OCD Planner's Live ALASKA Photo Trip Report 16 day Cruise Tour aboard Radiance

[Tkaklita]

When does the Northern Lights book come out for 2014 and what is the price of that one? Also wheredo you get it from?

 

I just talked w/Terry, wonderful man and very helpful. He said that the books should hopefully be available around the 15th of October, they are still finalizing some of the vendors.

 

The price is $55 + shipping costs ($7.50 for Continental US & Hawaii)

 

You can order them online from their website.

 

Linda

[Driftwoodgal]

Can you tell me how much the car costs? There will be five of us so the train may be too much and the car a little cheaper.

 

I had a hard time getting this car booked as it was one way. After several calls direct to Hertz in Seward, I was able to book a 7 passenger mini van for $378.99 w taxes $422.52 and unlimited mileage. Their number is 907 224-4378. We will tour Girwood, Portage Glacier and the Wildlife Conservation Center on the way up to Anchorage.

 

One day rental for a full size car with 100 max mileage for our day trip in Seward is $79.79 with taxes $94.63.

 

We booked the car to Anchorage because the regularly run train doesn't leave until 6PM. We didn't feel we had enough time taking the train and making our 1:30 AM flight.

[Tkaklita]

 

We booked the car to Anchorage because the regularly run train doesn't leave until 6PM. We didn't feel we had enough time taking the train and making our 1:30 AM flight.

 

 

I thought the train arrived in Anchorage @ 10:25pm?

[Driftwoodgal]

I thought the train arrived in Anchorage @ 10:25pm?

 

I posted we leave at 1:30 AM, I meant 1:05 AM.

 

The schedule reads 10:15, but I have heard that it can be a little later. After talking to a friend that lives and flies out of Anchorage, we chose to take a car. I posted the same question on the Alaska board and heard the same thing that it could be close. If we could get our luggage and a taxi very quickly we would be ok. The question is if. Apparently taxi and TSA lines can be long. Not wanting to worry about having to get out on another flight we are playing it safe.

 

We are checking luggage so we would need to wait until the porters get our luggage to us.

[ace1zoe2]

Day 3, Sunday - Fairbanks to Denali

 

We left the hotel about 7:15am by coach and were at the depot in 15 minutes. If you have anything on the coach which you will not be needing prior to arriving in Denali, you my leave those items (coats, backpacks, etc.) on the coach. The driver stays with the coach and drives directly to Denali and you reclaim your items when you get off the train at Denali. Next we boarded the Wilderness Express, RCI's glass dome car. WE attaches right behind the Alaska Railroad cars, followed by HAL & Princess. We departed the Depot at 8am and will arrive in Denali National Park at 12:15.

 

 

The domed cars are awesome! Plenty of leg room, huge windows, comfortable seats and an awesome staff! You board on the lower level & then go up a spiral staircase to the upper domed portion. (There is also an elevator, or lift, as well for the mobility impaired. I believe that I counted seats for around 80 people. We had 30 on our tour which was so nice because we could spread out, walk around, change seats and stand to take pictures from either side. All of the seats face forward and the views are wonderful.

 

 

Up at the front of the car they have bar service and make specialty coffees. Just like on RCI ships, this is a cashless society. You can tip with your credit card for food or give them cash, they appreciate either.

 

 

 

After the safety speech, they come around and take drink orders for about 20 minutes. Then they start taking folks down for breakfast. They start with the back of the car first. The dining area is set up with booths that seat four and they ask you to sit with others if needed. We ended up at a table by ourselves which was nice.

 

[Tkaklita]

I posted we leave at 1:30 AM, I meant 1:05 AM.

 

The schedule reads 10:15, but I have heard that it can be a little later. After talking to a friend that lives and flies out of Anchorage, we chose to take a car. I posted the same question on the Alaska board and heard the same thing that it could be close. If we could get our luggage and a taxi very quickly we would be ok. The question is if. Apparently taxi and TSA lines can be long. Not wanting to worry about having to get out on another flight we are playing it safe.

 

We are checking luggage so we would need to wait until the porters get our luggage to us.

 

Very good to know, thank you for the great explanation. Smart planning!

[ace1zoe2]

Fairbanks to Denali ... continued:

 

The food was very good and the portion were large. I would compare the food to a nicer hotel breakfast cooked to order (not buffet) or a nice restaurant and think that the prices were comparable. Hubby had the blueberry pancakes that came with reindeer sausage (which I tried and thought it was very tasty) and I had the veggie scramble which came with potatoes and biscuit and a hot tea. Breakfast was $26 paid by credit card (cashless onboard) and we chose to tip $5 in cash to our great server.

