Whether you're looking for pampering and resort amenities or a you-and-the-sea adventure experience, you'll find it offered by cruise ships in Alaska. Here are some of our favorites, along with our picks of the best ports, shore excursions, and sights.
The Best Ships for Luxury: Crystal Cruises' Crystal Harmony is the top-of-the-line ship in the Alaska market, no holds barred. We're talking superb cuisine, elegant service, lovely surroundings, great cabins, and sparkling entertainment. Before the start of the 2000 season, the ship underwent a massive refurbishment of its dining room, its atrium/reception area, and its top suites--talk about making a good thing better. If you want a more casual kind of luxury (a smaller ship with a no-tie-required policy), Radisson Seven Seas Cruises' Seven Seas Mariner offers just that.
The Best of the Mainstream Ships: Everyone's most recent ships are beautiful, but Celebrity's Mercury is above the norm--its interior design was even featured in an Architectural Digest spread. We particularly like the cutting-edge art collection and stunning two-tiered main restaurant, as well as the special intimate venues such as the champagne bar and cigar club. And we suspect the line's new Infinity will be even better. (Infinity had not yet debuted at press time, though its sister ship, Millennium, had, and is a real stunner.)
The Best of the Small Ships: Clipper Cruise Line's newest vessel, the Clipper Odyssey, is a really stunning little ship, offering a higher level of comfort than most of the other small ships in this category. We expect to be able to say the same for Cruise West's newest vessel, the Spirit of Oceanus (formerly the Renaissance V of Renaissance Cruises), though the company won't be taking ownership of the vessel till April 2001, long after this book goes to press. The most adventurous small-ship itineraries in Alaska are offered by Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises, whose Wilderness Adventurer and Wilderness Explorer both concentrate on kayaking, hiking, and wildlife, hardly visiting any ports at all over the course of their itineraries.
The Best Ships for Families: All the major lines have well-established kids' programs. Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Line win points in Alaska for their special shore excursions for kids and teens, and Carnival offers special shore excursions for teens.
The Best Ships for Pampering: It's a toss-up: Celebrity's Mercury and Infinity offer wonderful AquaSpas complete with thalassotherapy pools and a wealth of soothing and beautifying treatments, while Crystal Harmony pampers all around, and the solariums on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, and new Radiance of the Seas offer relaxing indoor pool retreats.
The Best Shipboard Cuisine: Crystal is tops, but then it's tops in everything. Of the mainstream lines, Celebrity is the best, with its cuisine overseen by renowned French chef Michel Roux.
The Best Ships for Onboard Activities: The ships operated by Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean all offer a very full roster of onboard activities. NCL puts special emphasis on sports, and even offers a diving program in Ketchikan.
The Best Ships for Entertainment: Look to the big ships here. Carnival and Royal Caribbean are tops when it comes to an overall package of show productions, nightclub acts, lounge performances, and audience-participation entertainment. Princess and NCL also offer particularly well-done stage shows.
The Best Ships for Whale Watching: If they come close enough, you can see whales from all the ships in Alaska. Smaller ships, though--like those operated by Alaska's Glacier Bay Tours & Cruises--may actually change course to follow a whale. Get your cameras ready!
The Best Ship for a Great Itinerary: World Explorer Cruises' Universe Explorer is unmatched in this area, offering two 14-day round-trip itineraries from Vancouver that include all the major ports of call and a few others, too. One of the itineraries includes a stop at Metlakatla, a Tsimshian Indian village on Annette Island, just south of Ketchikan, as well as a port call at Kodiak Island (famous for its bear population).
The Best Ships for Cruisetours: Holland America Line and Princess are the entrenched market leaders in getting you into the Interior either before or after your cruise. They own their own hotels, deluxe motorcoaches, and railcars, and after many years in the business, they both really know what they're doing. Some of the other lines actually buy their cruisetour products from them. Holland America's cruisetours strength is its 3- and 4-night cruises combined with an Alaska/Yukon land package, while Princess is arguably stronger in 7-day Gulf of Alaska cruises in conjunction with Denali/Fairbanks or Kenai Peninsula land arrangements. New in 2001, Royal Caribbean also introduces its own land tour operation (complete with custom-built, double-decker railcars) to go with cruises on its Royal Caribbean and Celebrity brands.
The Best Ports: Juneau and Skagway are our favorites. Juneau is one of the most visually pleasing small cities anywhere and certainly the prettiest capital city in America. It's fronted by the Gastineau Channel, backed by Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts, offers the very accessible Mendenhall Glacier, and is otherwise surrounded by wilderness--and it's a real fun city to visit, too. As for Skagway, no town in Alaska is more historically significant, and the old buildings are so perfect you might think you stepped into a Disney version of what a gold rush town should look like. If, that is, you can get over the decidedly turn-of-the-millennium Starbucks coffee vendor in the Mercantile Center and the brand new pizza parlor and bar just across from the historic White Pass and Yukon Railway depot. (See "The Best Shore Excursions," below.)
The Best Shore Excursions: Flightseeing and helicopter trips in Alaska are really unforgettable ways to check out the scenery if you can afford them (they're pretty pricey). A helicopter trip to a dogsled camp at the top of a glacier (usually the priciest of the offerings) affords both incredibly pretty views and a chance to try your hand at the truly Alaska sport of dogsledding (and great bragging rights with the folks back home). For a less extravagant excursion, nothing beats a ride on a clear day on the aforementioned White Pass and Yukon Route railway out of Skagway. And we also like to get active with kayak and mountain biking excursions offered by most lines at most ports; in addition to affording a chance to work off those shipboard calories, these excursions typically provide optimum opportunities for spotting eagles, bears, seals, and others.
The Best Natural Sights Seen from on Board: There are so many in Alaska it's hard to choose, but Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier, College Fjord, and Misty Fjords National Monument (into which big ships can only get a short distance) would have to appear on anyone's top-10 list.