The bride wants to take an inside passage Alaska cruise .
I'm good with it. Wants to sorte late June.
Cruise line?
Best off ship excursions? Clothing?
What to avoid?
In short, HELP

You might check into what I call the "small boat" cruise lines such as Uncruise Adventures and the like. Completely different experience that what you find on those multi-thousand passenger boats. Once you pull out of the port, you never see another port again until you arrive at the final stop. Every day is outdoor activities such as boating on small Zodiacs, hiking, kayaking, fishing, etc.. Not a good choice though if you are one of those passengers that likes to eat all day.

Most of my clients sail on Holland or Princess for Alaska. I've sold NCL and Royal Caribbean too. I would say 75% is on Holland even though it is an older ship.

They all do a good job. I would focus more on the itinerary you want and pricing. (And I'm happy to help if you like - my services are free)

My wife & her dad just went on this exact cruise. They used Courtney Henson @ travel hut group (she's an Aggie!) to book their trip. They were on the Celebrity Solstice and really enjoyed everything.

We did holland for a family reunion. We upgraded to a suite, totally worth it. Originally booked a regular room but as the date got closer called them and got a great deal on a suite since they weren't fully booked.

We had a 1 year old and 4 year old at the time so did t do a lot of excursions but did do the one where the small boat picks you up directly from the cruise ship and takes you to see the glaciers. It was amazing and want to do it again when the kids are older.

With the suite they did our laundry every day and there were many other perks!

I liked the holland (volendam) ship because it was smaller than many of the other liners, so less people.

Consider going late July or early August. Lots more wildlife will be around. When the salmon run, more eagles, bears, and whales will be in the area.

We did Princess out of Vancouver 5 years ago. We chose them based on it being more upscale, they went into Glacier Bay NP (at the time I think they were the only ones who did?) and we added on the train to Denali NP and stayed at their lodge there. It was 11 days total.

If I were doing it again I would choose a much smaller ship that went into smaller areas and had kayak/hiking excursions off the ship. Of course on days that you do go to places like Ketchikan you may have to tender back and forth instead of tying at the pier with the big boys.

We have been on 2 of them (one 7 day and one 10 day) and took Holland America both times. They do a wonderful job.

Attire depends, in part, on the time you go. You will want to dress as though it is winter.

Alaskan cruises are also more upscale due to the nature of the cliiente.

We had a great time on both.

I've done Holland (Westerdam) twice. Would do again and probably will in 2024. Might switch it up to Princess, but I'm also good with sticking to the familiarity of Holland.

I've been on about 27 cruises all over the world. Mediterranean locations of Greece (Mykonos & Santorini), Mallorca, Amalfi Coast are hard to beat...but the beautiful scenery you'll witness on an Alaskan cruise through the Inside Passage is unmatched. I've only been twice, both on Norwegian (Sun & Star)... during the summer it gets dark around 11 pm and when the sun rises around 4 am. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend the helicopter glacier tour..you'll land on the glacier itself and walk around close to 150 feet deep crevasses. The bike and brew tour in Juneau is great as well. I would not recommend snorkeling (yes, it's available)... the wetsuits smell like puke and the visibility is awful.

dress for winter? No

Layers are key. Outside while sailing it's cold. Every port stop we had this summer was hot.

I can share our recent experience. We cruised the inside passage 8/9/22 to 8/16/22 on the Celebrity Solstice. We understood this is a good time of year because of the activity of the wildlife is more intense than in June. We left and returned to Seattle

I would say we may be the most boring folks of anyone you might ever meet if you consider it boring that you don't drink and are turned off by fancy dining arrangements. Celebrity has the several specialty restaurants and premium drink packages if you are turned in the direction to like one or both of those. We saw people in tuxedos and long dresses with sequence. We were more like "LOL poors".

What we liked about this trip is they had a scientist and a historian on the ship and each of them gave 4 or 5 talks each as we were approaching the excursion ports like Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. The talks were in large theatres and loaded with audio visual presentations. We are turned toward academic matters like this but they also have all types of activities like game shows that the passengers participate in.

I enjoyed watching the bartenders clown around pouring drinks and such. Most afternoons and evenings there was live music somewhere on the ship and they ranged from a band from Venezuela that could play just about any 70s 80s song to a Russian couple playing instrumentally only with a violin and Cello.

We were never bored and needed a rest when we got off the ship. The excursions usually have you leaving the ship at 7am so we were up at 5:30 several days.

I thought the music and theatrical productions exceeded my expectations. We found out some of the acrobats in the Rock show were from Russia and some were from Ukraine.

We obviously ate in the buffet and found it to be outstanding! We could have eaten something different and interesting with each meal and stayed another 7 days and not having the same thing twice. Lotsa variety.

In February we are going on a Panama Canal cruise and we chose Norwegian rather than Celebrity not because we were dissatisfied with Celebrity but we are on a bit smaller boat that will fit through the original locks of the Canal.

I won't say the cruise lines are dishonest or deceptive but they are absolutely sneaky in their advertisements and promotions. We paid gratuities up front. We managed just fine and had no surprises but we used as Travel Agent (for Canyon Ag---it's Billy Don's son) for Panama.

