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Discover the 6 top Alaska cruise tips that you need to know to make the most of your Alaskan cruise. I explore topics like when is the best time to go to Alaska, which Alaska cruise itinerary is best for you and why, which cruise line to cruise to Alaska with, which cabin should you book for an Alaskan cruise vacation, what should you pack for Alaska cruising and what are your options on excursions and things to do in the main ports you will call on.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
and get a beverage of tips for travelers
0:02
I'm going to share with you six critical
0:05
tips if you're thinking of going on
0:07
Alaska cruise that will ensure that you
0:10
have a phenomenal cruise so first of all
0:12
when is the best time to go well the
0:14
Alaska season is relatively short it
0:16
runs from May to September with May and
0:19
September being the cheapest months to
0:21
go the peak season is June July time and
0:24
it's also the time when you like to see
0:27
the most wildlife now the important
0:30
thing to know about Alaska is assume
0:32
when you go no matter which month you go
0:34
is that it's going to rain now May is
0:37
probably your chance of having the least
0:38
amount of rain probably or so September
0:41
so the peak of the season tends to have
0:43
a lot of rain and in the packing tips
0:45
I'll talk a little bit about how you
0:46
deal with that the second tip I have is
0:49
around choosing your itinerary there are
0:51
two basic itineraries the first of which
0:53
is the inside passage the second is the
0:56
Gulf of Alaska on an inside passage
0:58
cruise there are four main activities
1:00
that you'll do your core at Juneau which
1:03
is the capital of Alaska it is the only
1:06
capital in North America that you cannot
1:08
reach by Road it's very much linked to
1:10
the Gold Rush we'll call it Skagway
1:13
which is the northernmost place that you
1:16
can go and visit which is a very small
1:19
town only has around about 900 people in
1:21
winter about 1200 people in summer and
1:25
it was the gateway to the Klondike Gold
1:28
Rush
1:28
you'll also visit Ketchikan which used
1:30
to be the salmon capital of the world
1:33
and you'll normally spend a day cruising
1:35
through one of the Glacia inlets like
1:37
Glacier Bay the pros of an Inside
1:40
Passage Cruise is it gives you a great
1:42
overview of Alaska and you'll get to see
1:44
some of the really interesting and
1:45
important places and you'll get to see
1:47
for normal scenery and great glaciers
1:50
the downside it is a round trip and go
1:52
to Vancouver to Vancouver or Seattle to
1:55
Seattle you double back on yourself and
1:57
so you have two days we're actually just
1:59
cruising through the Canadian Inside
2:01
Passage
2:02
and so does a little bit repetitive now
2:04
the other itinerary is the Gulf of
2:06
Alaska cruises they also tend to be one
2:08
way so they are though northwards or
2:09
they go southwards normally between
2:11
Seattle or Vancouver in the south and
2:15
Anchorage in the north the pros of these
2:17
is not only do they spend about four
2:20
days in the inside passage so you'll get
2:21
to see some of the things but you'll
2:23
also see much more so you'll also get to
2:25
see some other places such as the Valdez
2:29
or the Hubbard or the college fiord the
2:33
downside is it probably means two
2:34
flights you're either going to fly into
2:36
Seattle Vancouver and you're gonna have
2:38
to fly in or out of Anchorage as well so
2:41
there's more flying so a third tip is
2:43
who should you go with there's a huge
2:45
amount of choice there are normally in a
2:48
season up to 29 ships doing Alaska lots
2:51
of different cruise lines I went with
2:54
Holland America Line and the reason for
2:55
Holland America Line is they are the
2:57
company that has been operating in
3:00
Alaska for longer than anybody else they
3:03
have been in Alaska for over 70 years so
3:06
one of my tips though when you decide on
3:08
who to go with is look at the cruise
3:11
line look at the ship and make sure that
3:13
particular itinerary is going to take
3:15
you into place here Bay only to cruise
3:17
ships are allowed per day into Glacier
3:20
Bay that's really really important that
3:22
you go into place eBay because it is
3:23
absolutely magnificent but certainly I
3:25
would recommend take a look at Hollin
3:26
America Line just because they have been
3:28
going there for such a long time and
3:30
also knowledgeable and also very
3:31
importantly they can also get you into
3:34
place here Bay my fourth tip is around
3:36
what cabin one of the things I would
3:37
recommend that you look at if you can
3:40
afford it is getting a balcony cabin the
3:42
scenery is quite remarkable in Alaska
3:44
even just cruising along on sea days
3:46
it's beautiful scenery so actually
3:48
having a balcony cabin is pretty
3:50
magnificent so which side of the ship
3:52
should you be on if you're on a Gulf of
3:54
Alaska trip as you head north bound you
3:58
should actually be on the starboard side
4:00
or the right-hand side of the ship
4:02
because the scenery is all going to be
4:04
on the right-hand side of the ship if
4:05
you're heading southbound be on the port
4:07
side or the left-hand side
4:08
because all the scenery's gonna be on
4:10
the left-hand side if you're doing an
4:12
inside passage it's probably less
4:14
critical however I was on the port side
4:16
the left-hand side and certainly unless
4:19
a Bay that was a real plus being on the
4:21
port side as you cruise who gets here
4:22
Bay the way that the ship's positioned
4:24
for much of the time they're really
4:27
important places you want to look at are
4:28
going to be on the left-hand side or the
4:30
port side so does a packing think of
4:33
