Alaskan cruise for newbies.?

Question

My friends and I want to take an Alaskan cruise of some sort but have no idea what to do. Not too many Alaskan cruises listed on travelocity. Any people done it and want to share insights on how to get the best deals/where to go for more info? I googled it, but the top results looked like websites made by my 5 year old niece.

Answer 1

I have been to Alaska twice, once on business and then again by cruise ship.  Here's what you need to know.

First, You need to just use the cruise line web sites to search for and select a cruise.  The Alaska cruise season in mid-May through mid-September only.  So that is the window that you will be working with for the major cruise lines that operate from US ports.  The fares for Alaska cruises are lowest in May for the first couple cruises by each cruise line, and then again in September for the last couple cruises.  The reason is the weather is warmest during the summer months, June to August.  But the weather can be almost as pleasant in May and September.  We cruised in May and found the weather to be in the 65 to 75 range during the day and slightly cooler at night.

Cruises to Alaska are operated by the cruise lines that I have listed below.  There are several ways to have a cruise to Alaska.  You can cruise north from San Francisco, Seattle, or Vancouver Canada or cruise south from Anchorage (Whittier or Seward).  Cruises typically cruise the "inside passage" which is a waterway much like a river where you can in most places see land on both sides of the ship.  It provides a very smooth ride on that part of the cruise.  Cruises typically go to Juneau (the capitol), and Ketchikan, Skagway, and stop at one or more glaciers like Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord.  Some cruises do other port stops.  So you need to pay attention to which itinerary (port stops) the cruises will have.

Then there are what are called cruise-tours which either start or end in Fairbanks, Alaska going north or south.  The cruise tours are done by three cruise lines, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Holland America.  They typically afford an opportunity to stay a night or two in/at Denali National Park, Anchorage, Talkeetna, or Fairbanks, Alaska.  These three cruise line use the train to transport you from/to the cruise point to/from the park and Fairbanks.  The train ride is magnificent and when you do the cruise tour you will have the best opportunity to see wildlife like bears, caribou, moose, fox, wolf, and a few others.  These cruise-tours can be from 12 to 15 days or more while normal cruises are 7 days.  

Some other things that your should be aware of as you look for an Alaska cruise:

- some cruises are round trip, returning to the port that they started from while others are one way, for example, starting in Alaska and ending in Seattle.

- The best deals on cruises are May and September but cruise lines also give discounts for early bookings and then the prices normally go up.  Early booking means a year or more in advance.  So at this point you may not really find a "deal" or discount on a cruise unless you look at going in September, or next year (09).

- The cruise lines do have discounts listed on their home web pages and you may be able to find a date that is discounted, look for the link on the cruise line page that takes you to discounted cruises.

So you have two options, go to a travel agent and have him/her search based on when you want to go, OR go yourself to the cruise line web sites and search yourself. Below are links to the MANY cruise lines you can search.

These are the luxury high priced cruise lines:

Regent Seven Seas:

http://www.rssc.com/

http://www.regent-seven-seas-cruises-dis...

SILVER SEAS:

http://www.silversea.com/

http://www.silversea.com/destination.asp...

These are the other cruise lines that most people go on:

HOLLAND AMERICA

http://www.hollandamerica.com/

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruis...

CELEBRITY:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/home .

http://www.celebritycruises.com/search/v...

ROYAL CARIBBEAN:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/gohome.d.....

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis...

NORWEGIAN:

http://www.ncl.com/

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruisesearch/c...

PRINCESS:

http://www.princess.com/index.html

http://www.princess.com/pb/searchResults...

CARNIVAL:

http://www.carnivalcruiselines.com/

http://www.carnival.com/searchResults.as...

My advice is loon for a cruise going in Sept OR a discount OR consider going in 09 but look to book early.  Also I recommend Celebrity, Princess, and  Royal Caribbean, all cruise lines I have been on and enjoyed.

Answer 2

Several ways you can get the answers you need.

!. Go to AAA and ask for brochures.

2. Cruise line sites.

Holland America offers the most choices on Cruise tours. They start with a 3, 4 or 7 day cruise and then rest on land. All lines offer a 7 day cruise with the rest on a land tour. Or you can do the land tour first. I have found after 22 times there that Princess offers the best price, lodges and extras for you money. Princess also offers a Free CD on all their cruises which includes a brief run down on the sites and also a map of the area. A 7 day cruise also is a good way to see the amazing scenery, wildlife, glaciers and meet people from all over the world. You can not go wrong a on a cruise to Alaska.

You need to besure if you choose a cruisetour if you do landtour first somelines charge more.

Also on a 7 day you can either do a nort or southbound cruise. All that means is either you start in either Seattle or Vancouver or in Anchorage. Either way they all stop pretty much in the same ports.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy.

Answer 3

Give the URL below a try.  My wife and I did a 7-day cruise on Holland American a couple of years ago and it was a nice way to see a lot of Alaska.  We flew from Seattle to Anchorage and sailed down the coast, stopping in Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan, and finally arriving in Vancouver, BC.  We live in Seattle, so it wasn't that different for us.  If you've never been to the Pacific Northwest, it's very interesting.

Answer 4

Cruise deals are available allover! Choose a cruise line and book through their website.  make sure to have insurance for a refund if you cannot travel. I  did that and got the money back.

Seattle and Vancouver are the ports they go from. Seattle would be better if you do not have passports already.

Also, they are cheaper in May and September. If you are lucky you will get good weather! Jun-July-August are peak time.

I live in Juneau in summer. Any advise please feel free to email.

Answer 5

We did a cruise/ tour. First we spent 4 days in Alaska, mostly in Denali park. We saw tons of wildlife, went to an ididerod champs place, and took some trains from Anchorage to Denali, and from Denali to the coast. We then got on the ship for a 7 day cruise through the inland passage, and to Junneo, Ketchekan, and 2 other ports. Besides seeing the Glaciers which were truly awesome and beautiful, the other thing we loved was taking the white pass railroad. All I can say is it was my favorite cruise ever and I have been on 8 cruises. We went on Princess cruise lines. You can check out there web site on Princess.com.