Alaskan Cruises

BigFishFever · 12-01-2003, 04:57 AM

Hey all! Well the whole family has started talking about a family cruise to Alaska...which is about the greatest idea they have come up with to date!

I was hoping that somebody here in the great land of Ifish might be able to give some advice as what to look for, best times of the year (Fam is thinkin July timeframe), and also any suggestions on activities that might be best to look for (would love to get some fishin in, but dunno how that works on a cruise)

Any recommendations? Suggestions?
Thank you all in advance!
BFF

Phil Layer · 12-01-2003, 05:18 AM

I've never been on a cruise but I have many friends who do cruises regularly. To a tee, they all say the Alaska cruise is the best.

A very good friend did the cruise on his honeymoon. When he returned, he packed his house up and moved up there.

Have a great trip.

trouttroller · 12-01-2003, 05:49 AM

Email beth@westa1.org. She is a cruise guru. Knows everything. Hope it helps. Been on a couple of cruises myself. Ate myself silly. By the third day could not eat a thing.

skrimmy · 12-01-2003, 06:32 AM

My wife and I took a one week cruise at the end of August. The weather is a tad bit more "iffy" then than earlier in the summer, but we still had some good weather too. The only advantage to going later is that September is the end of the cruise season for Alaska, so you can find great prices on souvenirs. Also, you can find better prices on the cruises too as the ships tend to get few bookings at the end of the season.

We went on Celebrity Cruise lines, on a ship named Infinity. It's a new ship and was rated last year as the #1 cruise ship in the world. At every port of call, there are always at least three other cruise line ships there. The only time we saw another ship that looked anywhere near as nice as the one we were on, it was another Celebrity Cruiseline ship.

There was never a shortage of entertainment on our ship. While you're on the water between ports, you can either hang out and relax, or there are way too many entertaining things to do.

Whatever way you go, take this advice! Don't get an inside cabin. Get a room on the outside of the ship, above the waterline and with a patio! Jeez, that was one of the nicest things of our cruise. Sitting on our own little private patio drinking wine, looking out over the water and the inside passage. You're always close to shore and the scenery is spectacular. The room will only cost you a couple bucks more too as many of the newer cruise ships are built with lots of rooms with patios. We paid well under $1000 per person for our room, for one week!

If you hit the websites for some of the cruislines, you can see what types of activities you can do while in port. We took a day hike in Juneau, a train ride up to White Pass while in Skagway, and a tour of Ketchican, including the totem pole park. There are so, so many things you can do at each port, you just have to decide what works best for you. There was fishing, rafting, shopping, kayaking, plane rides, helicopter tours, bus tours, you name it.

If you book a fishing trip, try to plan your cruise around when fishing will be good. It appeared that fishing trips booked as part of a cruise tended to be more of a tourist ride with a wanna be guide than a serious fishing trip with a serious guide. Plan that trip carefully. Personally, I avoided it.

The highlight of the cruise was seeing Hubbard Glacier. Wow, that was spectacular and something you have to see up close, not from the view of photo!

BigFishFever · 12-01-2003, 06:47 AM

Thanks for the Tips everyone...gotta love Ifish...

Skrimmy, you said you avoided the fishing trip...was that due to time at port, or just a preference??

We will definetly look into the cruise line you mentioned and see what they have to say...Being this is my first time doing the touristy thing, I am wanting to get my best bang for the buck...

One other question I have, we would be taking our daughter with us (will be appx 10 months old), would this be something anyone would even consider?? I want to do this, but want it to be a family adventure!

Thanks to all for the advice and suggestions!

BigFishFever · 12-01-2003, 12:00 PM

Boomer...thanks for the info...a quick google search shows that this is a gastrointestinal thing from stool...

Is this a common problem up yonder? Or on cruise lines in general?

I will not put my baby in harms way by any means, but just want to make sure I dont miss out on anything..do you have more info, or other items I should be concerned with??

Thanks for any/all idea's/concerns etc...it sounds nasty!

skrimmy · 12-01-2003, 12:32 PM

BFF, it's an intestinal virus that has been making the rounds on some cruise ships over the last few years. Probably been around a lot longer than that, but the media hadn't gotten a hold of it until recently.

There were very obvious efforts on the ship we were on to keep risks as low as one could expect. We could see crew members regularly wiping down surfaces like stair railings and counters with disinfectants and showing short clips on the ships informational TV channel in your rooms to educate passengers on their efforts and what steps you could take yourself to minimize any risk. It's a very isolated problem, and you can just as easily catch it anywhere besides a cruise ship. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

As far as taking a 10 month old - Personally, I'd leave the baby with Grandma! You'd miss your child, sure. But Grandma would enjoy the time and you'd enjoy more of the cruise.

