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Do it yourself Alaska cruisetour


SnowBird Cruzer
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Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

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Hi,

 

would you be able to send your spreadsheet to me too. Crazy, we just decided to visit Alaska this summer and am just starting our planning. I know we are quite late but hopefully we can pull it together. My email is lgdfrnd@aol.com. Thank you in advance!

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  • 3 months later...
Sure I will send you what I have. I'll need a few days, so please be patient.

 

I'm going to stick with Royal for this one. We just became Diamond level with them, and this will give us a few perks. The cruise is expensive enough, I want to get all the perks I can. After this cruise, then I'll start looking at others. Celebrity is part of the Royal family, and I can get perks there too. But they don't have a climbing wall, or a flow rider. I like that stuff!

 

I feel like I am slumming taking a ship without a flowrider.... I live for the flowrider, best part of my vacation. We just turned DP after our April cruise this year. It does sound like we have similar thoughts for this trip.

 

JC

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We are also doing a DIY land tour before our Celebrity Millenium cruise in Sept 2018. Our plan is:

 

Fly into Anchorage on August 30th, 2018

Stay for 2 nights, first day/night we will pick up our rental car and depending on what time we get in, either do a little sight seeing or just relax.

Next day we will do a Prince William Sound tour, have not decided which one yet.

Saturday, the 1st of September, we will drive up to Talkeetna, stopping along the way at whatever we feel like stopping at, we will stay overnight at Talkeetna.

Sept 2nd we will go up to Denali, stopping along the way to sightsee, spend the night near Denali. On the 3rd we will do the 8 hr Denali park tour, stay again overnight near Denali. We won't stay right by the park, but will go out a couple miles where it is a bit cheaper.

Sept 4th we will go up to Fairbanks, again, stopping along the way if we see something we want to see.

Sept 5th we will do the Riverboat Discovery and the Gold Dredge 8, stay one more night

Sept 6th we will head back to Anchorage, I would like to stop in North Pole just because I love Christmas. If we can do it, I want to drop the car off in Anchorage and shuttle down to Seward to spend the night in Seward. Otherwise we will stay in Anchorage again and shuttle down to Seward in the morning.

Sept 7th we will do something prior to getting on the ship. We are the type of people that get on the ship as soon as we can even if we don't leave till late, but that is when we can lay out in the sun. So, we may do an excursion instead.

 

Than on the ship, in Skagway and Juneau, we are renting a car and doing the Klondike Hwy in Skagway and Mendenhall Glacier for sure in Juneau and other sightseeing. In Ketchikan we are ziplining and the Lumberjack show, and in Icy Straight we are going Bear watching.

 

It will be a very busy 2 weeks, but this is a once in a lifetime trip for us so we plan to make the most of it. My hubby is an OTR truck driver so he has no issue driving all over the place and long hours or many miles in a day and would much rather drive himself than have to be on anyone else's time schedule. I have been researching and gathering travel brochures and maps, as well, my mom was there several years ago and has all the stuff her travel agent gave her.

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  • 2 months later...

It's been awhile since I, or anyone, posted here. Almost time to close it and begin talking about the plans that have been made.

Come Monday, I can make my reservation at the place we will stay for three nights.

Hard to tell from a post, but I'm super excited

 

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It's been awhile since I, or anyone, posted here. Almost time to close it and begin talking about the plans that have been made.

Come Monday, I can make my reservation at the place we will stay for three nights.

Hard to tell from a post, but I'm super excited

 

Sent from my Pixel using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

I can only imagine-would love to hear your final itinerary-staring to finalize ours for June[emoji41]

 

 

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I can only imagine-would love to hear your final itinerary-staring to finalize ours for June[emoji41]

 

 

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We made a 3 day reservation at Carlo Creek Cabins near Denali. Our plan is to fly from Chicago to Anchorage on Sunday Aug 26. (I'm hoping to get an early flight so we can arrive noonish). That way we can spend a good part of Sunday sightseeing in Anchorage.

On Monday, we'll take our rental car up to Denali, with stops along the way. Most likely Talkeetna.

Tuesday and Wednesday (28th/29th) will be in Denali area. I know one day we will be going into the Park on the bus system. Would like to hike/bike/ATV or do a scenic raft trip the other day.

We'll leave Denali on Thursday the 30th (I have a nice hike bookmarked for this day) and make our way back to Anchorage. Again, we might find someplace to stop along the way. (Of course, all this depends on the weather cooperating)

 

Friday 08/31 we will board the train in Anchorage and then do something, or somethings, in Seward before the cruise departs at 8pm.

 

We haven't even begun to discuss shore excursions, but I do want to do the zipline in Icy Point.

 

We'll spend Friday and Saturday in Vancouver. Planning on taking the train from Vancouver to Seattle and will catch a return flight from Seattle to Chicago late Sunday or on Monday. (Looks like those airfares w/b better than flying home from Vancouver. But if that changes, then we could fly home from Vancouver).

