To cruise or not to cruise?
 

I know questions like this have been posted here, but I was hoping maybe some new voices wished to chime in or that my take on the question might elicit different responses.

I am planning on heading with a group of friends to Alaska this summer. We are all in the 27-30 years old range. The consensus plan is to cruise. We won't have more than, say, 9 days or so for the entire trip.

I am afraid that the cruising option (on a big line like Princess or Royal Carribbean) will not provide us with a real taste of Alaska. I fear it will be touristy and that we will miss the best of what the state has to offer, even in the region we will be traveling.

Am I misguided?

I looked at some of the smaller cruise lines (Cruise West, Clipper), but they are much too expensive.

Are there any, less expensive smaller cruise options that anyone knows of?

I'm thinking of trying to persuade my friends to do a land-based trip w/ day boat trips to see Glacier Bay or part of the Inside Passage. Is there a disadvantage to doing it that way, other than losing the convenience of cruising?

Thanks everyone!

I'm not a cruise person. It just isn't independent enough. That being said, my father in law used to take the whole family on annual cruises figuring that was the only way to keep us all together. One of the cruises was the inside passage departing from Vancouver on a big ship. As someone who would never go on a cruise otherwise, I actually thought it was good. We stopped at Glacier Bay National Park, Juneau, Ketchican and some other spots. The boat generally travelled from place to place at night and then you had all day to do activities in the towns or surrounding areas. They also had extensive day trip activities that you could sign up for. We took helicopter tours, small boat tours, did a campfire thing etc. The cruise ships feed you endlessly, there are bars, casinos and other stuff to do at night. It isn't a wilderness adventure but for us it worthwhile.

I can understand your hesitation to take a cruise. Our family took an inside passage Alaskan cruise several years ago and it is probably the first and last cruise that any member of our family will ever take.

My sisters and I were all in our 20s. Most of the people on the Alaskan cruises generally tend to be older or traveling with their families. There were hardly any other passengers our age (and mind you this is a big boat). We all enjoy being active and being "trapped" on the ship was just pure torture for us. We would go to the gym for hours and run or work out. My mom hated having to go the dining room for practially every meal and ordering from the menu.

Actually, our favorite part of the cruise was when we were able to get off the boat and explore Alaska on land. We would immediately hire a car and just have them drive us wherever. I even enjoyed it when we finally arrived in Anchorage as we took a couple of day trips and a spectacular plane flight around Mt. McKinley.

I'm sorry I can't help you with any other options, but if I had to do it again, I would probably fly straight to Anchorage and travel by land.

The big problem is that cruises follow the coast and there are many attractions inland that are not accessible from a cruise ship.

With 9 days you just don't have the time to do both the coastal and the interior bits in depth. The state is simply too big. One-way cruises that begin or end in Prince William Sound (Seward or Whittier) take their 7 days to travel to/from those ports via Southeast Alaska, touching some of the same port towns that are visited on the round-trip Inside Passage cruises departing Seattle or Vancouver. The round trips don't go as far north as the Seward/Whittier boats, so your exposure to Alaska is considerably more limited than with the one-way cruises.

The trouble in your case is that with only 9 days available, you wouldn't have the time to do any significant land exploration at the northern end of your cruise, so in essence you can't combine a cruise with land touring very effectively at all.

A final factor is cost. An exclusively land-based visit (i.e., fly to Anchorage, tour around, fly home) is likely to be more expensive - possibly considerably more expensive - than a comparable cruise-based vacation. Prices in Alaska for hotels, cars, food, airfare... are quite high in the summer. So you'd need to do some research and consult with your group as to what their cost tolerance would be for the all-land alternative. One rental car or two? How many hotel rooms?

I don't think cruise ships will give much of a "taste of Alaska" any more than they give you a "taste of the Caribbean" when their agenda is to get you into duty-free jewelers or on booze cruise excursions. You can make it more "Alaskan" through your choice of port activities, reading materials, talking to locals, etc. And make no mistake - while it's true that when 5 or 6 2000-passenger ships pull into Skagway (pop. 700) it's pretty much wall to wall cheechakos, it's not very different at hotels in Denali or on Kenai Fjord day trips. Pretty much the nature of tourism in lightly-populated regions.

Unlike cruising in the Caribbean or other areas, Alaska cruises offer (more or less) continuous scenery from the ship rather than "sea days" out of sight of land, followed by "port days." On most inside passage trips (and it's very useful to know the precise routing of your cruise) you can see land (and creatures great and small) much of the time, so the "going to" parts of the cruise are potentially as rewarding as the "now we're here" parts, if you get my meaning.

So on the assumption that whatever <i>very small</i> part of Alaska you see on your vacation is intriguing to you, you can plan a second trip to see things you didn't on the first. Then a third. Then...

