Hincemm said:

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only word of warning for holland america is the demographic.

lots of older folks; like average of 65+.

for me and kids (11, 16, and 19), it wasn't the most 'fun.' not many activities, if that's you're thing.

on quantum of the seas right now (royal caribbean) and loving it.

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Caladan said:

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What type of cruise do you want? There's a huge difference between the experiences that you get from the different size boats.

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OilManAg91 said:

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Has anyone done the Seabourn Quest ship from Juneau to Vancouver, or any general experience on Seabourn? It's a smaller ship with about 450 guest capacity, and bills itself as more of a luxury experience but I have only been on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian so I don't have a feel if the extra cost is worth it.

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Caladan said:

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Texaspainter said:

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Caladan said:

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What type of cruise do you want? There's a huge difference between the experiences that you get from the different size boats.

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Never been on a cruise before so I don't know how to answer you.

We like to eat and drink and probably do a fair amount of excursions and definitely see the beautiful scenery. We also like small town vibes so probably would like to see a couple of those.

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Thanks for replying. There are three main types of AK cruises. You can do an "expedition" type of cruise, which are usually on small boats that may carry anywhere between 15 and 100 passengers. These types of cruises do not go into a port every day. Instead, they stay out in the wilderness, where you go zodiac cruising to visit the glaciers, or you get put on the land to go hiking. Most of these boats also have kayaks as well. This type of cruise more or less forces you to meet other passengers, since everyone sits down for the meals at the same time. It is a totally different experience than what you would get on a large ship.

Large boats, typically 800-900 up to several thousand passengers will go to a port every day. The cruise line will have small trips/activities that you can sign up for, or you can just explore on your own. These ships will have more options for food and drink and entertainment.

There are cruise lines that operate "mid-sized" boats of 250 to 400 passengers. Some offer a varied schedule, where you do outdoor activities on some days, and go into a port town on other days. These will have great options for food and drink, but little to no entertainment.

For a small boat experience, check out Un-cruise Adventures and see if they are still around. Their boats carry around 80 passengers. For a medium size boat, look at HX Expeditions (formerly known as Hurtigruten). They have very modern ships that carry approximately 400 passengers. A typical itinerary will have a mixture of outdoor days and port days. Their cruises are all-inclusive, so you don't have to worry about extra costs for food and drinks. I believe that National Geographic also uses boats in the mid-sized class, and they seem to be highly regarded.

For large boats, I would say to look at Oceania. Their boats are at the smaller end of the large boat class. Our second AK cruise was on a 900 passenger boat from Oceania, and although we found out that we didn't care to be on a boat that large, I have to say that they did a pretty decent job.

C, who is currently in AK, on the Roald Amundsen

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Col. Steve Austin said:

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Texaspainter said:

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Caladan said:

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What type of cruise do you want? There's a huge difference between the experiences that you get from the different size boats.

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Never been on a cruise before so I don't know how to answer you.

We like to eat and drink and probably do a fair amount of excursions and definitely see the beautiful scenery. We also like small town vibes so probably would like to see a couple of those.

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Here's the itinerary for our Inside Passage cruise two weeks ago, 7 nights on the HA Nieuw Amsterdam:

We began our trip with a 3 night stay in Vancouver. The cruise itinerary follows.

Day 1 Vancouver: All Aboard 3:30 PM, sail away around 4 PM

Day 2 At sea - Scenic Cruising, Inside Passage

Day 3 Ketchikan, AK. Arrival 6:30 AM, Departure 3 PM. We did the Lumberjack Show (fun) and Crab Feast (good, not great. it was all-u-can-eat but Dungeness crab)

Day 4 Juneau, AK. Arrival 10 AM, Departure 9 PM. We did a dog sledding excursion on a glacier. Helicopter ride to/from. My wife's bucket list item and her favorite part of the entire trip.

Day 5 Skagway, AK. Arrival 5:30 AM, Departure 9 PM. We did a White Pass & Yukon Railway/show/salmon bake Red Onion Salon (former brothel) excursion. Ride bus up to Canadian border, ride the train back down. Bus to Liarsville for show and salmon bake, then Red Onion. The ride up/back was really good, beautiful scenery. The show was dumb/corny and salmon bake kinda sucked. You eat outdoors and the food got cold before we could eat it. Red Onion Saloon tour was not as interesting as expected. Would do the scenic bus/train portion again and skip the rest.

Day 6 At sea, Glacier Bay. Arrival 7 AM, Departure 4 PM.

Day 7 At sea, College Fjord. Arrival 6 PM, departure 8 PM.

Day 8 Departure @ Whittier, AK. We continued from there on the Denali Land Cruise as part of our trip. All day scenic train ride to Denali. 3 nights in Holland America Denali Lodge with selected excursions or free time then bus to Anchorage for one night in the Capt Cook Hotel before flying home.

All in all it was a great experience!

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Aggie87 said:

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If you haven't been to Alaska before, and might not go back, I'd consider doing a combination land/sea trip.

We did that in summer 2022 and it was amazing. We flew into Fairbanks, did a Chena River cruise, then visited an Indian village there, and visited a sled dog facility. Then took a bus ride down to the Denali area and spent a couple days there. Visited the National Park, which is breathtaking (and seeing Denali is something you won't get to do if you only do a cruise), and drove jeeps a few hours down the dirt road Denali Highway (which used to be the only way to access Denali), outside the National Park. We saw caribou/reindeer, Dall sheep, and moose in the park as well.

Then a 9-10 hour train ride down to Anchorage, in a glass domed car, which gave some amazing views of the mountains that went on forever. In Anchorage we visited some friends and also did a hike at Flattop Trailhead, which gave us a nice panoramic view of the city and coastline.

After that we took a shorter train ride (~2.5 hrs) to Whittier and boarded our ship (Holland America's MS Noordam). From there we visited:

Hubbard Glacier
Glacier Bay National Park
Skagway
Davidson Glacier via catamaran and canoe
Juneau
Whale watching excursion
Ketchikan
ending in Vancouver, where we spent a couple of days exploring the city

I think doing the land portion adds significantly to the overall experience, and is worth the effort/cost.

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Col. Steve Austin said:

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scd88 said:

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TRD-Ferguson said:

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Definitely use a travel agent. They know the territory.

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JMac helped me with my Alaskan cruise last year and I would agree - this helped a ton.

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Same here. JMac worked with my wife to make our arrangements and she was a big help. She even helped her sort out an issue with her Holland America account when HA did not. Highly recommend utilizing her services!

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