jbinbi

Going to be in Alaska on June 1 to 14 with the following itinerary.

I have a waterproof rain jacket that is not breathable (golf pullover), plus fleece and layers. Wondering if I need to upgrade this.

day 1 , Fairbanks, riverboat

Day 2, denali princess walking hike

Day 3, Denali tour

day 4 glacier landing and flightseeing (walk on glacier)

day 5 devils canyon river rafting Talkeetna

day 10 skagway rail white pass

day 12 ketichan nature walk

day 13 juneau whale watch

plus time on the boat , glacier bay etc.

I have a listing of the following mendenhall heli excursions, but no clue which is good or bad and the differences. These are booked thru princess, so i put the numbers down, don't know which outfit actually does them, but not that it matters at this point.

If anyone has been on any of these, pls chime in and give me your thoughts...

1. mendenhall glacier tour, jnu-810

2. same but with salmon bake, I guess they just feed you lunch, but nice

3. 4 glacier heli tour jnu-820

4. pilots choice ice age explore jnu-825

5. heli glacier walkabout jun-850

6. heli glacier hike jun-855

Also the last one is rated S for strenuous, but I have no idea what strenuous means to princess. What is strenuous for a 25 yr old who works out 5x a week, and what is strenuous for a 75 yr old who never works out are really far apart. I am assuming the cruiseline is trying to be conservative. But I don't want to book a hike that I can't do

You mean cancel the cruisetour? Or don't go on the NHT?

 

I'm not going to cancel the cruisetour. The train won't get us to Denali until 1600. Yeah, it is disappointing. Aren't I in Denali Park staying at the hotel, etc.?

I am locked in to mine as well, paid for as well as flights done as well. Had I known more about this earlier, I would have done it differently , however, from my iten in the original post, I am now going to do what mapleleaves said in post 3 above (thanks btw). So it is not disappointing at all.

At the princess lodge in mckinley, I will do a flight seeing tour, and maybe a walking tour etc. I think this will fill up the time very well.

How long does it take to get from lodge to denali park?

If I arrive at lodge on day 1 at 1pm, if princess runs shuttles, I would think we can go to park to do dog sled etc. that afternoon? I would leave the second day to do the shuttle bus tour as it says that is an all day event.

What attracted you to book 2 days at the McKinley lodge? What were your interests? There is little to do there and Talkeetna offers superb flight seeing (which would be my recommendation) IF you want to see McKinley. Otherwise, 2 days is way too long, without your own transportation. I do suggest, you stay in Talkeetna, and not rush to the lodge when you get there. You will need to use the Princess shuttle buses the next day, 2 hour round trip for Talkeetna. Otherwise, look over their tour list and determine what is of interest to you.

 

Plenty to see and do at Denali http://www.nps.gov/dena

 

You are firm with your TWT choice? If you want to save considerable money and get further into the park (more scenery, more wildlife potential) then scrap the TWT and get on at least the Eielson Shuttle bus. It will require you to be able to make some arrangements on your own.

Booked and paid for on princess cruisetour. I had wanted to see denali and mckinley and thought this cruisetour would do it, but it seems like maybe i have an extra day in it, maybe could have done more on my own.

Doesn't make a difference at this point, what I am trying to do is use my time that I am there to the fullest. I did book the twt and can cancel that and do the shuttle to eielson

Here is my itinerary, need to find excursions to fill excursion time.

going june, middle age couple, can do anyt ype of walking, wanting to see as much as possible

I have bolded time when we can do excursions, I have been on the princess excursion site looking at too many things that I don't know how good or bad they are.

I would appreciate anyone's input on excursions they did here at denali/mckinley. Mods, if this should be in the princess section, pls move, my apologies.

day 1 arrive denali princess lodge at 1pm

day 1 afternoon/evening free

day 2 morning free until 1pm, suggestions

day 2 tundra wilderness (do not offer suggestions not to do this)

day 3 rail to mckinley princess lodge, can do excursion starting at 5pm

day 4 all day free for excursions

day 5 rail to whittier

thanks for all the quick replies.

is there a section on this board that reviews excursions, specifically in alaska, and from princess. I have looked under the princess part of the board, and here in the alaska, but I have to believe that there must be a section devoted to excursions? If so, would appreciate if someone can point me to that section. thanks.

Sorry for this newbie question, i have spent way too much time reading, and now have analysis paralysis.

on princess from fairbanks to vancouver for 2 weeks.

day 2, bus from fairbanks to denali. arrive 1 pm

day 3, they have booked me on nat history tour.

day 4 trip all day to talkeetna, arrive mckinley princess lodge at 4pm

day 5 do what i want

day 6 train to whittier

from what i have read, I would really like to see denali/mckinley.

specifically, not to do the natural history tour, but to get a tour further in, however the only thing left i see is the tundra wilderness tour at 2pm on day 3.

a. Is this the tour I want (tundra wilderness)?

b. Any recommendations on what can be done on arrival 2 day afternoon, & day 3 morning before tundra tour

c. recommonded tours from mckinley princess lodge?

We are a middle aged couple, can do lots of walking, nothing extreme, but viewing nature as much as possible. I know there are endless options, just trying to get a handle on things.