 

 

 

 

There are also limited gift items onboard for the Alaska Railroad and a few books. We purchase the $5 book that describes what you will be seeing long the way.

 

 

 

I talked to our train tour host after breakfast just asking some general questions about the train service and their schedules. The land portion is actually owned & run by Premier Alaska Tours. Previously RCI owned and ran it themselves but PAT took over the operations last year. The WE dome cars are the newest in the fleet of car pulled behind ARR, they are 10 years old and are in excellent condition. The staff all work from May to Sept then they return to full time jobs (teachers, college students, some go to Vail & work ski season there & others travel) until next tourist season in Alaska.

 

Our time on the train was nice. Our host would point out sites along the way give us history of Alaska or the town and tell us ahead of time when picture opportunities were coming up. I caught hubby dozing a couple of times, guess he was trying to catch up on the sleep he missed last night ;)

 

I spent my time seeing the sites and blogging my travel for all of you great folks following along. I asked Cam, our tour director, if it is customary to tip the train host daily or at the end of the week. He recommended daily as you can have a different host for each leg of the trip. The tour director and bus driver never change so they can be tipped at the end of the land portion in one payment to each. So today we tipped the suggested $1 per person to our train host as we debarked the train.

Edited June 4, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[Driftwoodgal]

Cindy,

 

Have you seen any wildlife from the train?

 

Think I read that the seats on the domed car allowed you to turn them towards each other. If you were traveling with others you could visit without having to turn around. If they do turn it would be a great feature for families with kids. Is that an option?

 

Great photos. it all looks so fresh.

[Tkaklita]

Love the train ride that you are taking us on, breakfast looked so good!! Great shots of the menus and souvenirs too, thanks.

[ace1zoe2]

Arriving in Denali, Sunday day 3

 

Our cruise tour included the National History Tour in the inclusive price. However, during all my planning research i learned that it is the least desirable tour as it only gets you a few miles into the park. There was an opportunity to upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour thru RCI for $59 per person but you couldn't do that until you arrived in Alaska and were on the cruise tour... since I am OCD about planning I couldn't wait until I got there to take a chance on getting into the park. We finally decided about 6 weeks prior to departure that we would ditch the NHT and book the Eielson Shuttle thru the National Park. The last departure of the day is at 2pm and arrives back at 10pm. Our train is scheduled to arrive in the park at 12:15. We will need to get to the Visitors Access Center to pick up our pre-paid tickets, stop at the Merino Grill to get a sandwich or box lunch & dinner for the shuttle.

 

 

Basic description of the different tours offered:

 

The NHT that came with our cruise tour is a 5 hr tour that goes 17 miles into Denali and includes a presentation prior to the tour. It is on a tour-type bus and includes a light snack & beverage. If booked on your own it is $77.50 per person which includes the $10 park entrance fee.

 

There is also a Tundra Wilderness Tour which goes 53 miles in to the park and takes 7-8 hours. The tour buses for the NHT & TWT also feature drop down video screens where they feature any wildlife spotted. Cost for this tour is $125.50 per person including the $10 park entrance fee for those of you not doing a cruise tour. This is the one you can upgrade to on the cruise tour. They will ask who wants to upgrade once you are on the train. Then they call the park and reserve you spots. Out of our 30 tour companions I'd say only 8-10 upgraded and we were the only ones who went off on our own to do the Eielson shuttle.

 

We chose to do the standard shuttle bus operated by the park. They are your standard school buses. We chose the shuttle to Eielson Visitors Center which is an 8 hour trip that goes 66 miles into the park with excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. There are no video monitors and you are recommended to bring binoculars. Luckily our grown kids purchased hubby a nice pair of binoculars for an early birthday/father's day gift. I have my 70-300 zoom lens on my camera to get right up close and personal, hopefully :) Also on a clear day, this tour offers outstanding views of Mt. McKinley.

 

Reservations are highly recommended as these tours do sell out. If you wait until you arrive it is possible that you will be turned away or have to take a tour that is not what you wanted.

 

The shuttle buses do not offer the food/snack but there is The Merino Grill available to grab a box lunch to go. Also at the Wilderness Access Center there is Taiga Bean Coffee Shop that offers fair trade Starbucks Coffee, box lunches, and other grab and go snacks.

 

More information is available on the Denali website

 

We arrived in the park at noon and were able to ride the RCI coach to the Merino Grill were we picked up food for lunch & the 8 hr drive. (We actually could have walked quicker) They had hot food and indoor & outdoor dining. We just grabbed food to go. We purchased 2 sandwiches ($9ea) 2 chips ($2ea), 2 candy bars ($2ea) some mini muffins ($2), a container of celery & carrots ($3) & a reusable bag ($1) and it totaled $29, we discovered later that she may have missed charging us for the veggies. We shared a sandwich and chips for lunch and had some of the veggies. The rest is for our dinner on the go. Once you leave the visitor's center there is no other food available in the park. Water is not available again until you arrive at the Eielson visitor's center.

