PreCruise Options

[mmo]

:confused: :confused: :confused: Hello--if you were going to fly into Alaska on a Wednesday and your cruise didn't leave until Monday afternoon, what would you do w/ the days beforehand? We realize it is not the longest stretch of time but it's what we can do. This is assuming you decided to try and do it on your own rather than a cruisetour thru the ship line. Would you rent a car, would you go by train, would you do both? We realize it will be up to us in the end but would love to hear what others would recommend if they had this time to explore beforehand. Where would you fly into? Do you have special places, be it hotels, B&B's, cabins, you would recommend? Any and all itineraries would be appreciated. Thank you in advance. Oh, we are planning on going on the Island Princess on July 31, 2006 so it would be Whittier we would need to end up at on the 31st.

[zachnlucy]

We're going on a northbound to Whittier in August.

 

• From Whittier we're using a Princess transfer to Anchorage, renting a car from Avis at the airport, and will then drive to Healy (near the Denali Park entrance). I understand it's a pretty long drive (8 hrs?).
  
• In Healy we're spending 2 nights at the Earthsong Lodge (www.earthsonglodge.com).
  
• The next morning we have tickets for the Denali shuttle bus (6:45 am), taking the long 11 hr RT to Wonder Lake.
  
• We'll spend that night at Earthsong Lodge also and the next morning are driving to Talkeetna and staying at the Talkeetna Roadhouse (www.talkeetnaroadhouse.com).
  
• The next morning we have a summit flight over McKinley reserved through Talkeetna Aero Services (http://www.talkeetna-aero.com).
  
• We're going to hang around Talkeetna the rest of the day.
  
• The next morning we're driving south to intersect with Glenn Highway (supposed to be a beautiful drive) and will drive as far east as we can before we have to turn around to make our 11:30 pm flight from Anchorage.
  

[mmo]

thank you so much for the info--this is the stuff we would really like to hear about!!! :)

[Budget Queen]

Even though expensive I would suggest you conside a one way Anchorage/Whittier car rental with AVIS. It will make the best use of your time. With 5 days you COULD get to both Seward and Denali Park. I would look at 2 overnights in each and the other night in Anchorage. But looking at this a year ahead is way early for any firm plans, spend several months researching and educating your self on all the interior touring options, a LOT can happen in a year especially with these boards full of good ideas.