First time to Cruising Alaska, Wilderness Lodge stays before or after cruise?

[taffykids]

We are planning a 2012 summer cruise to Alaska for my Mom's 70th. There will be ten of us and we have all cruised with Princess before. We would love to hear your opinions on whether we should put our McKinley, Denali and Fairbanks wilderness stays before we cruise or after we disembark?

Thank you for you time!

[MustangGT]

In my opinion, doing the land tour first is better. Makes the cruise very relaxing. You will LOVE Alaska! Enjoy!:D

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I agree, land tour first is better. Once you are used to not having to unpack and pack on the cruise it would be hard to do the land tour and deal with changing accomodations every few days. We did the Wilderness Lodges first and enjoyed the whole experience.

 

Barbara

[Mrtwo]

We did the Cruise Tour in July 2009 - Cruise First then tour, when we got to Fairbanks we wished we had done the reverse. The last day of our tour and our stay in Fairbanks the Motel they put us up in was off the beaten path, the shuttle didn't start running until mid morning which would have cut short and site seeing due to the airport shuttle time. Turned out to be a totally wasted day, very disappointing way to end such a fabulous trip.

[Fuzzyape]

Another vote for land first.

 

I agree with the other posters, end the trip relaxing, on the ship.

 

I think you are going to enjoy!

[jean s]

I'm another vote for doing the land tour first. My dh in particular came home exhausted....he had to do every adventurous activity on land that he could find. Then we got on the plane in Fairbanks for a very long flight. Loved the trip but I would do the land tour first the next time.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

Another vote for land tour first. We did the opposite in 2007 and found it was too busy with the land tour. Not that we didn't mind it, but it would have been more relaxing to have the cruise at the end and we would have had better flight connections home from Vancouver at that time versus Anchorage.

[capriccio]

I'll offer a contrary view.

 

We did cruise first and then the land tour in 2007 and next summer we will be doing the northbound Voyage of the Glaciers cruise only while the other 4 members of our party (on their first Alaska cruise) will do the tour after the cruise. The advantages to us (in no particular order):

 

• Sailing out of Vancouver in the early evening daylight (as opposed to having to get up early on disembarkation morning) is spectacular
  
• We all still work and look forward to relaxing on the ship - especially since the first day is a sea day. The last two days (Glacier Bay and College Fjord are also sea days so you arrive ready for the land tour well rested!
  
• We learned so much from the on board naturalist on the cruise that served us well on the land tour.
  
• We especially enjoyed the gradual change in scenery - from the temperate rain forests in the south to Denali. It just got better and better every day!
  
• I think northbound may be slightly less expensive than southbound (I've read that on CC before but I didn't check that out).
  

Whichever way you go, it will be absolutely fabulous. Words really can't describe it. Enjoy!

[2ndCitySue]

We loved doing the land trip first. The flow of rustic to luxury was great for us. A friend did the cruise first and wished he had done the reverse. He said it was hard to go rustic after being spoiled on the ship. But I do agree that either way you are in for a fabulous experience. Enjoy!

[Budget Queen]

I am going to offer some other considerations. :)

 

NO segment of the trip, should be "hectic", in my opinion. My traveling certainly is better planned. You may want to really do your homework on the cruisetour, and BE certain you understand EVERYTHING about it, most people do not. Avoid short cruisetours, if you are looking at Fairbanks, then get yourself into port at least a day early. Cruisetours see little of Fairbanks otherwise. Look at cruisetours of 7 days, with 2 being a "must" in Denali. McKinley Princess is a "holding" tank. :) You really probably are NOT going to want 2 nights here, at the expense of only 1 at Denali.

 

Never get the Natural History tour- IF you going to Denali to see scenery and/wildlife, you always want the Tundra Wilderness tour. IF you happen to be going independent, then it's going to be the Eielson Shuttle. :) Budget 50% more for meals than you would at home.

 

As for the direction- my port time, is just as activitiy full, as my landing touring. :) The ships have a nice itinerary with many port activities possible.

 

IF you are going in May, you are going to want a northbound cruise, IF you care at all about getting into and see more at Denali Park. This is a major highlight of cruisetours. Same for Sept. going north the first week of Sept, gives a much better weather potential.

 

All the rest of the season, there are pluses to both directions. Pick what fits your time best.

[5326jan]

Agree with above posters. Do the land first, skip McKinley all together, stay in Denali at least 2 nights and do the Tundra Wilderness Tour, not the Natural History Tour. You'll really enjoy the long, but interesting train ride to Whittier. :D

[BWDscotty]

Ditto... did the cruisetour in 2005. Land part first makes for a relaxing cruise. Remember to set an alarm clock for the first morning aboard... we slept through our visit to college fjord!

[oldmama]

For whichever direction you decide, I would travel independently & not on the cruisetour. Rent a couple of vans, use the toursaver or northern lights coupon books, take the shuttle into Denali, & still stay at the Princess Lodges if you want. Princess has had discounts for certain nights, such as stay one night, get the next night free. With such a large group, there is sure to be different interests, & having rental vehicles opens more options for excursions & tours. Booking early can save a lot of $.

[muti]

We did the land tour first and would definitely recommend it to you. Being able to totally relax on the ship and enjoy the sites "at sea" for 7 days just made the trip perfect.

 

Jackie

[taffykids]

Wow, thank you all for your great input, it will be valuable to us in the coming days! We are looking forward to Alaska 2012 and relaxing!

Happy sailing to all~:p

[Rejeana]

In 2003 we did only the cruise, northbound. In 2008 we did a "land first" cruisetour. While everything in AK is wonderful, DH much preferred the northbound cruise portion as opposed to the southbound. This year we are doing a (different) cruisetour northbound.

 

Either way, you can't lose!