<p>DH and I have decided to take a cruise to Alaska once we drop D2 off at school. Please tell me your experiences…which is the best cruise line, the best excursions, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The best web site for cruise info is [Cruise</a> Reviews, Cruise Deals and Cruises - Cruise Critic](<a href=“http://www.cruisecritic.com%5DCruise”>http://www.cruisecritic.com).</p>
<p>If you are considering them, please reconsider cruising with Norwegian cruise line. While all cruise lines have extras that you charge up on your trip, Norwegian nickles and dimes in ridiculous ways (including using the gym/sauna/steam room!).</p>
<p>There is no BEST only different. We took Royal Carribean’s Radiance of the Seas two years ago. Every port we stopped in had other luxury liners moored as well. We ran into people from Princess (many didn’t recommend it), NCL (those people seemed happy), Celebrity (fancier crowd…my mom, who traveled with us, called it hoity toity) and Holland America (older crowd). We had our kids (then ages 19, 16 and 13) with us. There were ALL ages on our cruise. If I were to go again, I would either pick Royal Carribean or Celebrity (I kinda like fancy). We did a 5 night escorted land tour (which I highly recommend) before our 7 night cruise. We flew into Seattle where we caught a flight to Anchorage. From Anchorage we took the RC glass domed train (way cool) to Talkeetna and then to Denali (two nights), then to Fairbanks via motorcoach then we took a flight back to Anchorage where we were met by bus to to Seward. The cruise started at Seward and went south to Hubbard Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, Icy Point Strait, Ketchikan and concluded in Vancouver. We added two nights in Vancouver and flew home to Florida from there. The excursions that we purchased in ADVANCE and did were: White Pass Scenic Railway, Whale Watching and Wildlife Cruise (AMAZING), Mendenhall Glacier: Ice age by Helicopter (OMG AMAZING), and the Rain Forest Canoe Adventure…eh, it was ok. We also did optional excusion while on the land tour…I remember visiting a sled dog training/breeding facility (my kids loved holding the puppies) and taking a river boat ride. </p>
<p>It really is a worthwhile trip, have fun!</p>
<p>We’re getting ready to book a cruise on Regent Seven Seas – Vancouver to Anchorage. It’s not the cheapest, but I really liked the all-inclusive nature, including shore excursions, wine, tipping etc. It’s an all-suite-all-balcony ship and looks really comfortable for enjoying the cruise. We’ll be there while S2 is at a summer college program and S1 is home for the summer to hold the fort!</p>
<p>I’ve done Alaska on both Carnival and Celebrity. The Alaska cruises are about the scenary rather than the partying (think Mexico and Carribean for the later) so try to book a room with a balcony…</p>
<p>Holland America was awful. Cigarette smoke everywhere. Constant shils to sell absurdly overpriced jewelry. Bad shows. Lots of food, all of it of indifferent quality. Ridiculously overpriced “shore excursions”. </p>
<p>Really, really bad.</p>
<p>I would second that the Regent Seven Seas seems to be the best cruise by far to Alaska. I could be wrong but I don’t think the other high end lines do this cruise.</p>
<p>We took Carnival and we had fun. We prebook all our shore excursions ahead of time through the vendors themselves- it was cheaper and we didn’t have to stand in line. My favorite excursion was in Skagway. Instead of taking the train to the Yukon, we rented a car and drove up. We went to Carcross, Yukon and saw the world’s smallest desert and just cruised around. Sitka was probably our favorite stop. And if you stop in Seward, check out the Alaskan Sealife Center. Have fun!</p>
<p>I agree wholeheartedly with renting a car in Skagway and driving through the Yukon – a highlight of our trip! If you google “Murray’s Guide” you’ll get a guide written by a Yukon native with mile-by-mile detailed suggestions for where to stop (along with pictures). Look on the Alaska Board of cruise critic, and you’ll get lots of good suggestions.</p>
<p>Only excursion we booked in advance was a one-hour glacier tour in Juneau, which we booked through Coastal Helicopters – they were recommended, and gave us a great chance to walk on a glacier! One hour was plenty of time (it gets pretty cold). We saved some money by booking this on our own rather than through the ship. We didn’t book other excursions in advance because we wanted a chance to see how the weather would be — this might not work if you are interested in something that tends to sell out early, but we were flexible. Actually, in August, our weather was beautiful except for some fog and light rain in Juneau.</p>
<p>We used Royal Caribbean, the round trip from Vancouver on Serenade of the Seas, which included the Hubbard Glacier. They are very kid/teen friendly. Our kids made great friends, hung out in the teen lounge, and had a fabulous time. They also had special meet-and-greets for older kids (18-21) which is nice if you have a college-aged kid too old for the teen programs but who would like to meet others.</p>
<p>Wear layers, bring your camera, and have fun!</p>
<p>Is the end of August too a reasonable time to take a cruise to Alaska?</p>
<p>I agree with Toledo; go to cruisecritic dot com - they are absolutely the best place to learn everything you could possibly want to know about anything related to cruises.</p>
<p>Cruise Critic is a wonderful resource–I love it! I found a lot of great information for the Mexico cruise we did last year on Royal Carribean.
