Alaska Cruise - Fulton,CA

I have no advice about cruises, but i live in Alaska and you will love it! Its like no other place in the country. Stunningly beautiful.

You should be able to get a round trip cruise, but Anchorage also has a nice airport if you want to not have to take as many days off to see the same things twice. Alaska is beautiful! I have lived here the past 7 years and the scenery still takes my breath away on a regular basis.

A very long time ago we took a 3 week land/cruise tour of Alaska with Princess. This was the most fabulous vacation we've ever taken and worth every penny. You see only a snipit of this very large state on a cruise through the Inland Passage. Our bus driver/tour guide was a a professor of Alaskan history at the University of Alaska. He worked for Princess during the summer months. On a tour, you experience all kinds of transportation, from scenic trains to narrow gauge trains to prop planes landing on dirt runways in the Yukon, to flat bed trains (your bus rides on one with you in it), helicoptors, small planes, old school buses....great trip and beautiful scenery. I'm not a balcony person, so we opted for an outside suite on the cruise portion and spent lots of time on deck or in one of several nice lounges with lots of huge windows. The window in our stateroom was huge...took up most of the wall. I would look into a combo if I were you. I don't think you'll be disappointed. We've cruised with Princess several times and have always been well taken care of and children have never, in our experience, been allowed to run amok on the ship. We did not have such a pleasant experience with Carnival and will never cruise with them again if we can help it.

I have only been on one cruise, but it was by far the best vacation I have ever taken. AMAZING. We took our kids on a Caribbean cruise last January.

We had two balcony rooms with a connecting door. WELL worth the extra cost for us to get those rooms. I don't think I could stay on an inside room. And we were on a high level floor....also a must for me now that I've done it.

We loved the Princess Alaskan cruise and did pay for the balcony. I figured the whole trip was so expensive, I might as well see everything I could! We kept the doors open most of the time to smell and watch the sea. We saw more whales this way!

Now for my favorite tip, whatever room you book. See if you can book towards the end of the ship. Yes, not the front, the end. The Princess ships have fabulous balconies on the end (free, free, free) and you see everything they see in front, without the crowds and without the blue-tinted windscreen. It was like a private party for 20 back there to see all the same views. If you get a balcony in the back, you are also across the hall from the self-serve laundry, so you can put a wash in, go back to the rear balcony and enjoy yourself! It's a walk to the dining rooms, but considering all you eat on a cruise, I considered that a good thing!

Alaska cruises are about 50% one way and 50% round trip. Many cruise lines offer both types of itineraries, including Princess. Those that go round trip typically leave out of either Seattle or Vancouver.

On an Alaskan cruise, a balcony can be nice because you usually spend a couple of days cruising around glaciers, where you don't get off the ship and you just enjoy the scenery. However, you can certainly get the same view from the decks - you just might have to compete with others for space. It wouldn't be a big deal though and, if money was a concern, you can skip the balcony and spend more time in the common areas.

If you haven't already, visit www.cruisecritic.com and search their forums. You can go to forums for specific cruise lines and for specific destinations. If you book a cruise, you can even go to a forum specifically for your exact sailing and talk to people that will be on the ship with you.

Princess is known for having really wonderful cruises in Alaska.

If you do a one way cruise, you should plan to spend extra time in the Anchorage/Whittier/Denali (aka Mt McKinley) area. The reason people do one way cruises is because they want the opportunity to spend extra time up there. Many book "cruisetours," which include both the cruise and land portion of the trip.

Balcony is worth every penny. We just returned from a Caribbean cruise. No experience with Princess or Alaska though.

We did an Alaskan cruise to/from Seattle on Norwegian four years ago and LOVED it! If you prefer a more casual environment, Norwegian is the way to go. No set meal times, no set meal guests at your table, casual attire. It worked well for us. Great service the entire time. We had a super experience overall.

Alaskan cruises are very expensive, so we opted for an inside cabin. We found it worked well for Alaska because of the extended hours of sunshine up there in the summer. We slept great! Our room was nice and dark at night. In fact, one morning we slept in until 9 am, which we NEVER do at home (6-7 is the norm). The room wasn't big, but it really didn't matter because we were rarely in the room.

For seeing glaciers, we just went up on deck. There was also a wonderful lounge at the top level of our ship with massive windows, so we often went up there to just relax and enjoy the view. We ended up seeing more whales from there than we ever did on our whale-watching tour up there.

Try to book a cruise that goes through Glacier Bay. We didn't realize that was going to be one of the highlights of the whole trip. A ranger with the park boarded the ship and gave a great talk about the area while we observed the glaciers as we coasted around the bay. Sad to see the glaciers melting, but cool, too, to watch. Bring binoculars!

The other highlight of our trip was the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour in Ketchikan. Even if you've never seen Deadliest Catch, it's a fascinating and fun tour. They throw out food into the water near the boat and it attracts tons of eagles. We got some close-up views we never would have seen otherwise.

Have fun! It's an amazing trip to take.

I have no cruise experience, but I do have Alaska experience bc I lived there 15 years. Half of that time was in Juneau where your cruise is probably going. It's gorgeous there...try to do it all when you stop at the different towns. It might be raining/drizzling, but dress in warm layers with rain gear and go do fun things anyway. People who live in southeast Alaska have learned you just get out no matter what! Amazing things you should do are seeing the Mendenhall Glacier (Juneau), going to Totem Pole park in Sitka, whale watching on a smaller boat, hiking as much as you can in the rainforest, and beach hiking. It's gorgeous there and you will see humpback whales, sea lions, eagles, and plenty of other cool sights! The fish hatchery in Juneau is also a cool tour. There is a great museum in each town, and there are also some amazing hikes in the old gold rush areas. Don't let any rain stop you...go see as much of this as you can! And be sure to eat as much fresh fish and crab and shrimp as you can (not fried). Yum!

