Mindershire

Good catch! I forgot about the admission fee for the area, but it's relatively minimal compared to the cost of an excursion and a helicopter ride to land on a glacier. The website outlines all the options for exploring on your own (and the inherent risks that you have to sign a waiver to accept) or for booking a trek with their guides. We explored for about an hour along the edge of the glacier and had a really great time using just our hiking boots so I personally thought it was worth the experience but that would definitely be a personal preference.

We went in Feb 2016 and because I am a mosquito magnet I took bug spray with deet, and wore long pants and long sleeves. I sprayed the deet on a bandana that I tied around my bag (don't spray that stuff on your skin).

We went all over the caribbean, into rainforests, etc. and got no bug bites. On the beach if there is a breeze you don't have to worry about getting bitten but anytime you are inland, especially near the falls and rainforests you should definitely be covered.

My husband and I are the same age as you and we did the cruisetour in Summer 2015. If you want to read about our trip, check out my blog posts here - http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/search/label/Alaska%20Field%20Reports

Assuming you are fairly active and willing/able to drive a car and read a map, my recommendation would be NOT to do the land tour through the cruiselines. It was a good experience (we did not have a big lead time planning like you did so it was a good shortcut for us) but all you really get from the cruise tour is transportation from city to city, and your hotel arrangements taken care of. Your meals and daytime activities are all on your own to arrange and pay for. If you do the land portion on your own, you can still stay at some of the lodges owned by the cruiselines and take advantage of the tours they offer through the hotels, but you can have your own car and be on your own schedule. We felt like we wasted a fair amount of time waiting around for everyone to load/unload on the busses between each city and it would have been nice to be able to stop at our own pace.

That being said, I highly recommend spending time in Anchorage, Talkeetna, and Denali National Park if you only have time for the highlights. The Matanuska Glacier is a few hours drive from Anchorage and you can walk on the glacier for free, or hire guides and do an ice trek if you are really adventurous. An airplane tour of Denali or the Misty Fjords in Ketchikan is worth the expense so I recommend you budget that in. We were able to see lots of wildlife on the ship so we never booked a separate whale watching tour. Food was the most expensive thing overall.

Feel free to contact me direct via the blog if you have specific questions!

We caught a local bus and went to Totem Bight State Park about 20 min outside of the city. The bus runs hourly so you can take your time to walk through the park and learn about totem pole symbolism. When you get off the ship, stop at the visitor center and ask for directions to the bus, it was across the street from the liquid sunshine gauge. Be sure to have cash on hand for bus fair.

Here is a recap of our day in port: http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-16-ketchikan-alaska-and-last-day-at.html

It poured the day we visited last year so we were in full rain gear. You could do without the rain pants if you have something moisture wicking/quick dry or a poncho. Here is a blog post I wrote about the best gear we used for our Alaska trip http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2016/01/best-gear-alaska.html

You can read about our day in Juneau and our self guided tour of Mendenhall Glacier via the Visitor Center on my blog here http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-15-juneau-alaska.html

I know you said the train wasn't important to you but its worth taking a second look at that option. You will be traversing mountains, lakes, and icebergs and go through a massive tunnel to get from Anchorage to Whittier. The scenery is gorgeous! The trains have glass domes and window that open and decks to stand on at the end of the cars so it really is a great way to spend a couple of hours getting your first glimpse of the Alaskan wilderness.

I think your timing to see everything in one day might be a little ambitious. We rented a car in London and did the reverse where we drove London to Stonehenge and then boarded the ship in Southampton. Check out a recap of our daytrip here to give you a better idea of distance and time.

I didn't write about Windsor because we did not go on this trip, but plan on at least 2.5 hours to tour the house and the grounds minimum. If you have to choose between things, I liked Windsor best of all.

If your kids are Harry Potter fans I highly recommend going to the Warner Bros. Studios just north of London as a day trip. You can get there by train and a shuttle, or by a charter bus. It was a fantastic experience for fans of the movie where you get to walk around inside the set, drink butterbeer, and learn all about the behind the scenes. Older kids and adults will love it just as much a little kids.

