Cruisetour or Independent?

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Have y'all done the independent land packages pre/post cruise? Am looking to book Princess soon and need feedback. Have you found the prices similar? What about the railcars and hotels? Are they as nice as the ones that Princess offers? Is it just better to book via the cruiseline?

[frugaltravel]

Guess you haven't read any of the threads here in the Alaska forum before posting, have you? The answer would be very, very, very obvious :D

[luvtwotrvl]

If you have the time, I would prefer a independent tour than a cruisetour. I have done two independent tours, one was for 10 days and to me that was not long. So, the second time I spent 14 days in Alaska. I drove around and even stayed at the Princess Lodges that I booked directly with Princess. I even got excellent prices on the Lodges too.

 

An independent tour, you have the pleasure of doing what you want and when. I am looking at another independent tour in 2013. That one will be 14 days also with no cruise. On both of our independent tours, we did not do any cruise at all. I just did a round trip flight and really love both tours.

 

David

[Keith1010]

Just my opinion. I would use the Princess land package tour.

 

Keith

[HRPro]

We did the Princess cruise tour three years ago with a Northbound cruise from Vancouver to Whittier. We enjoyed it so much that we're doing it again this year but going southbound this time.

[SeaTheWorldBySea]

Hereare some links that will be helpful for you to read. Princess does a nice job on their cruisetours. Having said that - in no way would I consider doing their tour in Alaska. Too easy to do it yourself - less expensive and more flexible!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1508717

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1479934

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1478175

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1476256

[NHsnowpup]

Have y'all done the independent land packages pre/post cruise? Am looking to book Princess soon and need feedback. Have you found the prices similar? What about the railcars and hotels? Are they as nice as the ones that Princess offers? Is it just better to book via the cruiseline?

 

I found that there were some things automatically included in the tours that I really didn't want to do and it seemed more of a hassle to try to change or delete those things out than to plan our trip myself and get exactly what I wanted that could fit into the time frame we had to work within. Hubby said "no driving on my vacation," so I hooked up all our entire trip using available transportation. Shuttles provided by the hotels, bus transfers, Alaska Railroad, town tours, and a taxi package were our transportation providers. You can pick where you stay and the price range to match your tastes. WE used Alaska Tour and Travel to put together a package that had a lot of things, especially transportation and lodging, pre-booked and paid for ahead of time

 

As far as the quality of the railcars, I wouldn't have cared if they were board slats since I was outside the entire time on the viewing deck from Anchorage to Seward, except when hubby drug me inside for a sit down fancy breakfast. From Fairbanks to Denali I spent a lot of time hanging my head out from the little platform between cars. He however said the seats were very comfy on both the Adventure Class and Goldstar Dome.

Here you can see that the fancy cars have NO open areas, wouldn't have worked for me. The paint jobs are pretty though, but I don't pick my car for its color.

The little bubble is the shared dome area on Adventure Class, which got you above the tree line.

And here you see the Gold Dome cars with the dome through most of it and the open deck at the end of the car, my spot.

 

If you want shots like this, you don't want to be clicking through glass.

 

It worked for us.

[robbinsca]

We went independent and had fabulous time. We were driving up to Talkeetna and saw Mt. Denali and decided on the spur of the moment to take a flight seeing tour around it. Can't make that type of decision while on a tour bus (or train).

[Budget Queen]

IF you are open to both, then certainly look at independent. It offers FAR more for your time and money, than a fixed point to point group travel. I don't agree that Princess offers superior cruisetours, in my opinion, some are pretty poor choices. The MOST important factor is to understand FULLY what traveling interior Alaska is all about, no matter how you visit. Most people are not. It is just about a given on this board, that all the details are disclosed, which I will also speculate for the above posters. The vague descriptions are sometimes deceptive, and finding out about the fact, late in the game is, many times, a big problem- with most of the time, people unwilling to fix them.

 

So, my biggest recommendation is for you to find out about Alaska. THEN look at the best way of touring it for you. Head to your library and read up. Do NOT underestimate time and distances, cruisetours are usually short on this.

 

You will see and do far more going independent, costs can be signficantly less. But costs come in many forms, including time. :)

[pmjnh]

Here is a thread I started after doing a cost analysis: Note that the cruise tour only covers lodging and transportation. You can save a bundle of money doing it on your own.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1479934

 

Have fun planning!

[zamgwar]

Hi,

 

We did land on our own and loved it. I wouldn't do it any other way. We stayed in WONDERFUL B&B's, booked tours Denali on our own, went exploring, panned for gold on our own.

 

It was the most amazing time. Here is a video I posted last year on doing the land portion on our own and what we saw.

 

It includes;

Denali National Park

What you can see from the shuttle bus to the Elieison (sp) visitors center in the park

The Hike to Matanuska Glacier

Bed and Breakfasts- The Denali Lakeview inn near Denali National Park & Susitna Place in Anchorage (much better value than hotels!!!)

Hatcher Pass

Independence Gold Mine

Freestyle Gold Panning on the Susitna River

Mt. McKinley on a cloudless day

What you’ll see on Parks Highway

 

Part one

 

Enjoy!

