Any small-scale Alaska cruises out there?
 

We want to visit Alaska, but do not like large cruise boats with nightly entertainment and buffets every few hours (though we love good food!). We also don't want to be on a boat with a cast of thousands. Has anyone taken a more scaled down Alaska cruise? We want to see Alaska's natural beauty and are pretty uninterested in cruise activities and luxury amenities.

We went on Lindblad and loved being on a 75 passenger expedition ship. There are four naturalists on board who take you off the boat on zodiac rafts twice a day. We saw whales almost daily, other sea life,numerous birds. Friends who were on a large cruise ship at the same didn't/ couldn't see any of them. Lindblad is now affiliated with National Geographic. The other passengers were from all over the world and were very interesting. The only time we saw a large cruise ship was in Glacier Bay Narional Park as our itinerary was to areas they couldn't enter. www.expeditions.com.

Most luxury lines sail to Alaska, but not every year. Take a look at Silversea or Regent Seven Seas for true luxury. Uncruise Adventures offers great small ship cruises but not in luxurious surroundings.

Thank you all, but luxury cruises are not what we're looking for. We are not interested in luxury and we cannot afford expensive cruises such as Lindblad. We want something simpler, smaller, and not astronomically expensive.

I am not sure if your realise, small ship cruises are generally more expensive than a mass market ship, even if it is less "luxurious".

If you are looking for a day cruise, there are plenty of them leaving from Ketchikan, and Juneau. You may see more of the natural beauty on land rather than on a cruise except for the Ocean Glaciers. For those, you can easily go on a day cruise.

Below is a link to the official Travel Alaska web site on day cruise packages.
http://www.travelalaska.com/Package%...20Cruises.aspx

We did a small boat cruise at the Galapagos and it wasn't luxurious and it wasn't cheap. I would venture to guess the small boat Alaska cruise is the same way.

Have you consider Alaska Ferry and BC Ferry?

You could simply take Alaska ferries and spend your nights on land. But small ship cruises are typically pretty expensive. It's not a cheap trip. But Uncruise is a great company, and there are a couple if other options, though no cheap ones.

Uncruise sounds like a good possibility. Thanks.

Hi there,

We were looking for a smaller Alaska cruise as well last year and we found what looked to be an amazing company: http://www.alaskandreamcruises.com. Their on-line reviews are absolute raves and the food is ostensibly largely organic and gourmet quality cooking. The excursions and orientation are geared towards active people with deep interests in social and natural history. IIRC, most of their ships sail with less than 100 people -- there are "no formal nights" or similar things that seem to be part of cruise culture.

Unfortunately, as others have stated, it cost twice as much than the massive cruise ships due to economy of scale (around $4000+ per person) and we ended up on Celebrity Cruises last week (which was still expensive at $2000/pp....) Good luck and hope you find something that fits.

Hi G,

The Pacific Princess is a 700 passenger ship that you might like.

((I))