lucky cal

Have you checked to see if the places you are thinking about are on TripAdvisor?

 

DON

Yes, I have. The reviews for both are generally good which is why they're on my list, but people on this board also have good experience and it would be nice to hear from anyone who has experience with one or both properties, especially as far as location is concerned.

We are considering these two properties for a 1-night stay in Talkeetna in late July 2015. Anyone have experience with these lodgings?

We are looking for accommodations, ideally $200 per night or less. We are a couple in our mid-50s who would like a pleasant, comfortable, clean place.

Our main reason for stopping in Talkeetna on our way to the Denali area is to do a McKinley flightseeing trip.

Thanks for your help!

We will spend two nights in the Seward area during our 1-week independent land tour prior to an Alaska cruise in late July 2015. We are looking for accommodations, ideally $200 per night or less and are thinking about Abode Well Cabins or Salmon Bake Cabins. We are a couple in our mid-50s who won't spend a lot of time in our room, but would like a pleasant, comfortable, clean place to relax in the evenings.

Anyone have experience with these properties? Which would you recommend and why? Any other recommendations?

While in Seward, we are planning on a full day Kenai Fjords cruise and also hope to visit the Sea Life Center and the Iditaride dog sledding operations (and perhaps Exit Glacier as well). These cabins are not right in town so will we be killing a lot of time getting around or is Seward fairly compact (by lower 48 standards)?

Thanks for your help!

We will spend two nights in the Denali area during our 1-week independent land tour prior to an Alaska cruise in late July 2015. We are looking for accommodations, ideally $200 per night or less and based on reviews here think we have it narrowed down to McKinley Creekside Cabins or Denali Park Hotel. We are a couple in our mid-50s who hope to spend most of our time in the Park but who would also like a pleasant, comfortable, clean place to relax in the evenings. We would also love it if we are lucky enough to view wildlife from our lodging. And we want good proximity to the Park.

For those who know these properties, which would you recommend and why? Any other good places meeting our criteria that I might have missed?

Our primary concern with the Denali Park Hotel in Healy is traffic between there and the Park, but we love the price. I know there was a good bit of construction there this summer and I'm wondering if anyone knows what roadwork might be scheduled in summer 2015?

The appeal of McKinley Creekside is that they are cabins, which just sounds like Alaska to me.

Thanks for your help!

Ships leaving Wednesday to Alaska frequently have the ports all to themselves.

No crowds, no tendering, no delays getting into or out of port.

Ships get cleared faster.

Friendlier shopkeepers and tour guides everywhere.

No lines to get into restaurants on shore.

Fewer children onboard.

Fewer first-timers onboard.

Better hotel rates before and after the cruise.

Better airline fares in both directions.

I wish this was true, but I'm not sure it is. I'm booked on the July 29, 2015 Coral Princess departure out of Whittier and we will be one of five ships in port in Ketchikan and one of four ships in port in Juneau. Sounds pretty crowded to me.

Would someone who sailed on a 2014 southbound Alaska cruise and used Princess transfers to Whittier let me know how they work?

Are they offered from downtown Anchorage as well as the airport? We will be staying downtown the night before our cruise following a week-long independent land tour and will not be using a Princess hotel.

Are the transfers by bus or train and what time(s) do they depart?

I'm wondering if they're worth $78 each and if there are better options? Though I do like the idea of not having to deal with our luggage ourselves.

Thanks.

Check one large suitcase and carry on one 21"-22" rollaboard suitcase. My mom, sister and I each did this for a 2-week European land and cruise vacation this summer and it worked out great. We did need to have laundry done on the cruise.

I guess I don't get people's efforts to avoid "backtracking". To me, that's like saying: "I've eaten at a great restaurant once, no need to ever do that again".

I spent two summers driving tour bus between Anchorage and Seward. And I loved the view on each and every trip. So I would have no problem driving the rental car to Seward and then back to Anchorage to return the car and then catching the train to Whittier to join the ship.

My thinking was that with time so limited on what could be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, it would waste time to backtrack and would force us to spend more time in the car and less time enjoying activities. But maybe that's not such a big deal when the views outside your window are of one of the most beautiful places on earth.

So if we do the round-trip car rental in Anchorage, maybe it would make sense to go to Seward first, then on to Denali, then back to Anchorage to catch a bus or train to Whittier? Though it looks like Seward to Denali is about a 7-8 hour drive so that will be a long day for sure.

Thanks to all for the suggestions ... keep them coming!

Dawn

Originally considered a Princess Cruisetour, but am concerned about there being more time on buses and trains and not enough time in the locations we want to visit.

