Alaska Group Cruise 2008

JoeyandDavid · October 19, 2006

Ryndam was a wonderful ship.... sure if you want we can try but unless jason has been able to fix it the result will be the same..

It is my understanding Joe that we are shooting for may / june thingy

we need your imput to.. I am hoping we can do at a minumum princess or celebrity.. HAL is not out the question .. and no the full Itineraries have not been released yet...so theer are many things to decide...

on the other hand if you see one of the upscales with a super sale make sure you let us know too ...

Joey

Suzila · October 19, 2006

Unless things change for us, I would not be able to make a May/June cruise.

However, we've been to Alaska twice, and I'd like to make the following suggestions:

The first time we were on Princess in a July. This last time we were on Royal Caribbean, in August. Either line was wonderful.

While we didn't see bears from the deck of the ship, the people who went on the bear-hunting excursion brought back plenty of pictures of sightings. Also, the people who did the whale-watching tours saw them, and we did see them from the deck of the ship as we were passing.

I would suggest your itinerary definitely include spending a day cruising the glaciers...i.e.: Glacier Bay. I missed seeing that on this last cruise, but we did see it the first time. We wanted a different itinerary this time around. While we were able to see some of it in Juneau at the Mendenhall, it's not the same as spending an entire day watching parts of it melt off, hear it cracking off, etc.

If you are doing May/June, be prepared for a cold cruise. It was freezing cold this time in August, and we actually lucked out with a good week of weather. The captain told us that our cruise was the only cruise this summer that had sunshine. So, try to choose a ship that has an indoor pool...i.e.: RC Vision of the Seas. No one sat outside at the pool, and I can only imagine the temperature in May or June.

A word about a stop in Icy Strait Point: there wasn't a lot to do there. Hubby and our friend went salmon fishing. They caught fish, had it shipped back...our friend's fish wasn't packed that well and they were afraid to eat it, and we never received ours at all. Called them, emailed them, faxed them, they never answered, and we finally had the smoking/shipping charge taken off our VISA. (when we went to Ketchikan and did the salmon fishing, we had our fish smoked and shipped home and it was here before we even arrived home!) My girlfriend and I did the excursion where we learned how to filet, cook, prepare the fish. Nice, but I'd never do it again or even recommend it. There is NOTHING to see in Icy Strait Point...it's just a small dock. Try to find an itinerary that doesn't include Icy Strait Point.

This last cruise left from Seattle, and we made a stop in Victoria. Definitely worth it, if you can manage that itinerary.

Hope this helps a bit.

JoeyandDavid · October 19, 2006

helps a lot sue ...... thanks

hamster92256 · October 20, 2006

Never cruised to Alaska, but lived there for 3 1/2 yrs, late June early July are the warmer months!!! You might also want to do the overland trip which includes - train trip to Denali (Mt McKinley) and then to Fairbanks, with a bus ride back to Anchorage. Well worth it in my opinion!!!

Suzila · October 20, 2006

That's what I want to do the next time we go to Alaska. I want to see so much more of it.

zebra · October 20, 2006

My two cents worth.......

We have been twice. Once on a 14 day cruise/land (by train) package, on a smaller ship, the Sea Princess, and the 2nd time we did a 7 day inside passage cruise from Seattle on a much larger ship, the Diamond Princess.

Firstly, IMHO there is absolutely NO comparison between the land/cruise package and the inside passage. I would fully advise you to do the land/cruise cruise. This package gives you a true experience of Alaska, which is more than awesome! Not only are the Princess lodges wonderful but the itinerary takes you to the best glaciers, which are further north. Spending a day cruising Glacier Bay we had a close ip experience with a pod of Killer whales, right alongside the ship. They stayed with us for about 30 minutes and we have it all on video! We also saw a Grizzly bear on the beach, which we could see clearly with the naked eye, from the ship Sea Princess (1950 pax). Of course this package will probably be 12 - 14 days. The ship was small enough for the captain to maneuver it close to the "calving" glaciers etc etc.

Now the Diamond Princess, for those who haven't been on her, is a gorgeous new ship, but that's a huge part of your vacation (covered pools etc) but she can't get into all the same bays that the smaller ships can. Also they have her on the Inside Passage, which after experiencing the above, doesn't even compare. (Sorry about the reitteration!)

We haven't had experience on other cruise lines to Alaska - but Princess and HAL have the biggest share of that market according to cruise magazines.

So in a nutshell - smaller ship and a cruise that starts in Valdez or Seward - are going to give you the most "travel bang for your buck".

Lisa63 · October 20, 2006

Thank you to those who provided the wonderful tips on Alaska. This is one area we have not cruised yet -- and would love to.

Yet, we fall into the group that can cruise in July through mid-August only. Depending on school schedules, the last week of June might work, too.

As for ship and itinerary, I am flexible. The most important aspect to me would be to share it with my CruiseCrazies friends.

Rat · October 20, 2006

I may be interested in a CC 2008 Alaska cruise depending on date, itinerary and cost. My preference would be a Celebrity transition cruise in May or September.

PrincessOne · October 21, 2006

I must reiterate the words previously stated by Zebra...

Princess offer the best land/sea packages...and many to choose from. I wouldn't do just an inside round trip...

Vancouver to Whittier...with a few nights stay right in Denali, in Princess's own lodge...

zebra · October 21, 2006

I would like to add one thing about the land/sea package. IF you choose to do this - do the land portion first, you would fly into Fairbanks and then travel down to Whittier, to get on to the ship. There are many different package for the land portion - all ending up at the ship on your sailing day.

If you do this portion first, you then have the most RELAXING portion on the ship and really feel like you've had a vacation. (On the ship you can get up whenever you please, on the land portion you have to be up early to get onto the train/bus - so it is more regimented.)

As a side - we chose our stops as - Denali Princess Lodge and Kenai Princess Lodge - both we're superb. They also booked us into Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage, what a wonderful hotel! Kenai we had 2 nights there and everyone has their own cabin. We also loved the hot tub,even though the temps we in the 40's, it was tremendous under the Alaskan sky at night.

Get the Princess Alaska brochure - and you'll see all the different options. The Mount McKinley Lodge is also superb.