WalleyeLJ

We generally tip $25-$100 per excursion in Alaska (a couple times for particularly amazing trips more), depending on the length of time and the work required on the particular trip and/or size of the crew (kayaking guides and fishing trip crews we'll likely give more to than say a walking tour guide, 2.5 hour vehicle tour versus an 8 hour kayaking tour). I'm sure there are some secret tippers we missed, but I'd say easily on more than half of our Alaska excursions, we don't see a single person tip. Most of the friends and family we know that work as waitstaff get ZERO a significant percentage of the time. I somehow doubt that trend gets better when the tipping is more expensive.

 

We fall on the side that while yes, most likely your tour crew isn't just making waitstaff/agricultural worker pay, they don't all own the company they work for, and Alaska isn't exactly a cheap place to live, with a relatively short tourism season and many of the people we've met working 2-4 jobs to get through each year. We have had a number of amazing, unlike anywhere else we've been experiences in Alaska, and often the experience was made even better by a great guide and crew. Offering them what we do seems fair to us, but may seem excessive or too little to others. Whatever you feel good with should be your guide.

 

L.J.

Thanks Amishcountry - how was your trip?

 

L.J.

Good evening,

 

Looking to board as early as possible on our August Celebrity Millennium cruise out of Seward. Does anyone have any current season info on just how early we could check in? Looking at some pre-departure excursion options but need to get bags dropped off and some family on board before heading out. Thanks!

 

L.J.

We have added more and more land touring each trip we've made to Alaska. The cruises are wonderful, but off the ship and heading into the rest of the state is an experience not to be missed if possible. We have always skipped any ship cruise tours and set up our own tour plan for two reasons - cost, and flexibility. We like to go where we want, when we want, and leave early or linger if the mood (or wildlife and scenery) hits us that way.

 

On our first cruise to Alaska, we did Radiance NB from Vancouver to Seward. After a day in Seward kayaking Kenai Fjords, we took the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage, cabbed to the airport (know better now:D), picked up a car, and then spent the next three days on our own heading to Talkeetna, Healy/Denali, and back. It was the best trip we ever took...

 

Until our next trip to Alaska...

 

2nd cruise, we spent a week in Homer, Soldotna, Cooper's Landing and Seward, kayaking, bear viewing and fishing, then cruised south, Seward to Vancouver.

 

In 2015 - 3rd trip - we skipped the cruise and spent two weeks driving from Anchorage to Talkeetna to Fairbanks and then the Dalton Highway all the way to Prudhoe Bay. Then we headed back down to Whittier tour tour Prince William Sound, over to Soldotna, flew over into Lake Clark National Park for three days for bear viewing and fishing, and then fished around Soldotna for a couple more. We used what was then Relay Rides (now Turo) to rent a local car at a fraction of rental rates - even off airport - in Anchorage, for the first week of the trip. It's like VRBO or Homeaway for cars.

 

We are headed back this summer to make the Seward to Vancouver run, this time on Millennium. We were planning on going back next year, but my mother in law, who will be turning 85 in October, surprised us and said she would do Alaska and we changed our plans. We are using Turo again for our "rental" car needs but other than Seward skipping a pre-cruise land tour this time so we don't wear her out.

 

Next trip back to Alaska - we'll be back roaming inland on our own...:).

 

There are myriad options of things to do once off the ship - you'd need weeks or years to try them all! No matter what your family's interests are, you should find plenty of fun and engaging options that will leave you all with some terrific memories and shared experiences before the kids grow up any more. If you are not comfortable setting up the land portion on your own, then the cruise tours seem to be well received and better than not going at all. If, however, you are up for a little research and enjoy the planning (it can be half the fun), then that would be the way to go. Good luck and have a wonderful time!

 

L.J.

Travel Alaska in the Google Play Store is a decent app. Chimani Kenai Fjords is a new app - I'll be trying out for our Seward/Kenai Fjords visit in August.

 

As for Sprint - we've had an unlimited data plan for years, and we've never had cell coverage issues in any port, except maybe Icy Strait. We drove Anchorage to Fairbanks and down to Soldotna, and had issues with suing data (no additional charges) during our travels.

 

L.J.

