Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

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cognovimus
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Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by cognovimus »

I'd appreciate any advice from those who have travel on Viking Ocean, specifically to Alaska. What year did you travel? What kind of cabin? Pros and cons? Ports of embarkation and debarkation? Favorite and least favorite excursions? Anything else you'd care to add on the ship and the Alaskan itinerary (seems longer than most)?
adamthesmythe
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by adamthesmythe »

I have recently returned from an Alaska cruise on a similar-or-maybe-a-bit-better line.

As far as I know the only Viking route is Seward-Vancouver or vice versa. Several other lines run roughly the same route, although Viking is a bit longer (most of the others are 7 days). I think your main cabin choice with Viking is window vs. veranda. (Unless you plan to spring for the really pricey large cabins).

I enjoyed most the excursions with nature walks/ hikes in the rainforest. If you have a choice find out which excursions involve long bus trips and avoid them.

I looked at Viking earlier this year but they were all booked up. Seems to me they try very very hard to have cruises fully booked far in advance. Expect to pay up far in advance also.
wallygator
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by wallygator »

adamthesmythe wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:01 pm I have recently returned from an Alaska cruise on a similar-or-maybe-a-bit-better line.
Is it a big secret?

"I went on the most amazing cruise. You should try it if you can find out who it was with" LOL
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by jello_nailer »

cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:44 am I'd appreciate any advice from those who have travel on Viking Ocean, specifically to Alaska. What year did you travel? What kind of cabin? Pros and cons? Ports of embarkation and debarkation? Favorite and least favorite excursions? Anything else you'd care to add on the ship and the Alaskan itinerary (seems longer than most)?
I've been on 8 Alaska cruises, we try to go every year but have not been this year. This is MY OPINION, your mileage may vary:

I Love small high end like Seabourn and Sea dream, Viking Ocean, RSSC, etc, Viking is mid sized.
We don't do that to Alaska because:
1) We find Alaska cruises are very casual compare to any other destinations. Maybe its the excursions and the weather or the vibe of Alaska. Therefore we don't feel we get nearly the benefit of the high end cruises value - the classy elegance should I say on an Alaska cruise. The Mediterranean or small island Caribbean, yes, it's worth is for the "bling" so go big. So we save our money and go high end middle cruise and upgrade to a suite.
2) You have to make a run from Vancouver island, probably Victoria, to Ketch or Juneau but a ton of it is across unprotected water. Nearest land is Hawaii or Japan. That can be a rough 24+ hours, even in a 2750 passenger Celebrity Millenium class. It has been 3 times for us. A ship 1/2 that size will be a bit tougher.

So in the end, for us we prefer the larger ship on that cruise, North-South, South-North, or out and back, we've done them all, and we prefer the medium "elegance" of the mid market ships and save the high end Seadream for St Barts or Barcelona to Nice.

We obviously love that trip and highly recommend it, hopefully we can still go this year. And I am NOT saying Viking 900 passenger ship would be bad, just giving you our view. Hope you decide and have a great time.
jello//
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cognovimus
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by cognovimus »

Thanks for the comments on your experiences.

I would still appreciate hearing from someone who has been on a Viking Ocean cruise to Alaska. I've read a few reviews on Cruise Critic/watched a couple of videos on YouTube, trying to discount the ones that are basically advertising. I'd like a Vancouver to Seward (or vice versa) itinerary because it appears to have less open ocean time than the Seattle cruises. We're not seasoned cruisers and don't need formal nights, casinos, which is one reason we are interesting in Viking. The Viking cruises are a little long (11 days vs 7 days) and I don't believe go through Glacier Bay, though they do include "Inside Passage" cruising. They have a deal right now which only requires a $25 deposit on 2023 cruises. (We won't cruise if COVID is still raging next year. I'm also hesitant about any international travel due to the hassle of extra forms, random testing, etc). As these are our early retirement years, we'd like to plan some trips that are extraordinary for the next few years, but I keep running into roadblocks due to COVID, logistics, etc.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by whodidntante »

