Alaska, 2023 (dinner, hotel, flying, sailing)

[gentlearts]

Any pointers for picking an Alaskan cruise for grandparents, and middle aged children, and maybe some younger kids and grands too.

[rjm1cc]

Holland America for fewer kids but there are activities for kids.
Consider a sea and land. Daniela National Part that you get to by riding train with sight seeing doms on the second level. This would be a little sea and more land. Most of your nights are in motels. Land can include Canada.
If you want to see glaciers have to go to glacier bay.
Get printed brochures as the number of options is very large and easier to review on paper.
Interior rooms are ok as you should spend your time outside of the cabin. The rooms will be small if that matters.
You will have to fly to the port so consider having the cruise co transport you from the airport to the port. Just makes the trip easier.
Be sure to fly in the day before you leave.
Check the temps but you will probably be wearing shorts in the afternoon. Point is it might be warmer than you expect.
Safety should not be a problem.
You will stop in Canada so I assume you may (probably not) need a passport. Check this out.
When you book you can request a table for x number of guest for the evening meal. Be sure to check dress code for "Formal" night ( not too formal anymore) and no shorts for dinner.
Get cruise lines apps as this might help.
Kids can check into the cruise ships activities for the day so check this out and see if you want it. Probably a plus for everyone.
You can start looking on the internet sites for various cruises to get a feel for the daily tours in the various ports. Try and figure out what you might like
This site will help. https://www.cruisecritic.com/ Be sure to read the boards. Subjects are by ports and ships so lots of detail info.
You can start the cruise from Seattle or Vancouver and fly home from Alaska. Probably best for a land tour.

[gentlearts]

That is funny because Holland America just popped up on my FB this morning. Their options sound good.

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

That is funny because Holland America just popped up on my FB this morning. Their options sound good.

The various lines have different personalities. Holland caters to an older clientele but is ok for children.

As you can see from TV some ships have rides on them and some a lot of bars/night clubs.

Maybe your first step is to learn the personality of the ships and what you want. The ships will also have some day time on board activities when they are at sea.

For land tours Holland and Princess own a lot (probably all) of the motels you stop at and both have hotels at Daniela. Holland also has it own rail road cars to get to Daniela.

The size of the ship will also limit some of the places it can go. A 200 passenger ship can get closer to the land than a 2000 passenger ship.

I have not done this but YouTube will probably have a lot of info on it. Try alaska cruise for some tips.

[gentlearts]

We have been on many cruises, so understand the differences you describe. No desire to be on a big glitzy one with a bunch of partying 20 somethings.

What I was going for on my question is are there any advantages to departing from BC or Seattle? Is one side of the ship more desirable, for the views, than the other?

[rjm1cc]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

We have been on many cruises, so understand the differences you describe. No desire to be on a big glitzy one with a bunch of partying 20 somethings.

What I was going for on my question is are there any advantages to departing from BC or Seattle? Is one side of the ship more desirable, for the views, than the other?

I think Vancouver is a nicer air port. If I recall correctly there is also a hotel at the port you can stay at and walk (?) to the ship.

The difference would probably be costs if you book transportation to the hotel through the cruise line.

Might be that the same side of the ship is always dock side. Thus take you pick - look at the dock or the traffic side of the port.

[Chilkoot]

An advantage of sailing out of Vancouver is it is much more scenic sailing east of Vancouver Island. Most ships go that route although a few head around the west side which can sometimes be rougher. Of our 11 Alaska cruises on various lines, none had the 20 something partiers. It really makes little difference in which line. We’ve found them to be more similar than different.


Seattle can be cheaper to get to than Vancouver although all those ships sail west of Vancouver Island. Those are easy roundtrips where you get a good taste of Alaska. We did one last August but are sailing out of Vancouver this year. We prefer Princess or Holland and enjoy the naturalists on both.

[gentlearts]

Thank you both. We have been in Princess, but not Holland America.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by rjm1cc

I think Vancouver is a nicer air port. If I recall correctly there is also a hotel at the port you can stay at and walk (?) to the ship.

The difference would probably be costs if you book transportation to the hotel through the cruise line.

Might be that the same side of the ship is always dock side. Thus take you pick - look at the dock or the traffic side of the port.

The cruise ship centre is right downtown. The Pan Pacific Hotel, The Fairmont Waterfront and The Fairmont Pacific Rim are right there when you step out of the centre.

Being downtown, you can choose any hotel on the downtown peninsula , for any budget and be able to walk to the port, or have a short ride away.

The other convenience is that if you arrive by air, you can take the Canada Line directly from YVR right to the cruise ship centre, or downtown to your hotel.

Some say it's best to plan to arrive a day before your cruise in case of flight delays. Friends from Toronto didn't do this and almost missed the ship.

[gentlearts]

I wonder if there are any additional hassles, as an American flying in to BC? I assume the whole Covid thing will be over, and we have passports.