First Time visit to Alaska-help?
 

My husband and I want to visit Alaska this summer for the first time. We are both fairly young (30s) and are in decent physical condition. We love hiking and adventure but we also want to relax a little and not come home exhausted. What is the best way to go-is it on a cruise? What other options are available? Thanks for the help.

Fly to Alaska, rent a car for a week and travel the state. For the second week take a cruise back to the west coast. Exhaust yourself week one and relax week two.

Do a search of Alaska posts on this forum to see what places people have recommended. Buy Milepost magazine which will give you a lot of information. We chose to take the ferry from Bellingham WA to Skagway then drive another 800 miles to the Anchorage area which we used as a base. Skagway was great but it's a little town of 800 people where 3-5 cruise boats arrive daily. The streets were crowded during the day but emptied around 5pm. There is no way my husband will ever consider going on a large cruise boat. If we had not already been on the ferry, we would have taken a day cruise out of Seward or Homer. We like being able to spend more time when we find a place we like. There was a wonderful little quilt shop a few blocks away from the downtown area in Skagway which carried some great outdoor patterns. I also enjoyed going on a garden tour in Anchorage and talking to the gardeners. You will find plenty of opportunities to hike plus rest and just enjoy the scenery. The southern part of Alaska is very rainy so it depends on where and when you travel. A friend took a cruise a few weeks before we went and it rained everyday. They still had a great time but he had to buy some warmer clothes. We went the last week of July and had mostly good weather. Because we were on our own we drove to Seward when sun was predicted. I think there have been some posts about great hikes.

We went last year for 2 weeks - flew into Anchorage, rented a car. Itinerary - Talkeetna (McKinley sight-seeing flight and glacier landing) - Denali - Fairbanks - Valdez - ferry to Whittier - Seward - (included Kenai N.P. day boat trip) - Homer - Seldovia - Kenai - back to Anchorage. Stayed in small inns and B&B's. Because we had two full weeks we stayed two or three nights in several places so didn't feel too tired. Didn't cruise but had two full days on the water (Valdez/Whittier boat and Kenai N.P. trip). If you have less time or want to stay longer in places and go hiking, you could omit the Fairbanks bit. We were lucky with the weather and it was the vacation of a lifetime.

We too based ourselves out of Anchorage and drove. Favorite's were: Dog sled ride in Seward (they will even do it without snow..they use wheels!) We took a float plane out of Lake Hood (bush pilots) over Mt Mckinley, awesome! and landed on a crystal clear glacial lake! such beauty! We took a day cruise and watched glaciers calving, I even held glacier ice supposed to be 2000yrs old! We took a day flite across the Arctic Circle to Kotzebue, the land of the Inupiat Eskimos and walked on the tundra. From Homer we took a boat to Halibut Cove for the day, a community where there are no streets, only water and docks. These are things you can't do on a cruise. Whatever you decide, you will love the beauty of Alaska.

How much time do you have, Susan? If your time is limited, then you pretty much have to choose between visiting Southeast Alaska (cruise ship or ferry are options) or Southcentral Alaska, using a rental vehicle of some sort, but probably not both unless you want to deal with inefficient one-way air fares and/or high vehicle drop-off charges.<BR><BR>If you have more time and/or your budget will allow, then xx's idea isn't bad, although more than a week in Southcentral (Anchorage-Denali-Prince William Sound-Anchorage loop) would be advisable. You could then fly to Juneau and catch a southbound ferry there, or take one of the State Ferry sailings from Seward back to the lower 48.<BR><BR>I wouldn't normally advocate a cruise, but this year there are reports that Alaska cruise bookings, especially on the lines (HAL and NCL) using Seattle instead of Vancouver are seriously lagging expectations, so there might be some good prices to be had. <BR><BR>If time is no object and you're good sailors, a fascinating trip can be had on the State ferry to Kodiak or out the Aleutian chain. This is a great experience, and will allow you to see things 90%+ of tourists miss. Check out the ferry options at http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/index.html

Susan, so far you've gotten some great advice. John was right about the cruise lines being off their mark this year. Unlike him, I would never recommend a full cruise regardless of the price. The cruise lines are mostly registered in Liberia to avoid U.S. taxation, their labor is recruited from third world countries, they seriously contaminate both water and air, and, you won't meet many Alaskans as you're shuttled from one seasonal operation to the next. Basically, when you take a cruise, you've paid a tourist to be your guide. Conversely, there are day cruises out of Valdez, Whittier, Seward, and throughout Southeast that are operated by locals. These are inexpensive, and far more personal for the visitor.

After spending two weeks traveling around Alaska with my husband and teenage son, we decided the only cruise we would ever consider there is Cruise West. They use small boats and can go a lot of places the large ships can't, and I think they have short 3 or 4 day cruises.

Fly into Anchorage and travel from there. Visit Mt. McKinley and Seward. Take a cruise next time.

Steve......my guess is they already did whatever,their post is dated from last January.

Great postings. I'm also interested in going this July. Any thoughts?

In 1998 we rented and RV one week, drove from Alaska and spent the night near Portage Glacier, where the next day our friends took that boat ride. We then loaded the RV on a flatbed rail car for the ride to Whittier, where we caught the ferry to Valdez. Awesome! From Valdez, we drove to Fairbanks where we went to a goldmine, camped the night and went on to Denali. Took the shorter bus ride (had already done the long one in past years). Drove back to Anchorage via Talkneetna. After a day's rest and returning the RV, we drove South to Homer and stayed in a cabin. Also stayed at a B&amp;B in Kenai. On the return trip we went to Chichilnik (sp?). We had a very busy but wonderful 2 weeks. This May we are going to take the ferry up to Haines, drive to Anchorage and stay a while with family. Then later on in the summer, we're going to make the complete drive home. My husbands been wanting to do that for years. Alaska is incredibly beautiful. Whatever you do will be fun.

oops! Drove from Anchorage