Need Alaska interior advice

[mumom95]

My husband and I currently have an alaskan cruisetour booked with Princess for July of 2006. It is 5 days on land and then a 7 day southbound interior passage cruise from Whittier to Vancouver on the Coral Princess, balcony room, aloha deck room 502.

 

Now that I have discovered this message board (and might I add that I am addicted), I am starting to realize that we may have been able to do the land part on our own. This will be our first time in alaska, and our first cruise, so that is why I initially went with the cruisetour. But now that I am learning so much, I'm wondering if we should change it to just the cruise and do the other part on our own.

 

Here is our land itinerary:

 

july 20 - overnight in Anchorage

july 21 - 8:15 rail from anchorage to Talkeetna, quick stop and then motorcoach to Mt. McKinley (should get to Mt. McKinley lodge around 1:00), rest of day and night at Mt. McKinley

July 22 - 9:00 - motor coach to Denali Princess lodge - should get there around noon. rest of day and night at Denali

July 23 - Tundra Wilderness tour in Denali from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm, rest of day and night at Denali

July 24 - 8:00 am - Denali express to Whittier to get on ship.

 

The land portion is costing us approx. $2000, for the two of us. That includes transportation, lodging and the tundra wilderness tour. It does not include food.

 

So my question to all of you is: could we do this better and cheaper on our own, or would you say just stick with what we have already. All advice would be greatly appreciated.

[JimF]

She is adament about doing the tour yourself is the best way to go. Having just done a cruiseTour, I agree with her. While at Denali Lodge, do the Natl Park Service shuttle bus trip instead of Tundra tour- better and less costly. Also, don't miss FREE Dog Sled demo put on by Natl Park Service personnel

[Yukon]

I'd say do it on your own - that itinerary in particular offers some poor choices. The train route from Anchorage to Talkeetan is the most boring of the entire AKRR, Talkeetna is worth a long stop, the Princess McKinley is not a worthwhile stop given the other possibilities, etc, etc. Rent a car in Anchorage, then take the ship transfer to Whiitier on your last day.

 

Murray

[mumom95]

Thanks so far for the advice. One more question I forgot to post in my original message: what about our luggage. If we rent a car, problem solved, luggage can go in the trunk. But my husband isn't so sure about renting a car, he's worried that if he has to do all of the driving, he'll miss a lot of scenery. But if we don't rent a car and take the rail places, what do we do with our luggage after we check out of one place and have something going on during the day before we check into the next place. Especially given that we are ending with a 7 day cruise, we will have a lot of luggage.

 

Thanks again for all of the advice.

[fti]

I would also do the NP shuttle bus on your own rather than the TWT. Cheaper and it goes further into the park. I would even go so far as to say reserve the bus to Wonder Lake - it doesn't cost that much more than to other destinations and if Mt. McKinley is visible you will be glad you did. If the mountain is not out, you can always get off the bus and take an earlier bus back.

 

About the car rental, if you keep the car for 5-7 days you can usually pick up in Anchorage and drop in Whittier for little or no charge with Avis or Harley's. This will save you the $55 or so one-way transfer that the cruise line offers.

[gprentice]

Hi,

 

We were on the Island Princess July 2005 from Vancouver to Whittier with our family of 4.

 

I arranged a 5 day land tour afterwards using advice from this board.

 

The cruise was wonderful, as so was the land tour.

 

We took a private van from Whittier to Anchorage (approx. $200).

 

We rented a pre-arranged car in Anchorage for 5 days (approx. $200 - found a good deal by googling travel/car rental web sites)

 

Bought two toursaver.com books for the deals. (It was worth it!)

 

Drove from Anchorage to Seward (3hrs)

 

Spent two nights at Marina Motel (approx. $135/night - very clean, everyone liked the place)

 

Took Kenai Fjords Resurrection Bay 9hr tour (fanatastic!! Used toursaver book - was one of our favorite days)

 

Drove to Exit Glacier (just leaving Seward) on the way to Talkeetna. (5hrs)

 

Stayed two nights in Talkeetna (approx. $135/night) and took McKinley Summit tour (used toursaver book).

 

Drove back to Anchorage, (2hrs) returned car, flew back to Vancouver hotel.

 

There is a bit of work arranging everything, (not that bad really) but it sure made a fun memorable vacation.

 

If you have the time, research it a bit on your own and see if it looks worthwhile to book it on your own. One of the best parts is being able to stop where you want to stop, not having to wait for other people.

 

However, we thought is was best for our family. Your prearranged tour handles all the luggage, etc. If there's just two of you, you may want to meet others on your bus/train tour - suit yourself!

 

Whatever you decide, have a great vacation. Alaska was awesome.

 

Graham