North to Alaska! Review of NCL Sun NB and Denali by Rail

[Sue Do'nym]

So post tour, we were delivered to the depot at Seward via shuttle bus. Our luggage made it on the train-at least we were told it did (it did). DM had booked us gold star class for all of our journeys and this is another thing I highly recommend. Gold star has assigned seating in an glass domed car-I understand adventure class has a glass domed car as well, but has to rotate out every half hour or so. No experience with that so cannot comment. For gold star, we got a cool pin, meals were included as were 2 alcoholic drinks, per journey, per person. As Gold Star, we were seated in the dining car first, once all Gold Star are fed, then the dining car is opened to Adventure class-but since Gold Star takes so long-that did not happen until the last hour on this trip. I think there is a snack bar for Adventure Class too...but the dining car was a nice experience. In Gold Star we had our own naturist- some were better than others...but most were good. As Big Bro said, we saw the back sides of a lot of animals. We saw moose and at least one black bear. Back sides only-the animals are not that fond of trains-although we had one moose who raced the train and then crossed in front of the track-moose are fast! Upon arrival in Anchorage-we find our luggage and then go to shuttle stop for the Comfort Inn. We know it is close-but with luggage-we are not so sure. Someone on our train had called ahead and reserved the first shuttle, so we have to wait a bit, but not too long. Once the shuttle gets us to the Comfort Inn, we still have to wait in line for all the people who got the shuttle before us to finish checking in. The comfort inn is decorated in dead animal chic. But overall the hotel is comfortable and we are here for less than 8 hours either way...

[Sue Do'nym]

Up and at 'em early once again! Comfort Inn Anchorage has an included breakfast but it is typical hotel stuff so I grab some Frosted Flakes and call it. We take the shuttle back to the Depot-which is 5 minutes away-walkable, but not with luggage. Once again on the train in Gold Star. We are served both breakfast and lunch plus another two alcoholic beverages...Big Bro is storing his since he does not drink for those of us who do...good Big Bro! Both breakfast and lunch are very good in the dining car-we see more wild life. I cannot compare Adventure Class since we did not experience it, but I was a fan of the Gold Star life. When we arrive in Denali, we do not have to get luggage-it is transferred directly from the train to our room. We stay at the Denali Bluffs. I was impressed with this little hotel complex-the rooms are spread out and it is motel like, but we have a little balcony. No chair on the balcony, but I pull out the hotel room chairs and that works very nicely. The staff at the hotel is friendly-there is a small cafe with a limited menu in the lobby. There is a restaurant/bar that is open for breakfast, buffet only and dinner w/menu with full bar...the lobby is a nice place to sit and watch the world go by. We have dinner at the restaurant that night, and I highly recommend the Alaskan crab legs. Overall everyone is happy with the food that night and there are no bad choices.

[Sue Do'nym]

Big Bro decides to go for a run first thing-DM and I hit the breakfast buffet. I tell him to watch for bears-he is more worried about moose. The breakfast buffet is good and hits the spot. After our breakfast and Big Bro has his run, he and I decide to walk down to "town." There is a shuttle It is not much of a town, a couple of bars and some stores-there may have been some restaurants...we go shopping for souvenirs. The first store we stop at has the best prices. We both buy gifties here and are pleased with purchases. We then head to different stores-the one that catches our eye the most is the one where the guy in the moose suit is playing the keyboards outside his store. His store is Wild about Denali. He sells Tshirts that have Denali National Park printed on a state of your choice. It gives a good picture of the size of Denali National Park. T shirts are available in a range of size and colors with lots of options. I cannot resist a guy in a moose suit playing keyboards so I buy one of course. He tells me he also has a dog who frequently wears moose antlers as well. Nice guy-am very pleased with my purchase. Please go see him if you head to Denali! Our hotel will make a boxed lunch so you can take it on the tour-we ordered ours the night before with a designated puck up time to coincide with our tour. For Denali, you can either do morning tours, which DM decided would not work as Big Bro is not a morning person. She did not want to fight him to get him up so she chose the afternoon tour-much better. Our pick up was around 1pm and we knew the tour would last til after 8pm. Although we had our boxed lunch, we thought it would be a good idea to get a good lunch before heading out. We discover that the restaurant does not serve lunch and as we are planning a boxed lunch from the cafe we do not want a simple lunch. We decide to take the shuttle to Denali Bluffs hotel which is up a considerable hill. We are told it is walkable but advised the shuttle is preferred...we take the shuttle...The Denali Bluffs looks more like a lodge. The food is incredible-I have a beer cheese soup followed by the fish and chips. Another highly recommended stop! Great service too. We meet the shuttle and head back to our hotel. We pick up our pre-ordered box lunches and await the bus for the Denali National Park tour. The bus arrives timely and we are one of the first stops so we have our selection of seats. We choose the back of the bus-cause all the cool kids sit at the back of the bus. The bus makes a couple more stops and fills quickly. The drive into Denali National Park is another one filled with amazing scenery and wildlife. We see Dall Sheep, a grizzly bear and many moose. There is no running water in the park, so each rest stop is an adventure...Only 30% of visitors see Mt. McKinley and at first it seems we will be in the unlucky 70 %. We drive to the furthest point in the park and sure enough, the mountain is surrounded in fog. We turn around but as we do...the fog begins to lift. We are soon able to see Mt. McKinley! We are in the lucky 30%! Our bus driver stops again so we can all get pictures. When we unpack our boxed lunches-our fellow travelers are jealous-the hotel did a great job on these! Overall, this trip is mostly another sit and look at pretty scenery with a few wildlife interruptions here and there...we all enjoyed it though and agreed it was a once in a lifetime experience. After we are dropped off at the hotel,we had to the restaurant for some food and a drink before bed. Guess who walks into the hotel bar-the guy in the moose suit who I bought the tshirt from earlier in the day-celebrity spotting in Alaska!

[Sue Do'nym]

I had stayed up super late on the balcony hoping to the sun set and the stars come out...never happened. Next morning we all hit the breakfast buffet then wait for the shuttle to the train. The hotel has computers and printers so I take care of getting us all checked in for our upcoming flights and printing boarding passes as needed. We left our luggage outside our room with the promise it will appear in Anchorage. Once again, we are shuttled to the depot. We see a Mama Moose and 2 calves in a parking lot. We await the train. Big bro gets bored waiting so he runs over to the nature center. He tells us it was interesting. Eventually the train appears. We are Gold Star once again and receive lunch and dinner on the train. Plus our 2 alcoholic beverages...plus all the alcoholic beverages Big Bro has stored. Once again we see the back sides of a lot of animals. Back in Anchorage, grab the luggage-my flight leaves in a few hours so I am heading straight to the airport. Several options are available including a shuttle, but I choose a cab. Price is reasonable and I am not in the mood to be shuttled anymore...At the airport, check in is easy...lots of dining options and take one last picture of a moose, sadly not a live one this time...flights home are uneventful

[Sue Do'nym]

Sadly the trip and this review have ended-it was a great trip.

 

Final thoughts

 

NCL Sun, small ship, but very enjoyable

Food-non specialty, not the best. Would plan on relying on the specialty restaurants on this ship.

Teen program-huge hit for our only teen young enough. Lots of fun activities. He really enjoyed it and made lots of friends. I really wish they had something more for the older teens.

Alaska Railway tour-highly recommend. Transfers were easy and we saw a lot of wildlife.

 

Any questions? Happy to answer and thanks to any and all who actually read my rambling thoughts!