My Review Alaska - Cruise tour only (long)

[Barbee524]

Here is my review on the tour portion of our cruise tour. I have not included the cruise portion since there are already quite a few reviews on the Alaska message board and in the review section. We toured first and then sailed. I would definitely do it the same way again after staying in four hotels in five nights it was fabulous to be able to unpack and stay in one room for seven nights. I have included, when available, the websites for the hotels we stayed at. Though these may change next year.

 

 

Sunday – Fairbanks: We arrived on Sunday for a two night stay. The thermometer we passed on the way in from the airport read 84 degrees. We stayed at the River’s Edge Lodge and Cabins www.riversedge.net. The rooms are all individual cabins. Very cute. The first day in Fairbanks is really just a travel day.

 

 

Monday - Fairbanks We went on the Riverboat Discovery tour. This was a much better tour than I expected. You see quite a bit from the riverboat. This included a stop by Susan Butcher’s dog training facility where someone will speak to you from the shore, you will want to be on the starboard side of the riverboat for this. There is also a stop to see some reindeer for which you will want to be on the port side (I missed this since I was still on the starboard side). You do not get off the boat for the first two stops. Then you will stop at and get off the boat at a recreation of an Athabascan fish camp. You will be on shore for approximately one hour. Then back on the boat and back down river.

 

 

After the riverboat tour we went to downtown Fairbanks, this was our lunch stop. This was a bit disappointing as we were there on Memorial Day and most of the businesses were closed. However, there is free Internet service in the Fairbanks Visitor’s Center, so I was able to send an e-mail to friends for free.

 

 

After lunch we were off to the El Dorado Gold Mine. We made a quick stop to see a portion of the Alaska pipeline on our way there. The goldmine was as hokey as I expected it would be, but we had fun anyway panning for gold. From here it’s back to your hotel for an evening on your own. Also, in the evening they had check in for the cruise in the hotel lobby. This save you the time of having to check in at Seward, you will just need to go through the security lines at the port. This was also helpful in the case of someone who forgot their birth certificate and then had plenty of time to have it sent FedEx before boarding.

 

 

Tuesday Morning– Fairbanks to Denali: We took the train from Fairbanks to Denali in the morning. The Royal Caribbean train cars are very nice with very comfortable first class style seating and the food served in the dining area is very good. As we got closer to Denali the beautiful weather we had enjoyed in Fairbanks continually worsened and by the time we arrived in Denali the temperature had dropped about 30 degrees and it was raining.

 

 

Tuesday Afternoon – Tour of Denali National Park. The tour through Denial is taken on a school bus, there is however, an overhead rack where you would be able to place a warmer coat and I suggest you do, as the temperature continued to drop the further we went into the park and we did see a few snow flurries. Our RCI guide had told us all that there would not be very much room on the bus through Denali so we did not have our heavier coats. The tour takes anywhere from 8 to 12 hours depending on how much wildlife is sighted. We did not have much luck with seeing wildlife. After the tour of Denali it was back to our hotel for the evening. We stayed at the McKinley Village Lodge (no web site available).

 

 

Wednesday Morning – On your own. We had signed up for the Golfing on the Tundra excursion. It was raining pretty hard and we were given the option of canceling and receiving a refund. No one who had signed up cancelled, I guess we all felt that we most likely wouldn’t have this opportunity again. It continued to rain until we got to the second hole on the golf course. We were not able to finish golfing as we had to return to the hotel to depart with our group to Talkeetna.

 

 

Wednesday Afternoon – Train from Denali to Talkeetna – As we traveled from Denali to Talkeetna the weather got much better and by the time we arrived in Talkeetna it was sunny and warm. We stayed at the Talkeetna Lodge www.talkeetnalodge.com which was my favorite hotel out of the ones we stayed in. We went into Talkeetna via the hotel shuttle bus. Talkeetna is a small and charming town and easily walked. There is a laundry mat across from the shuttle bus stop if you want to do laundry. We did not.

 

 

Thursday Morning – On Thursday morning we were able to see Mt. McKinley from the Talkeetna Lodge. We had not been able to see it from Denali. I had told everyone before we left for our trip that I really wanted to see Mt. McKinley so this was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I just happened to be up pretty early and peaked out the window and there it was. Really, I wasn’t the only one outside in my pajamas taking pictures! I later found out that the hotel will give you a wake up call when Mt. McKinley is visible. Be aware though that this could very well be at 3:00 am. We departed for Anchorage about 10:00 on Thursday morning. On the way to Anchorage we stopped at the Iditarod Training Center. Here you can see sled dog puppies. If you are real quick about it you can go on a sled dog ride here it was $10 per person when we were there The trick is to not get distracted by the puppies and the gift shop and go as soon as you get off the bus. We were not aware of this until it was too late, so no ride for us.

 

 

Thursday Afternoon / Evening – Anchorage: Anchorage is a beautiful city. This said, it is a city and if this is what you expect you will not be disappointed. We stayed at the Downtown Marriott http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/ancdt. It is exactly what you would expect a Marriot to be. Though it was a nice hotel, it had the least charm of the hotels we stayed in. We had dinner at the Glacier Brew House and I can definitely recommend this restaurant.

 

 

Friday Morning Anchorage to Seward – We had a couple of stops to make on the way to the ship. The first was at the Alaskan Heritage Center. This is a museum of native American culture. We are usually not much on museums, however, this was extremely informative and we were pleasantly surprised. Then we stopped at the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge. At the refuge they have injured animals which they are hoping to release back into the wild. Here is where we finally saw a bear and the other wild life we missed in Denali.

 

 

Friday Afternoon – Vision of the Seas. Our RCI Guide passed out our sea passes to us as we got off the bus. Boarding was pretty quick as we just needed to go through the security check.

 

 

Overall we had a great time on our cruise tour. Our guide, Jennifer, was very friendly and knowledgeable about Alaska. Same can be said about our bus drive, Angela. You will be with the same driver and tour guide for the entire land portion of your vacation.

 

 

On the negative side, other than Anchorage, the hotels are fairly isolated so you’re pretty limited as to your shopping and dining options until you get to Anchorage. By the time we boarded the ship we were ready to be on our own without being “herded” by our tour guide. This was our first experience with a guided tour. Please don’t get me wrong, for our first experience with Alaska this worked well for us. When we return (notice that’s when not if) we would be willing to take another guided tour.

 

 

Now for a few tips; You will be able to mark suitcase(s) for storage as there will be things you will not need for the tour portion that you will want on board (formal wear, etc.). I had thought my packing was organized , but found out quickly how wrong I was. I would suggest that you pack as lightly as possible for the tour portion, if I was doing it again I would try and limit us both to a single carry-on size bag each. I would book any daytime excursions on the land portion directly with RCI, you may be able to find them cheaper elsewhere but, if you book direct with RCI they will make sure you make it to the bus (or train) on time. In the evenings you are “on your own” so making the bus or train wouldn’t be a problem.

 

 

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[DisneyDestroyer]

Nice review, thanks.

 

PS, I would still love to hear your review of the cruise, they'are always unique and you certainly seem to be very observant of any interesting points.