Thread: First Timers to Alaska

Hi there...we are planning to cruise (our 7th overall cruise) to Alaska summer of 2007. This will be our first cruise in Alaska. I am torn on the 10-day round trip from Seattle (especially if the new Crown does this itin) or the 7 day southbound with 3-day land first.

The 3-day sounds like a lot of schlepping (sp?) and it seems you really only have a day and a half in Denali given the first day is spent getting to Anchorage. I have heard that one of the things we would miss doing the RT Seattle is Glacier Bay (I think). Having never been, and knowing we would go again...is this a big deal? I assume we would see Hubbard Glacier and have the glacier experience but I may be wrong.

On the rail part getting to the ship - are there restrooms on the train? Also have this question for the White Pass Railroad while on the cruise...do they also have restroom facilities? Have to check you know ...

Thanks!

Welcome Lisa to CLF........glad you found us and hope you enjoy the boards. Many can answer your Alaska questions...........jstducky is our resident Alaska specialist........among others...........

Glad you are on board.

Jim

did the RT from Seattle on the Sapphire Princess two summers ago. We picked RT because we figured our girl (7 at the time) wouldn't be interested in more scenery (especially after taking the train from Oxnard, CA to Seattle to get there) so we skipped the cruisetours. I guess if you didn't have non-sightseeing-oriented people in your party, that's another matter.

Which cruiseline are you going on. I know Princess has a new ship, the Crown but I thought she's staying on the East Coast for now. Not sure about the other lines but most of them seem to do at least one-ways.

We took an excursion in Skagway that paralleled the route of the White Pass train. The train usually takes hours so I would hope they have a restroom. Maybe someone here on CLF took that excursion. Or you can see if there's a website for the train on which they list amenties.

One thing to be aware is that some of the cruiseships vary their ports. Some do Skagway (which we liked), some Haines, some Sitka.

One disadvantage to the one-way, btw, is that flights can be expensive because you're flyng to one city, such as Vancouver, and leaving from another, Anchorage.

Here's the Tracy Arm Strait from the Sapphire Princess. We cruised through there in the early am on the way to Juneau. And let me assure you, everyone got up to go on their balconies or up on deck. Princess has a naturalist onboard to narrate what you are looking at.

But the little one wasn't thrilled to be up at 7am. Had to be placated with hot chocolate.

Thanks for the welcome and Cruisin chick - your daughter is adorable. We will be cruising in the summer of 2007 and the thought of in/out Seattle is appealing as opposed to the alternative. But we have not decided. We have been on the Sun Princess 3 times and the Ocean once and want to do a newer ship this time. If the Diamond did the RT that would be awesome as well. My TA said no word yet on which ship will do the RT in 2007.

Welcome to the boards. You'll find the answers to your questions here.

Lisa, welcome aboard. No matter what you end up doing in Alaska, you are going to love it. It is such a great trip.

Luv that name! Thanks for the welcome. I have been on the Princess boards for the Carib but this is my first time on the Alaska boards.

First off... welcome to CLF!!!



You're off to Alaska! How exciting!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE ALASKA!

There is no more beautiful place on earth in my opinion. I have taken 3 Alaska cruises.

If I were you, I would choose to do the 7 day southbound with the 3 day land pre-cruise. If you are going to do a land tour, doing the tour first and then going southbound is a lot better than going cruise first with the land tour post cruise.

Having said that though, that is strictly my experience from having been there. When you cruise to Alaska, you really get to see such a small part of Alaska. If you look at the land mass that is Alaska and look at the route your cruise ship sails, you're really only seeing SE Alaska, which is like 10% of that state. By going on a one way cruise, you get to see more of Alaska, and you get to go inland. Inland Alaska is much different than what you see along the shoreline. The climate is different, the way of life is different, the scenery is different.

Without knowing your exact itinerary, you mentioned the differences between Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay. For someone who has never been to Alaska before, I would generally recommend going on an itinerary that included Glacier Bay, basically because of the experience of Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay is basically and all day trek. In the morning when you enter the parks boundaries, you pick up a National Park Ranger that accompanies the ship all day long and gives lectures, etc. You spend the whole day sailing through the waters of this national park. The highlight will be seeing Marjerie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. In the afternoon you'll see John Hopkin's Inlet and Glacier. You have a great opportunity to see wildlife. At Hubbard Glacier, its more of a couple of hours experience. You sail through an area that while gorgeous is not comparable to Glacier Bay. There is not much wildlife. Then you see this massive glacier which is larger and more active than anything you'll see at Glacier Bay. You are there for about 1-2 hours and then you leave and move on to the next port. Having done both, I would say that Hubbard Glacier is more impressive and exciting to see, but for overall experience Glacier Bay is better.

As for the rail question you had. Yes there are restrooms. On the White Pass Railroad in Skagway there is one restroom per rail car. Its very clean and nothing you have to worry about at all.

Ok, I hope that answers some of your questions. If you have any more or need more detail, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to help you out!