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We made a 3 day reservation at Carlo Creek Cabins near Denali. Our plan is to fly from Chicago to Anchorage on Sunday Aug 26. (I'm hoping to get an early flight so we can arrive noonish). That way we can spend a good part of Sunday sightseeing in Anchorage.

 

On Monday, we'll take our rental car up to Denali, with stops along the way. Most likely Talkeetna.

 

Tuesday and Wednesday (28th/29th) will be in Denali area. I know one day we will be going into the Park on the bus system. Would like to hike/bike/ATV or do a scenic raft trip the other day.

 

We'll leave Denali on Thursday the 30th (I have a nice hike bookmarked for this day) and make our way back to Anchorage. Again, we might find someplace to stop along the way. (Of course, all this depends on the weather cooperating)

 

 

 

Friday 08/31 we will board the train in Anchorage and then do something, or somethings, in Seward before the cruise departs at 8pm.

 

 

 

We haven't even begun to discuss shore excursions, but I do want to do the zipline in Icy Point.

 

 

 

We'll spend Friday and Saturday in Vancouver. Planning on taking the train from Vancouver to Seattle and will catch a return flight from Seattle to Chicago late Sunday or on Monday. (Looks like those airfares w/b better than flying home from Vancouver. But if that changes, then we could fly home from Vancouver).

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing-we're staying 1 night in Talkeetna & 2 in Healy. Come down & around & end up in Girdwood for a glacial landing dog sled. Hoping for another day& night near Wasilla-still need to "fine tune that" & what order.

 

Hope you have a great trip

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

Hi there, I would love your our spreadsheets and research for your Alaska holiday.

My email address is maureenfritsch@bigpond.com

thanks

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Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

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Would you please send me your spreadsheet. Preparing for a late June / early July cruise. From what I'm reading looks like the DIY is the way to go. Not much into programmed tours anyway. FYI grew up in NW Ohio now in the Memphis area.

 

jeff38027@gmail.com

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Thanks for sharing-we're staying 1 night in Talkeetna & 2 in Healy. Come down & around & end up in Girdwood for a glacial landing dog sled. Hoping for another day& night near Wasilla-still need to "fine tune that" & what order.

 

Hope you have a great trip

 

 

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Just an update on our plans: we're doing 2 nights in the Palmer area. Not doing Girdwood- able to do the dog sled glacial landing from Knik River Lodge, yay!

 

 

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There are people who love train trips and people who hate them. Count me in the hate them group.

 

Since everyone who loves trains will tell you how wonderful they are, I will tell you how awful they are.

 

1) You are in the train and you go past a great scenic vista. You have about 2 seconds to see it as they do not stop for scenic vistas but only at train stations.

 

2) You are in the train and a mother bear w cubs is at the side of the track. They would make a wonderful picture. Does the train stop so that you can take your picture or stop and watch them for a while. Again - no. Even worse, your spouse is looking at something at the other side of the car or is in the rest room as the train whizzes past the mother bear w cubs. You sort of get to see them. She does not.

 

3) You are ticketed to get on the train at say 10 AM in the morning. However, you are having a great time at the place you staying at and would like to stay longer. You can't. You have to be on the train at 10 AM.

 

4) You are going past a place that looks like it has a neat festival or parade going on. Can you stop and enjoy something that you did not know even existed until you whizzed past it at 40 MPH on the train - No.

 

5) I like to take pictures and I may take 5 or 10 minutes to set up and compose a great picture. You can't do that on a train.

 

I have taken only 2 train trips in my life. One was from Anchorage to Denali and the train trip was awful. I said that I would never do a train trip again. The only other train trip was on the Ghan in Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. We did that because my wife said that she did not want to drive the 1800 miles from Darwin to Adelaide. I sort of have to agree w her on that one but the drive would have been a lot more interesting than the train trip.

 

The problem with train trips is that you lave a total loss of flexibility. You can not change your travel plans because once you buy that train ticket you are stuck. As far as I am concerned, the only way to get from point A to point B is by car.

 

DON

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Thanks. Jdspoehr@hotmail.com

I appreciate it

 

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Hi SnowBird Cruzer,

If you still have your Alaska interior information links, I'd truly appreciate receiving them. We're sailing on the Island Princess July, 2018. We did another Princess cruise to Alaska in 2015 but want to add DIY activities pre- and post-cruise. stern [@] hrconsultant [dot] com

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I'll also suggest using Trip Advisor for mainland Alaska planning. It can be superior to have information that is first hand, with accurate details, that are sometimes missed. Once you have an itinerary, you can post it, and get superb information for fine tuning, making the best use of time and a final great itinerary- for you. I always caution against, jumping into planning without looking at numerous options. it's easy to bypass some excellent opportunities if you don't spend some time and really get into the research details.

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Hi SnowBird! We are DIY-ing our 6 day pre-cruise land tour this July. I've received so much planning help both here on these boards and on TripAdvisor (a wealth of info for the Alaska interior, especially). If you send me back your email, I'd be happy to pass along our spreadsheets and research. We are sailing on Celebrity, and are saving around $2700 doing the land tour ourselves. Even more importantly to us, we are able to structure our time to our interests!

