Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

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Liam
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Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Liam »

Newly retired couple in Atlanta. Beginning to look at an Alaska cruise -- our first cruise. At the moment, talking with USAA-associated travel firm.

Who has done this? What was your experience? What advice can you offer?
Carl53
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Carl53 »

After our experience on our only cruise, which was an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle, I would recommend flying in to the city of departure a day in advance. Our cruise did not board until around 5pm and depart around 7pm. We flew out in mid-August from Ohio with a connecting flight in Chicago. Long story is that although we were to arrive about 5 hours early, we missed our connecting flight and the ship by a few hours. The airline flew us on to Juneau, with no luggage until the next day. We boarded there missing the first 3 days of the cruise. We did probe the entire 50 mile or so network of Juneau roads and local sites and seldom used parks and enjoyed our time doing so.

I'd suggest signing up for one or more of the designated side trips. We did a salmon smorgasbord and dog sledding up on a glacier (helicopter ride to get there).

While outside of the US, as in while we were in Canadian waters we got dinged for international charges on the cell, just beware.
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Steelersfan
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Steelersfan »

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JMacDonald
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by JMacDonald »

Here is a link to a post I made about a cruise I took last May. It is a good alternative to the big ship cruises:
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... &p=1397115
Best Wishes, | Joe
DaveS
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by DaveS »

I am a former Alaska resident. I have taken the Alaska Marine Ferry many times. It's much less expensive and more informal compared to the high cost luxury market. Locals get on and off. It's much more of an Alaska experience. You wont meet anyone from Alaska on a cruse ship. The Ferry and the cruse ships all go to the same places. You and a cabin is only about a thousand. It's easier to get a reservation going south. http://www.dot.state.ak.us Dave
Calm Man
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Calm Man »

You could not get me on a cruise ship if you paid me. The disasters are occurring too frequently for my taste.
chaz
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by chaz »

We really enjoyed our Alaska cruise on Princess.
Chaz | | “Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." Woody Allen | | http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
Johm221122
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Johm221122 »

Calm Man wrote:You could not get me on a cruise ship if you paid me. The disasters are occurring too frequently for my taste.
Cars and the highways scare me.Seriously, I would take boat any day compared to drivers in my area
John
awval999
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by awval999 »

Calm Man wrote:You could not get me on a cruise ship if you paid me. The disasters are occurring too frequently for my taste.
I bet there's a dollar amount to get you a cruise ship.

Also you are more likely to die driving to the cruise ship terminal than on the cruise ship.
Browser
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Browser »

So, you still want to take a cruise after the latest Carnival disaster? I guess an Alaska cruise would be better as you will be closer to shore when the engines blow up. :)
We don't know where we are, or where we're going -- but we're making good time.
tibbitts
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by tibbitts »

I've taken about 5 Alaska cruises - various lines, itineraries, ports, one-way and round-trip. I'd go at least once a year if I could afford it and had vacation time.

1. If you can afford the vacation time, allow a couple of days before and after your cruise at the destination/arrival port - especially before, so you don't miss the cruise due to inbound travel delays. I've always arrived at least two days ahead of time, but sometimes left for home the same day as the return docking.

2. Always buy the least expensive cabin type available. I've had balconies and insides: it doesn't matter, since you won't want to spend time in the cabin either way, except to sleep. Admittedly there are some bad cabins on some ships, and they're usually the cheapest - noise/vibration issues from engines or entertainment areas. But you could always get annoying neighbors, too, and you're probably going to be stuck either way.

3. Shoulder seasons are usually cheaper. I've only gone in spring, but would like to try fall. Someday I'd like to drive to Alaska in the summer.

4. The marine highway / ferries are undoubtedly more "Alaska" than a cruise, but represent a much more complicated trip, and they're far more expensive unless you really, really work at it. And maybe even then. You might do the simple cruise first to see if you want to go back, then look at alternatives.

5. Particularly in shoulder seasons, excursions are somewhat unlikely to sell out. But on your first trip it doesn't matter - if one fills up, just pick another. For some excursions you want to wait until a day or so before an excursion to decide on buying one, because they're somewhat weather-dependent (excursions may run in any almost any weather, but may not make much sense in certain conditions), so you want to wait until you have a somewhat reliable forecast. Luckily, nothing short of constant pouring rain is likely to detract from your overall trip experience.

