Don't Be an ALASKAN CRUISER Who Gets These Things Wrong!

even if you've been on a cruise before an Alaskan cruise is quite different when we went on a cruise I took a bunch of notes of things that I wish I would have known before we went on our first Alaskan cruise so I could have avoided a few mistakes in this video I'm going to give you 10 tips that I learned from our cruise that I want to pass on to you so you can avoid those mistakes on your Alaskan Adventure you want to make sure you consider your itinerary carefully because not all itineraries to Alaska are equal there are two itinerary options one is a round trip that takes you out of Vancouver or Seattle the other is a oneway either going from Vancouver or Seattle up the coast to anry or Whittier or you could do a southbound flying into angri or whiter and then traveling down the coast and flying out of Vancouver or Seattle Sailing round trip is appealing to firsttime Cruisers and first time to Alaska because you're going to Seattle you're going to Vancouver you can fly in and out of the same airport the benefit of sailing out of Vancouver is that you go through the Inside passage which is protected water it's not in the open ocean like when you go out of Seattle which can make for a smoother ride if you're worried about seasickness that might be the way to go one downside of going out of Vancouver is it's infamously long and chaotic pork when you check in it took us about an hour and a half so be sure to book the earliest embarcation time you can and be sure to pack snacks which might include some cookies you might choose to do a oneway that's what we're doing this summer we did a roundtrip last year because that was our first cruise and our first cruise to Alaska so this year we're doing something different we are going to go from Vancouver and go up to Whittier then the nice part is not only do you get to see this additional part of Alaska but you also have the opportunity to do what they call a cruise tour which means adding a land portion to your cruise so we went through Princess Cruise Line and we're doing a three-day Edition where they take care of all your lodging and your transportation one thing to know is that it is really expensive that land portion so just those 3 days for the transportation and lodging cost as much or almost as much as the cruise itself and it doesn't include food and it doesn't include entertainment common state of void is not paying attention to how long your cruise ship is in your ports Alaska is all about excursions and if you are only in Port for a couple hours that will make booking your excursions tough so make sure that whether you book a roundtrip or one way the your Port stops are long enough to do the excursions that you want to do and be sure to leave enough time to do some extra exploring on your own another common mistake is not considering what Glacier you're going to so there's different glaciers there's hubber Glacier there's dos Glacier and there is Glacier Bay National Park when you're choosing which Cruise Line to go with I think it's best to go with a cruise line that goes to Glacier Bay National Park only a few cruise lines like holl in America princess and Norwegian Cruise Lines go to Glacier Bay National Park this was an amazing experience with Park Rangers coming aboard and sharing information about the glaciers and Wildlife whether you choose to do oneway or round trip there are three main ports that your cruise ship is going to stop at that is Juno which is the capital of Alaska Skagway and keten let's say you've considered your options and you've decided on a round trip out of Vancouver that sails through the Inside passage and it goes to Glacier Bay National Park great now you've decided on a round trip if you can afford it book balcony you'll be able to have your own private viewing of the glacier on glacier days and every day in Alaska there's something to see you'll never regret getting a balcony cabin if you're not quite able to afford a balcony cabin and ocean view is nice too you're closer to the water so you'll be able to see if there's any Wildlife like otters they like to hang out by the ships or even a will might come by you'll be able to see them out your window the least expensive option is an interior cabin that's what we went on and you know it was fine it was great you're in Alaska we just get up and go out on the ship earlier in the day and we didn't spend a lot of time in our cabin and you know I don't know if I would anyway the other part of it that's nice is that since it is more budget friendly you have more money in your pocket for Excursion Alaska's cruising season is short cuz it's cold there in the winter and it's dark there in the winter the season goes from May to the end of September and some Cruise Lines do even do the beginning of October the shoulder season for Alaska is May September and if they're still sailing the beginning of October that means the ships are less crowded you're going to spend less money however it will be colder during those months depending upon which month you choose to go the scenery will be different so think about it if you go in May there's going to be a lot more snow up on the mountains because it just hasn't started to melt