I appreciate all the great ideas. Anyone have any specific Alaskan cruises you would recommend?
What are you looking for?
Alaska is awesome!! Went in 2015 (flew to Anchorage; Talkeetna, Denali, Fairbanks, Seward). Would definitely recommend if you take a cruise to book some time on the end to get to Denali. IMO you can skip Fairbanks, unless you want to make the trek to the arctic circle. The Kenai area is fantastic.
I went to Iceland last year for a long weekend. It was super amazing. Huge waterfalls you can get right next to, interesting history you can learn about, some unique food (whale, reindeer… though Alaska also offers reindeer). The scenery in Iceland is spectacular. You can visit the spot where the tectonic plates come together, and even scuba or snorkel between the plates! If you want to go around the whole island, recommend 10-14 days. If you want to base out of Reykjavik you can do 4-5 days. Everyone I know that has been to Iceland has raved about it.
In 2014 I went to Colombia and took a trip to Peru. Saw Machu Picchu, but wish I had more time in the Andes; they are awesome. Elevation is very high.
Next month I’m going to Scandinavia, so I can’t tell you about it, but I have very high expectations. Flying to Stockholm, overnight boat to Helsinki, day trip in Tallinn, back to Oslo and 4-5 days in fjord country to Bergen.
If you haven’t been to Berlin, there is a lot of history and many things to do there! Or could do Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest?
Maybe Slovenia (lake Bled), Croatia (Split, Islands, and Dubrovnik), and Bosnia (Sarajevo or Mostar)?
I’ve heard South Africa is excellent. Make the flight to Victoria Falls also?
Canada also has many fantastic options, like a combination of Vancouver, Calgary, Banff, and Jasper?
We took the Alaska cruise out of Vancouver two summers ago. The scenery was awesome and we had fun on the excursions. You get so spoiled on the ships, but Alaska cruises are special because of the natural beauty of the various ports of call. We went to Iceland and then on to Copenhagen last summer. As others have said, Iceland is just awesome, but it’s expensive. Copenhagen was a wonderful place to explore for a week. Great food (home of Noma), castles, art, wonderful to explore on foot or bike. Highly recommend it.
Check out theicelandguydotcom. Very informative site and he is a super nice person who I think will be happy to answer any of your questions.
Absolute vote for Iceland here. We were there in early June two years ago and adored it (except for the one day it snowed while we were hiking).
We did an Alaska cruise that was very successful about 15 years ago. It was on the Seven Seas Mariner, which is much smaller than the normal large cruise ships (but not as small as the really small ones), high end but completely informal, high level of intellectual content available (anthropologists, geologists on board). Loved loved loved Sitka.
We did Princess from Vancouver a few years ago and it was one of the best vacations ever. As we were already in Vancouver for a business trip for DH, we had choice between Princess and Holland America. The important thing for an Alaska cruise is to check the itinerary because you do want to go on one that goes to Glacier Bay. Because we had a week in awesome Vancouver before the cruise, couldn’t extend and flew back from Anchorage. The drive between the cruise ship terminal south of Anchorage about 2 hours was very scenic and the driver sort of gave us a mini-commentary on what we were seeing. The ship also had a naturalist and National Park Service rangers on board for presentation.
One thing about Iceland–it may be too late to get accommodations you want at this late date. We looked into Iceland for a trip this July back in late February/early March and a lot hotels/tour companies were already all booked up and only taking reservations for summer of 2018. Apparently it is a new hot spot suddenly on everyone’s radar.
Lucky you Morrismm that you are getting so many opportunities to visit new places. I would suggest you to visit Iceland or Alaska among all the options you have placed. The Alaska cruise season runs from May – to mid September because those are really the only times the weather is bearable therefore you can only plan Alaska trip in summer. Recently, one of my friends got married at The Addison of Boca Raton and the couple planned their honeymoon in Alaska. I have seen the scenery and wildlife of Alaska in their honeymoon pictures and it was amazing. Iceland is also similar to Alaska only difference is that Alaska is in the USA. So it’s up to you to choose the location which is within your budget.
The biggest “player” in the Alaskan cruise industry is the Hollandamerica/princess/carnival group. Another big one is celebrity/royal Caribbean.
Lucky you Morrismm that you are getting so many opportunities to visit new places. I would suggest you to visit Iceland or Alaska among all the options you have placed. The Alaska cruise season runs from May – to mid September because those are really the only times the weather is bearable therefore you can only plan Alaska trip in summer. Recently, one of my friends got married at theaddisonofbocaraton.com and the couple planned their honeymoon in Alaska. I have seen the scenery and wildlife of Alaska in their honeymoon pictures and it was amazing. Iceland is also similar to Alaska only difference is that Alaska is in the USA. So it’s up to you to choose the location which is within your budget.