Alaska Cruise (1 Viewer)

[Senor Schmutzig]

New ship is the Norwegian Bliss...looks pretty cool, but its only itineraries for this summer are round trips from Seattle...no Anchorage.

The Norwegian Jewel is the 7-day ship for Vancouver/Seward. You could arrange your own tour and then hop on the Southbound ship. The Jewel is a nice ship also. How old are your kids?

I understand your point about the cruise tour and the additional expense. One other suggestion I have if you want the Norwegian Bliss (it's going to be a fantastic ship)....there is a separate cruisetour option where you would fly into Anchorage, do the cruisetour and then part of the tour is one-way flight to Seattle where you would board the ship and do the 7-day trip from there. Your return flight would be from Seattle.

 

[Don Quixote]

Cruisetours tack on roughly $1500 per person on top of the cruise price.  Cruise + Land + Air fare adds up quickly with a family of 4.  I am considering a rental car and trying to work our own way around for a couple days before the cruise.  But as I am researching this more, it appears there is a lot more distance between Seward <--> Anchorage  <--> DNP then I realized.  If I am driving, I can't enjoy the scenery as much, but the freedom to come and go as desired is a plus.

There is a train that runs from Anchorage to Denali. I haven’t taken it, but it could be something to look into.

 

[Galileo]

There is a train that runs from Anchorage to Denali. I haven’t taken it, but it could be something to look into.

Yep...most of the cruise tours use the train as part of their transportation at some point.  Anchorage to Denali in Adventure Class (coach) is $171 per person...ONE WAY ($314 if you want the domed car).  The train from Anchorage to Seward is another $108 per.  Bus from Anchorage to Denali is $90...Anchorage to Seward is $65 per person

 

[Galileo]

The Norwegian Jewel is the 7-day ship for Vancouver/Seward. You could arrange your own tour and then hop on the Southbound ship. The Jewel is a nice ship also. How old are your kids?

I understand your point about the cruise tour and the additional expense. One other suggestion I have if you want the Norwegian Bliss (it's going to be a fantastic ship)....there is a separate cruisetour option where you would fly into Anchorage, do the cruisetour and then part of the tour is one-way flight to Seattle where you would board the ship and do the 7-day trip from there. Your return flight would be from Seattle.

This is interesting...haven't seen that.  I did see a Holland America itinerary with a longer land tour and a flight to catch the ship in Skagway for a shorter cruise back to Vancouver.  Kids will be 15 and 14.  They are already 6'2" and 6'1", so I think I need two cabins on the cruise ship rather than trying to pack 4 of us in a single cabin...more expense!!  Good thing I am an FBGer. 

 

[gianmarco]

Here's my thoughts having just done this on Holland America.

-- We went northbound and did 7 days cruise and 3 day land tour

-- Denali is fantastic but the travel to and from sucks. Yes, the train is scenic but it's an 8 hour trip there from Anchorage. Then you take a bus into Denali and it's 8 hours that day (4 hours in and 4 hours back). You then get to enjoy another 8-9 hours back to Anchorage. It's 3 straight days spending 8 hours in a bus or train. If I had to do it again I'd rather do it at the beginning and then cruise.

-- You can't go into Denali with your car (at least not far enough in for it be meaningful). There's one road in and out and you have to go in with a bus tour. That said, the value of what you get with the land tour is not good compared to the cruise. I'd rather find a way up there myself and book the bus tour on my own if I were to do it again.

-- The cruise is great and even though it's older people in Holland America, my 12 year old did just fine and had fun. As for the excursions, the ones we chose were fantastic and I can gladly share more info on them if you want. Feel free to PM or ask here if you prefer.

-- We ended up getting a suite on the cruise. Highly recommend. Plenty of room and private deck. Not that much more than the regular room and definitely worth it. 

 

[Senor Schmutzig]

Here's my thoughts having just done this on Holland America.

-- We went northbound and did 7 days cruise and 3 day land tour

-- Denali is fantastic but the travel to and from sucks. Yes, the train is scenic but it's an 8 hour trip there from Anchorage. Then you take a bus into Denali and it's 8 hours that day (4 hours in and 4 hours back). You then get to enjoy another 8-9 hours back to Anchorage. It's 3 straight days spending 8 hours in a bus or train. If I had to do it again I'd rather do it at the beginning and then cruise.

