Alaska Cruise
 

Hi, we are planning a to go to Alaska cruise (for 7 days port from Seattle) the ideal month would be June or August, Not first week of Month: There would of 5 of us who would be traveling.

Wanted to know what cruise line is the best one?

Was thinking to port: Seattle, Juneau, Glacier Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan, Skagway and Seattle?

Wane at least check out one glacier

Or any other ports are to look at? Any suggestions

Thank you!

Suggest you cruise over to www.cruisecritic.com.
There is a plethora of info on ships, ports and reviews
of ships. Lines you want to look at are Holland America,
Princess and NCL.

No cruise will all those ports in seven days.

Most go to Juneau from which you can see Mendenhall glacier.

There is no one best cruise line as a lot depends on you preferences so narrow it down some. Pick an itinerary and ship which is very important and lets go from there.

Good luck!

Thank you Rhead58,

Jacktwatch: i did found cruise that takes to all of this place our
itinerary is Seattle, Cruising, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan,Victoria/British Columbia and Seattle.

Then things have certainly changed. Can you list one please? I might like to go again.

Oops my mistake, sorry. I misread your itinerary and thought you have 5 stops vs. 4 which is what is usual for a 7 day Alaska cruise.

I see you have 5 people and there was no mention of budget so let me just add that the best part of Alaska cruising are the excursions which are rather on the high side so you may want to factor that into your choice for base fare to offset that cost.

jacketwatch is correct; I am on a cruise out of San Francisco on Princess in July and the excursions can break the bank.
Suggest you go to library & take out guide books & xerox
(you can get 2 to a page) or buy a Fodors Alaska guide
(sorry to Frommers!). you can also get info mailed to you
from Vancouver which I did.

Hi-

I would highly recommend taking Princess to Alaska--it's a specialty for them. We took Princess to Alaska in and out of Seattle and felt they did a terrific job, with interesting speakers, salmon-themed buffet and the best part was the naturalist narrating the cruise through Glacier Bay.

If you can, take an itinerary that goes through Glacier Bay--snow-capped mountains on all sides, water studded with small hunks of ice, several huge blue glaciers and a silent, raw wilderness that you won't quickly forget. - Musing About Cruising

Glacier Bay is a must stop so I would skip any itinerary that does not go to Glacier Bay. Shore excursions can be very expensive but can be done cheaply too. You can check out my post elsewhere here called Alaska shore excursions on teh cheap.

rjgdjg @ we are taking Princess to Alaksa, flying from Seattle as well.
jacketwatch @ take look at the Costco travel, they also give you extra credit from booking from them.

Eschew- there is not stop at Glacier bay, we are going to just cruise there is no port for Glacier bay right?

wane visit Misty Fjord but we don't have enough time in Ketchikan in order to visit the place?- we be in ketchikan-- from 7 to 1.15

Should we go to Tray'arm or not?

need suggestion should we buy the excursions in advance or at the port there?

Glacier Bay is scenic cruising. The Park Rangers will board the ship and set up shop at the pool deck. May be I should have said is "must see" and not "must stop".

Misty Fjord is best via sea plane. You will have enough time. Ketchikan is best souvenir port in terms of price. Some shop will hold your purchases and you can pick it up later.

Sea Plane trips are weather dependent so make sure you have a back up plan if the weather (usually fog) makes it impossible to get there.

Tracy Arm is hit and miss, especially early in the season. Almost 50-50 chance that the big cruise ship won't go all the way up there to the Glacier head water. If you go to Tracy Arm, make sure you book the ship's excursion to see Tracy Arm up close on a smaller boat.

You may want to look at my trip report posted elsewhere here re Alaska Shore excursions. Most of your questions would be there already.

Have you looked at Eschew's post on excursions?

http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...-the-cheap.cfm

I'm booked to go to Alaska (cruise + 7 day land trip) from Vancouver on May 28th. Booked on HAL as their ships are mid-sized. Checked Princess and much larger ships.

Booked all the shore excursions myself directly with the exception of the White Pass and Yukon Railway (used HAL excursions) as the price was the same, but you get earlier/better seating on the train.

Heaps of useful info on the cruise critic site as it's very active.

We are in Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Seward, Anchorage, Talkeetna (pit stop), Denali and end up in Fairbanks, 14 days in total.

Just need to add Glacier Bay before arriving at Seward, to the above route. I just added the ports initially.

I was on HAL and as albertsebastian said, they have smaller ships than Princess and good itineraries including Glacier Bay. Some of them stop in Haines instead of Skagway, which I actually liked because I wasn't going to pay for the Skagway excursion and it's an interesting little town, you can walk around or take the free shuttle bus, or rent a car. TI followed Eschew's posting.

If inroom dining is important I'd suggest calling and asking about policies and charges, which keep changing. HAL was better than Princess, for example.