We went with Regent Seven Seas last May-early June and were very pleased. It's a smaller ship which means they can go into some of the smaller ports the big ships can't get into. We never felt 'crowded'. It's also all-inclusive, including gratuities, food & drink, most of the daily shore tours you select. But you can delete some items and receive credit for those you don't use (for example we didn't use the Anchorage hotel since we were doing our own land tours in and around Anchorage and Denali, and we made our own air arrangements to Vancouver where we started). We did use the hotel they provided in Vancouver since they provide the transportation to the ship from there.

I dealt with the Regent agent directly and he was wonderful, especially in helping us decide which tours to take. We probably spent an hour on the phone one day making sure we got what we wanted and didn't have time conflicts. Very worthwhile.

I hope this makes sense.

We went on a one way cruise with Princess cruises several years ago. We didn't use a travel agent, but we did do extensive research ourselves. We picked a one way cruise because it went to more places. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise very much. Next time, I'd like to try a smaller cruise because, as the previous poster said, they can go more places. There were two things that we did not enjoy about the cruise. One was the cigarette smoke that was very prevalent (we are non-smokers). We had a balcony that we frequently couldn't use much because the people upwind of us seemed to use their balcony to smoke constantly. If you are a non-smoker, you might want to inquire about cigarette smoking on the ship before you go. I don't know if things have changed. The other thing that we didn't enjoy much was that all the land tours and ports were extremely "touristy." For example, we took a day tour into the Yukon and the bus spent a lot of time stopped at tourist traps, especially one place where we were stopped for a couple of hours. I have a feeling that the tourist traps pay the tour companies to bring people there. I'd never go on anything like that again. I'd rent a car and just do my own thing. The ports were all very touristy. The best part of the cruise was seeing the natural beauty of Alaska from the ship...Glacier bay, College Fjord (better than Glacier Bay, imo), etc. So, if I were going to do it again, I'd be looking for a ship that spent more time going into the various bays than stopping at large ports. Maybe the smaller ports are less touristy than the large ports. Overall, on land, I'd do my own thing so I could explore at my leisure and go where I wanted to go. For a ship, I'd look for one that spent less time stopped at large ports. Or, I'd rent a car and drive out of the touristy areas and do my own thing. But, don't be late to get back to the skip! It'll leave without you! :) Alaska is a great place. I'm sure you're going to have a great time, whatever you do.

Smoking was not allowed in the rooms or balconies on Regent. There was a Cigar Bar and I think there might have been one other room set aside for smoking. I can't recall. Not an issue, thankfully. Yes, the larger ports are touristy. But if you've signed up for a tour or activity, you pretty much immediately get out of there. We did enjoy the 2 smaller ports we visited much better than the larger ones. But we are active and purposely picked things to do like sea kayaking, glacier hikes, whale watching, a seaplane flight, etc that got us away and out from the main part of town. It was a beautiful time of year to be there too. Not too cold and NO RAIN to speak of the entire trip.

My in-laws just booked an Alaskan cruise. They did it through AAA and my MIL said that the AAA people were incredibly helpful.

Apparently, there were limited openings for cruises w/ balcony rooms (which my MIL wanted) and the AAA people were able to find her the trip she wanted on the dates she wanted and to get it for a good price for her.

My DH and I are going to Iceland in late summer / early fall and we'll be booking through AAA

Just spoke with a friend who booked thru COSTCO, best price she found. Great comments on the trip. They originally were working with AAA.

We are booked on the Star Princess in August for a 7-day cruise and 5-day land tour. We sail out of Vancouver and end with a few days in Fairbanks.

We started out just looking at land tours (using a travel agent) and quickly found that the cruise-tour package was much more cost-effective! We ended up booking through the travel agent since we'd originally enlisted her help.

So far, I find that using a travel agent has made things more complicated rather than less. If we want to book shore excursions or on-board things we have to do it through Princess' website, but all payments have to be made through the TA. We also had to use her to book airport transfers rather than having Princess do it.

