NWA395

This is interesting. We have two qualifying 7 day cruises coming up, 1 in August and 1 in September. These will be our second and third cruise with Princess. If my princess math is correct these will be counted twice and we will be getting on the August cruise as Ruby and getting off the September cruise as Platinum?

We are doing an Northbound from Vancouver later this year disembarking in Whittier followed by 11 nights DIY land portion. Picking up a car rental in Anchorage. Planning has not been difficult but is has been time consuming. Don't let the research overwhelm you.

The Woodlands in Ketchikan is locally owned. https://woodlandsclothing.com/

Looks like West jet mechanics are going on strike and the airlines has begun cancelling flights. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2024/06/19/westjet-cancelled-flights-strike-update/74151426007/

We also take in to consideration, the OBC if booked as a single cruise and the OBC if booked B2B or B2B2B. We were interested in a 53 day Los Angeles to Buenos Aires for next year. Our OBC when booked as a single cruise was $1550.00 for the 53 days. When booked as a B2B2B the OBC was $1550.00 per leg or $4650.00. The fare difference was about $700.00 more as a B2B2B but the OBC was $3100.00 more for the 53 days.

We have the same issues with a Panama Canal cruise on the Coral LA to FLL. Then board the Enchanted one day later in FLL. Cruise personalizer on the computer shows them correctly as separate cruises. Princess app on the phone shows as one cruise. I'm not going to lose sleep over this one.

Compared to when we booked.

Our Nov 2026 LA to Santiago Chili shows an increase of $530.00. OBC stayed the same. Our B2B leg, Santiago to BA went up $416.00. OBC the same. Our B2B2B leg BA round trip went up $398.00. OBC stayed the same. That is a total increase of $1344.00. Heck of a sale. 😲

Just and FYI, there is a parking garage next to the BH but I have no idea what the parking rates are.

We also debated between B2B in a balcony and realized we could do B2B2B, from LA for 53 nights (Nov16, 24 to Jan 8, 25) in an ocean view for about the same money. The OBC for each leg isn't bad either.

We stayed at the Blue Horizon last year. Excellent room and walking distance to most things. They have a restaurant which is open for breakfast although we did not eat there, guests we talked to said it was good. There is an excellent breakfast/lunch place a few blocks away called CORA'S. https://www.chezcora.com/en/breakfast-lunch-restaurants/cora-robson-street/?utm_source=googlemaps&utm_medium=vancouver-robson&utm_content=website We are staying there again in August.

Thanks, we will check the avis alaska site. Wow, just checked and they want $2400.00 plus for an 11 day August/Sept 2024 rental. I think we'll stay with Enterprise.

Just and FYI, I was checking car rentals last night and we ended up changing our booking to Enterprise which saved us about $600.00 over AVIS on our 11 night rental.

I can't answer your question directly in the Princess transfer however, the ACT bus would also be an option. We are renting from AVIS at their downtown location and the ACT bus drops us off at the downtown AVIS location as well as other locations. YMMV

Both letters came directly from Princess.

We have 2 upcoming Alaska cruises. One booked with Princess and one with a TA. We received a snail mail notice for each one.

We used Harv and Marv's last year. It was a 15 pax boat and we only had about 6 people so lots of room. The picked us up at the port, shuttled us to their marina and provided water and snacks. A full three hours on the water. Lots of whales and the boat captain did a great job. We were very pleased with their operations and the cost was about half of the Princess tour. The also guarantee they will get you back to the ship on time.

You will NOT have to worry about customs at a secondary airport from either ANC or YVR. You clear US. Customs and immigration when you depart YVR so when you land, your flight is the same as flying domestic in the US.

MtnSeaGirl, You are getting ALOT of information thrown at you. My wife and I are far from AK experts but I will share our experience and some of our research. We did an 11 night RT from Vancouver last April/May 2023 on Princess in a mini suite. It was incredible but left us wanting more. We researched thoroughly on the cruise line land tours and decided it was not for us and we chose to do a DIY land portion this year. The down side of the cruise line land tour is if there is something that is not on the itinerary, your bus or train isn't stopping. We liked the idea of having much more control over our land itinerary, So our August/Sept 2024 trip looks like this. 25 nights including Vancouver. 17 Aug 24 Northbound from Vancouver to Whittier on the Sapphire Princess. We chose an inside cabin this year and applied the saving to more days and $$ for the land portion. ACT bus from Whittier to AVIS car rental. From Anchorage we'll head toward Valdez for a few days, Fairbanks for a few days, Healy/Denali then to Palmer and Seward before ending up back in Anchorage to turn in the rental car. We are overnighting in Anchorage and then taking the train to Whittier and boarding the Grand Princess southbound (also an inside cabin) to Vancouver where we will fly home. It took a lot of research but we managed to keep our overall average lodging cost for the land portion at less than $200.00 per night, with 50% of the lodging being Air B&B's. We booked our rental car over a year out. Don't let the planning and research overwhelm you. Alaska is just another state with paved highways and plenty of hotels and restaurants. Albeit incredibly huge and beautiful. Decide what and where you want to see on your land portion and for how many days and make it happen. And enjoy your trip!! And FYI. The Tundra Wilderness Tour turns around at the same MM as the park shuttle busses. We chose to save the $100.00 per person and book the shuttle. Had the landslide not impacted the TWT we would have certainly booked it.