Cruises are the bomb!! My husband & I went with his family on an Alaskan cruise via Holland America, great experience.

This website will tell you all you need to know about Alaskan cruises, & even offers links to book cruises via different cruise lines, either one way, or round trip back to the same port.
http://www.alaskacruises.com/about/alaska-faq.html

Whether or not to get the balcony depends on many factors, but the short answer is: get the interior cabin & spend the money instead on fantastic tours at the different ports of call.

The great thing about cruise ships is that they have TONS of opportunities to step outside & see the view, from many different deck levels.

I have found that a balcony is best for a tropical climate cruise - when you want to go out onto your balcony & sit on your deck chair in your PJ's with a good book in the morning, or romantically watch the sunset with your sweetie after dinner.

But Alaska is not the warmest climate, and we found that we didn't use the balcony hardly at all. As a photographer, I found myself seeking out the public decks on top of the ship to get more panoramic views of what we were passing, instead of taking photos off my own balcony.

Keep in mind, on the ship, there is a ton of stuff to do - many activities, events, mini-classes. During ports of call, there are shore excursions & personal exploration. We didn't spend much time in our room. If you tend to be the types to order room service, & spend a lot of down time in your room, you may want to reconsider a balcony.

Have a GREAT time! T.

For Alaska cruises, one way is common. We did a round trip from San Francisco on Princess years ago, but it was a unique itinerary. I'd splurge for the balcony for the Alaska cruise-the scenery is so beautiful you can really take advantage of it! I always get regular cabins with a window or porthole, but I'd definitely splurge in this case!

I will say that my mom is a regular cruiser and she hated Princess. She likes Royal Caribbean (me too) and the food on Norwegian is lousy.

I do hear that Alaska is fabulous. My mom loved her Alaska cruise (Holland America, I think) and said she really enjoyed being outside on the deck with a large blanket and warm drink that they provided. She said it was beautiful.

Personally, I like warm weather cruises.

never cruised but want to, so loving all the advice! thanks for asking this cool question.
:) khairete
S.

Alaska and European cruises are different like that. A lot of the time they come back to a different port but not always, just have to check. We never paid extra for the balcony rooms. We were out all day and frankly, when we got back we were so tired that all we wanted to do was sleep.

I have no advice to give you. I can only say I'm jealous! My daughter lives in Alaska and I haven't been able to visit yet! I told my son-in-law that the longer it takes me to get to Alaska to see them, the longer I'll stay there, so he'd better be warned!

I think most cruises are round trip. We took the Alaska cruise from San Francisco and returned to San Francisco.

If you are doing Alaska,it would be worth it, IMHO, to get the balcony room. There are so many great sites you will want to see and without a balcony it's either no window or a very small one.

Hawaii and now Alaska! I'm jealous! ;-)

You can go round trip from Seattle. That's what we did. We did not get a balcony and I was glad because the weather was not the best. Would have been a waste of money. If I had to do it over again, I would do the land/cruise tour. However, it is more expensive.

To to vacationstogo.com. They have the best deals on cruises.

I have not been to Alaska (yet!) but I love cruising (been on 4).

Here is my favorite cruise web site. They also have a great message board with tons of info (almost too much LOL).

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1344

Hope you find something great and have a wonderful time Rosebud!!!!

I have found the best prices on yahoo travel. Some cruises are one way but if you look at different lines you'll find those that are round trip, leaving from and returning to the same port.

I wouldn't go on one that would require us to fly. We drive. Some will even do travel arrangements for the whole trip for you and part of it is on a bus...crazy!

So be sure and ask for sure so you can have the trip you want.

We looked at doing the Alaska trip and then I did a satellite search of the towns they stop at. I can't see anything that I would want to do in those tiny tourist trap places.

Sorry Alaskans.

I do think the whole trip, for me, would be the nature. I wouldn't want to pay for a land trip to go see icebergs or hike on them. I'd rather stay on the ship and see icebergs calving and see whales.

I do plan on doing other trips though. My husband spent part of his childhood in Bermuda so of course we want to go there to see where he lived for that time.

I want to go to Freeport too. I want to see the forts and would love to see some of the local government buildings.

Just shop around and get the best price, being closer to the center of the ship is less risk of motion sickness from what I've heard too.

I went on a cruise to Alaska before, it was awesome. Personally I find the cheaper room is fine, you are going to spend most of your time enjoying the rest of the boat and then just a little time in the room. Unless you want a romantic experience specifically with a private balcony, there's really no reason for it.
My cruise was round trip, but there are a lot of one way cruises too. Many people take the cruise and then vacation at the destination for a while before returning.

we did an Alaskan cruise with Disney and LOVED it. It was round trip from vancouver. Ours was 7 nights but they also have some sailings with 9 with additional stop in Sidtka. The only thing I missed having the balcony was that the window could get dirty and pics from the room maybe werent so great. BUT we didnt spend extra time in the room! We were out on deck. We went on an early sailing so the boat was not full which made it more comfortable overall. Mid season there are more animals out I hear but the cruises are usually sold out. We had a wonderful time and would do it again if we had the money.