-- You can't go into Denali with your car (at least not far enough in for it be meaningful). There's one road in and out and you have to go in with a bus tour. That said, the value of what you get with the land tour is not good compared to the cruise. I'd rather find a way up there myself and book the bus tour on my own if I were to do it again.

-- The cruise is great and even though it's older people in Holland America, my 12 year old did just fine and had fun. As for the excursions, the ones we chose were fantastic and I can gladly share more info on them if you want. Feel free to PM or ask here if you prefer.

-- We ended up getting a suite on the cruise. Highly recommend. Plenty of room and private deck. Not that much more than the regular room and definitely worth it. 

I'm curious why you chose Holland America versus the other available options?

 

[gianmarco]

I'm curious why you chose Holland America versus the other available options?

Few reasons.  

--Have a good friend with 2 kids that has gone on that cruise 3 times now to Alaska and gave good reviews

-- Timing of our available days worked best with HAL

-- The price for what we got was very difficult to beat. I checked a few different lines and the value on the suite was excellent.

 

[Senor Schmutzig]

Few reasons.  

--Have a good friend with 2 kids that has gone on that cruise 3 times now to Alaska and gave good reviews

-- Timing of our available days worked best with HAL

-- The price for what we got was very difficult to beat. I checked a few different lines and the value on the suite was excellent.

That works. Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[Galileo]

Here's my thoughts having just done this on Holland America.

-- We went northbound and did 7 days cruise and 3 day land tour

-- Denali is fantastic but the travel to and from sucks. Yes, the train is scenic but it's an 8 hour trip there from Anchorage. Then you take a bus into Denali and it's 8 hours that day (4 hours in and 4 hours back). You then get to enjoy another 8-9 hours back to Anchorage. It's 3 straight days spending 8 hours in a bus or train. If I had to do it again I'd rather do it at the beginning and then cruise.

-- You can't go into Denali with your car (at least not far enough in for it be meaningful). There's one road in and out and you have to go in with a bus tour. That said, the value of what you get with the land tour is not good compared to the cruise. I'd rather find a way up there myself and book the bus tour on my own if I were to do it again.

-- The cruise is great and even though it's older people in Holland America, my 12 year old did just fine and had fun. As for the excursions, the ones we chose were fantastic and I can gladly share more info on them if you want. Feel free to PM or ask here if you prefer.

-- We ended up getting a suite on the cruise. Highly recommend. Plenty of room and private deck. Not that much more than the regular room and definitely worth it. 

I was definitely trying to plan this on the front end.  All of this bus/train travel has been weighing on my mind.  I don't think my wife is going to be very thrilled with it, but I can't envision going to Alaska and not experiencing DNP.   One of the Holland America itineraries goes by train/bus from Anchorage --> Denali --> Fairbanks and then flies you back to Anchorage with a bus to Seward.  But that itinerary does not get a full day in Denali.  Several of the Denali packages have the shorter 4 hour Denali tour included.  I keep thinking I want to go deeper into the park if I am going to make the trek there.  But again, I think my wife is going to feel otherwise.  I may need to compromise.  My wife would just be happy with the cruise.

ETA: and on the front end, add a full day of air travel to get there...so 4 days in a row long times in a seat.

 

[Galileo]

I'm curious why you chose Holland America versus the other available options?

FWIW...It seems Princess has the most flexibility/options with what you can plan on the land tour part of the trip from what I am seeing.  Norwegian, Royal Carib, Princess, and Holland America all seem to be reasonably close in pricing right now.

 

[Galileo]

...also keep getting concerned when reading descriptions of things by "if you are lucky enough to get clear weather..."

 

[Redwes25]

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 also spent a day in Fairbanks on my own.

Was like a decade ago but I did something similar. The two highlights were Denali and Vancouver. It ended up being like a two week trip and was pretty amazing. 

ETA - just looked it up and we used Princess. 

 

[gianmarco]

...also keep getting concerned when reading descriptions of things by "if you are lucky enough to get clear weather..."

Don't be concerned. It's nature and not everything can be controlled for. But it will be an amazing trip.

ETA -- Try not to cut Denali short. Take the full trip in. 