We used Harv and Marv's last year. There were only 6 or 8 of us on a 15 pax boat. I would not hesitate to use them again.

We cruised on the Sapphire in April/May 2023 on an 11 night RT from Vancouver in a mini suite. Loved the ship and there was plenty to keep us busy and we were determined to return for a land portion. Alaska is about the ports and scenery. This year we doing a 29 day land/sea/land/sea trip beginning with a few days in Vancouver. We are on the Sapphire for the 18 August northbound. We chose to do a DIY land portion (car rental and air B&B's). We then board the Grand for the September 4th southbound. We chose an inside cabin both ways which saved us several thousand which afforded more on the DIY land portion. Based on our previous Alaska cruise we will miss waking up to the beautiful views, but in retrospect, we spent so little time in the room, the additional cost was not worth it to us for this trip. I don't think you can go wrong with either ship and there are plenty of places to relax and view the scenery on both ships.

Definitely not too early. We cruised last year from April 29th to May 10th. Beautiful weather.

Thank you for the feedback on the Taku glacier flight. Our original plan was a 7 day northbound followed by 7 days land on our own and a 7 day southbound. It has now morphed to 7 day NB and 11 night land..... I'm not sure where this one will end.

Looking for feedback on what I don't know and suggestions. This will be a 40th wedding anniversary trip for my wife and I. We are both in our 60's and there are some mobility issues which will prevent longer hikes, glacier walks etc. Easy hikes of 1.5 miles RT and semi flat are likely doable. We have a couple of options which I will discuss at the end. The lodging goal for Alaska is to keep lodging under $200.00 per night utilizing Air B&B's and military lodging as practical. This may be a challenge as it pertains to Vancouver. We chose an inside room on the cruise to apply the saved $$ toward our land portion. We are flying in to YVR two days early as we enjoyed the city last year when we visited. 8/15 - Vancouver, Fly in to YVR - Last year we stayed at Blue Horizon for two nights and enjoyed it but may look for something along the lines of the YMCA to save overall trip cost 8/16 - Vancouver, sightsee, etc. 8/17 - Embark Sapphire Princess. We did an 11 night cruise on the Sapphire Princess in April/May 2023 and really enjoyed it. Very familiar with the ports so I will leave this out of the equation with the exception of Juneau. 8/20 - Juneau from 0800 to 2100. We are looking for feedback on the Taku Lodge and Flight excursion and would welcome further input. 8/24- Whittier, disembark in the morning. Transfer method to Anchorage is undecided at this point (i.e. ship transfer, private etc) but would like to be in Anchorage by noon. Pick up rental car from Enterprise downtown (car is reserved and have auto slash following). Make a grocery run to one of the big box stores and then drive toward Glacier View. Overnight Glacier View Tundra Rose Cottages. Head toward Valdez the next morning. 8/25 - Depart Glacier View for GlennAllen and Valdez. Stop in GlennAllen for flight seeing trip with Copper Valley Air of the Wrangell - St. Elias NF. Stop at Copper River area and Wrangell - St. Elias NF HQ. Short hikes, visitor center etc. and continue to Valdez stopping for photos and sightseeing as the mood strikes. Overnight Valdez at an Air B&B 8/26 - Valdez, Salmon Gulch Hatchery, bear viewing, Stan Stephens Glacier/Wildlife cruise, glacier lake depending on weather and mood. Overnight Valdez at Air B&B 8/27 - Depart Valdez for the Long drive (360 plus miles) to Fairbanks stopping at our leisure for photos, lunch etc.. We are figuring 8 to 10 hours with stops, unknown traffic/road construction etc. If time allows we will visit Pioneer Park for supper. Overnight Holiday Inn Express on Ft. Wainwright. 8/28 - Fairbanks, UoF museum, Gold panning/Stern wheel tour, auto museum and Chena Hot springs or substitute for whatever else floats our boat. Overnight Holiday Inn express. 8/29 - Drive to Denali. Visitor center, drive the rental out to mile 15(?) turnaround, visit the dogs. Dinner and overnight in Healy, Lodging TBD. 8/30 - Denali bus and park, overnight Healy 8/31- Drive to Palmer, visit Independence mines at Hatcher Pass and leisure the remainder of the day. Overnight air B&B. 9/1 - Drive to Seward, Sealife Center, possible short Exit Glacier hike or 1/2 day Kenai Fjords tour. Overnight Seward Military Resort 9/2 - Fishing, overnight Seward 9/3 - Drive to Soldotna, Talon Air Bear Viewing, overnight Soldotna 9/4 - We are undecided at this point and have three options (1) Drive back to Anchorage to return rental and fly home (2) Extend trip for a few more days and head to Homer; or (3) Book a Southbound cruise back to YVR. We are trying to keep BIG drive days to a minimum and we want the freedom to stop where and when we want. I know the Valdez to Fairbanks leg is a lot of driving but figured a counter-clockwise loop would keep the backtracking to a minimum. I welcome feedback from those who hit AK by land and any other information you may deem appropriate.