If you have taken the time to read any of the other articles on this site, you probably already know I am sold on cruises. I just consider them the ultimate vacation bargain in the price value relationship category.
After many years of talking about it we did our first Alaskan cruise in 2009. I would have to rate it as one of the best darn trips I ever took to date. I am indebted to the travel agent who helped us pick the right cruise line for the trip
Alaska is a somewhat remote area with few roads to travel. The places are few and far between. You can see the major areas with a cruise of the major ports and a little bit of land tour thrown in.
This will come nowhere close to showing the majesty of America's last untamed wilderness but it will give you a great overview of it. To see the complete picture one would need to fly in a small plane and spend some time in the remote villages. To really grasp it, I think one would need to live there for a bit; at least one full winter. I doubt most of us could handle that.
So what did we see? What do I suggest you see on your great Alaskan adventure?
Three full years have passed since we took this trip and I found the time to sit down and write about it so please pardon any minor technical errors and realize that some of the places may have changed a bit. One thing I would bet money on, I bet the Red Dog Saloon is still going strong.
The articles in this series should be considered a hopefully interesting overview of a cruise to Alaska and the things one might see or do while there. They are many other fine sites with a lot more meaty facts about the locations mentioned in these articles that you should refer to as you plan your adventure.
We sailed from Vancouver, BC to Whittier, Alaska and had three days on the ground before flying home. We did cruise first and then the land portion. All the major cruise lines seem to offer cruise first then land or for the return voyage they offer land first then the cruise.
I think henceforth I will always choose to do any land portion first and the cruise second. Before I actually did a cruise land package I thought the cruise first was the best option. My revised reasoning is; on the cruise the spoil you completely. Other than getting back to the ship on time for departure you have nothing except blissful relaxation; whereas on the land portion you are hopping from place to place. The better packages provide all the transportation and baggage handling. In most cases you have to find your own food and drink; not always at the best prices. It is a lot less stressful than normal travel but it is not the full pampered care of being on the ship.
Shortly after I started typing I realized that this adventure was far larger than one or two articles could handle. What happened is the following ___ articles all starting with the title fragment Alaskan Cruise and naming the port or activity of the day.
At the start of this article I said our first Alaskan cruise; initially we thought the people we talked with on the ship who were doing it for the second, third or forth time were a little strange. We were going to do it once, see it all and move on to other places. It is only when you review what you missed the first time around that you start to think of going again.
I hope you have as much fun reading the articles as I did writing them. But the real fun comes when you take your own trip to Alaska. We spent 12 wonderful days on ship and land and we only briefly touched the vastness known as Alaska.
Gosh! We may to go back and see the things we missed. I hope to see you there at the same time.