Connoisseur Cruisetour and Island Princess SB

[Davistx1]

Hi - After all the research I have done on this board, I want to share my experience too. During our cruisetour, we will visit Fairbanks, Denali, Mt McKinley and Kenai Lodges before boarding the Island Princess on Aug 10. I will try and answer any questions and post pictures of menus and Patters.

[Davistx1]

These are the drink menus from Tracker's Bar and Grill in Fairbanks.

[TW6cruiser]

We did that tour last summer and then boarded the Coral. We absolutely loved it. In our opinion all of the Lodges will get better as you go along. Enjoy!

[Davistx1]

Here's the food menu from Tracker's, they are open for lunch or dinner. Then the dinner menu from Edgewater Grill.

[reedprincess]

Hi - After all the research I have done on this board, I want to share my experience too. During our cruisetour, we will visit Fairbanks, Denali, Mt McKinley and Kenai Lodges before boarding the Island Princess on Aug 10. I will try and answer any questions and post pictures of menus and Patters.

 

Thanks for doing this, I'm sure it will help others out.

However, as an aside - all the food menus, with pricing, for all the Princess lodge restaursnts are available at their website, so you're basically duplicating what's already available with a quick click - in case you wanted to save some time and Internet minutes..

 

The cocktail and wine menus aren't available on the website though, so helpful there. The Wildberry Twister is quite tasty!

Enjoy...

[cheeseclan]

Not sure if this is where to ask this:

We are doing the Island NB and then the 5 night connoisseur land tour. I gather that the breakfasts are buffet, but at dinner do you get to pick whatever you want off the menu or is it a set meal? What about lunches that are included?

 

Thanks

[easyboy]

These are the drink menus from Tracker's Bar and Grill in Fairbanks.

 

Here's the food menu from Tracker's, they are open for lunch or dinner. Then the dinner menu from Edgewater Grill.

Thanks for sharing.

[amymoore]

We did this 2 years ago. One breakfast in Denali was buffet. The others were regular sit down restaurants. Enjoy. Fabulous trip!

[Thrak]

Not sure if this is where to ask this:

We are doing the Island NB and then the 5 night connoisseur land tour. I gather that the breakfasts are buffet, but at dinner do you get to pick whatever you want off the menu or is it a set meal? What about lunches that are included?

 

Thanks

 

We just returned from a 13 day connoisseur cruise tour. 6 days on land in Alaska followed by a 7 day southbound. IF you purchase the connoisseur tour you get a voucher each day for you breakfast and dinner. (Lunches, other than a "snack" on the Tundra Wilderness Tour and an actual lunch on the train from Talkeetna to Whittier weren't included. (We did a slightly different tour than the OP is talking about.) Oh, there was also a lunch on the Riverboat Tour in Fairbanks. It was kind of "odd" but not bad. It was served at long tables and there were pots of veggies, pots of stew, pots of salad, etc. It kind of depended on where you were seated as to what was in front of you. Some folks snagged all the salad right away and we had to wait for more to be brought. Same with the veggies, stew, etc. It seemed a bit disorganized but the food was good and we definitely had plenty to eat. The riverboat tour was a surprise as we enjoyed it much more than we had anticipated. Always a pleasant surprise.

 

We had a choice of the restaurants at the lodges. For dinner we got an appetizer (or soup or salad), a main course, a dessert, and non-alcoholic beverages. My wife wanted the crab legs one night - priced at $52 - and, since it was the connoisseur tour voucher, it was fine. Anything you wanted to order was fine.

 

We had a breakfast buffet in Fairbanks and ate a breakfast buffet at one of the lodges but all other breakfasts we ate in the restaurants. Excellent food and, of course, all included. The "worst" breakfast we had was the buffet at one of the lodges. The "worst" dinner we had was at the same facility - where the Music of Denali Dinner Theater (included) was held. The dinner at that "event" was the worst we had and the breakfast buffet we had at the same place as the dinner theater was held was the worst breakfast. The breakfast at the restaurant at the same lodge (Princess Wilderness Lodge) was great.

