It looks likely that my family will be joining my mother-in-law on an Alaska cruise in mid August. This isn't our choice of travel style or mode, but it's something my MIL really, really wants to do. I'd much prefer to book an independent trip to better actually see Alaska, but she's got the cruise bug and just isn't going to be persuaded. In any case, we're looking at flying up to Anchorage by ourselves for a few days, then MIL flies in and we get on the boat. We're thinking of Royal Caribbean, which leaves from Seward, then cruises Hubbard Glacier. There are full port days in Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan, then the Inside Passage down to Vancouver. Finish with a few days in Vancouver, if time permits. We have two teen boys.

MIL, because of slight mobility issues, will be doing gentle touring at the ports. She's OK with us taking off and doing things on our own. I've just begun to research, and would love any suggestions on things to do. We love nature, are interested in learning more about the Native cultures of the area, enjoy moderate hiking, and welcome opportunities to get away from the cruiseship souvenir shops.

Also, if anyone has cruise tips for non-cruisers, those would be welcome.

Thanks!

I have very little experience with cruising but found cruisemates.com to be a helpful website when I was planning a trip with my mom. Many of the people who post on the message boards are veteran cruisers willing to share info.

Amy, my brother just went throught this with his in-laws. They were so dreading the trip that in the end....it was a great trip! The teenage boys loved it and they had great adventures at the ports. I will ask him witch one they took. But after listening to them....it sounded like something i would consider and i have NEVER even remotely thought of doing a cruise. LOL

Stephanie,

I would also like to hear more about your brother's adventure in Alaska. We are thinking about going next June; Alaska is one of two states left on David's list, LOL, and while we are not cruise people, I think we need to see part of this on water. I have been looking at some cruise/land packages, on smaller ships, and would love to hear from someone who has gone recently.

Marcia

Hi, Amy,

An Alaskan cruise with your MIL might not be the trip to dread...from what I've read, there are unbelievable day excursions available at the various ports you are looking at. You can book these with the outfitters directly and bypass the cruise ship offerings. My hubby and I have booked an Alaskan cruise for next June, with a few days in Vancouver beforehand and a few days land-touring afterward (we are doing a northbound cruise).

While cruising is not my style, either, we determined that it's the easiest way to see this huge state without spending a month, especially for our first trip.

For more encouragement and lots of ideas for shore excursions aside from the ones offered by the cruiseline, check out www.cruisecritic.com.
Hope this helps!
Jennifer

Thanks for the encouragement and resources, all. We'll definitely be looking to book our own shore excursions to suit our interests and wallet.

A few sights to consider: in Juneau, take the Mt. Roberts tram for an incredible view (if it is not raining) and hiking if you're into that.

Juneau itself is a beautiful town, worth walking around to see. Don't miss the Russian Orthodox church.

In Ketchikan, you can go see the native totem poles. Totem Bight State Historic Park has 14 totem poles within walking distance of the cruise ship docks. And Saxman Native Village has the world's largest collection of them.

Skagway is best known as the gateway to the Klondike, and the start of the Chilkoot Trail that most gold rush miners took to the Yukon.

Enjoy!!

Beth

Hey Marcia...guess we will be seeing you soon at Palma's . Here is what i got so far from my bro
We went on the Nordham and stopped in Juneaue (sp?), Sitka and Ketchican (sp?). The cruise line was Holland America.

As i said, for as much as he was dreading it...they loved it.

Stephanie dogma to Rosco and Zoey

Palm Springs vacation rental

I can't help with the cruise part, but if you are interested in native culture and will be in Vancouver you must not miss the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

I'm in the *never* cruise group myself, but I must admit, if I did, it would be in Alaska. (Odd, since I live here.) With the rain and endless lovely scenery outside the window, it seems like the best use of the cruise ship. A visiting friend who was dreading her own cruise with the in-laws, said she actually enjoyed it because it forced her to slow down.

Also, assuming all the people who come on a ship were to arrive independently, there's simply not enough room for them. Juneau, at the highest population in SE, has 30,000, and an average daily load is at least 10,000. Most of the other ports are a few thousand natives, so you can imagine the impact.

I also recommend cruisecritic.com; I hang out there and try to offer some local perspective while retaining my cool. (which doesn't always hold.)

If you have the time, I'd suggest more than a few days on land because then you can go to Denali before sailing. There's lots of CC posts about doing this. Independent would be cheaper, obviously. At the least, there's also some very nice sights between Anchorage and Seward, and in Seward itself. There's some great wildlife/whale watching cruises out of Seward, for example.

