My husband and I plan to take a cruise to Alaska in 2021.
Does anyone have a recommendation on a particular cruise line, or want to lead me away from one?
I have heard that taking the Inner Passage is the way to go. Particular must-see places or must-do things?
This is a big trip for us, so I appreciate whatever advice you can offer.
Thanks!
We did one about 10 years ago on Royal Caribbean, which was nice for our family with (then young) children. RC seems to be kind of the middle ground lines - not too many young or old people. We did round trip from Vancouver and spent a couple of days there before the cruise which we all liked.
Since our trip was some time ago, I don’t think our specifics would help but a few general things:
1 - One of the high points was a whale watching excursion (we planned all excursions on our own and not through the ship.) We were advised to go with a company that had smaller boats and were so glad that we took that advice. We saw so many whales much closer than we would have on the larger boats.
2 - Splurge and go for a cabin with a balcony. I know on many cruises that’s not necessarily important, but the scenery is so gorgeous that you don’t want to miss it.
3 - Have a “Plan B” with excursions. The one that our sons really wanted to do was dog sledding, but you have to take a helicopter to a glacier to do this (we went in August). Because of fog, the excursion was canceled so we found a local tour guide and spent the day up in the Yukon Territory and he was able to have us visit a dog sled training facility. Ended up being a great day, but we were lucky that we didn’t end up with nothing to do because of the canceled excursion.
The Alaska trip remains one of our family’s all- time favorite trips. Enjoy!
We took a round trip from Vancouver on Holland America. Absolutely take the inside passage route. If you could choose only one excursion, take the Tracy Arm excursion. You get off the big ship onto a smaller boat and get up close to see animals and glaciers. We saw goats, brown bears, eagles, whales, orcas and calving glaciers. Definitely the highlight of the trip. Also spent a few days in Vancouver which is a delightful city.
@vandygrad87 - I did Alaska almost 11 years ago with my best friend, and we still talk about it with excitement, as if it was yesterday! Amazing trip.
Ok, so we sailed with Celebrity. Unfortunately our trip did not include Glacier Bay. I would absolutely include that next time (and yes, there will be a next time). Don’t spend extra on a balcony, but do be sure to get a window. We found that those with a balcony didn’t use it as much as they thought they would (it is COLD!) - instead we explored every nook and cranny before setting sail (Cruise Critic is your friend) and found some tucked away “private” areas where outside stairwells were located, and never had to jockey for positioning or fight for best views…in the 12 days we never saw another soul in those spaces (for when we DID want outside viewing) of course we also went to the upper decks and hung out with others, and our ship also had a very large inside deck area that was ringed in windows and comfy seating - We had never sailed with Celebrity before, and would do so again in a heartbeat. We’ve not sailed with Princess but hear their Alaska journeys are lovely as well. From the ship we saw whales, eagles, bears, and more. We did a r/t sailing Los Angeles to Los Angeles, so no flying (for us) and extra time on the beautiful ship. We were given a hint and tip through Cruise Critic, we placed our name (cabin #) with the purser’s desk, if they spotted the Northern Lights during the night we would be contacted in our cabin - alas, not that trip (but of course the very next sailing did!). We went to every lecture and film about the wildlife and history presented on board. Our naturalist was amazing.
More tips and clues…do the excursions you wouldn’t do anywhere else. And be prepared to pay for them (it’s the US after all, and we have insurance and safety measures that must be followed).
We did a helicopter tour out of Juneau that landed on 2 glaciers and did glacier hiking on both Gastineau glacier and Taku glacier - on Taku we hiked to a glacier lake, that was exquisite! Then we flew between glaciers - we rate this experience an 11! We used TEMSCO - “Pilot’s Choice” Glacier Explorer Tour - really spectacular!
