Princess do this. You can add on a 3 or 4 day Rockies train trip either before or after the cruise.

luci

My sister did this cruise in May this year and said it was very cold,
Late June July August seem,s to be the popular time,they flew in
to Seattle, also did the Rockies tour,and Vancouver for a few
days,they flew from Australia so can,t help sorry with the best UK
airport to fly from The cruise was with Celebrity
annx

We did this cruise with Celebrity a few years ago and wow what an experience. Best time is probably late June/July when, if I remember correctly, you should see the salmon returning to their breeding grounds, as well as other marine animals. Watching whales breeching is quite a sight. Weather-wise, when we went in 2004 they were experiencing a heat-wave and it was very hot. Certainly it should be pleasantly warm, but certain areas of Alaska do experience a fair amount of rain as well.

We flew into Vancouver from Manchester and we added 4 nights in Vancouver at the end. If you don't want to do the Rockies train, I would suggest staying in Vancouver which we found absolutely lovely and take a daytrip across to Victoria Island and visit Buschart Gardens - well worth it.

We did the Canadian Rockies including the Rocky Mountaineer train in May this year. We flew to Calgary, spent 2 nights in Banff then on to Lake Louise for 1 night. We then travelled on the icefield parkway to Jasper boarding the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver.

In Vancouver we embarked our cruise ship, Holland America Zuiderdam, for our cruise through the inside passage to Alaska. In Alaska we had 2 days of very warm sunshine, a little rain and positively cold weather when we went to Glacier Bay,(best to pack in layers). For us it was certainly a holiday of a lifetime and enjoyed every minute.

Sue & Paul

Thanks Sue, that is very useful.

luci

We did a 7 day cruise with NCL 3 years ago. We had 5 days in the Rockies, then the cruise and then 2 more days in Vancouver. This was with Titan. The cruise (it was our first ever) was great. The ship. entertainment and catering were also excellent. The ports of call (Ketchiken, Jouneau and Skagway. At ketchken we did a walking tour picked up from the tourist office on the docks. We saw more than the folks who had shelled out £££s for the bus or duck tours.

Juneau was nothing to write home about but we picked up a bus tour in the town for $20 each. This took us round the town showing us the places of interest. The guide and driver were native Americans and had a very interesting slant on the way the area was developed. Then up to the Mendenhall Glacier which was breathtaking and the visitors centre was free! Then to the river to watch the salmon running and spawning finally down to the shore to watch bald eagles picking off the fish in the shallows.

Skagway we took a bus tour up into the Yukon. This was booked through the ship but it was a minibus tour and the driver/guide took us to places the big bus tours couldn't go. On the way back he dropped us off at the Ranger station where they did hourly free walking tours of the town where you got to hear about the frontier days and visit the small museum (again free) as well as going into some of the houses.

We had a great time and saw loads without spending shedloads of money.