We've always booked trips on our own so having the extra layer of contact seems a pain.

Donna

We are frequent cruisers and book all our cruises on our own. We leave on Saturday for an overnight in Old San Juan before boarding the cruise ship for a Southern Caribbean cruise.

For our first cruise we did use a travel agent who specializes in cruises. It was very helpful and I would recommend a travel agent for first time cruisers.

Now I book directly through the cruise line and arrange our airfare separately. Check out this site for helpful tips: Cruise Critic

I also highly recommend Cruise Critic. Doing my research there saved us money, stress, and time. It also led us to where and how to hire our own private tour guides at every port when we took the kids on a week-long Caribbean cruise. I found the best places to shop. Where not to shop. The best cabins to book. Ideas on ways to make our specific cabins' minimal storage work best for us. The best shows, foods, restaurants, etc., etc.

lol Robo, you are not sociable? you are so sociable here.

Thank you so much for all the advice! I think we need to start out on Cruise Critic and gather some good information. We will need a one way cruise since we want to stay in Anchorage for a few days after the cruise. One of the ones that I was looking at had a BOGO with airfare. It was a smaller ship. Lots of decisions to be made before we book. Our anniversary is in August which is prime time in Alaska, so we need to get things rolling.

By the way, frankginakay, most of the cruises are one-way, so if you start in Vancouver, for example, the 7-day cruise will stop, as will most others, in Seward, which is about an hour from Anchorage. Most cruises provide transportation from Seward (the port city) to Anchorage. If not, you can rent a car there at the terminal and drive yourself. It's a great drive with plenty to stop and see on the way to Anchorage.

I meant to add, since you're going to base in Anchorage for the remainder of your trip, you can find plenty to do within a day's drive of Anchorage. Or if you want to seen Denali, you can either drive there yourself (about 5-6 hours scenic drive iirc) or take the train, and make your own arrangements at one of the hotels for a couple of nights. Well worth the trip, especially if the weather is clear. You can't drive all the way deep into the park itself, so be sure and arrange the big green bus tour which is reasonable in price. The guides know where the wildlife hang out. Buy a bag lunch and take the all-day trip.

Robo is correct. There is a section on Cruisecritic called "Roll Call" where you can agree to join up with others. We always enjoy meeting new people and just joined the roll call for our upcoming cruise. We have made friends during the cruise, and in some cases, long after the cruise. It is really a fun and unique aspect to joining the message board at CC.

After checking with Holland America directly for pricing and then going to visit with a AAA agent, AAA includes more discounts and dinners. Today I will call Costco and see what they offer. Checked cruise critic for the best staterooms and now trying to decide if we want a suite instead of an aft room that was suggested on cruise critic. They said that the suite balconies on the higher floors are very windy. Starting to feel like I have a handle on the cruise part of the trip. Then, comes the airfare, deciding on excursions, AND going to Denali on our own.

We took 2 weeks and did land and sea. If you want to see animals like bear and caribou and moose, you have to do land.

From Anchorage, it isn't far to see Prince William sound that was absolutely incredible.

Also we took a flight-seeing trip in a small plane up into the mountains to see the glaciers which was absolutely incredible and I highly recommend doing that.

The only advice I have when cruising is, the ship will stop at various ports and then there are activities to do at each port. We went with a tour group so it was all booked in advance, but for other people, there was actually a travel office on the ship and I saw people standing in line waiting to book the activities. The last way I'd want to spend my vacation would be standing in line below deck on a ship. So if you can book those side excursions ahead of time, do it.

We did a land/sea cruise on Princess and booked everything in advance through Princess. The land part was the best. Denali was fantastic! We saw so many animals (seals, grizzlies, moose, wolves, black bears, bald/golden eagles, every hoofed animal that lives there, super rare mating lynx sighting, fox, a few different whales, and lots more that I can't recall).