yet Additionally you may see different animal different Wildlife orcas are earlier in the season back whales are later in the season salmon runs are in July who comes to eat the salmon the Bears that's July so that's something else to consider when you're making your choices of what month to sale the next mistake is not considering the excursions that you're going to go on in Alaska one thing to know is the excursions in Alaska are expensive they're not like your $40 bus ride if you're in the Caribbean no these EX excursions are expensive so you want to make sure you budget for your excursions and you also want to book your excursions early because those once in a lifetime bucket list items you don't want them to sell out before you get your seat plan on spending more than $500 per person on the different excusions in the different ports wh watching in Juno is very popular be sure to budget at least $200 us per person for your Juno whale watching other Juno excursions include the menen hall Glacier Glacier dog sledding and helicopter tours kaying and Juno's gold belt tram the White Pass Summit Railway and Skagway is going to run you about $150 US per person this is about the same price whether you book direct or through the cruise line or a thirdparty vendor check your cruise line and if it's comparable I would just buy it through the cruise line other things to do in Skagway include a glacier helicopter tour Yukon suspension Bridge mushers Camp zip lining and gold panning the Great American Lumberjack Show in ketchy Ken is going to run you $43 us per person you can buy online ahead of time direct or you can just buy when you get there other things to do in keten include flightseeing the bearing sea crab fisherman tour keten Saxman totem Park and exploring this quaint town on your own booking through the cruise line is the most convenient way to go especially if you're going on longer more elaborate excursions you probably want to book through the cruise line because they're going to make sure that you get back to the cruise on time and the cruise ship will even wait for you if you're on one of their excursions however it's not always the best way to go you want to explore other options third-party options and I really looked into that when we're booking our excursions for this upcoming Cruise companies like shore excursions group.com and vator are also very reputable an example of one of the third party tours that we book is in Kian so in kien we're going to go on the Bearing Sea fisherman tour sounds like it's an awesome tour now here's something else you can do when you go into the towns kaken is a small town that is one that you might just choose to DIY it so maybe you're like you know what I spent the wad when I went to Juno or Skagway or both maybe in cetch you can you want to go a little bit less expensive just kind of figure it out on your own if you're interested in me doing a video on how you can do these different ports on the cheap leave a comment below it is a mistake not to consider your glacer viewing day and Excursion day it's one of the reasons why you're going on an Alaskan cruise so you got to be ready you want to have a pair binoculars not like these these are nocular meaning they did not work very well I would get the best version of binoculars you can afford or you can even rent them so binoculars the next thing it could be rainy it could be cold so you want want to have a hat to keep you warm you want to put on some gloves if it is raining on your Glacier viewing day you might want to put your phone in a waterproof case and if it is raining maybe you don't want this hat maybe instead you want a visor look at how what a great idea this is I got this from Cruz TV you put on your hat with a visor then you put on your rain jacket and then you put your hood over and then that way the rain doesn't drip on your face isn't that a great idea Glacier viewing day is the day you're getting your money's worth out of that balcony cabin cuz now you have your private area to view the glaciers don't stay in your cabin all day no matter which cabin you're in get up on board go out on the decks and see it from the outside also you'll want to make sure that you participate in the Rangers talks on the ship that we went on they were in the area where the Production shows are and they gave a talk about the glaciers and the wildlife in the area which was super interesting so you don't want to miss out on that now if you don't have a balcony you want to get up early and scout out your spot so you just like you do in the Caribbean where you want your spot on the pool deck you want to have your spot for viewing the glaciers as well it is a mistake not to think about the fact that Alaska's cruising they're long days you get up early you might get up early have breakfast in the buff or even in the main dining room then you're going to get off the ship you're going to go on your Excursion and then you're in town you're going to want to walk around check it out come back on the ship and then it's time for dinner your production show your game shows so they're really jam-packed long days here's a little tip when you go out let's just say you have a morning Excursion so you're going to go on your morning Excursion