Alaskan Cruise

Re: Alaskan Cruise

• strlzfan11 member

  

  August 2012

  I haven't been on an Alaskan cruise before Mery, but check out cruisecritic.com.  Read reviews of your specific cruise (so you have an idea of what to expect) and check the message boards to look for alternative (non-cruiseline sponsored) excursions.

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• Cinderella30 member

  

  August 2012

  I actually went on that cruise several years ago.  We had the opportunity to go dog sledding, glacier hiking and gold panning. If you plan on doing the dog sledding and glacier hiking I suggest booking the early morning tours since you need to take a helicopter to the locations (not sure if this is still the case for the dog sledding).  The weather is iffy and many of the afternoon tours were cancelled.  With that said though they were amazing experiences.  The gold planning was interesting, fun and pretty quick.  Keep in mind that if you do end up doing the dog sledding and glacier hiking you may not have much time to see the actual sights.  We missed seeing Juneau since we got stuck on the glacier (it was too foggy for the helicopters to fly) and the ship had to wait for us ; ).  However, I wouldn't change it for the world.  Not sure about things to do in Vancouver since I stayed in Seattle for several days and then took the train to Vancouver the same day the ship departed.  Have fun!

  NYC Planning Bio / My NYC Wedding Bio

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• wildchild57 member

  

  August 2012

  Vancouver- Robson St for shopping
                    - Vancouver Aquarium
                    - Science World
                    - Stanley Park is amazing
                    - Granville Island
                    - Suspension Bridge
                    - Gas Town is really fun
                    - Yaletown
  
  Alaska- My parents just went on their cruise and did a bike ride down from a Glacier, highly recommend it.
  Good luck and have fun

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• orangehills

  

  August 2012

  Hi! Hope you see this.. I just got back from that cruise (Carnival, but same exact stops) 8 days ago. It was awesome!!! Such beautiful scenery. It was cold, definitely not a cruise you can sit out by the pool and sunbathe on. I spent a lot of my time reading, eating and napping- very relaxing.
  
  Skagway- do an excursion. Take the train or a bus out into the Yukon. The train is cool because it's a train. We did the bus which was awesome because we were able to stop at all sorts of places and take pictures, and saw bears; the train you can't stop!
  
  Juneau- I loved! We caught it on a sunny day, so that rocked. Definitely go see the Mendenhall Glacier! It's awesome. We also went to the Glacier Gardens which was really cool. Then shopped by the pier.
  
  Ketchikan- we were only there a short time, so we just shopped off of the pier. There were a ton of shops. Nearby was Creek Street, their historical old red light district. All the shops were cool and got some fun stuff!
  
  Tracy Arm Fjord- bundle up and plan to be outside for as long as you can! It was gorgeous!!!! I loved all the icebergs and the glacier and the loads of waterfalls.
  
  It's definitely a pricey trip. All the excursions are very expensive, which is why we limited ourselves. Bring a hat, gloves, lots of layers. Sweats, fancy clothes, lots of books, games, cards... Book some excursions ahead of time so that they don't book up.
  
  We didn't stop in Vancouver, ours stopped in Victoria, so no help there. Just do research, find the excursions people rave about and that are in your budget. Oh, I saw tons of whales too- August was good for that- spend some evenings on the decks. Below is a post I did, has a few pics
  
  http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_back-from-alaska

  
  

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