layers first of all you start with your
4:35
comfort layer so this is a t-shirt or an
4:38
undershirt and comfortable trousers like
4:40
a pair of jeans secondly what you need
4:43
is your warmth layer so sweater
4:45
sweatshirt or it's all weather kind of
4:48
puffy coat a nice woolen hat scarf or a
4:51
neck warmer some nice thick socks pack
4:54
some long johns to give you go into
4:55
place ears third you have your
4:57
protection layer some sort of rain coat
4:59
ideally with the hood or poncho with
5:02
hood also whatever strongly recommend is
5:04
your protection there particularly going
5:05
to be an outdoors doing hiking or go
5:07
into glacis is some waterproof over
5:10
trousers make sure that you have a
5:11
waterproof gloves now what some people
5:13
have recommended is actually having
5:15
under gloves which are texting gloves so
5:17
gloves that are it will enable you to
5:19
use your mobile phone or to manipulate
5:21
your camera if you want to take pictures
5:23
bring sunglasses particular if you're
5:25
going on to things like places or snowy
5:27
areas in terms of shoes what I recommend
5:30
is make sure that you take leather shoes
5:32
because it's going to be wet they're
5:34
gonna get wet and obviously if you have
5:35
some kind of canvas shoe either shoe
5:37
that's gonna be a real problem
5:39
obviously if they've got more of a
5:41
hiking spin to them that's good so
5:43
they've got a bit of ankle protection
5:44
that's really good too if you're out
5:46
hiking or walking if you go out to the
5:48
glaciers you'll be given over boots to
5:51
put over whatever types of shoes that
5:52
you're wearing now my sixth tip is a
5:55
really important one and one unfortunate
5:56
that is probably going to blow your
5:58
budget there are some phenomenal
6:00
excursions and things to do however it
6:02
could end up costing you quite a lot of
6:04
money there are basically five main
6:06
types of excursion well watching really
6:09
really popular place your base
6:11
excursions whether that's just going and
6:13
viewing them walking on them going dogs
6:15
laying on them tivity based excursions
6:18
so things like ziplining kayak
6:20
hiking meeting and drinking going to
6:22
salmon bags or touring local breweries
6:26
and then there are cultural immersion
6:28
ones where you get to experience some of
6:30
the Alaskan culture if you really want
6:33
to see things like place ears well
6:35
watching there is quite a hefty cost
6:37
associated with many of those but I
6:39
would strongly recommend to try and
6:41
budget to do one place in excursion and
6:44
perhaps one other excursion which is
6:47
going to be memorable unique and
6:50
distinctive in an ask so for example in
6:52
Juneau although you can do this in some
6:54
of the other ports dogs Lane you can do
6:56
them on the Mendenhall Glacier or even
6:58
do them on Norris place yeah but they
7:00
can cost anything up to six hundred and
7:02
fifty dollars per person getting on to
7:04
place on a hiking or doing dog slaying
7:06
is a thing that you will never forget
7:08
another thing I would strongly recommend
7:10
you do in Skagway is go on the White
7:14
Pass and Yukon railway this is a very
7:16
historic railway it's a narrow gauge
7:18
railway that was built in the 1900s and
7:22
you can do it in standard carriages or
7:24
you can also do it in premium carriages
7:26
and that's going to cost you between 120
7:28
right up to about 320 dollars in
7:31
Ketchikan I would recommend you go to
7:34
the great Alaskan lumberjack show that's
7:37
gonna cost you about thirty five forty
7:38
dollars there are of course many other
7:40
things that you can do in Alaska which
7:41
are gonna cost you much less money
7:42
you'll find in some of the ports there
7:44
are Trolley Tours you'll find there are
7:45
though just simple walking tours you can
7:47
do or in junior you can go out the mount
7:49
roberts tramway which is not gonna cost
7:51
you very much money so what are your
7:53
options you know obviously go with the
7:54
cruise line one of the options that many
7:56
people will go with because they know
7:58
that if any of the tours are running
7:59
late the ship will wait for you there
8:01
are independent providers which will
8:03
also offer excursions often many of the
8:05
same excursions are very similar
8:07
excursions they will tend to be a lower
8:08
cost they will meet you at the port and
8:11
they do promise to help sort you out if
8:13
anything runs late and they don't get
8:16
you back to the ship on time of course
8:18
you can simply go and self explore a lot
8:20
of these towns are quite close to where
8:21
the ships dock and then just get off
8:23
you'll find there are local tour tour
8:26
operators offering you know similar
8:28
tours often a lower cost do bear in mind
8:31
that that dream excursion may get
8:32
canceled
8:33
poor weather normally not because of
8:35
rain a lot of these you know Alaskan and
8:37
Alaska tours are used to rain it's if
8:40
there's more things like fault they may
8:41
get canceled cause it's not safe to fly
8:43
so those things hopefully will help you
8:46
have an incredible Alaskan cruise
8:47
certainly those tips are things that I
8:49
learned from my experience and
8:50
definitely knowing those before I wind
8:53
would have made my cruise even better
8:54
the Alaska experience is phenomenal I
8:57
absolutely loved it I'm glad that I
8:59
budgeted for and plan opening some of
9:01
those magical excursions because they
9:03
did make experience just quite
9:05
incredible if you enjoyed this video
9:07
please watch many more of my tips of
9:10
travelers videos because they have many
9:11
more videos with tips about Alaska and
9:13
lots of other traveling inspiration
9:16
advice and tips
9:18
[Music]
9:22
[Applause]
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