 

John

Office of Currently Planning Hawaii

The Zamgwar Institute

[agabbymama]

Have y'all done the independent land packages pre/post cruise? Am looking to book Princess soon and need feedback. Have you found the prices similar? What about the railcars and hotels? Are they as nice as the ones that Princess offers? Is it just better to book via the cruiseline?

 

Really depends on what YOU want. There are plenty on this board that advocate independent, but there are a few of us that like the pre-planned cruisetours.

 

For independent, you have to be willing to do hours of research. Go to your library and check out some Alaska travel guides, so you know what there is of interest to you and where it is. Check out the distances on maps. Know where you want to go and the best way to get there. Lots of folks post on this forum about deals they found.

 

Then go to some of the cruiseline websites (HAL and Princess) and either look at their brochures on-line or request one by mail.

 

I started looking at independent travel, but soon gave that up. I had done the 7 day cruise so knew for our second trip I wanted to see some of Interior Alaska and the Yukon. I found the (almost) perfect cruisetour on HAL that went into the Yukon (we absolutely loved our 2 nights in Dawson City). I knew we only had 11 days for travel (work and vacation precludes a long travel time). Were I to do the trip again, I would definitely plan 2 nights at each stop and pay for the meal plan.

 

I liked that HAL told me where to be, what time to be there, schlepped my luggage, had everything planned for me to see what was of importance along the way, they did the driving (I sat back and enjoyed the scenery). You have a tour director with you on the coach to handle any problems that arise.

 

Coach travel isn't for everyone, but then neither is independent driving for everyone. Only you can decide what it is you want. Have fun planning, then taking your trip to Alaska!

[Budget Queen]

For independent, you have to be willing to do hours of research. Go to your library and check out some Alaska travel guides, so you know what there is of interest to you and where it is. Check out the distances on maps. Know where you want to go and the best way to get there. Lots of folks post on this forum about deals they found.

 

 

 

Sorry, but I advocate this for ANY way you get there. You must have seen many people on this board who clearly booked the wrong cruisetour, and didn't know what they were booking.

 

The details of how you go, are essential, and I strongly encourage people to educate themselves on these. There are plenty of cruisetours that are absolutely poor choices.

 

Knowing the details prior to booking is way better, then considering changing something later- of which few people do. It can't be the greatest locked into a wrong choice when you aren't a frequent visitor.

[klmorg]

Just my opinion. I would use the Princess land package tour.

 

Keith

 

Yes! Booking a tour (rail/lodge) directly thru princesslodges dot com saves a bit of moola. It's sort of independent and sort of not. :D (And the Alaska toursaver books have coupons)

[Lookingforfacts]

You can book the exact same hotels directly with Princess. You can also book hotels which are "just as nice" in locations which are as good as Princess.

 

What you can't book is direct, same day, rail service from the port to Denali and Talkeetna.

 

You can't get the kind of luggage handling you get with cruisetours if you book your own.

 

You can generally get better pricing if you book your own tour.

[frugaltravel]

What you can't book is direct, same day, rail service from the port to Denali and Talkeetna.

 

...which is just fine for most people, since having a car near Denali is a huge plus IMHO - and you can get from the port to Denali or Talkeetna the same day with a car (from Whittier, not from Seward, but you can't get from Seward to Denali with direct, same-day rail service either). With a car at Denali one has more options for lodging, more options for eating, more chances to get into the park early/late, drive the first 14 miles of the park road in the evening looking for wildlife, etc.

[Lookingforfacts]

...which is just fine for most people, since having a car near Denali is a huge plus IMHO - and you can get from the port to Denali or Talkeetna the same day with a car (from Whittier, not from Seward, but you can't get from Seward to Denali with direct, same-day rail service either). With a car at Denali one has more options for lodging, more options for eating, more chances to get into the park early/late, drive the first 14 miles of the park road in the evening looking for wildlife, etc.

 

Some people don't want to drive on vacation. Some people don't even have a drivers license.

 

Renting a car at Whittier is expensive. A one way rental with a return in Anchorage is very expensive. I remember one poster, two couples, wanted to rent a car in Whittier. Drive to Anchorage. Rent a car then drive back to Whittier to return the first car. Trying to time it so they could make an early tunnel time. Not they way I'd want to spend part of my vacation.

 

People used to renting a car in places like Florida and Vegas may get "sticker shock" when pricing a rental in Alaska. Rental agencies only have a few months to rent their cars and unlike Florida there is no easy (cheap) way to reposition the cars during the off season.

 

Renting a car, or even a RV, makes sense for a lot of people. Just do the math first. Renting a car for two people may not be that much cheaper then the train. Again I understand some people want the flexibility a car offers. Others like letting someone else drive. Not worrying about luggage.

[gertz]

You know I think I agree with all of the above. And have done both.

This year meaning 2012 we will do a Princess land tour. I just had recent back surgery and could have some difficulty driving and wife doesn't want to drive either, driving and watching scenery might be dangerous.:eek:

Starting out in Anchorage, couple of nights in Talkena and a couple of nights in Denali and then ride the train right up to the gang plank of the Island Princess. A no brainer.

Also if one might think these Princess tours are not popular check their web sight as a great many of them are already sold out.