Help me make some decisions about our Alaskan cruise
 

1. Do you agree it's better to go out of Vancouver instead of Seattle for a 7-day round trip Alaskan cruise? Why or why not?

2. If one does go out of Vancouver, which of these itineraries do you think is better for a first timer?

Option #1
Wed: Vancouver, British Columbia
Thu: At Sea
Fri: Cruise Tracy Arm
Fri: Juneau, Alaska
Sat: Skagway, Alaska
Sun: Glacier Bay, Alaska
Mon: Ketchikan, Alaska
Tue: At Sea
Wed: Vancouver, British Columbia

Option #2
Sat: Vancouver, British Columbia
Inside Passage, Alaska
Mon: Icy Strait Point, Alaska
Tue: Hubbard Glacier, Alaska
Wed: Skagway, Alaska
Thu: Juneau, Alaska
At Sea
Sat: Vancouver, British Columbia

3. Which ship do you think is best? (We are 30 somethings with no kids)
Holland - Zaandam
Holland - Zuiderdam
Royal Caribean - Serenade of the Seas
Celebrity - Infinity
Celebrity - Mercury
Princess - Sun Princess

4. In your opinion, is a balcony room worth the extra money over an ocean view room?

Going out of Seattle, our home town, makes sense;saves the trip to Vancouver...the Sun Princess is very nice==did it last year, and the staterooms are pretty small, inside rooms are actually larger than the balcony (we, a family, had one balconcy, and two inside...that were nice). Tracy Arm is worth it.

1. Yes, I agree VAncouver is better for scenic sailing. Seattle will have more open ocean.

2. #1 for 2 glacier days!

3.Holland Zaandam for GB and times in port. If you do consider a Seattle sailing I think NCL Pearl and HA Noordam have the best routing and times in port.

4. If you can afford it a balcony would be nice but might be a gamble as far as using it weather permitting. We were happy with an ocean view and used the savings for some terrific excursions.

If you are concerned abut the cost of airfare to Vancouver you can fly into Seattle and take Amtrak or the Quick Shuttle to Vancouver. The cruise line will also offer transfers.

We sailed NCL for the 11 day itinerary..[sadly no longer offered] and enjoyed the Freeestyle dining but no naturalist onboard which we feel would have enhanced our trip.

www.cruisecritic.com is a wealth of information and a very active board.

Have you given any consideration to a one-way trip to Seward so that you can go to Denali and see McKinley? They were highlights of our cruise.

One of the highlights of our Alaskan cruise or at least one I recall first is the views of Tracy Arm from the comfort of our balcony. I do think having a balcony is worth the extra money. The only other comment I have is that HAL tends to be more traditional and attracts an older clientele. A friend of mine, a veteran of scores of cruises told me the last time he took HAL he felt like a kid compared to everyone else. And he was 65 then. :D. The food and sevice are reputed to be very, very good as is the condition of their ships.

Option 1 is the superior itinerary with HAL. More glaciers, more scenery, an excellent cruiseline for Alaska.

I don't get balconies, I like spending my time out on deck seeing it all. :) I go cheap!! and often!!

BQ: To each their own. When I go I prefer going the way I like it. JM2C. :-)

We took an NCL Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver last year.

WE then stayedfor a week around Vancouver and Vancouver Island and it was simply fantastic.

Can't wait to return.

Hi,

I agree with the northbound/southbound option between Vancouver and Seward or Whittier. Alaska is a lot different in the main part, around Fairbanks and Anchorage, than in the southeast corner. There is a lot of things to see in both areas, plus the glaciers are beautiful.

Regarding the balcony, in my opinion, it all depends on the price and how tight your budget is for your cruise. It is wonderful to be able to the quiet and privacy of a balcony. Take the prices for an oceanview, inside and balcony stateroom and divide them by the number of days of your cruise. That gives you the per diem/per day rate - sometimes, it is only a few dollars difference and the upgraded accommodations are then an excellent value.

Holland America and Princess have been serving the Alaska cruise market for more than 50 years. They often provide the port and shore services for the other cruise lines. Either Princess or Holland America would be an excellent choice.

Best Regards,
Julia

I agree with Larry that a balcony is a good investment in Alaska. We prefer to observe the glaciers and scenery from the privacy of our own deck than to be on the hunt for deckspace during popular periods.

I have cruise to Alaska on Celebrity, RCI and NCL (3x). I am going again in May on HAL. I find that Alaska is much more port intensive than the Caribbean so we look for great cabins, very good service and a ship is spacious and well appointed with not too many passengers for its size.

We are doing the roundtrip out of Seattle this time but prefer the one way Seward to Vancouver, followed by the Vancouver R/T itinerary.

We are booked for June 2008 and have chosen HAL again for that trip.

We like to avoid cruises that are likely to have a lot of kids and teens so HAL is a good choice for us. While the nightlife is not terrific, we do prefer the more formal and traditional aspects of cruising and HAL works for us in this regard.

They now offer open dining as well but we opted for traditional, as that is what we prefer.

We also book excursions independently of the ship.