itinerary question

[pablo312]

I'm planning a trip to Alaska for the summer of 2012. We are doing the land portion on our own and will sail on the Coral Princess. My itinerary, with the excursions in parenthesis, so far is:

 

Day 1: Anchorage (Seavey's Glacier dog sledding out of Girdwood)

Day 2: Anchorage to Denali

Day 3: Denali (shuttle bus to Eielson VC)

Day 4: Denali (summit flight tour)

Day 5: Denali (open day)

Day 6: Denali to Anchorage

Day 7: Anchorage (drive to Portage glacier area)

Day 8: Travel to Whittier and board Coral Princess

 

Skagway (White Pass RR to summit)

Juneau (whale watching with Orca Enterprises)

Ketchikan (Bering Sea Fisherman's tour - iffy on this one)

 

I have leeway to sail on the 6/18, 7/2, or 7/16 CP cruises. I thought that the 6/18/11 would be better since this is slightly drier and less cloudy then the later dates. I thought this would improve my chances of seeing McKinley and doing the summit flight. This puts me in Denali on 6/13; is that too early to see the animals and birds.

 

This board is great. Reading past threads helped me develop the itinerary and determine which ship to sail. I would appreciate your comments and advice on my itinerary.

[4wheeltravel]

Just wanted to mention that we just got back from our cruise and we used Harv & Marv for whale watching. They were great. The orca folks might do a good job but their boat (which we saw) was very loud - not the people, the engine - it kind of messed with the tranquility of the whale watching. Just thought I'd mention.

[pablo312]

Just wanted to mention that we just got back from our cruise and we used Harv & Marv for whale watching. They were great. The orca folks might do a good job but their boat (which we saw) was very loud - not the people, the engine - it kind of messed with the tranquility of the whale watching. Just thought I'd mention.

 

I appreciate the advice. I thought about Harv&Marv's, but their website makes big issues about climibing steps. My wife has knee problems. She can climb stairs,but climbs slowly. She alse has to hold onto the handrails. I was worried that the steps would be a problem for her.

[Budget Queen]

Just wanted to mention that we just got back from our cruise and we used Harv & Marv for whale watching. They were great. The orca folks might do a good job but their boat (which we saw) was very loud - not the people, the engine - it kind of messed with the tranquility of the whale watching. Just thought I'd mention.

 

You don't understand. That noise is not in the water, and diverted above and they run mamal friendly boats, you were in a non friendly prop boat.

[Budget Queen]

I'm planning a trip to Alaska for the summer of 2012. We are doing the land portion on our own and will sail on the Coral Princess. My itinerary, with the excursions in parenthesis, so far is:

 

Day 1: Anchorage (Seavey's Glacier dog sledding out of Girdwood)

Day 2: Anchorage to Denali

Day 3: Denali (shuttle bus to Eielson VC)

Day 4: Denali (summit flight tour)

Day 5: Denali (open day)

Day 6: Denali to Anchorage

Day 7: Anchorage (drive to Portage glacier area)

Day 8: Travel to Whittier and board Coral Princess

 

Skagway (White Pass RR to summit)

Juneau (whale watching with Orca Enterprises)

Ketchikan (Bering Sea Fisherman's tour - iffy on this one)

 

I have leeway to sail on the 6/18, 7/2, or 7/16 CP cruises. I thought that the 6/18/11 would be better since this is slightly drier and less cloudy then the later dates. I thought this would improve my chances of seeing McKinley and doing the summit flight. This puts me in Denali on 6/13; is that too early to see the animals and birds.

 

This board is great. Reading past threads helped me develop the itinerary and determine which ship to sail. I would appreciate your comments and advice on my itinerary.

 

Are you sure you want to spend all that time near Denali Park?? Most people, with the appearnce of you as well, are good with only one trip into the Park. Are you interested in multiple entries?? Talkeetna has more flightseeing options, and works out well, with scheduling a flight on your first pass through, then a reschedule on your return if needed. Far better use of time.

 

You have no interest in anywhere else?? IF you are in Girdwood, you may want to consider continuing to Seward, with an overnight there, and touring. You have "wasted" time in my opinion, your Portage glacier day, McKinley flightseeing day, and your embarkment day. You could make better use of time, if you had other touring interests? It may be, you like the nothing days- only posting suggestions, since you asked for them. :)

 

 

PIck a week, none are going to give you any better chance of seeing McKinley.

[mapleleaves]

I think your itinerary sounds like a fun trip! And 6/13 is not too early. (Visit the Alaska forum of tripadvisor; people are starting to return from their trips and are posting reports about their activities. )

If you have a clear day you might want to take advantage of it and consider flightseeing out of Talkeetna on Day 2. Just in case it clouds over by Day 4. Are you staying in Talkeetna after the scheduled flight?

