Alaska or Vancouver
 

Have some time in late August/early September (either 08/24-09/04 or 09/01-09/11) for a trip to the Northwest US Coast. We have to go to Portland, OR at some point during this trip. Currently these are the options we are throwing around:
Portland - Seattle - Vancouver
Portland - Seattle - Anchorage
Anchorage - Vancouver - Seattle - Portland
Anchorage - Seattle - Portland
Alaskan Cruise - Seattle - Portland
Alaskan Cruise - Vancouver - Portland

Just looking for advise from travelers of which seems more plausible, what your have experienced, etc....

Thanks

I'd vote for the Alaska cruise (on a small ship) - Anchorage is a large city like most others - doesn't really give you a taste of Alaska - that being said if you do the cruise, once you dock you need to head out past all the junk shops (owned by the cruise lines) - I felt like we were in the Caribean with all the shops vs Alaska!! Other than that our cruise was a wonderful experience - glaciers, bald eagles, whales, bears....

Being this is the Alaska board :) Either an Alaska cruise or interior Alaska travel would be excellent to consider.

Do both ! Pick up a cruise in the US and go to Vancouver on your way to Alaska! Wonderful trip!

The cruises all require 7 days (either round trips to SE Alaska from Vancouver or Seattle, or one-way trips from Vancouver to Seward/Whittier or v.v.) so with your time frame there wouldn't be too much left over.

You might have a look at flying into Juneau and taking the Alaska ferry south back to Bellingham (WA, not far from the Canadian border) where you could rent a car and drive up to Vancouver, then back south through Seattle to Portland. The ferry won't offer the buffets and floor shows of the cruise ships, but will pass by the same scenery. Might be late for cabin bookings on the ferry too, though.

Otherwise, you can put together a great land-based itinerary in BC, Oregon and Washington over a 10-day period.

Oh, forgot - note to BQ.

There is no "Alaska board" on Fodors - all posts to the US board go into the big pool. The pull-down list at the top is for searches only.

Oh- I saw this post on the Alaska board. :) I pay no attention to all the stuff in the general page and go stright for the details. :)

I would pick either an Alaska Cruise only or more senible to timeframes a
land cruise with only Portland (alot of stuff to see around Portland & Coast) and Seattle.

VAncouver just adds another dimension of Border crossings, passports etc if you fly (you can still use Birth certificates for ID by car until next year but why) and lately has been alot of publicity about US citizens with any sort of arrest record being turned away from the US Canada Border.

Vancouver & Canada should be a trip on it's own.. and a great place to visit.