 

After getting our provisions we headed to the park shuttle stop and took the Riley River shuttle to the Wilderness Access Center (WAC) where we picked up our pre purchased tickets. I asked for & received a $20 refund for the park admission which was charged on top of the shuttle ticket price since we were already paid thru RCI.

 

We went to the outdoor waiting area to have our lunch and right afterward the Eielson shuttle showed up. We asked if it was the 2 o'clock shuttle because it had just turned one o'clock. The guy said no, it's the one o'clock but if we were ready we could hop on as they had plenty of room. We lucked out, this will get us back at 9 now instead of 10 and we can catch the last shuttle back to the hotel.

 

Before we reached Eielson we had seen around 20 Caribou, a moose, 7 Dall sheep, the male & female state bird or Alaska, a sow bear and 2 cubs all before Toklat.

 

 

 

On the way back we saw first another bear right near the road having dinner. Then a golden eagle and finally two more bears up on the side of the hill. So a total of 6 bear in one day! Then about 15 minutes before we got back to the WAC we saw first a moma & baby moose in the edge of the river, and finally another moose out in the brush. Our driver said we were very lucky on all the wildlife that we got to see in one visit.

 

 

 

 

I believe our driver said Eielson just opened up yesterday. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was as thick as pea soup outside. You couldn't see anything... the clouds were just hanging around the mountains. It was very wet outside and so I didn't get any good pictures. We stopped several times on the way up. There are bathroom facilities at 2 of the stops and at Eielson. Only Eielson has running water. There have hand liquid sanitizers on the walls in the restrooms. The bathrooms were all very clean and very well maintained.

 

We had a great day in Denali and feel fortunate to have gotten to take this trip. At the end of the day when we returned to the WAC it was closed as it was after 9pm. We had missed the final shuttle so I called the McKinley Village where we would be staying so that they could send the pre-arranged shuttle that I had called about. They told me it was on the way. 30 minutes and 3 phone calls later we ended up in shuttle for a hostel that offered to drop us at MV.

[ace1zoe2]

Cindy,

 

Have you seen any wildlife from the train?

 

Think I read that the seats on the domed car allowed you to turn them towards each other. If you were traveling with others you could visit without having to turn around. If they do turn it would be a great feature for families with kids. Is that an option?

 

Great photos. it all looks so fresh.

 

Today on our way from Denali to Talkeetna we saw a black bear, brown bear, 2 moose and a red fox!

 

I am pretty sure that the upstairs sets are fixed, there is no way to turn them around. It may be different on other cruise line cars, but RCI cars ll face forward. Down stairs on the dining level they are set up as booths (seats facing with table between) for meals.

 

Hope this helps with your planning. Maybe you could sit across the aisles from each other then you would have both sides of the train covered for pictures.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

Love the train ride that you are taking us on, breakfast looked so good!! Great shots of the menus and souvenirs too, thanks.

 

Glad that you were able to read them. It would have been better if I had actual menus to scan and make pdf's but I could only take pictures. I am afraid some may turn out to not be readable.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

Denali continued...

 

Ok before I go on... I was having a hard time with logistics in Denali trying to imagine in my mind how everything works. So I want to try to explain how it works when you arrive...

 

The train actually arrives at Denali National Park. You walk off the train and then up some steps about 100 foot away and cross the street and you are at the Denali Visitor's center, continue on just a bit and to your left will be the restrooms, to the right is the Merino Grill.

 

 

 

You can purchase "to go" food or "hot food" to eat there. After you have your "to go" food for the tour you can walk back down to the front of the visitors center where you will catch the next shuttle that says Riley Creek Loop.

 

 

You will board that shuttle and the first stop will be the WAC (Wilderness Access Center). This is where you can purchase shuttle tickets, NHT, TWT or pick up pre-purchased tickets. This is also where you can request your refund for your entrance fee (if you are taking a cruise sponsored tour that you are bailing on, in lieu of the shuttle).

 

Next you will walk out the back of the WAC and wait until your designated time for your shuttle or tour bus.

