Voice of Travel

This is similar to the itinerary of the 7 Night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise I went on last year

In early June of last year, I went on a 7 day “Voyage of the Glaciers” cruise that went northbound, starting in Vancouver and ending in Anchorage. I went on the Coral Princess, which I’ll review separately in another post.

I know there are a few different itineraries that go to Alaska, and later in the post I’ll explain why I chose the northbound Alaska cruise. I chose Princess because they are known to be the best in Alaska. Everything I had read said that they have been doing Alaskan cruises for the longest amount of time, and they knew what they were doing…and after going on the cruise (and cruise tour) with them, I completely believe it!

Cruise Itinerary:

Day 1: Vancouver, Canada
Day 2: At Sea
Day 3: Ketchikan, Alaska
Day 4: Juneau, Alaska
Day 5: Skagway, Alaska
Day 6: Cruising Glacier Bay National Park (Full Day Scenic Cruising)
Day 7: Cruising College Fjord (Afternoon Scenic Cruising)
Day 8: Anchorage (Whittier)

This was my 5th cruise, all out of different ports. I’ve left out of Miami, Rome, New York City, Brooklyn, and now Vancouver. This was definitely the nicest one as far as the view leaving the port. Don’t get me wrong, leaving NYC was pretty cool too, but leaving Vancouver was absolutely beautiful. It was the only port where I stayed outside for over an hour to watch the shoreline.

This was one of the nice views while leaving Vancouver

While most cruises I’ve been on have a short time where there is a little something to see, they soon get to open water, and there is nothing to see, sometimes for days. This is not the case with the Alaskan cruise. The whole night, and most of the trip actually, every time you would look outside, you’d see land. It was really beautiful.

I really liked the itinerary for this cruise. I know that a lot of people prefer to do a southbound cruise of Alaska, that way they can do all of their running around in Alaska first, and then “relax” on the cruise, but I preferred to start with the cruise and slowly build up to the more beautiful sights. First were the days in port, then the more beautiful glaciers, and then the interior of Alaska after the cruise was over. It was a great way to cruise. If I were going to do another cruise, I would do another northbound. Having the day at sea first was a nice way to start the cruise off relaxed.

Again, since we were by land most of the time (on at least one side of the ship if not both), there was always something to look at…so there were always beautiful views. I’m also glad we got to have the 3 ports before the 2 days of scenic cruising, as I think I would have been bored spending so many days on the ship first, even though the day we were cruising Glacier Bay National Park was a full day of sightseeing. But the way it worked out, I was happy spending the entire day outside looking at all of the glaciers later in the trip.

This is another view we had as we left Vancouver

I would recommend an Alaskan cruise to anyone that loves nature. I know that it’s considered an expensive cruise, but I think that has a lot more to do with airfare than the cruise itself, especially if you’re coming from the east coast.

Another big concern many people have about a cruise to Alaska is the weather. I will admit, it was cold, but only the days we were at sea cruising the glaciers. On those days, when I was outside I had on a long sleeve shirt, a sweat shirt, and then a spring jacket with fleece lining. It was so worth it though! The days we were in port, it wasn’t bad and a light jacket was more than enough.

What was also really cool about the Alaskan cruise was that most cruises seem the same, no matter where you are cruising. But with Alaska, at least on our Princess cruise, they had many touches based on our destination. For example, there were Alaska themed lectures, and an Alaskan buffet one night. Some of the foods offered were from Alaska as well, such as the Reindeer Chili and Alaskan beers that were offered.

Like I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed this cruise, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Enjoy,

P.S. If you’re ready to book your cruise to Alaska (or anywhere else for that matter), I strongly suggest using Cruise Compete. You’ll be sure to get the best price as different agencies will give you their best quote, and you can choose the lowest price!
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