We have cruised Alaska twice–both times on Holland America (once our honeymoon, once 10 yrs later with DD, then 7). Loved both trips. Love Glacier Bay, I could watch the glaciers cave for hours. Great food, service, good bands for dancing, great shows. We skip the jewelry selling stuff and the art auctions (both were on the Mexico trip last year).
On the first trip we took a helicopter to the top of a glacier, got out and walked around (cold weather gear provided). It was a blast–I thought my husband was going to fall out of the helicopter taking pictures. I loved looking in the cracks in the glacier (can’t remember the offical name off hand). We also kayaked into a rain forest. Visted Sitka, which has a large Russian population/influence (great church there).
Second trip we hiked the Chilkoot Trail. DD had a blast hopping on boulders the size of a VW. You take a raft back down the river—wade out to the raft in high water boots. Since DD is very light weight, she couldn’t wade. She laughed her fool head off while the guides tossed her (gently, with a safety harness) into the raft. I was not laughing at the time, but with some distance, she was safe and had a lot of fun. Also took a cat out for a great whale watching trip–humpback whales breeching right in front of us, it was great.<br>
The museum in Anchorage is great, really enjoyed it if you have the time.<br>
Take lots of layers, the weather is very quick to change. And mosquito repellant.</p>
<p>We went with Norwegian and had a wonderful time despite the many, many temptations to spend megabucks. We planned our shore excursions in advance and booked them privately, saving a lot of money doing it that way. A little planning ahead can make a big difference. We also set strict guidelines about extra food and drinks. Since the main cafeteria and other eateries are always open, there is no need to pay for those expensive lattes, cocktails, slushes, fruit blends. We also ignored most of the shills hawking the jewelry, artwork and other things. Bought a lot of pictures, but only one copy of what we liked and we made reprints later on our own. We did not spend much over the base cost at all by being careful and we really enjoy what we did buy. </p>
<p>Lack of cleanliness, cigarette smoke, nasty people would have all put real dampers on our trip. The other stuff was fine. Living near NYC, I am used to having all sorts of temptations dangling for me to buy, so the cruise offers were nothing new to me. I loved what was offered in the package at no cost, and even got some real deals on spa treatments that I would have never done at home, Could not have gotten those low prices on the minipackages that were offered either. So I was happy as could be. H got acupuncture, massage, teeth whitened for $99 total! I had a hair cut, facial, highlights for the same price. Loved it. </p>
<p>We ate at one theme restaraunt which resulted in extra cost, and H and I had drinks one night. Bought some souveniers that we liked…maybe we were ripped off, but I’m still glad we bought what we did. We really enjoyed the trip, every bit of it.</p>
<p>If you want to get the real feel of how Alaska is different, and nature - the smaller the better.</p>
<p>Stop in at the Skagway Brew Pub at 7th and Broadway. Great fish and chips, great beer. See if they are still doing the classic car tours - last summer they had 3 or 4 refurbished classic luxury cars and would give you a driving tour of town and then a tour of the brewery with tastes for the same price as the cruise line tours. And wherever you stop all the other tourists are taking pictures of your car. It was just me and my husband and the college student driver, and then a brewer took the two of us upstairs and we watched the operations and tasted all the types. Quite different from the usual herd of tourists. Plus the Spruce Tips Ale reportedly has a day’s worth of vitamin C in every glass - it’s made with fresh spruce buds each spring and smells like a walk in the forest.</p>
<p>I really wanted to go to Alaska this summer, as the rates are very reasonable. Because of the H1N1, we’ve decided to wait. Unfortunately, cruise ships are the perfect breeding ground for viruses. We’ve experienced Norovirus on two of our past cruises and didn’t want to take the chance this year until more is known about this particular virus.</p>
<p>LOVED Princess — we took the Coral Princess from Vancouver to Anchorage (Glaciers tour). We had the time of our lives. We went sea kayaking in the rain in Ketchikan, we took a helicopter to the top of a glacier in Juneau, and we rented a car & drove to the Yukon Territory in Skagway. The glaciers we saw from the ship were incredible. The sealife we saw up close & personal was amazing. I cannot say enough good things about it. </p>
<p>The ship was great, the food was very good. It was a casual atmosphere, although we did dress up one night. My in laws took me, my H, our kids, and my SIL & her H and son. We all are very different, and we all loved it. To be honest, H, the kids & I were not looking forward to it — we had never been interested in a cruise. We truly enjoyed it, though.</p>
<p>OP here - cruise is booked and we can’t wait. We are planning on going salmon fishing in Ketchikan. Anyone who has done this and booked independently from the cruise, I’d be very interested in which charter company you used and how it went.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>We leave in just a few days for our cruise. We are booked o n Regent Seven Seas. Really really good rates – and we got upgraded – and free/included shore excursions. </p>
<p>Will report back in mid-July.</p>