 

[Tick]

As someone who grew up in Anchorage, I'm not really a fan of a trip to Denali.  The reason is that it's not that different from the rest of Alaska.  I'd take a drive from Anchorage to Girdwood instead - you'll see Dall sheep and moose along the drive, and probably whales if the tide is in, you can take a chair lift to the top of Alyeska ski resort (awesome in the summer) and eat at the Round House halfway up the mountain with great views and spectacular food.  That's a 1-hour drive each way plus whatever time you spend at Girdwood.

https://www.alyeskaresort.com/events-activities/summer-activities

Obviously, Denali is a huge mountain... but it's not that easy to tell the difference between a huge mountain and a big mountain.  I'd rather take a chairlift up a big mountain than a bus tour along the base of a huge mountain.  The one thing you would likely miss are the bears... but seeing a bear from a bus tour is a bit like going to Disney's Animal Kingdom.

 

[Galileo]

As someone who grew up in Anchorage, I'm not really a fan of a trip to Denali.  The reason is that it's not that different from the rest of Alaska.  I'd take a drive from Anchorage to Girdwood instead - you'll see Dall sheep and moose along the drive, and probably whales if the tide is in, you can take a chair lift to the top of Alyeska ski resort (awesome in the summer) and eat at the Round House halfway up the mountain with great views and spectacular food.  That's a 1-hour drive each way plus whatever time you spend at Girdwood.

https://www.alyeskaresort.com/events-activities/summer-activities

Obviously, Denali is a huge mountain... but it's not that easy to tell the difference between a huge mountain and a big mountain.  I'd rather take a chairlift up a big mountain than a bus tour along the base of a huge mountain.  The one thing you would likely miss are the bears... but seeing a bear from a bus tour is a bit like going to Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Interesting perspective.   There is a Norwegian 11 night itinerary that includes both Denali and Girdwood with a night at Alyeska.

 

[Senor Schmutzig]

FWIW...It seems Princess has the most flexibility/options with what you can plan on the land tour part of the trip from what I am seeing.  Norwegian, Royal Carib, Princess, and Holland America all seem to be reasonably close in pricing right now.

Princess owns a lot of their own lodges and motorcoaches whereas the other lines do not.

One thing for Norwegian is that they use Premiere Alaska for their tours and all of the people with Premiere are native Alaskans. This provides a level of authenticity that is tough to replicate with Princess (can't speak for the others) who will hire college students from the lower 48 for the summer. Not a dealbreaker perhaps but it makes it more interesting when the people you are talking with from the tour guide, to the bus driver to the hospitality staff can tell you about how they used to go out hunting for moose with their grandpa or trained with a musher who won the Iditarod. That's kind of cool.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Day 1 of planning an Alaska cruise/tour for next summer. A lot to take in. Wanted an aft facing balcony but a lot are already full for June 2019. Maybe I'll have to hold off until 2020.

 

[Galileo]

A lot <> all... act now if you want it!  Which cruise you doing?  North...South...or round trip?

 

[East Coast Bias]

Not sure which cruise line or direction yet. I think I'd prefer south to do the land tour first and then the cruise. Am just getting an idea of itineraries and prices. Due to my work schedule, I can only do June so that limits us a a little. I don't want to put it off until 2020 but will if I need to. 

 

[Galileo]

Not sure which cruise line or direction yet. I think I'd prefer south to do the land tour first and then the cruise. Am just getting an idea of itineraries and prices. Due to my work schedule, I can only do June so that limits us a a little. I don't want to put it off until 2020 but will if I need to. 

I am going in a couple weeks.  The land tour stuff around Anchorage/Denali looks awesome, but it was a heck of a lot of travel time on trains/buses which did not appeal to my wife.  So we are doing the round trip out of Seattle on the new Norwegian ship, Bliss.  We tacked on a couple days in Seattle, so that will be our "land tour" 

 

[Tick]

I am going in a couple weeks.  The land tour stuff around Anchorage/Denali looks awesome, but it was a heck of a lot of travel time on trains/buses which did not appeal to my wife.  So we are doing the round trip out of Seattle on the new Norwegian ship, Bliss.  We tacked on a couple days in Seattle, so that will be our "land tour" 

Seattle <> Alaska.  But Seattle's cool also.

Yeah, Anchorage to Denali is a 4-hour drive.

 

[gianmarco]

Not sure which cruise line or direction yet. I think I'd prefer south to do the land tour first and then the cruise. Am just getting an idea of itineraries and prices. Due to my work schedule, I can only do June so that limits us a a little. I don't want to put it off until 2020 but will if I need to. 