Thanks L.J. Have you posted a review from your most recent trip?

Joyce

 

Hi Joyce,

 

Do you mean the land tour we did in 2015 that outlined in my previous post yesterday?

 

L.J.

Both were great experiences, but I would repeat touring Kenai Fjords any time. Misty Fjords was our first experience on our first cruise in Alaska, and while amazing and I'll never forget it, I just prefer being on the water than in the air. Plus, it's a much longer excursion, you get to see more wildlife, up close, and the water and mountains - and glaciers - are amazing. Headed back in August for our 4th Alaska adventure, and are planning on two Kenai Fjords trips before we head southbound on our cruise.

Hi Susan!

 

Our first trip to Alaska was in 2009 as well and hooked us too! We did our 2015 tour on our own. Here was our itinerary:

 

Day 1 - Charlotte to Anchorage

Day 2 - Anchorage to Talkeetna (picked two of our friends who came up a week earlier to mountaineer on Ruth Glacier on Denali), then on to Fairbanks.

Day 3 - Fairbanks to Wiseman (Dalton Highway, broke the Arctic Circle!)

Day 4 - Wiseman to Deadhorse

Day 5 - Prudhoe Bay tour - walked into the Arctic Ocean! Then Deadhorse back to Wiseman...

Day 6 - Wiseman back to Fairbanks

Day 7 - Fairbanks to Healy/Denali NP

Day 8 - went into Denali - finally got to see her on our third attempt! Denali back to Anchorage to drop our friends off, then headed to Whittier

Day 9 - Whittier all day boat tour, then off to Soldotna

Day 10 - supposed to head to Lake Clark National Park for three nights to bear watch and fish; grounded due to weather.

Day 11 - moved up our Kenai River Salmon trip scheduled for after the bears trip; weather cleared, flew over to Lake Clark NP/Silver Salmon Creek in the PM

Day 12 - Silver Salmon Creek Lodge - bears and salmon

Day 13 - SSCL - bears & salmon

Day 14 - SSCL back to Soldotna

Day 15 - fished Kasilof River for salmon; back to Anchorage - flew home to NC!

 

It was a LONG trip - over 2,000 road miles, and a different place to sleep every night for the first 11 nights. Dalton Highway was awesome - but if we ever do it again, need more than 4 days to soak it all in:D. Whittier, tour was terrific, and the salmon fishing and bear watching in the 2nd week was fantastic - once we got to SSCL, the weather was terrific. Here's my favorite shot from Silver Salmon Creek:

 

 

L.J.

Well, it's been a long time since I was on CC - almost 2 years!!!

 

2015 we did a 2 week land tour, which I never ended up getting posted here...drove the Dalton Highway and stood in the Arctic Ocean, then went to Lake Clark National Park and Soldotna and saw LOTS of bears and caught a LOT of salmon!

 

We are heading back on this August, so I hope to get back on the horse and post a new thread here post trip - can't wait to get back to Alaska!!!

 

L.J.

I didn't want this review/ travel journal to end!

Such great photos! Thanks.

We have a cannon power shot SX50HS

We are doing a cruise plus cruisetour on NCL in End of May/beginning of June.

We have few days of DIY on north side of Kenai peninsula after.

I appreciate all the research and planning you did for both of your trips; wish I had read about the bear search on Katmai and wolverine creek before I booked this cruisetour. I would have booked later in summer, as we are too early for the big salmon runs which means no bear tours in early June :-(

Is there a link to Bev's videos? I may have missed it if you already mentioned it in your great reviews!

Can't wait for our trip coming up in May, first time to Glacier Bay and Denali! Yay!

Thanks again...Best Review, Best Pictures by far!

Have fun on your 2015 land only trip! Can't wait for that review!

Joyce

 

Thanks Joyce - I hope you all have a wonderful trip! FYI - while it is early in the season, there are trips out to Katmai in mid May and early June kicks off the viewing season for most of the Homer based companies. As you saw, we went with K-Bay Air out of Homer, and while the salmon aren't in then (they weren't in for us in early July), they are clamming & mating during that time, and there might be some little spring cubs too.

