any self-guided tour from Princess lodges in Alaska?

[Rafabril]

Hello guys!

 

We will do a cruisetour in Alaska with Princess this coming July. It's our first trip there. On some days the excursions are included in the rate. But there is no excursion booked for our stay in Copper River and Kenai Princess Lodge. I'm not very interested in the excursions offered on the list, so I'm wondering about the possibility of doing self-guided tour near the lodges or booking a tour with other travel agencies. 

 

Also, I want to walk on a glacier. Is it possible to do that during our land tour or southbound cruise? I know there's shuttle service from Seward to Exit Glacier, but I don't think I can go to Seward from the Kenai lodge w/o a car. 

 

I'd appreciate it if you could give me any tip on the cruisetour.

[viking69]

2 hours ago, Rafabril said:

Hello guys!

 

We will do a cruisetour in Alaska with Princess this coming July. It's our first trip there. On some days the excursions are included in the rate. But there is no excursion booked for our stay in Copper River and Kenai Princess Lodge. I'm not very interested in the excursions offered on the list, so I'm wondering about the possibility of doing self-guided tour near the lodges or booking a tour with other travel agencies. 

 

Also, I want to walk on a glacier. Is it possible to do that during our land tour or southbound cruise? I know there's shuttle service from Seward to Exit Glacier, but I don't think I can go to Seward from the Kenai lodge w/o a car. 

 

I'd appreciate it if you could give me any tip on the cruisetour.

There should be opportunities to walk on a glacier at some of the ports. However, you may have to book this in conjunction with a helicopter trip. Princess lists some of these and there are private vendors as well.

[Rafabril]

6 hours ago, viking69 said:

There should be opportunities to walk on a glacier at some of the ports. However, you may have to book this in conjunction with a helicopter trip. Princess lists some of these and there are private vendors as well.

Thank you!I'll check the Princess excursions first to see the possibility at different ports.

 

 

[Northern Aurora]

We have stayed at the Copper River Princess.  For us our stay was a quick overnight on a drive from Fairbanks to Valdez.  The hotel is located several miles from the community of Glennallen, which is a small community with limited tourist facilities.  We encountered several folks in the hotel who had not booked anything and found themselves walking around the property.

 

While we have driven by a number of times we have never stayed at the Kenai Princess.  The hotel is located in a great sport fishing area, but in the past there have been posts indicating that the Kenai Princess does not allow private fishing guides to pick up their customers from Princess hotel property.  Perhaps someone with direct experience can comment.

[Rafabril]

On 5/27/2019 at 11:03 AM, Northern Aurora said:

We have stayed at the Copper River Princess.  For us our stay was a quick overnight on a drive from Fairbanks to Valdez.  The hotel is located several miles from the community of Glennallen, which is a small community with limited tourist facilities.  We encountered several folks in the hotel who had not booked anything and found themselves walking around the property.

 

While we have driven by a number of times we have never stayed at the Kenai Princess.  The hotel is located in a great sport fishing area, but in the past there have been posts indicating that the Kenai Princess does not allow private fishing guides to pick up their customers from Princess hotel property.  Perhaps someone with direct experience can comment.

Thank you again, Northen Aurora!

 

It'll be my first trip to Alaska so I booked a cruisetour. I didn't do much research before booking, so didn't know the location of Princess lodges is not good for self-guided tour.    

I do hope one day I can go back to Alaska and travel on my own to explore more.

 

[Pepper0074]

We did a cruise tour in 2017 and stayed at both lodges and loved them both although our favorite was Kenai Wilderness Lodge. We have also stayed at the Kenai Wilderness Lodge on our own. 

 

On the cruisetour, we did two excursions while at the Kenai Wilderness Lodge, the float on the Kenai River and the van to Seward. I can highly recommend both.

 

My mom and aunt (both 77 at the time) absolutely loved the float. They still talk about it regularly. The vistas were magnificent. We saw eagles and a variety of other wildlife. The salmon fishing was fascinating. It was relaxing and exciting at the same time. 

 

The next day we took the excursion that was simply the lodge van to Seward. Our driver Judy was terrific. On the way we stopped at Tern Lake for a few minutes, later we saw a moose having fun. Once we got to Seward she dropped people off at the meeting area and then took a few of us on to Exit Glacier. We had a great time hiking the area. After she brought us back to Seward, we still had plenty of time to walk around, get lunch, etc.

 

We had originally been going to go on a Kenai Fjords boat tour from Seward, but it was canceled. We have done one since with Major Marine and it was fantastic. I can't wait to go again.

 

At the Copper River Wilderness Lodge we did an excursion to the Kennecott Mines. This excursion was by van. We were the only ones in our group that did this trip. Only do this trip if you fly to the Kennecott/McCarthy area, taking the van was brutal! The mines and area is beautiful but the several hour van ride on unpaved roads, etc. was not. Our guide had been preparing us for the bus ride to Denali the next day. That ride was a piece of cake for us.

