Opinions on the Alaskan Cruise

My husband and I are planning a cruise to Alaska in May of next year and are trying to decide whether or not a boat tour is worthwhile.

I am looking for recommendations on Alaskan cruises and what you would or would not recommend, particularly on whether the boat tour is worthwhile.

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We did our own ā€˜cruise tourā€™ before a Seward to Vancouver cruise. It was significantly less expensive than booking one of the offered cruise tours. We took the Alaska Railway up to Denali and stayed there in a nice hotel for a few nights. One day, we took the Forest Service bus tour into the lodge at the center of the park. It was a several hour, highly scenic narrated ride on what appeared to an old school bus. We saw a couple grizzly bears, herds of caribou, several moose and miles of spectacular tundra with the mountain looming above. The tour included a nice group lunch in the lodge. While we having lunch, a guy who runs a scenic air service was circulating, so we ended buying a couple seats, and being flown back in a 4 seat Cessna,instead of getting back on the bus, which backtracked down the same road weā€™d come in on. We flew half around the mountain, over several of its glaciers, which was amazing, and then back to a little airstrip that was 200 yards from our hotel. The other days we river rafted and took an ATV tour. All very fun.

Then we took a tour bus to Talkeetna where we had an amazing breakfast (biggest pancake over ever seen!) and then a jet-boat tour. Next day, we continued on to Seward, arriving the day before embarkation. We used that day to take a wildlife boat tour around the Kenai Peninsula. We saw many sea lions, puffins, a pod of orcas, all against a backdrop of otherworldly scenery. Honestly the best boat wildlife trip ever.

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We did a one-way Northbound from Vancouver and I thought it was great. We didnā€™t do any zig zagging, pretty much just went along in order, so not sure what that is about. I absolutely loved Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, and I know those can be tough to find on a round trip.

We also did the cruise tour to Denali after, and thatā€™s where I would have DIYā€™d it. My mom paid for the whole family so she was the one who booked it and that was an easy option for our large group. But I feel like I could have planned it just fine and made it so our time was more productive. We were also thrown off a bit by the Denali fire, so that made things a little crazy, but I still think we could have figured it out and had a great time. So Iā€™d do a one-way cruise and then figure out the interior on your own!

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I just went on one and am now addicted.

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Hell no. You should do as I did for my family and handle everything on your own. According to what Iā€™ve heard from others, it takes two days to go to Denali and you only have half of one day there.

If my family had pushed it, we could have been outside of Denali the same day we flew in if we hadnā€™t reserved the Denali Overlook Inn in Talkeetna.

We saved thousands of dollars by doing it ourselves for five individuals.

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@Banice Do you mind if I ask around how much it costs per person? Was this recent?

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@Nidal It was in May 2017.

1 night in Denali Overlook Inn, 2 nights in Denali Park Hotel. $313.95 overlook (1 room for all 5 people), $530 for 2 rooms, 2 nights each.

Rental car in Anchorage for entire ā€œland tourā€: $268
Denali park tours (should have only taken the 1 inside the park that does the whole stretch, as thereā€™s 1 way in and 1 way out, but we did 2 that overlapped): $967.50 (5 people, 2 tours each)
Train fare for 4 people from Denali to Anchorage: $1116
Stay in Anchorage at Highland Glen B&B: $271
Bus transfer/tour from Anchorage to Whiitter: $245

Itinerary:
Pick up minivan rental at Anchorage Airport (pickup 5/27/17 1pm, return 5/31/17 1pm) Alamo

Late lunch/early dinner

Drive halfway to Denali (115 miles from airport, 2:15)

Stay at Denali Overlook Inn, 29198 S Talkeetna Spur (Mile 8.5), Talkeetna, AK 99676 907-733-3555,

Drive rest of way to Denali (148 miles, 2:33 to Denali Visitor Center)

Booked 2 tours in Denali:

            Tundra Wilderness Tour (actually, shorter Toklat Shoulder Season Tour), Sunday 1:40pm-9:40pm

            Denali Natural History Tour, Monday 2pm ā€“ 7pm

Hotel while at Denali: Denali Park Hotel, 247 George Park Hwy, Healy, AK 99743, 907-683-1800

Train on Tuesday, May 30th. 12:30pm from Denali Depot. Check in 1 hour in advance. GoldStar Dome train. Depot 100 feet from Denali Visitors Center.

Train returns to Anchorage at 8pm @ 411 W 1st Avenue, Anchorage AK 99501

Stay at Highland Glen Lodge Bed & Breakfast, 11651 Hillside Drive, Anchorage, AK 99507

Drive to airport and return car.

Get the ā€œACT Big Busā€ from airport ~1pm (start of trip is 12pm for local hotels, airport is last)

            -Includes Anchorage to Whittier Narrated Wildlife Tour (Princess)

            -Bus will be at red horseshoes outside Alaska Airlines Luggage Claim Door #1
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Iā€™ve cruised Alaska six times and plan to go again. Make sure glacier Bay national Park is specifically listed on the itinerary since it is the biggest highlight.

My experience has led to the following unpopular conclusions:

One way cruises are a huge pain and no different than round trip. You zigzag along the route anyways and see the same stuff regardless. Iā€™ve cruised out of Whittier and Vancouver and never again. Seattle round-trip for us is much easier and just as scenic.

