Suggestions for Alaskan Cruise/Itinerary?

[Vernie822]

Hello!

My husband turns 30 in 2018, so we're thinking of doing an Alaskan cruise that summer. I'm hoping for suggestions for your favorite ship or cruise line and itinerary. We've never cruised before so this is all just a brainstorm, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions so we could at least begin looking into the ships and itineraries. I'm thinking we'll want to start from Seattle, though for no particular reason other than we have a ton of Southwest points and would likely fly into there (I can be convinced otherwise). I'm thinking 7 nights. There's only two of us. We'd be flying from NC.

As much as we love Disney, I don't think we'll want to cruise with them ($$$$ and the fact that it's my husband's 30th and we are a childless couple), although I hear its amazing.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!
Ashley

 

[gumbypee]

Hello!

My husband turns 30 in 2018, so we're thinking of doing an Alaskan cruise that summer. I'm hoping for suggestions for your favorite ship or cruise line and itinerary. We've never cruised before so this is all just a brainstorm, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions so we could at least begin looking into the ships and itineraries. I'm thinking we'll want to start from Seattle, though for no particular reason other than we have a ton of Southwest points and would likely fly into there (I can be convinced otherwise). I'm thinking 7 nights. There's only two of us. We'd be flying from NC.

As much as we love Disney, I don't think we'll want to cruise with them ($$$$ and the fact that it's my husband's 30th and we are a childless couple), although I hear its amazing.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!
Ashley

Although I say I have done Disney basically as a solo adult (met friends onboard), it is a lot for an Alaskan cruise where the ports are the highlights of the trip and not the ship so much. (I mean don't be "embarrassed" or anything to do Disney cruise without kids in the future)

I did Princess and it was an older crowd (I was about 35 at the time and one of the youngest people on board) but I didn't care. I would not do less than seven nights and personally don't feel the need for a balcony as I spend most of my time on deck anyways. Personal preference. Princess went from Seattle when I did it about five years ago - not sure now.

Again, for Alaska, it is the ports and excursions that are the main focus and not ship.

See if you can do a land and sea package bc there is just so much to Alaska as well.
hope this helps some! Great idea for a birthday

 

[Vernie822]

Although I say I have done Disney basically as a solo adult (met friends onboard), it is a lot for an Alaskan cruise where the ports are the highlights of the trip and not the ship so much. (I mean don't be "embarrassed" or anything to do Disney cruise without kids in the future)

I did Princess and it was an older crowd (I was about 35 at the time and one of the youngest people on board) but I didn't care. I would not do less than seven nights and personally don't feel the need for a balcony as I spend most of my time on deck anyways. Personal preference. Princess went from Seattle when I did it about five years ago - not sure now.

Again, for Alaska, it is the ports and excursions that are the main focus and not ship.

See if you can do a land and sea package bc there is just so much to Alaska as well.
hope this helps some! Great idea for a birthday

Thank you so much. All things we need to think about. He says he definitely would want to do a balcony, but I can absolutely see your point of not spending much time in the room because of all of the activities and excursions. I'll have to look into Princess. We've thought about cruising with Disney to other spots, but since we've never cruised period yet, I'm unsure about spending that much money for our first cruise. Thanks again!

 

[OKW Lover]

We did an Alaska 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean in 2015 and we're going to repeat it again this year. Sailing from Seattle is easy but you may want to plan an extra couple of days stay in Seattle before the cruise. Seattle is a fascinating city.

We always book a veranda cabin when we cruise. Its really great for Alaska because you have a front row seat for all the beautiful scenery that you'll be sailing by. Since the cruise is a closed loop (up and back) we don't worry much about missing what's on the other side of the ship - we will see it later.

Like the OP, we love DCL but they are just priced out. We save significant dollars by cruising on RCL.

 

[Vernie822]

We did an Alaska 7-night cruise on Royal Caribbean in 2015 and we're going to repeat it again this year. Sailing from Seattle is easy but you may want to plan an extra couple of days stay in Seattle before the cruise. Seattle is a fascinating city.

We always book a veranda cabin when we cruise. Its really great for Alaska because you have a front row seat for all the beautiful scenery that you'll be sailing by. Since the cruise is a closed loop (up and back) we don't worry much about missing what's on the other side of the ship - we will see it later.

Like the OP, we love DCL but they are just priced out. We save significant dollars by cruising on RCL.

Thanks Jeff, this is exactly what we were thinking. I was leaning towards RCL after hearing good things about it in general, from the boards/podcast and all that. I remember hearing or reading somewhere that a balcony was great to have for Alaska because of all the scenery. I've heard great things about Seattle so I was thinking at least a few nights pre or post would be fun. Thanks again for your help!