 

[ace1zoe2]

Upon arriving at the MCKINLEY VILLAGE LODGE and going to the desk for our key, the manager on duty apologized profusely for making us wait. We told him it was no problem, we were just happy to be here. He said that's not how they want to treat their guest and wanted to offer us some coupons for 2 free drinks and an appetizer as an apology. It was a surprising and unexpected but welcome gesture. We dropped our bags in our room and went to the bar area and took advantage of their offer. It was probably around 10:30 by the time we finished our 2 free ($9) glasses of wine and our hot wings ($14) which was all comped. We tipped the waiter and headed to our room for the night.

 

 

Our bags were already waiting in our room as they had been transported earlier straight from the train to the hotel. The guest services building (Yukon Outpost) was very nice with lots of seating and a fireplace, Starbucks coffee shop, restaurant & bar and had an outside deck with fire pit overlooking the river.

 

 

 

The rooms are set up in 7 different 2 story buildings. For those with limited mobility, check at the desk when getting your key to be sure that you have been placed on the ground floor as there are no elevators to the second floor. We had several people who had to make a trip back to the Yukon Outpost (guest services building) to have room changes.

 

 

The rooms were basic but plenty comfortable after the long day. The beds were much better than Pike's and there was coffee maker and in-room Starbucks and Tazo tea packets. Each building has deck outside with a few chairs overlooking the river. They also offered free WiFi and had a nice gift shop. Overall we thought the McVILLAGE was a place we'd be happy to visit again.

Edited June 4, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Day 4, Denali to Talkeetna

 

Today is Monday, day 4 and we begin our day in Denali and will move on to Talkeetna later this afternoon. We were up early again this morning to tick something off of our bucket list: White Water Rafting on Class II-III rapids.

 

We chose to book this excursion thru Royal Caribbean since we weren't sure of the times or locations we need to be for departure. The price was the same as what we would have paid thru the private vendor. The excursion was described as follows: Whitewater Rafting the Nenana River with approximately two hours on the water the Canyon Run is an exciting whitewater adventure with class iii and iv rapids. This is one ride where you might get wet. Cost $99 per person.

 

We were originally told that we would be picked up at 7:30am so we were up at 6 getting dressed & putting our bags out for pickup. Our tour director Cam called & said our time was changed to 8:30 and the vendor was just bringing our dry suits & shoes to dress at the site instead of picking us up & taking us back to town to dress. We were on a raft with a family of 3 and we had great time. Today we wore thermals under our clothes and wore our 3-in-1 jackets and toboggans (or beanies or tokes depending on where your from). Over all of that we had water-proof Gortex dry suits, neoprene booties and life jackets... we looked like the Pillsbury doughboy or the Michellin man!

 

 

 

After a safety presentation, suiting up & signing the standard release forms we were ready to go. We looked like pillsbury dough boys in all the layers but if that would prevent us from getting too wet it would be worth it. Did I mention that our tour was at 7:30am in and that it was about 40 degrees outside and we were going white-water rafting!!! We were SOOO excited. I brought my waterproof camera with a float strap with me for the trip not knowing whether or not I would be allowed to actually take it. Normally the tour service has folks stationed on the sides of the river near the rapids to help out in case of emergency and the also take pictures of the trip which they will sell you a CD with the pictures at the end. However today, because of the river being near flood levels they took us further up river and there were no pictures taken or sold. We definitely would have wanted those pictures to remember our trip by. luckily I had my camera with me and was able to get a few great pictures.

 

NOTE: So far this has been the only fault with the cruise tour, not having the times available to book independent tours. For this reason alone, because I am OCD in planning, I probably would not chose to do a cruise tour thru the cruise line again. However, for others who like someone else to take charge and just tell them where they are going and what they will be doing, or someone who doesn't want to drive or handle their own luggage, all of these are definite reasons for doing a cruise tour.

 

After the tour the provider dropped us at the train station to meet the rest of our cruise tour group who were all coming from the hotel. Apparently we were the only ones who did an "active" tour because everyone had to ask us all about it.

 

We have a total of 30 in our group and Cam said his normal group size is 52. At noon we boarded the Wilderness Express headed to Talkeetna and we are due to arrive at 4:40pm. Today both RCI cruise tours were combined into one rail car. Luckily our group loaded second so we were at the back of the car, meaning that we were the first group to go down for lunch!

 

Today for lunch hubby had a cup of Reindeer chili and I had a cup of crab bisque and then we shared a chicken wrap. The wrap was huge and there is no way I could have eaten one by myself. The train ride was pretty scenic and we saw several moose along the way.

 

 

 

 

About half way thru the trip hubby & I shared Big Grizzly, frozen blend of Khlu, Amaretto & cream. I have to say, it was pretty tasty!

