Itching to travel, I booked a cruise with my family to Alaska in November 2021. I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska and after doing some research, booking an Alaskan cruise is one of the best ways to do it. If you are going to ever do a cruise at all, Alaska is one of the best destinations. You are able to see southwestern Alaska, an area that is mainly only accessible by boat or plane, and it provides activities for any kind of vacationer. You can have a lounge-y relaxing trip by staying on the boat and just seeing the ports you stop at, or you can find an adventure at each town.
I booked a 7-day cruise out of Seattle with Norwegian Cruise Line. Beware with booking and paying in full! Once you have paid in full, you cannot get any price adjustments on your cruise, even if the price drops later. My cruise price ended up decreasing almost $600 a person, but I was unable to get an adjustment. We were only awarded 50% credit for the next cruise we book, if we book another. We received about $300 travel credit per person.
We traveled on the Norwegian Bliss out of Seattle, WA with stops in Sitka, Juneau, Icy Strait Point/Hoonah, Ketchikan, and Victoria BC.
Food
Honestly, food was not what I was expecting. There is certainly plenty of food available and more than you could possibly consume, but not at the quality I was expecting based on my past cruise experience with Royal Caribbean.
For complimentary dining, you could eat at a few sit-down restaurants or at the buffet. The buffet was always extremely overwhelming and food options weren’t well spread out across all the stations available. There were some items that were only located in the same area, causing long lines that would meander through the dining hall. It was difficult to find tasty, interesting vegetables to eat. There was generally a salad bar but it was difficult to find vegetables prepared in a more enticing way.
For the sit-down restaurants, the reservation system was confusing. If you had a reservation, you would still be asked to wait ~30 minutes before being seated. Fortunately, there were bars in front of all the restaurants, so we were able to get some drinks in while we were waiting. The sit-down restaurants were SLOW! Dinners at the sit-down dining rooms took about 2 hours for our 3 courses.
My favorite place to eat was The Local, a more casual sit-down restaurant, that had more bar-style food. It was always quick to get in, ordering was easy as the menu never changed, and the service was fast. They had the best wings and desserts.
There were also specialty restaurants you could make reservations to eat at as well. These places were smaller and the food was higher quality. You could purchase dining packages for credits to eat at these places or just pay a la carte. Our cruise package came with some specialty dining packages so we were able to experience a sushi restaurant and a teppanyaki restaurant, too!
Room
Depending on what kind of cruiser/vacationer you are, your choice in stateroom booking may differ! We had plans to explore as much of the ship and ports as possible, with minimal downtown in our rooms. We booked an inside stateroom. Inside staterooms have no windows and are completely dark with the lights off, except for some glow from the TV and other electrical devices. If you plan to spend most of your time away from your room, this is the most cost-effective option. It’s comfortable for two adults, but more people would get a little squishy. Children could be manageable, but I’d recommend a bigger room if trying to fit more people in.
If you are on the cruise for 100% cruise experience, I’d recommend getting a room with a balcony! Those are so dreamy and beautiful, but beware that there are minimal hours of darkness on a summer Alaskan cruise… If you’re sensitive to light while sleeping you may regret this choice.
Itinerary
Sitka – the first and oldest city in Alaska
We were in Sitka on Memorial Day so we weren’t able to do everything that we planned to do. Originally, we planned to take the local bus (blue line) to Fortress of the Bear, but the buses were not running on the holiday.
Instead, we decided to go on a hike! Beware – this hike was not easy on the knees. We went for a little walk through a neighborhood and hopped onto the Sitka Cross Trail on Pherson St. It’s quite an incline if you go this way, so it might be easier to get on the trail from the Baranof St./Downtown Sitka entrance. Once we were on the trail, we continued walking to get to the Harbor Mt./Gavan Hill Trail. The trail was marked with plenty of signs, so it was easy to find which way we wanted to go. Most of the trail is very wide, so keep your eyes and ears open for any bikers. Once we started up the Harbor Mt./Gavan Hill Trail, we found that most of the way had been prepared with wooden steps. This made it easy to stay on trail but hard on the knees as we were coming down. We continued up the trail to the lookout point of Sitka. This hike was a lot of work! The trail continues, but hikers we met coming down let us know that there was plenty of snow, requiring microspikes. The lookout is beautiful on a sunny day. Don’t forget your sunscreen and take plenty of pictures!