 

As for the videos, we've only got one up online so far. It's a shot of some of our planemates

. Watching people fish for Sockeyes was almost as entertaining as the bears themselves!. Hopefully it'll let me link it on here (it worked int he preview at least!). If not, just shoot me an email and I can send you the link.

 

L.J.

I thoroughly enjoyed your review! Pictures were awesome & I am VERY ready to go, NOW!! We are in the planning stages of our trip for 2017 & plan to go during the end of May. Don't know if I can wait that long, your blog got me VERY EXCITED!!! Thanks! :D

 

TMW67 - I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've got a better, longer post for our more recent trip with ALOT more photos if you want to check that one out too!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1679447

 

We're so excited to back up there this summer for two more weeks of bliss. I hope you have a wonderful trip - it'll be here before you know it!

 

L.J.

That was an awesome review. We normally go in the day before, but because of the airline rate, I planned for us to fly in the evening before , next day board the ship. Now I'm adding a day in Seattle, either post or pre.

 

Thanks my3cees! We LOVED Seattle - and were blessed with perfect weather. While we'll miss crusing this summer, looking forward to two full weeks inland this time around! One of these years we want to do a R/T to/from Seattle to get a couple more days there to explore. Have a great trip!

 

L.J.

For anyone new to the Alaska board this is a great review from beginning to end.

 

I found it a great help when planning my trip.

 

Walleyelj and Bev and plans for a new Alaskan adventure this year?

 

Hey World,

 

Thanks for the kind words - especially since I feel off the face of the planet (or at least CC) and haven't finished our last couple of days of this particular trip...

 

That said - we ARE planning our great Alaska 3.0 adventure the middle two weeks of August this year. All land tour (no cruise portion this time), but we're planning at the moment on visiting Barrow, Fairbanks, back to Denali, back to Kenai Fjords, Lake Clark National Park for 3 nights/4 days of bear viewing, and salmon fishing the Kenai & Kasilof rivers - with a few other things in the mix we haven't planned out yet!

 

L.J.

Mountain High Pizza Pie was a cross the street from the Roadhouse, and based on the number of people sitting outside, it looked like others thought it was pretty good. As much as a late lunch of nothing but cookies and muffins sounded good (in theory), we figured we needed something slightly more meal-like since we still had a couple three hours north to go. Plus, we figured it would be pretty quick. So, we went in and got some slices and a drink. A few minutes later we had a couple slices of cheese and pepperoni (for me), and cheese, pepperoni and mushroom (Bev). One thing we found in general in Alaska is that the food is good and the portions plenty. You can see from the photo of Bev with her pizza that they certainly didn’t skimp on the ‘shrooms! The folks in the kitchen probably wondered why I was taking their picture, but I was actually shooting a couple of bumper stickers they had mounted over the food window into the kitchen. Our hunger satisfied for now, we finished our tour along Main Street, until we got to the end and walked a trail a bit further to the banks of the Talkeetna River. Looking NNW, we still had no luck getting to see the top of Denali. The glacial fed river was cold when we dipped our hands in! It was getting onto to after 5pm, so we started back to the car, said good bye to the fun little town of Talkeetna and headed back out to the Glenn Highway, destination – the hamlet of Healy, just north of the main entrance to Denali National Park!

 

 

 

Pizza Pizza!!! More spring time dining in the great outdoors!

 

 

 

 

 

Cute Talkeetna bumper stickers

 

 

 

 

 

Look at all the mushrooms (no thanks!)

 

 

 

 

 

In case you were looking into flightseeing around or onto Denali, here are some shots of the K2 and Talkeetna Air Taxi offices/art galleries/shops! Hopefully that’s not REALLY one of the planes they used…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bev wanted to get up close and personal with an Alaska moose, and in Talkeetna – she finally got her chance!

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

We wandered along Main Street, checking out the various businesses. We came upon the Roadhouse Café & Bakery (and lodging – not as relevant for us this trip – but food – always good!). We went inside to check things out and found the interior warm and quaint. The fresh baked goods smelled terrific, and there were a number of coffee options. The coolest thing about the Roadhouse to me, though, was the expedition flags and country flags that were hung all over from groups that had climbed Denali. It was a neat bit of history, and since I’ll never climb Denali myself, it was cool to live just a bit vicariously through their experience, and also knowing that if nothing else we had shared the experience of Talkeetna itself and the Roadhouse. Bev chatted with some folks at one of the tables, and we learned the joy of Moose Farkel! Apparently they have Farkel nights every week during the long winters, and it can get really competitive! We bought a set of Moose Farkel dice to play back home – a unique type of souvenir from the trip. While the bakery items were super tempting, we wanted to see what other options we might find in town for lunch, and then planned to come back and get dessert here.