Depending on your interests you might enjoy a side trip to Matanuska Glacier on your way back to Anchorage on Day 5 or 6, or maybe a visit to Independence Mine/Hatcher Pass. In the Palmer area are the Musk Ox Farm, Reindeer Ranch and Ididarod Headquarters.

Start watching the Enterprise web site in the next couple of months. There will be a brief window of time when they offer great deals on cars for next summer, under $125 a week.

[4wheeltravel]

You don't understand. That noise is not in the water, and diverted above and they run mamal friendly boats, you were in a non friendly prop boat.

 

I don't know anything about friendly mamal boats versus unfriendly but we did have our boat off most of the time so it should have been somewhat friendly at least then.

 

Anyway -to the original poster - you are correct, there are a lot of steps so you've probably made the right call here.

 

Have a great trip.

[pablo312]

Thanks to all who responded. The feedback is very helpful especially for a first timer to Alaska like me. Your comments, as well as the recent trip reports in TripAdvisor, helped me to determine that the June 18 cruise would be as good a time as any, so today I booked my cruise on the Coral Princess!

 

Mapleleaves, thanks for the info on Enterprise. Under $125 for a week is great rate. I did not realize the number of the attractions around Palmer and the Glenn Highway. I'm interested in seeing Matanuska Glacier. I need to research this area in my guide books, this board, and TripAdvisor.

 

Budget Queen, thank you for your comments on my itinerary. I do like some downtime during a vacation, but I may have gone too much in my schedule. I originally planned to go to Seward and do a Kenali Fjords tour. After discussing with DW, we determined that a 6 hour boat tour was probably too long for us. We had read that the four hour bay trip wasn't worth it. If we don't do the boat tour, is it still worth going to Seward? I would like to see Exit Glacier, but did not know if it was worth the overnight stay.

 

Regarding my Denali stay, I had planned to stay near the park entrance either in Glitter Gulch or Healy for Day 3 through 5. I was concerned that this might be too much time, and your comments verified that concern. I was only planning one bus trip into the park. Day 5 was available if the summit flight tour got cancelled on Day 4. I originally thought about staying overnight in Talkeetna, but thought this might add more time. After tweaking the intinerary last night, I found out I was wrong.

 

I'm thinking about doing this for Denali:

 

Day 2: Anchorage to Talkeetna

Day 3: Talkeetna (summit flight tour)

Day 4: Talkeetna to Denali (available for summit flight tour)

Day 5: Denali (shuttle bus to Eielson VC)

Day 6: Denali to Anchorage (available for summmit flight tour in Talkeetna)

 

Your opinion on this revised schedule will be appreciated. I had read in Frommer's (and on this board) that Talkeetna had a great view of the mountain. Do the flight tours from Talkeetna tend to get cancelled less than the ones flying out of Healy?

[Budget Queen]

Thanks to all who responded. The feedback is very helpful especially for a first timer to Alaska like me. Your comments, as well as the recent trip reports in TripAdvisor, helped me to determine that the June 18 cruise would be as good a time as any, so today I booked my cruise on the Coral Princess!

 

Mapleleaves, thanks for the info on Enterprise. Under $125 for a week is great rate. I did not realize the number of the attractions around Palmer and the Glenn Highway. I'm interested in seeing Matanuska Glacier. I need to research this area in my guide books, this board, and TripAdvisor.

 

Budget Queen, thank you for your comments on my itinerary. I do like some downtime during a vacation, but I may have gone too much in my schedule. I originally planned to go to Seward and do a Kenali Fjords tour. After discussing with DW, we determined that a 6 hour boat tour was probably too long for us. We had read that the four hour bay trip wasn't worth it. If we don't do the boat tour, is it still worth going to Seward? I would like to see Exit Glacier, but did not know if it was worth the overnight stay.

 

Regarding my Denali stay, I had planned to stay near the park entrance either in Glitter Gulch or Healy for Day 3 through 5. I was concerned that this might be too much time, and your comments verified that concern. I was only planning one bus trip into the park. Day 5 was available if the summit flight tour got cancelled on Day 4. I originally thought about staying overnight in Talkeetna, but thought this might add more time. After tweaking the intinerary last night, I found out I was wrong.

 

I'm thinking about doing this for Denali:

 

Day 2: Anchorage to Talkeetna

Day 3: Talkeetna (summit flight tour)

Day 4: Talkeetna to Denali (available for summit flight tour)

Day 5: Denali (shuttle bus to Eielson VC)

Day 6: Denali to Anchorage (available for summmit flight tour in Talkeetna)

 

Your opinion on this revised schedule will be appreciated. I had read in Frommer's (and on this board) that Talkeetna had a great view of the mountain. Do the flight tours from Talkeetna tend to get cancelled less than the ones flying out of Healy?

 

I still think you have too much time in Talkeetna. Is a summit flight that important and a must? It is a little over 2 hours Anchorage/Talkeetna. One night is plenty in my opinion. McKinley flights are also available out of Denali Park as well.