The glaciers of Alaska are unbelievably gorgeous. We loved all the excursions and booked them through the cruise lines rather than independently. The current wife was always afraid a bus would break down and we'd get left behind and if you book through the cruise lines they will wait for you.

We've made a mental note that if we ever cruise Alaska again we might fly to Fairbanks???? and take the 9 day trip back south, or vice versa (one way) so we didn't backtrack on the ship. If you are one to enjoy the nightlife and specialty dining and dressing up then the inside passage gives you 2 days at sea which we noticed are kind of party days for some travelers.

I didn't dress like a bum but barring specialty restaurants the dress code is very casual. I've not had a dress code since I was in the Courtrooms of West Texas and don't plan on going back.

I apologize for the lack of organization of this post. Kind of scatter shooting. halecentercotton@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Highly recommend the trip to or from Denali before or after a cruise.

Panama Canal is amazing.

Parents recently did an NCL cruise through the inner passage. Quizzed them pretty hard because I'd like to do it at some point. Second hand info so take this for what it is worth.

At a few of the ports they didn't feel like they had enough time, and apparently NCL uses docks away from town centers you have to get free shuttles to go into town. Not sure if this is because they were on a really big ship, but sounds like other cruise lines had ships in ports right in town. I guess NCL is trying to create their own sub-port or something to keep passengers spending money where they want you to?

Also seems like NCL steers you to their excursions which may be a problem if you want to get off the boat and do your own thing in a short time window.

Victoria BC was the last stop on their cruise and they didn't get into port until 8 at night and had to be back on by 11pm. Doesn't seem worth it and bogus to call that a port. I guess they offload all the sh tters in Victoria before they go back to Seattle.

And what sounds completely maddening, NCL said no Covid test was required but since Canada is a stop, they were forced to take a test for 75 bucks apiece in Seattle before being allowed onboard. My mom specifically contacted NCL several times about testing and was told they would not need one. At some point the testing was so backed up, they told me an officer from the ship waved all untested passengers on and let them aboard.

No clue if this was real but I'd look into another cruise line. Their experience sounds like first world problems but I'd like to do it.

Sounds like they are going cheap on port fees by not docking in the main area.

Cruises leaving Seattle have to stop in Victoria due to the Jones Act.

Sitka for example the cruise terminal is way away from town due to water depths I thought. Skagway at the moment if you're on a big ship (we were on Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas) you have to dock way up the pier due to a landslide and ride a tender into town (that sucks).

mike073 said:

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Highly recommend the trip to or from Denali before or after a cruise.

Panama Canal is amazing.

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Denali is great. I'd suggest doing it before the cruise. It's a lot of time in busses and trains/cars. It can wear you out and a cruise after can be relaxing. I'd also suggest a one way cruise as you will get more time in each port.
When we went in 2019 we flew into Anchorage, went to the Kenai for a few days then went back to Anchorage and joined up with a Princess land tour. They bussed us to Denali, couple days there, then to their Lodge. From the lodge you could do the Denali flight seeing tours.
Then got on the train to take us to the boat and that was great.
We did one way from there and did Glacier Bay, Juneau, Skagaway, Ketchikan and ended in Vancouver. Had a ton of time in each port and I did some pretty great hikes, and had plenty of time.

JMac03 said:

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Most of my clients sail on Holland or Princess for Alaska. I've sold NCL and Royal Caribbean too. I would say 75% is on Holland even though it is an older ship.

They all do a good job. I would focus more on the itinerary you want and pricing. (And I'm happy to help if you like - my services are free)

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Hey JMac03, I take it you're a travel agent?

What is your contact information?

I am! My email is in my profile

We did Celebrity Solstice in July that was given as a gift We are definitely not cruise people, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Staff was very kind, and we enjoyed our service team. As other posters indicate, make sure you understand your specific carrier gratuities so you don't end up paying double. The only complaint I have was that there was significant badgering to upsell drink and bar packages, to the point where we had to flat out tell a crewmember to leave us alone.

The standard food was difficult for us to enjoy because it was (surprise) mostly carbs and sugar loaded. The meat cuts were about what you would expect at a value chain restaurant. One surprise was the vegan and Indian dishes. They were incredible, and you certainly weren't pushing a crowd out of the way to get to them.

We tried the premium dining one night. It was a good meal, and priced appropriately for a mid-range restaurant.

Entertainment was hit or miss. We tried to have fun with it and showed up to several events. In the end there was a lot of downtime. The cast on the boat did a good job with the presentations. I would put them on par with a collegiate level theater. They had a few guest performers who were great.

Weather was crappy most of the trip raining and overcast, temps in the 60's. Bring a few pullovers and a rain shell and you will be fine.

If I did it again, small boat for sure, focused heavily on excursions and activities. I would also avoid the cruise terminal towns, they are just giant gift shops.

Glacier helicopter ride and fishing for pink salmon were a great time.

We've done Princess twice. Did Inland Passage from Seattle. In 2019, flew to Anchorage, State Railroad to Wittier and both Alaskan and Canadian Inland Package to Vancouver, BC (love Vancouver), did Dim Sum in Chinatown, found a great Italian restaurant by the hotel. They have an old town with cobblestone streets, great bars and restaurants, etc.

Princess does a great job, they had a naturalist on board who gave lectures daily on Native American culture, history and migration of the state, etc. his talk as we were going into the glaciers was awesome.