6. If you enjoy soft drinks, buy at the port and take them on board with you. Unlike with airlines, pretty much anything reasonable will pass through security, either in checked baggage or carry-on - and you can have more or less unlimited baggage.

7. If you have enough time, consider arranging a back-to-back cruise for yourself. Leave yourself some time in Alaska to explore, then return on a different itinerary (maybe different cruise line) so you see different ports on the return. It's sometimes not much more expensive to take a cruise back to your starting port than to fly, except in terms of time.

8. While I've enjoyed going off exploring on my own at ports, I've lucked out and not had my rental car poop out 100+ miles from the ship. Even taking a non-affiliated excursion is a risk in that the ship will always leave without you. Again, you can obtain insurance to cover this risk if you want, although I've always chosen to take my chances. For the first trip you might want to stick to affiliated excursions. Obviously anywhere you can walk is perfectly safe, so long as you don't lose track of time/distance. If you decide on cruise and specific ports, you can ask for excursion recommendations for those ports.

Base cruise prices have been in the $80-100/day range per person with double occupancy. Add 20% for extras, plus of course your travel to/from whatever ports are involved. But there are almost never single supplement discounts on Alaska itineraries, so it's an expensive trip if you have to travel alone.

Generally Alaska is the least risky trip for a first-time cruise. You're never more than a short distance from land, so the ocean tends not to be as rough as you'd encounter in a long crossing, for example, and you're usually close to good medical facilities. Beware that you will be in Canada for a short time, however, and even in Alaska you may not be "in-network", so it's possible that not having supplemental insurance could be somewhat of a risk.

As for any concern about cruise ships due to recent incidents: it's hard to imagine you could take a safer trip. There's just no reason to be concerned because of these extremely atypical incidents.

Paul
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by TomatoTomahto »

We took a week before our cruise to fish the Kenai River. I'm not a fisherman, well just this once I was, but it was the highlight of the trip. We stayed at Drifter's Lodge http://www.drifterslodge.com/. I caught my first fish, a King Salmon, and cooked over a fire with only some butter and salt to season it. It was so tasty that I don't enjoy store-bought salmon so much any more. Also saw many bears (grizzly and brown).

The cruise was nice too :D
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
KyleAAA
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by KyleAAA »

I've never been on an Alaskan cruise, but I have been to Alaska. Highly recommended.
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orcycle
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by orcycle »

Our family took a Princess cruise to Alaska this past summer, it was my first cruise, and overall it was enjoyable. We took the route that went to Glacier Bay National Park, and that scenery was quite spectacular and probably worth getting an oceanside room (my parents got that one, we got a much cheaper, lower room). I've heard that different cruise lines tend to draw different demographics, so you should figure out if you want a calm cruise or more of a 'party' cruise. Princess was pretty laid back, but there were times we were asked to dress somewhat formally for dinners.

I read with interest the Carnival disaster, and during our cruise there was also a fire, but in a laundry room. We saw the staff scurrying around and we all wondered what was going on, thinking the worst. The captain came on the PA and explained what happened and they contained the situation. I would hate to experience problems on an Alaskan cruise versus a warm weather cruise; much smaller margin for error, in my opinion.

The on-shore excursions were fun, albeit EXTREMELY expensive. We went ziplining with our kids, Butchart Gardens (don't go at night unless you've gone already during the day; you are rushed and you don't get to see as much). Stopping in Juneau we got a free tour of the Alaska capitol building, that was fun and educational.

If you have reasonable expectations, I think an Alaska cruise to see wildlife and chilly scenery, while eating a lot of average to above-average food, and you like activities organized for you on the cruise ship like Zumba, cards, wildlife lectures, and things like that, it's probably a good value. I wouldn't go on another Alaska cruise, not for a long time anyway, but we talk about maybe taking the kids on a Disney cruise in a tropical location. We'd avoid Carnival regardless, not our style.

