First time trip to Alaska

First of all im sorry for being so vague! I am trying to plan a two week trip for myself and my husband to Alaska in September and i really dont know where to start. I want to keep the cost down if possible and with this in mind the cheapest flights i can find from Dublin are return flights to Seattle. So my questions are, what is the best (and most reasonable) way to see Alaska? Driving holiday, cruise for seven days etc etc. If anyone could help just to give me a starting point and an idea of the cost i would really appreciate it. In the mean time i will trawl through the alaska forum and see if i can come up with something!

First time trip to Alaska

I am not sure how cheaply you can get to Germany, but Condor Air flies to Alaska all summer long and it is the quickest way to get to Europe - not sure if it is the cheapest though.

You could do a week cruise and a week on the land portion - many people opt for this plan to see as much of Alaska as they can in a short time.

Many cruise businesses are offering lots of discounts - you might go on Cruise Critic for the best advice on that subject.

Do plan your own land touring trip - rent/hire a car and then we%26#39;ll help you plan that. You just would need to figure out whether you want to do that before or after your cruise. Realize that your land portion needs to be complete before Sept. 15, as that is when many businesses close for the winter.

Hope this helps you get started - you can really plan whatever. Let us know as well what you hope to see/do while you are here. :)

First time trip to Alaska

Thanks for the quick reply!!! i suppose i just want to see the best bits of alaska, the trip is a surprise for my husband and he has always wanted to go there. Driving sounds good and staying in places off the beaten track.

';the trip is a surprise for my husband and he has always wanted to go there';

Has he said WHY he wants to go there? If not, you should get his input before putting anything in stone, so you don%26#39;t accidentally leave out the one thing he most wanted to see/do.

As Coalminer said, there are really great prices on cruises right now, with the economy being so poor. Don%26#39;t go through the actual cruiseline, for the best prices use something like Expedia or one of the cruisebrokers you%26#39;ll find over on cruisecritic.com. On the other hand, some people prefer just to do a landtour.

Nobody can really estimate a cost for you. Depends what you do, where you go, and where you stay. You might want to look at the websites for Toursaver and Northern Lights coupon books to see if anything would be useful to you; however, be sure to note the dates the individual coupons are in effect, plus be aware that many companies take only a limited number of coupons, so be sure to find out if they still have room for coupons on the day you want, prior to buying any books.