Alaska 2014 Tour 8B (Report)

[chandom]

How was the Wilderness Tundra Tour?

Did you have good weather and see lots of critters?

Did you go on the morning tour and how early did you have to get up for it?

What hotel did you stay in at Denalli NP?

 

 

Tour was great! Saw many critters want to say 10 bears, many sheep sightings, moose a few times, and same thing with caribou. Only down side was the 6:15 tour start time.

 

Hotel was the Denali Grand Lodge.

 

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[AshleyDillo]

We are having fantastic weather in Talkeetna. Denali has been fully visible all day which they say is rare. Tshirt and shorts would be comfortable. Just goes to show you have to prepare for the full range of weather here.

 

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[chandom]

So far the only hotel not to have in room wifi has been the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. They do have it in the lobby.

 

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Few other comments about the room in Talkeetna.

I did pickup a signal in the room. However, it wasn't connected to anything.

 

Also, in our case, be aware of mosquitoes. With the rooms opening to the outside. Our new friends followed us in...

 

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[AshleyDillo]

Our hotel in Talkeetna (Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge) does have a guest laundry. It only has 2 washers and 2 dryers, but that helps to cut down the luggage if you don't mind spending time doing some laundry.

[AshleyDillo]

Tour was great! Saw many critters want to say 10 bears, many sheep sightings, moose a few times, and same thing with caribou. Only down side was the 6:15 tour start time.

 

Hotel was the Denali Grand Lodge.

 

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We also saw a porcupine on the Wilderness Tundra Tour!!!

 

Moose have been pretty common--seen them just on the side of the road several times so far.

[edjny]

Have you taken any of the Royal Caribbean optional excursions? Or have you gone out on your own for side excursions?

[chandom]

Have you taken any of the Royal Caribbean optional excursions? Or have you gone out on your own for side excursions?

 

Everything has been booked thru the tour operator. Based on the prices seen for the same excursions they have been equal cost.

 

Fairbanks: Nothing (Our tour guide really didn't think anything was worth it. Stated that Artic Circle wasn't worth the hype. Also said a better meal could be found versus the Salmon Bake)

Denali: Whitewater rafting (cold, bring waterproof gloves if you can find them) and Husky Homestead

Talkeetna: Devil's Canyon Jetboat tour (My father also did Fixed wing flight seeing with Glacier landing.)

 

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[Lorey2007]

Everything has been booked thru the tour operator. Based on the prices seen for the same excursions they have been equal cost.

 

Fairbanks: Nothing (Our tour guide really didn't think anything was worth it. Stated that Artic Circle wasn't worth the hype. Also said a better meal could be found versus the Salmon Bake)

Denali: Whitewater rafting (cold, bring waterproof gloves if you can find them) and Husky Homestead

Talkeetna: Devil's Canyon Jetboat tour (My father also did Fixed wing flight seeing with Glacier landing.)

 

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Please tell me about the Husky Homestead tour.

[AshleyDillo]

The Husky Homestead tour was very entertaining. They shuttled you to the kennel and training site for Jeff King's team. He has run the Iditarod every year for decades and won the race 4 of those years. He was very funny and gave a lot of information about the dogs and the race. First thing they do when you stepped off the bus onto the property was to hand you a husky puppy. Cost was $59.

 

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[cruisegal2013]

We too are taking a 8B cruisetour in August and are thrilled to see all your info you have posted. At the Fairbanks airport, did you take a taxi on your own or is there a RCCL shuttle to the hotel? When do you give your guides/driver their tips--each day or the last day? Where there any restaurants that you walked to from the hotels that you would recommend? Thanks again for posting.

[franl24fan]

I am doing tour 6B southbound from Fairbanks next June. Your info was really helpful. I've done other land tours (Grand Circle & Road Scholar) so it was a little odd to be told that I won't know the hotels or the daily schedule ahead of time, or be asked to fill out a form ahead of time with my room preferences ( smoking or non, low floor or high etc).

 

I think there is a definite error on the limited itinerary already shown for our tour. We leave Fairbanks, and as on your schedule get to Denali around noon. Yet they show us doing the Wilderness Tour, which is an 8 hour. It seems pretty obvious we will be doing the shorter tour. I know that nature lovers prefer the longer tour, but I was dreading the long hours on a bus with limited rest stops :-). My goal was to see the highlights of this part of Alaska then go back in the future to specific areas. In hindsight I maybe should have booked the 8B, but it's too complicated to change it now.

[AshleyDillo]

We were in Denali for 2 nights and the second day is when we did the Wilderness Tour.

 

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[franl24fan]

For our tour we arrive at denali about noon, leave the next morning. I didn't pick up on that when I booked 6B, the info on the website was unclear, or I would have booked a different tour. Hopefully we'll get some nice views coming down from Fairbanks and then looking back on way to Anchorage.

 

The info provided for the tour portion of the cruise tour is terrible, no specific details until you get to Fairbanks and check in. My TA says that is intentional, so that they are not held to anything, but it's certainly different than any other land tour I've taken. Choice Air quotes are also not possible on the website, they will only show flying into Anchorage for the cruise portion.

 

I booked my cruise tour by transferring a next cruise certificate from another cruise and using the BOGO sale, so trying to change it would I'm sure cost me a fortune. I'll make the best of it and take notes for going back on a regular land tour sometime.

[edjny]

I booked my cruise tour by transferring a next cruise certificate from another cruise and using the BOGO sale, so trying to change it would I'm sure cost me a fortune. I'll make the best of it and take notes for going back on a regular land tour sometime.

 

Check out the pricing if you might want to upgrade to a longer land tour. We booked the 8B tour starting on July 11 2015 (cruise is July 17) the night the schedules were announced. I then took my price cut from the BOGOHO. I have followed the pricing and it has not gone up very much since then. I am sure that it will go up more and more as time goes on though. So, if you want to upgrade to a longer land tour, NOW is the time....

[edjny]

We too are taking a 8B cruisetour in August and are thrilled to see all your info you have posted. At the Fairbanks airport, did you take a taxi on your own or is there a RCCL shuttle to the hotel? When do you give your guides/driver their tips--each day or the last day? Where there any restaurants that you walked to from the hotels that you would recommend? Thanks again for posting.

 

Assuming that the hotel in Fairbanks is still Sophie Station, there is a shuttle to the hotel from the airport. Look up the web site for the hotel for more info.

Edited June 12, 2014 by edjny

[AshleyDillo]

[quote name='cruisegal2013']We too are taking a 8B cruisetour in August and are thrilled to see all your info you have posted. At the Fairbanks airport, did you take a taxi on your own or is there a RCCL shuttle to the hotel? When do you give your guides/driver their tips--each day or the last day? Where there any restaurants that you walked to from the hotels that you would recommend? Thanks again for posting.[/QUOTE]

There is a shuttle provided by Royal Caribbean from the airport to the hotel.

We tipped at the end of the tour.

There weren't any restaurants within walking distance from Sophie Station in Fairbanks but the hotel had a on-site restaurant and also provided a shuttle that looped to downtown which had places to eat. We ate at Big Daddy's BBQ in Fairbanks. It was decent, but nothing special.

The Denali Grande is on the edge of a cliff with a mile long driveway that has steep switchbacks up the cliff. So if you're up for that level of activity, you could walk to town from that hotel. We ate at the restaurant hotel and it was pretty hit or miss.

Talkeetna hotel was the Alaskan Lodge and it had on site dining options that we didn't try. They also provide a shuttle into town. We ate at the Roadhouse which I thought was great. They have great baked goods and a fantastic breakfast.