and then you still have if you've chosen the right Cruise you still have a long time before the cruise ship sales for the day this is my idea you go on your Excursion go back on the cruise ship have lunch maybe even get a [Laughter] cookie and then rest for a bit and then go back out and explore the town on your own anytime you Cruise it's a mistake to fly in the day of the cruise because especially if you're flying and you have to do you're not a Non-Stop let's just say you're flying in from New York or Europe and you're having these stops along the way you really can't predict the airlin so you want to make sure that you fly in a day early so that you don't miss your ship before we talk about what to pack be sure to like And subscribe if you have not done so already when packing you want to have layers you need a base layer it's very important to have kind of a lightweight Bas layer last year in ketchy can it was hot the people that were locals were wearing shorts then you want your first layer of warmth that's a like a fleece then you want your real warmth so like a puffer jacket something that'll keep you warmer and then on top of all that you need a rain layer cuz it will rain in Alaska now on the bottom if you're a woman you might want to P wear a pair of leggings or if you're a man some long underwear underneath your jeans or your pants for the day day we talked about wear layers especially in the day now at night you're on the ship so it's more you know climate controlled but you might think what do I wear like at night it is definitely more casual on an Alaskan cruise but you might want to bring something to dress up for those fancy nights they still have fancy nights on Alaskan cruises you don't have to get too fancy especially if you're man just wear like a collared shirt and a nice pair of pants simple just wear that something else to think about is you know you're in Alaska it's not hot so you your clothes aren't going to get that dirty so you really don't have to bring like a different pair of pants for every single day different tops for every single day you can kind of rewear that'll take up less room in your luggage don't think about packing something for every moment of every day you can rewear again and again in addition to clothing you're going to want a warm cap I think it's also a good idea to to bring a cap with a visor this one's cool cuz it like holds up small and that way if you do use the rain raincoat trick that'll work great you want a pair of gloves keep your hands warm you'll want a pair of either waterproof shoes or just leather shoes I just brought these and they worked fine it was not a problem you also will want to bring a good pair of binoculars you want to bring a waterproof backpack this one I'll link all these things in the Des description below this one's nice it comes in a bunch of different colors and it's waterproof I love that color you want to bring noticing a theme so you don't think about these on an Alaskan cruise to put your phone in a waterproof case to put your phone in but if it's a really rainy day catchy can rains 216% more than the national average for rain so it rains so you want to be prepared because you're going to have a lot more fun if you're ready for it you want to have sunscreen cuz especially if you're out on the glacier with the white reflecting you don't want to get a sunburn from the snow that'd be crazy bug spray they have really big bugs in Alaska you'll also want to bring some baggies which this is a great one if you want to get some cookies and you want to bring some big Ziploc bags these are good if you have anything like when you're going on your short excursions you want to keep dry put it in a ziplock baggie finally something else you might want to bring is you want to bring some cash so you're going to be going on excursions with your guides and it's always a good idea to tip them a little bit so you want to have a little bit of cash for them in addition to I like to tip my stateroom attendant and our waiter especially if they do a super nice job it is a mistake not to take advantage of the enrichment programs that your ship offers so they may have an addition to if you're going to Glacier Bay the national park rangers coming on board ship they might have other talks about the wildlife in the area the glaciers the indigenous people so you don't want to miss out on those opportunities to learn really about what Alaska has to offer if you're considering a cruise to Alaska which I'm guessing you are since you watch this video you might want to watch this video next where I talk about the all the cruise lines and their itineraries of ships sailing in Alaska happy sailing

Channel: Cruising with Kristie

Views: 107,313

Keywords: alaska cruise, alaska cruise tips, cruise tips, alaska cruise excursions, life well cruised, cruise to alaska, holland america cruise line, princess cruise line, norwegian cruise line, best alaskan cruise, what i wish i knew before my alaska cruise, alaska mistakes to avoid, alaska cruise 2024, alaska cruise tips for travellers, first time alaska cruise tips, first alaska cruise, cruise tips and tricks

Id: XpqyA7mMiyI

Length: 16min 2sec (962 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 20 2024