Suggestions for your ports:

Skagway--rent a car from Avis and drive up the highway as far as time allows. Lots of drivers follow 'Murray's Guide,' put together by a CC board poster. This goes as far as Emerald Lake, but I'd say go further if you can. As I said in the other post, Dyea is worth seeing--although it's a very ghostly ghost town; nearly all the structures have been dismantled to build elsewhere--but Avis doesn't allow its rental cars on the 'dangerous' road. (Dirt and winding.) There's a guy, Dyea Dave, who leads tours, and comes from a local family, with all the accompanying stories.

Juneau--Another place to rent a car, this time from Rent-a-Wreck. Leave the crowds behind and be on your own schedule. Drive to the glacier and 'Out the Road'. Take a whalewatching boat from Auke Bay. Zipline over on Douglas Island. Have the boys hike up Mt. Roberts while you and MIL take the tram to meet them. Car rentals, even if you don't use them all day, are probably the cheapest 'tour' available for a group, at under a $100 for the day.

Icy Straight Point--is the Native village of Hoonah. Actually, it's a cruise ship creation behind gates within walking distance of Hoonah. I, if visiting Hoonah, could not tour its sights, for example. There's several local tour guides that will give you a van tour, exploring the forest and searching for bears. I've read very positive things about these tours. So far, they haven't imported out of state college kids like most tours do, who know only as much about Alaska as they read in the manual on the flight up. If you're interested in Native culture, express this to your guide, and I'm sure he/she will talk your ear off. There's a great Native graveyard on the road between ISP and Hoonah with traditional grave houses. The whale watching and fishing is also good out of Hoonah.

Ketchikan--Besides the totems and Native village, there's also a Lumberjack show that I've heard is either super-cheesy or great. It's possible in Anchorage or Juneau to pick up some great books explaining how to 'read' a totem pole, which may be of interest to your sons, and helpful in Ketchikan.

Vancouver--I also totally recommend the museum, and add the aquarium.

With a slower MIL and two active boys, it may be necessary to break up at times. MIL will probably want to shop. *shudder* Use care; the narrow sidewalks become very crowded--we've actually had folks killed after being knocked into traffic. I get very agitated whenever I see comments like, there's nothing for kids to do here. There's hiking in every port, all accessible from downtown. There's kayaking, bike rentals, rent a fishing pole places. I have this fantasy for some sort of 'teen ambassadors' program so that young people get a chance to interact, but I guess the closest thing would be asking the girl behind the counter at the fudge shop what it's like to be a teenager in Alaska.

Amy, do you have any idea how long you'll have before the cruise starts? There are great houses to rent in Girdwood, near Anchorage, which gives you easy access to Prince William Sound, and then you could drive a bit further down to Seward, again with great cabins to rent and the Kenai Fjords National Park to explore, before you catch the ship. The places we stayed, and many like them, rent by the day, and would be wonderful places to stay with the boys. Depending on your time, you could also take the train up to Denali.
As far as the cruise itself, have you looked at Linblad Expeditions? Our neighbors did several Lindblad cruises with her parents and loved them - smaller, more educational, with kayaking for the boys and access to places the larger ships can't go.

Amy, I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation, but I laughed really hard at the title of this thread. I do think you will end up having a great time, in spite of the circumstances, BTW.

Wow. There's some great info piling up here. Again, many thanks.

Terry, you have no idea. Well, perhaps you do. And yes, I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time, in the end.

I would make several suggestions:

Anchorage to Seward: I would suggest looking into a rental car and driving to Seward stooping at Portage Glacier and Museum and possibly driving on a side-trip to Whittier.

Seward: stay in a cabin of which there are many and explore the town; visit "Exit Glacier" which is several miles outside of Seward but readily accessible via automobile and excellent for someone with mobility issues; take a day cruise around Kenai Fjords National Park; visit the marine Aquarium.

Skagway: take the train ride on the "Whitepass and Yukon RR", again accessible to handicapped. You can make your own arrangements for this or use the ship excursion

I might add that some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in the world is viewable from the ship as you sail along the coast south of Seward and sailing the "Inside Passage is quite an experience. I think you will have a great time

Neil

Amy-A lot of people have given suggestions here. That's great. I don't live in the Southeast like Rainforest Lisa(Juneau), but I live right outside of Anchorage. I've also never been on a cruise, and don't have the desire, but as someone else said, if I did, it would be an Alaska cruise. June and July here are usually the best months for the least rain and for best fishing. Seward is a great little town, and you can book a fishing charter to go out of there. Choose the all day if you have time-it takes a while to get to the good fishing areas, so if you do the 1/2 day, you want have too much fishing. The charters have really gone up in price because of the increase in fuel costs, but they are always a lot of fun. As someone mentioned, the Sealife Center in Seward is always nice to visit. My favorite thing to do is just walk around, look at the harbor, watch the fish being brought in and weighed. If you like water sports, both Seward and Whittier are great places to take a kayak trip. We have a boat that we take out of Whittier. Whittier is in Prince William Sound, and is a georgeous area, but the town itself is tiny with maybe 1 or 2 shops. I wouldn't go to the town unless you are going out on a boat or kayaking. If I was going on a fishing charter, I would choose Seward or Homer. If you have any specific questions about this area, let me know. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll do my best.

