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Discover the top tips for planning a cruise to Alaska and uncover the best times of the year to spot Alaskas wildlife, locate must-see attractions, find Alaskan cruise deals and more. Don’t wait any longer, riding the world's longest zip line in Alaska will be an experience you'll never forget while on your next Alaskan mountain adventure. Find the most Instagrammable places for your next vacation cruise to Alaska. Come discover the prettiest spots to take pictures with our travel photo guide.
Alaska Highway Cruises
This option is slightly different than the two above in that you will be dealing with different companies on land and sea. However, it gives you a guided itinerary on land with less of a crowd as group sizes are usually limited to , and accommodations include small wilderness lodges. You can book a small group adventure tour after or before any large ship cross-gulf cruise. Adding on a land package (making your getaway a "cruisetour,") is a way to see even more of Alaska. You can go see North America's highest peak, visit charming pioneer towns, hike through Denali National Park, or go rafting.
Night Alaska - SeattleDetails
Princess Cruises is an authorized concessioner of Glacier Bay National Park. After days on the road in Alaska, there might be mixed feelings about the cruise tour experience. Some feel a bit trapped by the heavily scheduled tour, long train/bus rides and restrictive meal offerings. Although the lodges are well appointed, they are often off-the-beaten path, leaving sightseers at the mercy of shuttle buses.
North to Alaska
Because of their small, yacht-like size, Windstar Cruises ships grant unparalleled access to Alaska’s glaciers and fjords; other ships can’t squeeze into some of these special places. Remove the hassle from air travel and give yourself the gift of flexibility, time and a thicker wallet with Princess EZair flights. We negotiate lower rates with the airlines, allow you to modify your flight up to 45 days prior with no penalty and protect you if your flight is late or canceled.
Alaskan Cruise Costs: What You Can Expect to Pay - NerdWallet
Alaskan Cruise Costs: What You Can Expect to Pay.
Posted: Sat, 09 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
All of the above make HAL a popular pick among middle-aged and mature couples traveling without kids; however, onboard our summer sailing, I did notice quite a few small children traveling with their parents and grandparents. Another itinerary that focuses on lesser-visited ports is French line Ponant’s 13-day trip starting in Seward, a fishing port town two hours from Anchorage. As the boat pulls out of the harbor, guests are invited to bring their binoculars to the deck to check the landscape for whales, which come to the food-rich waterways each summer to bulk up for their winter calving season. The first full day on the water is spent sailing around Prince William Sound where islets and icebergs are abundant, followed by a day at Tsaa Fjord in the captivating (and appropriately named) Icy Bay for glaciers. Next it’s off to Sitka, a former Russian colony that now has one of the largest totem pole collections in the world.
Must-Sees for Your Once in a Lifetime Alaska Cruise Vacation
Local connections are the difference between a good trip and a truly memorable one. And Royal Caribbean Cruise Tours are guided by a local Adventure Specialist who act as guides, historians and concierges. They are by your side for the entirety of the land tour, providing insider tips and local perspective.
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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. The MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen embark on 14- to 19-day Alaskan voyages between May and September. Alaskan-owned and -operated Alaskan Dream Cruises dates back to 1970 when its parent company, Allen Marine, founded by Bob and Betty Allen, launched with the St. Michael.
Alaska Ports of Call
All of the line's itineraries boast an active component, but its "Wild, Woolly and Wow" itinerary claims to be "the most active back country itinerary" of UnCruise's 2024 Alaska cruises. It can be hard to figure out which cruise ship will deliver your idea of a "bucket list" experience in The Last Frontier. If you can overlook the forced jollity and tourist-trap atmosphere, the tour is actually a great introduction to Alaska's history and culture.
Don’t just see the Great Land’s glaciers, feel them come alive on an Alaska cruisetour. Get up close to Mother Nature’s masterpieces and listen for the crash of “white thunder”. Visit wilderness playgrounds like Glacier Bay National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – along with even more natural wonderlands like Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier, College Fjord and Hubbard Glacier. Situated on the Kenai Peninsula overlooking the Kenai River, the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge® is surrounded by mountains, rivers and wilderness inviting you to explore. Adventure through Chugach National Forest, cruise past Kenai Fjords National Parks’ glaciers or fish along the Kenai River. Take in the sights of this natural masterpiece at a leisurely pace only on an Alaska cruisetour.
The sister ships were purpose built to sail the North American coast and feature 50 rooms each, all with windows or portholes, private bathrooms, climate controls, and a TV, plus Wi-Fi connection. If you’re looking to eschew the cruise ship behemoths for something more intimate, this is it—Alaska Dream Cruises’ Alaskan Dream holds only 40 passengers. And because it’s so small, passengers can weigh in on the daily itinerary, perhaps opting to skip a hike in favor of more time photographing the face of a glacier or watching juvenile humpback whales learn to breach.
One day might involve kayaking in Patterson Bay followed by a brisk snorkeling session. Another could see guests hiking to a glacial lake or going for a skiff tour among icebergs. And another could involve biking in an area known for its healthy population of brown bears (if you dare).
It also gives you an opportunity to check out Alaska's big cities, like Anchorage and Fairbanks. Turning your cruise into a cruisetour really gives you the best of both worlds--land and sea. We have more Alaska cruise port departures featuring Glacier Bay National Park than any other cruise line. All Alaska cruises include one or more glacier-viewing days, and you’ll get closer to ‘the giants’ on ships perfectly sized for the Great Land.
Scan the surrounding waters on your way to Juneau for glimpses of wildlife from the North Star®, the tallest viewing deck on a cruise ship. At first glance many mistake Victoria for an English coastal city or northern European town. Full of greenery, pubs and Victorian architecture, it's difficult to believe that this was a tent city full of rough and tumble miners just 150 years ago. On a cruise to Alaska, explore the Butchart Gardens, tour the pub scene and taste some of the local brews or sail the bay for a whale-watching adventure. On a clear day in Anchorage, you can see the volcanic peaks of the Aleutians and the faint outlines of Denali before watching a dramatic sunset from your 15th-floor hotel room. And, if you really want to immerse yourself in the beauty of Alaska, you can book a flightseeing trip, offered in most destinations, to see the glaciers and mountain peaks up close.
Some travelers demand luxury Alaska cruises, while others don't mind going less fancy if it means close encounters with bears and other creatures in the wilderness. Some look for romance, while others want to introduce the kids or grandkids to glaciers and eagles, gold panning and sled dogs. Alaskan cruise tours, which are land extensions available before or after one-way Alaska cruises, are great options to explore the Last Frontier's interior. Alaska cruise tours offer a broader look at this rugged state, from the clouded peak of Mount Denali and all the way up to Fairbanks, the northernmost big city in Alaska. With the multi night land tour, you’ll enjoy the best of Alaska in port and inland towns. The selection of adventures, explorations and tours is diverse, whether you’re looking for high-flying thrills, history and culture, wildlife, outdoor challenges or a memorable meal on a glacial lake.
