my folks and I have been wanting to go to Alaska for a while, and we have been looking around to see if we can find some.

My brother's family is also planning to go (2 adults, 2 children age 4 and 1), and maybe even a few other relatives if it works out.

We want to do something in the Inside Passage so we can maybe do a salmon fishing trip for a few of us (Myself, Dad, and Brother, maybe 1 more), but there would also have to be something the people who stay behind could do.

I've been looking on hotwire and a few random sites, and I'll probably look on the individual cruise lines too. I'm just looking for anyone who might have done a cruise to Alaska (or anywhere and knows a good place to look) who knows any of the things to do off the boat, or advice on which cruise lines to take.

Nothing ridiculous... $1500 per person or less for 7-9 days would be good. And if we could avoid needing to get a passport (leaving from Seattle instead of a port in Canada) that would be good too, although passports aren't too expensive if we have time to get them without expediting them.

 

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that sounds nice. wish i could go on one.

 

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We went one-way from Vancouver B.C. to Anchorage last June on Princess with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and an entire day inside Glacier Bay.

Okay cabins were $1100, ones with a balcony were $1600. Great food and service, lots of available side trips. Plan on spending a whole lot of money each time the ship stops.


Rho

 

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In another life I'd like to kayak the inside passage.

 

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You should do an Italian cruise.

 

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Dys and I are going on one in August, but someone else planned it, so we've really just been bobbleheads about the whole thing. "up, that sounds good! OK we're in!"

Sorry I don't have more info for you

 

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Recommendation: sign up for the sit-down served dinners. You can hit the buffets anytime you like, but with the sit-downs, you'll get a whole week worth of stuff you normally wouldn't order at a regular restaurant and is really good.

Rho

 

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my family went two summers ago.

It was fun, but the towns have all been taken over by the cruiselines, I think Skagway was the town that was the most fun, they had some cool stuff there, breweries and shows you can see about the gold rush, and a museum.

We didn't do any of the preplanned excursions, it was far too expensive for most of them.

If you go, you want to make port in Seward, NOT Whittier. Wait until Seward to do your fishing trips, and don't book it through the cruiseline, you can find plenty of guides online that are out of Seward for a fraction of the cost. Plan your trip for what kind of Fish you want to catch, we went in the middle of August, and we hit Silver season.

But the cruiselines are tricky, they'll try to whisk you out of Seward and to their exclusive (remote) hotel where you can't get back to town, so you might want to look into your own accomodations in Seward, and if you want to take the train, or some other way to Anchorage, I know there is a shuttle but I don't know the cost.

If you have a stop in Juneau, go to Mendenhall Glacier, you will not regret it. Don't do the preplanned excursion, there are bright "glacier" blue busses that stop every 30 minutes where the ships dock that take you up there and back at a fraction of the cost. We got to see bear cubs when we were there, catching fish and eating them, it was pretty awesome.

If you stop at Hubbard Glacier instead of Glacier Bay, consider it a good thing. Hubbard Glacier is freaking amazing, it's 8 miles across the front of it and you can get really close to the face.

There are two excursions I wish we had gone on. One is the longest zipline in the world, and the other is whale watching. We only saw a few spouts and tales during the regular cruise.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me, I have lots of pictures too if you want to see any of them.

 

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This. I worked for HAP (Holland America - Princess) for the past three summers cooking on the train. Seward is absolutely beautiful and there's a ton of stuff to do around there.

I don't know much about the inner passage but if you decide to hang out in Seward or anywhere on the Kenai, PM me for more info.

 

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Yes, Seward is a great little town, they have tons of stuff for women to do while their husbands are out fishing too! (The Flying Skein is a great yarn shop, and there are two other fabric shops for quilters) not to mention the best damn Fudge shop... called Wild Iris, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

 

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