Advice about Princess Cruise tours

[JanetAlice]

I have planned my own tour prior to our cruise next July. It took some extra work but I feel it is well worth it. I didn't want to stay in large hotels and be on someone else's schedule. If you do opt to do it on your own I believe a car is helpful. It enables you to stay at smaller places a little off the beaten path.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

If a land tour normally includes motorcoach transport between say Denali and TalkeetnaMcKinleTalkeetna, can you upgrade it to rail instead? I know the rail journey Is several hours longer, but it might be more enjoyable than a bus ride.

[caribill]

If a land tour normally includes motorcoach transport between say Denali and TalkeetnaMcKinleTalkeetna, can you upgrade it to rail instead? I know the rail journey Is several hours longer, but it might be more enjoyable than a bus ride.

 

If it is a Princess land tour, you do not get to select or change the method of transportation, not even for a fee.

[caribill]

 

Question - Anyone have ideas as to how far out one should book airfare to get better rates? In general I have heard 4 months out (not specifically Alaska) but I would probably want to do it further out than that. Have you found EZ Air to be better than doing it on your own?

 

You should check EZAir and compare it to what you can book on your own.

 

Also, if you book the EZAir flexible fare option, you can change the EZAir booking with no fee up to 45 days before your first flight if you see a lower price available on EZAir. You cannot do that if you book with the airline unless you are paying a much higher fare that has no restrictions.

 

Also, consider flying home from Seattle instead of from Vancouver. Even with a Princess xfer to the Seattle airport, it may be significantly less than flying out of the Vancouver airport.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

If it is a Princess land tour, you do not get to select or change the method of transportation, not even for a fee.

 

I wonder why they don't typically include Denali-Talkeetna as rail anymore? They used to..... In fact there was a time where Fairbanks-Denali, Denali-Talkeetna, Talkeetna-pier were ALL rail segments. I wish they still offered that!

[txwriter]

Thanks all! I have put a hold on a Denali Explorer cruise tour for July 1 2018. It will be a 6 day tour with 2 days each in Fairbanks, Denali and Mckinley then a southbound cruise. It will be on the Golden which we were on for our first Princess cruise which was a rt to Alaska. Decided not to do Connoisseur (as great as it would be ) and to save the $$ so we could do a Window Suite (which we were in before in Alaska and two other times). Airfare appears to be expensive (I could only check for summer 2017) so that is a consideration.

 

Question - Anyone have ideas as to how far out one should book airfare to get better rates? In general I have heard 4 months out (not specifically Alaska) but I would probably want to do it further out than that. Have you found EZ Air to be better than doing it on your own? I have heard that Internationally it is a better deal. In this case only one way is international. When I checked for this summer it was a little bit less expensive to do it yourself.

 

Congratulations on making your choice of tours! First decision made. Check.:)

 

Airfare becomes available 300 days out on EZAir. Here is what I did: on first day flights were available, I booked a flexible air through EZAir. I got some of the best flight choices this way. I checked regularly afterwards both EZAir and the airlines themselves. I read that Alaska residents get their pipeline checks around October and that was a good time to book airfare and cars since there were a lot of incentives around that time. I found the flights I wanted at a lower price than I had seen them on the airlines' sites and booked directly with them on Oct. 15th and cancelled my EZAir flights. I have not seen the flights go lower since (and yes, I check because I used to work for an airline and if I see a massive drop it may be worth paying a change fee if possible).

 

I decided to come in a day early and stay a day late and booked through my TA with Princess add on packages. This set the EZAir dates up to my stay (not to the tour dates). The Fairbanks add on was not available when I first booked my tour but was available a short while later and was easy to get.

[txwriter]

I wonder why they don't typically include Denali-Talkeetna as rail anymore? They used to..... In fact there was a time where Fairbanks-Denali, Denali-Talkeetna, Talkeetna-pier were ALL rail segments. I wish they still offered that!

 

My upcoming tour in May shows rail transportation from Denali to Talkeetna.