We made our way down from the lookout and came out at the Baranof St./Downtown Sitka entrance. We walked along the pier and took in beautiful views of the water. There were a few shops in the main city center that we perused and a fry-bread stand and some food trucks.
Juneau – there are no roads that connect Juneau to the rest of Alaska or North America; it is only accessible by plane or boat
One goal we had in Alaska was to see a glacier. As we have all heard, glaciers are melting and water levels are rising. Who knows when all the glaciers will melt? After getting off the ship, we hustled to get onto our bus to Mendenhall Glacier in Tongass National Forest. We bought bus tickets via M & M Tours of Juneau. The Blue Bus ended up being about $50/person after taxes and was very convenient for our purposes. We were picked up from where the cruise shuttle had dropped us off to the parking lot near the visitor center. The drivers were amazing and provided fun facts on the drive. The price of the shuttle also includes your day-pass for visiting the glacier. We walked around the glacier look-out, the photo point, and did the 2 mile round-trip walk to Nugget Falls. Don’t forget to stop inside the Visitor Center too! Plenty of cute souvenirs and a great learning opportunity to understand more about the glacier and how it’s changed over time.
After spending the morning exploring the glacier, we were hungry! We took the Blue Bus back to town and got in line for Tracy’s Crab Shack. Tracy’s sells a few varieties of Alaskan King crab and other types of crab as well. They have their main crab operation outdoors, so you can see them tossing the massive crab legs into their vats of boiling liquid. We had some King and Dungeness crab to share, and it was divine! After stuffing ourselves, we had to take a walk around town. It was a hot day, so we cooled down with some ice cream from the Alaskan Fudge shop.
Icy Strait Point/Hoonah – Icy Strait Point is privately owned by Alaskan Natives with ties to Hoonah
Icy Strait Point and Hoonah didn’t quite have as many accessible trails or activities within walking distance, so we decided to participate in one of the cruise ship’s excursions. Our trip package offered $50 off an excursion, so we booked the backcountry Jeep tour. It gave us a chance to see more of the area than we would have been able to see on our own and was a nice break from two days of lots of walking.
We had booked the excursion prior to the cruise, so the tickets were already waiting for us in our rooms when we had arrived the first day. The tickets were very clear on where and when to meet. We checked in at the meeting point and walked just a short distance to get to the Jeeps. Our group of 8 perfectly split between two Jeeps and we were off! Our guide provided fun facts and information through the radio as we were driving. It was so beautiful seeing the nature and wildlife.
I would recommend booking an excursion or some kind of tour if your ship also plans to stop here. Icy Strait Point was developed to be a tourist destination and there is not much else to do outside of exploring the cannery. The few restaurants and cafes close early or have odd hours in which they are actually open. All the restaurants we tried were already closed or no longer accepting orders at 1 PM.
Ketchikan – home of the highest zip code in the US: 99950
The Misty Fjords, about 40 miles of Ketchikan, is what Bob Ross dreams of. The scenery so incredible that it looks fake when you take a picture of it. I knew this was something I wanted to see with my family, so I researched the best ways to experience it. I booked a seaplane with SeaWind Aviation and we were ready to fly!
SeaWind picked us up right at port, so we didn’t have to bother with getting on the shuttle to get into town. Communication was so prompt and professional. All my questions were answered and our pilot was so experienced that I had no concerns about getting into a tiny aircraft. We opted for a 1.5-hour flight with a landing in the fjords. Once we landed, looking at the surroundings was surreal. This was the highlight of the entire trip. We were able to take in the landscape and see plenty of wildlife like swimming deer and black bears.
After the flight, we were dropped back off in downtown Ketchikan. We spent the rest of the day gushing over the amazing seaplane experience, sampling some smoked salmon, and buying all sorts of souvenirs.
Victoria BC – known as the City of Gardens
Unfortunately, we were only in Victoria for a few hours in the evening. Catching a shuttle to downtown took the most time. This was the only stop on our cruise where there was no complimentary shuttle. When you get off the ship, there are many signs for the shuttle line or to purchase tickets for a different tour. We got on the shuttle to downtown Victoria, costing us about $10/person. It gave us just enough time to walk around the downtown area and see Chinatown, the Empress Hotel, and the Parliament Buildings.
Overall – Alaskan Cruise
This was an amazing experience, and I am so happy I was able to share it with family and close friends. I probably wouldn’t go on a cruise again just because there are still so many other places to explore, but I would highly recommend it for others! I definitely want to return to Alaska to visit the more northern cities and go to the other national parks like Denali or the Kenai Fjords.