On the fishing trip - I avoided it for several reasons. One was that there wasn't much Salmon fishing going on when we went, except some spawning pink salmon in the rivers. And the type of fishing adventure you'd get in one of those ports of call would not typically be productive, but merely to put you on the water and take your money. I heard that from friends as advice before we went and from what I saw in the ports, it looked to be good advice. You won't have all that much time in a port to really get a good fishing trip in. And the ship won't let you take your catch on board either. You need to make arrangements to have it shipped back on your own.

If you want to fish Alaska, get a hold of Travis Moncreif (Fins Feathers, Furs here on ifish) and book a trip exclusively for Salmon in the early summer. Yeehaw, he'll put you into fish!

TheRogue · 12-01-2003, 01:05 PM

Some of the best deals now are when the cruise ships are shifting their ports from Alaska to Mexico, and vice versa. Used to be in the springtime, they'd just race up from So Cal/Mexico straight to Seattle/Vancouver...and someone figured, "hey, we could make a cruise out of this!!"

Not the neat scenery, but a cool way to gamble and drink it up!!

TR

[ 12-01-2003, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: TheRogue ]

boomer · 12-01-2003, 01:16 PM

BFF.....what skrimmy said is right. I've heard much more about it the last 2 years.....may be a media thing after all, but a lot of people got sick on several ships and with the tourism industry all concerned -it makes one wonder

boomer · 12-01-2003, 11:50 PM

BFF.....you might want to consider the norwalk virus thing....especially with a 10 month old. If you do go, you might want to familiarise yourself to the rich history of the places where you'll be stopping.

BigFishFever · 12-02-2003, 04:13 AM

Skrimmy thanks again for the info, I would love to be able to leave our daughter with Grandma, however, the main reason we are doing this as a "family" thing is that everyone is going...Grandma, Grandpa, aunts/uncles etc..so needless to say our babysitters are going with..(plus, I think I would be hung by my toenails if I tried to convince the better half to leave our daughter for a week)

Anyways this gives me some great areas to start searching and digging...

Thanks to all that have responded!

PayDay · 12-03-2003, 10:22 PM

BFF,
The fishing trips offered in the ports of call are generally too short and priced pretty steep. If you time it right you can take a northbound cruise, end in Whittier (near Anchorage) and then spend a few days exploring and fishing the Kenai Penninsula, either guided or unguided. Check the timing of the fishing runs you would want to hit and plan the cruise accordingly. Cruise prices are generally higher in the mid-summer dates, but the weather is much more predictable and you have lots of daylight. By doing the northbound cruise you can bring your fish back on the plane with you. Be sure to get a cabin with a balcony. Look for specials in January. I'm biased, but a good travel agent can be a big help.

Mrdorkfish · 12-05-2003, 08:24 PM

First of all...10month old?? good luck. It that child was older i'm sure there would be something like Camp Anchorage for her to stay while you are having fun... (JUST KIDDING) My wife and i LOVE to cruise...Mexico last year spring break...and this year's March is coming fast with the kids this time...the younger one will be in Camp Carnival if needed...and the 14 year old will be able to wonder and eat at any time he wants. Cruises are wonderful ...you can eat all you want and only have to pay for drinks and entertainment is great.... JUST MY OPINION, We pay less for an inside cabin because we only are there to sleep or to..have our way with eachother..did i break any rules with that comment?? Anyway...save some $$$$ for drinks..get an inside cabin..you are only there when sleeping and if you are in the mood for looking outside you can get a drink and look out the window or on the deck. Lots of great deals if you search around.

MrDorkfish [img]graemlins/dork.gif[/img]

Louis

DF · 12-05-2003, 08:59 PM

Took one with my grandma cousin and aunt this summer at the end of august to Alaska on a Holand America Line, LOVED IT! food was excelent...I have heard on some bigger ships due to the ammount of people that the portions are smaller, not these ones. And Holand America dosen't require tips like some other lines...some lines work it right into your bill. And this ship was a little smaller than the others therefor there was only about a thousand on board vs some of the biggers ones. And yes, GET AN OUTSIDE ROOM! that was the best part was sittin back and lookin at the water

12-05-2003, 09:41 PM

A good low budget cruse would be to go with my former employer, the Alaska Marine Highway.
Take Amtrak to Bellingham and then a short walk to the ferry terminal. The only towns that you have more than a mile to walk are Sitka and Juneau, both have bus and taxi service. I took a bicycle when I traveled with them.

