Never been on a cruise. It's our wedding anniversary in Jul and I heard Alaska is great at that time. Any recommendations? Which cruise, how many days, ports etc?

Just you and your spouse?

Feel free to email me at the address below and happy to offer options.

Just got back. Amazing cruise. NCL was a great cruise line. Just lool at your port tTim's and make sure you have enough time to explore. We went to sitka, Juneau, Icy point, Ketchikan, Victoria BC. Out of Seattle.

Majority of my cruise clients take on Alaska with Princess Cruises -- they're consistently voted the best cruise line for the Alaska itineraries.

I have some Royal Caribbean loyal clients that have sailed with RC and Celebrity(RC sister brand) in Alaska and said they did a great job!

Most will do 7 day round-trip from Seattle or Vancouver and inside passage. There are some other itineraries that include cruise portion and then land portion via train.

I'd love to help you out with any planning or booking!

Get a starboard side balcony if going from Seattle or Vancouver north. Vancouver is pretty but Canadian customs is a hassle.

Bring jackets and binoculars.

Extend the cruise and go see Denali by train and bus.

For Alaska I recommend Holland America or Princess with a stop to Glacier Bay. There both can park closer in town on ports and have the priority for Glacier Bay over other cruise lines. I know Norwegian ask visits GB on some of their itineraries but has to dock a little further outside of town at some ports. I'm happy to help if needed, my email is in my profile.

Definitely do an itinerary with Glacier Bay. Princess and Holland America are your two best options with GB itineraries.

Out of Seattle, Discovery Princess and Holland America Eurodam are the best options. Discovery Princess is a new ship and would have the edge over the Eurodam based on age. If you're set on going out of Seattle and don't mind an intinerary without GB, Celebrity Edge will be sailing out of Seattle next year and is an outstanding ship. I've been on it before in the Caribbean and have a reservation on it next August.

Vancouver is another great option too with itineraries that hit GB. To me, it seems safer and cleaner than Seattle and is a better option for spending a day or two before or after the cruise. The customs process in Vancouver is easy. You can download apps beforehand and the process only takes a few minutes. You can do roundtrip Vancouver or one way up to Whittier. I was on the Holland America Koningsdam roundtrip from Vancouver last month. The Koningsdam is the only ship I'd consider for a roundtrip from Vancouver. Everything else that's offered is old and weathered. For a one way up to Whittier, Princess offers the Voyage of the Glaciers itinerary on the Royal Princess that hits GB and College Fjord before arriving in Whittier. I'm reserved on it next May.

We just got back from one. Took my older parents and family. Used Princess out of Seattle. Great trip. My only complaint is sometimes you got less than half a day in some ports. Food and service were great on the ship.

I'll ruffle some feather by saying "Cruising to Alaska is a waste of time".
"Not an efficient use of time"

There is way too much to see and do in Alaska to waste time on a cruise ship.

Fly to Anchorage and take the train to Denali. Spend several days there and then rent a car and start driving.

Spend a few days in Talkeetna. Fly K2 Airways and land on one of the glaciers on Mt McKinley.

Work your way down to Homer and then take a day cruise to see the galciers.

Go to Whittier and see the clearest, bluest water on the planet

Edit to try not to sound like a d**k

malenurse said:

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I'll ruffle some feather by saying "Cruising to Alaska is a waste of time".

There is way too much to see and do in Alaska to waste time on a cruise ship.

Fly to Anchorage and take the train to Denali. Spend several days there and then rent a car and start driving.

Spend a few days in Talkeetna. Fly K2 Airways and land on one of the glaciers on Mt McKinley.

Work your way down to Homer and then take a day cruise to see the galciers.

Go to Whittier and see the clearest, bluest water on the planet

Etc etc etc

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What you've mostly described is interior Alaska. Cruising is coastal Alaska. Neither is better than the other. They're just different. There's no reason you can't do both or pick one or the other. Alaska is not really a destination you can do once and have the whole experience.

Not sure what your budget is but We like going on smaller, all inclusive expedition lines. Some lines will not hit the main towns instead go up into the inner bays where large ships are unable to. Some offer Zodiac trips within the ice floes looking for wildlife accompanied by experts in the field. In this realm cruises are a blast.

For a first timer, if you've got the time I recommend doing a land tour combo with a cruise. You can do the land portion before or after the cruise. We did it with Princess back in 2019 and it was incredible. We did the land portion first to get the long flight out of the way and then relax on the cruise back to Vancouver.

Flew into Fairbanks and spent the night in the Princess Lodge - got lucky and saw the Northern Lights
Motorcoach to Denali for a couple nights in the Princess Lodge there - got lucky and got a good view of Denali
Then on cruise day took the domed train 9.5 hours to the port - very relaxing and informative and didn't seem like 9 hours on a train at all with all the scenery to look at.
Train pulls right up to the port - agents came onboard about an hour before we got to the pier to check us in... basically walked right onto the ship.

Cruise portion was great - spent a day cruising into and out of Glacier Bay with stops in Juneau (loved the whale watching), Skagway (White Pass Railroad) and Ketchikan.

Also spent a night in Vancouver.

One of the pluses was that at each stop, Princess handled the luggage. At the airport in Fairbanks they had an agent there to meet us and took our bags then delivered them to our room. Left them outside the room overnight and they transported them to the Denali Lodge... at Denali, same thing... left them out the last night and they transported them to the ship. Really made the traveling between each stop so easy and stress-free.