 

I'm glad we chose the connoisseur tour as it was easy. Everything was taken care of by the tour guide. At the Princess Denali Lodge we all had rooms with windows facing the river rather than rooms facing the parking area, the businesses across the street, etc. You obviously pay more for that tour but we felt it was worth it.

 

If you are very lucky you will get to see Denali while at the Princess McKinley Wilderness Lodge. Only 30% of visitors ever see the mountain as it is almost always hidden by clouds. You can ask to be notified if the mountain "comes out" night or daybut you must renew the request each day. There were people in our group who were there for the 5th time and they had never seen the mountain. They were thrilled when, on our last day there, the clouds around the mountain completely disappeared and the mountain "appeared" in all it's glory. Bright sunshine. Huge mountain. Awesome. :)

 

This isn't the best pic and was taken with my phone (D'Oh!). The mountain is 80 miles from the lodge.

 

[amymoore]

I forgot about the buffet at Fairbanks, I guess because it was pretty good. I agree about the buffet at the Mudic of Denali. Not good.

[amymoore]

I forgot about the buffet at Fairbanks, I guess because it was pretty good. I agree about the buffet at the Music of Denali. The food was cold and just not good at the buffet,

[TW6cruiser]

Dinners at Kenai, McKinley and Fairbanks were excellent and all order what you want off the menu. One night at Denali we are at King Salmon restaurant and it was order off the menu and excellent. I recall the Music of Denali was served family style on long tables (this was last year) and I don't recall it being great but I also don't recal it being bad. In Fairbanks the breakfast was buffet with an omlet station. Other lodges were order off the menu (but I think at Denali it was order from a snack stand kind of place and not sit down). Breakfast at Kenai and McKinley were sit down and order off the menu and were very good. This was on the connoisseur last year

[TW6cruiser]

Also on our connoisseur tour, our guide asked each traveler in our group if we wanted to eat as a couple or with others (some were traveling together and they were in large groups). Also asked if we wanted to eat earlier or late. Then our guide made our reservations. This was great. We ate by ourselves about 1/2 the time and with another couple the other 1/2 of the time (couples rotated) and we really liked this. I like tours but some nights I knew I wanted to have dinner just with my husband. It was a nice balance. Also we did not have to worry about reservations. At each lodge our requests were met.

[Thrak]

Dinners at Kenai, McKinley and Fairbanks were excellent and all order what you want off the menu. One night at Denali we are at King Salmon restaurant and it was order off the menu and excellent. I recall the Music of Denali was served family style on long tables (this was last year) and I don't recall it being great but I also don't recal it being bad. In Fairbanks the breakfast was buffet with an omlet station. Other lodges were order off the menu (but I think at Denali it was order from a snack stand kind of place and not sit down). Breakfast at Kenai and McKinley were sit down and order off the menu and were very good. This was on the connoisseur last year

 

At Denali we had full breakfast. The buffet at the Music of Denali venue was not very good but we had a really good breakfast in the restaurant the second day. There was a snack kind of place but we didn't eat there. McKinley had a snack kind of place but we didn't eat there either as there were two restaurants.

 

Overall we had way more food than we needed each day and were glad to skip lunches most days. We did manage to gain zero pounds on the 13 day trip though. :) (We gained that same amount last fall on our 17 day full transit of the PC. Lots of walking and no pigging out.)

[Planning is Half the Fun]

Hi - please do keep posting when you get onboard - I'm two weeks behind you and I think everyone here is sick of my desperation! We put together our own land plan, but we're on the exact same cruise as you. Hope you have a GREAT time!

[cheeseclan]

Thrak and everyone else thank you for the info. We are not going until May 2017 but it is nice to know before hand. It is for my son's high school graduation gift!