Have fun. Seattle is also a fun city, and we arrived a day early to avoid any risk of missing the departure.
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JamesSFO
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by JamesSFO »

Highly recommend visiting http://www.cruisecritic.com/ and checking the forums/boards as well. Get a sense of what people are saying about your cruiseline, understand some people will love it/some will hate but look for common threads/surprises.

E.g. soda not included, bring a power strip, etc. and you won't be surprised.
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yukonjack
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by yukonjack »

I have not used this company but it does look intriguing. It's a small cruise line at http://www.alaskandreamcruises.com
It looks like they cater to a more active clientele.
johnubc
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by johnubc »

I will recommend the Alaska cruise - but as a first time cruise, you may not get the full cruise experience.

IE - the weather may not be co-operative, and the outside activities - pool, bar, lounging, etc - may not meet your expectations. On cruises in warmer weather, you may spend time on deck while at sea, and just relax. Not so much on an

Average age of Alaska cruisers are older.

Alaska cruise - which is awesome - just not like other cruises.
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Watty
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Watty »

DaveS wrote:I am a former Alaska resident. I have taken the Alaska Marine Ferry many times. It's much less expensive and more informal compared to the high cost luxury market. Locals get on and off. It's much more of an Alaska experience. You wont meet anyone from Alaska on a cruse ship. The Ferry and the cruse ships all go to the same places. You and a cabin is only about a thousand. It's easier to get a reservation going south. http://www.dot.state.ak.us Dave
+1 on this.

Large cruise ships have several problems if you are not mainly looking for the cruise experience;

1) If they leave from Seattle there is a lot of dead time when they go to and from Alaska.

2) They are usually too short. Many of them are only seven days with lots of travel time and when you add it up you many actually only have about 20 hours of time when you are actually off the ship.

3) There are can be more people on the cruise ship than live in some of the towns you will want to stop in.

4) The itinerary is inflexible. If the weather is bad for the five hours that you will be at a fantastic spot then they will likely take you out anyway and waste your time and money.

5) The ship excursions are more expensive and often abbreviated versions of what you could book on your own if you were staying in the town.

It was years ago but I had a great trip using the Alaskan Ferry's.

Once you get to Southeast Alaska you can basically use the ferries like busses to hop from one town to the next. If you plan it carefully you usually do not have to spend a night on the ferry so that you can often get by without a cabin. I'm not sure how it is now but when I was there if you didn't have a car or need a cabin then you didn't need to make a reservation more than a day in advance(if that) except for the trip from Washington State. This gives you a lot of flexibility so you can reschedule as needed because of the weather.

If you are looking to see Alaska instead of just getting a cruise experience I would recommend flying into Juneau and spend a few days there seeing the nearby attraction first. You can then use the ferries and small cruise ships that often do either day trips or short cruises of just a couple of days. In between you can stay at a hotel on land and spend some time seeing the local sites.

You can get by very well without a car if you are not camping. In the few places like Juneau where a car would be nice to have you can rent one, but there will be plenty of tours available so you really don't need a car.

The last I looked there were also some combination cruise and rail trips available which would be another alternative to get off the cruise ship more.

From Atlanta if you are just looking for a cruise experience you should really go on a Caribbean cruise since they will be much less expensive. I have booked a discounted cruise through;

http://www.vacationstogo.com/

so be sure to price them there for discount Caribbean cruises if you are more interested in the crusie itself. If you are a Georgia resident then you can get discounts on some cruises from Florida.
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SuzyC
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by SuzyC »

I took an Alaska cruise on the Princess cruise line in 05 (my only cruise to date). If you go that route, I recommend splurging on the various excursions - we helicoptered to a glacier to see Iditarod dogs training, took a small boat ride around inland waterways, and took a small plane to a fishery where we saw bears swiping salmon out of the stream.
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Sheepdog
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Sheepdog »

chaz wrote:We really enjoyed our Alaska cruise on Princess.
We did also.
It was a wonderful land-sea cruise.
(It was strange, though, to be able to schedule a 3 AM tee time in Fairbanks.)
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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walkabout
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by walkabout »