In Skagway we took the White Pass Rail ride, which was gorgeous. This was so interesting. The steam train was built during the 1890s for the gold rushers. In this old steam train we climbed from sea level to over 5000 feet in a 90 minute stretch. We went from lush green and new growth to black granite covered in snow and everything in between (including waterfalls!). We spent equal time on the platform outside as in our seats inside. And yes, outside, it was COLD, but we didn’t care, and we were bundled up! We did the round trip on the train, which picks up and drops off a couple of blocks from the ship dock, in town.
We had a full day sailing within the Tracy Arm Fjord, another gorgeous day!
In Ketchikan we took a float plane with Alaska Seaplane Tours (Bears of the Misty Fjords tour) where we got to see bald eagles atop trees, and landed in Misty Fjords National Monument in the middle of the water, where we watched a couple of bear families doing their thing (fishing, climbing trees, playing with their young). It was exciting. Afterward we were back in town and stopped in a local hole-in-the-wall and had the very best halibut sandwich I’ve ever eaten. We also found that Ketchikan had the most authentic Alaskan arts and crafts of all the ports of call. Really beautiful things.
Our final stop was Victoria, British Columbia, where we hired a pedicab driver to take us all around the Beacon Hill neighborhood and then into Beacon Hill Park, where we saw the most stunning flowers, trees, ducks, and views. We rode around toward the harbor, and to Fisherman’s Wharf, where we treated our driver to lunch at Barb’s on the pier, which has been voted best fish and chips for years on end. We understood why. Delicious, and sitting in the sun on the pier was delightful. We said good bye to our driver (a college kid). From there we walked into Old Town (a couple of miles) along the scenic water route, and past some totem poles, stopped in for a view of the famous Empress Hotel, and explored the dozens of art galleries in Old Town. We stopped into a local tea house and had tea, and walked back to the ship through Government Street and all around a quaint neighborhood with ‘painted lady’ homes to Dallas Street and down to our ship. We didn’t go to Buchart Gardens as we sailed in early May, and the flowers weren’t in full bloom yet there. Comparing our day with others, those that went to the gardens didn’t see anything as lovely as we did in Beacon Hill Park.
Can you tell I had a great time?
PS we booked our own excursions, nothing through the ship - and all our vendors and tours are still being offered.
Did the Alaska cruise around 9 years ago with Royal Caribbean and agree it was a good option with 2 teenage sons.
We did the one way cruise from Vancouver to Seward and then an inland excursion tour (only tour booked through the cruise line) from Seward to Alyeska to Denali and then finally Fairbanks (by way of train). I definitely recommend you spend time before or after your cruise seeing some of the interior of Alaska.
All other excursions were booked on our own and I recommend Mid-July to Mid-August when planning your trip. The salmon will be running so Bald Eagles and Bears will be plentiful. Humpback whales will be feeding so if you are lucky, which we were, we witnessed the bubble net feeding behavior on our Whale Watching trip outside of Juneau.
We did the float plane in Ketchikan to Misty Fjords.
Salmon fishing for my husband and boys on Icy strait point. They got lucky since another booked group did not show up, so they got the individualized attention of 2 guides and their dogs.
For the White Pass Railway, I booked a private coach tour up to the Summit train station and then took the train back to Skagway. The bus tour up gave us plenty of opportunity to stop and take pictures along the way and was geared toward our interests.
Our cruise also included Glacier bay and then finally the sea town of Seward where we boarded a tour bus for our inland adventure.
From Seward, we traveled to Anchorage for a short lunch stop, then onto the Alyeska resort. From Alyeska, we traveled to Denali National Park (a must see) and spent 2 days exploring this area. Finally we took a train to Fairbanks for 2 days and booked an Arctic Circle Fly tour.
It was a great experience and we can’t wait to explore Alaska again in the near future.
Thank you all so much for your amazing comments and suggestions. My mind is blown by all the possibilities. So much to look forward to!! I really appreciate the time each of you took to type up responses!
We did the round trip, Seatle to Seatle. It was cheaper and that was what the trip organizers planned. We went with my best friend and H’s HS classmates. We were on Golden Princess and were on the last cruise in September. The plus was that it was warmer and not rainy at all. Another plus was that lots of places were having clearance sales on their items, as we were the last boat before they closed up until next season. We didn’t see as much wildlife as we might have earlier in the year but no mosquitoes and we had a great trip.
