Alaskan Cruise? (best, hotel, vacations, airport)

[Wi_Girl]

My husband and I have been talking about going on an Alaskan cruise for quite some time now. We went to Hawaii last December to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary and were hoping to go back (this time no kids or inlaws) for our 10 year. However, we hear so much about how wonderful the cruises are. Anyone been to Hawaii and an Alaskan Cruise and have an opinion? I'd love to see pics if anyone has them! Thanks in advanced for your help!

[jeepejeep]

GO,GO,GO!!!!!!! We did an Alaskan cruise in july of 2001. It was the most amazing ,wonderful vacation I have EVER done in my life. I can't tell you how beautiful it is! I don't know how to post pictures here but if someone will let me know, I'll gladly do so. I only hope one day I can do it again.

[Billiam]

I did it a few years ago and its was spectacular!!! on accasion, you may even see a bear with her cubs like I did from the ship!! You get to see lots of glaciers and seals too! lol
Its a great idea!!

[Beretta]

We are wanting to do this as well. We also are considering a train ride across Canada.

Any and all information on what to do and what not to do and places/cruise lines to look for, etc. please let me (us) know. I would like also to know best times of year to go, what ports are best, etc. We live in the southeastern US so we would be traveling out of here.

Thanks, great thread!

[jeepejeep]

We used Princess Cruises. The ship was clean and roomy, the crew were wonderful and the food!!! BUUUURRRRPPPP!!!!!!! Fantastic!

We left from Vancouver and stopped in Skagway,Ketchikan and Juneau. Each stop had something wonderful to do. I forget which things we did at which stop but we took a Jeep into the mountains, a helecopter to the top of a glacier and went fishing for salmon. Saw many eagles,seals and a glimpse of a whale. The sight and sound of the glaciers "calving"(breaking off huge sections into the bays) was just amazing!
We were lucky with the weather. It was only cloudy with a little rain two days. Mostly sunny in the 70's. We even went in the pool one day!

We took a bus from our last stop to the airport in Anchorage then flew home. I'd love to take the train ride through other parts of Alaska if we ever do it again. WONDEFUL TRIP especially if you love the outdoors like we do.

[Billiam]

Originally Posted by jeepejeep

We used Princess Cruises. The ship was clean and roomy, the crew were wonderful and the food!!! BUUUURRRRPPPP!!!!!!! Fantastic!

We left from Vancouver and stopped in Skagway,Ketchikan and Juneau. Each stop had something wonderful to do. I forget which things we did at which stop but we took a Jeep into the mountains, a helecopter to the top of a glacier and went fishing for salmon. Saw many eagles,seals and a glimpse of a whale. The sight and sound of the glaciers "calving"(breaking off huge sections into the bays) was just amazing!
We were lucky with the weather. It was only cloudy with a little rain two days. Mostly sunny in the 70's. We even went in the pool one day!

We took a bus from our last stop to the airport in Anchorage then flew home. I'd love to take the train ride through other parts of Alaska if we ever do it again. WONDEFUL TRIP especially if you love the outdoors like we do.

I went on a Princess too! But We left from seattle and stopped in skagway, ketchikan, juneau, tracy's arm (not a port ) and victoria. I also took a helicopter to a glacier!! It was so fun to walk on it! I took it from juneau. After that, we took this bus tour to the Yukon and Saw Incredibly light blue lakes and huge mountains! Than we went home! But there, it was cloudy a lot. So much fun though! I want to go deeper into Alaska next time though!

[Wi_Girl]

Wow all of that sounds spectacular!!! I mean Hawaii was beyond wonderful but I want to do an Alaskan trip too! So much to do, so little time! LOL

Thanks to everyone who posted and I'd love to hear more experiences! As for posting pictures, the way I do it is I use photobucket, which is a web site where you can get a free account and then I download them on that and post the link which makes the pictures show up. I've seen people use other ways but that's the only one I know how to use...

[foma]

YOU WILL LOVE IT. We went Sept2006 and had a blast.

I recommend getting a balcony room but it isn't necessary b'c you can go on the docks and see the view. Our ship also did a 360 in certain areas so everybody got a chance to take pics and stuff.

We also did a Princess cruise and loved it. Alaska was our first cruise ever and we'd do it again. I recommend doing one of thise cruisetours where you do a cruise and a train trip. It's more expensive and takes a longer time but I would've loved to have seen more of Alaska's "insides".

Search posts from "Karla with a K" ... she just came back on a trip from Alaska and posted pics. Definitely go - you won't be disappointed!

[foma]

I looked it up for ya:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/other...you-enjoy.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/other...ies-share.html

[yellowsnow]

My best advice is go when the weather is good. Alaska is beautiful but I admit, because of where I live, cold weather vacations hold little attraction for me. A friend really wanted to go so I agreed.

We were on the Regal Princess. No complaints on the ship and the food was very good. We left from Vancouver and stayed at a wonderful hotel, the Pan Pacific and had fun shopping in Canada. It was the weather and the timing that did us in. A huge storm hit, 30ft rolling swells and gale force winds. Let me tell you, Alaska isn't the Carribbean! I don't get seasick but everyone else, including my friend, spent the entire trip heaving. Almost everyone on the ship lost weight! The ship was like a ghost town. At times it was completely deserted. I had 6 waiters at the pizza restaurant one night because I was the only one there. Some mornings were so bad you woke up holding on to the sides of the bed with your legs and arms just to keep from hitting the floor. Some days we couldn't shower because the ship was tilting so much the water would flood into the room. We were supposed to go fishing in Skagway. Cancelled because of the weather. We paid for an excursion to the Yukon instead. I saw a mountain sheep and took some pictures. Then it hit me, it was a plastic sheep. It wasn't real.

Next, my mom ended up in ICU at home. Then my friend's uncle died.

I kept on saving my money and looking forward to Sitka. The one place I really wanted to see. And shop! Well, they cancelled that too. Weather. We got back to Vancouver early and spent the last night on ship in the harbor.

We were all rested up and ready to go home. Then 9/11 happened and we had to spend 3 more days in Canada. No way to get across the border. It was one heck of a trip. I've traveled around the world with less trouble that that. I think I had all the bad luck concentrated in that 1 vacation! I would still like to see Sitka but not bad enough to go through it all over again.