[dickinson]

Y

Also, consider flying home from Seattle instead of from Vancouver. Even with a Princess xfer to the Seattle airport, it may be significantly less than flying out of the Vancouver airport.

 

Princess offers xfer from Vancouver to Seattle airport?

 

My itinerary with the touring first shows the train only from McKinley to Whittier. Otherwise it is all by bus (Fairbanks to Denali and Denali to McKinley).

 

Caribill - last night I finished reading the whole thread from your trip in 2012. You were very lucky to be able to get the Connoisseur tour for only $883 more per person above the cruise only price. I think at the moment for us it would be about $1800 more per person. I don't think we have had THAT much inflation since then! (I think for you the good price was because of when you booked they were having a sale to fill up the tour as it was only a few months before sailing). The difference between the Connoisseur and Explorer was $1000 more per person for a total of $2000.

Edited December 6, 2016 by dickinson

[martincath]

Princess offers xfer from Vancouver to Seattle airport?

Yes - but not always, so it cannot be counted on in long-term planning. If Princess does decide to offer a transfer, I've only ever seen it priced at US$39pp - and for a direct bus that's far and away the best value option out there. They charge only $10 less to go to YVR from the pier!

 

Budget US$60pp for Quickshuttle if you want to go to Seatac ASAP, or ~$40pp if you are flexible with timing (Amtrak train is the most pleasant way to go and only $32 but very limited schedule - extra funds allow for transit or shared cabs between railway station and pier/airport).

[dickinson]

Yes - but not always, so it cannot be counted on in long-term planning. If Princess does decide to offer a transfer, I've only ever seen it priced at US$39pp - and for a direct bus that's far and away the best value option out there. They charge only $10 less to go to YVR from the pier!

 

Budget US$60pp for Quickshuttle if you want to go to Seatac ASAP, or ~$40pp if you are flexible with timing (Amtrak train is the most pleasant way to go and only $32 but very limited schedule - extra funds allow for transit or shared cabs between railway station and pier/airport).

 

Thanks for this info. Obviously it is too far in advance to plan for this part of our trip but good to know. I didn't realize there was a shuttle service between the two cities. When the time comes to check airfares I will also keep in mind checking on shuttles. (the train I had previously read about).

[Nhsaltshaker]

Princess offers xfer from Vancouver to Seattle airport?

 

My itinerary with the touring first shows the train only from McKinley to Whittier. Otherwise it is all by bus (Fairbanks to Denali and Denali to McKinley).

 

Caribill - last night I finished reading the whole thread from your trip in 2012. You were very lucky to be able to get the Connoisseur tour for only $883 more per person above the cruise only price. I think at the moment for us it would be about $1800 more per person. I don't think we have had THAT much inflation since then! (I think for you the good price was because of when you booked they were having a sale to fill up the tour as it was only a few months before sailing). The difference between the Connoisseur and Explorer was $1000 more per person for a total of $2000.

 

Caribill's thread was awesome and provides great information.

 

On my Connoisseur tour next year, it includes approx. $1330 worth of extras. $550.00 of excursions included, private wine-pairing dinner on first night, dinner theater in Denali, about $100 pp per day in meals, and depending how you like to tip for luggage, room-cleaning, waiters/waitress, bus drivers etc...$80.

 

So, if you like expensive appetizer's, crab legs, and extravagant desserts, plus a guide to set up dinner reservations/land excursions/advice and will provide a printed daily wrap up of yesterdays adventures, plus take care of any snafu's...the Con. tour is well worth it.

 

The thing about Alaska is no matter what you do, it will never be wrong. I hope you don't mind me adding my two cents for others who may want to compare the difference.

 

Have a great trip!

[dickinson]

Caribill's thread was awesome and provides great information.

 

On my Connoisseur tour next year, it includes approx. $1330 worth of extras. $550.00 of excursions included, private wine-pairing dinner on first night, dinner theater in Denali, about $100 pp per day in meals, and depending how you like to tip for luggage, room-cleaning, waiters/waitress, bus drivers etc...$80.