I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by cognovimus »

whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What was your itinerary then, if you visited Juneau but did not cruise? Did you rent a car for the inland portion? Did you get to see Southeastern Alaska some other way? I know there is a ferry that stops at some of the ports.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by jello_nailer »

wallygator wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 2:47 pm
cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:44 am I

So in the end, for us we prefer the larger ship on that cruise
jello//
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What line???????????????Jeesh most people on here are helpful this is a waste of time
Millenium class. Basically something over 2700 passengers up to... We don't do low end lice Carnival. The line seems less important for Alaska than other destinations. That's our opinion .
We choose Celebrity cruises, upgrade cabin to suite, for Alaska. I can not knock Viking, I was just commenting on the Viking ship size, It's a first class top rate experience on their line.
Last edited by jello_nailer on Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by jello_nailer »

whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
Agreed, I did 4 days there with my daughter, cold and raining too so it was tough. We like the stop in Juneau because we fly fish and whale watch. Some years humpys running so especially fun. Agree, it's a hard fly in visit but we don't think miserable,but we enjoy the stop, for our interests.
Last edited by jello_nailer on Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by jello_nailer »

cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:19 pm
whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What was your itinerary then, if you visited Juneau but did not cruise? Did you rent a car for the inland portion? Did you get to see Southeastern Alaska some other way? I know there is a ferry that stops at some of the ports.
One reason you cruise Alaska is to go to Victoria, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Homer, Hoonah (sp) or wherever and see the inside passage and some of those like Icy Straits point, Hubbard Glacier etc. Nothing in Whittier but it is Anchorage.
That itinerary is really had to do because most of them are not connected and you have to fly. Unpack once, the ship takes you there plus you do the glacier trips from your balcony, not after a 3 hour boat ride both ways from somewhere. And you get the evenings for fun and games.

Everything is far there and hard - its a vacation so we take the path of least resistance to cover a wide area and our interests.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by ResearchMed »

We sailed Vancouver to Seward about 5+ years ago.

The highlight by far was Hubbard Glacier.
I have no idea if it is usually as active as it was when we were there. Our cruise started at the very end of May, into the first week of June. We selected that so there would still be a good chance to see snow on the mountains.

I hope that you see that.
Although Glacier Bay was "nice", most of it was relatively distant. Beautiful yes, but distant.
Hubbard Glacier... we were truly "up close and personal". Amazing,
Lots of calving.
The Captain stayed there for quite a long time, first facing it, and then he very slowly had the ship spin in place a few times.

We had upgraded to have a forward facing suite with a huge/wide balcony, and if ever there was a time/itinerary for that, it was this one.

As for Juneau, we had a private excursion that used two very small hovercraft to go over mudflats to reach a glacier base. There wasn't anyone else around, except a bear sleeping on a nearby shore.
Just the hovercraft was fun enough!
Last time I checked, it wasn't offered after Covid began.

But if you are interested in that keep a look out in case they offer it again; they only accepted 8 pax, 4 per craft plus pilot/driver.

It was a beautiful cruise.
We stayed in Seward two extra days, and ate lots of FRESH halibut. (My, those fish are... big!)
And then we took the train to Anchorage, getting the observation car. The food there was bleh. The view... Wonderful!
Our only wish was that it would have been a longer cruise, so it's great you've go a longer one. :happy

ENJOY!!

RM
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by lvswts »

cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:44 am I'd appreciate any advice from those who have travel on Viking Ocean, specifically to Alaska. What year did you travel? What kind of cabin? Pros and cons? Ports of embarkation and debarkation? Favorite and least favorite excursions? Anything else you'd care to add on the ship and the Alaskan itinerary (seems longer than most)?
I can't say anything about the Alaska itinerary, but I think all the Viking Ocean ships are the same. Since you also asked about the ship, here is some info that might be useful. We just got back from a Greek cruise on the Viking Sky. We had a Penthouse Veranda room. We loved it. Quite large compared to in the past we had an Aqua class room on Celebrity. The room was certainly large enough for the two of us and the bathroom was spacious. The heated floor in the bathroom was a nice touch. I think all the rooms on a
Viking Ocean ship have balconies. We were a bit disappointed with our inability to get the refrigerator in the room to our liking but that was probably a room specific issue.

