love_travel11

Hello!

We are planning a trip to Alaska in July 2015 - a family of 4, kids aged 6 and 3. We do not want to do a cruise, and have made bookings in Anchorage, Seward, Girdwood and Denali. Now, we are thinking if it is worth taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Bellingham to Juneau to see the inside passage before moving on to Anchorage. We were planning to do the Kenai Fjord Cruise and the blackstone glacier cruise (or the college fjord cruise) from Whittier. Is the inside passage via the ferry still worth it, given we have to spend 2 days on the ferry? We did check the tripadvisor forum as well, but could not find an answer to this question.

Thanks for any inputs on this - we are completely torn...

Thank you.

marvelousmouse

Have you tried googling "Alaskan marine highway with kids"? I came up with a bunch of entries that way (no time to read through right now, though). Bloggers would probably give you a more extensive idea than here. I think what might matter most is how long you have, which you don't mention.

If you do it, though, please come back and post a trip report! That trip is on my bucket list

tomfuller

Were you thinking of taking your own car on board? If you did you could set your own schedule to go to Denali.
I did a little research on this last month. The AMH is considered the "Poor Mans Alaska cruise".
They allow people who do not buy a berth to set up a tent on the deck taping it down with duct tape and tying it to the railing. You can bring along your own food or buy all your meals from a small cafe.
The Alaska Railroad to Fairbanks is still on my bucket list.
Another option would be to unload the car in Skagway and drive through the Yukon to get to Fairbanks and then come south to Denali and Anchorage etc.
I'd love to hear from someone who has done this about the experiences and tips for a more enjoyable trip.

Gardyloo

It's absolutely worth it, but if you're looking at this July, you better get on the stick, especially if you want a cabin on the boat.

The scenery is quite different than what you'll see in the balance of your trip, you'll have some time to go ashore in Ketchikan and maybe take a cab (or city bus) up to Totem Bight State Park (totem poles, beautiful clan hall.)

A car would be an unnecessary expense, and there's probably no room for it on the boat anyway.

love_travel11

Thanks everyone for your replies.

We are traveling without a car on the ferry. The plan is to fly to Seattle, take the ferry from Bellingham, spend two days on the ferry to Juneau and then fly from there to Anchorage. We will then rent a car in Anchorage for the rest of the trip.

Essentially this is our question -

Given we are doing 2 day cruises out of Seward and Whittier, how different will the views and experience in the ferry be? Particularly, given we are going to be onboard for 2 days with kids (without spending any time in the inside passage towns).

marvelousmouse , I did check those links. However, most of them talk about spending a day or so in the inside passage towns. We are not doing that. I am sure we will get off the ferry when it stops for a break, but I am not sure if we will be able to get off for any sightseeing or activities, as the time seems to be very limited.

Thank you very much once again!

enzian

I checked cabin availability on the July sailings as that may decide it for you. The July 10, 17, and 27 sailings of the M/V Columbia have no cabins available. I did not check July 3.

The July 11 and 25 sailings of the M/V Kennicott have some inside 2-berth cabins left, but no 4-berth ones.

Cost is $853 for passage only. Cabins are $265 each ( no facilities); or a roomette for $78 each. These are very cramped and have no window.

Gardyloo

Is the scenery different than what you'll get on your day cruises? (I'm presuming a glacier cruise out of Whittier and a Kenai Fjords cruise out of Seward.)

Yes and no. The Inside Passage is a series of channels (some wide, some quite narrow) between islands and/or the mainland, so most of the scenery is of tree- and mountain-lined shores (on both sides of the ship) as you wind your way through. It's never as dramatic as the glacier faces you'll encounter in Prince William Sound, nor as full of wildlife as the Kenai Fjords. I'd say it's a more serene kind of beauty, not boffo stuff.

As enzian says, it's probably a moot point for this year anyway, but my view is that with a 3- and 6-yo it probably wouldn't be the best way to spend 2 1/2 days and 3 nights (leave Bellingham Friday evening, arrive in Juneau Monday morning.) Honestly, given the time and costs, you'd actually probably be better off with a one-way cruise from Vancouver to Seward or Whittier - comparable scenery, but tons of kids' activities on the ships, and if you control your outlay on excursions, probably cheaper on any per-person-per-day metric.

But if you don't have a week for a cruise and if you still want to get a sense of Southeast Alaska, you might consider flying to Sitka from Seattle (lovely historic town in stunning setting) then taking a high speed ferry to Juneau, then fly up to ANC from there. You'd get plenty of great scenery, terrific Native and Russian American history, and lots for the kids to see.

dfrostnh

I think kids ages 6 and 3 make a difference. I found the trip very interesting because I sat thru every NPS lecture. We had a car with us so departed in Skagway. You would have to keep the kids entertained. We got a cabin (there were 3 of us) although friends urged us to camp on the deck. But, despite it being the first trip for the Columbia (2001) after it was put back in service and reservations had been made for a smaller ferry so it's first run wasn't very full, all the deck chairs were quickly claimed and I don't recall much room for any more tents.

The 4 person cabins with bunks were pretty small. We packed some bag chairs so were able to put those to use. Too small for children's play area but there were places in different areas where families had set up play areas for their children.

I thought the ferry trip was very different since we saw little wildlife while we were on the ferry where as we saw lots while on the Kenai Fjords trip. But there was also a difference in scenery and one point where the water color changes where glacier stream came in. You won't see glaciers close up.

love_travel11

Thanks everyone! We have already booked a cabin in the ferry. Having done that, we started having second thoughts about the length of the trip.

Thanks for helping everyone.

Separately, we also wanted to do a glacier dog sled tour - should we do this in Girdwood (Alpine air alaska) or in Juneau? If we choose to stick to the 2 day ferry into Juneau, we will have a day in Juneau when we can do this. Are there any other activities / sights that we would rather be doing in Juneau?

Thank you!

AKStafford

Juneau is a great spot for whale watching. That would be my choice. Harv & Marv come highly recommended.