 

So, if you like expensive appetizer's, crab legs, and extravagant desserts, plus a guide to set up dinner reservations/land excursions/advice and will provide a printed daily wrap up of yesterdays adventures, plus take care of any snafu's...the Con. tour is well worth it.

 

The thing about Alaska is no matter what you do, it will never be wrong. I hope you don't mind me adding my two cents for others who may want to compare the difference.

 

Have a great trip!

 

I'm sure you will enjoy your cruise! For us, at the moment, the 6 day land tour would be $1700 more if we did Connoisseur instead of Denali Explorer. That is a lot of extra money. As far as tipping for luggage... any review I could find was really just comments either on this thread or others. People seemed to say their luggage showed up in their room. This is from people who did not do the connoisseur tour so it seems there is not much to tip if no one is there to tip. It would have been wonderful if there was a detailed review of a Denali Explorer tour but I could not find any. I really wanted to do the Connoisseur but it was just too much extra money. (We even went through the website for the lodges and based on 2016 pricing figured what we would eat if we were paying for it and came up with $600 and that included a 20% tip).

[reedprincess]

I'm sure you will enjoy your cruise! For us, at the moment, the 6 day land tour would be $1700 more if we did Connoisseur instead of Denali Explorer. That is a lot of extra money. As far as tipping for luggage... any review I could find was really just comments either on this thread or others. People seemed to say their luggage showed up in their room. This is from people who did not do the connoisseur tour so it seems there is not much to tip if no one is there to tip. It would have been wonderful if there was a detailed review of a Denali Explorer tour but I could not find any. I really wanted to do the Connoisseur but it was just too much extra money. (We even went through the website for the lodges and based on 2016 pricing figured what we would eat if we were paying for it and came up with $600 and that included a 20% tip).

 

We did Off the Beaten Path and never ever saw the people handling our luggage along the way...we had detailed instructions of when to put it outside the room, or when to leave it if we would be out of the room before pick up and it simply magically appeared in our rooms each Lodge - sometimes before we had even arrived. Only once did we have an incorrect bag - and that was an extra that wasn't ours but had a similar name, and a quick phone call - with instructions to set it outside the door - cleated it right up... It was amazing - and there wasn't anyone to tip, even if we wanted to...

We did tip our bus driver and guide who was with us the vast majority of the tour. And left a small tip for housekeeping of course. Otherwise, it was only in restaurants or bars where tipping came into play....

We loved our tour - flexibility, variety etc. And not being locked into eating at rhe lodges via the connoisseur or meal plan was a major bonus.. We saved a small fortune and got much wider variety and local eats. You can see the various Lodge menus at rhe Princess Lodges website - they're fairly repetitive....good food, but repetitive if eating all your meals there. Again - our opinion...

I'm sure you'll have a wondeful time - Alaska is srunning - there's no wrong tour! Lol.

Enjoy!!

[Nhsaltshaker]

You're right. I forgot no one tips for luggage. The savings on different services should definitely be considered, yet so should the advantages.

 

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[dickinson]

We did Off the Beaten Path and never ever saw the people handling our luggage along the way...we had detailed instructions of when to put it outside the room, or when to leave it if we would be out of the room before pick up and it simply magically appeared in our rooms each Lodge - sometimes before we had even arrived. Only once did we have an incorrect bag - and that was an extra that wasn't ours but had a similar name, and a quick phone call - with instructions to set it outside the door - cleated it right up... It was amazing - and there wasn't anyone to tip, even if we wanted to...

We did tip our bus driver and guide who was with us the vast majority of the tour. And left a small tip for housekeeping of course. Otherwise, it was only in restaurants or bars where tipping came into play....

We loved our tour - flexibility, variety etc. And not being locked into eating at rhe lodges via the connoisseur or meal plan was a major bonus.. We saved a small fortune and got much wider variety and local eats. You can see the various Lodge menus at rhe Princess Lodges website - they're fairly repetitive....good food, but repetitive if eating all your meals there. Again - our opinion...

I'm sure you'll have a wondeful time - Alaska is srunning - there's no wrong tour! Lol.

Enjoy!!