We, rafted to see bald eagles, did a zip-line/ATV tour on the tundra, bear watched at a salmon run, whale watching on a bay, horse-back riding, dog-sledding..... (my DH did a fishing thing on a stream).

We were there in August about 5 years ago. We had 2 connecting balcony rooms. The ship was very nice and the food was fine on the ship but the best food was off of the ship. Salmon sushi so fresh I could live on it.

I won $500 at BINGO on the last day of the cruise!

I agree with Annie's comments, word-for-word. That is why, with Regent, we booked all of our land tours ahead of time, which is what the Regent agent did. He sent us the package as soon as we booked, and I checked all the daily activities that appealed to us. Then he spent an hour with me on the phone finalizing our plans ahead of time. There were a couple that were already booked, but he put us on the wait list, which we cleared (he said they would likely clear by the time of the cruise). All we had to do was - nothing. We were notified with a note on our door a day or two before letting us know so we could turn in our other tickets.

We also took a flight-seeing trip. DH especially enjoyed that one. We landed on a glacial lake and got to get out on the dock and walk around a bit. Spectacular day for flying too. And yes, there are on-board activities daily if you don't want to do anything one day.

The food onboard was delicious. You could even get room service if you didn't feel like going to one of the restaurants. We did that one evening when we returned a little late. No extra charge. We did tip the floor concierge who had served any needs we had while onboard. They were wonderful. And the rooms were very spacious, including the bathroom and closet. All rooms had a balcony.

Also, with Regent, all the air, hotel (night before departure and night after in Anchorage) and transfers were included so all we really had to do was show up. I think some may be confusing the term 'travel agent' (not affiliated with the cruise line) with the 'cruise agent' which was who we used.

Thank you! I am going to check with Regent today! That sounds so much easier with everything included.

You all are making me want to go to Alaska!

For a terrific small ship Alaskan adventure, check out http://www.alaskandreamcruises.com/about-us

This is not a luxury ship, but it offers a great itinerary and takes you to places that the big ships don't (can't) get to. Food is good and ship immaculate. The crew is professional, young and fun and they are either trained naturalists or they bring in professionals in native culture, environment, etc. On and off shore guides are wonderful; they really know Alaska. The age group of passengers on board varies (although I'd probably not recommend for very young children).

I hope I can get some good feedback on what might seem a weird question. What specifically draws one to an Alaskan cruise? I've seen photos and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous, but where I live, I can (and do) see similar scenery and wildlife on a regular basis.

My mom and her DH went on an Alaskan cruise with her sister & BIL-mom & DH live in my town, but aunt & Uncle live in the mid-west. Mom's experience was pretty much limited to on ship-they took one excursion on the train and spent most of their time in the casino. Aunt & Uncle did many offshore activities. I didn't get much feedback from my mom-since they literally didn't even go out on the deck except to go back into indoor activities.

Another Aunt & cousin from So Cal did the Princess cruise to Alaska and stopped in a port city a couple hours drive from me, so I went to meet them and showed them around the town. They were thirlled when we pointed out eagles and sea mammals.

Would it make sense for someone who live in the PNW and sees such awesome beauty on a pretty regular basis to go on an Alaskan cruise? I want to go on a cruise, but not sure that is the trip for me. Maybe Mexico, but Alaskan cruises are pretty popular around here.

I agree with duvetcover and am in full support of Alaska Dream Cruises. We cruised with them last summer for 1 wk and were on the Admiralty Dream. It's a family run business and we got the personal attention that families offer. Our boat held 57 guests and 17 crew. Of the crew, 1 was a naturalist, 1 was a sea kayaking pro and 1 other had an advanced degree in whale studies. 57 of us shared every meal (1 seating, 1 dining room) and some lifelong friendships have been formed. The smaller boat enabled us to get into passageways that the Princess type boats couldn't fit in - we chuckled at them as we kept sailing on closer to the glaciers. We had the option to kayak or pontoon boat off the back of our boat every day. Some days we left the boat for hiking as well. Other crew joined in for kayaking. One evening right at the end of dinner, whales started "performing" right around our boat - we were so close to them due to the small boat size. This closeness was phenomenal! I would highly recommend this company.

http://www.alaskandreamcruises.com/

Boop, you & your DH should do it. We aren't big cruise fans but this was fun.

