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The line’s Door-to-Door All-Inclusive fares cover private airport transfers, economy flights, business-class upgrades or air credits, and shore excursions. Some activities are included in the cost of the cruisetour; other outings can be booked like shore excursions, depending on your interest and budget. If you're hoping to see the northern lights, booking a cruisetour in September might be your best bet to see the aurora on a cruise vacation. Finally, you'll find some round-trip San Francisco itineraries — usually 10 or 11 nights long — as well as longer sailings between San Francisco and Vancouver. Oceania Cruises is one company that makes our list of best cruise lines for Alaska in the midsized ship category. Personalized service and gourmet dining without extra fees are two of the popular reasons people choose this line.
Night Alaska - Northbound WhittierDetails
Princess Cruises is an authorized concessioner of Glacier Bay National Park. The ship and her 84 guests will be the only cruise ship in Glacier Bay National Park. Whale watching, farm-to-table meals, snowshoe and cross-country skiing, and heli-ski excursions are also on the schedule. On a Seabourn voyage, passengers share the journey with scientists, naturalists, and others who expand the Alaskan experience with history, culture, and the natural world. UnCruise Adventures is a sustainability-focused line traveling the waters of the Inside Passage. Culture, regional cuisine and nature adventures are the top themes, with ports of call in the decidedly less touristy spots.
Ketchikan
OPINION: I decided to give an Alaska cruise a try. Then I got fined. - Anchorage Daily News
OPINION: I decided to give an Alaska cruise a try. Then I got fined..
Posted: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
There are ship accommodations with certain cruise lines that are specifically tailored for this class of passenger. For example, NCL offers studio cabins (82 of them to be exact) on their Alaska-bound ship, Norwegian Bliss. Also, book in the shoulder parts of the sailing season for additional discounts and sign up for loyalty programs to enjoy some inexpensive (or free) perks. And, if you would like one of the popular balcony cabins (there is a continuous view of stunning scenery on an Alaskan cruise), book those early. Stopping along many ports of call through the Inside Passage, their itineraries offer a detailed view of this area of the state, including up-close Zodiac/kayak trips to glaciers. Cruise Critic is not a booking agent and does not charge any service fees to users of our site.
Alaska Cruisetours
The cruise line with a keen focus on exploration, adventure and science has two of its hybrid technology ships—MS Roald Amundsen, built in 2019, and MS Fridtjof Nansen, built in 2020—sailing the waters that surround The Great Land. Each of the ships features an observation deck, library, science center, hot tub, pool and Explorer lounge, as well as a bar with floor-to-ceiling windows so you never miss a thing. An expedition team of Alaska experts join each voyage, hosting lectures about the areas the ships visit and guiding passengers on outings like nature walks through rainforests and kayaking trips around the foot of a glacier. Guests learn about the cultural heritage of remote communities and focus binoculars to spot bears, whales, caribou, moose, deer, wolves, birds and more.
Explore Alaska’s most remote coastal areasConsider a luxury midsize (or smaller) cruise to places like Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands or to the northwestern city of Nome. Both combine a look at the rugged, raw coastlines with time spent on shore in towns with few frills. Weather can often be cold, rainy and windy, but if you want a unique adventure in Alaska, check out the itineraries from Hurtigruten. If you’re looking for something less time consuming than an Arctic excursion, but are still looking for stunning views of glaciers and wildlife, day cruises are a great option for young families and adventurers alike. If you prefer to get off-the-beaten-track and travel with smaller groups, a wide array of small ship cruise companies offer more intimate cruises catering to adventure and luxury travelers.
Enjoy an insider’s guide to discovering the best family cruises for your next vacation onboard Brilliance of the Seas. If you're interested in the Midnight Sun, the longest day of the year is June 21, when you can experience close to 20 or more hours of sunlight in some parts of the state. If you're more interested in the Alaska Northern Lights, the earlier sunset in later summer will allow more contrast and better views of this natural wonder. In addition, an onboard Klondike Festival brings added family entertainment, including gold nugget arts and crafts projects, a naturalist exhibition, harmonica music classes and North to Alaska dance performances.
Best Alaska Cruise For Couples: Princess Cruises, Royal Princess
If it's marine life you've come to see, you'll find it in abundance, from whales and dolphins to sea lions and harbor seals. On land, you'll likely spy bears and Dall sheep while eagles, puffins and a host of seabirds circle above. Nearly every major cruise line has a presence in Alaska from May through mid-September, with some offering sailings as early as April or as late as October. Cold temperatures, icy waters and a long snowy season are not conducive to early spring and late fall cruises. If you want to see landlocked areas, such as Denali National Park, you can tack a cruise line-operated tour onto the beginning or end of your sailing for a seamless land and sea vacation.
Notably, the average age of Princess passengers is around 57, and you'll usually see many couples on board in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Looking for the best Alaska cruise from Seattle if you're bringing three generations of your family along for the ride? We can think of nothing better than a voyage on one of the two Princess Cruises ships that sail out of the city, the 3,660-passenger Discovery Princess and 3,560-passenger Royal Princess. Why did we pick Norwegian Encore over Norwegian Bliss as the ship offering the best Alaska cruises from Seattle for luxury lovers?
Explore Alaska by Land and Sea
Traditional excursions are created to fit a specific number of people, all of whom come from the ships and are expected to be in port for a specific time. They provide an overview of Alaska's history, culture, recreation and industry, and don't offer much of a personal touch. Most major cruise lines also offer the opportunity for pre or post-cruise land packages that will take you by bus or train to destinations in Southcentral and Interior Alaska. If you have the time, these cruise packages give you the best of both worlds for exploring Alaska's coastal communities and some of the top sights in Alaska's heartland, including Denali National Park. Those craving a luxury Alaska cruise need not look further than Silversea, says Goldring.
You’ll get a snapshot of the Tongass National Forest, glaciers and the occasional whale or bear, but not up close unless you’re on a specific shore excursion. Holland America, Cunard and Viking all have cruises that fit this itinerary. Head deeper into the frozen wilderness with one of our Alaska Cruisetours on board Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Spirit, combining your cruise with an immersive land vacation that goes beyond the expected. Spanning from 11- to 14-days, these cruise vacation packages include overnight stays in Denali, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Homer, Talkeetna, and Valdez. Exclusive to Norwegian, all Cruisetours are led by local Alaskan guides to provide you with an authentic Alaska experience.
There are several options when it comes to the larger cruise lines, with departures from major west coast homeports in British Columbia, Washington State, and California. As the major cruise lines operate many vessels in Alaska on a seasonal basis, there are also options for repositioning sailings, often including the Panama Canal or a transpacific crossing. The storied Cunard cruise line, with more than 180 years of seafaring history, returned to Alaska after nearly 30 years when it arrived back in the Great Land in 2019.
Onboard naturalists generally narrate what you're seeing, so head to the observation lounge (or tune to a broadcast on your in-room television) to learn about some of the top sights featured on scenic cruising days. For a view of the city and cruise port, take a ride in the sky on the Mount Roberts Tramway. Various wildlife-viewing trips (whale, bears and more) and visits to dog-sled camps and salmon bakes leave from Juneau. Floatplane and helicopter tours take you around scenic areas like Misty Fjords or land you on a glacier, perhaps for a dog-sledding or hiking adventure on the ice. If you prefer to stay grounded, you can find informative trolley tours of ports like Skagway. You can also find one-way repositioning cruises between Southern California ports (Los Angeles and San Diego) and Vancouver at the beginning or end of a ship's Alaska cruise season.
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