In researching DIY, I'm a bit stumped about the best transportation options for us based on what we want to do on land. We're thinking about:

- Flying into Anchorage (might want to spend a full day there)

- 2-3 days at Denali (including getting there)

- 2-3 days in Seward (including getting there)

- Travel to Whittier to board our ship

If our ship was sailing from Seward this might be a no-brainer. We would just rent a car in Anchorage, go to Denali, return the car to Anchorage, take the train to Seward and spend our last few days there before boarding the ship. But I see that there is no direct bus or train service between Seward and Whittier and I know that one-way car rentals can be steep in Alaska.

Anyone have suggestions for how to accomplish this itinerary economically and without too much backtracking? Also, does the suggested number of days sound feasible? We need to limit the entire trip to 2 weeks (might be able to squeeze in an extra day or two, though).

Thanks for your help!

Dawn

I'm obviously in the minority here, but I found coastal Alaska to be far more interesting than the interior. We did Denali post-cruise on our own, using Alaska Railroad and a B&B that had car rentals. Denali had an austere beauty and we did enjoy hiking there, and did see moose, bears and smaller wildlife up close and personal. There's a substantial amount of travel time involved in getting to/from the interior, however - we decided to skip the Tundra Tour because 8 hours on a bus, even in beautiful surroundings, wasn't appealing after a full day getting there. The greater Anchorage area had a lot more to offer than we'd expected. When we go back this summer, we'll spend more time around the coast, which I thought was visually spectacular and offered a lot of recreational and cultural things to do, with easier logistics for a "DIY" kind of traveler.

 

Cheers,

Kirsten

Kirsten,

You make good points. I have to admit I'm a little leery about the long travel times via train and motorcoach to get around the interior. But Alaska is an expensive trip and a long way from the East Coast. On the assumption that this could be our one and only trip to Alaska, we want to see as much as possible in a short amount of time. My husband has summers off, but I can't be away from work for much more than 2 weeks at a time.

We're thinking about starting the trip with a few days on our own in Anchorage and Seward, followed by an 11-night Denali Explorer cruisetour and possibly an extra post-cruise day in Vancouver at the end of the trip. I've been to Vancouver but my husband hasn't.

In any case, I appreciate the wealth of experience on these boards and all the suggestions.

Dawn

My only regret is when we started the tundra wilderness tour, the bus had to turn around due to the fact that it started snowing. However Princess did refund at least half of the money. I certainly did not blame Princess for the snow. It was just one of those things.

My favorite tour was while we were in Denali and did the Husky Homestead Tour. Now I am a dog lover and Jeff King grew up near where I live. He conducted the tour himself and it was fabulous. In case your not a follower of the Iditarod, Jeff King is a 4 time winner and came very close last year to winning again. But he did not want to push his dogs through some horrible weather conditions(a blizzard and extremely strong winds) that he dropped out after the last check point. That is why I loved his tour because you can see right away his dogs safety and happiness comes first. Anyways it is a wonderful tour and full of lots of info and includes free dog kisses, LOL

We are dog lovers, too. The Husky Homestead Tour sounds fantastic! Thanks for the tip.

Dawn

This is what the 2015 Connoisseur tour looks like. Hope it helps.

 

 

May 25 Rail: Whittier To Talkeetna 7:15AM 12:45PM

May 25 Lunch Aboard Train

May 25 Transfer: Rail Depot To Lodge 12:50PM 2:01PM

May 25 3 Course Dinner Mountain View Rest.

May 25 Mckinley Princess Lodge - 2 Nights

May 26 Breakfast At Mountain View Rest.

May 26 Day At Leisure

Date Description Arrive Depart

May 26 3 Course Dinner Mountain View Rest.

May 27 Coach: Mckinley To Denali 10:00AM 12:30PM

May 27 2 Course Lunch At King Salmon

May 27 Music Of Denali Dinner Theater 5:30PM 7:30PM

May 27 Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge - 2

Nights

May 28 Sourdough Breakfast

May 28 Tundra Wilderness Tour Depart 7:00-7:30a 7:00AM 4:00PM

May 28 3 Course Dinner At King Salmon Rest.

May 29 Breakfast At King Salmon Rest.

May 29 Coach: Denali To Fairbanks Hotel 9:00AM 12:30PM

May 29 Three Course Dinner

May 29 Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge - 2

Nights

May 30 Breakfast

May 30 Am Gold Dredge 8/Pm Riverboat 10:00AM 5:30PM

May 30 Three Course Dinner (Connoisseur Tours)

May 31 Tipping Information

May 31 Transfer: Hotel To Fai Airport

Many thanks Anna! Very helpful.