 

 

 

Looking down from the car along Main Street towards the Roadhouse...

 

 

 

 

 

Al Fresco dining, Talkeetna style!

 

 

 

 

 

Checking out the amazing bakery!

 

 

 

 

 

A look at some of the expedition shirts, flags and banners from decades of Denali Mountaineering history…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we made sure we didn’t have dessert first, the Roadhouse ramped up our hunger, so within a couples minutes of heading out the door, we stopped sightseeing and we were headed for some great pizza!

 

 

 

L.J.

As we made our way north, we were not fortunate to be treated to the classic highway views of Denali’s looming presence. While we could catch a glimpse here and there of the shoulders of the great mountain, we never got to see the upper half/third of the mountain. We trucked along at a decent clip, with light traffic and no highway construction, so we made good time to Talkeetna. The road to Talkeetna is actually a right off the Glenn Highway, about 13 miles away. We stopped at the little Visitor’s Center that marked the turn for a few minutes, where I was able to get a shot of this traditional backcountry storage cache. These are used to keep food and supplies up off the ground and away from the many critters that might also find the items useful. Then, we made the quick trip up the road to the quaint little town of Talkeetna.

 

 

 

The cache

 

 

 

 

 

The weather improved and the sun popped out as we rolled onto North Main Street Talkeetna and parked near Village Park. N. Main Street is all of about ¼ mile long, and the whole area around Talkeetna is very flat – funny considering it’s the HQ/jumping off point/base of operations for some of the greatest mountaineering expeditions in North America. We saw some interesting art in front of the Post Office as we parked, so we walked over to check it out. It was a big blue metal moose, decorated with several different things representing Alaska and celebrating the state’s 50th anniversary of statehood. Similar types of projects were apparently all over the state at the various post offices. In any case, it was neat to see. We made our way back to Main Street and starting walking down the road, checking out the businesses, B&Bs and restaurants that line both sides.

 

 

 

Welcome to Historic Talkeetna!

 

 

 

 

 

The Talkeetna Post Office with the Blue Moose out front

 

 

 

 

 

A profile of the Blue Moose

 

 

 

 

 

Bev ready to check out downtown Talkeetna!

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

So, despite the exhaustive day prior, we were up pretty early after only about 5 hours or so of sleep. Even through bleary eyes, we couldn’t help by laugh out loud at the sign below, which described the unique means by which we had to operate the shower. The tub was also filled with little non-slip decorative fish ALL over the tub itself. The shower was, however, nice and hot and had better water pressure than some places we’ve stayed, but nevertheless, while an interesting place to stay, we will not look to return the Caribou Inn on anytime soon. For those who’ve read my two reviews on the Alaska board probably think we just love everything we do and see, and while that’s generally the case, this proved the exception. As we prepared to leave, I guessed that Bev was all about skipping the breakfast portion of our stay, which was spot on, so we just grabbed some fast food on the way out of town.

 

 

 

How to work the shower – Caribou Inn style…

 

 

 

 

 

