One-Way Alaska Cruises

jimmymc

Professional Adventurer!
Joined
Nov 26, 2016
I'm thinking about going to Denali and a few other locations in Alaska before taking a one way cruise southbound to Vancouver or Seattle. Does anyone have experience with sailing one way? How would you compare it to a round trip from the Seattle area? This would actually be my first cruise ever, so if anyone has tips compared to that I would appreciate it too. I've seen most of the podcasts on cruises but more info couldn't hurt.

Has anyone else done pre or post nights in Alaska with one of these cruises? I have a few ideas of places to visit but would love recommendations. I would book them separately, not through the cruise company.
 
I haven't done a one way.

If you don't get many replies here, I would go to cruisecritic's message boards. Especially the Ports of Call section for Alaska.
 
We sailed the Radiance Southbound from Seward to Vancouver in August of 2015. Was there anything specific you'd like to know about the cruise itself? We flew into Anchorage the day-of, so I'm sorry I can't help with any pre-cruise tour information. :wave2:
 
We sailed the Radiance Southbound from Seward to Vancouver in August of 2015. Was there anything specific you'd like to know about the cruise itself? We flew into Anchorage the day-of, so I'm sorry I can't help with any pre-cruise tour information. :wave2:

I'm curious how you enjoyed the ports you stopped at and how the entertainment on board was, especially at night. I'm definitely going to Alaska for 2 weeks in July 2019, and many of the towns cruises stop at are recommended to visit, so I think it could be a good value to get the most out of my trip. But I've also never been on a cruise, and one of my friends went to Alaska on a Princess round trip cruise from Vancouver and didn't enjoy the parts of her trip she spent on the ship. I guess what I'm ultimately trying to figure out is if I should do the southbound cruise or spend an extra week visiting other towns.
 


I'm curious how you enjoyed the ports you stopped at and how the entertainment on board was, especially at night. I'm definitely going to Alaska for 2 weeks in July 2019, and many of the towns cruises stop at are recommended to visit, so I think it could be a good value to get the most out of my trip. But I've also never been on a cruise, and one of my friends went to Alaska on a Princess round trip cruise from Vancouver and didn't enjoy the parts of her trip she spent on the ship. I guess what I'm ultimately trying to figure out is if I should do the southbound cruise or spend an extra week visiting other towns.
Well, we took this particular cruise for the cruise only - we'd not had any great desire to visit Alaska. So the fact that we enjoyed the ports as much as we did took us a little by surprise. Our itinerary took us to Juneau, Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Skagway, Ketchikan and a day cruising the Hubbard Glacier. We really liked all the ports except maybe Skagway, but since it's the gateway to the world-famous White Pass Railroad, it's certainly worthwhile for most. Our choice of activities in each port really made a difference but of course we're talking touristy excursions, not in-depth exploration of an area like you might prefer.

As for the ship, the Radiance-class were purpose built for scenic cruising and have many places to enjoy the views in cooler climates. There's a lovely indoor solarium and pool and the thermal spa has glass walls looking out on the sea. We used them quite a bit as well as the Colony Club, which is a clubby-bar venue with billiards tables, darts and chess. There was a headline show in the theater every night and while the Vegas-type production wasn't that great, the guest artists were really fantastic on our sailing. There were two or three other lounges with live music too, and there's also a actual movie theater on-board, or at least there was. And for the sporty-types there's always the rock climbing wall and sports court for basketball, volleyball and some pickle-ball type of tennis.

The food situation was a little disappointing in the MDR because we were assigned Anytime Dining and found it to be very poorly handled. I'd advise anyone to stick with a Traditional seating time and expect they'd do better. It's one of the few RCCL ships to offer Brazillian BBQ as a specialty venue and we found it to be very high quality. There's also a nice cafe type place in the Solarium that made a good alternative to the Windjammer buffet, which gets worse by the minute on all ships, IMO.

Besides that, it was a pretty normal cruise experience - enjoyable to us in most ways. The beds were uncomfortable and I didn't love the service from our cabin attendant, but that happens sometimes. One thing that was quite remarkable was how UNCROWDED everything was and how young the average age of the passengers were. We were expecting "senior city" and a mob scene everywhere but it was totally not that. We saw probably 3 scooters the entire cruise and I don't remember even waiting for a elevator 1 time.

Anything else I could add?
 
