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Holland America cruise was actually great. And yes, definitely best way to see it except for getting to Denali which you need to do by land. While Denali was amazing, the travel there and back was not.
We've never had any interest in doing a cruise, seems like a nightmare, but realize that to see Alaska it's about the only real option. We've gotten as far NW as Sonora Island and it was just incredibly beautiful. Would love to see Alaska some day.
Our 4-wheel drive adventure was in Skagway. We started at the port and drove for a few hours back into Canada (I believe the town was Carcross). It was an awesome way to get out of the tourist area.
This is misleading... If you want to see the Inside Passage, its your only option... there are tons of things to see/do in Alaska that don't involve cruises or the Inside Passage.
We've never had any interest in doing a cruise, seems like a nightmare, but realize that to see Alaska it's about the only real option. We've gotten as far NW as Sonora Island and it was just incredibly beautiful. Would love to see Alaska some day.
For the most part, yes. Not a ton of kids, but enough that my 12 yo son was able to meet some kids and make friends and hang out with them on the ship. They have a kid's club (3-6, 7-12, 13-17) where kids would go hang out and do activities if they wanted.
Ate there the first night. Not bad. However, found the Fat Ptarmigan the next day and enjoyed that significantly more. Food was pretty excellent there.
I'm sure you're right. I kinda meant if you wanted to get the full once-in-a-lifetime experience. Maybe I'm still wrong.
Decent beer selection.
We ate at a Humpy's in Hawaii and it was so bad that it's become our inside joke and benchmark for bad restaurants.
"how about this place?"
"yuck, looks like a Humpy's"
No, you're right. If you're only going to go once, you should definitely do the Inside Passage. It was cool to see for sure. Im more of an outdoor/adventure enthusiast though, so when I go back I want to do some back-country camping in Denali and stay a couple days at a fishing lodge.
Victoria is great. We took a guided tour that picked us up from our hotel in Vancouver -- spent the late morning/early afternoon in downtown Victoria (beautiful city) and then the late afternoon in Butchart Gardens. Definitely could have spent more time there.
jamny,
We've never had any interest in doing a cruise, seems like a nightmare, but realize that to see Alaska it's about the only real option. We've gotten as far NW as Sonora Island and it was just incredibly beautiful. Would love to see Alaska some day.
Yeah that sunken garden was amazing. I really enjoyed the path leading up as well. Felt like a dwarf in the shaded Giant trees with all dark green and browns with the sunken walkways twisting through, then BAM! Color explosion, open air, and bright sun.
Happy to share what was good (quite a bit) and what wasn't if you have specific questions. Post here or PM.THis has been on my bucket list for a while
No, no zoom in the 2nd video. The first video, yes. We were seated at the very back of the bus and I had the camera out the window filming from the side. But, as it came closer, I had to take the zoom off and I was literally just a few feet away above her. You can hear her footsteps as she goes by.
I’m assuming you’re referring to the first part. The amount of travel time. Anchorage is really far from me in Tampa and cruising the other direction would shave ~2.5 hours of flight time off and most likely would not require a red eye back from Vancouver or Victoria (or Seattle if you go that route).
The best reasoning for doing the one way is to add a 3/4/5 day Cruisetour onto the front end (if leaving from Seward) or the back end (if leaving from Vancouver). If you are only going to go to Alaska once, I would highly recommend adding a cruisetour so you can see Alaska from the water and from land. Just seeing it from one perspective (if going on a cruise) doesn't always give Alaska the full scope of what it has to offer.
I did a one-way, flew into Fairbanks, where my land-cruise tour started, and ended in Vancouver. It was good to see Denali and spend some time on land in Alaska, and see some of the other sites on land (drive from Anchorage down to Seward on Turnagain Arm was beautiful).
I'm guessing it's just personal preference. I would prefer to fly into Anchorage, do the 4/5 day cruise tour, hop on the ship, do the 7-day cruise and then spend a few days in Vancouver at the end.
This is about what I was thinking...maybe 2/3 days in Anchorage...You think 4-5 are needed? I need to explore a little more of what exactly we would do from there. Is the cruise-tour absolutely the way to go? I was thinking maybe I could organize my own few days and just just book the cruise.
I think it is mostly just personal preference — the most relaxing cruise day is probably the Inside Passage day. Can come down if you want to that first or last. Also, if you want the longer flight out of the way first or last.
2-3 days in Anchorage should be plenty. You can probably manage your own cruisetour at a lower price than what you would get from the cruise line if you are that type of planner. My sales team has gone up and done the cruisetour portion of the trip and absolutely loved it. They went to a sled dog/musher camp, saw all of the big 5 at Denali (wolves, moose, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, and caribou) and actually saw Denali as it was a clear day, went into Homer on the Kenai Peninsula and went on the dome rail car from Denali to Talkeetna.
New ship is the Norwegian Bliss...looks pretty cool, but its only itineraries for this summer are round trips from Seattle...no Anchorage.
