How to book Alaskan cruise

[ncbyrne]

DH and I (and another couple) are planning to take an Alaskan cruise in the spring of 2011. I've never been on any kind of cruise and have no clue how to get the best deals. Need ideas on which type of cruises are the best (we are older adults, no kids). Should I book thru an agency, or try to do it myself? We are in NJ....where should we fly to board the ship? Which cruise lines are best suited for Alaska. Frankly I don't even know what questions to ask. Need your help!

 

[Kika]

I'm possibly booking one for this summer and have done a bunch of research.

Disney is going to Alaska in 2011, but IMHO their Alaska cruise is quite expensive compared to the other cruise lines I looked at. (Originally, I was pricing out cruises for 2010 and 2011, since I was undecided regarding when to go. I love DCL and plan to take another Disney Cruise in the future, just not to Alaska. )

I have narrowed my choices down to Royal Carribean, Celebrity, and Princess (all out of Vancouver).

I have ruled out Carnival, Norwegian, and Holland America for various reasons, but they also go to Alaska.

My advice would be to call each one and go on each one's website. Also, you may want to check out cruisecritic.com; there is a lot of good info on their forums.

I have been on two cruises and have done it both ways: I booked DCL directly through Disney and booked my first cruise, which was on Carnival, by using a travel agency: Cruises Only. (I had a good experience with them.)

Good luck!

Edited to add: I just noticed that you said there would be no kids. Holland America caters to an older crowd, so if you want to minimize contact with lots of kids, that may be an option for you. Most cruises to Alaska are a minimum of 7 days, but Holland America also has cruise/land tours with 3 or 4 day cruises followed by 5+ day land tours, I think. (They also have the usual 7 day cruises as well.)

 

[minnie1928]

I live in Nj and was looking at this last weekend. Our best friends live in Seattle and asked us to join them on a Norwegian Cruise to Alaska in August. I looked at several sites and then I went directly to ncl.com and the prices were exactly the same as the other websites. We ultimately decided to pass on the offer, it would have cost us over $6000 for the week and we (actually more DH) were compromising on the cabin type. Plus, we'll be seeing our friends in WDW in July anyway.

 

[mom0299]

DH and I cruised to Alaska with two other couples to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We didn't take the kids. We booked directly with the cruise line which is what we always do when we cruise. We flew to Seattle and boarded the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas. There were very few children on the ship. I loved the main dining room and the casual dining room because they were surrounded by windows. There is always something to look at when you are on the water, unlike a caribbean cruise when you often just look at the ocean. The scenery is gorgeous! You never know when you'll see whales or seals. We went the second week in June which was perfect. It was still pretty cool, but not freezing. The temps were comfortable and stayed in the 50s most of the time. We did have one day in the 60s. We had an inside cabin for the first time which was nice considering it stays daylight most of the night. If we wanted to look outside we just went up on deck. I would suggest investing in a really good camera. We are getting ready to buy a DSLR and the first thing I said was "I have to go back to Alaska" Whatever you decide you'll have a great time!

 

[bumbershoot]

First stop: cruisecritic.com. Their articles and their message board are absolutely invaluable. They are to cruising as the disboards are for disney parks.

We had our honeymoon to Alaska from Vancouver on RCCL. Booked directly through RCCL. Especially with RCCL, where you can't get true discounts from travel agencies (TAs can give you perks like paying your tips, or giving you a bottle of wine....they can also book blocks of rooms and get a discount that way, but you lose a LOT of flexibility if you're inside a block), it's not really worth it to find a trustworthy cruise Travel Agent, if you don't already have one.

I'm not sure the cruising season really starts in spring...it's generally over the summer. AK has to warm up a bit! We had weather all over the place. Freezing on the bow while heading into the glacier area (Hubbard Glacier, maybe?), sweating while walking around Juneau, jackets without quilty liners in Skagway. Our cruise was the second *last* of the season on RCCL, just before Labor Day weekend, and it's possible end-of-spring and closing-in-on-fall have around the same temperatures.

I highly recommend getting 3 in 1 (or 4 in 1) jackets whenever they are in stores. We had to scour the earth to find them during the summer! Finally found an outlet selling London Fog and their sister line of coats. Nowadays amazon sells clothes (not in '03, at least not to a big extent), but with a coat like that I like to try it on. You want the warmth but also the flexibility.

That's just my helpful hint b/c it was the biggest pain of the whole planning experience for the cruise.


If you do an Inside Passage cruise, the water it's really all that rough. But if you leave the IP to go out to the glacier, that gets you into rougher, more open-ocean type of waters, and that can get rough! I woke up at 2am thinking extremely negative thoughts about what was happening, b/c the waters changed SO much. DH used to work on oil tankers that went from CA to Valdez AK and back, so he was sleeping perfectly through the night and was of NO help, LOL. But it was scary for me, although entirely normal and FINE. Another helpful hint, LOL.

