As many of the lines stop in similar places I do agree with Reme in terms of picking the line as one

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I'm seeing many similar ports come up on various cruise company itineraries... how do we pick a route? pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc Can you recommend ports that you all really enjoyed, places you think we should either be sure to get to, or ones you think are miss-able? We are planning for a 7-day cruise for late August. Any advice on how to pick an itinerary would be wonderful.
Separately - advice on the best cruise lines for that region? We love good food, pretty swimming pools, nice surroundings and we definitely want help planning amazing excursions (good entertainment is a plus as well). I hear Silversea and Regent are top notch (but are they stuffy)?? And are they worth the premium price? How is Celebrity?
You will probably need to make some compromises. I would pick a cruise line and then see where they go. We took Holland America to Alaska and thought the trip was great. pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc We stopped in Kethican, Juneau, Sitka,Valdez, and Seward. pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc We then took the tour to Fairbanks. It was great and we enjoyed every bit of it. However, I would have preferred pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc to stop in Skagway and Valdez was not very interesting. From Seward we went by small boat down the Kenai peninsula and it was great.
HAL was great. The food and service were wonderful. More recently, the food on HAL trips had slipped a good bit. Two trips on Celebrity were good also. It ha sbeen a few years but the food was good. Probably you will get better pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc food and service on the more upscale lines, but it is a value judgement on your part.
There are only 6 Alaska ports on 7 day inside passage pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc trips. Each is very different from the other with excellent touring pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc opportunities. IF funds are going to limit out, doing a costly cruise- I would suggest pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc going with a cheaper cruise and include the excursions.
If a one way is a possibility, be sure to consider adding on time for mainland Alaska travel. It is hardly worth it to be all that way and not do so. There are cruisetours, be very careful and do your homework. Many people underestimate the transits and don't understand the inclusions. Also simple to go on your own.
Second consideration is the glacier sailing on a cruise. Glacier Bay is a highlight seeing at least 4 glaciers. Tracy Arm is narrow fjords sailing, with "maybe" a glacier view. I always highly recommend pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc as "necessary", to pay for the costly add on Tracy Arm ship tour. Grossly superior transit. Then there is Hubbard, one massive 6++ mile wide glacier.
pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc You will get a lot of help from most cruise lines in terms of planning excursions. As for food most lines seem to have slipped a bit in recent yrs. though if you are considering top tier lines like Regent and Silverseas you could always use a mass market line and dine in their specialy restaurants at a surcharge pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc but still save plenty over the overall pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc cost of the upper tier lines.
Celebrtiy has been considered the best of the mass market lines and I would asuggest going to www.cruisecritic.com to read their reviews as aell as any other review of the ships you narrow it down to.
Besides Regent and Silverseas also consider Seabourn and Oceania for upper tier cruising. You may want to browse their websites as they are and have been having a lot of specails like 2 for 1 fares, free air etc. though the free air has usually been for European cruises.
As many of the lines stop in similar places I do agree with Reme in terms of picking the line as one of your priorites as you state what you you expect or want from a ship. Some people prefer a ship just in terms of a means to get them to a particular place and others pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc want more. Its like a car. For me I prefer to get there but with some style. cheers, Larry
My aunt also went to Sitka, Alaska last year and she was really satisfied. She told me there was quite and calm, with awesome nature. She was so eloquently that I wanted to go there, but may be, in late summer.
I ask b/c we are now thinking Regent and SilverSeas, while quality, might be over our age range (true? not true?). We worry about excursions being geared to an older crowd and minimal younger activities on board (we could be wrong here). Seabourn and Oceana don't have options available. So wondering if maybe the next tier down - Celebrity or HAL - would be good. BUT the celebrity itinerary we were considering doesn't include either Glacier Bay OR Tracy Arm (but DOES include inside passage and Hubbard). Are we missing the boat if we don't see glacier bay or tracy?
We had hoped to combine the cruise with a Denali stay so we have to go either in or out of Seward or Anchorage (i think) and we are having a bit of trouble pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc finding those ports with these top two glacier spots...
Excursions are the best part of an Alaskan cruise so pick what you want to do the most. They can be sedate like bus tours or quite active like riding a dog sled so its really up to you. The more active the excursion the less likely it is to attract seniors I would think.
Glacier Bay is a National Park and the cruise lines have to apply (and bid) on permits to cruise inside Galcier Bay National Park. (The Park Ranger will board the ship and set up shop at the open deck during the cruise through the park.)
As far as I know, Princess and HAL holds the majority of the permits for years and continue to do so. Combined, they probably held more than 75% of the quotas. Other permit holders included Disney (and NCL?) but I don't beleive Celebrity or RCL held any permits (that's why they don't cruise Glacier Bay, and they can't). That also explain why ships that cruise through Glacier Bay is slightly more expensive, though not by very much.
Persoanlly, I would say Glacier Bay is a "must" if you have never been there. But that's me. The view is spectacular, Be forewarn that it will be cold, it will be breezy, dress warm inclduing ear muffs, gloves and heavier jackets.
As to Tracy Arm, depending on the time and weather, you have a roughly 1/3 chance of not getting there. (Some may say 50-50.) The biggest compliant we often heard about Tracy Arm is that the captain decide that it was too risky and ended up going elsewhere.
However, the size of the ships may be a conern for you. All those mass amrket ships holds well over 2000 passeneger each while the Regent and SilverSeas etc holds considerable less. Pricness used to have a small ship that cruise though Alaska pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc with only 700 passenegers. I think they don't do it any more.
One suggestion I can give you is to "search" this forum for Alaska and see what other people had asked and what the answers were through the past few years here. It is quite uncanny that everyone ask the same questions and gets almoat the same answer. Searching through the forum will let you be more specific on your questions.
Most ships have a naturlist onboard and make sure you tune in to him/her as much as you can. Attend the talks and lectures and find out what are the time the ship is sailing through where, so you can be at the right place at the right time.
I think the difference between Regent and SS is the cabin size. The standard cabin on Regent is 300 sq ft. The bathrooms are HUGE, with a glass shower and separate tub. Regent is not at all stuffy. There are no formal nights, pet friendly hotels in myrtle beach sc which you will not miss in Alaska. You will then have room for your lined raincoats! Having been on all the major cruiselines, I believe the extra bucks for Regent are well worth it.