Well, we took this particular cruise for the cruise only - we'd not had any great desire to visit Alaska. So the fact that we enjoyed the ports as much as we did took us a little by surprise. Our itinerary took us to Juneau, Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Skagway, Ketchikan and a day cruising the Hubbard Glacier. We really liked all the ports except maybe Skagway, but since it's the gateway to the world-famous White Pass Railroad, it's certainly worthwhile for most. Our choice of activities in each port really made a difference but of course we're talking touristy excursions, not in-depth exploration of an area like you might prefer.

As for the ship, the Radiance-class were purpose built for scenic cruising and have many places to enjoy the views in cooler climates. There's a lovely indoor solarium and pool and the thermal spa has glass walls looking out on the sea. We used them quite a bit as well as the Colony Club, which is a clubby-bar venue with billiards tables, darts and chess. There was a headline show in the theater every night and while the Vegas-type production wasn't that great, the guest artists were really fantastic on our sailing. There were two or three other lounges with live music too, and there's also a actual movie theater on-board, or at least there was. And for the sporty-types there's always the rock climbing wall and sports court for basketball, volleyball and some pickle-ball type of tennis.

The food situation was a little disappointing in the MDR because we were assigned Anytime Dining and found it to be very poorly handled. I'd advise anyone to stick with a Traditional seating time and expect they'd do better. It's one of the few RCCL ships to offer Brazillian BBQ as a specialty venue and we found it to be very high quality. There's also a nice cafe type place in the Solarium that made a good alternative to the Windjammer buffet, which gets worse by the minute on all ships, IMO.

Besides that, it was a pretty normal cruise experience - enjoyable to us in most ways. The beds were uncomfortable and I didn't love the service from our cabin attendant, but that happens sometimes. One thing that was quite remarkable was how UNCROWDED everything was and how young the average age of the passengers were. We were expecting "senior city" and a mob scene everywhere but it was totally not that. We saw probably 3 scooters the entire cruise and I don't remember even waiting for a elevator 1 time.

Anything else I could add?


It sounds like the ship was a great experience, which I'm happy to hear. Little disappointed to hear the buffet is going downhill, but the Bazillion steakhouse and live music sounds amazing. If the timing works out right I'll definitely see what's available.

After a week of hiking I could probably use some laid back excursions, any recommendations?
 
It sounds like the ship was a great experience, which I'm happy to hear. Little disappointed to hear the buffet is going downhill, but the Bazillion steakhouse and live music sounds amazing. If the timing works out right I'll definitely see what's available.

After a week of hiking I could probably use some laid back excursions, any recommendations?
Sure, but as I mentioned upthread, our tastes run toward "tacky-tourist" rather than intrepid explorer :rotfl2:.

In Juneau we had plans to meet friends that lived there so we didn't take an excursion. We went up to the Mendenhall Glacier on our own and hiked around. Then we toured the city a little (saw the Govenor's Mansion) and spent some really fascinating time at the fish hatchery and salmon ladders. Note that Juneau is also renowned for whale watching - there are many tours of this kind available and if you're very interested, heli-tours up on top of Mendenhall are also popular.

In Icy Strait Point (which is a cruise port basically "invented" by the Hoonah Indians on the island) we went whale watching, spent time down on the docks where the vibe was absolutely ethereal - we were mezmerized. We also had some of the best halibut and crab legs ever, but they were spendy. We actually LOVED that port and everybody we met there. I really admire that they've developed such a going-concern and how involved and proud all the locals are. :thumbsup2

Skagway wasn't a favourite; it's a really, really small town. But, like most visitors there, we bought tickets for a tour up the White Pass into the Yukon. We actually took a bus instead of the train - the ride was death-defying in some parts and the fog was so thick at the summit we couldn't see our hand in front of our face, let alone the scenery. Once back in town the excursion included a guided walking tour of the Skagway Gold Rush Cemetery with some interesting commentary on the founders of the area. Note if you're interested in this, tickets for the train or the bus tours cost exactly the same whether or not they're purchased on-board or on shore.

Ketchikan was really fun for us although we didn't do the most popular activity - float plane tours for bear watching. (Truth be told - we live in a place very geographically similar to the Alaskan coast - much of what fascinates other visitors is pretty routine for us.) We persisted in our quest for more halibut and crab - again delish. We purchased a bus tour to a near-by Indian settlement and watched the totem artists carving, rented a golf-cart type thing and drove around the town and then attended an extremely entertaining lumberjack show.

Also worth noting is the day the ship spent drifting around the bay in front of the Hubbard Glacier. I couldn't say how it compares to Glacier Bay, but it was rather spectacular in it's own right and we had beautiful weather.
 



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