Can someone help me with ideas, suggestions on which cruise my family and I should take this summer. We are flexible on the time--June, July or early August but are totally in the dark on which cruise line, sites, whether we should travel north to south or vice versa, going out of Seattle versus Vancouver. Also, although I've looked at a number of the cruises we were hoping to find one that combines some land time with time on board. Help! I've traveled a lot around the world but this particular trip has me stumped at the moment.

Any suggestions Fodorites?? Thanks!

You'll probably get more responses in the Fodors cruise forum or on the cruisecritic.com Alaska board (under "Ports of Call."

Simply, though, you have a couple of preliminary things to decide. First, do you want just to see Southeast Alaska and the Inside Passage, in which case a 7-day round trip itinerary out of Seattle or Vancouver will be the best for you. However, if you want to see more of Alaska than just the southeast coast (which is plenty beautiful and interesting, BTW) then a one-way cruise between Vancouver and Seward (either direction) will allow you to tour Southcentral and interior Alaska (Anchorage, Denali, Kenai Peninsula etc.) either before or after the cruise. The cruise itself is also 7 days, but you'd obviously need more time (I'd say a week at least) in addition to the cruise time to do it justice. So your time availability (and, or course, budget) come into play. Note the one-way cruises require "open jaw" air travel (to Anchorage, from Vancouver or v.v.) which will be more expensive than round trip airfare to Seattle or Vancouver. (Note cruise ships sailing from/to Seattle can't do the "one way" itineraries because of legal restrictions.)

Once you've decided on your priorities and time/budget, then selecting a line and a specific sailing date is the next step. Some lines seem to emphasize family activities, others an older and more sedate crowd, others put a lot of emphasis on food or entertainment or booze, you get the picture. Use the forums or cruisecritic.com for guidance on ship and cruiseline characteristics and reviews.

Note on Alaska itineraries almost all the ships make the same port calls (often nuking the small coastal towns with upwards of 10,000 tourists a day) and offer similar shore excursions, so there's not much to differentiate the shore based experience. Increasingly, price and amenity (cost of cabins with/without balcony, etc.) becomes the main point of competition. While other agencies and on-line services can typically beat the pants off their prices, Expedia and Travelocity are good "front doors" to allow comparison between the ships, sailings, accommodations, lines, and port schedules.

Hope this helps some. If you're going this summer, you better get cracking.

Hi Randy,
I just booked the Celebrity Summit out of Seward for the end of June for $570 per person (that includes everything). I found the price on Cruisequick.com, and then my friend's travel agent matched it (beat it by $10, actually).

I did some research, and it seems that the one-way cruises are more recommended. However, the cost of airfare might determine where you want to leave from.

Good luck with your planning! This website is great for helpful information.

cruised with Princess last june 24 - July 1 from Vancouver to Seward. Had a great time.

Princess has since been bombarding me with email messages with great offers, so I would check around for a deal.

We booked a room for 4 (2 sets of bunk beds) for a considerable savings for passengers 3 & 4. crowded, but we didn't spend much time there except for sleeping.

You've gotten some great advise, I would only add that you need to consider the size of your ship before booking. Small cruise ships offer a more intimate look at the area, but they wouldn't offer enough activites for a "family" vacation. Check out these two websites for more information: www.cruisemates.com (cruise line and ship reviews) and vacationstogo.com (last minute discount cruise postings)

Thanks everyone for the advice. I missed the cruise forum posting completely since I'm so used to using the location forum.

We have considerable flexibility on the trip length and for reasons that are lost on me, every cruise line that I've looked at in Expedia and Travelocity have space available throughout the summer. We want to book by tomorrow so all of your advice has been very timely!

Thanks again!

, I would only add that you need to consider the size of your ship before booking. Small cruise ships offer a more intimate look at the area, but they wouldn't offer enough activites for a "family" vacation. Check out these two websites for more information: www.cruisemates.com (cruise line and ship reviews) and vacationstogo.com (last minute discount cruise postings

I have to totally disagree, it is a real benefit for a "smaller" ship to Alaska- I am NOT referring to anything by major lines- (not CruiseWest , Lindblad etc) Unfortunately the "small" ships used to be the big ones several years ago. The benefit is better deck viewing, better marine wildlife viewing- you aren't 15 stories above the water, and ease of getting out on deck.

In response to the orginal question- I never recommend any one way trips without at least 5 days interior touring independent or 7 with a cruise tour. I also don't consider Seattle sailings for myself as they have too much outside sailing for my preferences. Vancouver offers many options. Right now Alaska is offering many significant bargains for June and I would expect these to continue. If you want wildlife it is necessary to head interior and ideally Denali Park via the shuttle to Eielson- the best bargain at $22.50+ park admission. I like mid to late August the best, full salmon runs on the inside passage, decent weather and good amount of daylight. Usually also significant discounts. My priorities are first based on route, time in ports, glacier, price then ship. Be certain to budget for costly excurions, touring is 1/2 your trip!!!