Not available via cruise but if you ever drive the Klondike Highway through the Yukon, make sure to stop into the Sourdough Saloon in Dawson and have a Sourtoe cocktail. It's garnished with a human toe.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sourtoe-cocktail

To the travel agents on here- is an Alaskan cruise something good for kids? Would be ages 9 and 12 and fairly active. We have been tossing this idea around here lately

Whoop Delecto said:

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Not an issue for my family but I've heard US cruise passengers with a DUI record can have problems in Vancouver customs. True?

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Yes. DUI/DWI are often denied boarding. Even if you don't plan on getting off the ship in Canada they can deny you in Seattle. I have it noted on all my quotes.

Beckdiesel03 said:

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To the travel agents on here- is an Alaskan cruise something good for kids? Would be ages 9 and 12 and fairly active. We have been tossing this idea around here lately

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Most cruise lines have kids clubs. They won't all have the water slides, etc, just depends. I think if your kids can semi-entertain themselves and would enjoy amazing scenery then yes.

Skip the cruise. Take the Alaska ferry system, and book accommodations in Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg, Juneau, Skagway, Haines...

https://dot.alaska.gov/amhs/route.shtml

Cruising is thoroughly enjoyable as a an overall vacation. Yes you will see far more via land, but you're not going to be treated like a 13th century king renting a car. The service on these cruise lines are nuts for what you're paying.

With that being said, I'd recommend going with Royal. You want to be on a line where the avg age isn't 90. Royal is the happy medium.

For excursions, make sure to book the Skagway train well in advance.

Beckdiesel03 said:

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To the travel agents on here- is an Alaskan cruise something good for kids? Would be ages 9 and 12 and fairly active. We have been tossing this idea around here lately

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Grandparents took all of us on a Holland America cruise and our kids were smaller than yours. Kids clubs were good but they found stuff to do as well. The kids talk about Alaska more than the Carribean cruises they have had. Go for it.

NCL has built their own docks outside of some ports, so you have to bus into town. This will lesson the amount of time you have. Keep that in mind.

Completely a business decision by them to keep their cruisers on the NCL catalog list of excursions and discourage non-NCL activities, but it cheapens the experience (even moreso) of seeing Alaska/Inside Passage via cruiseship.

I think you have to frame an Alaskan cruise as the sampler platter of appetizers at Chili's or Flingers.

Beckdiesel03 said:

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To the travel agents on here- is an Alaskan cruise something good for kids? Would be ages 9 and 12 and fairly active. We have been tossing this idea around here lately

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Agree with others, most ships will have kids clubs and lots of kid-centric things to do. I know at least one of the Norwegian ships (that I think is in Alaska now) has go carts and lots have mini golf, etc...

I'm planning on taking my son when he's 9 or 10 and can't wait!

David Happymountain said:

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NCL has built their own docks outside of some ports, so you have to bus into town. This will lesson the amount of time you have. Keep that in mind.

Completely a business decision by them to keep their cruisers on the NCL catalog list of excursions and discourage non-NCL activities, but it cheapens the experience (even moreso) of seeing Alaska/Inside Passage via cruiseship.

I think you have to frame an Alaskan cruise as the sampler platter of appetizers at Chili's or Flingers.

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Right now, there's only one dock where NCL does this, Ward's Cove in Ketchikan. They have a shuttle that runs between Ward's Cove and the cruise dock in Ketchikan and it only takes about 15 minutes to get there. Even for some of the NCL excursions, passengers still have to take a shuttle to Ketchikan to begin their excursion. It's not hard at all to do non-NCL excursions or to get in to Ketchikan to walk around town.

We just did Norwegian Encore out of Seattle for 7 days in July. Trip included Juneau, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria BC. Hardest part is what to pack. First day at sea, pool was clobbered. Glacier Bay was the only coldish day and was the highlight of our trip. Sea otters, eagles, seals, Whales. I swear I saw a grizzly on the beach. Invest in a good pair of binocs. Get a balcony. My sister did the early morning thing every day. Great cruise. The best thing about Norwegian was the free style cruising. No formal sittings, go eat in the main dining rooms anytime with jeans OK all week. They did have upscale dining options that required a res. Our package included two of those and that was enough. We had no problem catching shuttle buses and making our excursions. The train/bus in Skagway was incredible. Encore and her Sister ship Bliss are practically brand new. Both go 165,000 tons. 4000 pax. Has go karts, laser tag, etc. Also, Jana from Aggieland Travel, who posts on here set it all up for us. Took a lot of the worry off of us. I have no idea about kids stuff. We were all in our 60's.

Jak981 said:

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We just did Norwegian Encore out of Seattle for 7 days in July. Trip included Juneau, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria BC. Hardest part is what to pack. First day at sea, pool was clobbered. Glacier Bay was the only coldish day and was the highlight of our trip. Sea otters, eagles, seals, Whales. I swear I saw a grizzly on the beach. Invest in a good pair of binocs. Get a balcony. My sister did the early morning thing every day. Great cruise. The best thing about Norwegian was the free style cruising. No formal sittings, go eat in the main dining rooms anytime with jeans OK all week. They did have upscale dining options that required a res. Our package included two of those and that was enough. We had no problem catching shuttle buses and making our excursions. The train/bus in Skagway was incredible. Encore and her Sister ship Bliss are practically brand new. Both go 165,000 tons. 4000 pax. Has go karts, laser tag, etc. Also, Jana from Aggieland Travel, who posts on here set it all up for us. Took a lot of the worry off of us. I have no idea about kids stuff. We were all in our 60's.

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Thanks for the shout out! So glad you had a great time.