Dawn

When we were at Denali Lodge, we took a flight seeing tour that landed on a glacier inside of Denali National Park. It was amazing to fly around Denali and the landing was incredible. Had some time after we landed to walk around on the glacier and take some good pictures. Expense, yes, but well worth it IMHO.

 

Tim

Tim,

Thanks for the great videos. Looks like a fantastic trip. The land tour you took is similar to one we're thinking about. How did you feel about the amount of time at each location on the land portion of your trip prior to boarding the ship? Was it enough time at each location? Did you want more or less of any location? Anything you would book differently if you were to do another land tour?

Dawn

We just returned 3 weeks ago from the last cruise tour on the Island Princess of the season. I chose mid-Sept trying to avoid overcrowding in the ports as many ships have already moved out. Many ports we were the only ship.

 

Also while knowing it would be rainy, I'd heard that it brings out the intense blue in the glaciers & leads to more calving of the glaciers. (We saw the entire face of a glacier calve in Glacier Bay-gasp!!!) Also late in the season you are more likely to see the Northern Lights & miss the mosquitos (we never saw one)

 

I read the Alaska boards extensively and I would recommend that you do that. I knew to sell the Natural History tour back to Princess and book the Tundra Wilderness tour thru the park's website. It was fabulous and the mountain was fully out, a very rare happening- YIPEE!!

 

We flew into Anchorage several days prior to the beginning of the tour, rented a car ($68 for two days) and stayed at the Aleska Resort (beautiful). From there we took the Prince William sound tour independently and planned to do the Kenai Fjord tour but weather stopped us.

 

Joining the Cruise tour, we chose one that did NOT include the meals and often ate off site and saved $$. We enjoyed many meals at the Princess lodges but the menus are limited and all very similar & I was very tired of the Princess food by the last lodge even tho we had only eaten 1/2 our meals there.

 

All lodges had in room coffee makers so breakfast was easy & free. Coffee & instant oatmeal or a Builder Bar. Very helpful for early tours.

 

Be sure to book a ship going into Glacier Bay (that is why you choose Princess) That is top priority! In the ports look for the independent tours, e.g. Island Wings in Ketchikan.

 

Just my ideas & my preferences. Enjoy! Alaska is magical, not to miss!! :)

Thanks! Glacier Bay is a must for us and a top reason why we're considering Princess.

Can you speak to the amount of time you had to spend at each location on the land tour?

This last July a group of 12 of us took the escorted connoisseur cruise tour. It was 8 days on land followed by a 7-day cruise on the Crown Princess. This was the 2nd Princess cruise tour for me but the first one was much shorter. It was also my 6th trip to Alaska, both with Princess and on my own.

I emphatically recommend taking the longest escorted connoisseur tour offered. It takes all the worry out of the trip. It gives you a detailed time table on your booking confirmation. Each day of the tour, your escort will give you a letter with all the times and info about meals and luggage pickup you need to make the trip go smoothly. This tour will give you the best tour of Denali park. Your escort will provide narrative as you travel from lodge to lodge by both motor coach and train. We had a great escort named Jack Curtiss. He really knows Alaska and loves to answer any questions you might have.

Alaska is awesome but it is expensive. I believe one would be wise to get the most out of it you can and do the longest tour. It will be a lot less costly than making multiple short trips to Alaska to experience everything the state has offer.

Thanks for your recommendation. I just wish I could see detailed itineraries for the land portions of the Alaska cruisetours in order to better understand the travel times between each lodge and the true amount of time we would have at each location. This would help us to make a decision on which cruisetour would work best for us ... Just as you would evaluate and compare cruise itineraries to determine which ones would provide you with the most time in port.

If anyone knows how I can find that information or can post it, that would be so helpful!

We picked cruise tour PB7 for next August. When we received our confirmation we received all the times for the land portion. If that is one you are interested in let me know and I will post the times. We picked the Connoisseur tour category based on comments from family that have gone and loved it. With the food vouchers and travel included, it takes a lot of the unknown factor out of the trip planning.

Cruisetour PB7 is definitely one of the ones I was looking at because it included Kenai and that is one of our priorities. If you would post the itinerary for the land portion, that would be most helpful.

Thanks!

We are considering several Princess cruisetours in Alaska for 2015 and I would love to receive some advice and feedback from this board. If you've done an Alaska cruisetour with Princess, what were the highlights of your tour? Are there any locations or activities you would skip if you had to do it over again, and why?