One last (hopefully forever) look at the Caribou Inn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also hit Target for some snacks for the next couple of days, including our bus trip into Denali, and we also picked up some inexpensive DVDs about Alaska to reminisce when we got back home. Interestingly enough, the Target we stopped at had a HUGE tourism section of postcards, DVDs, Alaska foods, Ulu knives, etc. Stocked up, we hopped on the Glenn Highway and started rolling north towards Talkeetna and Denali, with our first stop of the day just a short ways up the road – Thunderbird Falls in Chugach State Park. I love taking photos of waterfalls and had read that Thunderbird was easy to access, so after a quick dip off the Glenn Highway, we found the parking lot for the access trail. The trail is only about 1 mile each way, and the path is wide and easy to navigate. That said, yesterday finally caught up to Bev who decided to turn back a short way in because her legs were hurting her. I was willing to head back and move on up the road, but she insisted I go on and check it out. A short, pleasant walk later I got to the end of the trail. While it was cool to get to the little boardwalk overlook to see the falls, I was surprised and a bit disappointed to find out that the falls were a good bit away still, and blocked a lot by vegetation. With the camera zoomed in I was able to frame a couple of nice shots, but it looks smaller and further away with the naked eye. I turned around and headed back down the trail. For the most part there was always a couple of people in sight most of the trail but for a couple of short stretches I was alone, and when I was, I felt acutely aware of the idea that I could just stumble across a bear of a moose here. I know that’s probably the most obvious comment of all time, but it was still a rush because I never really had to worry about that back east for the most part, and I suddenly felt myself paying a lot more attention to the sounds of the woods and everything around me. Nothing but the songs of birds flitting through the trees, but it was still neat. A short time later I was back at the car, and we were back on the Glenn in search of our next adventure!

 

 

 

The well-travelled trail to Thunderbird Falls

 

 

 

 

 

Upper Thunderbird Falls (what you can see!)

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Birch Trees along the trail

 

 

 

 

 

Our view back on the Glenn Highway, making our way up the Mas-Su Valley

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

i just found your review. great reading material before our cruise in 2 days!!!!! jealous of your pictures!

 

Thanks - and I hope your 3 kids ARE happy and that you all are having a wonderful trip - I'm jealous too! Can't wait for next August! :D

 

L.J.

I have read both your Alaska reviews and loved them both. We are traveling to Alaska next summer with a stop in Seattle first. Your reviews have given me some great ideas. Great pictures too!

 

Thanks Teach!

 

L.J.

Wow, jealous!

 

 

Laura

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Super cute! That's a way better look at the little bugger then the one we saw when we were at Mendenhall. They are funny little critters!

 

L.J.

Oh, my, I had lost track of your review and just came back to this board. Caught up now.

 

We had a similar kayaking experience in Ketchikan. My husband is 6'3", and whichever foot that was on the rudder pedal went completely to sleep and rendered him helpless. It's funny now, but he was not a happy camper. Our only prior kayaking experience was in a lagoon in Acapulco, when his back seized up. He ended up out of the kayak, lying across it, yelling "Are we having fun yet?" Needless to say, kayaking is not in our future.

 

Your photos of the train really took me back to one of our favorite things in Alaska. We did the southbound route from Anchorage to Seward, also in May. We're planning another Alaska Railroad adventure next year, and I can hardly wait.

 

I'm really looking forward to your Denali adventure. Thank you so much for sharing your trips with us.

 

Thanks CMO!

 

The same thing happened on our 2012 trip - I ended up having to flatten my legs straight out instead of bracing them high and against the shell of the kayak - it worked, but probably made the kayak less stable. The same darn thing happens to me if I sit on the floor in front of the couch:D. I think I need to stretch more - I enjoy our kayaking, limited as it may be!

 

L.J.

You can never have too many animal sitings!

 

Here's my review- still in progress

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2070945

 

 

Your description of that B&B is the funnest thing I have ever read!(but sorry about the smell)

 

LOL - I should have posted the pic of how to turn on the shower - priceless!

 

L.J.

So lucky, you saw a porcupine! Thanks again for both reviews. Your reviews helped to me to plan our trip and made me want go so much more. We have bee home a week and I am writing a review now. Your pics are so much better than mine!

 

 

Laura

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Laura,

 

The Porcupine was cool - we even saw another one on the side of the road heading up to Denali (opps - spoiler!):D I hope you had a wonderful trip - looking forward to your review! I'm sure your photos are terrific - the important thing is that they help you remember and relive the details of your trip!

 

L.J.

As we neared the end of the trip and started to approach Anchorage, the sun burst through the left and front side of the train as the storm clouds cleared out. Looking out the left and back side of the train into the Arm, we could see the sun spill across the top of the snow covered mountains above Turnagin, and a beautiful rainbow arched out of the dark, menacing clouds, reaching towards the rapidly brightening Cook Inlet.

 

 

 

Here comes the sun!

