Alaska Cruise Tour Package

[Bridge Maven]

My husband and I took a cruise to Alaska on Infinity during the summer of 2001 and loved it, but instead of taking the cruise tour package we stayed in Vancouver for a few days and then took a seven night cruise to Alaska that was round trip from Vancouver.

 

We are now thinking about taking another cruise to Alaska which would include a land package. If you have been on a cruise tour package would you recommend it or do you think we are better off just booking the cruise and doing the land portion on our own?

[CruisingChick]

As someone who did do the land package through the cruise line - which was nice - I would do it on your own. There is a TON of information under the Alaska Ports of Call board. You can reserve the train and do that on your own and definitely go to Talkeetna and stay at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. It was the best part of our land tour.

[Bridge Maven]

As someone who did do the land package through the cruise line - which was nice - I would do it on your own. There is a TON of information under the Alaska Ports of Call board. You can reserve the train and do that on your own and definitely go to Talkeetna and stay at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. It was the best part of our land tour.

 

Thank you for the helpful information :)

[chief joe]

Which ever way you chose you will remember it always. We did a private tour and met ship at seward. We had been warned buy fellow cruisers to do land portion first because of long days we were able to rest on ship. Glad we did. Enjoy your cruise.

[CruisingChick]

Yes, definitely do the land portion first, then the cruise. That's the way we did it.

[CruisingEasy]

One must do land and sea. You should do as much as you can on your own.

[ellbon]

i did the land first thru princess but had free time to white water raft etc. This time I am spending time in Seward for several days and then adding in more Vancouver time plus Whistler. If you go on your own you have tome to enjoy everything at your own pace.

[mjwcruising]

We did the Cruisetour last summer and had a great time.

We did the 6 night land portion. It is the longest one Celebrity offers. Everything was well taken care of and we had a wonderful tour guide and bus driver. The hotels Celebrity stays at are very nice.

 

Chosing between doing the land portion on your own and booking with the cruise line depends on how much planning you are willing to do. You will have to have transportation from one city to another, and map out your routes.

 

Excursions need to be figured out either way.

We booked our excursions through the cruiseline during the land portion because Celebity does not give you time frames.

However, on the cruise portion we booked independently because we knew what hours we would be in port.

 

The Alaska cruise was the first cruise we went on after I became aware of Cruise Critic. I used these threads to find great tour companies; and I am now in the process of booking independent excursions for our upcoming cruise in February in the Caribbbean.

 

We went on 3 excursions on the land portion (in addition to what is included in the price of cruisetour) and 3 excursions on the cruise portion. All of our excursion were great but the best excursion by far was a helicopter ride over denali national park. There were 4 of us and no one said a word the whole time. Afterward everyone agreed they were awe-struck.

 

Definitely do the land portion you won't regret it. (I agree, do land portion before the cruise portion).

 

PS. We stayed in Vancouver 3 days post cruise. We really enjoyed our time there too.

This was a once in a lifetime trip for us. We made the most of it and will never regret a minute of it.

 

:)

[ellbon]

I flew into Fairbanks a early-to help with jetlag. the most boring part of the land tour for me was the gold panning thru Princess. most cruise lines do this. the flight over thr Arctic Circle on my own was great..something to remember all my life. the baot ride was relaxing.

 

Denali- never saw the mts and you must go into the park more than my tour did to see anything.

 

Talkneena is an interesting old town.. lots of shops nd places to eat but all the buildings are old. worth spending time there.

 

my cruise tour did not have a guide so we could eat and drink when and where we wanted. i was glad of that.

 

yes, you must add time in Vancouver. also no land tour gives you real time in Seward- very sad-lots to see and do there.

[Bridge Maven]

Thanks to everyone who responded with such helpful information - I really appreciate it :)

[klingoncruiser]

We have been to Alaska the last 17 years. Our first cruise we used the cruise line land tour as a reconnaissance mission. Since then we have gone in early, rented a car and gone on our own. There are so many choices of places to go with a car. As other have said, do the land tour first and the cruise last. If you need any tips, let me know.