Note that multiple cruise lines can be under the same ownership. For example, Princess and Holland are under the same ownership, and there is (or was) at least one Alaska route where the same ship from each line docks at the same port each day (as in, “didn’t we see that other ship yesterday at the previous port?”).
Of course, on-ship amenities and pricing can be different.
If you’d be interested in a smaller ship, we went to Alaska for 12 days on the Windstar Star Legend. There were about 210 passengers and the smaller ship was able to sail into some of the smaller fjords like Kenai, Tracy Arm/Endicott, and Misty Fjords and get right up close to the glaciers. We were able to kayak from the ship in Kenai and Tracy Arm - spectacular doesn’t even begin to describe it (there were also zodiac tours from the ship available in those locations). Our trip started in Anchorage and ended in Vancouver. We visited Juneau, Icy Straits, Haines, Wrangell, and Sitka. We did a whale watch, some hiking, and the aforementioned kayaking. We did not do any of the helicopter tours (I don’t do helicopters!) but those who did said it was amazing. Even just sailing was amazing - there was often wildlife visible from the deck and in July we even had some extraordinarily warm days so we would sit out with a book and binoculars and just admire nature. We didn’t do it but the cruise line also offered a pre-cruise land tour that went further north to Denali. We love Windstar…it’s intimate and more our style. No shows (there’s music in the lounge but that’s it), few shipboard activities, and limited cabin variations, but it fits our style. Also, no need to dress for dinner beyond a collared shirt for men and no ripped jeans. it wasn’t something my husband particularly wanted to do but he went because I wanted to go and he says its one of the best trips we’ve taken.
If you are interested in an adventure cruise check out Uncruise. We did one in 2013 and it was amazing. The crew and participants totaled about 50 people. Each day we could decide to either kayak or hike and aways had an onboard naturalist to point out things etc. We did the inner passage and because of our small boat size we went to areas the larger cruise ships can’t get to. We saw salmon, eagles, bears, sea lions, whales, otters and more. Highly recommend for kids (middle schoolish and older) and adults. The activities were not too strenuous and our group could handle it all without issue. Enjoy your trip!
Boycott Carnival/Princess. Fined again for dumping garbage directly into the ocean. An amount of money that amounted to a hand slap. Disgusting.
I just did Holland America, Seattle loop, in June. It was a fun vacation because I was with friends, but I am not eager to do another H-A cruise again, at least not on the Oosterdam. I just felt like there weren’t many activities for the days at sea.
In order to keep the costs down, one friend and I didn’t sign up for any excursions. We did end up paying for a ride out to the Mendenhall Glacier, but otherwise, we walked or used the bus to explore each port. We did some nice hikes.
Thanks for the great input! I am very excited to plan this trip!
@vandygrad87 these are good tips, but you need to go to “the other CC”, the website called Cruise Critic. There are articles, reviews, photos, but the main help is the message boards. There are forums for destinations, for cruiselines, for first timers, etc. etc.
Our first Alaska cruise was in 2011 on Princess (round trip from Seattle, inside passage, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Glacier Bay Natl. Park) to celebrate our older son’s high school graduation. We are going back this June to celebrate younger son’s high school graduation, this time on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas, round trip from Vancouver.
You will be OVERWHELMED with information, but gradually you’ll sift through it all. You’ve got lots of time.
Note that Alaska cruises will have a stop in Canada (typically Vancouver or Victoria), so that they can use non-US flag ships (most of whose crews apparently come from middle income countries). So you need to be able to enter Canada and re-enter the US. For US citizens, a passport or passport card is needed. Citizens of some countries may need visas.
Note also that the train ride from Skagway enters Canada and returns to the US.
The White Pass and Yukon train from Skagway was great. We took Celebrity round trip from Seattle. One of the stops was Victoria, which was lovely.