Most Alaska Cruises Don't Go To Plan. Here's Why!

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recently I had to step in to stop some
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friends making big mistakes while
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planning their Alaska cruise It reminded
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me of all the pitfalls there are when
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cruising Alaska And because of that why
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I meet too many cruisers saying their
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trip of a lifetime to the stunning
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region fell short So welcome aboard I'm
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Gary Benbridge and I'm going to tell you
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how I help my friends have a great
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Alaska cruise and also help you get your
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Alaskan cruise right The key reason
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things don't go to plan is I see
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cruisers including my friends choosing
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the wrong itinerary When my friends
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decided to cruise Alaska they did not
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appreciate that not all Alaska cruisers
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are the same I know it's easy to fall
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into the trap of missing out and
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visiting the right ports and seeing the
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best sites It's really easy to do So let
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me talk about the itineraries to choose
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from There are three key itineraries I
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told them they had to consider all of
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them to see which was best for them The
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most common and popular is the inside
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passage These are usually 7-day round
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trips mostly sailing to and from
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Vancouver Canada or Seattle in the USA
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The best inside passage cruisers call on
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three key ports First Juno the capital
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which has the Menh Hall glacia and other
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glaciers Mount Roberts and some of the
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very best whale watching tours Next
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Skagway which is best known for the
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White Pass and Yukon Railway and also a
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quaint historic town And thirdly
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Ketchacan affectionately known as the
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salmon capital of the world This is best
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known for attractions like the great
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Alaskan lumberjack show the historic
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creek street totem parks and access to
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the Misty Fjords region Inside passage
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cruisers are ideal firsttime cruisers to
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get a feel for Alaska And being round
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trips it makes it quite easy for booking
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flights as well The downside is they
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tend to have at least two sea days one
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at each end getting to and from Alaska
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So you have limited time exploring
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Alaska than the other itineraries offer
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Also if you do the sailing out of
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Seattle under US law it must call into a
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foreign port usually Victoria Canada so
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you can have even less time in Alaska
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The second itinerary and my favorite are
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those selling north to south They sell
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between the ports closest to Anchorage
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Seward and Witier and Vancouver While
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usually also including those iconic
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ports of Juno Skagway and Ketchacan
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because they go further north they
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include the stunning Hubbed Glacia Vald
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and Sitka They are usually 10 days long
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and with usually just one sea day you
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get to spend more time and see much more
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of Alaska The downside is having to get
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a one-way flight to or from Anchorage
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which can be really expensive The hotels
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in Anchorage are outrageously overpriced
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and it's actually quite fiddly getting
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down to Seward 120 mi away or Whitier 60
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mi away Although there are some stunning
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scenic train options as well as cruise
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line bus transfers on offer The third
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itinerary which many people including my
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friends had no idea about as they're not
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spoken about much are the expedition
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cruise options Now these are not a
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classic cruise lines or ships and
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include small cruise lines like Uncruise
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or the Norwegian-based line Herti Gurin
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They don't call on those main ports that
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I mentioned earlier and they cruise in
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more out of the way places They're much
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more wildlife and scenery focused With
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limited vacation time and mostly wanted
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to see those iconic Alaska highlights my
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friends had chosen the inside passage
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option But I could see their chosen
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cruise fell way short in a major way
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They had planned to book a Norwegian
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Bliss 7 night inside Passage cruise out
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of Seattle but as I said it fell short
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on many areas First of all it didn't
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call on all three iconic ports Instead
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of Skagway it went to Icy Strait
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Secondly they didn't look carefully as
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how long the ship spent in each of the
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ports and places The cruise was only
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calling in Juno for example in the
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morning from 6:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m which
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is too early for many of the excursion
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options and it really limited time to
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explore They would have been an icy
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straight point from 6:00 a.m to 3:00 a.m
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So the same problem and a Ketchacan also
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in the morning from 6:00 a.m to 1:15 p.m
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There was simply not enough time to
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spend exploring these ports and getting
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the most out of them because the sites
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the stores and many of the excursions
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wouldn't be available for a big chunk of
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the early morning when they arrived It
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also by the way called in Victoria
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Canada on the way back but it was there
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from 8:00 p.m until midnight making
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sightseeing near impossible in that very
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pretty city Looking at the trip there
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was going to be a lot of time at sea not
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on land exploring and sightseeing Alaska
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So make sure that you look at the detail
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of any Alaska cruise to ensure that
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you're getting to spend all or much of
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the day in all of the critical ports and
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places as you possibly can So we did
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that and actually suggested my friends
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switch to a Q not Queen Elizabeth cruise
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also out of Seattle which had more time
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in port but offered something in
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addition that every ideal Alaska cruise
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should have Let me explain The second
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critical area where I see people get