The land tour is not worth it. I spent 10 days doing the Yukon/ Denali train, bus and flight land tour. It was 50% off the normal price and I still didnā€™t feel it was remotely worth it. At the end everyone in the group said it was ā€œmehā€. Even Denali was a big let down (I was the one super excited about visiting). We did a challenging hike and a bus tour and it wasā€¦ nice. We are a national Park family and it was not even in the top 10. Visit Rocky mountain or glacier national Park instead (less money with better views and wildlife).

Skagway train ride was better than the other train rides we did across Alaska. I HIGHLY recommend that excursion!

Basically if you want to spend more money just do 2 back to back cruises. There is a ton to do in ports!

I would recommend Holland cruises since even the older ships are well maintained, they get priority berth in port and often go to glacier Bay. Princess was nice as well but the ships tend to not be as well maintained and two party members didnā€™t like the food as much as Holland.

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@Camilla Thanks so much for all that info!!! My husband and I are also huge into national parks! Rocky Mountain was our first, and my favorite to this day. Weā€™ve been to 12 so far.

I was hoping that doing the cruise tour in Alaska would give us a good look into Denali national park, but you bring up good points. We were basically trying to decide on if we just do either:

Round trip cruise (no land portion aside from the port stops - so we wouldnā€™t see any national parks with this option unfortunately)

Cruise tour so that we have 2-3 days on land with the tour guides (currently looking at Royal Caribbean)

One way cruise to Alaska, then DIY the land portion on our own

There are so many factors that go into making the decision, and weā€™re trying to make the best one as we probably wonā€™t be back to Alaska anytime soon, if ever again even.

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@Nidal If you want to see Denali I would suggest the diy option although it will still be quite pricey (even the food is really expensive).

But Iā€™m pretty sure the reason Denali gets talked up so much is due to the remoteness and people not having other national Parks to compare it to.

Every national Park is gorgeous in some way and Denali is no exception. It is a nice park. It just isnā€™t more impressive than easier to access parks.

Glacier Bay national Park on the other hand is beyond amazing! I like to cruise very late August/early September because you can cruise further into glacier Bay. You can check the national Park website for more details but they close a section for seal pup season and open it later in the season. It isnā€™t advertised or talked about much but I noticed the difference on one cruise and asked the park ranger onboard.

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Why donā€™t you like Vancouver?

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@Dacosta
Vancouver the city is awesome! Great food and lots to do.

As a cruise port? Awful. Snaking through a long parking garage with cars zooming past with the suitcases (note that is the official way to do it) only to go up in the elevator, back down on the elevator and down multiple hallways with no signsā€¦ It was a nightmare.

And Vancouver for a US person is an international flight. Lots of added taxes and fees (over $300pp for us) and a long line for customs and passport control. I travel internationally often and it is always an exhausting experience.

Being able to cruise out of Seattle is much easier, less expensive and you skip the really awful lines. And the hotel is easily half the price ($220 in Seattle versus $460 for a not great hotel in Vancouver).

If the deal was good enough I would consider cruising out of Vancouver but my husband said never again.

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@Camilla Okay, thank you. We just returned from a cruise out of Seattle, which was fantastic except for the Seattle airport. People suggested cruising out of Vancouver.

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We did a one-way Northbound from Vancouver and I thought it was great. We didnā€™t do any zig zagging, pretty much just went along in order, so not sure what that is about. I absolutely loved Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, and I know those can be tough to find on a round trip.

We also did the cruise tour to Denali after, and thatā€™s where I would have DIYā€™d it. My mom paid for the whole family so she was the one who booked it and that was an easy option for our large group. But I feel like I could have planned it just fine and made it so our time was more productive. We were also thrown off a bit by the Denali fire, so that made things a little crazy, but I still think we could have figured it out and had a great time. So Iā€™d do a one-way cruise and then figure out the interior on your own!

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On weekends, all airports close to cruise ports become madhouses. Crazy crowds!

1 Like

We did our own ā€˜cruise tourā€™ before a Seward to Vancouver cruise. It was significantly less expensive than booking one of the offered cruise tours. We took the Alaska Railway up to Denali and stayed there in a nice hotel for a few nights. One day, we took the Forest Service bus tour into the lodge at the center of the park. It was a several hour, highly scenic narrated ride on what appeared to an old school bus. We saw a couple grizzly bears, herds of caribou, several moose and miles of spectacular tundra with the mountain looming above. The tour included a nice group lunch in the lodge. While we having lunch, a guy who runs a scenic air service was circulating, so we ended buying a couple seats, and being flown back in a 4 seat Cessna,instead of getting back on the bus, which backtracked down the same road weā€™d come in on. We flew half around the mountain, over several of its glaciers, which was amazing, and then back to a little airstrip that was 200 yards from our hotel. The other days we river rafted and took an ATV tour. All very fun.

Then we took a tour bus to Talkeetna where we had an amazing breakfast (biggest pancake over ever seen!) and then a jet-boat tour. Next day, we continued on to Seward, arriving the day before embarkation. We used that day to take a wildlife boat tour around the Kenai Peninsula. We saw many sea lions, puffins, a pod of orcas, all against a backdrop of otherworldly scenery. Honestly the best boat wildlife trip ever.