Anyone used Toursaver.com for Alaska

[laketahoe1]

Has anyone used Toursaver.com and bought the coupon book for discounts on Alaska tours etc? It looks intersting but I would like to have a better understanding of how it works and hopefully someone's personal experience.

[tiggy]

What would you like to know about it?

 

My parents (just back) used it this year. I set up most of their travel arrangements, heavily using the book. I called for reservations in advance and mentioned the coupon at the time of booking. The coupons were left in the book until they were redeemed. My parents had no problems with them being accepted. They used about 10 of them including hotels and tours. While expensive, the book more than paid for itself since they did a 10 day land tour prior to their cruise.

[laketahoe1]

I'm specifically interested in the train to Denali/Mt McKinley and staying in the Princess Lodges using the coupons in the book versus booking the land package with Princess. Do you book with Princess or someone else. Just curious how it works.

 

I don't want to book the cruise and then find out that this book won't work for the land excursions.

[ryan800]

We are booked at the Mt McKinley princess lodge and we called the 800 # for princess hotels to book and I mentioned to him that I had a coupon from the book. He said we just present it when we check in. He didnt need anything from us when we made the reservation. Hope it all works out. I also had a post asking if the coupons in the book were limited to using only 1 per party. We were thinking of ordering a second book , since we are a party of 4. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks

[laketahoe1]

Thanks for the info. We'll also be a party of 4 so I'll be interested in using 2 coupons too. I'll be checking into booking directly with the hotels. Did you book the train also?

[tiggy]

Are you looking to take the Princess Tours trip with two nights at Talkeetna or are you looking to take the Alaska Railroad and stay at the lodges yourself?

 

The trip I booked used the Alaska Railroad. However, my parents didn't stay at those Princess lodges. The Denali lodge doesn't have a coupon and they were only looking to spend one night in Talkeetna. They did stay at the Kenai Princess Lodge and had no difficulty with the coupon.

 

If your interested in the Princess railtour or want more info about the lodges, the website is http://www.princesslodges.com. That site has the best information about Princess tours (rail tours, not cruisetours) and their lodges.

 

One thing to be aware of if you're looking to stay at the McKinley Princess Lodge. It's a 45 minute bus ride from Talkeetna in the middle of nowhere. We stayed there last year on a cruisetour. We loved it since we were only there 24 hours and looking for a bit of solitude. If you're staying for two days, you'll probably need to take an excursion to go do something. Princess offered a $15pp shuttle into Talkeetna if you booked an independent tour.

[laketahoe1]

We were planning 1 night at Denali Lodge and 1 night at Mt McKinley Lodge and taking the train RT from Anchorage. I checked out the Princess Lodges website and actually called their 800 number. The biggest problem (and not sure if it's that big of problem) is they advised that you can book the land package separate from the Cruise BUT you will be responsible for getting luggage from the ship to the lodge and back again if you book the Princess train. They do not transport any luggage on the train and you're only allowed a briefcase/purse. Luggage must go via Alaska Railway at your expense. Based on your post I can book the Alaska Railway to the lodge but I'm not sure if I want to try to book all that stuff separate. If there's no coupon for the Denali lodge than that also defeats some of the purpose. They also won't advise when you can book for 2006. Might be soon, might not but I can book now through the cruisetour package.

 

Decisions, decisions!

[ryan800]

We are renting a car to drive ourselves up there. We got a very good rate with Thrifty. Orginally we were booked like you 1nt at the Denali lodge and 1 at the Mt McKinley. But since we wanted to use the toursaver cpn we changed to stay 2 nts at Mt. Mckinley. we also picked that one since we have to drive back to Anchorage that day to go to the ship and it is quite a few hours closer then the other lodge.

[laketahoe1]

Ahhh, another alternative. Sounds like this might work. Guess I'll have some conversations at home tonight. Thanks for all the info!!!

[tee_wrecks]

Keep in mind most of the toursaver coupons are "buy 1, get 1 free" and they also require you present them with coupons that have NOT been removed from the book.

 

As far as savings, we'll be using 2, maybe 3 of the coupons for sure and possibly some others for a net savings of about $125. (1 free Kenai Fjords cruise, 1 free Portage Glacier cruise total savings $175 minus the $50 we paid for the book from another couple that used some coupons on their cruise in May)

 

I probably would have used some others but I already bought and paid for some fishing charters before getting the book. I think it's a great deal.

[Budget Queen]

We are booked at the Mt McKinley princess lodge and we called the 800 # for princess hotels to book and I mentioned to him that I had a coupon from the book. He said we just present it when we check in. He didnt need anything from us when we made the reservation. Hope it all works out. I also had a post asking if the coupons in the book were limited to using only 1 per party. We were thinking of ordering a second book , since we are a party of 4. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks

 

 

Yes you will need two books if you want 2 offers. But verify this is available, since some coupons have restrictions and some venders limit the number of accepted coupons.

[Budget Queen]

We were planning 1 night at Denali Lodge and 1 night at Mt McKinley Lodge and taking the train RT from Anchorage. I checked out the Princess Lodges website and actually called their 800 number. The biggest problem (and not sure if it's that big of problem) is they advised that you can book the land package separate from the Cruise BUT you will be responsible for getting luggage from the ship to the lodge and back again if you book the Princess train. They do not transport any luggage on the train and you're only allowed a briefcase/purse. Luggage must go via Alaska Railway at your expense. Based on your post I can book the Alaska Railway to the lodge but I'm not sure if I want to try to book all that stuff separate. If there's no coupon for the Denali lodge than that also defeats some of the purpose. They also won't advise when you can book for 2006. Might be soon, might not but I can book now through the cruisetour package.

 

Decisions, decisions!

 

 

 

this is NOT a good option for Denali Park touring, you need at least 2 nights there, IF you want to get into the Park, and why go there is you don't??? :) The problem is you won't arrive until 4pm and will have to leave a noon, if you only do one night and use the train for your transportation. My min. distance into Denali park is the shuttle to Fish Creek and you have no time for that with that schedule. For clairfication the McKinley lodge is 50 miles from talkeetna. No place I would be without a car. :)

[Budget Queen]

I have used toursaver for years. Never had any problems, but you do need to be aware of all restrictions and book early.

[laketahoe1]

Thanks for all the great info. I think at this point we're leaning towards getting the books and renting a car. Everyone in the group thought that was a great idea and would give us more flexibility and allow us to do what we wanted when we wanted to do it besides saving money.