Our first trip included the ferry trip from Bellingham WA to Skagway. It was a nice 4 days but we were also anxious to get on land. The day trips out of Seward are much more interesting and exciting. I would think that you could be more adventuresome and do something like a fishing trip for halibut, a good hike, and/or great plane ride. Even a short flight out of Homer would be exciting esp if none of you have been in a small plane. There are numerous events going on in Alaska, maybe check something out even if it's a local ball game in Anchorage or a guided ATV tour. Try the microbrews at the Moose's Tooth in Anchorage. The visitors guides have calendar listings or check the Anchorage Daily News website www.adn.com.

You can also travel the Alaskan Ferry system - but I think you would have to get your reservations made ASAP-
Frommers Budget Travel have a great sounding itinery but I am sure you could call the ferry system and get someone to help you. There are state rooms available to sleep in but some people actually camp on the deck.
I have heard that its a fun way to go, you travel closer to land than the big ships and can see more wildlife.
There are a couple of threads available to read about it - just search for Alaskan Marine Hwy
Good luck

I also vote for a land base trip vs the cruise. This is based on the assumption that your group enjoys hiking / kayaking and setting your itinery. If you would rather party down - and not take the time to do your own planning and research -- then go for the cruise. It's a no-brainer planning wise.

I think save the cruise for when your older and less mobile (and maybe adventerous). Check out the Alaska hikes website from the naturalbornhikers -- hiking vacations on this Fodor's forum.

I also recommend the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry system. You can use it to get from place to place, and then spond time wherever you like.

Both land tour and ferry based tour will cost more than your std cruise,unles you have a balcony etc. Renting an rv plenty big for your group may be a way to go, reasonable when split up, stop where and when you want. Go to denali, Seward and maybe Valdez or Homer to see a little of Alaska.

Actually, if you really want to consider the out of the way, noncruise ship locations on the Alaska Ferry, you are going to need more than 9 days.

A cruise is a great option and packs plenty into 7 days. But with this travel, it helps to be the priority for ALASKA and not cruise ship activites. If you like looking at scenery, being out on deck, seeing some interesting varied ports, its a great trip. I think HAL round trip Vancouver sailings with Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm offer the best itineraries sailing Alaska.

But it is NOT the place to &quot;hire&quot; a car and go about. HAVE firm plans and reservations in place. Not just aimless locating someone to &quot;take&quot; you somewhere. The activies are just excellent and varied. With this option, you would then have some time to Tour Vancouver??

If you want to skip a cruise, you are not going to have access to Glacier Bay, without significant costs and time necessary. But sailing Prince William sound is an excellent day trip. Also access to glacier trekking 2 hours from Anchorage with www.micaguides.com

As a sample interior Alaska itinerary, round trip flight Anchorage, 1 over night, 1 over night Talkeetna, 2 overnights Denali Park. overnight Anchorage, PWS boat trip, 2 overnights Seward, 2 overnights Homers. Late night flight home. Plenty of variations possible, so head to your library. Take out Fodor's Alaska and Frommer's Alaska good concise reading. Request visitor guides from every location. Do your homework, the more you know the better your choices will be. :)

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Much appreciated! I will talk things over with the group. I'm sure we'll have fun either ways. There are worse dilemnas :)

Google Cruise West. They do the Inside Passage on small ships (around 100 passengers or so) which can get into ports and up close to wildlife. It is the only way I would go...in fact we are doing that, in May.

The only problem besides small cabins is the costs, which are up to double what is available on major cruise lines. When I hit the lottery, I will probably do one of these. My wife, though, probably prefers the comforts of a larger ship, with all the pampering.

Another option, if you want to see something of Southeast Alaska but also want to go to Denali etc. is to make a stop on the northbound or southbound flight. You can stop in Juneau, take a day trip to Glacier Bay, then continue on down to Seattle on a flight the next day or the day after. It will add to the airline cost, but it's an easy method of seeing a little of SE in the context of a land-based visit.

I think the cruise ship is a great &quot;first time&quot; way to experience Alaska, especially if you do a one way cruise and leave the inside passage. Granted, there were people on our ship who spent more time in the casino, restaurants, etc. but we didn't do that. We tried to take advantage of every port of call. The excursions are expensive but worth it. We did helicopter/glacier landing in Juneau (and then visited the fabulous Alaskan State Museum there); we went kayaking in Ketchikan. We rented a car in Skagway and drove to the Yukon. We went salmon fishing in Icy Strait Point. We visited a sled dog kennel in Seward and went to the Sea Life Museum. We booked many of our excursions independently with advice from Fodor folks. We took the train to Anchorage and then took a ride on a float plane landed on a glacier lake.