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things wrong is they don't go on the
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right cruise line And I felt my friends
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were doing that not just because of the
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ports but by not thinking through what
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they really wanted from the cruise line
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I feel there are three critical
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considerations when looking at what
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cruise line to choose for any Alaska
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cruise And choosing is a challenge
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because there is a lot of choice
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According to Clear the Cruise Line
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Association 50 ships sell Alaska every
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season with over 700 individual sailings
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to choose from Almost every single major
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cruise line sells in Alaska with more
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going every year So these are the three
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critical things that you need to think
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about when choosing the right cruise
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line First choose a cruise line that can
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take you into Glacia Bay Of those 700
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cruises a year just over a third are
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allowed to go into Glacia Bay So 70% of
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people cruising to Alaska will miss out
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seeing one of the most impressive places
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in Alaska The National Park Service
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which controls Glacia Bay only allows
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two large cruise ships in per day They
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also further limit that through a
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licensing system to only six cruise
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lines which currently are Princess
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Cruisers Holland America Line Norwegian
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Cruise Line Seabour Kunard and Viking I
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strongly recommend you look at those
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lines that take you to Glacia Bay as it
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is one of the most magnificent parts of
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Alaska to cruise to By the way if you
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are looking at those six Holland America
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have been cruising Alaska the longest
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way over 70 years and Princess for over
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50 years So as well as getting into
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Glacia Bay they generally have very
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strong links within Alaska They usually
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get the best docking spots and times in
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every port as well So the second mistake
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is cruisers do not spend time thinking
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about what onboard experience is best
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going to match their needs Because as
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you've heard you will have a fair bit of
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time at sea So you want to make sure
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that you're on a cruise line that's
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going to really match you your family or
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whoever you're traveling with's needs
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Now whether you focus on the glacia bay
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lines or not you have many options If
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you're traveling with families or want
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lots of entertainment you've got Royal
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Caribbean Carnival Norwegian Cruise Line
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If you want to go adult only you've got
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Viking or Virgin Voyages You want a
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small ship luxury or ultra luxury
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experience there's Oceanania Crystal
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Regent Silver Sea and Seaborn But if you
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want a more enrichmentbased trip there's
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Viking or Kunard Now my friends love
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enrichment talks They love dressing up
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on cruises So by getting them to go on
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Kunard made much more sense than their
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original Norwegian choice which is very
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relaxed and doesn't have enrichment Now
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my third watch out may sound slightly
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contradictory to those I've given you so
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far but when choosing the right cruise
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line for Alaska consider that the cruise
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lines may not have the usual onboard
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passenger mix nor the full experience
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you're going to find when you're sailing
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with them in the rest of the world
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Alask cruise for people and with such a
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short season running from May only
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through to September many travelers are
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constrained about when they can go
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because many travel as multigenerational
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groups or with their family and so many
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people just literally look for a
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cruising line that's going when they
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want at a price that's within their
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budget So even on lines like Kunard
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Honda America and Princess which
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traditionally are sailing with older
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couples and few to no kids in Alaska
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they usually full of families on most
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sailings On both my Honda America and
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Princess cruises to Alaska they were
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both jam-packed with kids who would take
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over the indoor pool overrun events So
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it's not a traditional experience I
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usually have on those lines So bear that
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in mind That's actually why on my last
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Alaska cruise I actually booked on
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Viking because it's an adult only line
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and on the next one I've booked on a
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more luxury line Silver Sea after the
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school vacation period so I can have
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more of a classic Silver Sea experience
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But talking of timing there's an even
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more important timing issue I see
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causing many Alaska cruisers to not go
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to plan My friends wanted to maximize
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their chance of seeing wildlife
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especially bears and whales but their
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initial cruise was going actually too
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early in the season to ensure that As I
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mentioned the season is short running
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from May through to September though
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some do push it into October Now if cost
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is a factor look at going at the start
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and the end of the season So May and
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September it will be cheaper tend to
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have fewer families and ports will be
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less packed May is also the month with
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the lowest rainfall It rains almost all
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through the season in Alaska so you need
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to expect that But if like my friends
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you really want to be sure to see more
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wildlife the prime bear season kicks off
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mostly in July and into August when the
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salmon run starts It's also a really
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good time for whale watching and birds
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Although I must say in my May and early
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June cruises I did get to see a couple
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of bears I did see some whales sea
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otterters and birds but nothing like
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later in the season Of course July and
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August are peak time They're busy