 

[mrsklamc]

Just make sure it goes to Glacier Bay, wherever you book. It's really tragic that Disney isn't going there.

 

[drnriordan]

If you haven't yet found it, do a search for cruisecritic. It is like the disboards of cruising. There are a lot of great reviews of the different cruise lines, ships and itinerararies. There is a forum section where you can post questions specifically related to your desired destination. I've found it great for planning the Alaskan cruisetour that my DH and I are doing in June this year.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We've cruised to Alaska twice - once in 1994 from Vancouver and once in 2008 round trip from San Francisco (cruising under the Golden Gate is awesome!). We took Princess both times. They pretty much own the Alaska market right now. We saw their ships in every port and a few Holland America ships here and there. You should definitely check out cruisecritic.com. They have forums for every cruise line and you can read the pros and cons for each. You can also read up on the ports and choose a cruise that goes to the ones you really want to see. For example, some go to Sitka instead of Skagway. Some stop in Victoria B.C. and others don't. You also want to decide which areas you want to see for scenic cruising (Glacier Bay, Tracy Arm, College Fjords, etc.). We loved both of our Alaska cruises!

 

[perriwinkleblue]

We loved our Northbound Alaska Cruise. We went in June and I remember it was rainy and like another post said, the weather was everything from warm/spring-like to chilly. Layers are a must. Being from New England we were used to a little chilly weather and had the pools and spa to ourselves for the most part.

We flew into Vancouver a day early and did Victoria Gardens and got a very late flight out of Anchorage so we could rent a car and tool around a bit.

I would do a little research into airfare if money is an issue. From NJ, you may do better flying into and out of Seattle than going from NJ to Vancouver and/or Anchorage (I know from here the flights into Anchorage have been $$$). You would need to find a cruise that does the round-trip route instead of Northbound/Southbound.

Cruise Critic is great. I always check Vacation Outlet and Vacations to Go online to get an idea of the deals out there. We have booked with Vacation Outlet (National Leisure Group) before.

BTW, we chose Carnival because we thought the crowd would be younger (it wasn't) and we had a great time and thought the naturalist onboard was very good. I think Princess is "it" in Alaska but I don't think you can go wrong. It's just so beautiful and so much fun.

 

[antmaril]

My two friends and I cruised to Alaska in late August, 2009 on Holland America (HAL) We cruised roundtrip out of Seattle on the Zaandam and had a wonderful vacation. Glacier Bay is spectacular and Alaska is awesome. We booked directly with HAL. Service on HAL was amazing. HAL caters to an older crowd, so it could be a perfect line for you.

I agree with the others that you should visit cruisecritic.com Everything you want to know about cruising can be found on that website.

Good luck.

 

[skip323]

We will be booking a cruise to Alaska for 2011 as well. My greatest source for research...as everyone has already stated...is cruisecritic. I have researched through that website to know, basically, what I want to do. Unfortunately, until each of the lines puts out their itineraries...it is all just ideas...not really able to plan.

The rumor is that most of the lines will have their information out by the end of this week...that will make it very helpful. I, after researching everything, decided I would like to cruise out of Vancouver but many lines pulled out of there this year so I am waiting to see who is going out of there...especially for a roundtrip which is what we want to do.

I suggest making cruisecritic your main source and then checking all of the lines at the end of this week. There are also a couple of books that come highly recommended on cruisecritic. I cannot, for the world, recall the names now but you will find that informaton on the website.

Many people recommend booking through a travel agent that really knows Alaska however I like to book my own travel and am doing the research that should allow me to make the best decisions and bookings on my own.

Good luck!

 

[apnep]

I have narrowed my choices down to Royal Carribean, Celebrity, and Princess (all out of Vancouver).

I have ruled out Carnival, Norwegian, and Holland America for various reasons, but they also go to Alaska.

Just something to note, but Princess cruise lines has been going out to Alaska the longest and they seem to have "priority" out there. I went with my DM a few years ago on Royal Carribean and it was fantastic! Celebrity is a more upscale cruise line it seems to me and there prices might be higher. Holland, Norwegien are for older crowds.

You can get better prices if you go out in May or September which are the "shoulder' months to go...things are just starting in May and wrapping up in September. We went at the end of May and had the best weather ever.

I would watch www.cruisecritic.com and hop on a couple of their forums to help you out. Oh, and my other suggestion is to take either a northbound (start in Canada, end in Alaska) or a southbound (start in Alaska, end in Canada) cruise because you'll get to stop at more ports in Alaska.