All the restaurants were very good. Manfredi's and the Chef's table require reservations and depending on the room class that you get, you are prioritized for reservations before the ship sails. The Chef's table changes menu's at around a 3 day interval so you can go a couple times and get different meals. We got some excellent meals at the pool bar and if we had known how good that was we probably would have used that even more.

The ship had several places to go and relax. You can use the steam room and snow grotto which are a fun experience.

Drinks are complementary during lunch and dinner and we found that to be sufficient for what we needed.

They didn't have much for entertainment shows like Celebrity or others would have but it seemed like just about every night they had a talk with the onboard historian who for us discussed history related to our destinations. We enjoyed the musicians in the atrium just about every night.

We also liked the size of the ship. We have done Celebrity in the past and the Viking was about 1/2 the number of people. We preferred the moderate sized ship that Viking provided.

As far as getting to the ship from the airport that was all provided by Viking so less stress for us. I presume the Alaska itinerary would be the same.

As far as itineraries Viking provides an excursion at each destination included in the base cost. Even for the Greek one we used the included one only about 1/2 the destinations. Perhaps others can talk about excursions that are worth the Alaskan experience. I can't speak to that.

Edit: I feel compelled to mention. We LOVED Celebrity Cruises and I have no issues with them at all. Given where we are in our lives and what we were looking for at this time the Viking cruise package fit the bill just a bit better for us.
Last edited by lvswts on Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by adamthesmythe »

cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:09 pm I would still appreciate hearing from someone who has been on a Viking Ocean cruise to Alaska. I've read a few reviews on Cruise Critic/watched a couple of videos on YouTube, trying to discount the ones that are basically advertising. I'd like a Vancouver to Seward (or vice versa) itinerary because it appears to have less open ocean time than the Seattle cruises. We're not seasoned cruisers and don't need formal nights, casinos, which is one reason we are interesting in Viking. The Viking cruises are a little long (11 days vs 7 days) and I don't believe go through Glacier Bay, though they do include "Inside Passage" cruising. They have a deal right now which only requires a $25 deposit on 2023 cruises. (We won't cruise if COVID is still raging next year. I'm also hesitant about any international travel due to the hassle of extra forms, random testing, etc). As these are our early retirement years, we'd like to plan some trips that are extraordinary for the next few years, but I keep running into roadblocks due to COVID, logistics, etc.
Still can't help you with that, my cruise was Silversea. Chosen for the opposite reason as cognovimus, as there were only 400 passengers, I considered that less covid-risky.

(As I did recently reserve a different Viking cruise)- be aware that you will probably feel that you need to buy trip insurance within 15 days of your $25 reservation. So if you were thinking you weren't going to commit much $ for a while...not gonna work out that way.

BTW, Viking does have a pretty good rep, I have an acquaintance who does one every year.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by ResearchMed »

adamthesmythe wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:57 pm
cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:09 pm I would still appreciate hearing from someone who has been on a Viking Ocean cruise to Alaska. I've read a few reviews on Cruise Critic/watched a couple of videos on YouTube, trying to discount the ones that are basically advertising. I'd like a Vancouver to Seward (or vice versa) itinerary because it appears to have less open ocean time than the Seattle cruises. We're not seasoned cruisers and don't need formal nights, casinos, which is one reason we are interesting in Viking. The Viking cruises are a little long (11 days vs 7 days) and I don't believe go through Glacier Bay, though they do include "Inside Passage" cruising. They have a deal right now which only requires a $25 deposit on 2023 cruises. (We won't cruise if COVID is still raging next year. I'm also hesitant about any international travel due to the hassle of extra forms, random testing, etc). As these are our early retirement years, we'd like to plan some trips that are extraordinary for the next few years, but I keep running into roadblocks due to COVID, logistics, etc.
Still can't help you with that, my cruise was Silversea. Chosen for the opposite reason as cognovimus, as there were only 400 passengers, I considered that less covid-risky.

