Cruise Vacation Ideas

Alaska Season

May 3, 2008 at 10:48 pm | Posted in Alaska | 1 Comment

As every cruise addict knows, summer is Alaska season. It’s increasingly popular as a destination and just about all of the major cruise lines offer these packages. If you’ve never been to Alaska, or have been a thousand times, The Inside Passage is the best place to start and to wind up. It’s a protected coastal stretch of waterway that gives you smoother traveling and lots of sightseeing.

Excursions are important on the Alaskan cruise. Whether you decide to go flight-seeing (a term coined in Alaska for touring by small private plane), dog-sledding, or whale-watching, you need to get out and explore the incredible natural scenery. Grizzly bear and polar bear watching are also big.

If you like to fish, you have to take advantage of some of the packaged fishing excursions. These are great deals because somebody else brings your gear and shows you the best spots.  You don’t have a lot of time, so you want to fish while the fishing is good. If you opt to take your catch back to the ship, some cruise lines will cook it for you and serve it at dinner (ask about this option first). You can usually make arrangements to have your wild salmon (or whatever fish you went for) frozen and stored on ship and then brought to you when you leave. Alaska is a strange place and many flights in and out of Alaska offer what is known as a “fish allowance.” That means you get to take whatever luggage the line allows you plus a certain poundage of frozen fish.

Again, ask before you go fishing, but there is no reason you can’t enjoy your Alaskan seafood. Of course, you can also do the catch-and-release thing.

Deals on Alaska are getting scarcer because the destination is getting a great reputation and we’re approach the high season. However, I’ve seen some deals run online … here and there. So if Alaska is in your summer cruise plans, start scoping out the websites now to see if you might not still nab a bargain.