Cruise Question

[noseybuddy]

I know DCL doesn't offer and Alaskan cruise, but I was wondering if any of you cruisers has done a cruise to Alaska? What cruise line and what time of year did you go? I posted this on the commumity board but did not get any feedback. Can anyone help?

 

[ivanova]

Haven't been on one yet - but am planning a group cruise for 2006. As for time of year, you don't have a lot of options with Alaska - May to Sept is about it. We'll be shooting for sometime between mid-June and mid-August (while the kids are out of school).

 

[Itinkso]

Try www.cruisecritic.com There are a lot of experienced cruisers there who are very friendly and helpful!

 

[tvguy]

We went on HAL's Amsterdam in June of 2002. Highly recommend them. We cruised with them before Disney, very very nice line. And they have been cruising to Alaska longer than any other line.

 

[daisymae]

We were on an Alaska cruise last year during the first week of July. We had great weather half the time, and luckily when we needed it - cruising the glacier and helicopter ride/dogsledding on Mendenhall Glacier. The week after us had beautiful weather. June through August is probably your best bet. We cruised with Celebrity. It was our 20th anniversary so we splurged on a Junior Suite - really just a larger room, but you get butler service and preference for tenders. I would definitely recommend Celebrity - fantastic trip and unbelievable scenery, good food, excellent to fair stage shows, and superior lounge acts. We saved a bit of money doing independent excursions rather than the cruise line's. I found great info on excursions online and all of ours were very well run and enjoyable. Hope this helps.

 

[Lizardbeth61]

. . . but our travel agent pointed something out when we were considering it that I didn't think about. If you do a round trip . . . ie Vancouver to Vancouver . . . you don't see as much. You're better off doing a one-way cruise so you see more. He suggested Princess line, by the way.

PM me if you want more info.

 

[ivanova]

. . . but our travel agent pointed something out when we were considering it that I didn't think about. If you do a round trip . . . ie Vancouver to Vancouver . . . you don't see as much. You're better off doing a one-way cruise so you see more. He suggested Princess line, by the way.

It would depend on what it is that you want to see.

If you do the Seattle or Vancouver "roundtrip" style cruise you'll see the Inland Passage both ways .. lot of gorgeous scenery for sure .. but if you want to see Denali National Park, Kodiak Island, or anything else on the other side of the Gulf of Alaska, then you'd miss that all but doing the "roundtrip" type of cruise.

If you want to see as much of Alaska as possible, then I would recommend starting in Seattle or Vancouver and doing a 7 day cruise to Seward or Whittier, Alaska (other side of the gulf). Then do a land tour (most of the cruise lines offer them). The land tours can last anywhere from just a few days up to more than a week. The land tours might cover Ancorage, Fairbanks, and Denali National park.

Our group is considering a cruise plus land tour, since none of knows if we'll make it back to Alaska (or when we would). So we want to see as much as possible the first time we're there.

 

[noseybuddy]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. I am going to print this info out and look into cruising to Alaska. Thanks again!