I have not been on an Alaska cruise, but I did recently take my first cruise ever. We had a presentation on our ship pushing upcoming cruises. Alaska was heavily featured. Keeping in mind that this was primarily a sales pitch, I think there were still some useful bits of information (that are probably applicable, regardless of the cruise line):
1. One advantage to booking excursions through the cruise line is that the ship won't leave the port until all of its excursions are back on board. If you book a third party excursion or if you explore by yourself, don't miss the ship's departure time because it might just leave without you. There was at least one couple that was too late getting back to the ship from independent sight seeing on a cruise that my wife and daughter took recently. They were left behind and had to book travel to the next port to catch back up.
2. Regarding Alaska excursions... If an excursion is available at multiple ports (helicopter sight seeing, dog sledding, etc), consider booking at an earlier port. If the weather is not favorable, you still have a chance at future ports. The excursion might be cancelled due to weather (I'm not sure if the cruise line would automatically book you on the same excursion in the next port or not).
3. Some (most?, all?) Alaska cruises departing from Seattle/Vancouver are one-way. There is a cruise "out" one week, and a cruise taking the reverse route back the next week. As part of the sales pitch, the guy advocated booking a 14 day cruise (i.e. booking both the "out" and "back" legs). Might be a good idea, if you want a 14 day cruise. I got the impression that the itinerary is not exactly the same, so it's not like you visit exactly the same ports.

FWIW, we are NCL cruisers (I've been once, wife and daughter several times). To me some advantages are: no dressing up for dinner (shirt with collar required for the nicer restaurants), no set dining times, no set dining tables. The demographics on our cruise ran the gamut from some senior citizens, to families, to some young groups (college or just post college).

From my one cruise experience, I would disagree to the recommendation to book the cheapest room. We had a relatively high (10th out of 14 decks) suite with a balcony at the stern. On our ship, suites had some nice privileges: preferred embarkation/disembarkation (that was really nice!), just about anything is available from room service, apparently much more room than a standard room (taking it from my wife on that one). I am not really a huge excursion person, so I probably spent more time in the room and on the balcony than some other people might have. Our cruise did have two 36 hour sea legs, so there was a much longer period of time when excursions were not an option than maybe is likely on an Alaska cruise (not sure how long it takes to get from Seattle/Vancouver to first port of call).
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Peter Foley
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Peter Foley »

We have not taken a cruise but have used the Alaska Marine Ferry. We took the ferry from Juneau to Skagway and back. A big advantage of this type of travel is your expereince on land in the various ports of call. Skagway is a small town of less than 1000 people. When multiple cruises disembark the town is flooded with tourists from about 10:00 am until they return to the ship for supper. After about 5:00 the streets are relatively deserted and your can enjoy a nice small town and have a leisurely dinner.
Juneau can absorb a few more tourists, but it is still very crowed when the ships are in.
We flew to Juneau and got to see two days worth of the inside passage from the ferry. We could have done additional day trips. We Also flew to Gustavus and took a small ferry into Glacier Bay National Park. Our ferry was able to manuever and visit more places on that day trip than the big cruise ship we saw which did a relatively quick in and out.

This all depends on what you want however. We wanted to see and experience Alaska more than have a cruise experience.
Martindo
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Re: Your feedback re: Alaska cruise

Post by Martindo »

My wife and I took Alaska Marine Ferry from Bellingham up to Haines, AK. We then car-camped through Canada and Alaska for a month, in Aug/Sept, which was a wonderfully beautiful time and very few other people traveling about. Then we ferried back to Bellingham.

The ferry is not a cruise ship experience, but it was a lot of fun for us. We had a cabin and brought all of our food for the three-day trip. (It felt luxurious in comparison with the mostly young people who pitched their tents on the aft deck.) The ferry is smaller than the big cruise ships so I was told it went through smaller passages and closer to land.

I know people's taste in these things varies, but I observed that the small towns (Ketchikan, Haines) on the inland passge had smaller populations than even one cruise ship, and that when the ships are in port the town just becomes the on-shore extension of the ship.

Perhaps the OP, or someone else, would like to put their own cruise together using the various routes of the Alaska Marine Highway. I'm not sure what it would cost, but you would have one version of an Alaska experience.
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