Is there anywhere to find Princess cruisetour itineraries that are more specific than just Day 1, Day 2, etc., for the land portion? An itinerary that shows what time you arrive and depart each stop on the tour would be helpful for planning and understanding how much time you truly have at each location. If these exist, I can't seem to find them on the Princess web site.

Finally, other than having the freedom to go where you want and when, are there other compelling reasons to go with a DIY tour instead of an organized cruisetour? Looking at the prices in Alaska during high season, I'm not sure that big cost savings are likely. I enjoy planning the details of our travels, but I don't have as much time to do so as I would like so I'm leaning toward a cruisetour in order to eliminate some of the hotel and transportation research and arrangements.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

I did an Eastern Mediterranean cruise this summer on Celebrity Reflection with my mother and sister. We absolutely loved Mykonos and would have liked to spend more time there. It was my second favorite port after Santorini.

We spent the morning at beautiful, uncrowded Kalafatis Beach and the afternoon exploring Mykonos town, little Venice, the windmills, and shops. It was a charming town and the people we encountered were helpful and hospitable.

However, if you are visiting Santorini, they are somewhat similar in personality. Personally, I'm happy that we got to experience both of these beautiful islands.

Choosing between Grand and Star is almost a tossup. Grand is missing the center staircase and Skywalker's but it has Alfredo's which is, to me, a big plus. Star doesn't have Alfredo's but it does have the center staircase and Skywalker's. Both ships are great.

 

You mentioned Coral in your post but it didn't list it as a ship you are considering - at least not in the subject line of your post. I'm guessing a number of people will say they would pick Coral. A lot of people would also say to choose Pacific Princess. It's too bad your husband doesn't think that would be a good choice. Many people love the smaller ships.

Actually, Coral IS one of the three ships I'm considering along with Grand and Star. In fact, Coral is currently the frontrunner, but I would like to hear more from folks on this board for help with my choice.

Just starting to plan a 2015 Alaska cruise and looking at Princess mainly due to a desire to visit Glacier Bay and possibly do a cruisetour or independent land tour. Will likely do a Southbound one-way cruise therefore, will need to choose between Coral Princess, Grand Princess or Star Princess. Pacific Princess might be too small for DH, who likes lots of entertainment and restaurant options, so I'm ruling that one out for now.

I'd love to hear opinions from those who have cruised on these ships, particularly on an Alaska cruise. Pros and cons? Balcony cabin or Mini-suite advice?

Thanks for your time.

Dawn

Deck - 10

Cabin # - 1237

Class – Celebrity Suite

Starboard or Port Side - Port

Bed near?(balcony or bath) – Bedroom was separate from living room, which contained a giant sectional sofa overlooking the double balcony.

Quiet Cabin (With comments on problems. Note if connecting. ) – Very quiet; passenger cabins above and below.

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Fantastic view. Nothing but ocean in front of you and

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal for a suite. On the bump-out, mid-ship so in a great location.

Was wind a problem? Not at all.

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? Not applicable.

Any specific problems with this cabin? None. It was wonderful ... even with three grown women sharing the storage space and bathroom!

Any other comments?

One of our ports on our June Eastern Med cruise is Naples and we would like to tour the Amalfi Coast, visiting Positano, Ravello, Amalfi and maybe Sorrento as well. Rick Steves has cautioned that due to high traffic on the Amalfi Coast in the summer, independent tours could be a bit risky in terms of getting back to the ship on time.

We would prefer an independent tour versus a ship excursion but would hate to get left behind on the last night of our cruise.

Can anyone speak to this and share your experiences with traffic in June on the Amalfi Coast? Have you had any issues with making it back to your ship on time?

For reference, we arrive in Naples at 7:00am and the ship sails at 6:30pm.

Thank you.

We never received an email but I returned to the online check-in section on the web site at 47 days and the e-doc was ready to download. Also able to order luggage tags at that time.

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We are sailing on an Eastern Med cruise this summer on Celebrity Reflection and are planning to book a private transfer from the ship to the airport. My Air Canada flight leaves Rome at 12:20pm, I'm assuming from Terminal 3. My mom and sister are on a Delta flight that leaves at 1:05, likely from Terminal 5.

What time can we expect to be off the ship to collect our bags? Is an 8:30am pickup at the port enough time for the airport check-in, especially for the two of us that are flying directly to the U.S.? We disembark the ship on a Monday, so I'm not sure what to expect traffic-wise.

Do we need to consider hanging onto our bags to carry them off the ship ourselves? This is not really preferable since mom is in her 70s, but we don't want to miss our flights.

Any advice from those who have done this would be appreciated!