Another question: concerning free time at the lodges: when did you book any optional tours for this? Were you able to do it online when you book for the cruise portion, or is it done later on by the guide?

 

Thanks again...

[Lucky TGO]

Thrak, That's a great picture!! :)

Tony

[caribill]

Another question: concerning free time at the lodges: when did you book any optional tours for this? Were you able to do it online when you book for the cruise portion, or is it done later on by the guide?

 

When we went several years ago, we booked them before the trip on the Princess web site. Payment for the optional tours was due several days before the start of the trip.

 

You can book them when at the lodges, but availability will depend on them not having been filled up.

[easyboy]

This isn't the best pic and was taken with my phone (D'Oh!). The mountain is 80 miles from the lodge.

 

Nice shot!

[Thrak]

Thrak and everyone else thank you for the info. We are not going until May 2017 but it is nice to know before hand. It is for my son's high school graduation gift!

Another question: concerning free time at the lodges: when did you book any optional tours for this? Were you able to do it online when you book for the cruise portion, or is it done later on by the guide?

 

Thanks again...

 

We didn't book an optional land tours. We just did the ones included in the connoisseur tour. We had plenty to do... Others on our tour did book additional excursions but they mostly booked them in advance. Our tour guide had a listing of all the excursions people had booked and also handed out listings of additional excursions while on the bus to the appropriate lodges and some booked at the lodge when we arrived.

 

We did book a 5 glacier flyover in a seaplane in Juneau during the southbound cruise after the land tour. It was pretty cool.

[TW6cruiser]

We got to Fairbanks a few days before the tour started. We took the bus that leaves from the lodge to the Museum of the North which is at the University and it was really enjoyable. We also went to downtown Fairbanks to walk around on our own which was good as we had lunch there one day. At the Kenai lodge we did one optional tour the River Float which we relally liked. You are in a raft with a guide but it was really calm and we did mostly just float it was not like white water rafting or anything. We booked that tour on the princess website. Unlike the ship tours you have to pay for add on land portion tours ahead of time. Others in our group did add tours once they were at the lodges. I think though if you see something you really like you should book ahead.

[cruzrbachoua]

I have a question...when looking on the princess site the connoisseur tour shows that you take a motor coach from Denali into Whittier vs if you do the Denali Explorer (food not included) it looks like you get to take the glass domed cars...can anyone confirm if you do the connoisseur if you take the bus/motorcoach vs train?

[Thrak]

I have a question...when looking on the princess site the connoisseur tour shows that you take a motor coach from Denali into Whittier vs if you do the Denali Explorer (food not included) it looks like you get to take the glass domed cars...can anyone confirm if you do the connoisseur if you take the bus/motorcoach vs train?

 

We just returned from a 13 day connoisseur cruise tour to Alaska. We did the land tour first and then the southbound cruise. We had a motor coach from Fairbanks to the Princess Denali Lodge and then another motor coach later from there to the Princess McKinley Wilderness Lodge. When we left the Princess McKinley Wilderness Lodge (where Denali came out in all it's glory on the last day!) we took a bus to just outside of Talkeetna and then took the train from there to Whittier.

[TW6cruiser]

Each tour is slightly different. We did a connoisseur last summer and had the train portion from Denali to McKinley on a dome car. It was a beautiful trip (actually from Denali to Talkeetna, then we saw Talkeetna, then took a shuttle to McKinley

[cruzrbachoua]

Hmm DH is most interested in doing the train from Denali to Whittier. The tour we are looking at is a stay in anchorage, then Mt McKinley lodge and then Denali lodge...either as denali explorer or connoisseur. besides trying to decide between the explorer and connoisseur is trying to decide how many days we want in mt McKinley lodge. We know we want the 2 nights in Denali as we want to do the tundra tour and will either pay more for it if we do the explorer option or it is included in the connoisseur one. The musts were:

 

2 days in Denali with the extended Tundra tour

train to whittier

 

the rest was up in the air.