Planning Rockies/Alaska cruise, anyone been, please?

colmil

I would be grateful if anyone has flown to Calgary, toured the Rockies to Vancouver, then taken an Alaskan cruise.

I know it's going to be expensive, so any help would be much appreciated

spender

Hi, we did an organised tour with Jetsave. Flew into Calagry and did the usual, Canmore, Banff, Jasper Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver via Kamloops. We flew home from Vancouver however most of the rest of the party went on the cruise. One of the best experiences of my life. Thought I would hate an organised tour but it was fab, just sit back and enjoy and make some new friends. Comos, Archers direct (cosmos but direct sell) Travelsphere, Travelscope plus loads of other companies do these tours. We paid about £1300 a head, flew Canadian airways, had mid range hotels, price included Rocky Mountaineer. Lake Louise, Maligne Lake having a ball doing our own tour around Banff Spring hotel loved it all.

chalky_bertie

Cruised Alaska last year with Royal Caribbean and it was great. They also did add-ons for the Rockies.

However we did it all independantly by means of buying our own flights (BA £600 ppr into Anchorage and out of Vancouver), bought the cruise seperately with no airfare and then booked all our own hotels. You get soo much time to do what you want to do and not be ushered around everywhere. If you want some hotels in Anchorage or Seward then will be happy to name them.

It is soooooo easy to do it yourself.

legsXI_2

Look at Canadian Affair. We've been to the Rockies twice and sorted everything out with them (flights, hotels, motorhome). Cheap flights too. Give them a call with any questions you have; they're really helpful over the phone too.

http://www.canadianaffair.com/

colmil

Unfortunately, I had to give up driving 18 months ago due to an eye condition, I had booked three weeks away in Canada which I had to cancel as my partner is not happy about driving abroad.

I still want to go and reluctantly accept the fact that it will cost twice as much as arranging fly drive myself..... even more reason to find the best value!

Thanks for your help, can anyone else assist me, please?

chalky_bertie

I know you are not keen on doing it yourself but there would be no driving involved.

Royal Carribean have a balcony (strongly recommended) on June 15 for £1182pp for a 7 night northbound cruise from Vancouver to Seward. Rocky Mountaineer has got 4 day mini breaks from US$1200pp which finishes in Vancouver.
Trains run from Seward to Anchorage and have fairs for US$65ppAlaskan Rail Road
Alaska Airlines has flights between Anchorage and Seattle for US$420pp
BA.COM have return flights between LHR and Calgary and Seattle to LHR for £620pp

After all that there are 3 companies that cruise - Princess Cruises, NCL and Royal Caribbean. If you find one you like then give Bolsover Cruise Club a call and they should help you, they are fairly cheap.

chalky_bertie

I know you are not keen on doing it yourself but there would be no driving involved.

Royal Carribean have a balcony (strongly recommended) on June 15 for £1182pp for a 7 night northbound cruise from Vancouver to Seward. Rocky Mountaineer has got 4 day mini breaks from US$1200pp which finishes in Vancouver.
Trains run from Seward to Anchorage and have fairs for US$65ppAlaskan Rail Road
Alaska Airlines has flights between Anchorage and Seattle for US$420pp
BA.COM have return flights between LHR and Calgary and Seattle to LHR for £620pp

After all that there are 3 companies that cruise - Princess Cruises, NCL and Royal Caribbean. If you find one you like then give Bolsover Cruise Club a call and they should help you, they are fairly cheap.

teapot2

We spent 3 weeks in Alaska and I arranged it all myself - flew to Anchorage and stayed a few days then flew to juneau and took ferries around some of the islands - you can stay for much longer than you get on the cruises and take your time, we just made it up as we went along. We also did a 5 day organised trip to some of the remoter places you couldn't get to yourself. Not for everyone that bit of it I guess as it was travelling in a minibus + camping. We went in June when it was light almost all the time. Absolutely amazing holiday and so glad we did it that way - saw so much more. Its such a HUGE country we only saw a tiny bit but loved it - such an amazing place. Would go again any time but probably the holiday of a lifetime and couldn't afford it right now....... goes off to look through photos and dream....

blindman

chalky_bertie Good post(s) however

Link corrected :rolleyes:

Rocky Mountaineer has got 4 day mini breaks from US$1200pp which finishes in Vancouver

.

Link corrected :rolleyes:

Trains run from Seward to Anchorage and have fairs for US$65ppAlaskan Rail Road

lisyloo

We went on a TUACK tour and it was great.
They are very expensive but everyone thought it provided value (they are the sort of once in a lifetime holiday that people do for anniversaries).
We flew independently to Toronto and went to Niagra falls by bus.
We then flew to Calgary and joined the Tauck tour.
We didn't do the cruise bit.

You have a tour manager with you all the time and everything was taken care of and it was very high quality.
Definitely expensive though.