Princess To Alaska Advice

[Pilot70D]

Hello, we need your help in the form of advice.

We cruised Princess three times several years ago and then became customers of HAL and then Celebrity. We liked Princess but back then Princess didn't offer any cruises longer than seven days during the time of year and to the region we wanted to cruise consequently we haven't been on a Princess ship for ten years or so.

Now we think our next cruise will be Princess to Alaska in the late summer next year and we will probably do a princess land tour as well.

My questions are:

What is your favorite ship for this cruise and why?

What are the must things that we should consider doing and seeing during the land tour?

Any other hints and bits of wisdom for an Alaskan cruise/cruisetour???

Thanks in advance and everybody have a great day out there. :):):)

[caribill]

What is your favorite ship for this cruise and why?

In my opinion they are all fine for this. We enjoyed the trip on the Island which held a little less than 2000 passengers.

What are the must things that we should consider doing and seeing during the land tour?

Maybe the best way for me to answer this is to point you to a photo book we made of the six nights and five days on our Princess land tour. Go to

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=766bc61df275b4f2&sid=8Acs2rVy0csnmA

 

 

 

 

Once in the album, select the full screen option for the best viewing.

Main thing: If in Denali National Park - take the Tundra Wilderness Tour, not the Natural History Tour.

 

 

Any other hints and bits of wisdom for an Alaskan cruise/cruisetour???

If you can afford the Connoisseur version of the tour, take it. Almost every meal is included and there is a tour escort that is with you more than on the non-Connoisseur tours.

Thanks in advance and everybody have a great day out there. :):):)

 

 

see above in red

[dorisis]

Our last and best Alaska cruise on Princess was on the Pacific Princess. Only 670 passengers with larger cabins and that small ship could get up much closer to the glaciers. It was a 14 day connosiur cruise with no land tours. But we also enjoyed the land and cruise with Fairbanks and Denali Lodge which ended in Seward. Princess and HAL do Alaska best.

 

~Doris~

[biker1972]

While not specific to Princess, there is a lot of discussion on the Alaska board under ports of call about various shore excursions and cruise tours. Biggies include whale watching, flight seeing, bear watching and almost every other outdoors activity. Alaska is about the land!

[silverbird]

is the scenery. Tours are great but the views are spectacular!! We have done two cruise/tours and enjoyed the Copper River one more than the Anchorage/Fairbanks one. Either way, you end up in Denali and Fairbanks. Would do either again in a heartbeat but will head to Kenai on our next one. Whatever you do, enjoy yourself. I can guarantee you will have a great time!!

[Tipbob]

We were on the Sapphire for 14 days. Up and back from Vancouver. We took the cruise because we wanted to go on the White Pass rail trip from Skagway. We had gorgeous weather (it was August). If its rainy, take a towel to wipe the windows. The rail trip was #1. Private tour with Wild Wolf Tours in Ketchikan was great. Skip the tramway in Juneau (?). $29 for a view. Find a chair outside the buffet for the glaciers. You see them and get served beverages, nice. We had never really wanted to go to Alaska, but we had a great time. Kind of regret not doing a land tour that included Denali. Heard it was very nice. Husband's first cruise. Loved it and the Sapphire was beautiful. Sorry we didn't go into Vancouver a couple of days early to tour there too.

[geoherb]

We've taken both roundtrip Alaskan cruises from Seattle and a cruise-tour last month. The cruise-tour was great. We did one of the ones that start in Fairbanks. We had two nights there, followed by a night at Denali Princess Lodge, a night at McKinley Princess Lodge, and a night in Anchorage. If I had to do it over again, I would want more time at the Denali Princess Lodge. I did find out about upgrading from the Natural History Tour to the Tundra Wilderness Tour--and was really glad we did that after hearing from the people who did not. If you have two nights at the Denali Princess Lodge, you can skip both tours and take one of the shuttle buses instead for a lot less money. All you miss out on that way is the boxed snack and you end up being able to go farther.

[caribill]

While not specific to Princess, there is a lot of discussion on the Alaska board under ports of call about various shore excursions and cruise tours. Biggies include whale watching...

 

Yes. In Juneau book (far) in advance with Harv and Marve. Maximum of six people on your whale watching boat.

[caribill]

We'If you have two nights at the Denali Princess Lodge, you can skip both tours and take one of the shuttle buses instead for a lot less money. All you miss out on that way is the boxed snack and you end up being able to go farther.

 

Yes it costs less, but you miss out on much more than the cheap boxed snack.

 

The shuttle bus driver is a bus driver who may or may not point out wildlife.

 

The TWT driver is also a guide, usually with years of experience, who provides much commentary, does a great job of spotting wildlife, has a video camera that zooms in on the wildlife and shows it on TV monitors on the bus, and will linger as often as necessary so you can look at the wildlife.

 

Sample picture of what is shown on the bus TV:

 

 

 

Same grizzly cubs with a zoom lens on personal camera:

 

[Budget Queen]

Yes it costs less, but you miss out on much more than the cheap boxed snack.

 

The shuttle bus driver is a bus driver who may or may not point out wildlife.