 

Several people in our tour group stayed at the Lodge and did some of the hikes on property. Others used the day to relax and enjoy the magnificence that is Alaska. The lounge at the lodge has wonderful windows on a stunning view. Those that hiked had a great time. 

 

It was the trip of a lifetime, and that is why we are planning our next visit to Alaska.

 

 

[Rafabril]

On 6/2/2019 at 12:55 AM, Pepper0074 said:

We did a cruise tour in 2017 and stayed at both lodges and loved them both although our favorite was Kenai Wilderness Lodge. We have also stayed at the Kenai Wilderness Lodge on our own. 

 

On the cruisetour, we did two excursions while at the Kenai Wilderness Lodge, the float on the Kenai River and the van to Seward. I can highly recommend both.

 

My mom and aunt (both 77 at the time) absolutely loved the float. They still talk about it regularly. The vistas were magnificent. We saw eagles and a variety of other wildlife. The salmon fishing was fascinating. It was relaxing and exciting at the same time. 

 

The next day we took the excursion that was simply the lodge van to Seward. Our driver Judy was terrific. On the way we stopped at Tern Lake for a few minutes, later we saw a moose having fun. Once we got to Seward she dropped people off at the meeting area and then took a few of us on to Exit Glacier. We had a great time hiking the area. After she brought us back to Seward, we still had plenty of time to walk around, get lunch, etc.

 

We had originally been going to go on a Kenai Fjords boat tour from Seward, but it was canceled. We have done one since with Major Marine and it was fantastic. I can't wait to go again.

 

At the Copper River Wilderness Lodge we did an excursion to the Kennecott Mines. This excursion was by van. We were the only ones in our group that did this trip. Only do this trip if you fly to the Kennecott/McCarthy area, taking the van was brutal! The mines and area is beautiful but the several hour van ride on unpaved roads, etc. was not. Our guide had been preparing us for the bus ride to Denali the next day. That ride was a piece of cake for us.

 

Several people in our tour group stayed at the Lodge and did some of the hikes on property. Others used the day to relax and enjoy the magnificence that is Alaska. The lounge at the lodge has wonderful windows on a stunning view. Those that hiked had a great time. 

 

It was the trip of a lifetime, and that is why we are planning our next visit to Alaska.

 

 

Thank you for your detailed description!

 

I've checked the excursions offered by Princess in Kenai and one tour to Seward is Explore Historic Seward ($49.95 for 7.25hours). Is it the lodge van you mentioned?

 

Yes, I'm also interested in Exit Glacier. Would you pls tell me how long you stayed there and was it possible to walk on the glacier or join a glacier trek tour? What kind of hike did you do there?   

 

Thank you & looking forward to your reply:)

 

[Pepper0074]

13 minutes ago, Rafabril said:

Thank you for your detailed description!

 

I've checked the excursions offered by Princess in Kenai and one tour to Seward is Explore Historic Seward ($49.95 for 7.25hours). Is it the lodge van you mentioned?

 

Yes, I'm also interested in Exit Glacier. Would you pls tell me how long you stayed there and was it possible to walk on the glacier or join a glacier trek tour? What kind of hike did you do there?   

 

Thank you & looking forward to your reply:)

 

They may have changed how they do things, but for us, all excursions going to Seward were put on the same van. We were originally supposed to go to Seward for a Kenai Fjords cruise but the weather did not cooperate so it was canceled.

 

I honestly can't tell you what they called the excursion that we did but it was pretty much on your own. The van driver made the suggestion to us and after dropping off several people in Seward she took those of us that were interested out to Exit glacier for a couple of hours. We met up when she told us and returned to Seward for the rest of the day.

 

At the glacier there is an interpretation center, rest rooms, etc. We hiked one of the trails with great views of the glacier. It was all fairly spontaneous due to the cancellation of our intended boat trip. We did not walk on the glacier. We are in the process of planning a trip back to Alaska. As part of this planning I have seen that there are ways to do guided hikes on Exit glacier but they are not through Princess.

 

I'm sorry that I don't have better timing details. I was careful to be timely in consideration of others, but other than that I was in the moment and not really timing out our activities.

[Pepper0074]

I have never tried to post photos before so I hope this works. These are two shots from our hike on Exit Glacier. The one with the yellow dot (Pikachu) was taken with the lens at 30mm. The second shot, close up was taken at 300 mm. Despite the it being grey and rainy and cloudy we loved every second of our time there.

 

I just realized that it was exactly two years ago today. 

[Rafabril]

10 hours ago, Pepper0074 said:

I have never tried to post photos before so I hope this works. These are two shots from our hike on Exit Glacier. The one with the yellow dot (Pikachu) was taken with the lens at 30mm. The second shot, close up was taken at 300 mm. Despite the it being grey and rainy and cloudy we loved every second of our time there.

 

I just realized that it was exactly two years ago today. 

Thank you Pepper0074 for additional info and the photos! Very helpful. The little Pikachu is so cuuuute!!

 

I'll call the lodge to see if that excursion is kind of shuttle service they have from the lodge to Seward.