Smaller Alaskan cruise?

Question

Wondering if anyone has experience on a smaller cruise to/in Alaska -- trying to avoid the massive Caribbean cruise-type ships -- would prefer something 200 people or smaller. We are looking to cruise at the end of this summer. Thanks!

Answer 1

The smaller cruise line in Alaska is Cruise West. They have ships that hold 100 guest. However their fare is almost double what you would pay on a larger ship plus you are very limited to what you can do. You pretty much eat in 1 room (everyone) stay in your room or find a place on deck. Princess has a smaller ship that holds 600 guests. Which has many more things to do on board. No matter how small the ship they have rules how close they can get to the glaciers. The bigger ships there are not party boats or full of wild younger people. People go to Alaska to see the Natural Beauty, Wildlife, Open spaces etc............ You may have a bigger problem. All cruises there sell out very fast, you may not find one. Try calling 1-800-Princess.

A AMAZING cruise.

Good Luck

Enjoy.

Answer 2

About 10 years ago one of my coworkers who lived in Alaska arranged a day cruise for me that was on a small ship.  The ship held about 100 people.  The cruise started with a bus ride in Anchorage down to the Portage Glacier area and there the bus drove up on a train and we went through the mountains to the Port of Whittier.  There we boarded the cruise ship and it cruised up to a glacier, as close as it could get with all of the ice in the water.  Then we cruised all the way across Prince Williams Sound to the Port of Valdez.  There passengers had two options, either fly back to Anchorage or stay overnight and take a bus back to Anchorage the next day.  I am not sure what the name of the cruise line was.

Here's are links for a cruise line that does cruises with a small ship:

http://www.alaskacruises.com/alaska-smal...

http://www.sunstonetours.com/alaska/inde...

http://www.sikumi.com/big_ship_small_shi...

http://www.smallshipcruises.com/allthebo...

Answer 3

Here is a link to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle that I found helpful: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...  Also, a great source of info is cruisecritics.com!

Answer 4

Try the ferries, much cheaper, very pleasant and they go a lot closer in to the coast. We went from Prince Rupert, stayed over in Skagway and went over the old gold rush route on the white pass train for a few days in Whitehorse.

Wonderful.