Vancouver plus? Rockies or Alaska Cruise

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

We don't have any timeshares reserved, but would like to go see Vancouver and then either into Alberta and the Rockies or possibly an Alaskan Cruise. Some of you have experience with either or both and I would love to hear from you. I've never been on a cruise and my husband has done only a short weekend one for business. I'd like a smaller ship and low key for a cruise.
Thanks,
Liz

[BMWguynw]

Liz, there are numerous Alaska cruises leaving from Vancouver, and many others leaving from Seattle, which is only a few hours south. The only limits are your budget and time schedule.

If you're coming to the northwest to see the sights, I think your vacation would be greatly enhanced by taking a cruise up the Inside Passage to Alaska, touring Glacier Bay, and seeing some of the great smaller towns along the way. I'm not sure what time of year your Vancouver trip is planned, but if you did it when the glaciers in Alaska were calving, or when the grey whales are migrating, you could have a spectacular time, and you could see some things most folks never will. There are many, many choices available to you.

Alberta's Rockies are gorgeous, but seeing Alaska from a cruise ship would be a dramatically different kind of vacation experience.

Dave

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

Time frame would be late June. Budget is not huge, which may be a consideration, so maybe a shorter trip would fit. I looked at one that was on a small ship and 13 days and about $10,000 per person. NOT my budget, unfortunately. I don't know what the price range is at all.
thanks,
Liz

[BMWguynw]

Liz, check Costco.com's travel page for some cruise ideas. Not necessarily the best deals, but it'll give you some things to think about. Also look at the cruise links from places like Orbitz or Expedia. 13 days and $10Kpp seems like quite an investment. But I've seen Alaska cruises for as few as four days, and for only a relative few hundred dollars, depending on itinerary.

When it comes to seeing things up here, you can get a lot of bang for the buck. You just need to shop for it.

Have fun!

Dave

[Dave M]

Go for the cruise, but definitely come back another time and spend most of a week in the Canadian Rockies.

If you have never been on a cruise before, a seven-day cruise will do fine and give you the best of Alaska. The larger ships will be much less expensive and have much more to offer in dining choices, activities, entertainment and overall facilities (e.g., theaters, exercise equipment & spa treatments). Go to any of the cruise search sites (cruise.com, cruisesonly.com, etc.) and search for 7-day Alaska cruises.

NCL is probably at the low end of the price and "star" rating. I give them two stars, even though we had a very nice TUGgers Alaska cruise on NCL last year. Moving up a notch to two and a half stars would be Carnival, then up a notch to Royal Caribbean ("RCCL") and then Princess. Holland America earns four stars in my book, is a few hundred $ more expensive and caters to an older crowd - typical age in the upper fifties and fewer children.

Best choice, but more expensive, would be a one-way cruise between Vancouver and Seward (the port for Anchorage) and add any number of possible extending trips in Alaska. The one-way plane trip in the other direction is what adds to the cost. A Vancouver or Seattle round-trip cruise is still a great choice.

[hvsteve1]

Well, if you want cruise information, try crusecritic.com , which is the cruise version of TUG. June is kind of the end of the shoulder season, and cruise fares should be lower than when you get into the summer. We cruised Alaska on Regent Seven Seas Mariner two years ago. Definitely a small luxury ship but a really special experience . They usually have two-for-one deals in June on the Alaska cruise. We also just got a mailing from Majestic America. We sailed with them on the Mississippi. They have promotional fares for Empress Of The North, one of their paddlewheelers. The special thing about that boat is it can get into places you can see only from a distance on the mass market ships. When it comes to a cruise, talk to a travel agent who specializes in cruises. This is one of the travel situations where the TA still makes a nice commission (which doesn't come out of your pocket) and usually is very familiar with the ships and destinations.

In the same price range as a cruise would be the Rocky Mountaineer, a luxury train which takes you through the Canadian Rockeis, overnighting at hotels along the way. Google up their web site.

[Laurie]

Originally Posted by Liz Wolf-Spada

Budget is not huge, which may be a consideration, so maybe a shorter trip would fit. I looked at one that was on a small ship and 13 days and about $10,000 per person. NOT my budget, unfortunately. I don't know what the price range is at all.
Liz

Liz, this isn't Alaska, it's the BC coast - but it's *almost* in Alaska, and one more idea: for a few hundred dollars rather than many thousands of dollars, check out an Inside Passage ferry here:
www.bcferries.com/schedules/inside/
and
http://www.bcferries.com/fares/Insid...uise_2008.html

They sail from the north of Vancouver island, and the Inside Passage trip I believe requires an overnight, the route from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. I once considered this and tried to work it into a trip, but couldn't manage to squeeze it in - yet. It sounds great though, not as dramatic as Alaska but I'm sure very scenic and enjoyable.

[x3 skier]

I second http://www.cruisecritic.com.

They have everything you want to know about cruising.

We have taken two Alaska Cruises on Royal Caribbean and enjoyed both very much. One was from Seattle and one from Vancouver. Of the two, I would recommend Seattle is you want more to do / see pre or post cruise.

Cheers

[Timeshare Von]

If you see Alaska once, it will never be enough! The cruises give you a great vantage point for much of the coastal and ocean sights, but you will miss much of what Alaska is known for inland and during other seasons.

Seeing the wildlife (bears, moose, caribou, etc) in Denali National Park, fishing for king salmon on the Kenai Penninsula, humpback and orca whales in Prince William Sound, the northern lights, are all "must sees" in Alaska.

Since my first summer trip (June/July 2006) and a subsequent trip in March of this year, I seem to have an insatiable appetite for MORE! I do plan on doing a cruise in the future because that does provide an observation point unlike what is available on land.

Alaska is simply too vast with too much seasonal diversity to think you'll be happy doing it just once