Princess Land Tour

Booked on Golden SB mid August. Looks like most flights will have us getting to FAI around midnight. Should we fly in a day early? If so, is it possible to add-on a night at the Lodge Princess uses in FAI?

You will probably get more responses if you post this on the Princess board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=197

Honestly curisetours see very little of Fairbanks. I would suggest you fly in several days early and see/do a lot more. Consider flying up north etc. At the least. Yes fly in a day early.

We did a very similar trip in August arriving in Fairbanks on the last flight of the day. It is still light then! But I am confused as to when you start on board the ship. Fairbanks is very far away from Whittier where you catch the boat - hundreds of miles away. We did the land and sea tour with a week on land and a week at sea. So I am assuming you are going to do the same thing.

It was a great trip! We flew from PHL to MSP to FAI on day 1. Long day of flights. We arrived but my wife's bag did not. :o:eek: So what did we do? Got an Uber and headed to Wal Mart. The Uber cost more than the clothes and they were the exact same t-shirts at the exact same prices we saw in shops in port in Skagway and Ketchikan. Cool shirts especially for a wal mart. Don't think the t-shirt shops have pants and underwear and toiletries though at 11:30pm.

We then went on a river boat and gold panning excursion the next day. (my wife in her new clothes from Wal Mart). It was a ton of fun. Saw a great native american village and a talk from a dog sled camp. After that we went to pan for gold. And yes we found some. $50 later they are in earrings. So fun though. I can see how people got gold fever. Wife's bag arrived that day too. It took a side detour to Seattle courtesy of Delta. Their app allows you to track your bag now too. Hope you don;t have to use it.

Our tour then led us to the Denali lodge with tours of the park and we did a whitewater river excursion and the silly musical show. We hiked (waked really as the path was paved) back from the Denali visitor center to the hotel too. I wished we started the walk the one way and rented bikes.

Then we transferred to the south side of the park to Mckinley Lodge. Weather turned on us so it rained a day. Next day we went to Talkeetna (an hour bus drive each way) and saw the town, ate at the Roadhouse, bought some cool aurora picture in a shop, and went to the ranger station and museum where the ranger gave a great talk about how they climb Denali.

From McKinley we went via train to Whittier and the ship. We arrived right before disembarking for the cruise. Slight line at the port but maybe 10 minutes. So away we went.

In Vancouver we just had one day. The tour from the cruise line of Stanley park was not nearly long enough and since you have two days, go see Butchart Gardens. Dump your bags at the hotel and Uber around where you need to go.

We did a very similar trip in August arriving in Fairbanks on the last flight of the day. It is still light then! But I am confused as to when you start on board the ship. Fairbanks is very far away from Whittier where you catch the boat - hundreds of miles away. We did the land and sea tour with a week on land and a week at sea. So I am assuming you are going to do the same thing.

 

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Quick question for you - do you recall which tour this was? We're looking at OB7 for next year and it sounds like this one.

Thanks!

The reservation itinerary I found in my mailbox said "KB6 / Denali Explorer" This link appears to be it. You can navigate to the 2019 versions from there.

https://www.princesscruises.fr/en/cruise-tours/alaska/denali-explorer-tour-k-2018