(As I did recently reserve a different Viking cruise)- be aware that you will probably feel that you need to buy trip insurance within 15 days of your $25 reservation. So if you were thinking you weren't going to commit much $ for a while...not gonna work out that way.

BTW, Viking does have a pretty good rep, I have an acquaintance who does one every year.

If you get third party insurance, you might only need to insure that tiny deposit for now.
But the first bit is disproportionate, because it also includes the regular medical/medevac, etc.

We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com for policies.

You are familiar with www.CruiseCritic.com?

Both the Viking cruise line and also your particular Roll Call (others on same cruise)?

:happy
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by jello_nailer »

lvswts wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:53 pm
cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 9:44 am I'd appreciate any advice from those who have travel on Viking Ocean, specifically to Alaska. What year did you travel? What kind of cabin? Pros and cons? Ports of embarkation and debarkation? Favorite and least favorite excursions? Anything else you'd care to add on the ship and the Alaskan itinerary (seems longer than most)?
We also liked the size of the ship. We have done Celebrity in the past and the Viking was about 1/2 the number of people. We preferred the moderate sized ship that Viking provided.
My main comments were regarding the size of the ship not quality of the product - I've been on a few Alaska cruises and seas were 20 foot on the Vancouver to Ketchikan run. It wasn't fun for a lot of people on that big ship. My only comment as to Viking to Alaska. Good weather, goods seas, doesn't matter. You have great input here, makes me want to go...
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by whodidntante »

cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:19 pm
whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What was your itinerary then, if you visited Juneau but did not cruise? Did you rent a car for the inland portion? Did you get to see Southeastern Alaska some other way? I know there is a ferry that stops at some of the ports.
There is more than one way to Juneau, but driving is not an option. At least not in anything you can reasonably rent. Look at the map. I flew there from Anchorage on Alaskan Airlines and rented a car.

I also rented a car in Anchorage and drove all around to Denali and Seward.

This was during maximum COVID rental car pricing when cars were going for $140 a day if you could even get one. But fortunately, I had access to corporate pricing so it was ridiculously cheap. Prices were locked by contract before COVID was a thing. I rented a Bronco for basically nothing in Anchorage. :happy

The best they could do in Juneau was a Camry, which is barely a vehicle in my book.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by DoubleComma »

cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:19 pm
whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What was your itinerary then, if you visited Juneau but did not cruise? Did you rent a car for the inland portion? Did you get to see Southeastern Alaska some other way? I know there is a ferry that stops at some of the ports.
If your set on a cruise stop reading and move on.

We’ve done several trips to AK too, all land based no cruises. Most recent, summer of 2021, we rented car and went from Seward to Fairview in 5 stops or 2-3 nights each.

Although I’ve not cruses Alaska, I’ve been to Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan at different times on two different fishing trips. I enjoyed each place; but I’ve wondered, considering a state as large and environmentally diverse as Alaska why anyone would just want to cruise to the port cities along the inland passage. They would become repetitive to me compared to seeing a places like Anchorage, Talkeetna, Healy/Denali, Fairbanks and all the miles of amazement between them in addition to the a port city like Seward.

Alaska is amazing and there is a lot more available than can be accessed from the Train or Ship.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by nanciT »

I was also going to mention Cruise Critic. We have taken many cruises, 3 to Alaska.

The one thing that is important to us especially in Alaska is to get a balcony. It has been 5 years since our last cruise, we are holding off for now but loved taking the ship out of SF and hope to do it again in the future.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by tennisplyr »

We did an Alaskan cruise through Celebrity a few years ago and loved it. This site might be useful to you.

www.crucon.com
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by GuyInFL »

I’ve got an extra day in Seward coming up. Any recommendations there? I’m taking a day cruise to the glaciers and then the train (observation car) to Anchorage. I’ve got a day to tour in Anchorage as well.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by ResearchMed »

GuyInFL wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:09 am I’ve got an extra day in Seward coming up. Any recommendations there? I’m taking a day cruise to the glaciers and then the train (observation car) to Anchorage. I’ve got a day to tour in Anchorage as well.