The big cruse lines are destroying Alaska.

DF · 12-05-2003, 09:52 PM

How are they destroying Alaska? Im under the impression they do their best to be friendly to the enviroment? They also bring alot of income into the state? :whazzup:

12-05-2003, 10:12 PM

Dumping 2000-10,000 people into small towns like Skagway or Ketchikan harms the quality of life for those that live there year round. They also pollute the air with the exhaust and fill the landfills with their trash. The big cruse lines buy up all the property and put in their own gift shops, running the localy owned businesses out, Ketchikan is a good example of this.
When there was more than one big boat at the Ketchikan dock you couldn't drive through town (1 road in Ketchikan) with out having to dodge brain dead idiots. Not all tourists were problems but with the large numbers dumped every day it was maddening.

The cruse industry says one thing and does another. One line was fined several times for dumping their garbage between ports in SE

Another ship put hazardous chemicals in the garbage that they drooped off in Ketchikan. The chemicals reacted in the garbage truck, sending two city employees to the hospital.

I lived in SE before the cruse industry moved in and I saw this happen.

PS: Very few Alaskans enjoy the large number of visitors the cruse industry brings in.

[ 12-05-2003, 11:15 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

hawgcatcher · 12-06-2003, 07:53 AM

Wife and I are going on a land tour and cruise trip next June. We talked to many people and they all said the same thing, the state bird of Alaska get real bad in July and later. We chose Azumano Travel because of their reputation and so far they have done more then I thought in helping us make decisions on what to do.

We wanted to see the inland places like Denali and that is why the tour. We are going to Denali, tour the park, head to Fairbanks and a trip on a sternwheeler. On to the Yukon Territory and Klaune National Park with more mountains and glaciers. Stopover in Whitehorse then down a narrow gauge railroad to Skagway and a meet with our ship. Up into Glacier Bay back down to Ketchikan and through the inland passage to Vancouver.

Thirteen days but we felt that at our age, we may never make it back. The cruise line can make arrangements for fishing for you but on our trip, we only have a day in Ketchikan and that only leaves a couple of hours to fish. With other packages, you can fish more.

I hope that your trip goes well (like I hope ours does too) and your family will like it.

AAA is having a seminar in a week or two, contact them and they will give you the info. Azumano did the same and the Alaska presentation was great.

Good tripping.

fishwhenican · 12-06-2003, 04:22 PM

SE Alaska is amazing. You should be able to arrange some fishing in that time frame. But I have to agree with Keta, either go on the ferry (AML) or take Alaska airlines. Get away from the "tourist traps" that cater to the walking cruise line crowds. Cruise lines aren't my idea of a vacation though.....

12-06-2003, 05:11 PM

If you're wanting to fish in Ketchikan try to book with Toni Azure (Alaska Fish-N-Fun Charters) or Louis Stamm (Lucky Strike Charters) I worked with them before the pulp mill closed and they are both top charter boat opperators.

Feel free to email me for more information.

[ 12-06-2003, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

Silver Eagle · 12-06-2003, 07:02 PM

Big Fish Fever, took the cruise two years ago, wow how time fly's anyway went on the Norweign Line, really like there "Free Style dinning" anyway we drove to Vancover BC left the car there, we had three couples, one rig, anyway we were on the inside passage and in April, weather was OK could have been nicer, the scenery was terrific, four of us got a fishing trip in Ketchikan, it was for Halibut, they have 16 foot tides up there that time of year, what a bust, the only real neat thing was we used our bait, which we caught to bring in Bald Eagles and they would almost take it out of your hand. I really liked the little port of Haines and would love to do a road trip up there someday. You probably won't find a much better bang for your buck than the Alaska cruise. We are going to Hawaii in Sept. not my idea, have a week on the big island and then a 7 day cruise but will make the best of it. Anyway have fun and it is fun.........Ray

BigFishFever · 12-08-2003, 05:08 AM

Wow...step away for a few days and the info just rolls in....Thank you all...We will hopefully be getting more info on what is going to happen on this soon, I am torn, I dont want to get sucked into the tourist traps, and have never been the "cruise" type, (redneck coming out in me I guess) but I know the better half would really enjoy it and this might be my only chance for a long time to get to this great area, and would definetly be a wonderful chance to see some beatiful country...
personally I would rather throw a backpack with a fishing pole and take a long walk...but again the better half isnt to keen on that idea..

I really appreciate all the info, we will look into the Holland cruises and compare the rest...

Keta, I will definetly keep you on my radar as to get more info/recommendations for suggestions on this...

Thanks again to all for the help and replys!