British Museum is also a really good choice. I would add in a cruise along the Thames, a trip to see the crown jewels in the tower of london, and a tour of the Globe Theater since your kids will likely know a little or a lot about Shakespeare at the ages you listed.

If you want to read about when/how I did some of these activities before our cruise, check out my travelogues from the trip here

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/search/label/British%20Isles%20Field%20Reports

I have a travel site where I posted all of my daily travelogues and some recap posts.

Field Reports from the trip cover 21 days total in Seattle, the Olympic Peninsula, Anchorage, a Princess Land Tour to Talkeetna, Denali, and Copper River, and a 7 day Grand Princess cruise through the inside passage to Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Vancouver.

Our group of 6 was ages 20-62.

Travelogues - http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/search/label/Alaska%20Field%20Reports

Best Gear/What I Wore - http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2016/01/best-gear-alaska.html

What to do with 72 hours or less in Anchorage - http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2016/01/72-hours-in-anchorage-alaska.html

The only thing you miss by skipping Talkeetna is the ability to do a flightseeing tour of Denali. I *highly* recommend passing through the town in order to do that. The views were outstanding and we got to land on a glacier. The town itself is small - no need to stay overnight but great to grab a meal after your flight. Here is a link to my travelogue of our day in Talkeetna if it helps you

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-6-talkeetna-alaska.html

For your time in Anchorage and the Matanuska Glacier, I put together a "&2 Hours in Anchorage" itinerary that you might find helpful

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/search/label/72%20Hours%20in%20Anchorage

We did the Prince William Sound crossing as part of our land tour, going from Valdez to Whittier before we boarded the ship. This was in early August and we saw lots of birds, seals, otters, and several types of wales. The captain would slow the boat and call things out so that people could head to the windows or the outer decks to get pictures and enjoy the wildlife.

Here is a link to my travelogue from that day of the trip if it gives you a better idea of what you might be able to see

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-10-copper-center-alaska-and-then-to.html

We used Island Wings for a Misty Fjords flight and thought it was totally worth it. For comparison, we also took a flightseeing tour around Denali (which I would recommend over Misty Fjords if you can only choose one).

Here is a link to my travelogues with a description of our day in Ketchikan and pictures from the flightseeing tour if that helps you

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-16-ketchikan-alaska-and-last-day-at.html

Its a really short distance from the train station to the lodge, maybe 5 min on the bus, but it does take awhile to get everyone off the train, onto the buses, and then unloaded and checked in at the lodge. I personally think you have enough time here *unless* your train hits a major delay in which case all bets are off.

Here is a link to my travelogue from the Denali Princess lodge where we had done a rafting excursion if you are interested

Train Ride Day: http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-7-train-ride-to-denali.html

Day in Denali: http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-8-denali-national-park.html

For the record, we didn't reserve a car in Anchorage until maybe a month before our trip and we had no problems getting a reservation and the prices were all reasonable. I wouldn't wait until the week before if you know you will need one, but there is no urgency to book one immediately.

If you want to read about some of the things we did while we had a car in Anchorage, check out my travelogues from the trip

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-4-turnagain-arm-alaska.html

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-5-anchorage-alaska.html

Or for all my recommendations for Anchorage, I put them one in single post here

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/search/label/72%20Hours%20in%20Anchorage

We stayed at Captain Cook as part of a land tour package and I highly recommend it because you could walk to almost everything you wanted to do in Anchorage. Here is a post I wrote with suggestions for where to stay and what to do on a 3 day trip to Anchorage, and I recommended Captain Cook.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/search/label/72%20Hours%20in%20Anchorage

I think your plan looks fairly solid. We did essentially the same "pre-cruise" time in London. Here is a link to our travelogues if you want to take a look.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2014/08/british-isles-day-1-london-england.html

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2014/08/day-2-london-england.html

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2014/08/british-isles-day-3-london-england.html

2 hours is plenty for Stonehenge. We drove ourselves, and did it in an hour because we were a bit short on time. We arrived at the cruise ship around the same time you are considering and everything worked well.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2014/08/british-isles-day-4-stonehenge.html

For the disembarkation, recommend you plan the "walk off" option so that you can be the first people off the ship in the morning. There are plenty of Princess transfers to get you to the airport, or just arrange for a car if you are travelling with a family since that is likely less than the transfer for 4+ people.

