Wife has started trying to plan our next vacation. Alaska it is, but she just asked me whether a cruise would be the way to go, or to fly in and rent a car. Also wondering if an enhanced license would be a requirement either way.

Those with experience on cruises, what's your take on the best? Go out of Seattle? So many questions since we've never been out that way, kind of overwhelming!

Edit to add, at our age, this will be our only trip there.

We went last June and decided to do the car thing. I'm not much of a cruise person. To me, the cruise is all about the boat. You do things on the boat. You go somewhere on the boat. You eat a lot on the boat. Then, once every day or two, you get off the boat for a few hours. To me that's not the way to see a place.

On a cruise, you're really only going to get to see the coastal areas. We wanted to see more of the state.

We flew in/ out of Anchorage. We went north to Denali, east to Fairbanks, south to Valdez, then back to Anchorage.

That being said, my wife is planning an Alaska cruise on 2021, although it's a girl's cruise - her, her mom and her sis. She knows I did the cruise thing with her once, and it's not for me.

I feel the same way, I think. We're not the most social of people when it comes to strangers. But neither of us have ever tried a cruise. Lots of fly and drive's under our belts though.

I did an awesome AK trip this past June. I will post some more info later when I have some free time.

It it's going to be your only trip here, I'd suggest doing a one way northbound cruise out of Vancouver with an extension to Denali at the end. Coastal and interior Alaska are wildly different from one another. I made one fishing trip up here and did 2 cruises before moving up here last October. The second cruise we did an extension to Denali and wondered why we had waited so long to do that.

A couple of reasons for this. There are parts of southeast Alaska that are only accessible from the water. Things like the big tidewater glaciers of Humboldt, Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. Juneau is only accessible by air or water. Not that Juneau itself is all that great, but the area around it of Mendenhall Glacier and Auke Bay are fantastic.

Look at cruise itineraries that don't include Icy Straight. Icy Straight is kind of the, "Disneyland" version of Alaska, it's fake. Basically a port built by the cruise companies to look like a traditional native village, cannery, etc. Look for itineraries that include Humboldt Glacier, College Fjord and Glacier Bay.

Cruises out of Seattle are typically round trip and don't go far enough north to see he really cool stuff, and you'll miss the opportunity to do a land extension at the end. As far as the cruise itself, there's only going to be one or two days at sea itself. Most of the sailing is done at night leaving you with full days in port or full days cruising Glacier Bay. Take advantage of shore excursions and spend as much time in port and off the ship as you can. We always were the first to get off the boat in port and went to go find a local restaurant to have breakfast in. Try reindeer sausage and sourdough pancakes.

Alaska is very expensive in the summer. Hotel rooms that are $75/night right now will be over $300/night in the summer. Gas is expensive at $3.00/gallon and will probably be $4.00/gallon in the summer. Rental cars are also expensive as well as food. With a cruise a lot of that is subsidized in the land extension. While you'e onboard there's no need for hotel rooms or eating out. Cruising does make things more affordable.

As far as the land extension to Denali, there's a couple of different ways to do that depending on what the cruise company offers. One is the train which is way cool. Some make it a round trip from Seward or Whittier where you disembark to Denali and back to Anchorage. Others make it a one way from disembarkment through Denali to Fairbanks. The Alaska Railroad itself is expensive to book Like $350/person from Anchorage to Denali one way. Cruiselines subsidize this along with hotels in Denali. Other extensions make the trip to Denali via tour bus. I've done both and prefer the train. Maybe that was because the whole time on the train I was on the exterior platforms between cars with camera in hand.

Another way to do it is to rent a car when you disembark and do it on your own. The advantage is you're on your own schedule and can make stops when and where you want. The disadvantages is this will be more expensive than a cruise extension.

If you have time when you disembark in Seward, I'd highly recommend a day cruise down to Kenai Fjords National Park. Yes, it seems strange to get off one boat and onto another, but it's a totally different experience. It's a much smaller boat and you'll see things that you probably didn't on the cruise ship like whales, sea lions and seals.

Let me know if you've got specific questions.

I think a cruise is a great way to see coastal Alaska for the first time. We went on Regent, it was our first cruise. It’s a smaller. 5 star ship with an amazing crew. We never lacked for privacy. Regent is all inclusive including all food, room service, alcohol and most excursions. They have a no tipping policy. No financial surprises with Regent. Every room has a balcony. If you go south to north get a room on the starboard side, opposite if you go south to north.

We’ve traveled a lot and this was by far our best vacation.

What @2000Z-71 said.

I took a Princess Cruise this past June from Vancouver to Whittier -- the inside passage. I slept at night and every day I was in a new place. Saw glaciers, whales, old gold towns, rode a railroad, even went into Canada and the Yukon Territory for lunch one day. I flew back out of Anchorage.

I didn't do the Denali because I didn't have time for it. Please note that only about 30% of the people who go there actually see it. Clouds are usually obscuring the view. And even if you do go, you're only going to be in viewing range of the mountain for 2-3 hours.