 

A Kenai Fjords boat tour, is a top tour choice and a big wildlife and glacier viewing opportunity. Believe me, 6 hours is nothing. Within the past month, I boated Kenai Fjords three times, with one trip the 8 hour Northwestern Fjords trip. It is not really worth going to Seward for Exit Glacier, for a look. Prince William Sound boat tours of glaciers is way superior out of Whittier, and Matanuska although not the most impressive glacier, has very easy access for glacier trekking- a guide is "necessary" in my opinion, and doable by most.

 

Keep, thinking about why you are going to Alaska and the stuff you wish to see and do. Then figure out the best way to do so. All this fine tuning, will only give you a better experience. You are at a great advantage with your mindset of being willing to change. Many people are not, then state- "all the more reason to return". But having superior plans to begin with is better all the way around. :)

[Luckyroot]

I appreciate the advice. I thought about Harv&Marv's, but their website makes big issues about climibing steps. My wife has knee problems. She can climb stairs,but climbs slowly. She alse has to hold onto the handrails. I was worried that the steps would be a problem for her.

 

Just back from Alaska, and I was concerned as well about the comments by Harv & Marv regarding "three big steps". Both my parents have bad knees, and they were very comfortable on Orca. It was the highlight of the trip for my mom!

[pablo312]

Thank you for the responses regarding Orca Enterprises, I feel better booking that tour for DW and I.

 

Thanks again, Budget Queen, for the advice on the itinerary. I now understand that you meant to do an only one full in Denali, and fit in the summit flights during the travel to and from Anchorage. This would still give me two shots at getting a flight, and would give me two days to other things. I'll need to read the trip reports on TripAdvisor and here to see how others budgeted their time, and how that fits my interests. From the comments, it looks like the 7 full days in Alaska that I have planned should give me enough time to see a lot. This gives me a inbound and return date to schedule air travel.

 

How far in advance do I need to reserve room in the smaller tourist stops like Denali and Whittier?

[mapleleaves]

This chart will help you with drive times and distances.

http://alaska.org/gettingaround/alaska-transportation-guide.htm

There's lots of good info in that link. Under Top Day Tours, look thru the Magnificent Drives, particularly the Turnagain Arm.

You've got a few months to work out the details of your itinerary. As you learn more about the sights and activities available, your interests will help guide your itinerary.

[shadowrider]

In order to help discipline the planning, you might try to organize in one of the following ways:

 

By area:

Anchorage and points north (Mat-Su valley, Talkeetna, Denali)

Anchorage and points south (Girdwood, Seward, Whittier, Homer)

 

By experience:

glacier (to see it? walk on it? or hike to it?)

flightseeing

marine wildlife (like Kenai Fjords)

fishing (river, lake or ocean)

hiking (mountain passes or wood trails)

museums and history

etc.

 

This (along with comparing what you'll see/do on the cruise portion of your vacation) may help you decide which are the priorities and then you can calculate the distances. There is so much to see and do and this is a very, very large area to cover in 6 days.

 

Personally, our family preferred the Kenai peninsula in which to spend time, although they also enjoyed Talkeetna, and the sparser look of points north was interesting. We have actually driven past Denali NP without partaking (due to lack of time), which sounds nuts, but we wanted to see tundra ecosystem.

 

Definitely skip Portage Glacier. Exit Glacier entails doing a hike. Matanuska is easiest to access.

 

Can you schedule the Girdwood dog thing on your way to Whittier? I don't know that it makes sense going back and forth if you don't have to.

[pablo312]

Thank you, mapleleaves, for the link. Alaska.org is a great site. I viewed the movie about the Turnagain arm area. That is a very scenic area. It really helps to see pictures or movies of an area to determine if it is worth a visit.

 

Shadowrider, thank you for the tips to organize the trip and the advice on Matanuska glacier.

 

I'm glad that I have a few months to finalize the intinerary. That will give me time a more throrough research.

[Budget Queen]

Thank you for the responses regarding Orca Enterprises, I feel better booking that tour for DW and I.

 

Thanks again, Budget Queen, for the advice on the itinerary. I now understand that you meant to do an only one full in Denali, and fit in the summit flights during the travel to and from Anchorage. This would still give me two shots at getting a flight, and would give me two days to other things. I'll need to read the trip reports on TripAdvisor and here to see how others budgeted their time, and how that fits my interests. From the comments, it looks like the 7 full days in Alaska that I have planned should give me enough time to see a lot. This gives me a inbound and return date to schedule air travel.

 

How far in advance do I need to reserve room in the smaller tourist stops like Denali and Whittier?

 

You can check availabity on lodging now, but, in my opinion, you are better off waiting with reservations at this point, due to the disjointed itinerary. You are better off, being open, and having the ability to keep fine tuning, rather than being blocked into time segments. 7 days is not a lot of time for touring Alaska, but, orgainizing it will offer you more.