I would say you need a minimum of 1 hour to walk down, explore, and back and listen to the audio tour so that you can enjoy the experience and learn something. We were there for 1.5 hours, and were ready to go after 1 but there is a lovely cafe where you can get a cup of tea and something to eat. I used the extra time to catch up on my travelogue! Also remember that on large tours, it takes some time for everyone to load/unload so actual time to explore will likely be less than 2 hours, assuming you are on schedule.

If you want to read about our day excursion in Northern Ireland, check out the post here http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2014/08/british-isles-day-8-northern-ireland.html

If you are debating between renting a car to drive around, versus hiring a car or taking a coach, check out the travelogue from our trip in 2014 where we rented a car and drove from London to Stonehenge to Southampton. My husband had some caveats on who should try to drive in the UK.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2014/08/british-isles-day-4-stonehenge.html

There are some good options through the ship excursions if you want to stay in London when you first arrive, and then be picked up by coach and stop in Windsor on the way to the port for embarkation. We did that after disembarkation at the end of the trip and it worked really well.

If you want to see some pictures of the town, check out the travelogue I wrote during our trip. There were quite a few shops to browse through, some places to stop and eat. We took a bus up to Fraser, did kayaking, and then took the train down. The kayaking was not intense at all and if your parents in are good health they might enjoy something slightly adventurous but not exerting.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-14-skagway-alaska.html

Did you like taking the train up and the bus back?

Another option I have been looking at is taking the train both ways.

Your feedback would be appreciated.

D

I recommend bus up in the morning because it will be foggy and harder to see and appreciate the grand views. We did that, and then kayaked around the lake in Fraser for a couple hours before taking the train back down. I loved that itinerary and would highly recommend it.

If you want to see photos or details about our day in Skagway, check out my travel blog here http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-14-skagway-alaska.html

I read a lot of posts about what to wear and ended up going with mostly active wear, a pair of jeans, and a couple of skirts/dresses I could layer for dressy casual and it worked really well for my cruise in August 2015.

Check out the blog post I wrote I what worked best, and there are a bunch of my live trip reports on there as well if you want to look at photos of what the 20 years old wore, versus the 60 somethings.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2016/01/best-gear-alaska.html

My husband and I spent a few days in Seattle before our cruise last year. We used the light rail to get from/to the airport to Westlake, and then took Uber (an on demand car service you can book through your phone) to get from the train station to the hotel. We each had 1 large wheeled suitcase, a carryon sized wheeled suitcase, and a backpack or laptop bag and were able to manage it OK although the escalators were a bit tricky. See attached image of luggage we hauled for perspective. The train ride was about 45 min - 1 hr, so suggest you have a book to read or listen to some podcasts about Seattle.

If you want to read the details of how we got around, where we stayed, and what we did, check out my travelogues from the trip starting in Seattle:

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/07/day-1-seattle-washington.html

When we went in Aug 2015, we opted for a princess excursion that took us up in a small van/bus, dropped us just over the Canadian border at the lake where we could kayak for a couple of hours, and then we took the train back down. The train ride was slow but spectacular as you viewed all the various trestles, gorges, and landscape. Definitely recommend you take the train at least 1 way! Having some time to kayak and cross into Canada was nice as well. Check out my travelogue from the trip for more details and leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions.

http://72hourstogo.blogspot.com/2015/08/day-14-skagway-alaska.html