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They're the costliest time But that
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still made more sense for my friends who
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wanted to ensure they saw wildlife Now
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talking of costs this is another thing I
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see causing many Alaska cruisers to not
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go to plan My friends also had failed to
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appreciate the severity of this Alaska
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cruise fairs can be much higher than
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many are used to paying for Caribbean or
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Mediterranean cruises But it doesn't end
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there As most of the other associated
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costs are much higher than many expect
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or unfortunately plan for there are two
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critical costs that many including my
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friends underestimated and underbudgeted
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for First getting to and from the cruise
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Flights to and from the ports be it
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Seattle Vancouver or Anchorage tend to
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be really costly because demand is
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really high in those few short months
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It's best to book flights as far ahead
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as you possibly can because airfares
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will get increasingly expensive the
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closer to the cruise you book Also book
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any pre or postay hotels really early
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too Hotels in all those ports Vancouver
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Seattle and certainly Anchorage can get
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crazy expensive Anchorage for example
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has really limited hotel options and
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rooms For example I have an Alaska
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cruise out of Seward coming up and
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staying at the Hilton in Anchorage which
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is pretty shabby and run down and poor
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It's showing rates of from $500 to $600
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for one night Some hotels are already
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totally sold out for the dates too I
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looked at hotel availability and pricing
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in Seattle where my friends will be
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selling from and as they had left it
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late prices are almost double what they
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had expected and budgeted it to be Now
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the second thing that people don't
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factor in is excursion costs Unlike the
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Caribbean excursions are way more
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expensive in Alaska There's high demand
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and limitations on availability for some
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of the iconic tours including whale
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watching in Juno or Sitka Going on
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wildlife watching boat tours followed by
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salmon bake lunch Flying up onto glacias
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to walk on them or go dog sledding on
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glacias Sea plane flights over glacias
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and landscapes or even going on the
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historic White Pass and Yukon Railway in
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Skagway to do Many of these exotic tours
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can add hundreds to the trip with some
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excursions costing up to $600 per person
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for each of the tours Many cruisers have
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not budgeted or simply can't afford to
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experience any of those kind of magical
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tours Now because my friends found they
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couldn't afford many of the cruise line
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excursions having not budgeted enough
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for the flights and hotels that wiped
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out a slug of their budget and to help
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you as well I have done two things to
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help If you're struggling with this
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issue first of all I made a video and
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created a PDF download to take on your
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trip of things to do in every port for
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free or very minimal cost Details on how
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to watch that video and download the PDF
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booklet at the end of this Secondly I
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negotiated with the independent tour
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company Shore Excursions Group to get my
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friends and also you 5% of any of their
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Alaska tours Now I like booking their
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tours because they're already cheaper
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than cruise line ones and they have
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smaller groups Now to get 5% off their
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tours use the link
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tips.com/shore excursions and use the
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code TFT5 at checkout I've also put
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those details in the notes of this but
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it's
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tips.com/shore excursions and the code
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TFT5 at checkout I also like by the way
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on their site that you simply put in the
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line the ship departure date and it will
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bring up all of those available tours by
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port I already mentioned the importance
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of booking flights and hotel as far in
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advance as you can to keep costs down
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but everything should be booked as far
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ahead as possible to ensure your trip
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goes to plan I cannot stress this enough
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My friends only planned their Alaska
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trip six months before they wanted to go
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and they found their cruise fair was
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much higher than people who'd booked a
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year or more out Also they had limited
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choice of cabins by booking late They
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didn't get the location they wanted
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because early bookers had snapped them
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up But as well as excursions being
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costly they can be in short supply and
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the best will often sell out well before
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the trip I'll give you an example where
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early booking made a huge success for me
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personally because I experienced an
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incredible adventure as a result of
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moving early on my Majestic Princess
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cruise 2 years ago We had morning scenic
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cruising to the gorgeous Hubbed Glacia
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Now I booked my cruise 18 months before
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I checked the excursions as soon as they
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opened and I saw there was an excursion
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listed on a small 120 passenger boat
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that would meet the ship near Hubbet
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Glacia and sat as close to the glacia
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itself as was allowed It wasn't
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expensive and on the day I got really
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close to the glacia to see it carving
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while there was over 2,000 guests some
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distance way back sitting on the ship
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fuming away because of course they
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hadn't gone in and locked it in early
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With all of this in mind why don't you
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join me over in this video that I
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mentioned earlier that I've made on how
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to get the most from Alaska ports for
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free or minimal cost and links there to
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download the PDF to take on your trip
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See you over there

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