ut3717

Wife and I did a land then cruise package end of Aug thru Sep 2007. No bugs! Started in Fairbanks, trained down to Denali (recommend 2 days there to go to the end of the park road!), bused to Seward and then inside passage way to Vancouver. Holland's food and service were not good. We have several cruises on Norweigen and would use them if we repeat. I would repeat this trip even with my elderly dad. Great access for folks who are slow or need a little extra time.

tuapekastar

Can you book the cruise direct with the cruiseline? And the land portion directly with the operator? Don't know if you'd get it cheaper but worth checking.

There are some risks with this approach (DIY), but possibly also some good rewards. And I think it's where having good travel insurance is important, because you won't have an agent to fall back on/blame/recompense you if something goes awry.

Edited to add: Oh, and I'm posting from 2008. We get it a little earlier down here, and I have to report that after a couple of hours of it, it's looking much the same as 2007, 2006 etc... (though at 2AM the temperature is still around 85 degrees - not quite Alaskan)!!! Enjoy New Year when it gets there.

alphaeagle

Although my parents would probably like it, I don't think they have enough time to do it. I may have some free time this summer though, I might just say "to heck with it" and do it Cool about pitching a tent on the boat though, didn't know you could do that.

And clincher, I would recommend piecing together the trip on your own. One thing I kind of like about Alaska is that you can go to a spot and not have anyone there. With those tour packages I can picture 1000 people getting off the cruise, get onto a bus, driver to a scenic view point and have 1000 people standing around a moose. Kind of loses the appeal for me. I've never done any Alaskan land tour packages though, so I could be wrong.

Gardyloo

Having worked on the chain for some years, and experiencing the Tustumena first hand, I'd agree that's a fun trip provided they are strong of constitution and don't mind a rather spartan environment on board.

The Tusty is a strong old boat but not big, so while she's open-seas rated (which the inland water boats aren't) she's small enough to bounce around quite a lot in very big water, which is pretty much the norm out the chain.

That said, she books up pretty quickly for both passengers and especially vehicles - by far the cheapest way to get rolling stock down the chain.

One thought might be to do an openjaw flying itinerary: take the Tusty between a couple of ports, then fly back, rather than enduring the long outbound or inbound legs. This also permits starting and ending in Anchorage rather than Homer or Kodiak, so cheaper for tourists. Fly down to CDB with PenAir, then ride the boat to Unalaska, then fly back from DUT to ANC, or v.v. Usually a fair number of westbound pax get off at Sand Point or King Cove, leaving cabin space available for the day and a half out to Unalaska.

Note many port calls are in the middle of the night, so it's not the ideal way to explore the ports of call. Not that there's much to see in Akutan (cute church but that's about it.)

Some mainstream cruise lines used to call at Unalaska but not sure if any now do so; they go on repositioning itineraries from Kodiak over to the Kamchatka Peninsula (or v.v.) without stopping in the Aleutians, from the looks of things. Lack of shops selling Tanzanite most likely.

kboo

I also highly recommend cruisecritic.com's Alaska boards, as I searched them extensively before booking our trip last summer for Dr. kboo's 40th. To Clincher and alphaeagle, you should think carefully and objectively about your parents' travel styles. If they really only have 1 week, I would suggest that even though it's a trip of a lifetime, you focus on a smaller part of the state.

Also, are your parents more independent or do they like having lots of activities planned for them? How are they with crowds?

Another thing, sadly, is COST. Visiting Alaska, even when you're trying to be cost-conscious, is expensive. It makes sense, though - the residents need to make enough $ over 4 short months to get through the whole year. I had planned an initial budget that I thought was quite generous, and ended up spending double that and covering half the distance we'd originally thought. But the trip was still amazing, and even Dr. kboo who is a bit of a cynic, raves about the trip to all our friends.

One of the benefits to taking a large cruise line (and Princess seems to be a decent one) is that you have a whole array of options and trips, you can cover a lot of ground (or water) in a short time, they're comfortable, and the up-front cost can be relatively reasonable. However, add on the various taxes and charges, then tips, and above all the excursions, which are the main reason for the trip - and the cost can go up very quickly.

