We’ve visited Alaska via land and cruise. The cruise was lovely if you enjoy “cruising life”- fabulous meals, relaxing and entertainment. The views of glaciers was great and we saw lots sea life. The port stops were incredibly expensive, touristy and crowded.
Our land excursion was by far my favorite. We rented an RV and the roads were great in July. We saw Denali - the bus trip you reserve well in advance. We also did the boat trip to see glaciers out of Seward. In my opinion, the glaciers on this venture was just as good as the cruise just not as many. Our big splurge was a seaplane trip. We flew over a glacier and landed at the mouth of a river. Bears were feeding on salmon. We fished for salmon and photographed the bears. It was AMAZING!! I believe we flew to Wolverine Creek- it was out of Soldonta and around $400 a person.
The only time we were cold was at night and on our water adventures. We brought hat, gloves and warm coat. If you visit ports where cruises land, look at the schedules and avoid mid-day. Seward was lovely til about 10 am- then it was a zoo. Wish we would have gone late afternoon.
I’ve done this. We went to anchorage first and spent a few days hanging out in town, fishing, and hiking. Also they have great coffee places! Then we went to Denali national park. We ended up going in a very small plane to fly around the peak/sides of the mountain. It was really cool as you were so close you could literally see the climbers. Later we went to Fairbanks and saw the northern lights. We also went on a one day deep sea fishing boat trip. It was very pretty!
I once worked with someone who was an Alaskan native. She said so much is missed by taking a cruise . She recommended seeing Alaska by train or bus.
@veruca - The cruise/ship experience is what you make of it. We were shocked at how young, and family-oriented the crowd was on our cruise (which started over Memorial Day weekend of this year). Maybe it’s because it was by far the lowest cost one out there! The ports were crowded and touristy, but we didn’t really participate in that stuff. We rented a car in two ports and got off the beaten path and had a great time with that. In another port, we hired a taxi driver to give us a tour of the area (again, off the beaten path) and even visited the beautiful, local library.
Alaska is huge and there’s just too much of it to see in one trip. The land portion and the cruise portion are very different, and I don’t think either one is to be missed. Glacier National Park can’t be viewed from land, and is just incredible. And the interior is beautiful and can’t be viewed from a cruise ship. I believe that combining the two, or doing two trips, is the best way to see Alaska.