 

The TWT driver is also a guide, usually with years of experience, who provides much commentary, does a great job of spotting wildlife, has a video camera that zooms in on the wildlife and shows it on TV monitors on the bus, and will linger as often as necessary so you can look at the wildlife.

 

Sample picture of what is shown on the bus TV:

 

 

 

Same grizzly cubs with a zoom lens on personal camera:

 

 

 

Have you taken any shuttle buses in Denali, it appears to me you may not have. Your information is not accurate. ALL buses stop for any wildlife, and your information on the drivers/guides is from where?? The drivers going to Wonder Lake and Eielson are WAY senior drivers. Newer drivers are frequently on the two tours.

 

Denali is about distance into the park, which you MISS with these two tours. The farther you go, the more you see. It is significant bear country PAST Toklat, and the Eielson Visitor Center is well worth the stop. FREE ranger programs, and just the running water and flush toilets, and inside seating a big plus.

[Budget Queen]

Hello, we need your help in the form of advice.

We cruised Princess three times several years ago and then became customers of HAL and then Celebrity. We liked Princess but back then Princess didn't offer any cruises longer than seven days during the time of year and to the region we wanted to cruise consequently we haven't been on a Princess ship for ten years or so.

Now we think our next cruise will be Princess to Alaska in the late summer next year and we will probably do a princess land tour as well.

My questions are:

What is your favorite ship for this cruise and why?

What are the must things that we should consider doing and seeing during the land tour?

Any other hints and bits of wisdom for an Alaskan cruise/cruisetour???

Thanks in advance and everybody have a great day out there. :):):)

 

Take your time and get very familiar with what you are looking at. Most people make wrong assumptions which significantly impact Alaska Touring. Land tours are "tricky". Go for as long as you can afford, avoid short cruisetours. Get a gripe on distances, and don't underestimate them. "Necessary" is two nights at Denali Princess, don't even consider any one night cruisetours. This is the highlight of the entire tour. The whole point is to get INTO the park. Even with the triple cost Tundra Wilderness tour, you are still only a little more than half way. I only recommend Eielson shuttle bus as the min. distance in. But if you stay with a usual included Natural History tour- be aware- it will be equal to going to Disneyland and not getting out of the parking lot- pretty worthless and a poor choice for most people going to Alaska.

 

With a Fairbanks inclusion- add a few days. Cruisetours see little of Fairbanks. A car rental, is "necessary" in my opinion, for ease of getting around easily. Plenty to see and do.

 

Find out about specific areas and what they offer. Figure out how you wish to occupy your short time. Budget fully for costly excursions. This is what Alaska is all about, splended flightseeing- no other way to see the beauty and vastness, boat tours etc.

 

If of any interest, going independent to Denali is simple and superior for the ease of being on your own schedule. You can see and do far more compared to point to point group travel. Purchased coupon books offer many 2 for 1 discounts that can yield significant savings. Cruisetours, most often completely miss the option to boat tour Prince William Sound. Again a spectacular scenic tour to take a look at.

 

With cruisetours, budget 50% more for meals than you would at home. This will give you a cushion in the budget.

 

The more you know, the better your choice will be for YOUR priorities. Enjoy Alaska- it is paradise.

[Thrak]

Not in Alaska but on the way home we LOVED Butchart Gardens in BC.

[buffalobobcat]

I agree with most of what Budget Queen says. More that one day in Denali...absolutely. Try to fly around the mountain...outstanding. Our favorite part was the Kenai, Wonderful lodge and scenery.. Don't miss a Kenai Fjords boat trip. I would suggest that you do as much as you possibly can. We booked all types of excursions and were glad we did.

[Jabbermom]

We did a 5 night on our own land trip followed by a Princess Cruise on Sapphire this last July.

We stayed 2 nights in Fairbanks and rented a car for the day. We were able to do the Alaska Museum of the North, Georgeson Botanical Gardens,Gold Dredge # 8, stop at the Alaska Pipeline viewing site, and Pioneer Park. Took the train and stayed two nights in Denali. Saw a sled dog demonstration and did the shuttle into the park to Eielson Visitor Center. We had a good driver who stopped if anyone saw wildlife at all. We saw lots of wildlife. The visitor center is really nice. Took the train to Anchorage for one night and then finally the train to Whittier. By doing the southbound tour we saw both Hubbard and Glacier National Park. In Skagway we did the Whitepass Summit Rail and Bus tour. In Juneau we did Harv and Marvs and saw whales bubblenetting and after tour we were dropped off at Mendenhall Glacier. In Ketchikan the girls in the group did the Bering Sea Crab Fishermans Tour and the guys went on a fly out fishing trip with Family Air. We loved all our excursions. We didn't get to see much of Vancouver as we had a bus transfer to Seattle to fly home. Great trip.

[shepp]

As is often the case in this sort of thread, it would be really helpful when asking for what-to-do advice to indicate something about your areas of interest, level of physical activity, and budget.

 

Haven't been on a cruisetour, but my absolute favorite Alaskan experience was a very rigorous hike up the Mendenhall West Glacier Trail. Ended up looking way down at all the tour helicopters that had landed on the glacier. But - not having any idea who you are - that might or might not be a useful recommendation.