Some of the smaller cruise operators (we took Lindblad, inside passage only; another good one is CruiseWest) have a higher up-front cost but include more. Our only add-on was $150pp for a helicopter glacier trip that was all of 3 people (compared to $300 and up for a similar tour as an excursion on a large cruise line).

If your parents are ok with it, I'd suggest going as cheap as possible on the cabin, and saving the $ for excursions or the inevitable additional costs. Even though we had an outside cabin we found we spent more time on the decks or in the public lounge areas when viewing scenery from the ship.

I would definitely second what others are saying about planning the land portion separately and avoiding the "cruisetour" - Alaska is another state, not another country, and they have the same practices of booking B&Bs, hotels, renting cars and buying train tickets. The cruise companies hire the same local companies to do the whale watching, flightseeing, etc that you can just as easily find and research online, and charge much more for it than if you book direct.

We booked extra days in Juneau and Sitka on our own on either end of the cruise and it was a very different and relaxed experience. You can go at your own pace, see what you want to see, meet people. For example, we spent the day at the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau the day before our cruise started. Then we turned in our rental car, met the rest of the cruisers at the airport, and went along on a 90minute tour of Mendenhall with the cruise group as well. It was a completely different experience on the two days. The first day, on our own, we did a moderate/easy hike to a waterfall and a closer, higher view of the glacier, in addition to seeing the movie at the center and taking several other walks around the park. We were also there before the big cruise groups came in (before 10am) and after the cruise groups left (3pm). We had the rangers all to ourselves, it was like having a private park. (I committed the mortal sin of needing to use the rest room 15 minutes before a large cruisetour was leaving - I had to stand in line behind about 100 little old ladies wearing the same caps and buttons...!)

Cruise West offers shorter 3-4 night cruises in either the inside passage (near Juneau) or Prince William Sound (near Anchorage), you could try putting that together with a self-guided land portion (really; it's not that hard) for a much more intimate and unhurried glimpse of this great state.

We only "did" the Inside Passage on a small ship between Juneau and Sitka; we spent about 10 days total and it still didn't feel like enough time. If you look on a map it's only a teeny portion of the state! We'll have to save Anchorage, Fairbanks and Denali for another trip.

Finally - I have a friend whose family took the Alaska trip via the ferries. He was in high school at the time and he hated it, mainly because there was a lot of time spent sitting on a slow-moving ferry, and there wasn't much else to do but look at the scenery, which was moving by very slowly. I guess you have to be into it. I would be willing to try it, but I can see a high school kid getting impatient.

Good luck with the planning, and keep us posted.

Kagehitokiri

all-inclusive would be best >
regent - from $3400pp (balcony suite)
silversea - from $4000pp (suite)

i dont think there is that much of a difference between regular cruiselines in alaska. $1500 is reasonable, id think youd be able to get a balcony suite on most of them.

bocastephen

This is one of the factors many people overlook when selecting a cruise. If you're a family or looking to party, Regent, Silversea, etc. are not appropriate, but if you're looking to maximize value, one needs to look at the cost for comparable cabins between an all-inclusive luxury line and a nickel/dime mid-tier line and you will often find the difference negligible or reasonable after you add all the extra charges to the mid-tier line - especially if you can get a decent discounted fare on the luxury line through a connected agent.

On its face, the difference between a good size balcony cabin on Princess/Celebrity and Regent might be around $1,000-$1,500 pp - but you can easily chew up most of that difference after you've factored in the cost of all drinks (soda, wine, spirits, etc.), enhanced dining choices, and other things which come free on the Regent style cruise - not to mention the substantial difference in quality and service you experience on the all-inclusive line.

kboo

Absolutely agree here. We almost went with Princess at about $1500 pp for a balcony cabin, then I added on all the costs and found them to be close enough to the all-inclusive lines to choose all-inclusive after all.

And not to beat the small ship/large ship horse, but small ships can stop when you see whales, and can get to places that large ships can't. They are also quieter and don't spook the wildlife as much. If wildlife viewing is important to you, this is something to consider. Also, you are much closer to sea level and it gives you a completely different perspective when looking at glaciers and mountains.