 

[OKW Lover]

There is a very nice "boutique" hotel in Seattle, the Inn at the Market, that you might consider staying at. A bit expensive but a great location just up hill from the Market. Some friends stayed there before the Alaska cruise many of us were on in 2015. Val & I got to see their room and it was very nice. We will be staying there a couple of nights before this year's cruise.

In Seattle, plan on hitting the public (Pikes) market, the space needle (wonderful view, but not much more than that), the Chihuly Garden glass exhibit and perhaps take a ride on one of the ferries that goes to Bainbridge Island just to be able to take some spectacular photos of the city.

 

[cleophus12]

Cruising to Alaska from Vancouver is also fun. Vancouver is a great city and gets you slightly further up the coast. We loved our balcony because you are almost always within sight of land and the scenery is lovely. Also if it's particularly cold, the deck can be chilly. If you have a balcony you can go in and out at will. I am a balcony person, but I would say that Alaska is the one cruise I would not do without a balcony. We cruised Alaska with RCCL and were not disappointed. Cost was reasonable and the itinerary was terrific. We were on the Radiance years ago and it was a lovely ship built for Alaska with lots of glass all over the ship. Don't know which ship they are using these days.

 

[alliecat523]

We just cruised RCL out of Seattle on Explorer this past summer. Loved it! Would definitely recommend a balcony cabin. We spent a ton of time out there checking things out. Especially when we sailed up the fjord.

 

[Mrsjvb]

many people consider Princess as having the Alaskan market cornered. they have the most permits to enter the better stretches of water ( Glacier Bay) we are avid Royal cruisers but will be jumping ship to Princess to do Alaska.

 

[diswish]

We did a Holland America RT from Vancouver and I recommend spending as much time as you can in the Inside Passage. Seattle cruises spend an extra day getting to the Inside Passage. We chose Holland America because Glacier Bay was important for us but it did have older cruisers and the nightlife was weak. Next year we are doing a one-way southbound with Royal Caribbean and spending a few days inland before the cruise. Excursions are very pricey but we had fun hiking on our own at each port with little additional costs. I would not do Alaska without a balcony since I literally spent 12 hours outside on the Glacier Bay day. Vancouver is an awesome city. Cruise Critic has good forums for Alaska cruising.

 

[hsmamato2]

what are the must see's of Pikes market area?

 

[mrp4352]

You might think about flying into SEA, then taking the Amtrak up to Vancouver. It will give you more options to chose from while picking your cruise and the train trip is beautiful! It's about 3 hours long and hugs the coast line for a majority of that trip.

If you can find a cruise that includes Sitka as a port, I would jump on it! It's a beautiful little town snuggled into a gorgeous area. We did the best water wildlife boat excursion there!

 

[RebelHawk]

While I can't compare RCL vs Disney Alaskan cruises my wife and I did the Disney Alaskan cruise in 2015. Just the two of us and no kids and we LOVED IT. For us we will only cruise with a balcony room and I can say that on some of the more scenic portions of the cruise there were times where it was difficult to find a "good" chair out on the deck. By good I mean something that might be a little sheltered from wind or maybe in a quieter deck area. We found that we were on our balcony on this cruise much more frequently than on any other cruise. Also as the day warmed and cooled we just had to walk back into our room and add or remove layers. Also with the adult only areas on the ship there as plenty of places to get away from the kids on the ship so that wasn't bad at all. Actually comparing non Disney to the Disney cruises we have done we find that the Disney cruises feels less packed with kids since they all have their own areas to stay in.

We also sailed out of Vancouver and loved the visiting this city as a tourist rather than on my occasional business trips. We flew in a couple of days early and then left a couple of days after we returned. We ended up staying at the Marriott right by Canada Place (port for cruise ships) which was walking distance. It was really fun getting up early on the departure date and watching the ship arrive.

That being said no matter which line you end up cruising with Alaska is breath taking and jaw dropping. We will go back and do this cruise again some day.

 

[disneyholic family]

in 2015, we sailed on the royal caribbean Radiance of the Seas, southbound from seward, alaska to vancouver...
we LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED that trip....
did i mention that we loved it?

DD and her husband did the same cruise twice....
first for their honeymoon back in 2012, and then again with us in 2015....
they also LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED that trip..

we chose a southbound cruise starting in alaska, so that we could first spend a week in inland alaska- highly recommended!!!! (denali, seward, fairbanks, anchorage, the glass dome train, etc etc etc etc etc)..

alaska is so magnificent....no place like it in the world!!!

i definitely recommend doing a one way cruise so that you can spend time inside alaska....

we loved alaska and we loved the royal radiance of the seas cruise!!!

i hope to be able to go again and this time take the whole family (DS and his family too!!).

though on the next trip i'd like to spend at least two weeks inside alaska before the cruise

.