Alaska for old people
 

Our niece and nephew want to take us to Alaska. My husband and I are in our 70s, my sister is 86 and gets around very well. We don't want a long cruise but would like to see the highlights. We're thinking:fly in, take a train ride, short cruise. What else? So, fly into where? Cruise from where? Train from where? Thanks.

Is a 7-day cruise too long?

That is what I'd do -- a seven-day cruise from Vancouver including Glacier Bay, then maybe a night or two in Anchorage and fly home from there. You can take the White Pass & Yukon train from your port of call in Skagway.

I'm 73 (if that's a qualification for comment!) and I'd agree with Janisj: Take a cruise. There are many, and most of them touch several ports in southeast Alaska, including Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan as well as Glacier Bay.

Glacier Bay was easily the most fascinating part; the ships usually spend several hours there moving to different parts of the bay, and Park Service naturalists come aboard as guides to what you're seeing.

The White Pass & Yukon trip was quite interesting, both because of its historic narration and the beautiful views.

At Juneau, there are whale (and seal) watching trips available; a lot of fun.

But the cruises generally stay in southeast; you'll have to do a bit more research if you want to go into the interior, such as Denali.

Trafalgar tours Majestic Alaska... includes tours, train, boats, hotels, most meals... Look it up...

We have never been on a large cruise boat. We have cruised the Inside Passage on the Alaska Marine Ferry but that's very basic with tiny cabins although a lot of people choose to camp out on the deck. I would fly into Anchorage because there is a lot of fantastic scenery between Anchorage and Seward. In Seward you can take an all day cruise to see glaciers and sea life. The train is popular along this route but you don't have the opportunity to stop along the way either for photo ops or to do some additional things like take the tram to top of Alyeska in Girdwood for the views and probably even some snow in summer. The Sea Life Center in Seward is interesting and the town is fun if you like to visit some shops. One of my favorite towns is Homer where we enjoyed the Pratt Museum. The scenery on that side of the Kenai Peninsula is decent but not spectacular until you get to the overlook just before you get into town. Homer Spit is so pretty. You could take a short sightseeing flight. There is also a great view overlooking the town if you drive up that route, lots of switchbacks on the road.

If you have any particular interests, you might follow up on some additional activities. I've been to a quilt show, garden tour of an Anchorage neighborhood, Girdwood Forest Fair around 4th of July, Kenai 4th of July parade, etc. You might read about the Eagle Lady of Homer. Anchorage is a big beautiful city and I liked the farmers market. The sea planes docked on Lake Hood are fascinating. You can take a trolley tour.

I vote for traveling on your own and discovering what you like best.

The first question has got to be how long do you have?

The second issue has to do with the size of your group. It sounds like there are five traveling, which can complicate a land-only (or mainly land) independent tour because you'd need to rent a minivan, with considerably more expense involved and more logistical headaches. You'd need at least two, and maybe three hotel rooms every night, and hotels in the tourist season ain't cheap.

So I think you've got three alternatives to consider.

1. Round trip cruise. These are all seven nights. You unpack once, the cabins are very comfortable, the food is varied and good, and the ports of call are all very accommodating to visitors of every age and physical condition group. I'd do a round trip out of Vancouver instead of Seattle, because the ships take the "inside passage" in both directions, while the Seattle sailings travel to the west of Vancouver Island, on open ocean (potentially bumpy) and no view.

2. One way cruise, Vancouver to Seward or Whittier, or v.v. These are also for seven nights; the route is similar to those of the round trips, except there may be a different glacier visit en route, usually Glacier Bay or the Hubbard Glacier (at the head of Yakutat Bay) or occasionally both. You end at either Whittier (Princess) or Seward (everybody else) which are connected to Anchorage by road and rail. On the Alaska end, you can spend additional days touring by land, but I'd say a minimum of three or four (more is better) would be needed to justify the extra expense of flying back from Anchorage.

3. Non-cruise. Fly to Anchorage and rent a vehicle. You can visit Denali, do day cruises to Kenai Fjords National Park (from Seward) or see many tidewater glaciers from Whittier, visit Valdez or Fairbanks, and go where the roads take you. This will be the most complicated route to go in terms of logistics, and it will probably be the most expensive on a per-person basis, since the cruises (on the major lines, not the "premium" ones) are very budget-friendly.

The cruises will emphasize Southeast Alaska, which is a beautiful part of the state, but only one region out of many. Alaska is so big and diverse that you can't begin to scratch the surface in ten visits, let alone one. That's just the way things are.

But the "how long" and "when" questions are the biggies.

I'd also mention that in either the one-way or round-trip cruise cases, you could add days in Vancouver before or after, and enjoy not only that splendid city, but also the amazing countryside in close range, such as Whistler, the Gulf Islands, or the BC Sunshine Coast. (Google these.)