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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Doing an Alaskan Cruise
It will be my first cruise, DH's second one. We are doing Alaska out of Seattle. Anyone ever been? Any advice for a first timer?
Re: Doing an Alaskan Cruise
I went about 5 years ago, it was beautiful! When are you going? We took the last cruise of the season, mid-September, and it was dirt cheap because it was so freakin' cold and wet! LOL
It rained the entire trip, but we dealt with it and had a lot of fun. We didn't get to do a lot of excursions because of the weather, so we mostly explored the little towns and shopped. I loved the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau, it was a lot of fun! The most fun we had was on the ship-- we sat in the hot tub, in the 40 degree rain, and watched whales swimming by, it was amazing!
Click Me
we just returned from the mexican rivera cruie. Cruises are amazing!!! while on the ship i mentioned that i want to do the alaskan cruise. we went as a family vacation. so theer were 6 of us.
indeed we'll want a full report
Click Me
We did one last summer (except we started in Anchorage and worked our way down to Seattle), right before we tried to get me pregnant.
It was AMAZING. I think you are making the right call by starting in Seattle. Working your way up, the views will just get better and better.
First recommendation, and honestly, I have to INSIST you do this: Get a room with a balcony!!! Seriously, SO worth it!!! On a Carribbean cruise, I could say to skip it. But not on an Alaskan cruise. The views and scenery are so spectacular, you will be SOOOO glad you did! This is what everyone told us, and I had to seriously talk Ray into it (he's a major penny saver), but now he tells everyone to get the balcony. lol Our first morning, we woke up in College Fjord at 6 am. We were able to bundle up in sweats and go out on the balcony to see the most incredibly beautiful sights that I have ever seen in my life. Without a balcony, I probably would have slept through it, honestly. And it was the best part of the whole trip.
Second, if you have time before your cruise, go over to Victoria from Seattle (Vancouver Island - it's a ferry ride away) for a few days before you go on your cruise. We did it the opposite way, went to Victoria after our cruise, and it was so much fun. Victoria is beautiful and romantic and so much fun!
I second the whole bringing lots of layers of clothes. There were days where I was wearing sweaters and jackets and scarves and gloves (Phoenix girl over here - hehe), and days where I was wearing short sleeves and jeans. Plus, don't forget some nice outfits for the fancy dinners on the cruise. And be sure to go to those - IMO, best food on the ship (besides the super fancy restaurant that you pay to eat at - which we did one night, and it was amazing! Super romantic!), even though the timed dinners was kind of a pain (if you're going on a cruise that does that - we did Carnival).
Book excursions in advance. If you book them on the ship, they are more expensive. You can also wait and get off the ship and book them on land, which is cheaper, but I think the ship will wait for most excursions if you book them through them, which is nice to know.
If you can afford it, please do the excursion where you take a helicoptor up to the top of a glacier and ride around in a sled with sled dogs. And take lots of pictures so that I can live vicariously through you. hehe I SO wanted to do that one, and we couldn't. Instead we did an excursion at a sled dog summer camp, where you got to meet sled dogs and their puppies, and go for a ride in a big cart. Not as cool as on top of the glacier, I'm sure, but still a lot of fun.
One of the cheap excursions that we really liked was the tour of the Alaskan Brewery and the Gardens (can't remember what they were called). It was a lot of fun, and really pretty, and on the more inexpensive side.
We also did a 4x4 Jeep excursion where we took a big canoe across a lake for food and a nature hike. That one was pretty fun too, and not as expensive as others.
Oh, and bring a few card games (like Uno or Skipbo or something). We played cards on the cruise and drank a lot. lol We also did a lot of the trivia game things which were a lot of fun!
Take lots of pictures, and have SO much fun!!!! It was amazing! Definitely the best trip I have ever taken. No question. I can't wait to go again!!