We took a (boat) day trip to the fjords south of Seward. It was beautiful, especially the last fjord.
Take the longer of the two lengths (if both still offered). The shorter one didn't get that far.

The entire trip was terrific!

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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by adamthesmythe »

GuyInFL wrote: Thu Jul 21, 2022 8:09 am I’ve got an extra day in Seward coming up. Any recommendations there? I’m taking a day cruise to the glaciers and then the train (observation car) to Anchorage. I’ve got a day to tour in Anchorage as well.
I also had one day in Seward. I did the fjord cruise- which was fine- but if I had to do it again I would do a day hike to the Exit glacier.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by hvaclorax »

Sorry, I just saw this thread. Nonetheless, others might like to know, my cruise with family on Holland cruise line was incredible. I can’t say enough. Superclaifragilistic comes to mind. Not one problem. Not that I cruise often, three times previously, but I can’t imagine any better line to cruise with.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by criticalmass »

DoubleComma wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:47 pm
cognovimus wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:19 pm
whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What was your itinerary then, if you visited Juneau but did not cruise? Did you rent a car for the inland portion? Did you get to see Southeastern Alaska some other way? I know there is a ferry that stops at some of the ports.
If your set on a cruise stop reading and move on.

We’ve done several trips to AK too, all land based no cruises. Most recent, summer of 2021, we rented car and went from Seward to Fairview in 5 stops or 2-3 nights each.

Although I’ve not cruses Alaska, I’ve been to Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan at different times on two different fishing trips. I enjoyed each place; but I’ve wondered, considering a state as large and environmentally diverse as Alaska why anyone would just want to cruise to the port cities along the inland passage. They would become repetitive to me compared to seeing a places like Anchorage, Talkeetna, Healy/Denali, Fairbanks and all the miles of amazement between them in addition to the a port city like Seward.

Alaska is amazing and there is a lot more available than can be accessed from the Train or Ship.
Because a cruise is an excellent way to get into the state from Seattle (or Vancouver) to Seward via some interesting scenery, thence to Anchorage where you can take a train to Denali and points north.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

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We are looking at mid-September 2023 for an AK cruise from either Seattle or Vancouver, out and back. Any particular things to know about that time or the ports. This will be my first ocean cruise ever and the second for mrs. wabbott. We've done river cruises, tho.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by adamthesmythe »

In September days will be shorter.

Right now Skagway is dealing with a rockslide. What the situation will be next year is hard to say. If dock space is still limited you might get shuttled from another port or tendered. That could be time-consuming especially if you are on a large ship.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by MJS »

wabbott wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 11:41 am We are looking at mid-September 2023 for an AK cruise from either Seattle or Vancouver, out and back. Any particular things to know about that time or the ports. This will be my first ocean cruise ever and the second for mrs. wabbott. We've done river cruises, tho.
I'd recommend a one-way trip from LA or SF, then do some aurora hunting north of Fairbanks. Mid September is fair aurora season. Fly home, or take the Alaska Marine Highway for a contrast to your cruise.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by wabbott »

MJS wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 6:06 pm
wabbott wrote: Fri Sep 23, 2022 11:41 am We are looking at mid-September 2023 for an AK cruise from either Seattle or Vancouver, out and back. Any particular things to know about that time or the ports. This will be my first ocean cruise ever and the second for mrs. wabbott. We've done river cruises, tho.
I'd recommend a one-way trip from LA or SF, then do some aurora hunting north of Fairbanks. Mid September is fair aurora season. Fly home, or take the Alaska Marine Highway for a contrast to your cruise.
We are looking at doing the cruise at that time because we're planning to be in the Northwest anyway. A two-year delayed trip to Banff and nearby areas is the reason for the trip, along with a drive down the west coast to LA. Can't get enough of Hwy 1.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by spectec »

