseyC]

Oh, I missed you asked about Ports visited. We have been to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Haines and Victoria B.C. We have also Cruised Glacier Bay (Absolutely amazing) and to Sawyer Glacier.

 

[crzy4pooh]

We went on Princess Cruises - the Dawn Princess. It was one way from Vancouver to Anchorage, with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria BC, and Glacier Bay. It was absolutely fabulous - hands down the best vacation ever! My parents have cruised Alaska twice. The second time (for their 40th anniversary), they added the land package, taking the Midnight Express north into the heart of Alaska. I really hope someday we can do that, too!

 

[marathonmommy]

Has anyone here cruised Alaska with young kids, or is it entirely inappropriate?

 

[lucas]

We've gone on 4 Alaskan cruises. Our first cruise to Alaska was probably 21 years ago. Three of our Alaska cruises were with Holland America and the latest one was with Princess. Once before the cruise and once after the cruise we have taken the train from Anchorage to Fairbanks overnighting in Denali National Park. FANTASTIC! Loved going to a sled dog camp and getting to pet the real sled dogs.

 

[sk8ingmom]

I haven't cruised Alaska, so I can't help with the ship stuff, but if you are thinking of doing any land-based traveling, especially in southcentral AK, feel free to PM me. I've lived here for several years and I'm on the marketing committee for our local convention and visitor's bureau.

 

[Judy from Boise]

We went years ago with Costa and really loved the itinerary. Alaska is so beautiful! We are considering going again this summer and taking our two kids (one of which was a souvenir from the first time around!). We want to go in July or early August and would prefer to leave out of Seattle as we are close enough to drive. NCL has a brand new ship, the Pearl, that will going to Alaska this summer. Also, there is a DIS'er that is an agent that has been getting information for me. Feel free to PM if you would like her name.

My parents will be on this cruiseship( the Pearl) for one of it's august sailings from Seattle...... I'm thinking we used the same TA too , is she from the great State if Idaho ?

 

[bimshire]

We have cruised Alaska twice before. Our first cruise was on the Sun Princess which included Glacier Bay. Any ship or itinerary you choose, make sure it includes Glacier Bay. This cruise was Southbound Anchorage(Seward) to Vancouver.

Our second was R/T from Seattle on HAL Amsterdam. Airfare was cheaper than the oneway above. Ports of Call were same as mentioned by previous posters.

We are going again in June on the Dawn Princess out of San Francisco. Note that Alaskans just approved an additional tax per passenger of $50. The cruise lines are passing on the cost so every cabin just went up $100 double occupancy.

 

[m&m's mom]

Has anyone here cruised Alaska with young kids, or is it entirely inappropriate?

Absolutely not! We just got back from Alaska last July. My youngest DD was only 6 when we went and she had a blast! Her previous cruise was when she was 3 and she fit right in.
We also went on Radiance of the Seas. I thought it was a great ship. There were 31 of us from my extended family ranging in age from 6 to 72 and everyone found activities they enjoyed.
We cruised from Vancouver to Seward on a Northbound inside passage. No rough seas and beautiful scenery.
We got a suite and even though I normally do not care if I have a balcony or not - you definitely want one in Alaska. The scenery was breathtaking. I honestly though people were exaggerating when they talked about Alaska, but nope.
There were a lot of excursions that fit younger and older people. My DD's loved the panning for gold in Juneau and dogsledding as well.
The weather was iffy and a lot of the helicopter tours were cancelled.
Be prepared for the cost. For a family of 5 (we brought my MiL w/ us), it was over $20,000 for a week. Certainly could have been done for less but when you are in a group sometimes you have to go w/ the flow.
Book early!!! Price usually goes up and best cabins are gone.
We went to Juneau, Sitka, Skagway, and Icy Straight Point (Royal Caribbean exclusive stop). Skagway was my absolute favorite.

 

[Evil Genius]

Thank you everyone for your input. Looks like I need to do some more homework. Ah the joys of planning a trip!!!

