Pre or post cruise tour?

We are looking to do a cruise tour to include Fairbanks and Denali.

The advice we had been given in terms of the cruise was to do northbound as the scenery becomes more impressive as you move north and leaves the vacation ending on a high note. To do it that way, the land tour would be post.

Has anyone done southbound with the tour before? Anyone have an advice on which is better? Or are both equally awesome?

We personally chose southbound to do next July. This is our first time on a cruise tour. Advised by others, do the land first and then on the cruise there are days where you can just relax and enjoy the scenery. Northbound tours are somewhat cheaper. It really does matter which way you go, there is so much to do and see wherever you to. I am certain we will have the time of our lives! Our tour in July 22 beginning in Fairbanks through Holland and we end in Vancouver with 2 post days. So we have a lot to look forward to! Good luck with your decision.

We've done cruise tours and independent travel in both directions, we enjoyed each experience. I would look at associated airfare for both directions. Flights might be more convenient and or cheaper on one or the other. Air schedules always factor in decisions like this for us.

There are benefits to both directions, but I completely disagree with the getting the "hectic land portion" over first so you can "relax". :) My trips are always even with priority planning. Biggest problem is with some of the poor cruise tour itineraries. So, my only comment will be to go for as long as you can afford. With Fairbanks, it is also "necessary" in my opinion to have extra days with a rental car. You see very little of Fairbanks with only a cruise tour. There is so much more.

Just be careful with land itinerary. We did Cruise first with RCCL

We ended the cruise in Seward and our first overnight was Alyeska (40 minute drive) next day Talkeetna (one hour to Anchorage lunch, then 3 hours drive) next 2-3 hours to Denali, then Train back to Anchorage (8hours by Train)

Our trip had a few hours at a time in a bus.

Our Friends went from Seward to Denali 12 hours on a bus. 2 days in Denali and then 4 hours and 2 days in Fairbanks.

We did so much more in the same amount of time.

Have fun!

PS flights back to South Florida wasn't a big difference, but the longer flight back

Overnight and big delay in Minniapolis at 5am was a killer.

Also note that southbound tends to cost anywhere from $300 - 400 more per person. At least those are the prices I've seen.

Thanks. We booked a southbound with the pre-cruise tour.