Neetsiepie, we did very little onboard. I did take a 'martini-making course' one afternoon while we were sailing. It was about an hour and quite fun actually. There were only about 4 of us at the bar and the bartender knew what she was doing. Some we know did go to the onboard live entertainment, dance classes or other activities in the evening. We were usually too tired!

The casino holds no interest for us, and onboard our ship it was very small and we never went in. I can't imagine taking a cruise and just spending all your time in a casino!

We took every opportunity for the land excursions offered when we docked. If you timed it right you could do one in the morning and one in afternoon and come back to the ship for lunch. All the pickup points for the land excursions were at the dock with our ship's excursions. Easy-peasy. We took a guided hike in a rain forest, a train ride into the mountains, went sea kayaking, took a jet boat to a glacier, sea plane to the Misty Fjords, a tour to another glacier where we hiked out to a closer view, a whale watching boat ride (saw orcas and humpbacks). Seems like I'm leaving out something but can't remember. A couple of times it was very windy on deck but we did enjoy walking around the deck or sitting on our balcony and watching the view from there of the scenery as we passed by. We also enjoyed the onboard gym and worked out several times. Or we would go up to one of the bars (one at the bow and one at the stern) and watch from inside.

Neetsiepie, I am wondering the same thing. I've seen lots of beautiful pictures from Alaska, but they all look the same. I find I'm very lukewarm about our trip in August. Plus I hate to be cold and it looks like summer temps in AK are around 60, which for this Florida gal is winter temp and I don't like it!

Donna

Mnmeow, I was sort of feeling the same way AND we live in SW FL and do not like cold weather! There is a lot to decide, and now I am looking into a small company called Alaska Wildland and they take small groups for journeys up close and personal. It may be more of what I would like to experience instead of a cruise.

We took an Alaskan cruise last June, our first ever cruise. It was 10 times better than expected. We booked directly with Holland America after checking out cruise critic. We picked one of the smaller ships and enjoyed all the people we met. We booked shore excursions ahead of time and we took every train available in Alaska ( I think). Loved the train from Seward to anchorage and the white pass train. We would actualy like to di it again with my brother and his wife. I thought the entertainment onboard and the food was great.

We have changed direction in planning our anniversary trip. We decided to take a 16 day trip and not do the cruise. Our daughter lives in Anchorage with her family, so we will be able to visit them and rent a car and see a lot of Alaska! We will stay at the Embassy Suites in Anchorage and do some day trips with the family and then take off for Seward, Homer, and Denali! I still have quite a bit of planning to do, but I am starting to make some headway.

Frankginakay - IMO you are wise to skip the cruise and spend all your time on land. The thing about Alaska is that it is all about the outdoors - which is huge, and there is so much of it! There is nothing in the lower 48 that compares. The mountains, valleys, forests, and streams are all pristine, and everywhere you go are views to leave you breathless. Wildlife abounds; there are large herds of caribou especially around Mt. McKinley. Which is what it was called when I spent part of a summer there, before statehood, with my parents, on an automobile trip up and back from Chicago.

I wonder if a drive up to Fairbanks might be feasible. That's where we were based, because Fairbanks is at the end of the Alcan Highway, which you take from Dawson, British Columbia, in order to access the state by land. That is very beautiful country, and takes you deeper into the wild Alaska that we hear about.

Hoping that you have a great trip - your daughter should be able to help make it meaningful.

That sounds really great! There are so many great things to do by land without the cruise. You sound like you are well on your way, and with your daughter living there, it will be great to spend some time with her as well.