Momj47 Posted August 13, 2005 #1 Share Posted August 13, 2005 My DD, SIL and I did a two week cruise tour of Alaska with Princess (20U), June 18 - July 2. I've put some pictures in my gallery, it's a work in progress, we took over a thousand pictures. Alaska Pictures We had a great time. We spent the first week on the land tour - starting in Anchorage, finishing up in Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, and the second week was a southbound cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. This was our first cruise, and our first trip to Alaska. The land tour was definitely our favorite, but the cruise was wonderful, too. A criusetour is clearly the best way to see Alaska, especially the first time. It appears that there are 11 roads in the state, and many of the places you want to see don't have roads! Princess does an amazing job of coordinating travel, hotels, luggage, meals, etc. Everything went smoothly. (Our favorite picture, that we never took, was two young hotel employees standing in a parking lot behind the Captain Cook Hotel in the middle of about 300 suitcases!) The guides at each leg of the trip were amazing. They clearly love Alaska and were happy to share. They have an amazing knowledge of history and natural history of the state, we learned so much. We had eight days of sunlight - very disorienting, but we'll never experience that again. We were lucky to be in Fairbanks on June 21, Midnight Sun Festival, great timing Princess. Denali is beautiful, even in the rain. We did the Wilderness Tundra tour, I recommend it. The train ride from Anchorage to Denali - it was OK, but not my favorite part of the trip. The two day bus ride up the Dalton Highway was awesome, full of little surprises, too, like the forest fire, and the Japanese kid cycling to Deadhorse. The bus driver knew the road like an old friend, and shared his family's secret camping and fishing spots with us. (I don't think it's much of a secret, actually) Stops include Joy, AK, the Hot Spot Cafe, Yukon River Bridge, the Arctic Circle (no dotted line), Coldfoot Camp, Wiseman, AK. and Attigan Pass. Coldfoot has some of the hungriest mosquitos I'v ever seen, they were ready for fresh blood. Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay was great fun, my SIL took a dip in the Arctic Ocean it was 32.4 degrees, barely melted along the shore. We'll never be back, so it was now or never. The flight back to Anchorage was beautiful, our pilot took a small detour and circled Mt. McKinley, twice, so we could all get pictures. The cruise on the Island Princess was wonderful, great staff, good food, lots to do. I did learn that an inside cabin can cause claustrophobia, but a warm corner of the Lido Deck or a nice chair in the library works magic. Glacier Bay was beautiful, and we loved the Wilderness Jetboat tour we took in Ketchikan. We saw lots of wildlife, especially caribou - them's good eatin'. I certainly want to go back to Alaska soon, and I'd recommend this trip. I hope everyone has a great cuise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gayle2 Posted August 17, 2005 #2 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Your pictures were fabulous. Your SIL is NUTS!!! That water must have been frigid!!!! :eek: Gayle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaribbeanBlue Posted August 17, 2005 #3 Share Posted August 17, 2005 We had eight days of sunlight - very disorienting, but we'll never experience that again. Now that would be hard to get used to, but your right, something to be experienced at least once in your life! Great review! CaribbeanBlue http://www.*****.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Druke I Posted August 17, 2005 #4 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Yes, Alaska is incredibly pretty. Now that you have gotten your feet wet cruising, you'll have to go again. There are lots of good itineraries out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momj47 Posted August 20, 2005 Author #5 Share Posted August 20, 2005 You know, I hadn't thought I'd want to take another cruise, but with the emails and brochures coming from Princess, I find my self reading them and thinking I just might do it again. I found the mysteries by Dana Stabenow and Sue Henry while we were in Anchorage and I've read most of them, now I'm really anxious to get back to Alaska, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelnAl Posted August 21, 2005 #6 Share Posted August 21, 2005 Nice pictures. My wife took about 1,000 also. We were on the tour with you. Al & Marge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.