Amy, when you have your dates set and know when you will be in Vancouver, let us know. Bribe me & Sheena enough and it may coincide with another Vancouver GTG.
And if circumstances permit, I'll take you on my one-day custom Tour of Favorite Vancouver Places, which definitely includes the UBC Museum of Anthropology. Extra hours needed if you want to shop & eat at Thomas Haas Chocolatier.
Personally, I would avoid cruises after my one & only Alaska tour, but it made my mother happy. And I got to spend time with my brother & his wife. I think if you're with a big family & friends group and just think of it as an opportunity to do nothing strenous & hang out, it could work. And yes, kids love it. Think all you can eat burgers, hotdogs, fries & pizza. Plus very well-organized activities. We did very gentle tours of gardens in Skagway & Juneau with my mom, so no insights on more exciting activities.

This is just so great- here we are just back from our Italy trip and already I'm ready to plan the next one which we think should be a trip to Alaska and for the first time used the Cruise word. This isn't our style either but we too have heard how happy people are with these trips in Alaska. I'll be looking forward to hearing how this works out for you Amy. We're thinking of those train-cruise combos on a small ship with limited onboard nonsense but haven't searched around yet. Here's hoping you find something great to share with the rest of us!

Marcia, we are not cruise people either, but we did go to Alaska and to Costa Rica on a small ship (100 people) with Cruise West, and thought both were excellent. There is no casino, no formal dinners, no assigned dinner places, no entertainers, etc. and I think the population on the cruise tends to be older, but I liked being able to go places the big ships could not, being able to tie up at the docks and not have to get to shore on tenders, having naturalists and other experts available.

Charnee

Amy,
Wear a survival suit and jump off somewhere off shore...swim like mad and enjoy some time alone.

Seriously...we went on an Alaska cruise about 4 years ago. This was a gift, not a by-choice trip, as we are SO not cruisers. The scenery is beautiful! We were on Norwegian Cruise Lines, they have a more "casual" thing (I guess, I know not about cruise wear nor cruise 411). There were no dinner reservations, we ate anywhere, at any time. Nothing formal required, which is great when the rest of your suitcase is filled w/everything from sunblock to parkas!

I see many recommendations on this thread. I can say save your money on the "excursions" and spend it renting cars as directed above, or finding your own guided tours/adventures.

I think the scariest part of your trip is 10 days with your MIL. That would not work for me - 1, 2, 3 jump(or push)!

Laura

Everyone, thanks again for your suggestions and comments. After endless discussion we are booked on a cruise. Not our first choice of itinerary or line--but as it turns out, some relatives were also planning on an Alaska cruise, and so we're booked on the same trip. More company made it a no-brainer. We'll get back some day to see Alaska properly, I hope.

We're on Holland-America, doing a Seattle-Juneau-Hubbard Glacier-Sitka-Ketchikan-Victoria-Seattle 7 day. We'll fly out several days early, and base in Vancouver before heading down to Seattle. Humn. Need to start a Vancouver thread!

Amy et all,

We love to travel, by land is one way and by ship is the other. (It truly is the slow way. One home, lots of sights, sounds and flavors to experience from your core...)

Holland America is our line of choice. Yes, we like to go by ship and have on more than 35 voyages. We also do two week+ trips to Italy and 4-7 day visits elsewhere.

We've done thirteen Med./Eastern Med. cruises, two TransAtlantic cruises, two Circle Hawaii, five - soon to be six - Panama Canal passages and many Carribean and Pacific repos....

We have not gone to Alaska, Vancouver is the most West North port, but when we do it will be by ship.

We have friends who live in Seward, he runs one of the canning plants there. they have been there part or full time over the past 30 years.

Summers there are supposed to be just wonderful and I hope to see it.

We know about traveling with family, and have had some not good times - on ships - so I understand your lack of desire.

Go, enjoy your time and I really hope you enjoy Holland America. What ship and what dates? Do you know your cabin #?

Just a thought, if you book your own tours or rent your own car - which we do regularly - it is your responsibility to be back on board before the ship sails.

If you are on a cruise tour - which we do not do - the ship waits for the booked passangers.

CruiseCritic is a great wealth of information. A bit of bickering sometimes, but lots of info and threads to check out... by cruise line and itinerary.

HAL is good for port talks - not the shopping ones - with knoweldgable speakers. The nightly entertainment is improving, but we prefer to sit soemwhere and watch the night sky or listen to t