 

 

I mentioned earlier that they combined out two tour groups onto one rail car today so we went from having 30 to 66 people on the car, including around 8-10 children who were from 4-9 (I'm guessing). It was very loud, crowded and the kids were up running around, standing on their hands in the seats and aisle at one point. The railcar hosts were very good at trying to keep them occupied by telling them stories, playing games with them etc. but it took away from the rest of the duties they should have been doing such as giving the commentary on what was going on outside, what we were seeing etc.

 

I asked Cam, our cruise tour director, when we got to the hotel what was up with combining the groups. He said they thought it would be fun for everyone but that he had already talked to the train coordinator and made sure that we are back on separate car tomorrow with just our little group. Guess I wasn't the only one a little annoyed. I didn't complain, I just asked why we were combined and he volunteered the rest of the information. I'm sure the long ride was boring for the kids but they were up and down the stairs and unfortunately their parents weren't supervising them as much as they probably should have.

Edited June 4, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Tonight we are staying at TALKEENA ALASKAN LODGE. All of the tours offered by RCI cruise tours and by the lodge in Talkeetna are pretty expensive expensive (think $165, $265, $340, $400 & $505 PER PERSON!) and we didn't see anything that we felt was a "must-do" for the price. We decided to take a break here and just do some easy on-our-own activities. We're picking up a "walking map" from the hotel desk and for in the morning to town and visit the shops.

 

Triiva: Did you know that the television series Northern Exposure is based on the town of Talkeetna. They asked them to change the name so that they could protect their small town atmosphere and not become a tourist destination. The town is really small and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived about 4:45. We were given our key cards as we disembarked the coach and went straight to our rooms where our luggage was already waiting. Then we went for a walk around the property and had dinner at the bistro.

 

 

 

Finally we came back to the room just to hang out and get in bed earlier... it's now 11:15pm and guess what... it's still daylight outside and I'm still wide awake even though hubby has probably been sleep for an our or so.

 

I wanted to take this down time to get caught up on updating my blog/report. The hotel also offers from WiFi but uploading pictures is slow. Its much quicker using my data than the WiFi. I'm only posting limited pictures until I get back home & can go thru everything. So far I think I've taken around 700 pictures in 3 days!

 

Well, finally I think that I'm caught up with what we've done so far! Any questions or comments, fire away!

[ace1zoe2]

Final entry for today regarding ship sponsored excursions. I talked to Cam this evening and he did confirm that as of this year there folks will not be able to pre-purchase excursions. He is not sure of the reason. He has worked for RCI for 5 years and said this is the first year it has been this way and he has heard a lot of complaints.

 

I did get a copy of the excursions offered in each port stop on our land portion and I m posting them below. I had to take several pictures to get it to where you could read it. There are no descriptions, just prices.

 

 

 

 

 

[phabric]

I have enjoyed reading your reviews with pictures.

 

I have done the packinglight bundles. How did you find it?

[Fishfish]

I just wanted to thank you again for your blog. I am enjoying it so much and it's making me even more excited about visiting Alaska next year!

[Time2Shipout]

Kathy: we get on the day you get off.....you must come back and tell me all about the latest and the temps for your week!:D

 

I can do that ;). Kathy

[Seagalpat]

What is Tapatalk HD?

 

I just love "our" tour! Your pixs are great, the food looks delicious and you both are darling in your rafting gear.

 

We are so ready for August 9th to arrive! 66 days and counting!

[narsibvl]

First of all...I gotta to say....what you are doing here is so very helpful...I almost feel like I am part of your tour.. :) . Lucky me,I get to do this all over again..

 

Now for my question : )....

 

We are doing the motor coach from Denali to Anchorage...and the coach reaches Anchorage by 3:00 with an optional excursion we can do. I am wondering whether I should upgrade to the train from Denali. The downside is of course we reach later at around 8:00 pm which means no sightseeing in Anchorage would you know whether they allow this ? What do you suggest ?

[PhyllisC]

Thanks Cindy for all the info. We are taking Cruisetour #13 also in August. We are staying in Pikes August 9th with the tour starting on the 10th. Looking forward to all your info, it has helped us tremendously. Thanks

[ace1zoe2]

I have enjoyed reading your reviews with pictures.

 

I have done the packinglight bundles. How did you find it?

 

So far the packing has worked out fine. It's a little harder getting to your things when you are "living out of your suitcase" on a daily basis for the week on land. Once we get on the ship and can unpack it will have been great - for a normal pack, fly, unpack, vacation, repack, fly home I don't think you can beat it.

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

I just wanted to thank you again for your blog. I am enjoying it so much and it's making me even more excited about visiting Alaska next year!

 

Thanks so much for coming along on our journey! We're having a great time and you're going to love it here :)

 

 

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