Good luck!
Angela

 

[perriwinkleblue]

I wanted to add that there are several cruise/land combo trips to choose from that combine the cruise with a train trip and stay in the Denali National Park. We have not done this - but if you have the time and the means, I've heard they are wonderful. I checked out this year's prices on Vacations to Go and they seem to be a good value for what you get. Maybe someone can chime in that has done a cruise/tour?

 

[rstamm]

We are taking a Disney Alaska curise in July 2011 The mouse for Less gave us $125 on board credit for a cat 11 room.

You can check out the prices at DCL and then call a travel agent and get the on board credit, for some reason Disney doesn't give any credit.

 

[v.t.]

DH and I cruised to Alaska with two other couples to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We didn't take the kids. We booked directly with the cruise line which is what we always do when we cruise. We flew to Seattle and boarded the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas. There were very few children on the ship. I loved the main dining room and the casual dining room because they were surrounded by windows. There is always something to look at when you are on the water, unlike a caribbean cruise when you often just look at the ocean. The scenery is gorgeous! You never know when you'll see whales or seals. We went the second week in June which was perfect. It was still pretty cool, but not freezing. The temps were comfortable and stayed in the 50s most of the time. We did have one day in the 60s. We had an inside cabin for the first time which was nice considering it stays daylight most of the night. If we wanted to look outside we just went up on deck. I would suggest investing in a really good camera. We are getting ready to buy a DSLR and the first thing I said was "I have to go back to Alaska" Whatever you decide you'll have a great time!

Mom0299,
I would love to hear about your trip. We are going this Aug. on the Rhapsody and would love some insider information.
Thanks!

 

[iheartdisney]

We have booked our first cruise this summer, Alaska, onboard the Celebrity Millinium. Celebrity and Princess had the itinerary we wanted, but we ended up choosing Celebrity. Everything we read said that Princess is very geared towards families, and it is our 10th anniversary, mom is flying out to stay with the kids, so DH and I want as few children around as possible! Also, Celebrity was the less expensive of the two, and reviews state has the better food of the two.
I booked directly with the cruiseline, on the website. So, I can let you know in August when we get back how it went!

 

[Kathi OD]

The only time I ever used a travel agent was for our cruise to Alaska a couple of years ago. We also went for our anniversary...no kids. We went out of Vancouver on Celebrity, and it was, by far, the best vacation we ever had! It was so relaxing.

When I went to the travel agent, there was only thing I knew I wanted, and that was a room with a balcony. Other than that, I put it in her hands. She asked questions about what kinds of things we would like to do, if we were celebrating any special occasions, etc. We ended up in what, at the time, was Concierge Class. A little more expensive, but we never felt as though it was money that wasn't well spent.

I don't think I could have waded through all the information on cruises and come up with such a great match as she did. Like I said, I'd never used a travel agent before, nor since. I think it might be worth your while to check one out.

 

[amylevan]

We did a southbound cruise (with a land part) for our honeymoon in 2003. Flew non-stop from Newark to Anchorage and non-stop back from Vancouver. We choose Princess because at the time, they had the most options, and I preferred their personal choice dining. The majority of the people on the ship were, ahem, mature. But we were on our honeymoon, who cares if we were the only ones under 50...

Anyhow, I second the suggestion of finding an itinerary that goes to Glacier Bay. That was amazing! And really, Alaska is one of those places where I really recommend getting a balcony. There is sooooo much to look at and the views are breathtaking! Inside Passage cruises follow the shoreline, so there's always something to see. (And when we came upon a group of killer whales, it was far too crowded on deck to get a good view of them....much easier from our balcony.)

If you have the time/money, I do also suggest the land portion. Alaska is HUGE, and you only see a tiny portion on the cruise only.

And in answer to your question, this was one of the few times we used a travel agent that specialized in Alaska cruises. She was the one who recommended the balcony (and even which side of the ship to be on), helped us sort through itineraries, and steered us towards Princess.

 

[Kika]

You can get better prices if you go out in May or September which are the "shoulder' months to go...things are just starting in May and wrapping up in September. We went at the end of May and had the best weather ever.

I noticed that the prices are good in May, but unfortunately I need to go in June or later once my daughter is out of school. (I already took her out of school for 4 days this year in November for our Disney Cruise and felt a little guilty about it afterwards, so I wouldn't want her to miss any more school this year.)

Oh, and my other suggestion is to take either a northbound (start in Canada, end in Alaska) or a southbound (start in Alaska, end in Canada) cruise because you'll get to stop at more ports in Alaska.

Yes, I agree that this looks like the way to go. I definitely want to do this!

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Those who flew into Seattle and then traveled to Vancover to meet the ship, about how many hours by Train from Seattle to Vancover verses the Ferry from Seattle to Vancover

Any suggestions, on this?

Thanks