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Posted on 05/15/2025 12:52:50 PM PDT by Mean Daddy
Thinking about doing an Alaskan cruise but concerned with booking & ending up on the Greyhound of the Seas. My wife and I are in our early 60s so one with minimal kids & drama is appreciated. Did you do the combo boat/train? Is it worth it? What time of year did you go? What would you avoid doing? What did you like & would recommend?
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Thank you very much and God bless you.
Also curious and hanging around to see what advice is given.
I’ve been on a number of cruises - none of them high-end cruise lines. Norwegian, Carnival, Princess, Viking. We enjoyed them all. Our trip to Alaska was on Norwegian in September. It was getting to be a bit nippy already. If you go when school is in session, less likelihood of too many kids. Although in my experience, they all have special places to keep the kids occupied.
Travel is aggravating these days, so getting to your port a day early is probably wise.
“Nothing is more futile than schemed merriment.” -Samuel Johnson
Yeah, travel insurance is cheap.
Get the small boat ride to get up close to the Glacier. If you get to Skegway. Alaska, get the train ride up into the mountains. Take your passport as you do go into Canada. And if you get to Victoria, BC, take the ride into town and back to the boat. It takes too much time to walk into the city center.
Here is how Alaska works.
If you go in summer, you’re going to deal with kids, regardless of what ship or cruise line. But summer is the only time the train stuff happens.
The star of the show is Glacier Bay National Park. Not all cruises go there and that’s because of scam. Ensure it is on an itinerary. But this is another problem with big ships. They will give you one day cruising around the Bay, for photos and the Park Rangers come aboard and give briefings.
It is excellent. It is the star of the show, but it is 1 day of 7. The trip north from Seattle is multi days just to get there.
Other options . . . small boats like Uncruise. Pricey, but far fewer people aboard and Zodiac boats to go ashore for the various national park rangers to brief. You’ll be in the Bay multiple days. These cruises are usually NOT Seattle back to Seattle. They are Anchorage to Anchorage or Anchorage to Juneau.
September onwards dodges kids and gets you rained on, but . . . the whole point of going there is to see things, not relaxing on sunbathing lounges next to the pool.
Think in terms of adventure cruising vs normal cruising.
Go onto YouTube. There are a number of channels dedicated to causing. Good general tips, and I’ll bet some of them have done cruising in Alaska.
Bon voyage!
Cruising...
Apparently spell check is a landlubber.
NEVER FLY IN THE SAME DAY...ANYWHERE!
CELEBRITY IS NOT FULL OF KIDS, SND ANY CRUISE LINE ABOVE 5 1/2 Stars will be fine.
We’ve been there 3 times and going in August on SILVERSEA from Vancouver to Japan.
Did an Alaska cruise a few years ago, it was very enjoyable. Took Holland America, great experience and very few, almost no kids.
Get a balcony room for the Alaska Cruise it is well worth it, most of the time you are very close to land. I would be out there till 3:00 in the morning smoking cigars and drinking whiskey. The cruise Line I took was celebrity, way back in 2009.
Been on several 10-15 day cruises out of San Francisco.
Cruises are pretty casual now but on our first cruise you needed to dress (coat and tie) for dinner. Plan on dressing up for formal night.
The basic cruise can be cheap (inside cabin next to the elevator) up to $20,000 for a suite. But it is not the cruise ticket that gets expensive, it is all the add ons. Your basic meals are included but cruise lines now offer specialty restaurant which you will pay extra, and alcohol you will pay extra, photos which you will pay extra, and bottle water to take with you off the ship you will pay extra, the tours you take you will pay extra. I think you get the point.
Any one cruise does not stop at every port available so be sure to make sure the ports of call are the ones you would want to visit. Oh, and any port of call you will only be in port between 6 to 8 hours.
And your ship will NOT be the only ship in port. There could be 20,000 other cruisers vising the same port as yours.
Take the ship provided tours. Sure you could save money if you take a tour from one of the shore companies but there is one thing to consider. If for some reason your tour does not make it back on time, the ship will wait for you. If you are not with a ship tour and late the ship will sale without you and you will have to find your way to the next port of call. Oh, it is actually illegal to leave a ship and return home on your own.
If you sail up the inside passage then leave your cabin and go out and watch. It is only a few hours and then you are back at sea. Binoculars are good for this.
They now put the daily tips on your credit card. You can have the charges removed but unless you say something you will have a daily charge.
Take motion sickness medicine with you.
You are not going to need as much clothes as you may think you need.
You will not go hungry. Food is available 24/7
Coffee and tea and juices are available 24/7
Stay away from the casino
Stay away from the “art” auction
There will be activities going from around 7 am to 2 am, pace yourself.
Good luck.
Lol
you might consider joining conservative group cruise with the people that produce the “And We Know” videos??
a lot of FReepers follow LT’s videos daily
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Do you remember what time of year?
That sounds fun. You knew how to do it right.
No, but it did get a bit chilly a few times...
I’m heading up in June for a 7-day cruise on Royal Caribbean. Given the number of headaches with flying nowadays, I would definitely plan to arrive the day before. This is especially true if you won’t be flying directly.
If you are using an airline credit card to book, some of them already carry trip insurance on purchases. For instance, the American Airlines card includes travel insurance benefits such as:
*** Travel accident insurance
*** Baggage delay insurance
*** Trip cancellation and interruption coverage
*** Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
Check out the credit cards you already have before getting more insurance. Of course, the travel agents are always willing to sell you more.
I’m staying at a Marriott hotel near the Port in Seattle just because I have the status and points with them, but also because I don’t want to have to worry about traffic with a taxi or uber.
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