Cruising is a great way to see things without having to exert much energy in planning, if you're looking to explore the Inland Passage region, cruising is the way to go. The downside is most of your trip is onboard the ship, and not much of the destination. Personally I enjoy interacting with the locals, checking out and exploring attractions on my time and seeking out great places to eat. While cruises are very convenient, there can be limitations, especially if its for popular on-shore attractions like a riding with sled dogs or, a helicopter over-flight.

Do a bit of homework, figure out what your budget allows, what you want to see and what's important. The inexpensive budget cruises are more apt to be booze-cruises, with crass and boorish shipmates. Meanwhile, a spendy cruise may result in a luxurious cabin but, each meal require a jacket and your fellow passengers may be stuffy, and uptight asses.

In the late summer of 2018 we took a cruise on Holland America Noordam. The cruise started in Seward Ak., then on to Glacier Bay, Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan, and finally Vancouver, British Columbia. Total of 1843 miles in 7 days. I had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat. This past summer my sister took the cruise leaving from Vancouver and ending in Seward. Every port stop we went on full day excursions that were a lot of fun. On one trip we went to the Yukon Territory in Canada.

We did the round trip cruise out of Seattle on Norwegian. I would have liked to do Denali, but we didn't have enough time. Got as far north as Hubbard glacier, one of the few glaciers actually advancing, and visited Juneau, Ketchikan and Sitka. The towns were very small, so 8-10 hours or so was enough to get ashore do something significant like kayak, zipline, whale watch or go for a hike and still explore the towns and maybe catch a meal. I was dragged kicking and screaming as I'm not much of a cruise guy myself, and my idea of a vacation involves a tropical beach, but steaming along the rugged southwest coast by boat was incredible. Absolutely majestic. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

I suggest giving serious consideration to renting a motorhome for Alaska. There’s good reasons so many people opt for them when vacationing there. Things are far apart and it’s nice to have a bathroom, kitchen and place to rest wherever you happen to being big ones. Great Alaskan Holidays is the largest outfit and best of the bunch in my experience if you do decide to go that route. They pick you up and drop you off at the airport if you you arrive and depart during specified hours. You don’t have to have any special license or experience. They make you go through an orientation and it’s a good one even if you’ve driven them before. Have fun!

A few questions. How long are you going for? What do you want to do?

I went last June for 10 days. We flew into Anchorage and rented a car. Did Denali, Telkinia, Steward, and Homer. We kayaked near the glaciers, hiked on a glacier, did a boat tour to see whales and some other stuff. While it sounds like we did a lot of adventurous stuff we still had some downtime to explore the towns we were in.

It was an amazing trip. I can get into details and send you our itinerary if you want.

Saw all kinds of wildlife.

Stayed mostly in AirBnB's. We were not looking for luxury(AK can get very expensive) but wanted nice and clean.

AK is beautiful but huge. You need to decide how long you will be there and then what you want to do. We cut off a seaplane excursion, we wanted to do to see brown bears feeding on salmon because it was just too expensive.

I've done a bit of traveling and can say AK was amazing. I was lucky as my traveling companion is very specific about planning out trips and did a lot of research. Like I said I can give you more details if you want on any part of our trip.

quote:

Originally posted by fpuhan:
I didn't do the Denali because I didn't have time for it. Please note that only about 30% of the people who go there actually see it. Clouds are usually obscuring the view. And even if you do go, you're only going to be in viewing range of the mountain for 2-3 hours.

Even if you don't see the mountain, Denali National Park is worth the trip. The mountain does make its own weather and I'm convinced Denali is an ancient Athabascan word for, "F.U. Photographers".

There's a lot to see in the park. Kodachrome Cliffs are amazing. Lots of wildlife, brown bears, moose, caribou. Not only that it's a chance to see interior Alaska. Like I said, coastal and interior Alaska are very different from one another. If you're only making one trip, see both.

This pic was taken about 100 miles away from Denali in September when I won a permit in the road lottery. There's a little cafe/gift shop on the left side of the road as you head north on the Parks Highway. They have a deck with an incredible view of the mountain when it cooperates. Even when Denali hides, it can still be spectacular!

quote:

This pic was taken about 100 miles away from Denali in September when I won a permit in the road lottery.

I used to go to Alaska every year and only saw Denali a few times due to conditions. Managed to get hold of a full access permit too one year. It was great. So different than the bus ride that doesn’t go very far into the park. Also chartered a ski equipped plane out of Talkeetna to fly around it and land on Ruth Glacier, which was also a blast.

Of course when she does decide to quit being a tease and come out from behind the clouds, it is spectacular.

This was taken from the lodge I stayed at in Talkeetna when I went up for the start of the Iditarod, first weekend in March.

My best photo of Denali: DSC_0267a by David Casteel, on Flickr

I've been to Alaska twice, both times on tours by John Hall's Alaska (www.kissalaska.com). My photos of those tours are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...s/72157702714958041/.

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