guligian Loc: Louisville KY

LESSON LEARNED: When selecting a cruise, smaller is always better!

MikeFromMT Loc: So Cal & MT

I agree. I have been to AK many times. The first few when I with the Air Force. After that with family camping out. The best for scenery was the drive up and down the Alaska Highway. Lots of wildlife and other things to see. Of course, this is not to say AK was also not fantastic. Just for that trip the road was better. I highly advise doing this at least once.

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

Not sure what you are referring to. The National Park Service schedules and maintains the tour buses, not a cruise line.

nascar27 Loc: Kansas City, MO

Taking the same trip next May. Thanks for sharing your experience with the lenses you took. This will help in my lens selection beforehand. 8-)

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

My post was about Photography on a cruise and lens use. I am sure there are many ways to visit Alaska.

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

You will enjoy the trip and those three lens covered most of my opportunities for photos, including rafting and whale watching. But from all the reports I have read, I wish I had purchased the SX50 for the tour into Denali National Park.

Dsrapa Loc: Outside of nyc

I'm taking my terrific panasonic lumix zs30.
Great zoom, fast, light, sharp iq, and always in my hand!

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

Sounds like you are ready. Have a great trip.

D and ME Loc: Stevensville MT

We are scheduled for a land/cruise on Princess in mid Sept. Landing in Fairbanks (lodge), Denali(one afternoon, lodge), Hubbard Glacier, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchican, Vancouver and them home to MT. Have a Canon XTI with an 18-250 Tamron lens. This will be our first cruise (celebrating 50th anniversary). Hoping the gear will be enough.

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

Sounds like you will not be touring inside Denali Nat. Park. I am not familiar with your lens but the 18-250mm will give you adequate range in most situations, even any land tours at the different stops. There are always situations where you want more reach but maybe a sharp photo at the 250mm range will allow you to crop. Congratulations and Happy Anniversary. Princess will treat you well.

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

Just finished land/sea cruise in June with Celebrity…. started in Fairbanks, train to Denali…( i did not like the bus situation in Denali, but no other choice. windows were a pain I did hear of some private land owners deep in the Denali park at the far end of the one road into the park that will take folks on a tour.…. .) our bus situation was maybe better than just going in to catch a bus on your own…..since we were all on the same cruise, every one was polite and switched sides of the bus when wildlife was spotted) then train to Talkeetna for an overnight (best town on tour as there were restaurants but those horrible tourist jewelry stores were not there. took a jet boat tour there and saw black bears….glad to have my 50-500 lens then. we were part of the 30% crowd that got to see Mt McKinley in sunshine….the other 70% of people never get to see the mountain. BTW the mayor of Talkeetna is a old tabby cat. Then train to Anchorage for over night, and bus to Seward. Cruise was rough first night out heading to Hubbard glacier.. but smooth sailing and sunshine most of the remainder to Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strats, Skagway,, Ketchikan and then to Vancouver. Bald Eagles everywhere in Ketchikan
the stops at those cities via the cruise ship were OK…only if you take a tour …where the ship docks is full of tourist crap, jewelry stores….not even worth getting off the boat if you didn’t have a tour or event scheduled. maybe because we are older and have seen all those shops before… the cruise ship was very nice and the rumors are right…expect to gain 10lbs…. but I did lose 12 in the week after return.
it was fun and my wife and I are ready to go again

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

That is good info. I lived in AK for a year and it was always overcast, raining, snowing etc. I wonder if there are different cruises you could have chosen that might have had less crowded conditions aboard a bus. Maybe something a little more individualized? I know some people that have gone on some of the African Safari's and they use smaller open top vehicles that are easy to shoot from. But some of the Safari's use more crowded buses and if I were planning a trip like this I'd try for one of smaller guided tours. I'm sure it would cost more but to me it would be worth it.

I'm going to the Galapagos this November and will be on a yacht that only takes 16 customers. On the trip I'm on there will only be 14 customers because one of the cabins will accommodate a renowned photographer from the Galapagos Islands to guide us. I'm really looking forward to it.

blacks2 Loc: SF. Bay area

I got to agree on the Denali bus tour, those buses are so hard on your rear end that my wife refused to go with me a second time. I have been to Alaska many times even before it became a state, cruising and land tours. For me the best way to see and photograph Alaska is by yourself in a car. What I did many times fly to Anchorage in the last week in August, rent a SUV and travel for about 3 weeks, away from the main roads even back to the Canadian Yukon. Like the old Denali Highway from Paxson to Cantwell is for me many times more scenic as the well publisized trip into Denali. For the wildlife,too many first time visitors expect to see Humpbacks, Killer Whales, Bears everywhere you look, it just isn't so. Just my two cents. As for the super long zoom lense on a cruise, if you want to impress people take it, if you think you are going to need it, leave it at home you will not need it That is unless you are going on a special bear workshop safari.

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

I agree-the cruise was great.

Longhorn Loc: Austin, Texas

Like I said, I used my 70-300mm most of the time.