dutchkiwi

We are hoping to do an Alaskan cruise this year, and straight after take a self drive tour to other parts of Alaska. My question is can I get a cruise that finishes in Seward. What is the best way to get to Anchorage to start our land trip.

dfrostnh

The cruise company should have transportation available to Anchorage. Even if you want to spend time in Seward, it is probably worth it to get your rental car in Anchorage and go back to Seward, spending time doing things along the Seward Hwy. The scenery is magnificent. About 2 1/2 hour drive from Anchorage to Seward if you don't stop.

doug_stallings

Yes, many cruises end up in either Whittier or Seward. Look for cruises that start in Vancouver or Seattle and go north. I would also expect a car rental to be be cheaper if you pick up in the car in Anchorage as opposed to Seward, but I'd probably price out both options.

dutchkiwi

Thank you for your help. What would we be missing out on if we didn't do the round trip on the Cruise

Gardyloo

Doug, none of the cruises that start in Seattle go to Whittier or Seward, owing to maritime law regarding cabotage (the Passenger Services Act.) Only cruises originating or terminating in a foreign country (Canada usually) can do so.

Dutchkiwi, you'd be missing out on a lot - interior Alaska, possibly Denali National Park, the Kenai Peninsula, Wrangell-St. Elias NP, Prince William Sound, or other areas inland from the cruise routes. In reality with cruises you see only a very small sampling of the landscape types, communities, and lifestyles of Alaska and its residents.

Car rentals are very expensive in peak periods, as are many hotels, so be careful in budgeting. But it's definitely worth whatever investment you can make in terms of dollars and days.

doug_stallings

No, that's not the way the law works at all. If a cruise starts in Seattle and makes a stop in a "distant foreign port" (i.e., Vancover, Campbell River, or some other stop in Canada), then it can call again at a US port. That's why cruises that begin in San Diego can call in Hawaii after making a brief technical stop in Ensenada. That's why cruises that stop in the Bahamas can go onto Key West.

Now, I can't tell you with any certainty that there are any itineraries right now that begin in Seattle and end in Seward, but this is absolutely and certainly a legal cruise itinerary. More cruises are starting in Seattle than ever, though the majority still begin in Vancouver because, as Gardyloo right points out, you get further up into Alaska by starting a bit further north.

Further, very few Alaska cruise itineraries are round-trip. You almost always cruise one way, and the cruises have virtually the same itineraries going north and coming back south, cruises that are done on alternatively weeks.

So I don't really think the OP will miss out on anything significant by not doing a round-trip (these cruises are usually at least 10 but sometimes 12 days).

Now Cruise West does some US-only itineraries that begin in Juneau and other ports and call only in Alaska (and see things the mainstream cruise lines can't get to becuase the ships are so big). But these cruises, while great, are at least twice as expensive as big-ship cruises. The reason they can do this is because their ships are US-flagged and have an all US crew.

doug_stallings

Gardyloo, I stand corrected. You're right that all the Seattle itineraries (at least ones I found on a quick search) are round-trips. But they don't have to be. I suspect it's so that people can take a round-trip cruise from seattle and not have to purchase a more expensive open-jaw flight from Anchorage.

So it does appear that the OP will have to choose a one-way cruise starting in Vancouver rather than Seattle.

Gardyloo

Not trying to belabor this, Doug, but Canada and Mexico are not "distant foreign ports" under the terms of the PSA. Going from Seattle to Seward on a foreign-bottomed ship would be transporting pax between two different US ports - cabotage - and would only be allowed if the ship stopped at a "distant" foreign port, which the PSA defines as ports not in Canada, Mexico, Central America, and most islands in the Caribbean (but not a couple in the southern Caribbean.)

The most striking example of the implications of this was the requirement that Norwegian Cruise Lines' Hawaii sailings - beginning and ending in Honolulu, had to travel all the way to Fanning Island in the nation of Kiribati to satisfy the need of a foreign port call. NCL finally acquired some US-flagged ships to overcome this requirement (to the economic misfortune of Kiribati.)

You won't find ships starting in Honolulu and ending in LA or San Diego; they end in Ensenada - same deal.

Here's a good summary of the PSA - apparently produced by Princess, but I can't find it on their website. http://seatravel.wordpress.com/2008/...united-states/

doug_stallings

But the reason why ships can start in Seattle and come back to Seattle is because they call in a "distant foreign port" in Canada. For the same reason a cruise ships could (but apparently doesn't) continue on to Alaska from Seattle.

dutchkiwi

Thank you for the info. Have done a bit more research and we can get a cruise from Vancouver to Seward. We plan to do a self drive tour from Anchorage for at least 7 days which covers a lot of the places mentioned by Gardyloo. We will probably fly from there to Yukon or Nth America for a furthur 2 weeks.

BudgetQueen

The ONLY cruiselines that START/END in Seward are HAL, RCI and Celebrity, of the major lines.

IF you take the cruiseline transfers mentioned above, then you have NO time in Seward, which I do not recommend.

Actually "7 days" is not a lot of time for interior Alaska. So do your homework, and decide what is your priority for interior Alaska. An overnight is worthwhile for Seward, need a day in Anchorage, at least 2 nights at Denali Park.