If you don't know which direction yet then it doesn't matter which side of the boat yet.  When you know which direction, then make sure you get a room on the side where land is.  If you are on a northbound cruise, you want starboard.  If it's southbound, you want port side.  And it DEFINITELY matters, IMO.

 

[SteelCurtain]

Did the land/cruise thing (going northbound from Vancouver) a few years ago on HAL. 

Great trip, but for me, Denali was the absolute highlight.  I thought 8 hours on essentially a school bus would be torture, and it turned out to be my favorite part.

When we went, fares were more expensive to go southbound than northbound.  I can understand why as if I was to do it again, I would want to go southbound.

 

[zeamax]

Has anyone been to the Land of Ten Thousand Smokes?

Sounds like it's very remote.

 

[Don Quixote]

For people talking about the Denali travel time, flying into Fairbanks saves a bit of time.  It's a much shorter drive from Fairbanks to Denali, and you only have to do the Denali-Anchorage leg once.

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

Boarding this Friday on Royal Caribbean out of Seattle.  Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria BC.  Cant wait. 

My mom is taking us.  My folks loved to cruise in retirement..was supposed to be us with my mom and dad..lost Dad somewhat unexpectedly last year.  RIP Pops we will be thinking of you often on the trip.

 

[odin33]

Enjoy the trip. A few things I've mentioned other places, and a year later look back upon:

1. Enjoy the fresh air- some of the experiences have begun to fade, but being able to take a huge, deep, relaxing breath was amazing. Silly as it sounds, probably my single biggest takeaway (and I don't live in a poor air quality city).

2. I kick myself for not doing this. At night, bundle up and go watch the stars. I didn't and it drives me nuts still today. As mentioned before they turn down the beds (lowered the bunk bed for daughter) and I never thought to go out and star gaze (ID 10 T error)

3. I think you're a little too early for the salmon running, but be sure to ask when you're getting close to Ketchican. 

 

[Galileo]

Enjoy the trip. A few things I've mentioned other places, and a year later look back upon:

1. Enjoy the fresh air- some of the experiences have begun to fade, but being able to take a huge, deep, relaxing breath was amazing. Silly as it sounds, probably my single biggest takeaway (and I don't live in a poor air quality city).

2. I kick myself for not doing this. At night, bundle up and go watch the stars. I didn't and it drives me nuts still today. As mentioned before they turn down the beds (lowered the bunk bed for daughter) and I never thought to go out and star gaze (ID 10 T error)

3. I think you're a little too early for the salmon running, but be sure to ask when you're getting close to Ketchican. 

I wouldn't kick yourself too hard.  Stargazing from a cruise ship is not all your making it out to be.  Tons of light pollution from the ship.  I have tried from ships in the Caribbean before and it was not good...better than home I suppose, but not what you might be expecting.  

 

[tommyGunZ]

I wouldn't kick yourself too hard.  Stargazing from a cruise ship is not all your making it out to be.  Tons of light pollution from the ship.  I have tried from ships in the Caribbean before and it was not good...better than home I suppose, but not what you might be expecting.  

Meh - what would you know about stargazing?

 

[odin33]

I wouldn't kick yourself too hard.  Stargazing from a cruise ship is not all your making it out to be.  Tons of light pollution from the ship.  I have tried from ships in the Caribbean before and it was not good...better than home I suppose, but not what you might be expecting.  

appreciate it, just one of those things I meant to do. Was out in Aspen long ago camping in the foothills and recall looking up thinking it wasn't possible to have that many stars. Wanted to experience it again.

 

[Tick]

Has anyone been to the Land of Ten Thousand Smokes?

Sounds like it's very remote.

No smokes - the fumeroles stopped.  Our geology teacher showed us tons of slides from there - it looks like Mars, no vegetation and crazy broken volcanic landscapes.  

It's inside Katmai, which also has Brooks Falls (the picture you always see of a bear standing on top of a wide short waterfall, catching a fish out of the air).  I grew up spending summers at a fishing cabin on the edge of Katmai and went to Brooks many times, but never the Valley of 10000 Smokes.  Brooks is great, but kind of in a Niagara Falls way - from the bear watch platform, watching the bears is breathtaking... an hour later, you've seen it and are ready to move on.

https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

Check Google maps - start at Brooks and follow the only road to the SE until all vegetation disappears in the valley.  Pretty cool looking. https://goo.gl/maps/soHixQ15F2U2