Alaska Cruise/Tour Question

[mickeyd]

DW dragged me last weekend to a dog and pony show about Alaska. The company selling the tours (John Hall's Alaska) has a number of land tour/cruises that vary in length (basically 14-21 days), but 7 days on land and 7 on the inside passage seem to be the most popular.

We have never cruised nor have we ever been to Alaska, so I'm not real sure why DW is fascinated with this idea, however we seem to be heading in that direction. Is anyone here familiar with this tour company? If so, can you give me your pros/cons on the value of this kind of travel? Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[peggy]

I've been to Alaska twice -- cruised the inside passage for 7 days the first time; same cruise but with 2 days in Denali National Park the second time.

We sailed Holland America the first time, Princess the second. I've never heard of the company you mentioned.

Before you sign with this company, check the rates from the major cruise lines for their equivalent packages.

 

[Sheryl]

We did an Alaska cruise with Holland. It was great.

I understand there are limited permits for cruises to go into Glacier Bay, so make sure you select one that does if this is something you are interested in.

 

[Meadbh]

Cruised up and down the Inside Passage with Royal Caribbean. Cruise was great. Yakutat Glacier was a highlight. This was a group outing and we had a conference on board. We booked through a specialty broker, not the one you mention. Financially, a great deal. The only problem was that RC reconfigured the ship after we booked, turning conference rooms into cabins, so that we had to change the format of our conference.

 

[mickeyd]

Thanks for your responses. It looks like we will be taking the cruise part on Holland American heading south. 7 days on a tour bus prior to 7 days on a HAL boat may be the way to do it, especially since we are unfamiliar with the area and would benefit from a company that gets it's livelihood from those of us who have no experience and want to have it all set up and tied with a pretty bow. Probably paying for the service, but it's not like we're going to do it every year this way.

 

[Sheryl]

Sounds great! I'm sure you will enjoy. We did the 7-day sailing south part, but not the land tour.

You might want to check into which ship outings you can sign up for in advance, and if not, go book them on the ship as soon as you can. We didn't know the system and many of the better things were booked before we could get signed up.

One really fun thing we did was ice climbing on a glacier above Juneau. It was just a day-tour thing, but I really enjoyed the chance to climb around up on a "real" glacier.

 

[Cut-Throat]

If you stop at Ketchikan, there is a snorkeling day trip that I highly recommend. They provide all the gear. Lot of colorful starfish. Also make sure you go whale watching in Juneau.