 

 

 

 

 

The end of the rainbow!

 

 

 

 

 

As the warm, late sun spilled across the landscape, we rolled on through Potter’s Marsh and were able to see some birds basking in and flying around the late light. This is a hugely popular area for bird enthusiasts.

 

 

Potter’s Marsh Birds

 

 

 

 

 

The sun set just as we arrived at the train station in Anchorage. First the train was late – then we ended up waiting almost a half hour for the baggage to get offloaded. Then, it was all Hunger Games trying to get a taxi. I don’t know if that’s normally a problem, or if the taxis all just left when the train was late, but people were running all over trying to flag down the few cabs that came by, and everyone was trying to call and get one to pick them up. We finally got ours, and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car. The woman at Avis was very friendly, and even offered us an upgrade to a Nissan Murano crossover SUV, and delivered the car to us – a great way to end a drawn out but wonderful day. We headed to our final destination for the night – the Caribou Inn B&B. We really aren’t picky, but I would have to say that if you can find other accommodations for your stay in Anchorage, I’m guessing they might be better. The place was old, dated, and smelled like old cabbage soup. The room was older than I am, but in the end, the bed was clean, the shower backwards, but it worked for the few hours we needed to crash before we hit the road for Denali!

 

 

 

A last couple of 11pm sunset shots from the end of the train ride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.

As we passed Spencer Glacier, I didn’t really get any good photos, but it was an impressive view in the distance. We even saw a chubby little porcupine waddling away from the train as fast as it could (all my photos came out blurry – rendering it like a round little “Bigfoot” photo from the 1960s…). We stopped to drop off a few hikers, and boarded a couple, and then we started along our final leg of our journey, running along Turnagin Arm and the Seward Highway towards Anchorage. It was still very cloudy and showering and gray, but we were able to see the wetlands on both sides as we ran up the southern part of the Arm. The railroad guides pointed out some of the decaying remnants of homes and trees destroyed by the massive 1964 earthquake that stuck this part of Alaska, the second biggest in recorded history. The ground shifted so much that some of the homes and other buildings we partially swallowed, and the shifting earth and resulting tsunamis ended up causing forested portions along Turnagin Arm to be flooded by sea water which ended up killing the trees, leaving dead, decaying clumps of trees, some still standing, some leaning or tumbled over from the beating mother nature puts on the area each year. We also saw our second moose of the train ride along this area, off in the distance feeding in the marshlands. As we moved north along the edge of Turnagin Arm, a surreal, warm orange glow began to build and intensify off to the west end of the Arm where it meets up with the main part of the Cook Inlet. We also saw a lot of people parked in different spots along the Seward Highway (which was between the train tracks and Turnagin Arm), fishing and or dip netting. The tide was out at the time, leaving small pockets of water, or very shallow bays, and huge, sprawling mud flats easily a half mile or more across out into the middle of the Arm. Then, we saw the coolest thing – the bore tide was coming in!!! The tidal changes in Turnagin Arm are among the fastest in the world, with the water coming in so fast and so high that people caught out exploring the mud flats get caught and have even drowned – which made sense why the folks we saw fishing and netting earlier hadn’t ventured far from shore. The bore tide rolls in so fast that you can see it coming like a tiny tsunami – and I was able to grab a quick photo as we rolled on by. I can confirm it was amazingly fast – more like watching a low, long surf swell roll in on a beach. It was awesome!!! I hoped to see it again when we returned in 2012, but our timing wasn’t right. It’s a neat sight to see if you have the fortune too catch it. If you want to know when they’ll be if you’re visiting, there are bore tide charts so you can see what days they are expected in the Arm.

 

 

 

One of the half swallowed homes destroyed by the ’64 earthquake…

 

 

 

 

 

The eerie, warm glowing on the horizon to the west (at this point it was after 10pm, the time we were supposed to have arrived in Anchorage, but we’d had a couple delays along the way on the ride up)

 

 

 

 

 

A poor shot in low light of the bore tide rolling in!

 

 

 

 

 

It ended up being a good time to take some shots of the rail car and some of our fellow adventurers…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bev & I, exhausted but having the time of our lives!

 

 

 

 

 

L.J.