 

[simpilotswife]

We cruised to Alaska August of 2005. We cruised out of Seattle roundtrip on the Diamond Princess. It was an absolutely amazing trip.

I second the advice to rent a car in Skagway. Avis has an office in Skagway and we rented from there. We enjoyed the ride, the scenery was breathtaking and not being herded around was great too.

Here is a link to my photo album of the trip....

Alaska 2005

 

[marathonmommy]

We cruised to Alaska August of 2005. We cruised out of Seattle roundtrip on the Diamond Princess. It was an absolutely amazing trip.

I second the advice to rent a car in Skagway. Avis has an office in Skagway and we rented from there. We enjoyed the ride, the scenery was breathtaking and not being herded around was great too.

Here is a link to my photo album of the trip....

Alaska 2005

Thanks for sharing the photos.

An m&m's mom - thanks for the advice and info!

 

[barkley]

we did alaska 2 years ago with the kids (then 10/7). did vancouver to juneau, skagway and ketchikan (7 nite inside passage). while we and the kids loved the cruise itinerary, we did'nt enjoy the cruise line at all. we went on holland america. we found them to be very 'kid unfriendly' and the kid's programs horrendous (this was even after they had 'wooed' some former disney kid's club upper level staff to hire in and rework the program ).
dh and i also were'nt impressed with the staterooms, service or the food-much lower standards than we had experienced on other lines. but since it's the only alaska cruise dvc does-it was our only choice using points.

we loved alaska itself-did the helicopter ride to the glacier in juneau, wandered around skagway and ketchikan. also loved sitting on deck and just taking in the scenery. dh even did a snorkeling trip in ketchikan (too cold for me thanks).

a good resource for excursions is to get a dvd for the temesco company. they operate most of the excursions that all the cruiselines contract with. they have a dvd that gives a good and acurate overview of their offerings.

depending on if we went with the kids again in the future-i'de look at either royal carribean or celebrity. i cruised on celebrity (by myself) in september and found their accommodations and service realy great. they don't realy cater to kids though-so even though they have a kid's program superior to hal's-when i checked it out i knew my kids would be bored of it pretty quickly. everyone i know that's done rcl has loved it-said there's activities from morning till night for every age, and the rooms and service are great.

one tip i'de pass on-when we booked we found out that (for us) air fare to seattle was much less expensive than going straight up to vancouver. so we ended up booking 2 separate flights. one from no. california to seattle, and then a second from seattle to vancouver (did the same thing in reverse the way back). we could have skipped the second flight both ways-but i did'nt want to hassle getting to the amtrack station for the train (and it left incredibly early each morning) or having to get to one of the places that does bus service across the border.

 

[cybrkitn]

We cruised Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas. Ours was a round-trip from Vancouver, going to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We also cruised by Hubbard Glacier. Alaska was awesome, so beautiful. When we go back again, here's what we plan to do:

1. Cruise one-way, to see more of Alaska.
2. After the cruise, we'll rent a car, and see more of interior Alaska.
3. Definitely have a balcony on the cruise.

Remember that excursions can be very expensive. We went whale-watching in Juneau, and saw a bubble net feeding (cooperative feeding of at least 10 whales). In Ketchikan, we walked around the port, and went to the lumberjack show. In Skagway, I would recommend either renting a car, or taking the White Pass train. I refused to take any excursion that involved a small plane, or a helicopter.

Check our cruisecritic.com--lots of good information there. Have fun planning.

We also took Royal Caribbean and took the same route you did. The only difference between your's and ours was the ship. We went back in June/July of 2001 on Vision of the Seas and loved it! Of course when we got to Ketchikan it was raining but we still had a good time.

In Skagway (7/4/01) we took the White Pass train and it was beautiful! The air was so crisp and clean. We could even smell the forest pine. Of course, I'm not used to seeing snow on July 4

DH and I would love to do an Alaska cruise again, but this time with DS and going to Anchorage so that we could spend the day with my aunt who lives there.