WE are trying to decide on an Alaska Cruise or actually spending a week on our own touring Alaska. I have read some of your messages and am wondering who set up all your ground touring? Did everyone fly into Anchorage and take off from there? What is recommended?

It's not that hard to plan your itenerary. There are very few roads so there aren't many choices.

I planned our trip mostly from info I got on this board and from the Fodor's and other travel guides.

We flew into Anchorage and rented an RV and loved it. Since we enjoyed the coastal area the best because of the fabulous mountain scenery, we would like to do a cruise--and we aren't cruise people. It's just the only way to see it.

The Alaska Marine Highway Ferry is another wonderful way to see Alaska and do it on your own. If you want to take the train, you can also plan through the Alaska Railroad. It depends on what you want to do while you are there. You will love Alaska.

Go to www.alaskayukontravel.com/planning to get started. There are many people in Alaska who can help set up your ground touring at no charge.

All of the above is good information on planning your own tour. We typically use a series of guide books (Fodors, Frommers, AAA, and others) as well as the Internet and sites like this.

Having seen Alaska on the ground (and from smaller boats on day trips), I can't get too excited about a cruise. Much too confining and not as much flexibility. Also difficult to get inland. But that is only my opinion.

If you have the time and resources, and are interested in seeing Southeast Alaska too (which I recommend as it is very different from the rest of Alaska), you might want to consider an open jaw airline ticket. That would permit you to fly into Ketchikan (or Juneau) and then return from Anchorage. Of course you have to get from the Southeast to Anchorage as well.

MileKing said lots of what I was going to say. You almost have to think of Alaska as two separate states. The S.E. panhandle is isolated from the rest of Alaska. I flew into and out of Juneau and did the Alaska Marine Highway thing. Incredible beauty.

Honestly, it depends on how much you want to see, and how much time and money you want to spend. Would you rather see the southeast, or the central part? Or can you do both?

I'd strongly recommend getting a guidebook, and also getting the Anchorage Visitors' Center to send you some information. They're very visitor-friendly and helpful.

With a week your choices are quite limited. A round-trip cruise (Vancouver to Vancouver or Seattle to Seattle) will take 7 days and will expose you only to Southeast Alaska. The 7-day one-way cruises between Vancouver and Seward offer more sights, but you'd miss out any chance for land touring because you'd have to go home just when the cruise is ending (or you'd arrive just before it starts.)

Land touring on your own for a week is okay but can be quite rushed. Anchorage is the logical base, from which you can go north to Denali Park, or south to various destinations on the Kenai Peninsula, or, doable in a week but hurried, a loop tour including Denali, Fairbanks, Valdez, and the ferry across Prince William Sound back to Anchorage. This is probably your best bet with a week, but of course you won't see anything of Southeast Alaska or the Inside Passage.

None of these itineraries offers the chance of seeing the bush or settlements off the road system. For that you need more time and more money.

Timing is another issue - too early and the weather may be yukky and the bugs troublesome; high summer can get pretty crowded given the available supply of accommodations, rental cars, etc., and by mid-September things are shutting down for the winter.

If you can make 2 weeks or more available, the choices increase significantly.