You can also get lots of information about specific Viking itineraries on the "Viking Cruises Fans" Facebook group. It's a private group with over 41K members, and growing. The group is independent of Viking and the company exercises no control or influence over its content. The group is loaded with people who have been on multiple Viking cruises (river, ocean, excursion, etc) and share lots of information & details. There's almost always very useful information posted when questions are asked. It's my first place to go when checking on any Viking itinerary.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by Sprucebark »

whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What do you have against Juneau? I went four times this last winter and spring. I probably wouldn’t want to spend a week there, but your post makes Seward seem like a 10 and Juneau seem like a 1 or a zero.
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whodidntante
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by whodidntante »

Sprucebark wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:44 pm
whodidntante wrote: Wed Jul 20, 2022 4:13 pm I'm not a cruise person so I cannot advise on that. I did, however, have a fantastic land lover voyage to Alaska recently. The gist is to avoid Juneau at all costs, but Denali and Seward are excellent. That was a bummer because I expected to love Juneau. That was the only time that I changed a flight and ended a hotel stay early because the place I was in was not worth being in.
What do you have against Juneau? I went four times this last winter and spring. I probably wouldn’t want to spend a week there, but your post makes Seward seem like a 10 and Juneau seem like a 1 or a zero.
It seems like a town set up as a tourist trap for cruise ships and was kinda depressing otherwise. Once I got the lay of the land, I got out.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by fromak »

I'm with whodidntante. - Lived in AK for about 4 years, worked there another 5. Just have to say the place, in general, lacks charm. Saddest things I witnessed were tourists coming from the Anchorage airport on trollies only to see crappy neighborhoods with airplanes up on blocks in the driveway. And in the summer - so much rain/clouds/fog that one couldn't even see the mountains at the edge of town. Then there was the complete disbelief when the cruise line busses pulled into the North Slope (Deadhorse) to see nothing but flat nothing. So avoid all that if possible. Same for flying in/out of Juneau - let's just say it is scary. Don't get me wrong, May-June, September are glorious in AK - especially Seward and the Fiords tours, the train from Anchorage, the Homer Spit, Talketna/Denali area, (Fairbanks not so much) so many wonderful things to enjoy. Sorry for digressing from the OP's inquiry but just trying to keep it real. I'd say the cruise is the best bet, just don't bite off on the day trip offers without really checking what you are in for.
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Re: Viking Ocean Cruise to Alaska?

Post by WallyBird »

whodidntante wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 9:06 pm
Sprucebark wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:44 pm
What do you have against Juneau? I went four times this last winter and spring. I probably wouldn’t want to spend a week there, but your post makes Seward seem like a 10 and Juneau seem like a 1 or a zero.
It seems like a town set up as a tourist trap for cruise ships and was kinda depressing otherwise. Once I got the lay of the land, I got out.
I'm sorry you had a bad time there. Juneau is the third largest city in AK, but it's a small town by most standards. Modern cruise ships are huge and can flood the town with visitors, who may not get far beyond the waterfront area that's long been overwhelmed by tourist-oriented businesses.

That's their loss. I went for a four day visit a few years ago and had a great time. I would have loved to have visited the new state museum, but the weather was clear and sunny, so we spent most of our days hiking. There are at least two trails with trailheads just a short walk from downtown, and a few others a short bus ride away, including the trails near the Mendenhall Glacier. (They were closer to the glacier a few decades ago.) On our half-day walking around in town, we enjoyed exploring the old city blocks and the steep hills where the streets become stairways, sampling the local beers and enjoying the company of locals relaxing after the cruise ships departed and the town quieted down.

Of course, you don't plan a visit to SE Alaska and expect sunshine. The area is a rain forest, after all, and if it had rained, we would have adjusted plans accordingly: definitely going to the museum, probably adding a boat tour to Tracy Arm, taking shorter hikes in rain gear.

My style of travel isn't everybody's. The cruise biz isn't my cup of tea, but they've been effective at selling the product, and a lot of people seem to like what they get and come back for more. As always, read the prospectus, past performance etc.
"But let's be glad for what we've had, and what's to come." | -- Betty Comden & Adolph Green
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