My finacee and I have decided to do something a little different for our honeymoon and go to Alaska for about a week or so around the first week of June. Has anyone been on vacation there and have any advice?

We were thinking of flying into Anchorage and driving around from there heading south to Seward (I think, cant remember if that was the city or not) and going on a kayak trip where you can go near glaciers and whatnot and then possibly heading up to Denali National Park. The kayaking trip is supposed to not be very difficult which is a good thing because we aren't looking to do anything real strenuous or difficult.

If anyone has suggestions of what to do, where to stay, etc I would really appreciate it. We would love some nice quiet bed and breakfast/cabin style places but don't have any definite requirements.

Thanks in advance.

11/7/2009 8:12:44 PM

I did a cruise to Alaska.

First off, GREAT choice! No photography can capture the beauty of Alaska, so you're in for something great.

We did Kayaking which I highly recommend. Extremely beautiful and a great way to enjoy the scenery.

I will say the only concern there is that the weather in Alaska can be extremely gloomy for long times. So hopefully you will get lucky.

11/7/2009 8:25:59 PM

bug spray

11/7/2009 8:42:11 PM

I know a couple doing the same thing...small world! (I'll give you a hint, I was NBC for Halloween...)

I second the kayaking. Make sure you have an awesome camera. I can make some good suggestions on digital SLRs.

11/7/2009 9:02:35 PM

if you aren't looking for anything strenuous, do a cruise. good food, entertainment, get to see the highlights, can do kayaking, site seeing, whale watching, light hiking, whatever. some are really pretty damn cheap... as in like $600-700/ person for 7nt cruise roundtrip out of seattle. but if you want to see something a little further north than skagway, do a depart fairbanks or anchoriage to seattle. those are a little pricier but hey, you get what you pay for.

11/7/2009 9:20:38 PM

^^ ha! that is funny, she definitely wants to get a new camera so hopefully we will have a nice one by then

^ We looked into the cruise route but a lot of the reviews we saw said it was full of old people whale watching haha. Thanks for the suggestion though.

11/8/2009 9:39:59 AM

Quote :

"I will say the only concern there is that the weather in Alaska can be extremely gloomy for long times. So hopefully you will get lucky."

yes indeed, TheBullDoza should pop in here soon. he said that people on cruises or bus trips to see Denali often found that all the scenery was covered in rain clouds.

11/8/2009 9:57:00 AM

Quote :

"^ We looked into the cruise route but a lot of the reviews we saw said it was full of old people whale watching haha. Thanks for the suggestion though. "

Not true at all.

11/8/2009 10:07:01 AM

I did a cruise to Alaska. Highly recommend it! You can see my blog about the trip herehttp://www.julie-steen.blogspot.com.

[Edited on November 8, 2009 at 12:51 PM. Reason : spelling]

11/8/2009 12:44:30 PM

the domed/glass trains in Alaska are supposed to be very nice



[Edited on November 8, 2009 at 1:19 PM. Reason : dd]

11/8/2009 1:17:29 PM

Good choice for a honeymoon!!!

I've been to seward and sea-kayaked around the area. There is a great island to camp on, not far away from the kayak rental shope (you have to take a 15 min boat ride out to it). I would highly recommend it. I think i stayed 1 or two days kayaking...saw: sea lions, jelly fish, eagles, doll sheep up on the mountains, and of course...PUFFINS!!!

I used to work at the resort right outside denali natl. park for a summer and i cant tell you how great of a park it is. If you plan on seeing denali, good luck...its mostly under clouds...but you may get lucky! You should buy a bus ticket into the park and do some day hiking if not camping, id say around rock dome mountain (it's called something like that, but its near gravel mountain. This mountain just has imho the easiest and best views of denali and the surrounding land. Also, depending on how far you go into the park, you will get to see a good amount of wildlife (wolves, caribou, moose, doll sheep, bears, but mostly caribou).

There are two resorts to stay at outside denali, which could be pricey, depending on how much you are willing to spend, but 10-15 miles up the road from denali, there is the town of homer with i think one motel....maybe crappy...can only assume so

Talkeetna is a quaint town to check out. If driving from seward, itll be right on the way to denali. Def. stop by if only to eat...recommend mountain high pizza pie...they usually have some live music (one guy on a guitar).

The train, although i havent been on, is awesome, from friends that have ridden it. I would suggest driving simply because you can stop in at talkeetna and points of interest.

Also, i have a friend going to school in anchorage. I can ask about things he'd recommend to do around anchorage if you like.

AK is too awesome...had some of the greatest times of my life up there...enjoy it

11/9/2009 9:43:22 AM

If you decide to do a cruise do NOT go on Holland-America. My grandparents took our whole family on a 11day...I think thats right...cruise to Alaska and it was the geriatric tour. I think there were like 7 people on the ship under 25, 3 of those were me and my brothers.

You can take helicopter rides and land on the glaciers which would be really neat. We didn't do that because something about the weather I think but it looked pretty cool.

11/9/2009 11:04:31 PM

holiday wooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooooooo

holiday

woooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooooooooooooo

11/9/2009 11:38:14 PM

Quote :

"We looked into the cruise route but a lot of the reviews we saw said it was full of old people whale watching haha. Thanks for the suggestion though. "

this can be very true and very false.

the longer the cruise, the higher the average age we've found (we do lots of cruises). to be honest, we really prefer the old people cruises... we don't party any more, and we're always up early to get off the boat. so, we appreciate the relative calm. although one we went on, we dubbed the "geritol bingo boat"

that being said. we have been on other cruises where we were very close to the average age. on the alaskan cruise we took (rnd trip seattle), there were lots of couples and singles close to our age.

one thing that impacts the age is the cruise line itself. i think you will find carnival cruises have lower ages and are cheaper (hence, we avoid them). norwegian is close. holland america and celebrity tend toward the older crowd.

either way, alaska is delightful. have fun.

11/10/2009 12:08:52 AM

oh yeah!...get a pilot to fly you onto denali. they have a service that provides this near the natl park.

11/11/2009 10:27:19 AM