 

 

Hi there, I would love your our spreadsheets and research for your Alaska holiday.

My email address is maureenfritsch@bigpond.com

thanks

 

I'd also love to get your spreadsheet:

 

tjcletzgo@hotmail.com

 

Thanks so much!

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I'm not sure how to do that. I have an Excel and a Word file. Is that possible to post?

 

 

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We just booked our Alaska cruise for June 2018 and would LOVE to see your spreadsheet.

My email is dougmarquart13 at hotmail dot com.

 

Thank you from Green Bay

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Oh my goodness! Sorry! I don’t check CC very often. I will send out our planning spreadsheets to everyone who requested tonight or tomorrow. I also did a trip report when we got home that’s linked in the 2017 folder of both our Land & Cruise trips.

~Katie

 

 

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I'm not sure how to do that. I have an Excel and a Word file. Is that possible to post?

 

 

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Hi Katie,

 

Please email the Alaska interior info you gathered to me too: Sternhr [at] ca [dot] rr [dot] com. If you have a Mac you can drag the files into the message box or, perhaps better, click the paper clip icon and choose the files to attach.

 

Thanks for your time and generosity!

 

Yvette

 

 

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Oh my goodness! Sorry! I don’t check CC very often. I will send out our planning spreadsheets to everyone who requested tonight or tomorrow. I also did a trip report when we got home that’s linked in the 2017 folder of both our Land & Cruise trips.

~Katie

 

 

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Katie could u please send me spreadsheet to please

maureenfritsch@bigpond.com

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So with only 6 months to go I think I have all my trips planned: I'll post what we are doing in case it may help others (bearing in mind I'm from England and have no idea or concept of where we are going - it all looks very small on a map LOL!)

 

6.1 fly from England to Seattle

6.2 Seattle Pike market and Chiluly and then fly to Anchorage - staying at the Ramada

6.3 rent a car (Enterprise) and drive to Girdwood for lunch

6.4 drive to Denali - staying at Home Dome

6.5 Denali

6.6 drive back to Anchorage and stay at Ramada

6.7 train at 0645 to Seward - stay at Harbor 360

6.8 morning tour with Northern Latitudes and board the ship

6.9 Hubbard Glacier

6.10 Juneau - share a taxi to Mendenhall

6.11 Skagway - Chilkoot train

6.12 ISP - Hoonah Wilderness tour and Brown bear search

6.13 Ketchikan - catch local bus to the totems

6.14 Inside Passage

6.15 Vancouver

6.16 Fly back to England

Phew!

 

 

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Wowzers, My phone has not been keeping me updated on posts to this thread, and there are a lot.

I'll do my best to post some of my infomation on an attachment to this thread. I'm going away for the weekend, so I'll try for next week. (maybe Sunday night, if possible)

 

Who said they did the Ghan!? I have seen two TV shows that mentioned that, and it is on my bucket list. (And so, yes, I am one of the Train lovers.) Your comments are fine, and all accurate. that's the tradeoff for a train ride. But almost all of those could be applied to a cruise too. That's life.

 

Happy December everyone!

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Wowzers, My phone has not been keeping me updated on posts to this thread, and there are a lot.

I'll do my best to post some of my infomation on an attachment to this thread. I'm going away for the weekend, so I'll try for next week. (maybe Sunday night, if possible)

 

Who said they did the Ghan!? I have seen two TV shows that mentioned that, and it is on my bucket list. (And so, yes, I am one of the Train lovers.) Your comments are fine, and all accurate. that's the tradeoff for a train ride. But almost all of those could be applied to a cruise too. That's life.

 

Happy December everyone!

 

That would be me. Get in touch w me at at donald.schoengold41@gmail.com if you have any questions.

 

DON

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How have I not read this thread in all of these months...we have most of our 5/2018 cruise/land tour planned:

5.14 or 15 fly into Vancouver. We have reservations both nights at Weston Bayshore (friends and fam rate because our daughter works for the co.)

5.16 25th anniversary

5.17 on board Island Princess

5.18 Sea

5.19 Icy Straight Cooking Demo and ?

5.20 Jeneau Tram up and hiking. Then out to Mendenhall and more hiking. Then whatever comes our way.

5.21 Skagway Rental Car to Emerald Lake, etc.

5.22 Glacier Bay

5.23 More glaciers

5.24 Bus to Anchorage to pick up Rental Car at airport. Off to Palmer and a night at Knik River.

5.25 Helicopter to dog sled. Night at Alpenglo Luxury Tent Camping. Probably Mantunska Glacier so I can go on it.

5.26 Mantunska Glacier Ice Climbing for the husband and another night Lux Camping.

5.27 Anchorage, not sure of what we will do this day yet, night at Marriott (daughter) unless we get to use hotel points from husband's work- too early to try and book).

5.27 o dark 30 fly home with the holiday the next day to sleep.....

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