Alaskan Cruise options

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Tell me about inside passage?

Best to start from Seattle or Vancouver?

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Most cruises stop in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, and either do Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm Fjord.

Some, do places like Haines, Sitka and Icy Strait Point, which is in the native village of Hoonah.

Not sure there's a benefit to starting in Vancouver or Seattle. Seems to me that Seattle would be better logistically.

Weather is better (usually) in May - Mid July. Usually the precipitation picks up after that. Bears are more active Mid July - October. Whales, anytime. Northern Lights, September.

I have been twice and both times we started from Vancouver. Vancouver is a great place to spend a few days before the cruise as is Victoria which is a short ferry ride away. I like to go from south to north because the scenery gets more and more spectacular the further north you go.

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There's a quirk regarding the crew when originating from a US port and continuing to other US ports. Then the boat has to have a US crew. For that reason, most of the cruises leave from Canada and they are typically cheaper because of the foreign crew.

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Left out of Seattle Sept 2. on Emerald Princess, Captain, first Officer, chief medical officer, were all British, rest of the crew were nationalities other than American. All wait staff and stewards were Asian, Serbian, Croatian, etc.

I’m curious too: not generally a fan of cruises, but the Alaskan inside passage route holds appeal due to the scenery.

Would like to hear more from past cruisers....

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There's a quirk regarding the crew when originating from a US port and continuing to other US ports. Then the boat has to have a US crew. For that reason, most of the cruises leave from Canada and they are typically cheaper because of the foreign crew.

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I think what you’re referring to is why all the Alaskan cruises will stop for a few hours somewhere in Canada (Victoria or Vancouver). I think it has to do with labor laws or something, and it’s favorable for the cruise line to hit one international port.

I believe it's part of the Jones Act.

I would go from Vancouver, but then again I wouldn't do another Alaskan cruise. To me, the stops are too short.

—better to leave from Seattle or from Vancouver? I looked at the Seattle routes, and it looks like a day at sea offshore (not as scenic as being inside)
—which ports of call are more interesting?

RogerTheShrubber has posted about options to travel around Alaska that would definitely not be in the mass market cruise category. You might search and find that; it was posted within the past year.

We did a 10 day land and sea cruise last year. It was our first cruise and first time in Alaska.
We were on Princess which I guess would be considered a mass market cruise but not sure about low end.

I posted a report about it and was going to link to it but could not find it on the board.

We left Whittier and ended in Vancouver. We spent 3 extra days in Vancouver cause I like it. You can go the other way; Vancouver to Whittier.

We had a great time but as someone else said the time in the 3 ports is too short. We stopped in Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. We also went into Glacier Bay which was much more than I expected. The first 3 days or so were ocean cruising but we did go into Yukatat Bay to see glaciers. And we had a great naturalist on board that explained a lot.

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Glacier calving.

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Inside passage, just south of Ketchikan.

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—which ports of call are more interesting

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Juneau and Skagway. Sitka is pretty cool if your ship goes there, but I think only HAL goes there