Alaska Cruises

cgpm59
Tue, 30 Jul 2013 15:27:25 +0000

lindz, go over to the other CC forum. . . cruisecritic dot com and on the top right-hand side of the page, click on Community and then Forums. You will find everything you wanted to know about cruises and more! Topics by cruise line, destination, cruising with families, cruise air fare, etc. etc.

Our cruise was round-trip from Seattle. I think the advocates of the “one-way” cruises say that because you get farther north and perhaps more spectacular scenery, although the scenery in Juneau-Skagway-Ketchikan is pretty darn spectacular too. The one-way cruises will have you flying into and out of different cities (usually) so that adds another wrinkle.

The other consideration is whether a cruise goes to Glacier Bay National Park (which is where we went and it was incredible) or Tracy Arm for glacier viewing.

Be aware that glaciers are what they call “scenic cruising” – you don’t get off the ship, but the ship comes very close to the glacier and slowly spins around, so everyone on both sides of the ship gets a view (or you can go up top and see all of it). The only way to actually “stand on a glacier” (from what I recall) is one of the helicopter tours.

I will also say that I don’t think a balcony is a “must” for Alaska. In fact, you can see more if you are on one of the upper open decks, where you can walk from side to side on the ship and see whatever’s there. Unless you get a great deal, I’d save the money on the balcony and use it towards excursions.