 

Thanks! I too thought the menus were repetitive with not much variety. I like fish but dh does not. Did you find that your bus driver and guide were different for each transfer between lodges? If not did you tip at the end? If different then I assume you tipped after each ride.

 

Thanks for posting. If it helps me then I am sure it is helping other readers. As I said before there seems to be more detailed info on the Connoisseur but not a whole lot on the others.

[dickinson]

You're right. I forgot no one tips for luggage. The savings on different services should definitely be considered, yet so should the advantages.

 

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You are right that it does have advantages. Lots of people have posted about how much they liked their tour. For us we felt that the savings could be put to better use on another cruise!

[Nhsaltshaker]

You are right that it does have advantages. Lots of people have posted about how much they liked their tour. For us we felt that the savings could be put to better use on another cruise!

I agree. If you don't like the included excursions, you're wasting money.

 

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[dickinson]

We still get the same excursions. Fairbanks includes two tours that are the same. We upgraded from the natural history tour to the tundra wilderness. Otherwise there are no other tours. Reviews of the dinner theater included in Connoisseur were mixed so I don't mind missing it.

[reedprincess]

Thanks! I too thought the menus were repetitive with not much variety. I like fish but dh does not. Did you find that your bus driver and guide were different for each transfer between lodges? If not did you tip at the end? If different then I assume you tipped after each ride.

 

Thanks for posting. If it helps me then I am sure it is helping other readers. As I said before there seems to be more detailed info on the Connoisseur but not a whole lot on the others.

Our bus driver and guide were the same for the vast majority of our tour. The only time they were not with us was in the final leg, catamaran from Port after Copper River to the ship in Whittier. We said goodbye to then at the port there..(can't remember the name, small town on coast of Prince William Sound).... They were with us from pickup in Anchorage, to McKinley, down to Talkeetna and on the train, then bus to Lodge then on from Denali to Copper River and CP to the port. So basically, the while trip... They were wondeful. Bus driver was former Air Force, spent his summers working for Princess in Alaska and winters in Florida.... Guide was from Alaska, grew up in Anchorage.....had enjoyed 4 different cruises with Princess under their employee rates - loved her job!

It was a great experience. We enjoyed all of it...

Happy travels...

[txwriter]

Thanks for posting. If it helps me then I am sure it is helping other readers. As I said before there seems to be more detailed info on the Connoisseur but not a whole lot on the others.

 

Yes, I am one of those that is being helped. I found the same thing...many more threads about the connoisseur tours. But we also found that the difference in prices were not worth it for us either.

 

Just as there are different types of cabins that work for different travelers, there are different types of tours available. I hope I am not too lazy when we return to write up a review to help others, because the more information available, the easier it is to make a decision.

[azbirdmom]

The Denali Explorer tours work the same way the other tours do when it comes to luggage. You are told when you arrive at the lodge when to put your luggage outside your room and they pick it up. Tipping is included and you rarely see the person picking up or delivering your luggage.

 

The bus drivers were different at every stop and all gave narrative along the way. We did tip them.

 

As for food, we enjoyed the offerings at the lodges but next May we will probably try one of the places across from the Denali lodge for some variety. We looked at the menus at some of the places last August and the prices were a bit better too. And since we will be at McKinley lodge 2 nights instead of 1 in May, we will likely dine in Talkeetna too. Love it there!

[Nhsaltshaker]

We still get the same excursions. Fairbanks includes two tours that are the same. We upgraded from the natural history tour to the tundra wilderness. Otherwise there are no other tours. Reviews of the dinner theater included in Connoisseur were mixed so I don't mind missing it.

 

Do you mind me asking which two tours you compared? I know you said they were Con. and Explorer, but were they for the same dates and ship?

 

Just curious.

[dickinson]

Do you mind me asking which two tours you compared? I know you said they were Con. and Explorer, but were they for the same dates and ship?

 

Just curious.

 

Yes, they were for the same dates and ship. We are now booked for July 1, 2018. We are doing the Denali Explorer (KB6) and then the southbound 7 day cruise on the Golden Princess.