Is it better to take a cruisetour on HAL from Vancouver to Seward to Denali ending in Anchorage, then renting a car and spending 1-2 weeks on the Kenai peninsula? Or-end the cruise in Seward, and do independant travel from there(Kenai Fjords, Denali, etc)? We will traveling with another couple,so can share car and gas expenses.

Just did the HAL from Vancouver to Seward to Denali back to Anchorage (tour 25) in July. The cruise part was excellent, but your idea of renting a car for an extra week on the Kenai pennisula sounds like a great choice. We only had 4 days for the land tour, but found the travel of 8 hours per day a bit of sitting overload. The coach trip to Denali from Seward was 8 hours, the next day was the Tundra Wilderness Tour also for 8 hours on a bus like a school bus, followed by the McKinley train back to Anchorage for another 8 hours followed by an 8 hour flight home the next day. The Kenai pennisula is highly rated for scenery as well as tours which I read are easy to book on your own. The trip from Seward to Denali is quite a distance, but I think the idea of a car would be more interesting than a bus since you can stop/go as you wish. The interior of Denali is only accessible by the park's tour buses, but you can book them independently. My suggestion is to take as early a.m. as possible tour as we saw many vaireties of animals and tours later in the day spent 6 hours looking for animals but saw none. The length of your tour depends on how many times they stop for animal sightings. Do bring binoculars since only a moose was close to the road. We saw more moose in Anchorage than in Denali.

Absolutely, if you are interested in independent, do it. You will not be happy on a cruise tour. For clairfication, I only recommend cruisetours of at least a week, otherwise as described above, way too much time is in transit. It is way lacking to be on marathon bus trips, missing EVERYTHING in between. The above tour, missed some significant highlights.

Independent is the way to go, extremely simple to arrange, just allow enough time, a frequent problem.

With 1-2 weeks you can easily include BOTH Denali Park and Seward and Homer, so not sure of your either or reference??

Can we see both Denali and Kenai Fjords after our cruise ending in Seward if we only have 1 extra week for land stuff?
Should we do the Northbound or Southbound cruise? We are flying from New Orleans and Baltimore(2 couples)

Yes, you certainly can do both Denali Park and Seward in a week. A sample itinerary to consider.

Arrive in Seward- can be off your ship at 7am, in plenty of time for a full day of activities. Over night, more activities, take the Alaska RR at 6pm to Anchorage, overnight. Spend another night if you wish, otherwise, pick up a rental car and drive to Talkeetna. Overnight, Drive to Denali Park, 2 overnights. Back to Anchorage- day of touring, if you didn't prior. HOME!!!